[HN Gopher] Nikon releases bug fix firmware update for the 10 ye...
___________________________________________________________________
Nikon releases bug fix firmware update for the 10 year-old D7100
DSLR camera
Author : giuliomagnifico
Score : 275 points
Date : 2022-07-27 10:22 UTC (12 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (nikonrumors.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (nikonrumors.com)
| AndrianV wrote:
| Never is too late. But, if they update = someone use this camera.
| jjav wrote:
| > Never is too late. But, if they update = someone use this
| camera.
|
| Cameras don't age like software or phones, this is why I like
| them.
|
| A 10 year old DSLR like the Nikon D7100 (I have one) is still a
| very modern camera and it'll be good for a few decades to come.
|
| (Sadly this is why good companies like Nikon struggle
| financially, since there is no forceful upgrade treadmill
| unlike for phone companies. But as a consumer I absolutely love
| being able to buy something solid that'll work for decades.)
| JohnBooty wrote:
| Yeah!
|
| If you don't need the video features of newer cameras, the
| main advantage of newer DSLRs is improved low light
| performance.
|
| You don't need the extra megapixels unless you have specific
| needs, such as perhaps astrophotography.
|
| An "ancient" ~7.2MP sensor gives you 3000x2400 pixels. Plenty
| for full page prints at 300DPI.
| tomc1985 wrote:
| Nikon fan here.
|
| My first camera was a D3100 in 2010ish, which I recently sold
| to a friend of mine for $100 and they are still taking
| fantastic photos with it.
|
| I have a D750 I bought when they were new and that fucker
| still works fantastic, taking gorgeous photos with the right
| lens.
|
| Even bought a D3500 cause I missed the little guy. Same
| sensor as the D750 (expeed 4) just DX format and worse AF.
| Weighs like a third of the D750 too!
|
| Nikon makes fantastic bodies and lenses.
| jonah wrote:
| I actually just bought a D7100 on Craigslist for a few hundred
| dollars as an upgrade from my D7000. I've taken several
| thousand shots on it since and really like it. It's great for
| what it is - higher end APS-C camera.
|
| Aside from no 4K video etc it feels like a thoroughly modern
| camera. The AF is good, the 24 megapixel sensor produces good
| raw files, the continuous shooting rate is pretty fast (though
| the buffer is small and can't shoot very frames in one blast),
| the design of the camera and layout and controls are very
| similar to the latest Nikon DSLRs.
| hef19898 wrote:
| I recently got a D300 for under 200 bucks in close to mint
| condition to go with tha D700 and replace the D70 with a
| scratched sensor. Great camera for my purpose, and the price
| left some budget for lenses.
| fbn79 wrote:
| Maybe was not an issue but a requirements. Many DSLR have live
| video preview and recording functionality limited in time because
| of EUROPE duty classification. If the DSLR can do video without
| time limitations is considered a Camcorder, and so an higher
| import tax can be applied.
| vwoolf wrote:
| _an higher import tax can be applied._
|
| That hasn't been true for years: https://www.europarl.europa.eu
| /doceo/document/E-8-2016-00127...: "The Common Customs Tariff
| duties are fixed by the Council on proposals of the Commission.
| The Commission can in this context confirm that the product is
| part of the coverage of the revised WTO[2] Information
| Technology Agreement, which has been negotiated by the
| Commission. This means that the customs duties for camcorder
| will be removed after the revised agreement enters into force
| and thus in extension benefit EU consumers."
|
| All camera companies should have removed their artificial
| recording time limits via firmware.
| post_break wrote:
| That tax is now gone as of 2018 I believe.
| Bedon292 wrote:
| I am normally pretty good about updating firmware on stuff, but
| never even thought about camera firmware until this post. Sure
| enough my 8 year old Nikon has some updates. Including one from
| 2020, 6 years after it came out. Not the 10 years of this one but
| still impressive.
| failTide wrote:
| You can also install various hacked firmware if you're ever
| inclined. The mods are pretty interesting, including improved
| modes for astrophotography.
| dylan604 wrote:
| The best mod is ripping out that IR filter. Sadly, that's not
| going to happen via software. That's the firmest of firmware
| mods.
| JohnBooty wrote:
| That was some kind of privacy thing, right? So you can't
| take voyeuristic revealing photos that see thru peoples'
| clothes to an extent?
| dylan604 wrote:
| Nope. Not at all. Not sure where you got that info, but I
| would question that source.
