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Does Canon do firmware updates?

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Gregg Tarayan

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Hi,

I am a new S40 owner. While I think it's a great little unit I also think it has a potential to be even better with some intelligent software design -- firmware. I know Nikon updates small digicams...what about Canon? Has it ever done this? Is it reasonable to believe that we will see one for S40? And if so would it be user flashable or factore only. Obviously I am only asking if you are aware if any of this has been done in the past. I realize noone knows for sure with current crop of the cams.

Sincerely,
Clayton
 
.... to address the issues of:

1. Soft and low contrast images - make the default sharper and higher contrast, which may actually help solve the following problems.

2. Making AF Lock work under low light

3. Improving AUTO WB under artificial lights
 
There was the firmware update (to Revision 1.1.0.0) to S30/S40 released from Canon in April 2002. However, if you got your new S40 recently, most likely you already have this updated/new firmware. You know how to check out your S40's firmware revision, don't you? And if you don't have it, you know how to visit Canon's website to get the update, don't you?

James
clayton said:
Hi,
I am a new S40 owner. While I think it's a great little unit I also
think it has a potential to be even better with some intelligent
software design -- firmware. I know Nikon updates small
digicams...what about Canon? Has it ever done this? Is it
reasonable to believe that we will see one for S40? And if so would
it be user flashable or factore only. Obviously I am only asking if
you are aware if any of this has been done in the past. I realize
noone knows for sure with current crop of the cams.

Sincerely,
Clayton
Click to expand...
 
James,

I appreciate the kind words, sounds like you've got it all down to the science. I am looking forward to more of your insightful posts to learn from.

Truely yours,
Clayton
James with S30 said:
James
clayton said:
Hi,
I am a new S40 owner. While I think it's a great little unit I also
think it has a potential to be even better with some intelligent
software design -- firmware. I know Nikon updates small
digicams...what about Canon? Has it ever done this? Is it
reasonable to believe that we will see one for S40? And if so would
it be user flashable or factore only. Obviously I am only asking if
you are aware if any of this has been done in the past. I realize
noone knows for sure with current crop of the cams.

Sincerely,
Clayton
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Clayton,

Well, I am no expert at all other than I have used my little S30 for about 9 to 10 months and I did upgrade my S30's firmware from 1.0.0.0 to 1.1.0.0 in April this year. The S30 is almost identical to the S40 so here is what I can say about the camera:

1. Get a spare NB-2L battery. You need it for sure.

2. If you are not happy with its auto focus, switch to manual focus and simply guess the distance between camera and subject and set it (roughly) on the camera. I am not happy with the auto focus performance so I now use manual focus only.

3. Instead of the Auto or P mode, try the Av (aperture priority) or Tv (shutter priority) mode. I use the Av mode most of the time.

4. Get a much bigger CompactFlash card, the bigger the better but at least 128MB.
5. Use ISO 50 instead of ISO Auto, 100, 200 or 400, for minimum noise.
6. If you shoot in-doors and portraits a lot, get some external flash unit. And

7. (Optional) Instead of the Canon supplied DoomBrowser, get a copy of BreezeBrower 2.2b/2.3 beta 1 and (the free) BreezeDownloader 1.5 from Breeze Systems at http://www.breezesys.com

James
clayton said:
Truely yours,
Clayton
James with S30 said:
James
clayton said:
Hi,
I am a new S40 owner. While I think it's a great little unit I also
think it has a potential to be even better with some intelligent
software design -- firmware. I know Nikon updates small
digicams...what about Canon? Has it ever done this? Is it
reasonable to believe that we will see one for S40? And if so would
it be user flashable or factore only. Obviously I am only asking if
you are aware if any of this has been done in the past. I realize
noone knows for sure with current crop of the cams.

Sincerely,
Clayton
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
clayton said:
Hi,
I am a new S40 owner. While I think it's a great little unit I also
think it has a potential to be even better with some intelligent
software design -- firmware. I know Nikon updates small
digicams...what about Canon? Has it ever done this? Is it
reasonable to believe that we will see one for S40? And if so would
it be user flashable or factore only. Obviously I am only asking if
you are aware if any of this has been done in the past. I realize
noone knows for sure with current crop of the cams.

Sincerely,
Clayton
Click to expand...
I have had my S40 for six months or so and have been dissapointed with a 'hazy film' cast on almost all shots and lack of crispness.

Just updated the firmware (same and only update since April 2002) and took some test shots (inside with flash) and am very pleased. The level of crispness with normal sharpness in-camera and in the raw converter is much improved. Gone is the 'hazy film' cast too! I can't wait to try some daylight shots to see if this holds true with sunlight.

