Getting updated.

A friend of the blog (thank you, NM) dropped me a line reminding me that there was a body firmware upgrade available for the splendid Panny GX7, two of which bodies call chez Pindelski home. You can download it here.

The update is simple; after downloading the ‘GX7V13.bin’ file, drop it into the root directory of your SD card, insert the card in the camera and after powering up hit the ‘Play’ button and wait. The GX7 will refuse to proceed if your battery indicator shows less than absolutely full. The update takes maybe 4 minutes during which time you must not touch any controls and the front orange LED glows merrily. And just in case you are in any doubt, Panny gives you the message in less than the Queen’s English:

Be sure to reformat the SD card in the camera once done, thus erasing the .bin file.

Here are the stated benefits:

I can attest to the iPhone connection issue in v 1.2 and I have had no connection issues to my iPhone5 with the latest firmware upgrade. So it’s a worthwhile upgrade. Neither of my GX7s had an issue with the upgrade process.

As for UHS-I cards, Wikipedia defines these latest fast cards thus:

“UHS-I cards, specified in SD Version 3.01, support a clock frequency of 100 MHz (a quadrupling of the original “Default Speed”), which in four-bit transfer mode could transfer 50 MB/s. UHS-I cards declared as UHS104 (SDR104) also support a clock frequency of 208 MHz, which could transfer 104 MB/s.”

I don’t own any and I’m in no hurry to do so, but it’s nice to know the technology is supported.