|
| It's because the CMOS sensors are much more sensitive to
| IR than our eyes, so they expose in that frequency range
| which causes the images to not develop the way we expect
| them. For astrophotography, lots of very interesting data
| comes from the IR bands, so removing the filter gets a
| lot more details.
| bliteben wrote:
| Seems possible it could be for ITAR compliance.
| JohnBooty wrote:
| Thought I was going crazy for a second.
|
| I was half-remembering this debacle:
| https://bettermarketing.pub/sonys-see-through-camera-
| disaste...
|
| It seems to me that this would be possible to achieve
| with any camera that captured near-IR wavelengths, with
| the appropriate filters or firmware hacks. In addition to
| what you posted, might this also be on camera makers'
| minds?
| isaacfrond wrote:
| Well, whatever the reason, be it personal irritation, or PR
| purpopose, one hurray for Nikon and against consumerism.
| IYasha wrote:
| This makes me wonder: what's the oldest product to receive
| firmware update in history?
|
| Some servers get firmware updates for more than 10 years and I
| consider it an acceptable minimum. )
| babypuncher wrote:
| That is going to be a pretty fuzzy rabbit hole.
|
| I've seen accounts of industrial equipment where the original
| microcomputers from the '70s/'80s have been replaced with
| modern microcontrollers or single board computers like the
| Raspberry Pi. Does it count as a "firmware update" if the new
| firmware comes with a new embedded computer to run it?
| twbarr wrote:
| It's gotta be embedded stuff. The Space Shuttle GPC was
| constantly reprogrammed, including on the pad. They've sent
| patches to the Voyager spacecraft as recently as a few years
| ago [1]. 45 years, not too bad!
|
| 1 - https://www.livescience.com/nasa-makes-contact-
| voyager-2-lon...
| radicality wrote:
| I have a Fuji camera, and there's a new firmware update available
| which 'fixes' a potential dataloss condition by setting the max
| number of objects to be stored per a DCF folder to be 999 from
| 9999.I haven't yet updated since my workflow has a bunch of
| scripts which expected filenames per folder to be 4 digits.
|
| I should update my scripts, but my immediate observation though
| were that this seems like a bandaid solution? And not sure if it
| even follows the spec, afaik it allows for up to 9999 _files_ per
| directory but some DCF objects can take up multiple files (eg a
| THM thumbnail and the JPEG). The details on the bug are sparse
| too, how is MacOS not seeing data written to an SDXC card, is it
| corrupting it? Is it a filesystem limitation for 9999 files, or
| an actual Mac OS bug?
|
| firmware - https://fujifilm-x.com/global/global-
| news/2022/0202_4199100/
|
| spec for how things are named -
| https://www.jeita.or.jp/japanese/standard/book/CP-3461B_E/#t...
| Tepix wrote:
| Hey perhaps Panasonic will finally get their webcam software for
| their high end cameras fixed and take it out of beta (where it
| has been since the pandemic). In my dreams, they would also
| create a version for Apple silicon...
| jonahhorowitz wrote:
| Just use a $12-$15 HDMI->USB capture card off eBay/Amazon. They
| work incredibly well and you don't have to deal with buggy
| software. I've been using my GH3 as a webcam since the
| beginning of the pandemic.
|
| I bought this one, but there are a lot of sellers for that
| exact product: https://www.ebay.com/itm/184350601059
| asdff wrote:
| Good. Honestly DSLRs have gotten "more than good enough" for just
| about anything you'd throw at it 15 years ago. Newer DSLRs might
| be a little stronger in lower light but not by as much as you'd
| expect. Video capabilities are also a lot better in the new ones,
| but if you don't care about that, there isn't much you are losing
| buying a camera like a 5d mkiii (or even an older 5d) today.
| Unless maybe you are a pixel peeper.
| pvaldes wrote:
| Only for windows or Mac, it seems.
| phcreery wrote:
| I have a Nikon D7100 and was just thinking about updating the
| firmware yesterday since there probably won't be anymore patches.
| I am pleasantly surprised by this.
| lizardactivist wrote:
| It has always been difficult to beat the Japanese when it comes
| to quality and service, and I am frequently reminded of just how
| seriously they take it.
| [deleted]
| samwestdev wrote:
| I live in Japan and have to deal with Japanese customers on a
| daily base. As they say here: "The customer is God". Even one
| unsatisfied customer is going to destroy your reputation so
| companies are real careful here.
| rossmohax wrote:
| How does it work? What superpowers customers have in Japan,
| which they don't have anywhere else? Few years ago Sony had
| global week long outage, no one could play multiplayer, yet
| it is still a successful company.
