MacOS users take note

[Mazdaman]

Not sure if Mac users are aware of this news and how much is scare mongering Why would OM make firmware updates so difficult?

https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/news/urgent-if-youre-an-om-system-camera-user-you-need-to-read-this-right-now

[wornish]

Hmmm. Clickbait imho.

[R99C99]

Seems to only relate to the newer OM range cameras. But that some how it’s the firmware in the camera that needs updating now to handle future changes to Mac software?

That sounds weird but if correct, worth nothing.

Makes me wonder what’s already present in my EM camera range firmware that they don’t seem to predict being a problem with future Mac software. Or perhaps it’s simply that EM firmware will no longer be updated making it a moot point anyway.

[Geo]

I'm a dedicated Mac user but I took the easy option a while ago for upgrades and bought a s/h windows laptop on ebay for £50.

[Ross the fiddler]

But will the s/h windows laptop be reliable?

[Geo]

Why shouldn't it be? Been fine for 2 years!!

[Ross the fiddler]

That's good. I gave up on a HP laptop because it randomly shut down, but everything has been fine with the Lenovo laptop I bought a year later.

[Chris-G]

My mac is too old to be updated to the latest version of IOS; I'm using Ventura 13.6.6. So, thankfully, I was able to update my OM-1 via the mac and the latest updated version of OM Workspace. I just had to choose the language and change the date and time settings once the update had been done.

I know this has been said before, many times, but I make no apology for raising this again. The system used to update firmware by Olympus and now OM System is so archaic and fraught with risk. It's high time they changed the method. Perhaps with a download to an SD card which is then inserted into the camera to carry out the update. There should also be a proper countdown displayed throughout the process so you can see that the update is proceeding OK.

[BDennis]

I think the linked article which also came up in suggested items in my news channel is talking about this update on the OM System Japan site here:

https://support.jp.omsystem.com/jp/support/cs/info/2024/04/fwup/index.html

The auto Google translation in my browser puts it as this attached text in English - a little confusing!

Maybe OMS have previewed a future MacOS update and found out it breaks some more things due increased security making more work for them that they don't have the resources to complete on quickly.

They could make a version of OI.Share that runs on Apple Silicon and allow to update over WiFi from Macs and you just need a LAN connection to get the firmware package while it connects to WiFi on the camera. My Mac will already run some iOS iPad Apps.

I also have a boot drive for my Intel Mac with an old MacOS before all this security stuff. I just tend to use the current up to date laptop for firmware updates as it has a built in UPS in case of power failures (battery!).

The problem is Apple is what say no more than 10% of the worldwide market share for PCs so we're in the minority using Macs.

The other side of the coin is they probably have the higher market share with iPhone and ironically firmware updates stopped working on my Android 14 phone due to the WiFi issue...fixed by this latest firmware update.

Also - perhaps it's the case that you need this latest firmware update because it has a change to make it work with a future release of OM Workspace that fixes things with MacOS and if you don't have it now the firmware updates will be scuppered in the future, will be stuck needing a Phone or Windows system to update.

Bill

[Gigirÿche]

MacOS wouldn't update, but iOS did. Everything works just fine as camera concern. However, OM WorkSpace is not loading anymore. OM Capture is working fine.

[rsh1960]

Dax Smith update firmware with OI Share Updating Firmware on OM System cameras with the OM Image share app (youtube.com)

[Ian]

I have received word from OM System that the MacOS issue is being worked on by software developers. The problem is because of a change in the way MacOS works, so the OM System software has to be modified. So updating firmware via OM Workspace will return, but I don't have a date, yet. That said, you can, as discussed, use the OI Share smartphone/tablet app on Android or iOS to update your camera or lens firmware.

Ian

[blackfox]

The phone app worked fine for me