F65 4.20 firmware update?

abreu-canedo

abreu-canedo

Well-known member
Hi there,

Has anyone heard of, or downloaded, the F65 firmware update version 4.20?

I saw someone mention it on the sony forum, but I have not heard anything else. In addition, I have not been able to find it for download.
-Thanks in advance, Rafael
 
Yeah, I had not heard anything about it other than a brief mention on the Sony forum.

This was posted there yesterday:

From the V4.20 Release notes...

(1) Change the ACES indications on UI. 1) “ACES-Proxy10” => “ACESproxy” 2) “Graded ACES” => “ACES 1.0 – Rec.709”
(2) Change the colour space of the ACES proxy of the SDI1 Look to the AP1 which the ACES specifies.
(3) Change the reproducing of the ACES 1.0 – Rec.709 of the SDI1 Look to V1.0 which the ACES specifies.


Note: V4.20 upgrade needs to be done at a Sony Service Centre because it involves upgrade of the SY PLD.
This requires a Xilinx interface tool for programming the PLD with the relevant data file.
 
I can verify these files work to update F65.

Also you can use the external SD card slot to load the files. Make sure the card is MS_DOS format. Once these files are on root file of SD Card the F65 should boot right into the recovery/update mode.

I have been on a roller coaster of exploration with my F65. I have been very fortunate that the Sony Repair Center in Carson, CA have humored my multiple attempts at getting this camera up and running.

1. Bought F65 that would boot but often the rotary was stopping and canceling the start of the camera. It also had very old firmware.
2. Brought to Sony they said the worst: CMOS Unit/Rotary is not working, the Sys card is not standard. Too much $$ to fix.
3. I take home and continue to take F65 apart and check for damage, I find some loose cables. I believe these were cause of rotary problems. Camera is now stuck in recovery mode because I do not yet know about the dip switch on Sys card.
4. Sony Repair Center offers a no guarantee attempt to put my Sys card into their bench F65 and try to update it there. My Sys card takes firmware no issue in their camera.
5. My camera is not happy with updated Sys card and old rest of system, spits out camera NG Error.
6. Sony sends me firmware files to attempt to get the rest of the system to update to 4.2.
7. Need to test more but from what I can see the camera is now booting properly. Obviously further extensive testing of all the parts is next. I don't have any cards yet for the SRR4.
 
randomly, and always at startup, I get the Sys Card Error.

Sony parts took nearly a week to find the card, I understand Sony is like a bunch of companies under one name. The people who have the stock of F35 and F65 camera parts (and real knowledge) are all in Japan. The other service centers got the major update kits and then order parts as they need them. It really is luck of the draw if your Sony Service Center will be knowledgeable on the F35/F65.

The Sys Card was only $900. Not bad considered any of the F35 slot cards still list for $2500.

I ordered the card, I am 99% sure this is the source of my cameras woes. To be continued.
 
Now that I've got everything fixed on my Sony F65, I thought I'd try your v4.20 update file...seems to be going well so far. Fingers crossed!

IMG_0669.jpg
 
There is a very interesting powerpoint on the Sony Pro Parts Site that is a complete guide for cleaning the filters. It has a very comprehensive guide on how to remove the rotary from the camera.
 
So great news for my F65. I have been deep searching Sony sites looking for F65 information. I found older V2.1 Firmware files and my camera took them! This is great because Sony told me the camera had different hardware that couldn't take the update. I believe they tried to go straight to 4.2 without installing 2.1 first and this was actually the cause of all my problems!

F65 boots great with V2.1 now, no SYS Card Error. I kind of knew it wasn't hardware problem. I am going to wait but I will eventually try to load newest firmware.

Now to replace the $800 Low Pass Filter Glass I broke...
 
I lost the F65 Cleaning doc - I can’t find it anywhere online anymore, do you have a link to that doc Yachacha? It would be greatly appreciated! I used it to replace the Mechanical shutter myself a couple of years ago, after having done my first Shutter replacement for nearly $12k through the Sony Service Center.... Long Story short it’s close to that time to replace the shutter again... as I’m getting the rare though intermittent shutter white outs in various frames.....

Panavision France Removed all of their F65’s Mechanical Shutters due to the short life span of the Shutter, which later turned into them modding 8 F65’s into a smaller body form and dubbing them the F65 mini.
 
The cleaning manual is on the Sony ServicesPlus site in the Software section when you search under model number F65. I can also send this to you directly if you PM me.

So, are you saying we should keep mechanical shutter usage to a minimum? I use it only when I don’t want any rolling shutter artifacts but then I’ve never tested how bad it is with the electronic shutter.
 
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Thanks, Bitnaut!

I managed to track it down thanks to your lead.


Regarding shutter usage and lifespan, it’s difficult to say, as I’ve only ever used the F65 with the Mechanical shutter running and lifespan has varied greatly from unit to unit. The engineers at the Sony service center had stated that there were a relatively high volume of shutter replacements on F65’s that had in excess of 500 hours logged on them. personally, I had experienced my first shutter fail at 236h, while on a feature shoot in the dead of winter, in Montana, Lolo National Forest(fortunately we had two bodies). The engineers at Sony claimed the failure was caused by the extreme temperature and altitude..... incidentally the second replacement came not while under extreme conditions but rather in an climate controlled studio environment at roughly 600h. Now on to the third shutter malfunction (complete with Shutter NG warning), this body which only has 487 hours logged on it, has not seen abuse nor rough climate of any sort and yet the mechanical shutter is calling it quits....
 
Oh oh...I’m at 1264h and my shutter hasn’t reported any errors yet. Fingers and eyes crossed that she holds up!
 
It seems very possible to replace the motor which drives the shutter rather than replace the whole mechanism. Did you happen to keep the dead rotaries? I would be willing to take on this project. Perhaps we could figure out why they burn out in the first place.

Buyer backed out and I decided to spend more time trying to solve my issues. I also have a source for low pass filter for F65 and F35 for $99 if anyone else has scratched glass in their F35. My problem is time, I don't have time to play around with my F65 but I also felt foolish trying to sell camera when I thought it could be corrected.

I bought a SRR4 for $19 last week!??

I personally will never trust Sony Service Center with my F65 again, they bricked it by not following the very clear directions put out for upgrade. The mentality of repairs there is to replace the "big chunk" rather than take the time to solve issues.

Yes I went through all the files on Sony Site. F65RS/US seems to be the name of the F65 but I found it by searching for F65 and F65RS.
 
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That would be great if you could figure out how to fix broken mechanical shutters before mine goes.

I know what you mean by Sony Service Center service...they wanted to replace a whole circuit board for $1800 when all that was required was replacing a $120 microprocessor.
 
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