| Sardtok wrote:
| It's more a cultural idea that you should treat/consider
| the customer very highly. It comes from the honour system
| of inner and outer circles. So conceptually the customer
| (honoured guest, okyakusama) outranks you.
| lizardactivist wrote:
| You can't compare the Japanese as a people to, say, the
| typical American, who as a customer thinks the whole world
| is owed to him.
|
| The Japanese are far less demanding, and understanding and
| forgiving of accidents like these.
| babypuncher wrote:
| So basically the signal-to-noise ratio in Japan is much
| greater than we are used to stateside, leading to actual
| problems being more visible and customer service
| departments taking them more seriously.
| sdfjkl wrote:
| Wish someone would fix some of the more severe bugs in the Nikon
| 1 AW1, which they abandoned soon after release :-/
|
| There was a single firmware update, and among other stuff, the
| GPS location still confuses East and West afterwards.
| perardi wrote:
| I think Nikon would prefer to forget the whole Nikon 1
| misadventure.
| ho_schi wrote:
| Well done Nikon :) This shall be the industry standard.
| techwiz137 wrote:
| Except same thing on D3400.
| rplst8 wrote:
| I wonder if us D800 owners will ever get a fix for the awful
| right side focus issues that plagued that camera.
| buildbot wrote:
| Radical PoV: All hardware should require the release of
| sources/documentation after a certain period as a way of
| recycling consumer e-waste.
| imwillofficial wrote:
| This is the type of product and customer commitment we need more
| of.
| pcurve wrote:
| you might like this video (has English subtitle)
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xa20iG8yplM
|
| A pencil sharpener maker provides free (most of the time)
| warranty service to their products, including ones purchased
| over 40 years ago.
|
| Apparently many Koreans have sentimental values attached to
| these devices and can't bare to throw them away.
| ece wrote:
| The PS3 got an update in may.
| lizardactivist wrote:
| Really? What was the update?
|
| It also reminds me of how I have not used any newer video
| game console than the PS2. I'm so behind the times!
| ece wrote:
| They've added some keys to keep BR discs playing in recent
| updates, and apparently you can't create a PSN account from
| a PS3 anymore. There were "quality" and "performance" fixes
| until 2020.
|
| It's my last console, the first was a SNES followed by a
| PSP. I used OtherOS but then upgraded anyway when it was
| gone. The Youtube/Netflix apps still work fine. I'm going
| try CFW one of these days on my early slim, just to know
| the temperature. https://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/Thermal
| babypuncher wrote:
| I am surprised AACS still bothers issuing new batches of
| keys. Blu-Ray copy protection has been pretty thoroughly
| broken for over a decade now. The fact that most people
| no longer have optical drives on their computers is a
| bigger barrier to casual movie piracy than AACS.
| hef19898 wrote:
| Seeing this on the HN front page the day Nikon told me they did
| the necessary service and "repairs" on my 10+ year old D700 is
| purely coincidence I'm sure.
| perardi wrote:
| I had a D700.
|
| What a camera. Not surprised you had it serviced--if it's a
| reasonably cheap repair job, that is still a great body if you
| don't care about resolution. (And people put way too much
| emphasis on resolution.)
|
| I swear that thing ran on fusion or zero-point energy. It could
| be nostalgia or just me being old, but I am sure it got vastly
| better battery life than my current mirrorless camera.
| asdff wrote:
| DSLRs always lap mirrorless cameras for battery life. There's
| practically no battery drain when its on until you actually
| shoot the shot since you are taking in light with a passive
| prism to compose your shot, versus the sensor having to be on
| and a display somewhere being powered with the mirrorless
| camera. Sony A7 shoots like 400 shots per charge. 5d mk4
| lasts for twice as many shots otoh.
| hef19898 wrote:
| It's my dad's back-up body, I switched his D200 back im
| exchange and got a D300 with, IIRC a shuttet count of
| 30k-ish, as a back-up. Service was 90 bucks, sensor and
| mirror cleaning, firmware update, general service, AF and
| exposure config, laser callibration of the mirrors and
| prisms. Rather decent IMHO, I have yet to get it back,
| looking forward to it!
|
| Battery life if great, during a full week in Iceland I
| charged the two batteries once, and propably wouod have made
| without charging. Resultion is, at least for me, only proplem
| when it comes to cropping. Not cropping in changing the
| format or to cut of the corners (the D700 viewer covers only
| 95% of the picture which can lead to some stuff at the
| borders of teh image you don't want there) but rather
| croppong out stuff like bird to enlarge them. Then, and only
| then, the 12 MP are an issue. Otherwise a lower resolution
| forces you sinpmy take better pictures in the first place.
