Firmware Friday: Uncompressed raw comes to Sony A7R II; Nikon AW130 and Phase One XF also updated

 

 

It's been a little while since our last Firmware Friday roundup -- I've been out of town or laid up in bed with a succession of different bugs over the last few weekends, sorry! -- but this week we return in style with news of a much-anticipated update from Sony, as well as new firmware from both Nikon and Phase One.

We'll start off with Sony's firmware, as the main change is intended to directly answer customer demand, and so not surprisingly it's had more than a few of our readers champing at the bit in anticipation of its arrival. You can get the Sony A7R II version 2.00 firmware here, and once it's installed you'll gain access to the same 14-bit uncompressed raw file format option that debuted on the Sony A7S II. The update also adds the ability to output a live video feed via HDMI when using Sony's Remote Camera Control software in still image mode. No other changes are made in this new firmware release, but for those who've been asking for uncompressed raw for quite some time, we're sure this will more than suffice!

Next up, we have Nikon's update for the rugged Coolpix AW130 point-and-shoot. Here, firmware version 1.1 fixes a bug that caused points of interest in three specific regions -- Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan -- to fail to display correctly. You can get the Nikon Coolpix AW130 firmware here, should you be living in (or planning a trip to) one of these locations in the future. No other changes are noted in this firmware.

And finally for this week, we come to Phase One. Here, the firmware is for the medium-format Phase One XF Camera System, with quite a laundry list of new features, some of them very interesting indeed. Perhaps the most unusual of the lot is a seismographic monitoring function that will allow the camera to detect vibration and delay the shutter for up to a user-controlled maximum duration. The goal is that there is no vibration when the shutter finally fires, ensuring the sharpest possible capture.

There's also a new focus confirmation, bullseye leel tool and histogram in the camera's OneTouch user interface, as well as the ability to setup and calibrate the hyperfocal point, to enter copyright information for insertion in newly-captured raw files, and to adjust the focus distance manually when shooting tethered with Capture One. And in addition, the user interface now supports ten different languages. You can get the firmware update and more information here.

And that wraps things up for this week. Check back next time for more of the latest camera firmware news!

(Camera parts image courtesy of Kelly Hofer / Flickr; used under a Creative Commons CC-BY-2.0 license. Image has been modified from the original.)