Nikon D4s officially announced

Nikon has just announced its new D4s flagship DSLR camera. As this is basically an 's' update to the current D4, the improvements aren't earth shattering (e.g., no 24MP sensor as many, including myself, had hoped for). There are still numerable improvements worth checking out though, most notable in ISO (a whopping 409,600 is now available), video (1080p/60fps), frame rate (now 11fps with AF and AE), a new S-RAW format (half the size), and a Gigabit Ethernet connector.

The initial price for the D4 is around $6,499/€6,149 and should start shipping on 6 March.

Specifications

Nikon Capture NX2.4.6 released

Nikon has released an update to it's Nikon Capture NX2 image editing application.

Version 2.4.6 adds support for the new D3300 camera and improvements in White Balance handling as well as a couple of OS specific fixes.
You can download the software from the Nikon support sites: EU | USA.

From the release notes:

Modifications that apply to both the Windows and Macintosh versions

• Support for RAW images captured with the D3300 has been added.
• Advanced settings, such as Sharpening, under Camera Settings > Picture Control in the Develop section of the Edit List palette can now be adjusted, even when Unchanged is selected for Picture Control when RAW images are opened.
  The following modifications and additions have been applied to White Balance > New WB in the Camera Settings portion of the Develop section in the Edit List palette.
  - An Auto 1 option has been added to White Balance > New WB options.
  Capture NX 2 adjusts white balance for colors similar to those achieved in images captured with a camera's Auto 1 (Normal)* white balance setting.
  However, only RAW images captured with the following cameras are supported.
  - The D7000 and later digital SLR cameras
  - Advanced cameras with interchangeable lenses
  - The COOLPIX A as well as the COOLPIX P7100 and later COOLPIX cameras that support recording in the NRW format
  *Auto white balance setting with cameras that do not offer an Auto 2 (Keep warm lighting colors) option
  - Adjustment units available with the Tint option have been changed from 1 to 0.01 for more precise specification.
  - The adjustment range for Fine Adjustment when Direct sunlight is selected for Daylight has been expanded from 4132–7042k to 2500–7042k.
  - Adjustment using Fine Adjustment and Tint is now possible when Recorded Value, Auto 1, Auto 2, or Underwater is selected.

Additional modifications to the Windows version

• The following issues have been resolved.
  - An error occurred when XMP/IPTC files created with Capture NX 2 Ver. 2.4.3 or earlier were opened.
  - Details specified in the Print layout dialog and page setup dialog displayed with selection of Page Setup... in the File menu were not applied.

Additional modifications to the Macintosh version

• Support for Mac OS X version 10.6 has been eliminated.
• An issue has been resolved where image files saved to a disk formatted using the FAT32 architecture were edited and saved, editing details were not applied.

Nikon View 2.90 (Win) & 2.91 (Mac) released

Nikon has updated its Nikon View 2 image browsing and editing suite. For the Mac the new version is 2.91, for Windows it is 2.90.

As always, downloads are available at the respective support sites: US (Win+Mac) | EU (Win) | EU (Mac).

Fixes in both the 2.90 Windows and 2.91 Mac version:

• Support for the COOLPIX S3600, S6700, and S6800 has been added.
• The White Balance section in the Adjustments palette has been changed, or support added, as follows.
  
  • An Auto 1 option has been added.
    ViewNX 2 adjusts white balance for colors similar to those achieved in images captured with a camera's Auto 1 (Normal)* white balance setting.
    However, only RAW images captured with the following cameras are supported.
  • The D7000 and later digital SLR cameras
  • Advanced cameras with interchangeable lenses
  • The COOLPIX A as well as the COOLPIX P7100 and later COOLPIX cameras that support recording in the NRW format
  *Auto white balance setting with cameras that do not offer an Auto 2 (Keep warm lighting colors) option
  • Adjustment units available with the Tint option have been changed from 1 to 0.01 for more precise specification
  • The adjustment range for the Fine Adjustment option has been expanded from 4132–7042 to 2500–7042 when Direct sunlight is selected
  • Adjustment using the Fine Adjustment and Tint options is now possible when Recorded Value, Auto 1, Auto 2, or Underwater is selected
• A Switch over to second slot after transfer option has been added to the Preferences panel in Nikon Transfer 2.
  When this option is checked, a confirmation dialog asking whether or not files recorded to the second memory card should be transferred will be displayed after files recorded to the first memory card are transferred. This function is available only when a camera with two memory card slots is connected to the computer using MTP/PTP (PTP).
• The AF Noise Reduction... option in the File menu more effectively reduces the sound of lens drive with autofocusing.

Additional fix in the 2.91 Mac version:

• Problems that prevented correct transfer of movies when attempting to do so with Nikon Transfer 2 via a card reader or memory card slot built into the computer have been resolved.

