New Reliable Becomes Newer Reliable

Who amongst us has not rejoiced at finding a pocket full of loose change in a pair of trousers that is just about to go into the wash? Or better - a crumpled up $ 10 note? Free money! A present from heaven!

Well we can get this sort of thing from the camera and accessory manufacturers as well. Sometimes it is free money - as in cash backs - and sometimes it is free improvements to our existing systems.

The younger readers will know what I am talking about - the firmware upgrade. The older ones like me are just discovering it. Youngsters can go away and the rest of us can draw our chairs closer to the stove...

I am a Fuji user, and Fujifilm are diligent in researching their products for ways of making them better - each successive camera or lens has improvements. Sometimes the improvements of the new gear can be effected in the cameras or lenses we already possess by means of these firmware upgrades. The process is simple, and the Fujifilm company set it out on their website in easy steps. There is even a very helpful independent writer called Rico Pfirstinger who shows it step-by-step on a little video.

You download the appropriate file from Fujifilm, put it on the desktop of your computer, and then put it into a small clean SD card. You load a fully charged battery into the camera, pop the card in, and turn the camera on. Follow the prompts on the LCD screen of the camera precisely and in 90 seconds the job is done.

Just that simple. My camera now has a better viewfinder and focussing system. I did the same to my 18mm lens and it now makes better model car pictures. And it was all free.

Best of all, I have been able to do upgrades for my Fujifilm X-10 and X-100 as well. They got different capabilities ( Sort of like different super-poweers for comic book heroes...) but it was all glorious. I can thoroughly recommend the whole process.

Note: The users of other cameras, and printers, and computer systems, and programs can also do this. Sometimes the makers of the equipment will nag you to do it - Apple pokes me every so often to update bits of my computers* - and sometimes you just have to remember to look for yourself. It is worthwhile doing a bit of research on the net to see if your favourite camera or lens might just get even better...

* I can now make toasted cheese sandwiches with my iPad.