Camera firmware and what it does
Cameras aren’t just boxes with a lens on the front. They incorporate highly sophisticated internal processing and control systems. These combine the circuitry and processing chips themselves, but these are also ‘programmed’ with the instructions to do their job. This fusion of hardware and re-programmable instructions is called ‘firmware’.
It’s not like installing a new app on your computer. This firmware is tightly integrated with the camera hardware itself. It’s a bit like the operating system on your computer. And, from time to time, camera makers do release firmware updates which you can install yourself to upgrade or improve the camera’s operation.
How do you know if your camera needs a firmware update? You can just Google the name of your camera and ‘firmware updates’ and see what comes up (only ever download firmware from the official manufacturer site). You can check your camera’s current firmware version via its menus – the manual will tell you how.
What firmware updates do
Firmware updates rarely make a game-changing difference to the camera’s capabilities. But when a firmware update is released, it is usually worth installing. Here are the three principal things that firmware updates do:
- They fix bugs: Cameras are complex things and they are often launched with bugs and glitches that you may not notice except in very specific shooting situations. Sometimes these glitches are serious, sometimes they’re not, but firmware updates are worth doing for this reason alone.
- They add features that were promised but weren’t ready in time: This happens quite a lot. Camera makers promise features that don’t quite get finished in time for the launch. It’s annoying, but users do eventually get these promised features via a firmware update.
- They add whole new capabilities that no-one expected: This can happen with autofocus systems, for example, where it turns out the camera hardware is capable of much more than expected when the camera was launched and the makers unlock these capabilities as a bonus for later on.
Installing firmware updates
Firmware updates are easy to install but it must be done methodically and carefully because if the update is interrupted, for example, you may be left with an unresponsive camera that actually has to go to a repair center to be got working again.
The usual route is for the camera maker to offer the firmware update as a downloadable file which you copy to a freshly formatted memory card. You insert this into the camera and then restart it following specific instructions. You then have the option of installing the update – this can take a couple of minutes, and the camera must be fully charged to avoid any risk of the update being interrupted.
Some makers do it slightly differently. OM System offers firmware updates via its own software, which updates the camera via a cable connected to the computer.
Firmware updates are free but there are occasional exceptions.
Panasonic, for example, has periodically offered additional video features, like log profiles, for example, via a paid ‘software key’. Technically, it’s not so much a firmware update as a firmware add-on.
Lenses have firmware too
This applies to both own-brand camera manufacturer lenses and many third party lenses. This is becoming more common as the interactions between cameras and lenses become more sophisticated.
With camera makers’ own lenses, you will see the lens firmware version alongside the camera’s. This will change according to the lens you’ve got fitted. You can download and update the firmware for both.
With third-party lens makers, this doesn’t happen in the same way. Instead, you update the lens firmware separately via a USB cable or adapter.
Should you update your firmware immediately?
Not necessarily. Cameras rarely have security issues that need immediate fixes (except maybe unprotected wi-fi) in the way that computers and mobile devices do, and if you haven’t encountered the specific shooting situations where bug fixes are applied, there’s no great urgency there either. It’s nice to have new features, of course.
However, there have been instances of bungled firmware updates that don’t work as intended and actually leave you worse off or, in the worst case, stop the camera from functioning properly. These are usually fixed very quickly, with great embarrassment, but that might be too late.
If you want to be cautious about it, wait a couple of weeks after a firmware update is released before installing it. That will give time for any problems to surface and get fixed. Firmware updates are simple enough to do but they are still a serious step and not so easy to roll back if they go wrong.
