Firmware Upgrade - Would You Still?

J

JNewell

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While waiting for the R-D1 to arrived, I searched and read, I think, every thread that discussed the v2 firmware upgrade. Reading it all, it seems like an almost-no brainer. However, I did note some disadvantages. I wanted to ask all of you who did the upgrade: would you still do the upgrade, after living with the changes for a while? There is apparently no going back, so I thought I'd avoid rushing into this.
 
I took about 7K photos with 2 R-D1s, and they are some of my highest quality and favorite digital images.

All on the original firmware. I wouldn't go near the v2 firmware.
 
It's ridiculous not to upgrade.

It cures a number of major ills and it has no effect on the quality of the images produced.

It gives you Adobe RGB, image review, fixes shutter hesitation.

ANECDOTALLY, it lowers battery life a bit, but in truth I haven't noticed this as a major problem.

It's a no-brainer to upgrade to V2.
 
I would certainly do the software update
It solves some problems and the camera will then support 2gb cards.

@ ampguy
You have the RD1-s; your camera is newer and has the software,
the original RD1 does not have.
After the software update both cameras are identical.
Geo
 
No-brainer, upgrade. Yes it reduces battery life but my feeling is that is mostly due to having RAW+JPG and fast image review switched on, both of which can be switched off. Even if you switch those features off you still benefit from the shutter hesitation fix.
 
No regrets. No downsides - apart from increased battery consumption (some have wondered if this is not increased consumption but a remapped battery gauge - the R-D1 was reported to very occasionally fail to fire the shutter or write an image to the SD card, which may have been due to lack of power, so perhaps the firmware (and R-D1s) makes the gauge register empty earlier).

There are links to the firmware on my web page below. I suggest you download my firmware instructions rather than use Epson's, as I've rewritten them (whoever wrote the original wasn't very good at English!)

http://www.richcutler.co.uk/r-d1/r-d1_links.htm
 
RichC said:
There are links to the firmware on my web page below. I suggest you download my firmware instructions rather than use Epson's, as I've rewritten them (whoever wrote the original wasn't very good at English!)

http://www.richcutler.co.uk/r-d1/r-d1_links.htm
Click to expand...

Thanks for the excellent link! I also found this page helpful, in terms of pluses and minuses from the upgrade.
 
Question:

How much slower, if at all, are the RAW + JPEG write times, compared to RAW only in v.1?

Terao said:
No-brainer, upgrade. Yes it reduces battery life but my feeling is that is mostly due to having RAW+JPG and fast image review switched on, both of which can be switched off. Even if you switch those features off you still benefit from the shutter hesitation fix.
Click to expand...
 
to get a feature as Adobe RGB is worth the upgrade. I got the new Rd-1 with old firmware and did update up to newer version without blinking my eyes, lol
 
I waited with upgrading until others had done so. But after all those early reports, I upgraded within a day. I never looked back.

Even the reported increased battery consumption is IMO perhaps a bit overstated. Depending on how I shoot, how much I chimp, and how much I show the previews to my wife and kid, I can get anything between 150 and 300 shots with the original Epson battery. I recently bought an original Fuji battery and this one seems to be in the same league as the Epson battery. Other batteries I tried (generic, and much cheaper) ran out of juice very quickly (usually less than 100 shots to the battery).
 
Doing the upgrade was one of the first things it did with the camera. Never regretted it. Even with more power consumption (if there is any) I wouldn't hesitate. Anyway, buying some spare batteries is recommendable.
 
Longer Format Times...

Longer Format Times...

One thing I read about before I did the upgrade was that I should expect that formating the card could take a long time. I'm using a 2gb Lexar in my R-D1 and it does a complete format in seconds. I haven't run it against a watch, but it's probably less than 10 seconds - very fast. 😕
 
JNewell said:
One thing I read about before I did the upgrade was that I should expect that formating the card could take a long time. I'm using a 2gb Lexar in my R-D1 and it does a complete format in seconds. I haven't run it against a watch, but it's probably less than 10 seconds - very fast. 😕
Click to expand...

Same for me with SanDisk Extreme III GB, II2 GB, Ultra II 1GB and 2GB Kingston cards.
 
Well, "long" is relative. I didn't take any notice of how long formatting took either before or after the upgrade, but I can't say that I' drumming my fingers waiting since the upgrade!
 
I upgraded mine as soon as the battery was fully charged. One of the additions in V2 is a menu item for mapping out hot pixels. Shooting a blank of the inside of the body cap at the highest ISO setting alerted me to about half a dozen (which would've made for a lot of extra work in CS cloning!), the mapping routine cured them in seconds. Before V1 it was necessary to send the camera in to Epson...something I would want to avoid at all costs 😱 Then there's the ability to use 2GB SD cards, also a major convenience.
 
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