| And for online use 12 MP are plenty anyway, I don't plan to
| print a house wall with my photos. And lower resolution means
| smaller files, which a benefit in itself.
|
| I love that camera, if simply because it gave me back the joy
| of photography.
| perardi wrote:
| I had to go back and dig up a D700 photo.
|
| https://www.flickr.com/photos/perardi/8836490860/in/album-7
| 2...
|
| Yup. Image quality holds up!
|
| ...OK, that's not entirely fair. It's more that the image
| quality of the _absurdly_ expensive lens I rented for that
| weekend holds up.
|
| https://www.nikonusa.com/en/nikon-products/product/camera-
| le...
| hef19898 wrote:
| Putting 1k bucks in a lense is such better investment
| than putting the same in a camera body when it comes to
| image quality. Another benefit of a low resolution body,
| lenses don't need to be as absurdly good as they have to
| be for 24/66 MP plus bodies abd are correspondingly
| cheaper. Which leaves more money to travel to all those
| nice places to take nice pictures and enjoy yourself. Not
| that I would say no to Z9 with corresponding glass if
| someone gave it to me!
| someweirdperson wrote:
| > Putting 1k bucks in a lense [...]
|
| The one linked by the parent is $5.5k.
| jjav wrote:
| > It could be nostalgia or just me being old, but I am sure
| it got vastly better battery life than my current mirrorless
| camera.
|
| Not nostalgia, DSLRs get vastly better battery life than
| mirrorless cameras. Because there is nothing using
| electricity in the optical path, you're just looking through
| the lens. A mirrorless on the other hand is constantly using
| power for the screen.
| turminal wrote:
| > but I am sure it got vastly better battery life than my
| current mirrorless camera.
|
| That sounds about right. Mirrorless cameras need to do a lot
| of image processing and that affects battery life
| significantly.
| HPsquared wrote:
| Definitely, compare to a DSLR which is only fully powered-
| on when your finger is on the shutter button. Otherwise
| it's basically asleep 99% of the time, if the screen's off.
| dylan604 wrote:
| and you know, run the screens that affect the battery life
| significantly.
| omnibrain wrote:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_illusion
| snak wrote:
| Apparently also known as the "Baader-Meinhof phenomenon".
| uncletammy wrote:
| Smells like class action damage control to me
| BolexNOLA wrote:
| Honestly? Yeah. HN is (I'm pretty sure) the only site I visit
| where uBlock and brave both detect nothing to block/restrict.
| jeanlucas wrote:
| Everyone is an NPC, you are the only person on the internet.
| balentio wrote:
| The main playable characters all have Nikon cameras.
| hef19898 wrote:
| Thanks for confirming all my doubts! My cat is real so. I
| think...
| function_seven wrote:
| > _My cat is real so I think_
|
| This reads like something Descartes would write, if he were
| influenced by Dali.
|
| (Yes I removed the period to make it work better. Necessary
| to reach 3 Cuil)
| multjoy wrote:
| It's a reference to HHGTG (the radio show, specifically)
| when they found the true ruler of the universe.
| paulmd wrote:
| Make it to the HN frontpage often? Oh, what am I saying? Of
| course you don't.
| n0th3r-curious wrote:
| Interesting to see many technical comments...
|
| I have one, and will update the firmware. Pardon my dumb comment
| - guessing whether they implemented some kind of upgrade where it
| has option to connect to wifi...
| codys wrote:
| Camera software is an area that is frustratingly closed off, and
| where manufacturers regularly differentiate new/more expensive
| cameras with firmware differences: subject detection, auto focus,
| drive modes (pre-capture, higher frame rates, etc), file format
| support (HEIC, compressed raw, colorspaces), ui features (how
| custom modes work, menu systems, etc).
|
| Competition in this space driven by a provider that doesn't have
| a motive to convince users to buy the next new camera (ie: open
| source software) would be very useful to users.
|
| Sony and Panasonic cameras (and perhaps other manufacturers) are
| running Linux (and release some of the third party source code
| they include in their products, but the amount of reverse
| engineering that has been done on those camera's software.
|
| Canon uses a custom RTOS (DryOS), and lots of work has been done
| to extend the existing Canon firmware to enhance its capabilities
| (Magic Lantern[1] and CHDK[2]), but as far as I know fully open
| software for these devices doesn't exist.
|
| Camera capabilities these days are highly software dependent, and
| the functionality of dedicated cameras is held back by subpar
| software development practices and a lack of pressure to make
| things better.
