There are folks out there who are not fans of firmware updates. Their believes: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
This believe belongs to the computer technicians in the 80's or 90's. It applies mainly to the firmwares for servers. Sometimes a new firmware does not help with the problem, it instead introduces new problems or cause the whole system to crash.
How or why does this happen? In my perspective, I'll relate the cause to the operating system's (OS) capabilities. They were not as robust as they currently are, thus any significant changes to how the motherboard addresses it's I/O (input output commands) may cause the OS to panic and thus crash. Modern systems should no longer experience this problem, since they are written to support multiple hardware off the shelves, hot swapping etc.
I'm an advocate of firmware updates. If there's a new release, I'll update. Why? Because the updates are there to fix problems, not create them (well, they may in rare cases, but these are normally fixed pretty quickly).
Firmware updates includes fixes as well as new features or enhancements to existing features, so, why not?
Firmware upgrades not only applies to cameras. They apply to a lot of other things like your computer: the motherboard, video card etc etc... Even your mobile phone needs an update from time to time!
For those who are afraid of updating firmware, we are now living in the 21st century. Firmware updates are really reliable and easy to perform. It's not like back when updates may fail halfway. The updates nowadays are very well written. If it fails, it will reverse to the previous working version. It's so advanced that all you need to do is connect up your device, run the update, and off it goes! 'Fully' automated!
Like I said, I'm an advocate of firmware updates. I update all the computers that comes to my desk, and I also update the servers that require any maintenance. If you are still worried, then do this: wait a month after the latest firmware has been released. Google around to see if anyone complains about the latest firmware. If there's no major complains about the firmware, I'll bet the firmware is good and you are safe to update.
Enough of my ranting already. Time to go do some updates!
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Some important updates
Seems like I'm turning this into a monthly (or more) blog.
Family life has been top priority for the past months. Been spending more time with my daughter after she went back to school. OK, let's get things going.
Important updates you should know of!
1) Firmware updates (v1.01 & v1.03) for Nikon D5100 and D7000. For those who have been plagued by the memory card problems (mostly Sandisk cards), Nikon has finally released an update to resolve the issue. Note: Whether it resolves or not, I'm not sure. I don't own the D5100 and I don't have this problem on my D7000.
2) ViewNX 2 updated to version 2.2.3
This is the basic software that comes with your DSLR to view and edit your photos. For home users who are not using other advanced software, please update your version for the bug fixes. (I realized mine was version 2.0.2!!!)
3) Updated NEF codec support (v1.12.0).
Thanks to the Nikon 1 series cameras, NEF got updated again. This time, it works for D7000 NEF files as well! What this does is: it enables your windows explorer to view NEF files directly. If you do not have this installed, the pictures you have taken will only appear as the NEF icon in thumbnail view. With this codec, windows explorer will display your pictures like JPEGs. Advantages: You can finally sort / delete your NEF files directly from windows explorer. I'm gonna do some housekeeping after this to remove all the random shots I took (NEF files are huge and take up tons of space!).
Family life has been top priority for the past months. Been spending more time with my daughter after she went back to school. OK, let's get things going.
Important updates you should know of!
1) Firmware updates (v1.01 & v1.03) for Nikon D5100 and D7000. For those who have been plagued by the memory card problems (mostly Sandisk cards), Nikon has finally released an update to resolve the issue. Note: Whether it resolves or not, I'm not sure. I don't own the D5100 and I don't have this problem on my D7000.
2) ViewNX 2 updated to version 2.2.3
This is the basic software that comes with your DSLR to view and edit your photos. For home users who are not using other advanced software, please update your version for the bug fixes. (I realized mine was version 2.0.2!!!)
3) Updated NEF codec support (v1.12.0).
Thanks to the Nikon 1 series cameras, NEF got updated again. This time, it works for D7000 NEF files as well! What this does is: it enables your windows explorer to view NEF files directly. If you do not have this installed, the pictures you have taken will only appear as the NEF icon in thumbnail view. With this codec, windows explorer will display your pictures like JPEGs. Advantages: You can finally sort / delete your NEF files directly from windows explorer. I'm gonna do some housekeeping after this to remove all the random shots I took (NEF files are huge and take up tons of space!).
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