K5-ii firmware update - worth it?
862 posts
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Posted 30/12/2013 - 13:26
Follow the instructions to the letter ensuring the battery is fully charged - no reason for it to be nerve racking. Thousand, tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands have done it already with every Pentax DSLR. The process is well documented and proven.
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Posted 30/12/2013 - 13:41
all true, but what's the benefit? even assuming the risk is 0 (and I acknowledge that with careful following of the instructions it should be pretty close to it), it's still a faff, for a start I have to go boot up my Windows PC (my laptop runs Linux).
so is there a real benefit to doing this, or just the ethereal "performance and stability improvements" which are always claimed and rarely justified?
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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
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Posted 30/12/2013 - 13:46
I have updated mine on every release and have not noticed any difference at all. Unless you are using AA batteries, one of the new HD lenses, the 560mm f5.6 or the newer flash units you will have to just take their word for it that there are "performance and stability improvements" 
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Posted 30/12/2013 - 13:47
Not being a Linux type, I may have this wrong but I would have thought you could download the Windows/Macintosh zip file and get the .bin file out of it directly in Linux and copy it to an SD card without ever needing Windows.
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Posted 30/12/2013 - 13:50
thanks guys, alas the HDs and the 560 f/5.6 are well beyond my means for now, so I think I'll leave it on 1.00 unless I encounter a problem.
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Posted 30/12/2013 - 13:51
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:
John K
Quote:
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.
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
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Posted 30/12/2013 - 13:52
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.
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Posted 30/12/2013 - 13:53
John, thanks for that, that's all the information I needed in one place
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Posted 30/12/2013 - 17:05
JAK wrote:
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:
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:
Quote:
Changes to V1.06
Corrected – Unstable performance may rarely occur in firmware version 1.05.
Improved stability for general performance
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
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Posted 30/12/2013 - 21:41
Mongoose wrote:
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.
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.
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Posted 30/12/2013 - 23:10
out of curiosity I unzipped the mac zip in Linux (which is what I use 99% of the time)... so yes they've just zipped the .bin by the looks of things 
]$ 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
]$ 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
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Posted 31/12/2013 - 04:08
The OS of the computer has nothing to do with things. There's nothing to support. The .bin file is the firmware and the relevant OS reading from the card and updating itself us the Camera's OS
[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]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
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Posted 31/12/2013 - 11:03
There is something to support - Depending on what filesystem is on the card itself...
I can't remember what filesystem it uses (Pentax DSLR formatted card), its probably supported well enough under linux though.
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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
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS#Linux
K-3ii
I can't remember what filesystem it uses (Pentax DSLR formatted card), its probably supported well enough under linux though.
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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
Quote:
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.
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
Quote:
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.
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
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Mongoose
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Wiltshire, England
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