Firmware Friday: Sony Alpha 9, FS7 and FS7 II, Sigma lenses / converters and Nikon software all updated

Of So

 

 

This week's regular Firmware Friday roundup is a relatively straightforward affair, with news of new firmware or software updates from just a handful of companies in the past seven days. On the camera front, Sony has updates for the Alpha 7 mirrorless camera, as well as the FS7 and FS7 II video cameras. Sigma has updates several of its lenses and mount converters, meanwhile, and Nikon has updated its Capture NX-D software package.

Without any further ado, let's get down to what's new!

Sony Alpha 9, FS7 and FS7 II

Of Sony's three updates this week, the biggest is for the Alpha 9 compact system camera. Firmware version 3.10 (available here) not only brings stability improvements, but also a new Silent Priority aperture drive option for the FE 400 mm F2.8 GM OSS lens. Firmware version 4.31 for the FS7 (available here) and 1.21 for the FS7 II (available here) both bring fixes for a compatibility issue with a specific, unidentified XQD card which could cause recording to stop prematurely.

Sigma 50-100mm Art, 100-400mm Contemporary, 150-600mm Contemporary and 150-600mm Sports lenses; MC-11 mount converter

Moving along to Sigma, this week the company has news to report on several fronts. First of all, there's new firmware for the SA-E and EF-E variants of the MC-11 mount converter intended to improve AF performance towards the periphery of the frame and when using Eye AF with 15 different Sigma Global Vision-program lenses. The update also adds support for lenses updated to new firmware as described below.

• Sigma 50-100mm F1.8 DC HSM | Art (Canon: Version 2.01; Sigma: Version 1.01)

  • Corrected the phenomenon that the AF performance occasionally becomes unstable when used via SIGMA MOUNT CONVERTER MC-11.

• Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | Contemporary (Canon: Version 2.03; Nikon: Version 1.02; Sigma: Version 1.02)

  • Nikon / Sigma: Corrected the phenomenon that the Manual Override (MO) function will be disabled after adjusting the settings of focus mode switch on SIGMA Optimization Pro (Macintosh ver.).

  • Canon: Improved the AF speed in certain combinations with some cameras.

• Sigma 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | Contemporary (version 2.00) and Sigma 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | Sports (version 2.00)

  • Ensured compatibility with Canon’s in-camera Lens Aberration Correction function, which enables correction matching the optical characteristics of the attached lens.*
    *Compatible cameras:
    Canon EOS-1D X Mark II, EOS 5Ds, EOS 5Ds R, EOS 5D Mark IV, EOS 6D Mark II, EOS 80D, EOS 8000D (EOS Rebel T6s, EOS 760D), EOS 9000D (EOS 77D) , EOS Kiss x8i (EOS Rebel T6i, EOS 750D), EOS Kiss x9i (EOS Rebel T7i, EOS 800D), EOS Kiss x9 (EOS Rebel SL2, EOS 200D)

  • Corrected the phenomenon that abnormal images appear or operation errors occur when Canon’s in-camera Lens Aberration Correction function is enabled.

  • Improved the AF speed in certain combinations with some cameras.

Sigma's firmware can be installed using its Optimization Pro application and, for the lenses, its optional USB dock accessory.

Nikon Capture NX-D

And finally for this week, we come to Nikon's Capture NX-D software package. Here, updates in the new version 1.5.0 (download here) are as follows:

• Added support for the Z 7, D3500, and COOLPIX P1000.

• Added a Diffraction Compensation feature and updated Latest Picture Control for the Z 7.

• Added a Color Control Point feature that can be used to selectively edit brightness and hue.

• Image processing is now faster and consumes less memory for improved stability.

• Picture Controls created or modified in Picture Control Utility 2 can now be applied without restarting Capture NX-D.

• Fixed an issue that resulted in anchor points created by selecting Add Anchor Point in the Levels & Curves palette and then clicking a point in the image not appearing in the channel tone curves.

And that's all for this week. Be sure to check back next time for more firmware (and occasionally, software) 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.)