Firmware Friday: iPhone 7 Plus portrait beta; updates for Sigma sd Quattro, MC-11 converter, 150-600 lens

 

 

After a brief hiatus last week, Firmware Friday returns this week with news of updates from both Apple and Sigma. We've covered Apple's iOS 10.1 update, which includes a beta release of the Portrait Camera function for the iPhone 7 Plus, in an earlier article. Hence we'll focus on Sigma's news here.

Sigma sd Quattro, MC-11 EF-E Mount Converter and 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | Sports / Contemporary lenses

First up, we have firmware version 1.03 for the Sigma sd Quattro digital camera. This makes but one change: A fix for potential camera lockups when shooting via a tether from Sigma Capture Pro if the AF Capture, AF Drive Only or MF Capture buttons were pressed. If you've been troubled by this issue, you can download the Sigma sd Quattro firmware version 1.03 update here.

Moving on to the MC-11 mount converter, there's an update to firmware version 1.02 for the Canon EF to Sony E-mount variant. This makes several changes: Firstly, support has been added for Sigma's 12-24mm F4 DG HSM | Art, 500mm F4 DG OS HSM | Sports and 85mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art lenses. Startup time has also been reduced by removing the focus cycle when the camera is powered on, and support for lens-based stabilization has been added when using lenses incompatible with body-based stabilization. Finally, AF accuracy has been improved for some Canon lenses, and distortion correction is now indicated correctly when using Sigma's 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM | Art lens. You can download the MC-11 EF-E mount converter update here.

Finally, we come to the closely-related Sigma 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | Sports and Contemporary lenses. Here, the changes are applicable only if you're shooting with the Canon or Sigma-mount versions, but not their Nikon-mount equivalents. The precise changes made vary depending upon your mount type. If you own a Sigma-mount variant of either lens, the only changes made are to improve AF accuracy when mounted on the Sigma sd Quattro camera body, or the MC-11 SA-E mount adapter.

If you're shooting with the Canon-mount variants, you'll also get improved AF accuracy with the equivalent MC-11 EF-E mount adapter or when shooting unadapted in live view mode on an EOS camera body. This change will come accompanied by reduced aperture diaphragm noise when shooting movies using this adapter, or shooting on an unadapted EOS body. The degree of the improvements on EOS bodies will vary with the camera model. Finally, there's now compatibility with the Canon EOS C300 Mark II camera body as well.

You can get the lens updates at the links below:

• Sigma 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | Sports firmware version 1.05 for Canon / version 1.02 for Sigma

• 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | Contemporary firmware version 1.03 for Canon / version 1.01 for Sigma

And that's it for this week's roundup. Be sure to check back next time for more 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.)