# 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.

- Type: Tool
- Targets: Firmware · Protocol
- Category: Firmware tools
- Relationship: Foundation tool
- Sources reviewed: 2026-10-19
- Added to the catalog: 2026-10-19
- Original resource: <https://github.com/ma1co/Sony-PMCA-RE>
- Primary source: <https://github.com/ma1co/Sony-PMCA-RE/blob/a82f5baaa8e9c3d9f28f94699e860fb2e48cc8e0/README.md>
- Catalog page: <https://awesomerea.org/resources/sony-pmca-re/>
- Record JSON: <https://awesomerea.org/resources/sony-pmca-re/record.json>
- Chinese version: [简体中文](https://awesomerea.org/zh/resources/sony-pmca-re/index.md)

## 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last recorded push was 2024-07-27, the repository is not archived and the README does not mark it as maintained, superseded or archived.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.

## Primary sources

1. <https://github.com/ma1co/Sony-PMCA-RE/blob/a82f5baaa8e9c3d9f28f94699e860fb2e48cc8e0/README.md>
2. <https://github.com/ma1co/Sony-PMCA-RE/blob/a82f5baaa8e9c3d9f28f94699e860fb2e48cc8e0/README.md#L30-L76>
3. <https://github.com/ma1co/Sony-PMCA-RE/blob/a82f5baaa8e9c3d9f28f94699e860fb2e48cc8e0/docs/AppInstallation.md>
4. <https://github.com/ma1co/Sony-PMCA-RE/blob/a82f5baaa8e9c3d9f28f94699e860fb2e48cc8e0/pmca-console.py>
5. <https://github.com/ma1co/Sony-PMCA-RE/blob/a82f5baaa8e9c3d9f28f94699e860fb2e48cc8e0/requirements.txt>
6. <https://github.com/ma1co/Sony-PMCA-RE/blob/a82f5baaa8e9c3d9f28f94699e860fb2e48cc8e0/.github/workflows/build.yml>
7. <https://github.com/ma1co/Sony-PMCA-RE/blob/a82f5baaa8e9c3d9f28f94699e860fb2e48cc8e0/updatershell/pack.py>
8. <https://github.com/ma1co/Sony-PMCA-RE/blob/a82f5baaa8e9c3d9f28f94699e860fb2e48cc8e0/LICENSE.txt>
9. <https://github.com/ma1co/Sony-PMCA-RE/releases/tag/v0.18>
10. <https://openmemories.readthedocs.io/devices.html>

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## About this entry

The description was reviewed against primary sources.
Original editorial content: MIT. Linked projects, papers and assets retain their own rights and licenses.