2006/11/24, Mark Roberts <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > If the K10D shot *compressed* DNG then I'd be able to skip > the entire batch process. This is what I was hoping for. > > I'm hoping it's possible for them to provide this functionality > eventually through a firmware update, but I have no way of knowing if > that part of the camera's firmware is in the flash ROM. If it's not, > then it won't be possible for them to change it through a firmware > update.
With Flash prices constantly plumetting down, it's safe for any manufacturer to put (almost) everything in Flash. The (small) extra cost compared to plain ROM is overcome by greatly reducing the risk of a software issue that couldn't be fixed by an upgrade if the piece of software was in ROM. Besides, the whole firmware would ideally be stored into one single chip, cheaper and safer than two separate ROM and Flash chips. So my guess is that everything is upgradeable, except maybe the bootstrap code that actually allows the flash to be updated in the first place (just in case). (This is often stored in Flash, but can't be erased after manufacturing by electronic design.) The questions are then: - is there any code space left to integrate a compression engine in this flash? - how would the DNG compression process impact the performance? The obvious workaround for this performance issue is to integrate some hardware-assisted compression system (which is common for JPEG) but this must be planned in advance and impact the hardware, and the cost. Just my educated guess, I may be totally wrong. Patrice -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
