Panasonic LX3 Firmware
For
those who are beginners, the firmware in a camera is the operating
software of that camera but kept in a type of memory that retains
its contents even when power has been turned off. The firmware can be
altered at the factory, distributed via the Internet and then rewritten into the camera in order to update features
or fix previous bugs in operation. Some internal operations of the
camera are built into chip architecture and cannot be changed.
The LX3 battery is
an old design and will never have any chipping lockout.
First up the link to Panasonic is http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/dsc/download/LX3/index.html
to find the latest release of the firmware for the LX3. As at 29 July
2010 it is V2.2, but no changes to operation or quality occurred, just an internal tidy-up it seems going from 2.1 to 2.2.
A PDF about the new features in V2.0 and up is here https://av.jpn.support.panasonic.com/support/share/eww/en/dsc/lx3/DMC-LX3_eng.pdf
The instructions on the update page are quite clear, but
here for Windows users only I will try and re-write those instructions
to be maybe even clearer.
The aim is to get the firmware file
onto an SD or SDHC card and then use that card in the camera to cause
the internal firmware to be changed over to the new version.
Before
proceeding, become comfortable with transferring files (images) from
the memory card to the computer and vice versa either using the
directly connected camera or using a card reader. Also get used to
exploring your disks and folders using My Computer or Windows Explorer.
Access My Computer from Vista Start > Computer, access XP from Start
> My Computer. For what I call Windows Explorer use win e to get it
to start (hold Windows key and briefly press e) and in Vista it looks
remarkably like My Computer screen, in XP is looks a little different
with a more logical (to me) layout of left right windows showing the
contents on the right of things selected on the left side. Play with
these exploring programs until you are familiar with looking in folders
anywhere, if already happy with this then move on....
Maybe the best way is to read their text and then for me to translate to maybe something simpler to understand.....
Until I sort out screen images and crops to place here, this link.....
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1033&message=32017822
does show the LX3 screens you will see during the update process.
First,
read the current firmware level in the camera and only do the update if
the new version is higher. It usually jumps in numbers like 1.0
to 1.1 to 1.2 to 1.3. But may at times have a minor update and it is
reasonable to maybe see a later update like 1.6 to 1.61 or some number
like
that. Of course these version numbers below are shown to be earlier
ones and when later changing to V2.1 and further then different file
names will be seen.
1. To read current firmware level in camera.
Camera in P mode, and in normal shooting mode and not in playback mode. Turn on.
Press Menu/Set button to show menus.
Press Left then Down cursor to get to spanner icon Setup menu.
Press Right to get into Setup menu 1 then press zoom lever to tele twice to get to Setup menu page 5.
Press down twice to get to Version Disp. then press right and the firmware level is displayed.
Summary: Setup menu page 5, Version Disp is what we are after.
It may show Ver.1.3 (or earlier if no previous updates done and you have an early LX3)
If update is needed then download the archive file that holds the firmware.
Note:
You cannot re-update (ie re-do the same update) nor can you de-update
(drop back to a previous version). The system only allows a one way
update from any older version to any later version. You can safely go
from V1.0 to V1.3 as new updates contain all previous updates. Well,
the site says that but many users have managed to downgrade their
cameras with no problems, but generally is not recommended.
2. Getting the Firmware file.
[The
Panasonic page talks about clicking an agreement clause to initiate the
download, I never saw that as I may have clicked it in some previous
life and it never popped up this time]
Find the Windows download about halfway down the page.
LX3_V22.exe / xxxxxxx bytes
Download
So
click on the green 'download' button and your browser download window should
show with a 'Save' button, click on Save and the file may variously
automatically save to somewhere on your hard drive or may sit and ask
you where to download it to. Put it in some folder where you can
easily get to it later like C:\temp as an example.
The download
should be fairly fast for a broadband user, but quite slow for a
dial-up user. The browser may offer you a window to run the file or
otherwise you need to find that downloaded file in the folder and then
run it by double clicking on that file. In the case of version 2.2 the file name to look for is LX3_V22. It may appear as LX3_V22.exe depending
on your settings in your computer.
When you attempt to run
the file, various versions of Windows may have cautionary messages
about whether this is safe and do you really want to do it. If you want
to do the update then Run and/or Yes is the right answer.
Another
window should pop up talking about extracting the files and here
you can choose to put the extracted files into an existing folder
or type anything in like C:\_LX3
for example to make a new dedicated
folder just for the extraction and will be easier to find. The
underscore in front of the LX3 in that folder name pushes the folder to
near the top of the list when using My Computer or Windows Explorer and
you look at the drive contents.
Then click 'Install' (as seen on my file extraction window) for the extraction to take place.