Updated my printer (S800) driver also to take advantage of the EXIF 2.2 upgrade in the firmware. Printed my test shot at 8.5 x 11 on Canon's Photo Paper Pro and compared it to my 'still life' test shot. Resulted in an almost perfect 1:1 match! IMHO, it is amazing that I can take picture, print it and ten minutes after the shutter closes be comparing the quality to the scene I just shot! It is a closer to perfect copy than I should expect for a $500 camera and $300 printer.

The firmware update was as painless as can be expected. The firmware update made me very nervous after reading many horror stories within the forums here. Canon will update the firmware for you if you don't want to tackle it yourself. Anyone with average computer skills that can follow step by step instructions should have no problems updating the firmware.

Hope this helps and good luck if you choose to update the firmware yourself.
 
BSell said:
I have had my S40 for six months or so and have been dissapointed
with a 'hazy film' cast on almost all shots and lack of crispness.
Click to expand...
Sounds familiar. If S40 has problems, I can understand why S200/330 are experiencing similar or more difficulties. Where is the update for S200/S330? Canon, please don't forget S200/330 users.
BSell said:
Just updated the firmware (same and only update since April 2002)
and took some test shots (inside with flash) and am very pleased.
The level of crispness with normal sharpness in-camera and in the
raw converter is much improved. Gone is the 'hazy film' cast too!
I can't wait to try some daylight shots to see if this holds true
with sunlight.
Click to expand...
I want to stress:

S200/S330 Needs a Firmware Update Badly ...

.... to address the issues of:

1. Soft and low contrast images - make the default sharper and higher contrast, which may actually help solve the following problems.

2. Making AF Lock work under low light

3. Improving AUTO WB under artificial lights (most of the time has a Yellow Cast on images)

If the current problems are firmware related, which I think they may be.
 
w3 said:
BSell said:
I have had my S40 for six months or so and have been dissapointed
with a 'hazy film' cast on almost all shots and lack of crispness.
Click to expand...
Sounds familiar. If S40 has problems, I can understand why
S200/330 are experiencing similar or more difficulties. Where is
the update for S200/S330? Canon, please don't forget S200/330
users.
w3 said:
Just updated the firmware (same and only update since April 2002)
and took some test shots (inside with flash) and am very pleased.
The level of crispness with normal sharpness in-camera and in the
raw converter is much improved. Gone is the 'hazy film' cast too!
I can't wait to try some daylight shots to see if this holds true
with sunlight.
Click to expand...
I want to stress:

S200/S330 Needs a Firmware Update Badly ...

.... to address the issues of:

1. Soft and low contrast images - make the default sharper and
higher contrast, which may actually help solve the following
problems.

2. Making AF Lock work under low light

3. Improving AUTO WB under artificial lights (most of the time has
a Yellow Cast on images)

If the current problems are firmware related, which I think they
may be.
Click to expand...
Brian wrote:

Check this site out, has a firmware dated 4/19/02. Sorry, I don't know how to make this show up as a link.

http://www.powershot.com/powershot2/customer/firmware.html
 
BSell said:
BSell said:
S200/S330 Needs a Firmware Update Badly ...

.... to address the issues of:

1. Soft and low contrast images - make the default sharper and
higher contrast, which may actually help solve the following
problems.

2. Making AF Lock work under low light

3. Improving AUTO WB under artificial lights (most of the time has
a Yellow Cast on images)

If the current problems are firmware related, which I think they
may be.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
BSell said:
Brian wrote:

Check this site out, has a firmware dated 4/19/02. Sorry, I don't
know how to make this show up as a link.

http://www.powershot.com/powershot2/customer/firmware.html
Click to expand...
Thanks Brian. I have the S330, not S300. But thanks anyway.

It shows that it is possible to have firmware update on S330 too, since S300 and S330 are quite similar. Will Canon do a S200/S330 firmware update? If enough of us ask for it, they may.

At the S300 update site, Canon says:

"Dear PowerShot S300 Owner:

Thank you very much for purchasing the Canon PowerShot S300.

As a part of our ongoing commitment to maintaining the highest standards of product performance and customer support, we are taking this opportunity to inform you of a new firmware update for the PowerShot S300. This update can be installed by users without sending the camera in for service. .... "

OK, Canon, please live up to it: "ongoing commitment to maintaining the highest standards of product performance and customer support". Help the disappointed S200/S330 users by updating the firmware to correct the problems.
 
