New software update 5.5.18

Today we are releasing a new combined software update, with changes to both the camera software and the camera firmware. We also pushed a few improvements to the mobile application via a “soft-release” for good measure.

We have continued to receive a lot of feedback with ideas for improvements and also error reports. Thanks to all the people who have spent time testing the development release and exchanging with us! This release couldn’t haven’t happened without your help.

Now what’s on the menu this time?

Menu shortcuts & EC

This new release features a new way to access frequently used menu functions: if you double-click on the menu button, you can now quickly access any of your favorite camera settings.

For example, if you find yourself frequently switching between different ISO levels while shooting, you can configure the menu shortcut to jump directly to the interface for changing the ISO level. Do you often use exposure compensation? Same, you can access it directly.

By the way, we have changed the Exposure Compensation setting to make it more coherent with the rest of the system. This setting is now part of the regular camera menu to be easier to change, more discoverable and hopefully less confusing. The old interface has been retired, ie long half-press on the shutter doesn’t do anything anymore.

To use the new the menu shortcut feature, simply visit the Preferences menu on the camera and set your choice.

But that’s not all of course.

Many other improvements

We have improved the camera menu interface with a more coherent Wifi menu, more progress indications during USB backup.

We now have a better support for date & time stored in the EXIF portion of the image files. The Timezone and Offset are also supported to help sort photos more precisely in the chronological order.

A new trigger indication has been added to the viewfinder. The speed indication briefly disappears while the sensor captures the image. The new visual confirmation should help in cases where ambient noise prevents the shutter sound to be heard.

Under the hood

We have also made many fixes to ensure camera settings are always preserved, even across battery changes, and available right when the camera starts. The camera sensor output is also verified during startup to resolve power up issues. And we don’t force use to see the battery gauge when restarting after a battery change (yeah!). This should make the camera a lot faster to use.

In addition, we resolved some more issues related to the transmission of thumbnails to the app, avoiding duplications.

Wired transfer

And while technically a bug fix, you can now again transfer your photos to a smartphone or tablet using a USB OTG cable!

In practice, all you have to do is turn the camera into Disk mode and it should automatically appear in the Photos app or equivalent on Android.

The key to this feature is named OTG: you need a special USB adapter that can be easily found on popular sites. Connect it to the provided USB-A to USB-C cable and you are all set.

Pixii App updates

As usual we have published a few application “soft-updates” during that period. This happens transparently and you shouldn’t have to worry about installing anything.

To confirm that you are on the latest and greatest, just go to Settings and tap on the App Version item

If using Android be sure to have the latest build though, and refer to the previous release notes if you haven’t already installed the 1.2.2 binary.

What’s next?

More Pixii App updates. Be ready to install a new version from the App Store. And we are continuing to look into more significant updates to improve speed and battery life, so stay tuned on our newsletter, Instagram and Facebook.

I almost forgot, we had to delay a cool update, but it should be published in a few weeks now.

How to install?

As always, the new version can be installed simply from the application or from the camera menu. The camera requires Wi-Fi with Internet connectivity to download the software update. Please refer to the new manual section if you haven’t already configured your camera: Configure Wi-Fi mode.

To learn more about the types of software releases available over-the-air, check the documentation article: Pixii software updates.

You can also read the software update changelog in geek-mode here: Release Notes

Help us make Pixii even greater!

Looking for more adventure? In search of the ultimate thrill? We publish our work-in-progress in a special development channel.

If you want to participate in the elaboration of the next software update, you can switch your camera and app to “Developer mode” and test new features. We don’t guarantee each development release are stable or bug free. But in case something goes wrong, you can switch back to the stable software. Just email us for details: support@pixii.fr.

Thank you!