Now
go find that extraction, by using Windows Explorer (hold windows key
and press e briefly) or use My Computer to look at the C: drive and
find the folder where you put that extraction. You should find in that
folder (in the case of V2.2) a file named LX3_220 which may display as LX3_220 or LX3_220.bin and that is the binary file that we need to get into the camera.
3. Getting the binary file onto a card.
The
choice is to directly connect the camera to get the file from the
hard drive onto the camera card or use a card reader to do that job.
Your choice.
First
up, use the camera to format an SD or SDHC card. Details in manual but
use Setup Menu and find Format and do it. The card is erased of all
files so make sure it has been downloaded first.
If camera is to be directly connected via the USB cable.....
Warning. European models will not write to card in camera, they are read only, so European users must use a card reader.
First in camera Setup Menu page 5 make sure that 'USB Mode' is set to 'PC' or 'Select on Connection'.
Make sure that the camera battery is fully charged.
With camera turned off, connect the USB cable to camera and to computer.
Turn camera on. You will see "Please Wait" for a second or two then either a choice menu of 'PictBridge PTP' or 'PC'
or
'Connecting to PC'. If the printer/PC choice screen then press Set to
select the PC choice. and then get that 'Connecting to PC' message and
then finally the zig-zag double arrow connected symbol.
If card reader is to be used to write binary file to card......
Connect
card reader with newly camera formatted SD/SDHC card, and using Windows
Explorer or My Computer, make sure you know which device is the card.
It will be found usually with an empty DCIM folder in it.
Now the camera or card reader is connected....
Use My Computer or Windows Explorer to find the folder where the extracted binary
file is living, it may be in that C:\temp or C:\_LX3 folder or wherever
you put it.
Locate the LX3_220
(or LX3_220.bin) file and right click on it and then select 'Copy' and
click on it. The file is now set up for the copy action to somewhere
else.
Now use find the camera itself or the card reader according to how you connected things.
If a camera then it may appear as Drive D: or E: etc, depending on your setup and hardware.
Click
on that camera or card reader "drive" and then the right window should
show the
folders DCIM and MISC (that happens in my case, but a freshly
formatted card may show nothing on the card). When happy with finding
the card you can now right click on the card "drive" then click on
'Paste' and the
file will be copied from the hard drive to the SD/SDHC card root
directory and end up sitting next to the DCIM and MISC folders (if they
exist) and
*not*within those folders.
When happy that the binary file is
sitting nicely in the root directory of the SD or SDHC card then
dismount the camera or card reader by clicking on the 'Safely Dismount
Hardware' icon on the bottom right of the screen, it looks like a green
tick mark. It will offer a list of things that it can dismount so make
sure you click on only the camera or card reader according to what
drive letter it is. Some installed card readers behave differently and
you may need to use My Computer and right click on the 'drive' that is
the card reader and select 'Eject' to get it dismounted, but that is a
rarer circumstance.
Turn off camera if it was a camera
connection and unplug the USB cable at both ends. Or unplug the card
reader and remove the memory card and put it into the camera.
Now we have the necessary file in the root directory of a clean card in the camera.
4. Update the camera firmware....
You must use a fully charged battery, otherwise if it dies during update then you have a dead camera.
The
instructions say to use an AC adapter if you own one (rare) but I see
that as an unreliable method because any power glitches during update
will kill your camera stone dead, much safer to use a fully charged
battery.
With camera off (the update SD/SDHC card is in the camera) switch the rear slide switch to Playback.
Turn on the camera.
The camera should display "Please Wait..." for a few seconds and then display a screen like this....
Version Up
Version: ►►► to 2.20 (this changes depending on update file found on the memory card.)
Start Version Up?
Yes
No
So select Yes and then press Set to cause it to happen.
The
screen will show this for a few seconds (the Panasonic instructions say
minutes, but users report that it takes only seconds)....
Version Up On Going
Do Not Operate Any of the Buttons on the Camera
Can't stress this enough, once the update is initiated, keep your hands behind your back until it finishes.
The
'Version Up' update screen will not show if the firmware on the card is
the same or older than the firmware in the camera. So sorry, there's no
way of going back to older firmware. In that case you will get the 'No
Valid Picture to Play' message. Yet
to be proven as many went from 1.2 back to 1.1 or 1.3 back to 1.2
with no harm done.
When
the update is finished
the camera will turn off automatically and then back on (it does a self
reboot) and should show the normal playback screen of 'No Valid
Picture to
Play'. At this stage turn off the camera and go to the Read Current
Firmware procedure near the top of this page to verify that the latest
level is indeed installed.
Format that memory card to clean off the binary file unless you need to use it to update your second LX3. ☺
The update process does not seem to alter owner's settings on the camera.
Now go take pictures and see if any worthwhile changes actually happened.