On Sep 19, 2005, at 10:38 AM, Barry Rice wrote:
I've been playing with my new *ist DS over the weekend. I'd love to
show you
all the fabulous photos I've been taking with it, but they've
almost all
been of my toes or the bookshelves as I've worked my way through
the manual.
So far it's all very sensible.
Glad to hear you're enjoying it.
So could someone explain what the talk is about "firmware" updates?
Since I
expect to shoot exclusively at the RAW setting, I assume I'll use
the Pentax
software to apply a few corrections to the images on my machine. Is
there
some update or patch I should download, in addition to the software
supplied
with the camera?
Firmware updates are generally released to correct or improve upon
existing behaviors in the camera. Sometimes they add a feature or
two, or extend an existing feature.
Pentax has released two updates for the DS. The first one was
targeted to reduce green channel noise which was affecting quality
with long exposures, as used in astronomical photography. The second
was designed to extend the DS' file system capabilities to allow for
larger than 1Gbyte storage cards (2Gbyte SD cards are now easily
available, and 4G will be soon).
I also suspect that they've done a minor change to the JPEG rendering
and/or exposure control system with the second update as I find that
the average image quality from lenses like the 28-105 seems just a
little more consistent for exposures made after the second update was
installed. The documentation says nothing about that, I just suspect it.
If you go to http://www.pentaximaging.com and look in the Support/
Downloads area, you can download the latest updates (v1.02) which
includes both updates. It's worth doing, if for no other reason than
to keep your camera up to date. You can check which version of
firmware is installed by holding the Menu button down while you turn
on the power.
FWIW, I use Paint Shop Pro instead of Photoshop, if such a comment
is relevant.
Makes no difference as to whether or not you install the firmware
update. I would recommend that you obtain either RawShooter
Essentials, Phase One's Camera 1, or other RAW conversion software
(dcraw, Silkypix, VueScan, etc) in preference to what Pentax
supplies, however, if you don't want to buy Photoshop Elements 3 or
Photoshop CS2. Pentax Lab is pretty clumsy to use and doesn't present
editing options that are as useful as the third party offerings.
Godfrey
