Is it possible to "downgrade" to an earlier firmware release using the "reset" function?

[jm10]

I noticed that there were several reports of an increased "whirring noise" coming out of the 18-55 mm lense after the upgrade (on this and other forums). Have not performed the upgrade yet but trying to play it safe...I do understand that the firmware upgrade is a "one way" process, and normally you cannot load and older version (which surprises me - even Microsoft allows you to "downgrade" to windows 7...). Does the "reset" function in one of the menus reset the body and lens to the original versions? If not, is there another way to fool the camera into going back to its pristine condition?


Thanks!

jacob

 

[bowportes]

Ed B wrote:
I suppose the I.T. people are right. The one thing better about Widows 8 is that it will be supported longer that Windows 7 but I've read so many negative comments about it that 7 seemed like a safer choice for me.

I guess that I just don't have an adventurous nature.

I've used most versions of Windows going all the way back to version 2.0.

Windows 8 is slick, stable, and behaves almost exactly like Windows 7 if you want to limit it to that. It's kind of like Focus Peaking -- If you don't like it, you can turn it off -- but it gives you something new to work with.

Have a Windows 8 machine and wish it was 7? Type [WINDOWS+D] for Desktop, and you'll feel right at home. If you have a touch screen though, and you've used a Tablet, you'll come to like the Windows 8 Metro interface once you become accustomed to it. Most of those who have complained about Windows 8 complained because they felt they had to waste time learning something new and different, a legitimate complaint for people who are busy.

 

[jm10]

bowportes wrote:

Ed B wrote:

I suppose the I.T. people are right. The one thing better about Widows 8 is that it will be supported longer that Windows 7 but I've read so many negative comments about it that 7 seemed like a safer choice for me.

I guess that I just don't have an adventurous nature.

I've used most versions of Windows going all the way back to version 2.0.

Windows 8 is slick, stable, and behaves almost exactly like Windows 7 if you want to limit it to that. It's kind of like Focus Peaking -- If you don't like it, you can turn it off -- but it gives you something new to work with.

Have a Windows 8 machine and wish it was 7? Type [WINDOWS+D] for Desktop, and you'll feel right at home. If you have a touch screen though, and you've used a Tablet, you'll come to like the Windows 8 Metro interface once you become accustomed to it. Most of those who have complained about Windows 8 complained because they felt they had to waste time learning something new and different, a legitimate complaint for people who are busy.

bowportes,

Would like to see Ed's reply here..

My needs are probably quite different from most computer users - no slick features - I need a caveman's version of windows. So my first action with a Win 8 machine would be to make look as much as I can like Win XP):. I know, I am in the minority here, but the needs are minimal - no Metro, no Facebook, Twitter, no tablet, no smartphone. Just plain old control panel, easy access to files, email, browser, couple of Photo-related programs and Microsoft Office (2003) - now I wonder if this one will work...so you can see where I am coming from. But I cannot pass up the recent Costco Dell deals on some 4-th Generation i7 machines...and it will get hooked up to the old but trusted parallel port LaserJet 1100 printer): (I know it does not have the port...).

Regards,

jacob

 

[Apteryx6]

Raist3d wrote:

I see some people are picking on the smallest of things that may be even imagined, vs the real huge benefits the latest firmware provides.

--
Raist3d/Ricardo (Photographer, software dev.)- I photograph black cats in coal mines at night...
“The further a society drifts from truth the more it will hate those who speak it.” - George Orwell

With the X100 it is easy - if you have kept a copy of an earlier FW update (Fuji do not keep earlier FW available for download). If you put a file with the right name for a FW update for the camera on an SD card in the camera and press Update Firmware, it will replace the firmware in the camera with the firmware on the card, regardless of which is later. I went back and forth several times between FW 1.20 and FW 1.13 for the X100 before Fuji corrected the bug in FW 1.20 with FW 1.21.

It could be trickier with interchangeable lens cameras. You would have to be sure that the latest firmware you have for the lens was compatible with the older firmware that you were going back to.

--
Apteryx

 

[jm10]

Apteryx6 wrote:

Raist3d wrote:

I see some people are picking on the smallest of things that may be even imagined, vs the real huge benefits the latest firmware provides.

--
Raist3d/Ricardo (Photographer, software dev.)- I photograph black cats in coal mines at night...
“The further a society drifts from truth the more it will hate those who speak it.” - George Orwell

With the X100 it is easy - if you have kept a copy of an earlier FW update (Fuji do not keep earlier FW available for download). If you put a file with the right name for a FW update for the camera on an SD card in the camera and press Update Firmware, it will replace the firmware in the camera with the firmware on the card, regardless of which is later. I went back and forth several times between FW 1.20 and FW 1.13 for the X100 before Fuji corrected the bug in FW 1.20 with FW 1.21.