BSell said:
Just updated the firmware (same and only update since April 2002)
and took some test shots (inside with flash) and am very pleased.
The level of crispness with normal sharpness in-camera and in the
raw converter is much improved. Gone is the 'hazy film' cast too!
I can't wait to try some daylight shots to see if this holds true
with sunlight.
Click to expand...
Just checked the Canon update site. The S40 Firmware Update is not supposed to change anything about the default in-camera sharpening or the 'hazy film' cast. Are you sure you are seeing improvement? Is that something that Canon includes in the update without telling users?

How are your daylight shots?
 
w3 said:
BSell said:
Just updated the firmware (same and only update since April 2002)
and took some test shots (inside with flash) and am very pleased.
The level of crispness with normal sharpness in-camera and in the
raw converter is much improved. Gone is the 'hazy film' cast too!
I can't wait to try some daylight shots to see if this holds true
with sunlight.
Click to expand...
Just checked the Canon update site. The S40 Firmware Update is not
supposed to change anything about the default in-camera sharpening
or the 'hazy film' cast. Are you sure you are seeing improvement?
Is that something that Canon includes in the update without telling
users?

How are your daylight shots?
Click to expand...
After taking some more flash only shots (I work nights and we have been having lots of rain so no outside work yet) it looks like Canon pushed the sharpness almost too far. Sharpness is much better but you can barely notice the black outline of oversharpening on verticle lines. It looks like the weather should clear today and I am off so maybe some daylight work is in order.

Will let you know how the haze issue turns out after the daylight shots.
 
clayton said:
Hi,
I am a new S40 owner. While I think it's a great little unit I also
think it has a potential to be even better with some intelligent
software design -- firmware. I know Nikon updates small
digicams...what about Canon? Has it ever done this? Is it
reasonable to believe that we will see one for S40? And if so would
it be user flashable or factore only. Obviously I am only asking if
you are aware if any of this has been done in the past. I realize
noone knows for sure with current crop of the cams.

Sincerely,
Clayton
Click to expand...
 
clayton said:
Hi,
I am a new S40 owner. While I think it's a great little unit I also
think it has a potential to be even better with some intelligent
software design -- firmware. I know Nikon updates small
digicams...what about Canon? Has it ever done this? Is it
reasonable to believe that we will see one for S40? And if so would
it be user flashable or factore only. Obviously I am only asking if
you are aware if any of this has been done in the past. I realize
noone knows for sure with current crop of the cams.

Sincerely,
Clayton
Click to expand...
Brian wrote:

Have taken some outside shots after updating the firmware on my S40 and am generally pleased.

The annoying grey haze is gone.

The normal level of sharpening is on the borderline of being too much/poorly done. Seems too coarse, would like it to be more finely sharpend.

Still have the smeering/bleeding in areas of high contrast (white letters/designs on black).

Chromatic abberations/purple fringing still the same.

Overall, it is a step in the right direction. I hope Canon revisits this again and can address these issues.
 
Yes you are missing something. That is, an external flash can be triggered by your camera's built-in flash to work as a slave flash. I have used a Metz 34 CS-2 Digital flash with my S30 as an external slave flash for a long time. More info on this Metz flash at

http://www.metz.de/1_metz_2000/m_pages_english/main_index_e.php3?link=4&sub=1&linkname=mecablitz

( in case the above url is too long, try )

There are also Digi-Slave flash units as slave flash for your digital camera. And there are WEIN peanut slaves that can be plugged into a Vivitar 283 or 285 flash or any flash that has a hotshoe contact or PC sync connector so that the flash will work as a slave flash.

http://www.d-store.com/d-store/Digi-Slave/digislaveindex.htm

http://www.weinproducts.com/photo.htm

James
AaronIndy said:
AaronIndy said:
6. If you shoot in-doors and portraits a lot, get some external
flash unit. And
Click to expand...
?? I thought that you could not use an external flash with the
S30/S40.

Am I missing something?
Click to expand...
 
Canon does not read these forums... you need to contact them... did you do it? I just sounds like you haven't.

Eternal complaining about the issue in these forums won't tell Canon a thing...
  • Raist
BSell said:
w3 said:
BSell said:
I have had my S40 for six months or so and have been dissapointed
with a 'hazy film' cast on almost all shots and lack of crispness.
Click to expand...
Sounds familiar. If S40 has problems, I can understand why
S200/330 are experiencing similar or more difficulties. Where is
the update for S200/S330? Canon, please don't forget S200/330
users.
BSell said:
Just updated the firmware (same and only update since April 2002)
and took some test shots (inside with flash) and am very pleased.
The level of crispness with normal sharpness in-camera and in the
raw converter is much improved. Gone is the 'hazy film' cast too!
I can't wait to try some daylight shots to see if this holds true
with sunlight.
Click to expand...
I want to stress:

S200/S330 Needs a Firmware Update Badly ...

