Within the past few days, Sony released an upgrade to the firmware of its DSC-RX100 III camera, sometimes referred to as the RX100M3. This new firmware update, Version 1.20, addresses a problem that caused the camera to take an unusually long time to start up from being powered off, after the Smart Remote Control app was downloaded to the camera. The update does not add any new features, but this correction for the startup-time issue is a welcome one. The improvement in the time for the camera to start up with the new firmware version was dramatic for my camera.

Here is a link to a page at Sony’s support site, where you have to choose the operating system of the computer you will use for installing the update:

http://esupport.sony.com/US/p/model-home.pl?mdl=DSCRX100M3&LOC=3#/downloadTab

The procedure is explained at Sony’s site. Basically, you have to download and install on your computer a firmware-updating program, then, when prompted, connect the RX100 III camera to the computer using the camera’s USB cable, and follow the instructions on the computer and camera screens. The update will take several minutes to install. I initially was not able to install the updater program using my Macintosh running the new Yosemite operating system, which was not  compatible with the first release of the update. I eventually succeeded using a computer running Windows 8.1. However, Sony later added a “driver loader” to help with the installation.  Look for this message on the firmware download page for the Mac:

” IMPORTANT: For OS X version 10.10, please ensure the Mac OS X 10.10 Driver Loader has been installed before continuing to update your firmware.”

If you install that extra file before upgrading the firmware, my understanding is that the firmware will now work with a Mac running the Yosemite OS.

To determine whether you need this update, you can go to the Setup menu and select the Version item; if the Version is 1.00 or 1.10, then you need the update, which changes the Version to 1.20.