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Tool

Sony-PMCA-RE

USB tool built from reverse engineering Sony digital cameras. On supported models it reads camera information and installs Android apps through the PlayMemories Camera Apps mechanism, while its firmware-updater and service-mode shells can dump firmware, run Linux commands and change settings. The repository's notes describe the app-installation exchange between the Sony app store, the browser plugin and the camera.

Requirements and limitations

  • Latest release at review: v0.18, published 2022-04-08, with Windows and macOS builds of the pmca-console command line and the more limited pmca-gui. The reviewed master commit, from 2022-08-18, is 22 commits ahead of it. On Linux the Python 3 sources run with the listed requirements and libusb; the CI builds use Python 3.6 and PyInstaller.
  • Needs a supported Sony camera connected over USB; the README links an external OpenMemories compatibility list. App installation needs a camera with PlayMemories Camera Apps support. Firmware-updater mode uses the operating system's mass-storage driver and excludes CXD90045 and CXD90057 devices, whose firmware is cryptographically signed. Service mode is console-only and needs libusb drivers on Windows; macOS mass-storage access needs Sony's camera driver.
  • The README calls the project an early-stage experiment based on reverse engineering and warns that it could harm the camera, with no responsibility taken. Firmware-file unpacking lives in the separate fwtool project, which was not reviewed, nor were the OpenMemories apps and framework it recommends.
  • MIT. The repository holds no Sony firmware or apps; the prebuilt updater payloads under updatershell/fdat are packed by pack.py from the project's own sources. No camera was connected and nothing was run.

About this entry

Type
Tool
Category
Firmware tools
Relationship
Foundation tool
Targets
Firmware · Protocol

Sources reviewed

The description was reviewed against primary sources. This does not establish runtime testing, security auditing or verified compatibility.

Primary sources

  1. README.md GitHub · ma1co/Sony-PMCA-RE · Revision a82f5ba
  2. README.md#L30-L76 GitHub · ma1co/Sony-PMCA-RE · Revision a82f5ba
  3. docs/AppInstallation.md GitHub · ma1co/Sony-PMCA-RE · Revision a82f5ba
  4. pmca-console.py GitHub · ma1co/Sony-PMCA-RE · Revision a82f5ba
  5. requirements.txt GitHub · ma1co/Sony-PMCA-RE · Revision a82f5ba
  6. .github/workflows/build.yml GitHub · ma1co/Sony-PMCA-RE · Revision a82f5ba
  7. updatershell/pack.py GitHub · ma1co/Sony-PMCA-RE · Revision a82f5ba
  8. LICENSE.txt GitHub · ma1co/Sony-PMCA-RE · Revision a82f5ba
  9. https://github.com/ma1co/Sony-PMCA-RE/releases/tag/v0.18
  10. https://openmemories.readthedocs.io/devices.html