Future Firmware Updates For K7

I know everyones attention will now be on the K5, but I wondered if any of the features in the K5 will find their way into a firmware update for the K7? Moreover will any future updates for the K7 now slip away?

I very much doubt any K-5 features will be added to the K-7. The idea is to flog the K-5 after all.


The K-7 is being phased out in some areas but kept in the line-up in others. I suspect firmware updates will be few and far between now, just as they were for the K20D once the K-7 was released.

Didn't happen with the K10D and the K20D or when the K7 was released

There was a firmware update (1.03-1.04) for the K20 after production ceased.

Pentax have never yet taken features from a new model and retrofitted them in the form of a firmware release for older models.

I'm reasonably certain they will not start now.

Thans for your comments! I guess I will just have to save and justify a K5 to my wife one day.

You could hack/force the K5 firmware onto the K7, someone has done that with the K10D forcing K20D firmware on it.

Would like to see tethering added to the K-7, that would be easy to do, but can't see it happening!

I was musing about this issue - and clearly part of the problem is that it costs money to develop new software for an old camera, so manufacturers (in general) prefer to sell you a new camera with new features (so they get income), instead of putting new features on old cameras (which they make no money on).

Now whilst there are some areas that there are hardware limits on (such as buffers for continous shooting), there's others (such as tethering, no DFS, in-camera effects, etc) that could easily be added - except they don't make any money on new Firmware, unless they charged for it. And if they did make a nominal charge, it wouldn't take 5 minutes before someone pirates it.

Then I had a brainwave, that would make everyone happy. Firmware updates that are encrypted to your cameras serial number, but cost only a nominal amount (e.g. £20). If they charge too much, nobody buys it (or buys a new / different camera). If people copy it, it doesn't work. And the market isn't big enough for anyone to bother cracking the encryption.

Its also "Green" - because you are extending the life of perfectly good cameras, instead of binning them after 2 years....and saves customers money...I suspect that the profit margin on a new camera isn't that big anyway, so would be a good way of increasing their profits as well as giving a continous income...

The downside would be a dominent manufacturer could use this as a way of jacking-up prices from "pro" users who are locked-in to their system (in the same way Adobe make a fortune from a small number of Pro Photoshop users, whilst most of the world pirates it). But that's where competition comes in, as its not a monopoly market where users can't move elsewhere (unlike Adobe/Microsoft/Apple).


I'm sure there's flaws in this, but I suspect its more of an attitude change by both customers and manufacturers that would be needed.

Just a random thought at 4am...

They should just release and SDK package so you can tweak the firmware of older models yourself.
I'm sure that some will be handy enough to transport features from one firmware to another.

Problem is this all at your own risk.

I wonder how long it will be before a version of Windows is available for digital cameras, update any camera to microsofts own software which will include drivers for all the popular models

We could even end up playing games on the LCD screens

I can see how having spyware and malware installed on your camera can be a good thing....
you go to take a picture, get the blue screen of death, while you're fidgeting with it to get the sd card to uninstall, it snaps a shot of your groin and sends it to a porn site that then blackmails you to take it off thier website... by selling you malware removal software...., pop up ads swamp you with ten open windows when using live view mode, obstructing you from taking photos until you've seen every ad... your lens won't zoom until you buy a Microsoft approve flash unit, whos drivers won't work with you current sensor and a new sensor will require upgrading your camera os, but you'll need newer sd cards to install the new os...

Then mac will release a camera with a new osx that works beautifully... but only with official mac sdcards, and you can only see your photos through i-tunes.... and you'll void your warranty if you open it up to replace the battery...


I think I just had an aneurism. You have killed me with this stupidity.

Are you happy?
installing windoze in anything is a recipe for disaster, if computers have taught us anything...

Cracking isn't all about market share... it's usually about the thrill and challenge of reverse engineering.

I write firmware for a living (not cameras, alas) but the principles are the same. Adding serial-number-locked firmware upgrades is a huge investment of time and resources. I've been there, done it, and it's a big challenge combining cryptographic techniques etc (which in itself can also open up a can of worms with export/import regulations :roll.

Very unlikely. It's quite likely that the O/S used will be licensed specifically for a single product, or just product range. You'd be talking 5 or 6 figure sums for the development software for such an O/S - and that's without including the actual software for the product!


The commercial side of firmware development is very, very different to that of Windows, OS X, or Linux... plus there are usually very important IP (intellectual property) skills tightly wrapped up in firmware that a company is definitely not going to release!

It's nice to dream though
Matt

Funny you say that, there are now TV's coming on the market with google Android on it.

So yeah maybe something like that or an specialise linux OS.

Indeed but I believe Canon does something like that though but ain't sure.
And what do they have to lose releasing firmware that's 6 years old... that's like something from the stone-age in digital terms

They might even learn some tricks or find interesting ideas from people that coded their own firmware.

Haven't quite got games yet...

[IMG]http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t244/chris5gd/Technical/PentaxRunningWindows.jpg[/IMG]