Nikon unveils the D810a, a modified D810 designed for astrophotography

Today Nikon unveiled a new version of the D810, the D810a. This new D810a DSLR camera is designed specifically for astrophotography. Canon has always been the brand for astrophotographers (they have a solid reputation in that field and have had a specific camera for a while now, the EOS 60Da), but now Nikon shooters have a very good option as well, and with 36MP quality!

Full specifications

Nikon software updates

Over the past couple of weeks, Nikon has released a number of software updates:

Capture NX-D

Changes (Mac and Windows)

• Support for the D5500, COOLPIX L31 (not released in Japan), COOLPIX L32, COOLPIX S3700, and COOLPIX S2900 (not released in Japan) has been added.
• When Capture NX-D is used to edit files that were once edited with Capture NX 2, additional adjustment of editing performed with Capture NX 2 is now possible.
• However, only items in the Develop section of the Capture NX 2 Edit List can be adjusted with Capture NX-D. In addition, images that have been edited using Color Efex Pro may be edited after settings are reverted to their original values.
• A PF Flare Control item has been added to the Camera and Lens Corrections palette.
• This item can be used to reduce flare (ring flare, circular flare, etc.) caused by bright light sources in images captured with compatible lenses.
• A Revert to Last Saved State option has been added to the Adjust menu.
• This option resets adjustments applied with Capture NX-D.
• A Launch Camera Control Pro 2 option has been added to the Tool menu.
• The following issues have been resolved.
• When images to which Distortion Control has been applied are opened, edges were fringed with colour.
• When Noise Reduction was applied, the application would quit unexpectedly.
• When a RAW image captured with a camera that does not support the Picture Control system (D2XS, D2X、D2HS, D2H, D1X, D1H, D1, D200, D100, D80, D70S, D70, D60, D40X, D40) was displayed, the icon indicating that the image had been edited was displayed, even if the image had not actually been edited.
• When Quick Adjust was applied to RAW images captured at a Picture Control setting of Neutral, Flat, or Monochrome, and for which Recorded Value was selected in the Picture Control palette, the Quick Adjust value reverted back to "0.00" when the images were again displayed in Capture NX-D after the application was once closed and then launched again.
• A Noise Reduction setting of Better Quality 2013 could be selected for JPEG and TIFF images.

Changes (Windows only)

• The following issues have been resolved.
• Multiple images in the My Pictures folder could not be selected to copy or move under Windows 7 or an earlier operating system.
• When files were saved with different file names using the Convert Files function, the new file names were not accurately reflected.

Changes (Mac only)

• Support for OS X version 10.10.1 has been added.
• OS X version 10.7.5 is no longer supported.

You can download the updated version from the Nikon support site

ViewNX 2.10.3

Changes (Mac and Windows)

• Support for the D5500, COOLPIX L31 (not released in Japan), COOLPIX S3700, COOLPIX L32, and the COOLPIX S2900 (not released in Japan) has been added.

Changes (Windows only)

• When images were converted to JPEG format using the Convert Files function with Quality set to Good Compression Ratio or Highest Compression Ratio, the resulting JPEG images could not be displayed in ViewNX 2, Capture NX 2, or Capture NX-D. This issue has been resolved.

Changes (Mac only)

• Support for OS X version 10.10.1 has been added.
• OS X version 10.7.5 is no longer supported.

You can download the updated version from the Nikon support site

Capture NX2 2.4.7 (Mac installer update only)

Changes

• Updated installer now compatible with Mac OS X 10.10 (Yosemite).

Note: the application itself has not changed, Nikon only updated the installer. So this update is of interest only to people wanting to (freshly) install Capture NX2 2.4.7 on their Mac with Yosemite (OS X 10.10).

You can download the updated version from the Nikon imaging website

Nikon Camera Control Pro 2.20.0

Changes (Mac and Windows)

• Support D5500 has been added.
• With continuous shooting using the D4S, D810, or D750 with image quality set to a NEF (RAW)+JPEG option, and the Transfer only JPEG to PC option set to On, the transfer of JPEG images to the computer would be terminated before all images in the series had been transferred. This issue has been resolved.

Changes (Mac only)

• Support for OS X version 10.10.1 has been added.
• Mac OS X version 10.7.5 is no longer supported.
• If an application other than Camera Control Pro 2 was brought to the front, and the Camera Control Pro 2 window was minimized, under OS X version 10.9, images sometimes could not be transferred. This issue has been resolved.

You can download the update from the Nikon support site.

Wireless Transmitter Utility 1.5.3 (Mac only)

Changes

• Support for OS X 10.10.1 has been added.
• OS X 10.7.5 is no longer supported.

You can download the update from the Nikon support site.

Picture Control Utility 2.0.2

Changes (Mac and Windows)

• Support for the D5500 has been added.
• Preview images can now be rotated.

Changes (Mac only)

• Support for OS X version 10.10.1 has been added.
• OS X version 10.7.5 is no longer supported.

You can download the update from the Nikon support site.

New Canon 50.6 MP (!) cameras announced

Canon just announced their new 50.6 Mega Pixel (!) cameras. Like the earlier Nikon D800, the new EOS 5DS comes in two flavours. One with and one without an optical low pass filter. (Which, to be honest, I do not understand; clearly Nikon, and others, have shown that with these high mega pixel counts there is no need for an optical low pass filter any longer).

EOS 5DS Key features

• ISO 100-6400 (expandable to 50-12800)
• 50.6 MP CMOS sensor with dual DIGIC 6 processors
• 150K Pixel RGB+IR Metering Sensor
• Up to 5.0 Frames Per Second
• 61-point AF
• Cropped Shooting (1.3x, 1.6x and 1:1)
• Low-pass cancellation filter (EOS 5DS R)