Canon service advisory for EOS-1D X and 5D Mark III cameras

Canon recently put out a service advisory for their EOS-1D X and 5D Mark III DSLR cameras. I have copied the advisory as can be found on the Canon USA website below.

Affected Products

EOS 5D Mark III Digital SLR Camera
EOS-1D X Digital SLR Camera

Details

Depending upon the shooting conditions, it may take slightly longer for the EOS 5D Mark III and EOS-1D X digital SLR cameras to acquire focus when using the Speedlite's AF Assist Beam, compared with that of the EOS 5D Mark II and EOS-1D Mark IV digital SLR cameras using the Speedlite's AF Assist Beam.

We are developing a solution to enhance the focusing feature for the EOS 5D Mark III and EOS-1D X and plan to release a firmware update based on following estimated schedule:

• EOS 5D Mark III: (estimated) Late April, 2013
• EOS-1D X: (estimated) Late May, 2013

Support

This information is for residents of the United States and Puerto Rico only. If you do not reside in the USA or Puerto Rico, please contact the Canon Customer Support Center in your region.

If you have not already done so, please register your Canon EOS 5D Mark III Digital SLR Camera or your Canon EOS-1D X. Digital SLR Camera. By registering, we will be able to notify you via email about future service upgrades.

Thank you,
Customer Support Operations
Canon U.S.A., Inc.

Finally: The D7100, a new DX Camera from Nikon

It was long overdue, but now it's finally there: a new Nikon DX camera. And boy, from the specs, it sure does not disappoint!

While the camera name might suggest otherwise, this new camera definitely is an upgrade to both the D7000 and the D300/D300s cameras (the former top Nikon DX cameras).

The D7100 has a 24.1 Mega Pixel APS-C (1.5x crop) sized sensor. Because the resolution of the sensor is so high (even higher than on the D800!), Nikon has decided to not add an Anti Alias Filter (just as with the D800E). In my opinion a good move as at these resolutions (together with the resolving power of most lenses), moiré isn't likely to be going to be any problem at all. By giving the camera the full 51 AF points as available in the pro bodies, Nikon shows us that they are serious about this camera and also mean it to be used by the semi-pro who wants to shoot with a DX body. It does lack some features for the pro too though, such as a dedicated AF-On button and a buffer that is big enough to hold more than just one second of frames. Is there still room for a D400 then?

The new camera is (naturally) capable of capturing full HD (1080p) video and can take up to 7 frames per second. Truly nice specs. Nikon also added a new type of LCD to the back of the camera, instead of using “just” using Red Green and Blue dots per image pixel, this new LCD uses an additional White dot for even better viewing.

The D7100 body comes at a suggested retail price of $1199/€1179, also available with a kit lens. The D7100 is due to ship from 21 March, so if you want one, make your pre-order soon! 

Full specs (from the Nikon website):

Nikon ViewNX 2.7.2 released

Nikon has released an update to their free image browser/editor ViewNX2.

The 2.7.2. update contains the following fixes:

• Support for the COOLPIX L27, COOLPIX L820, COOLPIX P520, COOLPIX S31, COOLPIX S5200, COOLPIX S9400, COOLPIX S9500, and COOLPIX AW110 has been added.
• With the renewal of Nikon's image storage and sharing service, my Picturetown (launched as NIKON IMAGE SPACE on January 28, 2013), ViewNX 2 has been modified to provide collaboration with NIKON IMAGE SPACE:
• The my Picturetown tab in the Browser palette has been changed to a NIKON IMAGE SPACE tab.
• Upload to my Picturetown… and Share on my Picturetown… options under the Web Service item in the toolbar have been changed to Upload to NIKON IMAGE SPACE… and Share on NIKON IMAGE SPACE…
• The my Picturetown option under the Web Service item in the File menu has been changed to NIKON IMAGE SPACE.

You can download the update from the Nikon support site, e.g., EU/USA.

Nikon releases Capture NX 2.4.0

Nikon just released an update for its image editing software application Nikon Capture NX 2.

Version 2.4.0 is a “full” release, meaning you can use it to either update an existing installation or as a fresh install.

The following points have been addressed in the release:
Windows and Mac OS X

• Support for RAW images captured with the Nikon 1 J3 and Nikon 1 S1 has been added.
• The following modifications have been made to White Balance in the Camera Settings portion of the Develop section in the Edit List palette.
  
  • Underwater can now be selected from New WB. However, Underwater can only be selected for RAW images captured with a camera that supports Underwater white balance.
  • Resulting colors have been corrected when Flash was selected from New WB for RAW images captured with the Nikon 1 V2.
• An issue that, in some rare cases, prevented display of some JPEG images has been resolved.

Windows only

• Compatibility with 64- and 32-bit Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro, and Windows 8 Enterprise has been added. Proper operation has been confirmed with use in desktop mode. Touch screen operations are not supported.

Mac OS X only

• Support for high-resolution display on Macintosh computers with a built-in Retina display has been added. However, this applies only to image display in the image window.
  

You can download the new version from the Nikon support sites: EU/USA (notice that, as seems to have become the norm for them, the USA site doesn't appear to be as accurate in their description of the update as the European site…)