Pentax Digital Camera Utility 4 Update For Windows Only

by Jaxon S on November 24, 2009

in Pentax

I uninstalled Pentax’s Digital camera Utility 4 just days after installing it following my purchase of the K-7 back in August. I reinstalled it a couple of weeks later only to uninstall it all over again. I liked the feature available but was frustrated by the Utility 4′s frequent crashes.

In fact, I hadn’t had any success editing pictures using the software, not even a single one, because each time I did so, the software just froze as though unable to figure out what to do next. I’m not sure what went wrong. I Googled around but found no reference  about the problem from other users. Maybe the problem is unique to me.

It’s funny that I had resort to editing the K-7 pictures mostly on Photostudio 5.5, the software that came with my purchase of the Canon PowerShot G6 back in 2004!

So when Pentax announced an update for the Utility 4 software, and promising among other things “improved stability of general performance” and a correction to the possibility of the software shutting down when viewing rotated images using other software such as Windows Photo gallery, I was naturally excited because finally I could edit Pentax K-7 pictures using the software supplied with it.

I will reinstall the Pentax Digital Camera Utility 4 later today and download the update and put it to test. Hopefully, it will work this time.

The Pentax Digital Camera Utility 4 Update for Windows can be downloaded here. The main changes included in the new version are:

  • Support for the K-x camera
  • Added [Picture: Blue Sky] and [Picture: Sunset] on Image data display of the custom
  • Added [Cross Processing] on Image Data display
  • Added lens data – [smc PENTAX-DA L55-300mmF4-5.8 ED]
  • It is maintained the status of Image data display and Histogram display on main image display window
  • Corrected – When viewing rotated image such as rotated by Windows Photo gallery, it may shut down the software
  • Corrected – When cancel [Bold] of [Indicate changes in Image Data During Frame Advance], it is not canceled
  • Corrected – When display image that is captured with AF select, AF area mode on Image Data is displayed [- - - -]
  • When [Save as….] is selected, image cannot overwrite to original file. It is changed to enable overwrite with permission of user
  • Corrected – The value of the white balance fine-tuning is not reflected to Fine tune of camera setting on White balance setting
  • Corrected – The coordinate value of Cropping is not reflected on the image
  • Improved stability of general performance
  • http://macro-photography-blog.com Jaxon S

    Hey, thanks for offering a solution. I haven’t reinstalled the programme. I am now using Lightroom to edit my pictures.

    [Reply]

  • Claus

    Addendum:

    There’s another and more comfortable way to solve the problem:

    If you cut’n paste the last marked pictures (files) from their folder to any other… relaunch DCU4 and enjoy :-) )

    I think there’s a bug in DCU4′s database definition. The database will be generated if you install DCU4 the first time. Un- or reinstalling DCU4 has no impact on this database. Only deletimg the known folder or making the content of CheckInfo.ini ‘Not True’ solves the problem.

    [Reply]

  • Claus

    … but to get the folder C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Pentax\Digital Camera Utility 4
    visible you have to change some settings concerning folders.

    As default MS Win XP hides folders with system-content. Therefore you’ve to change some settings in your Windows-Explorer:

    Menu ‘Extras’ – ‘Folder Options’ – ‘View’
    Unmark the option ‘Hide System Files’ and
    Mark the option “Show all Files and Folders’

    After reboot OS or restart Windows-Explorer the folder ‘C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Pentax\Digital Camera Utility 4′ should be visible.

    It’s not a must deleting this folder. To delete or rename the file CheckInfo.ini solves the problem. The crashes will be back if you mark some pictures and close the DCU4. The next launch will end with the well known crash!

    Best regards and good luck

    [Reply]

  • Bill Landenberger

    I had this problem too. The software worked OK for a while and then started constantly crashing on startup. Even unistalling, stripping the registry of pentax references and reinstalling did not fix the problem. Then I stumbled on a datatbase storage folder under:
    C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Pentax\Digital Camera Utility 4
    I simply deleted the whole folder, reinstalled and hey presto!
    It seems the software corrupts it’s own database.

    [Reply]

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