Firmware Friday: New features for Leica CL; also Fuji X-Pro2, Nikon KeyMission 170 and Z 50mm f/1.8 lens

 

 

Leica is the star of this week's Firmware Friday roundup, having released the most significant update of the past seven days for its APS-C format Leica CL mirrorless camera. And not to be left out, we also have news to report from Fujifilm, Nikon and Olympus as well, with two further camera models, one lens and one piece of software on the update list.

Let's get right down to what's new!

Fujifilm X-Pro2

Kicking things off alphabetically with the Fuji X-Pro2, firmware version 5.01 is a very minor one indeed. The only change noted by its maker is a promised "fix of slight defects", but no info is provided as to what these entail. You can download the update here.

Leica CL

As we said at the outset, it's firmware version 3.1 for the Leica CL that's the biggie this week, with a much longer list of new features and tweaks. In all, changes are as follows:

• AF / AE lock added to FN menu
  The AF and AE lock function allows you to lock your focus or exposure settings separately as you recompose your shot.

• Manual video exposure mode added
  Allows you to select and change aperture while filming.

• Movable zoom position of the magnified live view in manual focus mode
  Focus manually and compose the shot at the same time.

• Focus Peaking sensitivity added to menu
  Two sensitivity modes for focus peaking are now available.

• Touch AF generally on/off for different AF Modes
  The touch AF functionality can now generally be either activated or deactivated – regardless the preferred AF mode (excluding multi field AF and face detection).

• EVF Brightness adjustment added to menu
  You can now adjust the brightness of the EVF in 10 steps.

• 4K video file size limitation lifted
  Until now, the 4K video files where limited up to 4GB. This limitation is lifted.

• Auto ISO behavior
  The new auto ISO has the priority to create a correct exposure.

• Menu item WLAN is renamed to Leica FOTOS

• L-Mount lenses can be updated via separate lens update file

The update itself, along with installation instructions, can be found towards the bottom of this page on Leica's rather disorganized downloads site.

Nikon KeyMission 170 and Z 50mm f/1.8 lens

Firmware version 1.3 for the Nikon KeyMission 170, which can be downloaded here, simply adds support for version 1.1.5 of the SnapBridge 360/170 app for iOS devices. The corresponding app update, available on Apple's app store, promises some minor, unspecified bug fixes. As for the Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.8 S lens, firmware version 1.01 is aimed at improving exposure consistency during continuous high-speed shooting. It can be downloaded here.

Olympus Workspace

And finally for this week, we have news of simultaneous updates to Olympus' Workspace app for Windows and MacOS devices. In both cases, the following four functions have been added:

• USB RAW Data Edit

• Lighten Composite

• Focus Stacking

• Noise Reduction

Updates for this app can be downloaded through the software itself, using the "Update Software" link under the Help menu.

And that's all for this week. Tune in next time for more firmware (and occasionally, software) news!

**Worried you might've missed a critical update lately? Don't be! Just click here for all recent Firmware Friday articles!**

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(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.)