firmware upgrades for S304

[Arcturus]

Hello people,

I am a satisfied S304 owner, and recently I e-mailed Minolta to ask if they would upgrade the S304/S404 firmware. The reply was:

As far as we know, there will be no firmware-update for this camera.
Howerever as soon as there will be one it will appear on our website:
http://www.minoltaeurope.com

I hope i provided you enough informations.
Regards,
P. Roorda
Minolta-QMS Support

Is it only me who would like such an upgrade ?
Am I going crazy ?

jim

 

[whittonj]

I think maybe it is a bit crazy to assume that a camera company will upgrade a product that has no signifcant problems to it- especially 1 or 2 years after it was produced. With the 304's track record and 404's rave reviews I would assume Minolta's time will be spent developing new products (let's hope). They've pretty much said no for the D5- despite the (large-ish) vocal crowd claiming poor AF on the D5- a more expensive camera. I believe the D7 upgrade was due to anticipated complaints from those who had just purchased D7's (their top of the line) just to turn around a see minolta release the D7(i) new and improved x months later.

The recent HP upgrade was due to severe problems and poor reviews. Others have addressed specific problems. I may be missing some generous companies that produced upgrades just for the fun of it.

Not saying it is the way it should be or that it wouldn't be nice (I could use faster AF on my 404), I just wouldn't expect it. I wish camera companies would release source code and let our smart little hacker friends from norway or denmark or wherever play with the firmware. You could just download the firmware with the features you wanted and without those you didn't. Doubt it's that simple...

I am a satisfied S304 owner, and recently I e-mailed Minolta to ask
if they would upgrade the S304/S404 firmware. The reply was:

As far as we know, there will be no firmware-update for this camera.
Howerever as soon as there will be one it will appear on our website:
http://www.minoltaeurope.com

I hope i provided you enough informations.
Regards,
P. Roorda
Minolta-QMS Support

Is it only me who would like such an upgrade ?
Am I going crazy ?

jim

 

[Arcturus]

It does make sense the way you describe. I am a programmer myself, I would be so happy to get any kind of source files to play with. Doesn't it make you feel stupid when you switch the camera to "Play" mode, and the lens just comes out as if you would take shots ??? And it DOES suck all battery energy so fast !!! I could easily make a list of stuff (including the slow AF you mentioned) but then again, would anyone read it?

Thanks for replyin
Jim

The recent HP upgrade was due to severe problems and poor reviews.
Others have addressed specific problems. I may be missing some
generous companies that produced upgrades just for the fun of it.

Not saying it is the way it should be or that it wouldn't be nice
(I could use faster AF on my 404), I just wouldn't expect it. I
wish camera companies would release source code and let our smart
little hacker friends from norway or denmark or wherever play with
the firmware. You could just download the firmware with the
features you wanted and without those you didn't. Doubt it's that
simple...

I am a satisfied S304 owner, and recently I e-mailed Minolta to ask
if they would upgrade the S304/S404 firmware. The reply was:

As far as we know, there will be no firmware-update for this camera.
Howerever as soon as there will be one it will appear on our website:
http://www.minoltaeurope.com

I hope i provided you enough informations.
Regards,
P. Roorda
Minolta-QMS Support

Is it only me who would like such an upgrade ?
Am I going crazy ?

jim