Firmwares: "Is It Safe ?"

[Ruben]

With your kind permission I cannot but recall a movie, with Dustin Hoffman and Roy Scheider, in which a veteran Nazi is looking after a bit diamonds treasure, from WW2. Once he kills his brother (Roy Scheider), a Jew wose relationship with the treasure is doubitable, the Nazi fellow captures his brother, Dustin Hoffman, and starts to torture him with his teeth instruments. He wants to know if it is safe to go to the bank where the treasure is, so he will not be ambushed for crimes against humanity he performed in a concentration camp. So he tortures Hoffman to death, and from time to time, the Nazi asks: "Is it safe ?".
Of course Hoffmann has not idea what he is talking about, so at each time he answers a differnt answer, "Yes !" "No" "Perhaps". And of course the Nazi thinks Hoffmann knows, so he continues torturing.

So with all the obvious differences, I know that my G-1s are working today, without firmware upgrading. I would be glad to improve the functions, but "Is it safe ?"

Cheers,
Ruben

[Ned]

Perfectly safe.

[fluffy]

Safe? Perfectly as long as you exactly follow the directions: fully charged battery, and NO interruption while it is actually happening. Of course Panasonics are much easier than Olys, as they don't require a connection to the computer when the actual process is happening. Note that if your camera has never had its firmware updated, you will lose the ability to use third party batteries after the update. So if you use any batteries other than Panasonic batteries, be warned.

[StephenL]

Some later 3rd party batteries work OK after the update. Just wish the battery manufacturers would get their act together for the GH2 batteries! Or better yet, Panasonic stop behaving protectionist.

Originally Posted by fluffy

Note that if your camera has never had its firmware updated, you will lose the ability to use third party batteries after the update. So if you use any batteries other than Panasonic batteries, be warned.