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Updating Sony EX-3 Firmware
Hi All, I’ve got an EX-3 that I’ve had since late 2007 and never updated the firmware, so without looking I’m guessing I’m on 1.0-something. Anyhoo, I’ve read some horror stories online of people that have followed the instructions to the letter but had problems resulting in dead cameras – is this possible and/or likely to happen? I basically make no money from my equipment as it is at the moment and certainly can’t afford to kill a £6,000 camera.
I’m in the UK and I’ve asked CVP/Mitcorp if they’ll do it and they’ve replied to tell me it’s two hours labour at £75 per hour, plus I’ll have to sort out carraige on top, so this is going to cost me £200 if I don’t do it myself.
Thanks,
Tom. -
5 Replies
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My personal view on this.
Many people update the camera themselves successfully. A small number of people do brick the camera and the repair is well over $1000 US otherwise a very long trip to Sony Japan for many weeks at a lower price (and you have to ask for this as it’s not offered as an option apparently).You can drive for years, never using a seat belt and you’d be just fine short of accident and even some of those won’t be too serious. Would you consider getting in your car without wearing a seat belt? As noted, most of the time you’d be OK.
It depends on your attitude towards risk. The large cost of repair for the small chance of failure vs paying to have this done for you with service center that warranties their service.
Personally I’d rather pay a service center do this. I can make back that money in just part of a day. On the other hand if the small chance of failure happened I’d be out, not only the high cost of repair but weeks of downtime with high loses. Of course if you have several cameras that might be different.
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If it’s below 1.0.5 it may be a moot point as it can only be user updated at 1.0.5 or higher.
It’s a safe process but there is no way to totally eliminate a small amount of risk when you are writing firmware from a computer. The majority of users get this done without issue but if you are concerned most Sony repair centers will do it for you for 1-2 hrs labor.
Cheers
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Using a Sony authorised service centre to do a firmware upgrade, will provide a certain level of security and it’s a good idea.
In Sydney, where there is a population of over 4M, from my knowledge, there are only 2 centres which will provide the upgrade for a fee, and if you consider that Sony can bring out up to 2 upgrades per year, the exercise of upgrading your firmware each time, can become an expensive exercise! So you can understand how a lot of people, like ourselves, will upgrade their firmware themselves successfully.
Of course, you have to stick with the basic rule that you should only attempt this if you have reasonable knowledge of how computers work, after all, the bulk of the technology inside the Sony camera is based on it.
Yes, we have heard of bricking Sony cameras but, in our view, most of the time it is caused by the user not understanding the correct procedure or on occasions, the camera being faulty without the owner’s knowledge.
MxM Express
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I’ve upgraded twice and encountered no problems. I recommend you fully remove the shoulder pad to access the USB port and follow the instructions closely.
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I have firmware 1.02_00078.
Is it possible to do it in two steps – updating from 1.02 to 1.05 and then to 1.16 or later? Or is it only Sony that does that?
Cheers
Lars
Lars M Falkenstrom
http://www.tapir.tv
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