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As a mere amateur, how important is firmware to a camera?

I have two Sony cameras - an Mk1 RX100 and a A7R III, both acquired shortly after their initial releases. I don't think I've ever updated the firmware on the RX100, and just once on the A7R III (I believe it was to get the uncompressed RAW capability), mainly due to laziness. But for my amateur level use, I don't think I've ever had any problems.

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For some manufacturers it matters more than others. Sony doesn't support their cameras much after launch. They could theoretically update some color science (something that does matter) or add some minor features, but I've never updated my A6100 and I don't think there's any updates available anyway. To contrast, part of Fujifilm's market value is in their "film simulations" which are effectively more advanced LUTs that (mostly) attempt to mimic different film stocks, and Fujifilm has been known to have good long-term support for bringing new features (including film simulations) to older cameras through firmware updates. For example, the Fujifilm X-Pro2, released in 2016, received a firmware update in September of 2020. It only optimized performance for a newer lens and fixed some bugs, but the fact it got anything at all 4 years after launch does not appear to be the norm.

It can be very important. For example, Fujifilm released a firmware update for the X-T3 (2018) that provided some huge gains in autofocus performance, bringing the autofocus in line with the newly released X-T4.

There have also been some updates that e.g. allow better use of the camera as a webcam.

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