What's new in Stow 0.4.3

Stow got written about, people tried it, and the comments told us exactly what to build next. So we built it. Here is what changed in 0.4.3, and who it is for.

Per-card camera labels, for A-Cam and B-Cam days

Two identical bodies on one shoot used to end up in one folder, because both cards report the same camera. Now you can click the camera name on any card in the queue and give that card its own label, like A-Cam or B-Cam.

It applies to that card only. The camera's remembered name is not touched, so the next card from the same body still names itself automatically. This one came straight from a commenter running a multi-camera setup, and it is exactly the right ask.

No more "Untitled" cards

Sony formats cards with the factory label "Untitled", and Stow used to offer that as the card name. A label that every card shares identifies nothing, so factory labels like "Untitled", "NO NAME" and "New Volume" are no longer suggested. You get the folder name or a clean CARD01 instead.

While we were at it, the card-name box now looks editable as well as being editable: hover over it and an underline and a small pencil appear. Several people could not find it. Fair. It was invisible.

The full Sony range, built in

Stow now recognises around 120 Sony bodies out of the box, from the original A100 through the current A1 II, A9 III and FX line, including the RX compacts, ZV vlog cameras, NEX and the A-mount generations. The list is generated from exiftool's model database, the same reference the rest of the industry leans on.

Worth restating plainly: camera detection is built in and fully offline. No account, no key, no internet. That has always been true, and 0.4.3 removes the one optional feature (an online name-suggestion button) that kept making people think otherwise. Unknown cameras can still be named by hand, once, and every machine remembers.

Copying, verifying and detection run entirely on your machine. That does not change.

A quiet word when there is an update

New Stow versions were shipping and nobody knew. Now, once a day, Stow fetches one small version file from our site, and when a newer version exists it shows a calm banner that opens the download page. That is the only network request Stow makes. It carries nothing about you, your machine or your footage, and there is an off switch in Settings if you would rather it never checked at all.

Updates now install in one step

Installing a new version over an old one used to route you through an uninstall-first path with several windows, and abandoning it halfway could leave you with no working app. The installer now defaults to the sensible thing: install straight over the top, one step, settings and footage untouched. If you are on any earlier version, just download 0.4.3 and run it.