Firmware Friday: Ricoh fixes G700SE bug; Nokia brings Pro Camera to 900-series phones

It's Firmware Friday, and time for our weekly roundup of the latest camera updates -- but this week it seems that the software coders have been given a rare day off to see daylight. We have only two firmware updates to report on, but ever keen to give you value for your clicks, we also squirreled out a software update from the good folks at Nikon. Okay, it's not firmware per se, but bear with us.

First up, and most interestingly, we have Nokia's Amber update for Lumia 9xx-series phones, accompanied by an update to Nokia Pro Camera. The Amber update brings with it quite a range of changes, but key among these is availability of Nokia Pro Camera on the Lumia 920 and 928 smartphones. (And Lumia 925 owners can also now download Pro Camera, without needing an OS update first.)

In a nutshell, users of these phones will be getting all the photo goodness of the Nokia Lumia 1020, save for two features. Since the 9xx-series phones lack the 41-megapixel sensor of the Lumia 1020, Nokia has dropped the Dual Capture function of that phone, as well as the related unzoom feature. But otherwise, it's all here: manual exposure control, single-handed zoom control, improved focusing, and more. More details on Nokia's "Conversations" blog.

And if you're a business shooter, you may be using Ricoh's G700SE digital camera, a feature-rich, ruggedized model that's not really aimed at the general public. If so, you'll want to grab a copy of Ricoh G700SE firmware version 1.31, available immediately. This brings but one change: a fix for a bug that prevents upload of your entire image queue via FTP, if a single image filename duplicates one already on the server, and Overwrite is set to Off. Now, you'll be able to upload all but the duplicate image(s).

That's it for the firmware updates this week, but we do have that software update to report on, as well. Nikon View NX 2.8.0 brings the following changes, according to its maker:

• Support for the COOLPIX L620 has been added.

• GeoTag in the toolbar has been changed to Map. In addition, GPS data and GPS information have been renamed Location data.

• The following support has been added for Motion Snapshots.

  • Slideshow function

  • When Short Movie Creator or Movie Editor is selected from the Open With... option in the File menu, users can now choose Movies (MOV) and JPEG images or Movies (MOV).

  • However, to choose one of the above, Short Movie Creator or Movie Editor must be registered in Open With > Register... > Open with Application beforehand.

• An Add/Edit Directional option has been added to the Map toolbar.

• A Merge Altitude Log with Track Log... option has been added to the Log Matching item.

• A location log saved with a camera, mobile phone, or other commercially available satellite navigation system receiver capable of acquiring location data can now be merged with an altitude (barometer) and depth log* saved using a Nikon digital camera.

• Altitude (barometer) and depth logs are recorded by Nikon digital cameras equipped with barometers or depth gauges.

• Additional modifications to the Windows version

  • Installation of QuickTime is no longer required.

  • Frame rate options of 50 fps and 60 fps are now available for movies created using the Create Movie... item in the Nikon Movie Editor File menu and output at a size of 1280 x 720 (16:9) and 1920 x 1080 (16:9). However, the following two requirements apply when 50 fps or 60 fps is selected for Frame rate:.

    • Only movies have been added to the storyboard (no still images)

    • An option other than MOV (MotionJPEG/Linear PCM) is selected for File type:

• Additional modifications to the Macintosh version

  • Image display with the slideshow function is now compatible with Retina Display.

More details on the Nikon website.