K5-ii firmware update - worth it?
so is there a real benefit to doing this, or just the ethereal "performance and stability improvements" which are always claimed and rarely justified?
you don't have to be mad to post here
but it does help

. My Flickr
you don't have to be mad to post here
but it does help
Changes to V1.06
Corrected – Unstable performance may rarely occur in firmware version 1.05.
Improved stability for general performance
*Contents of [Version 1.05] and earlier version will be also updated.
Changes to V1.05
Correspond to the AF assist light function by white LED light for auto flash unit [AF360FGZII] and [AF540FGZII].
Optimized contrast AF when using HD PENTAX-DA Limited series lenses
Improved stability for general performance
Changes to V1.04
Corrected – Switch operation may not rarely work during displaying Status screen in firmware version 1.03.
Improved stability for general performance.
Changes to V1.03
Improved the accuracy of exposure when using AA batteries.
Improved stability for general performance.
Changes to V1.02
Optimized contrast AF when using [HD PENTAX-DA 560mmF5.6ED AW] lens.
Improved stability for general performance.
Changes to V1.01
Enabled contrast adjustment on Monitor.
(Added [contrast ]on [LCD setting ]menu)
Improved stability for general performance.
John K
you don't have to be mad to post here
but it does help
you don't have to be mad to post here
but it does help
There have been six updates. Only you can decide whether it is worth updating your camera, I wouldn't like to make that decision for you via a forum! The quoted updates are:
Changes to V1.06
Corrected – Unstable performance may rarely occur in firmware version 1.05.
Improved stability for general performance
I wish they'd stop putting the silly "Improved stability for general performance" in every update notification. They've really made a mockery of it with V1.06

[i]Bodies: 1x K-5IIs, 2x K-5, Sony TX-5, Nokia 808
Lenses: Pentax DA 10-17mm ED(IF) Fish Eye, Pentax DA 14mm f/2.8, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8, Pentax-A 28mm f/2.8, Sigma 30mm F1.4 EX DC, Pentax-A 50mm f/1.2, Pentax-A 50mm f/1.4, Pentax-FA 50mm f/1.4, Pentax-A 50mm f/1.7, Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8, Sigma 135-400mm APO DG, and more ..
Flash: AF-540FGZ, Vivitar 283
I saw that the download was an exe and assumed there must be an application, if it's just a self extracting archive with a bin file in it then I could probably unzip it with an archive manager.
There's 2 download options, one is an exe, the other a zip.



]$ mkdir /tmp/pentax
]$ unzip -d /tmp/pentax/ 1366296603_k5_2_104.zip
Archive: 1366296603_k5_2_104.zip
inflating: /tmp/pentax/k5_2_104/fwdc216b.bin
]$ find /tmp/pentax/ -name "*"
/tmp/pentax/
/tmp/pentax/k5_2_104
/tmp/pentax/k5_2_104/fwdc216b.bin
I see no reason why it wouldn't work from linux, you then just copy the .bin to the SD card. But it won't be a supported OS no doubt and if the camera got bricked they'd probably point to the OS even if it wasn't that. Might be best to follow the supported procedure.
K-3ii
[i]Bodies: 1x K-5IIs, 2x K-5, Sony TX-5, Nokia 808
Lenses: Pentax DA 10-17mm ED(IF) Fish Eye, Pentax DA 14mm f/2.8, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8, Pentax-A 28mm f/2.8, Sigma 30mm F1.4 EX DC, Pentax-A 50mm f/1.2, Pentax-A 50mm f/1.4, Pentax-FA 50mm f/1.4, Pentax-A 50mm f/1.7, Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8, Sigma 135-400mm APO DG, and more ..
Flash: AF-540FGZ, Vivitar 283
I can't remember what filesystem it uses (Pentax DSLR formatted card), its probably supported well enough under linux though.
-----------------------------
If you were using NTFS though, you might not trust it from Mac or Linux (if you were paranoid).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS#Mac_OS_X
Native NTFS write support has been discovered in Mac OS X 10.6 and later, but is not activated by default, although workarounds do exist to enable the functionality. However, user reports indicate the functionality is unstable and tends to cause kernel panics, probably the reason why write support has not been enabled or advertised.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS#Linux
Due to the complexity of internal NTFS structures, both the built-in 2.6.14 kernel driver and the FUSE drivers disallow changes to the volume that are considered unsafe, to avoid corruption.
K-3ii
Mongoose
Member
Wiltshire, England
you don't have to be mad to post here
but it does help