D70 firmware upgrade

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  • 05-11-2005, 02:15 AM
    shrapnel
    D70 firmware upgrade
    Hi everyone, before the firmware for the D70 is actually available for download (shouldn't be long now), I just wanted to find out if anyone knew the answer to this. I bought my camera in the US (ebay) but live in Ireland. Do i need to download the firmware from nikon US or does it not matter at all whether i get the firmware from nikon US or nikon UK ? Basically are they the same? and if not what are the differences (out of curiosity)?

    Thanks

    Chris
  • 05-11-2005, 11:15 AM
    OldSchool
    Re: D70 firmware upgrade
    Hey Chris,

    I don't see why it would matter if the language is the same. But, I'm purely guessing here. You could always send an email to Nikon tech support. You'll have plenty of time for the answer.
    Tim
  • 05-12-2005, 01:23 AM
    shrapnel
    Re: D70 firmware upgrade
    Hi Tim, i just thought there might have been a US UK difference like there always seems to be in most electronic objects and formats if you know what i mean. I'll email them for sure but i just thought some of the "techies" on this forum might have an idea.

    Thanks for replying

    regards

    chris
  • 05-12-2005, 01:04 PM
    SmartWombat
    Re: D70 firmware upgrade
    Video output is one difference - US is Never Twice the Same Color, or NTSC
    France uses Systeme Elegant Contra AMericain, or SECAM
    A lot of the rest of the world uses PAL
  • 05-13-2005, 12:23 AM
    shrapnel
    Re: D70 firmware upgrade
    Well i emailed Nikon yesterday, and they replied straight away (very impressive), telling me that i would have to download the firmware from Nikon USA, for the simple reason that i would not be able to register my product on the UK site, hence not being able to download the firmware. I also asked them if there was any difference between the two, and they said none whatsoever.

    Regards

    Chris

    PS: Smartwombat, i never knew what those stood for!! :D :p :D
  • 05-17-2005, 01:52 PM
    lidarman
    Re: D70 firmware upgrade
    BTW, The firmware upgrade is available now. I downloaded and installed it today. The menus have a fresh look and apparently, ther 5 spot focus has been improved.
  • 05-17-2005, 04:08 PM
    MJS
    Re: D70 firmware upgrade
    I did my upgrade via remote-control, I had Deckcadet do it since he is a speed demon on such matters. I like the autofocus, it seems to be faster and the menu's look cooler. If you are shooting in RAW, you will notice increased capacity on your cards.
  • 05-17-2005, 04:24 PM
    OldSchool
    Re: D70 firmware upgrade
    Thanks for the update all.

    MJS, just a minor correction.... As I understand it, there is no increased card capacity. It's just that the old firmware was super conservative when calculating how more free room there was for NEF files. This has been corrected now.

    BR,
    Tim
  • 05-17-2005, 07:20 PM
    MJS
    Re: D70 firmware upgrade
    You are absolutely correct. 2 gigs is still 2 gigs. I can just cram more stuff into that bag. Used to be 190 shots, now its 360. Gotta love that with a trip to London and Paris coming this summer. I only have 3 and a half gigs of cards and don't want to travel with my laptop. I'll probably pick up a portable HD with card reader. Now if I could just figure where to get the green for that tokina 12-24 f/4.
  • 05-17-2005, 11:38 PM
    OldSchool
    Re: D70 firmware upgrade
    Whoops! MJS. I think I wasn't clear. You will not be able to store more NEFs on your card with the v2.0 firmware. I'll try again becuase I don't want you to go on a trip thinking you get to snap more images with the same card (actually, you were able to snap more than you thought!).

    The version 1.x firmware didn't do a good job of computing available space for NEF files. It was under-predicting to provide a conservative value. So, when you put in a empty 512 MB card, it told you you had room for 44 (or something) NEFs. As you continue to shoot, that number updates (but is still conservative). If you shoot on that card till it was full, you would typically get 80 (or so) images. Again, this is v1.x FW.

    The NEFs are compressed. Depending on the complexity of the image, the amount of compression differes. So, your D70 with the v1.x FW errored on the low side just in case you descided to shoot only super complex images. The old rule of thumb with the 1.x FW was to take the remaining possible NEFs and multiply it by 2.

    The new FW version 2.0 uses a "typical" NEF size when computing remaining capacity. Thus, the higher values. And agian, if you fill the card, you will not be able to cram more images on it even though you have updated the FW.

    If your 2G card says you can get 360 images, then that's about what you were able to actually do before you upgraded the firmware. Does this make sense?

    Cheers,
    Tim

    p.s. Check out this thread. There are many more like it if you do a search.

    http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/re...essage=9828560


    pp.s. I've just updated firmware. No problems. Just do them one at a time (starting with A).
  • 05-19-2005, 06:57 AM
    Bill Noble
    Re: D70 firmware upgrade
    Is there any reason NOT to do a firmware upgrade on the D70? I am very cautious by nature and wonder if it would be best to wait a few months incase the upgrade has bugs.
  • 05-19-2005, 10:00 AM
    OldSchool
    Re: D70 firmware upgrade
    I've read some reports that older auto focus lenses may not work so snappy. Search on dpreview.com /D70 forums for greater discussion.
  • 05-19-2005, 03:29 PM
    MJS
    Re: D70 firmware upgrade
    Thanks O.S. I got the original, either way you look at it, its nice. As far as the autofocus speed, I shoot the Tokina 28-70/2.8 and the 80-200/2.8 and have had no problem with the speed. In fact, while not having a meter or watch on it, I believe that it focuses noticably faster and seems not to want to hunt so much in low contrast lighting.
  • 05-19-2005, 09:57 PM
    DownByFive
    Re: D70 firmware upgrade
    I haven't noticed whether my AF is really faster or not, but just fixing the shot counter makes it worth the upgrade. The new menu colors are cool too...
  • 05-20-2005, 12:51 PM
    lidarman
    Re: D70 firmware upgrade
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by OldSchool
    I've read some reports that older auto focus lenses may not work so snappy. Search on dpreview.com /D70 forums for greater discussion.

    Yeah, I wonder. Last night I was shooting with my 70-200 f2.8 VR during a softball game and it was a mess trying to focus on the endfield. Maybe it was the scene but didn't have that problem two weeks ago. I am a little concerned and I didn't think that lens was old.
  • 05-20-2005, 02:01 PM
    OldSchool
    Re: D70 firmware upgrade
    Droool! (lens envy)...

    Rich, if you want to test by rolling back the firmware -- I've saved the v1.03 version. I can email it to you. But, I'd do a search on DPreview first. I think the people reporting the problems had non-Nikon lenses, and I don't know if it was reproducible by others.
    Tim