.... to address the issues of:

1. Soft and low contrast images - make the default sharper and
higher contrast, which may actually help solve the following
problems.

2. Making AF Lock work under low light

3. Improving AUTO WB under artificial lights (most of the time has
a Yellow Cast on images)

If the current problems are firmware related, which I think they
may be.
Click to expand...
Brian wrote:
Check this site out, has a firmware dated 4/19/02. Sorry, I don't
know how to make this show up as a link.

http://www.powershot.com/powershot2/customer/firmware.html
Click to expand...
 
One of my main reasons for considering a G2 over an S30/S40 was the external flash issue, so this might cancel out one of the big advantages for the G2. How does this fit onto your S30? Does it fit over the flash? does it attach to the camera somehow? I looked at all of the sites that you reference but couldn't see how a slave flash works.

I appreciate any advice you can give on this.

Aaron
James with S30 said:
http://www.metz.de/1_metz_2000/m_pages_english/main_index_e.php3?link=4&sub=1&linkname=mecablitz

( in case the above url is too long, try )

There are also Digi-Slave flash units as slave flash for your
digital camera. And there are WEIN peanut slaves that can be
plugged into a Vivitar 283 or 285 flash or any flash that has a
hotshoe contact or PC sync connector so that the flash will work as
a slave flash.

http://www.d-store.com/d-store/Digi-Slave/digislaveindex.htm

http://www.weinproducts.com/photo.htm

James
AaronIndy said:
James_with_C_5050 said:
6. If you shoot in-doors and portraits a lot, get some external
flash unit. And
Click to expand...
?? I thought that you could not use an external flash with the
S30/S40.

Am I missing something?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Aaron,

I have used the Metz 34 CS-2 digital flash with my S30 for quite some time and I have been very happy with it. I mean now whenever I shoot in-door with flash I ALWAYS use this Metz flash with my S30, which does make a BIG difference. Here is some more info/setup about the Metz flash:

1. It has a Guide Number of 34 metres at ISO 21.

2. It has a master/slave mode switch so the flash can work as the master/main flash on your camera (digital or film) if the camera has a hotshoe or sync terminal.

3. It has a slave mode switch to fire the flash upon sensing the first flash or the second flash ( that is, ignoring the pre-flash) from your camera's built-in flash.

4. It has a flash power switch for M, A1, A2 and A3. M is manual flash with FULL flash power. A1, A2 and A3 are for auto flash with different flash power levels.

5. It does NOT have a rotatable flash head (but I hold the flash unit in my hand so I can point it to any angle anyway)

6. It's compact (much smaller than a Canon 420EX or Vivitar 283/285, for example)

In my case of using it with my S30, I set the flash to Slave Mode 2 (to ignore the first or pre-flash from S30) and set it to A1 for auto flash power.

I usually hold my S30 in one hand and hold the Metz flash in the other hand (pointing the flash unit to a ceiling for bounced flash). So there are NO physical or electrical connections whatsoever between the flash and the camera). It's just that the flash from the camera's built-in flash will trigger the slave flash. Of course if you like, you can put such a slave flash on a tripod or on a bracket connected to your camera but still there are no real eletrical connection between the flash and the camera.

This Metz digital flash is a bit pricy. The Digi-Slave ones might be cheaper. And a WEIN peanut slave with a Vivitar flash is another option. All work in the same way as a slave flash. Keep in mind, the WEIN peanut slave currently can NOT ignore the pre-flash from your camera, though I understand WEIN is about to release a digital version of the peanut slave.

And for your info, the S30/S40 does NOT have a pre-flash from its buit-in flash if the camera is set to FULL manual mode (not Auto, Av, Tv...). So with S30/S40 in this FULL manual mode, yes you can use the current peanut slave from WEIN.

Hope this helps you.

James
AaronIndy said:
I appreciate any advice you can give on this.

Aaron
James with S30 said:
http://www.metz.de/1_metz_2000/m_pages_english/main_index_e.php3?link=4&sub=1&linkname=mecablitz

( in case the above url is too long, try )

There are also Digi-Slave flash units as slave flash for your
digital camera. And there are WEIN peanut slaves that can be
plugged into a Vivitar 283 or 285 flash or any flash that has a
hotshoe contact or PC sync connector so that the flash will work as
a slave flash.

http://www.d-store.com/d-store/Digi-Slave/digislaveindex.htm

http://www.weinproducts.com/photo.htm

James
AaronIndy said:
AaronIndy said:
6. If you shoot in-doors and portraits a lot, get some external
flash unit. And
Click to expand...
?? I thought that you could not use an external flash with the
S30/S40.

Am I missing something?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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