Firmware Friday: A holiday feast for Fuji, Olympus, Panasonic, Sigma and Sony shooters

 

 

Our final Firmware Friday roundup of 2018 is a biggie, bringing with it news of close to two dozen different camera updates for models from Fujifilm, Olympus, Panasonic, Sigma and Sony. And as if that wasn't plenty, we've also uncovered two movie camera updates from Sony, as well as a lens and software update apiece from Fuji and Sigma. We've a lot to discuss, so let's get right down to it.

Fujifilm X-H1, X-T3, XF 80mm f/2.8 Macro and PC Autosave

We'll kick things off this week with Fujifilm, which has shipped two camera firmware updates, one lens update and a new release of software since our last roundup. The new firmware for the X-H1 and X-T3 cameras share a couple of changes in common -- support for color temperature display on the LCD, and also for a power supply icon when connected to an AC adapter or compatible power bank -- but mot of the changes differ in each. Here's what's new:

• Fuji X-H1 firmware version 2.00 (download here)

  1. In-body image stabilization and optical image stabilization now work together to improve overall stability
     With an XF or XC optical image stabilized lens, in-body image stabilization worked with 3 axis (up and down / optical axis rotation). The remaining 2 axis (right and left pitch, yaw angle) was controlled by optical image stabilization in the lens. This firmware has a new image stabilization algorithm to allow the in-body image stabilization to work in all 5 axis and to achieve more than five-stops (up to the equivalent of 5.5 stops) image stabilization by cooperative control according to the types of frequency and blur amount. To activate this function, lenses are necessary to be updated to latest firmware version.

  2. Improved in-body image stabilization performance
     Eliminate image shake when panning slowly when movie recording or on the live view image.

  3. Recording over 4GB movie file as one file
     Movie files are no longer split when the file reaches 4GB file size. The file is recorded as one file providing an SD memory card greater than 32GB is used (excludes 32GB). By using SD memory cards less than or equal to 32GB, movie recording will continue without interruption when the file size reaches 4GB, however subsequent footage will be recorded to a separate file.

  4. Display color temperature (Kelvin) on EVF/LCD
     Color temperature (Kelvin) can be displayed on EVF/LCD.

  5. Display power supply icon
     Power supply icon is displayed on EVF/LCD while using AC adapter (AC-9VS), or Anker PowerCore+ 26800 PD and Anker PowerCore Speed 20000 PD.

  6. Fix of slight defects.

• Fuji X-T3 firmware version 2.00 (download here)

  1. 4K HDR video recording in Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG)
     Supports 4K HDR video recording in the Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG), one of the formats defined in the ITU-R BT.2100 international standards (only compatible with H.265[HEVC]). It allows the capture of rich and realistic images in a scene where there is a huge gap between highlight and shadow, or subjects with high color saturation.

  2. Simultaneous output of Film Simulation and F-Log footage
     Supports simultaneous output of Film Simulation and F-Log footage. It allows you to record in F-Log while checking Film Simulation image on an external monitor.Display color temperature (Kelvin) on EVF/LCD Color temperature (Kelvin) can be displayed on EVF/LCD.

  3. Supports slower shutter speeds with DCI4K/4K 29.97P/25P/24P/23.98P. Slower shutter speeds than the framerate can be selected with 4K 29.97P/25P/24P/23.98P.

  4. Compatible with ALL-Intra and maximum bitrate 400Mbps with H.264
     Using H.264 compression, you will now to be able to select ALL-Intra at a maximum bitrate of 400Mbps.

  5. Display power supply icon
     Power supply icon is displayed on EVF/LCD while using AC adapter (AC-9VS), or Anker PowerCore+ 26800 PD and Anker PowerCore Speed 20000 PD.

  6. Fix of slight defects.

• Fuji XF80mmF2.8 R LM OIS WR Macro firmware version 1.11 (download here)

  1. Compatibility with cooperative control by in-body and optical image stabilization with firmware ver.2.00 of X-H1 is added.

• Fuji PC Autosave version 1.1.0.3 for Windows (download here) and 1.1.0.1 for Mac OS (download here)

  1. Compatibility with “macOS Mojave” is added.

  2. Fix of slight defects

Olympus E-M5, E-M10, E-P3, E-P5, E-PL3, E-PL5, E-PL6, E-PM1 and E-PM2

Moving along to Olympus, the company has updated nine of its cameras in the past couple of weeks, but in all cases, the sole change made is improved compatibility with Panasonic lenses, as below:

• Corrected issue of autofocus (AF) function not operating correctly when using the "H-ES200" and "H-ES50200" interchangeable lens produced by Panasonic.

Updates for all nine models can be applied using Olympus' Digital Camera Updater. Current firmware versions are now v2.3 for the E-M5, v1.4 for the E-M10, v1.6 for the E-P3, v1.8 for the E-P5, v1.6 for the E-PL3, v1.6 for the E-PL5, v1.4 for the E-PL6, v1.6 for the E-PM1 and v1.6 for the E-PM2.

Panasonic GX9, LX100 Mark II, TZ200, TZ202, TZ220, ZS200 and ZS220

Next up, we have Panasonic. The company has updates for its GX9 mirrorless camera (firmware version 1.3), its LX100 II premium compact (firmware version 1.1), and the closely-related TZ200, TZ202, TZ220, ZS200 and ZS220 compacts (firmware version 1.1). In all three cases, the sole change is the same: A fix for incorrect contrast adjustment on the camera's built-in monitor.

Sigma 70mm f/2.8 Macro and X3F Plug-in for Photoshop

Sigma's contributions this week are twofold: A new firmware release for the Sony E-mount variant of its 70mm f/2.8 Macro lens, and a new Photoshop plug-in for processing the .X3F-format raw files from its DP Merrill series, dp Quattro series, SD1/SD1 Merrill and sd Quattro series cameras (download here). Firmware version 02 (download here) for the Sony E-mount Sigma 70mm f/2.8 Macro makes this particular optic compatible with the Clear Image Zoom function of Sony's cameras.

Sony A7 Mark III, A7R Mark III, A9, Z190 and Z280

Finally, for this week's roundup, we come to the Sony A7 III, A7R III and A9 mirrorless cameras, as well as the Z190 and Z280 XDCAM camcorders. The updates for the Alpha-series mirrorless models are all related, sharing changes between them. All three cameras get a fix for an issue which prevented some third-party flash cards from being recognized. The A7 Mark III and A7R Mark III also get a fix for camera lockups or failure to review a just-captured image when shooting in raw format with certain SD cards. The A7 III also gets unspecified improvements to overall stability, while the A7R III gets one final fix for lockups when reviewing images. Get your downloads here -- firmware version 2.10 for the A7 III (Windows / Mac OS), firmware version 2.10 for the A7R III (Windows / Mac OS) and firmware version 4.10 for the A9 (Windows / Mac OS).

Which leaves just the XDCAM Z190 and Z280 camcorders. Again, both share a fair few changes between their updates, with firmware version 2 for the Z190 (download here) and Z280 (download here) both adding support for dual-link QoS streaming with dual USB modems, HEVC QoS streaming and intercom calls with the PWS-110RX1A network RX station. The Z190 also gains support for new network and MPEG HD upgrade licenses, a fix for compatibility issues with some memory cards, and improved operational stability. The Z280, meanwhile, also adds support for a new "pure" ATW mode, and lower noise levels in HD-mode operation.

And that's all for this week. Check back next time (and next year!) for more firmware and 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.)