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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.

Targets
Firmware · Protocol
Category
Firmware tools
Relationship
Foundation tool
Sources reviewed

Requirements & limits

  • 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. As checked on 2026-10-20, the reviewed 2022-08-18 commit is still the master head, GitHub’s last recorded push was 2024-07-27, the repository is not archived and the README does not mark it as maintained, superseded or archived.
  • 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.
  • 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.

About this entry

The description was reviewed against primary sources.

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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

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