Firmware updates for the Nikon Df, D5200, and D3200

Nikon just released firmware updates for their Df, D5200, and D3200 DSLR cameras.

Nikon Df C1.01 firmware update

• When Press for Custom Setting f4 (Assign Fn button), f5 (Assign preview button), or f6 (Assign AE-L/AF-L button) was set to Preview, and the camera's Fn button, Pv button, or AE-L/AF-L button was pressed with viewfinder shooting using a Speedlight SB-800, a preview was not displayed in the camera monitor and a modeling flash was not fired. This issue has been resolved.
• When a Speedlight that does not support auto FP high-speed sync was used with Custom Setting e1 (Flash sync speed) set to 1/250 s (Auto FP), the maximum shutter speed was 1/200 s.  This issue has been resolved.
• When images captured with Auto ISO sensitivity control in the shooting menu set to Off were displayed in ViewNX 2 or Capture NX 2, Auto (ISO XXX)* was displayed for ISO Sensitivity in Metadata. This issue has been resolved.
  *"XXX" is the specified ISO sensitivity value.

You can download the firmware update from the Nikon support site: EU, USA

Nikon D5200 C1.02 firmware update

• The camera now supports the display of error messages when lenses with a retractable lens mechanism, such as the AF-S DX NIKKOR 18–55mm f/3.5–5.6G VR II, are used. An error message is displayed and the shutter cannot be released when the lens barrel is retracted.
• The display of focal lengths in 35mm [135] format recorded in image Exif data has been corrected.
• The following issues have been resolved.
  
  • The camera would sometimes freeze when adding options to My Menu (Add items).
  • Under certain conditions, the camera would sometimes not focus automatically when the AE-L/AF-L button was pressed with AF-ON operation assigned to the button.
  • When shooting with High Dynamic Range (HDR) enabled, noise in the form of a line would sometimes appear at bottom right in images.

You can download the firmware update from the Nikon support site: EU, USA

Nikon D3200 C1.03 firmware update

• The camera now supports the display of error messages when lenses with a retractable lens mechanism, such as the AF-S DX NIKKOR 18–55mm f/3.5–5.6G VR II, are used. An error message is displayed and the shutter cannot be released when the lens barrel is retracted.

You can download the firmware update from the Nikon support site: EU, USA

Firmware update for the Canon EOS-700D/Rebel T5i

While Nikon is busy bringing out new cameras, Canon seems to be busy updating its current line with new firmwares. This time the 700D/Rebel T5i gets an update.

As always, you can download the update from the canon website.
Note: if your particular operating system version (e.g., Mac OS X 10.9) doesn't show the 1.1.3 update, use an earlier OS version, this should allow you to view and download it.

Updates and fixes in the 1.1.3 firmware revision:

• Fixes a phenomenon in which the camera displays Err01 or Err60, or in rare instances will lock-up when in Live View shooting mode (or Movie shooting mode) when attached to the following STM zoom lenses: EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM, EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM, EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM.
• Corrects some Korean language misspellings displayed on the menu screen.

Firmware update 2.0.3 for the Canon EOS-1D X

Canon today published a new firmware for its flagship EOS-1D X DSLR camera. The new firmware comes with a host of updates and improvements (Nikon: where are you with these kind of updates for the D4?). If you have a 1D X, I would really recommend updating.

As always, you can download the update from the canon website.
Note: if your particular operating system version (e.g., Mac OS X 10.9) doesn't show the 2.0.3 update, use an earlier OS version, this should allow you to view and download it.

Updates and fixes in the 2.0.3 firmware revision:

• Auto focusing performance under low-light conditions has been enhanced when performing focusing before shooting in AI Servo AF mode. The enhancement comes from the improvement in tracking capability for the first image in the low-light conditions.
• The number of release parameters settings for the "AI Servo AF 2nd image priority" AF function has been increased to enable improved AF tracking in low light or maintain consistent high frames rates during continuous shooting.
• The number of parameters for acceleration/deceleration tracking in the AF Configuration Tool will has been increased.
• Exposure compensation can be performed when using manual exposure and ISO Auto.
• The minimum shutter speed limit for ISO Auto has been increased with shutter speeds up to 1/8000.
• A new function to keep the exposure constant by altering the ISO or shutter speed in manual exposure, when the aperture value changes when zooming or changing lenses has been added.
• A new option has been added to orientation linked AF point to enable only the AF point to switch as you change orientation rather than both AF point/ AF area settings
• A new option to continue to use the previously manually selected AF point as the initial starting AF point when switching to 61-point automatic selection has been added.
• New customization of the Exposure metering and AF controls has been added for more flexibility.
• The number of possibilities for controls to switch between one-shot AF and AI Servo AF using custom controls has been increased.
• A function has been added to allow the playback and review of protected images only.
• A phenomenon has been fixed in which the white balance may be disturbed by the timing of the shutter release when the drive mode is single shooting and a flash (E-TTL)is used.