Firmware-How long does it last?
 

As digital cameras are capable of firmware updates, I assume that their
basic program is stored in something akin to "flash ram". How long
does the program last in this memory before it starts getting "soft"
bits and becomes unreliable? Some rumours I've heard say 10 years.
Does anyone have any authoritive info?
Thanks.

Firmware-How long does it last?
 

JohnS wrote:

As digital cameras are capable of firmware updates, I assume that their
basic program is stored in something akin to "flash ram". How long
does the program last in this memory before it starts getting "soft"
bits and becomes unreliable? Some rumours I've heard say 10 years.
Does anyone have any authoritive info?
Thanks.

I am not aware that all digital cams can have their firmware upgraded,
or at least I've never seen an upgrade for either of my point and
shoot Olympus cams. If you don;t get any joy try rec.photo.digital as
they're hot on SLR over there and I would assume a fair few will have
knowledge of firmware
--
Paul (she dreams in color, she dreams in red)
------------------------------------------------------
Stop and Look
http://www.geocities.com/dreamst8me/

Firmware-How long does it last?
 

JohnS wrote:
As digital cameras are capable of firmware updates, I assume that
their basic program is stored in something akin to "flash ram". How
long does the program last in this memory before it starts getting
"soft" bits and becomes unreliable? Some rumours I've heard say 10
years. Does anyone have any authoritive info?
Thanks.

EEPROMs are fitted into many consumer equipments, and into most computers
today. I don't recall seeing any lifetime issues with these devices, at
least not when used mostly in read mode. It's not definitive, but see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Read-on...EAROM_lifetime

Cheers,
David

Firmware-How long does it last?
 

David J Taylor wrote:

JohnS wrote:
As digital cameras are capable of firmware updates, I assume that
their basic program is stored in something akin to "flash ram". How
long does the program last in this memory before it starts getting
"soft" bits and becomes unreliable? Some rumours I've heard say 10
years. Does anyone have any authoritive info?
Thanks.

EEPROMs are fitted into many consumer equipments, and into most computers
today. I don't recall seeing any lifetime issues with these devices, at
least not when used mostly in read mode. It's not definitive, but see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Read-on...EAROM_lifetime

Retention times for flash memory are typically given as 10-20 years, the
issue is that data is stored as charge on a capacitor and eventually that
capacitor discharges to a level at which ones and zeros become
indistinguishable. It may be longer or shorter though for particular
devices depending on the purpose for which the design was optimized.

For more specific information it's necessary to know the manufacturer and
part number on the chip.

--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

Firmware-How long does it last?
 

Thanks for that.
I guess if one was happy with their camera and planned on using it for
10+ years it would be wise to get the latest firmware and keep it as a
backup and re-flash it on the camera's 10th birthday :-)

J. Clarke wrote:

Retention times for flash memory are typically given as 10-20 years, the
issue is that data is stored as charge on a capacitor and eventually that
capacitor discharges to a level at which ones and zeros become
indistinguishable. It may be longer or shorter though for particular
devices depending on the purpose for which the design was optimized.

For more specific information it's necessary to know the manufacturer and
part number on the chip.