It could be trickier with interchangeable lens cameras. You would have to be sure that the latest firmware you have for the lens was compatible with the older firmware that you were going back to.

--
Apteryx

Apteryx,

I have not tried this but I don't think that this will work. The Fuji website has a number of error messages that can come up; here is one of them:

I somehow cannot paste in the text, so I will type:

CAUSE: "The firmware upgrade on the memory card is not newer than the firmware currently on the camera"

RESPONSE: "The currently installed firmware is the latest version, so no firmware upgrade is required". I think this is what I am going to see if I try this:

jacob

 

[Tom Schum]

jm10 wrote:
Apteryx,

I have not tried this but I don't think that this will work. The Fuji website has a number of error messages that can come up; here is one of them:

I somehow cannot paste in the text, so I will type:

CAUSE: "The firmware upgrade on the memory card is not newer than the firmware currently on the camera"

RESPONSE: "The currently installed firmware is the latest version, so no firmware upgrade is required". I think this is what I am going to see if I try this:

jacob

A while back on the Sigma forum, they monkeyed with the firmware rev number so the camera thought the older firmware was newer than the newest firmware. They got it to work, too.

I found it all too scary, and merely waited a few weeks. Sigma then brought out a newer revision that fixed the problems.

My guess is that's what Fuji is doing as we speak.

--
Tom Schum

 

[jm10]

Tom Schum wrote:

jm10 wrote:

Apteryx,

I have not tried this but I don't think that this will work. The Fuji website has a number of error messages that can come up; here is one of them:

I somehow cannot paste in the text, so I will type:

CAUSE: "The firmware upgrade on the memory card is not newer than the firmware currently on the camera"

RESPONSE: "The currently installed firmware is the latest version, so no firmware upgrade is required". I think this is what I am going to see if I try this:

jacob

A while back on the Sigma forum, they monkeyed with the firmware rev number so the camera thought the older firmware was newer than the newest firmware. They got it to work, too.

I found it all too scary, and merely waited a few weeks. Sigma then brought out a newer revision that fixed the problems.

My guess is that's what Fuji is doing as we speak.

--
Tom Schum

Tom,

I would be afraid to mess with the files also. Interesting that someone did it though.

Thanks!

jacob

 

[Apteryx6]

jm10 wrote:

Apteryx6 wrote:
With the X100 it is easy - if you have kept a copy of an earlier FW update (Fuji do not keep earlier FW available for download). If you put a file with the right name for a FW update for the camera on an SD card in the camera and press Update Firmware, it will replace the firmware in the camera with the firmware on the card, regardless of which is later. I went back and forth several times between FW 1.20 and FW 1.13 for the X100 before Fuji corrected the bug in FW 1.20 with FW 1.21.

It could be trickier with interchangeable lens cameras. You would have to be sure that the latest firmware you have for the lens was compatible with the older firmware that you were going back to.

 

[jm10]

Apteryx6 wrote:

jm10 wrote:

Apteryx6 wrote:

With the X100 it is easy - if you have kept a copy of an earlier FW update (Fuji do not keep earlier FW available for download). If you put a file with the right name for a FW update for the camera on an SD card in the camera and press Update Firmware, it will replace the firmware in the camera with the firmware on the card, regardless of which is later. I went back and forth several times between FW 1.20 and FW 1.13 for the X100 before Fuji corrected the bug in FW 1.20 with FW 1.21.

It could be trickier with interchangeable lens cameras. You would have to be sure that the latest firmware you have for the lens was compatible with the older firmware that you were going back to.

 

[Apteryx6]

jm10 wrote:
As you mentioned previously it may be trickier because of separate files for body and lens.

Yes. And that not only means that if Fuji does still allow it even for interchangeable lens cameras, users have to be more careful to ensure that their lens FW is not later than the old body FW they are trying to install, it also gives Fuji a reason to set up their interchangeable lens cameras so that it is impossible to write an earlier FW over a later one, to prevent customers bricking their cameras by not being careful to ensure that their lens FW is not later than the old body FW they are trying to reinstall.

I am inclined to agree that it is not worth the risk for owners of interchangeable lens cameras to try this. So unless someone has already tried it, in ignorance of the risk they are running, we will probably never know whether it would work