|
| 1: https://magiclantern.fm/ 2: https://chdk.fandom.com/wiki/CHDK
| dylan604 wrote:
| It's not just that they want you to buy new cameras (of course
| they do), but they also do it to protect different verticals
| within their company. If a stills camera can shoot video of the
| same quality but much lower price, then that takes sales from
| the provideo cameras.
| codys wrote:
| That's a great point, and shows up in annoying ways in Sony's
| camera line up in whether "high frame rate" support exists.
| For Sony cameras, HFR implies "can capture a limited length
| (seconds, typically) of footage at a higher frame rate
| (240fps, 480fps, 960fps, etc) and reduced resolution as frame
| rate increases (this is not the same as normal video modes
| and S&Q video modes, which don't have time limits like
| these).
|
| Sony includes this feature on cameras without interchangeable
| lenses (ie: "point and shoots"), and on their high end cinema
| cameras, but not on their mirrorless (interchangeable lens,
| but not considered cinema cameras) line.
|
| Seems pretty clear this is designed to avoid their mirrorless
| lineup have a feature that might make it competitive with
| their cinema line. But they're ok including it on the point
| and shoot line because that already is well differentiated
| from the cinema camera line.
| JohnBooty wrote:
| Is there any chance that some of this limiting has
| legitimate hardware reasons?
|
| It's been over a decade since I really followed the digital
| camera scene.
|
| At the time, DSLRs were just beginning to get 1080p/720p
| video capabilities. There were frustrating time limits of
| course, even then. But, I recall that some of the cameras
| heated up pretty significantly when capturing video. This
| was sometimes cited as a reason for such time limitations
| on video recording.
|
| I'm not sure if that is possibly a "legitimate" physical
| reason for the limitation today, or if it ever was in the
| first place. Any thoughts on that?
| dylan604 wrote:
| I've always given benefit of the doubt that the limited
| duration of S&Q modes in stills cameras is related to the
| max throughput of the recording media. 120+fps at 4K
| resolution starts demanding quite a bit of sustainable
| bandwidth. Shooting to SD cards might be a limitation and
| explains why the pro-video cameras have much more expensive
| record formats.
| ChuckNorris89 wrote:
| _> Camera software is an area that is frustratingly closed off,
| and where manufacturers regularly differentiate new/more
| expensive cameras with firmware differences:[...]_
|
| Why is this frustrating? How is this different than anything
| else tech related that's in the business of making money?
|
| Every company trims the features they give their customers
| access to depending on the amount they're willing to pay.
|
| Camera companies aren't charities, they need to make money for
| their shareholders. All that sunk R&D has to be recouped.
| TaylorAlexander wrote:
| It is frustrating when any company does it! Artificially
| software limiting features reduces the utility of devices
| across the board, which sees those devices going in to
| landfills sooner. All of the energy that goes in to mining,
| transportation, and manufacturing of the materials is less
| effectively utilized, so these practices lead to higher
| emissions, more waste, and more rapid environmental
| degradation. They also contribute to stratification of our
| economy, as users have to pay more money more often to get
| the features they need, raising shareholder profits off the
| backs of consumers.
|
| This idea that we can manufacture something complex and then
| artificially limit its features to run profit seeking schemes
| is one that makes sense in a pure business sense, but in the
| end is often harmful to society. We don't have to do this. We
| could have a fully functioning free market economy even in a
| world where business norms involved open source software and
| open source hardware. Businesses would charge more for
| hardware but it would provide value to customers for so much
| longer, that down market customers could just buy used and
| get the same features they would have gotten if they bought a
| new, feature limited device from a closed source vendor.
|
| "Then people would rip them off!"
|
| No, then people would build off of their work and compete on
| other things like price or other features. We can see as a
| case study the world of open source 3D printers, where few
| vendors sell direct clones of other models, as they tend to
| use other manufacturing methods and change the design for
| their factory, adding differentiating features along the way.
|
| "Then no one would invest!"
|
| No, instead of less frequent large investments, you would see
| more frequent small investments - investors helping a factory
| buy one more machine to meet production goals for the next
| quarter with a new design no one has yet seen. First mover
| advantage is real.
|
| Notably, even the libertarians at the Mises Institute oppose
| intellectual property restrictions, which are an artificial
| government monopoly on information, an extreme restriction on
| free markets!
| nicoburns wrote:
| It's frustrating because much better do devices that do
| things that no available device can do could be made
| available if was more open. It's different to say, computers,
| where Linux is available and can be customised to your
| heart's desire. It's not different to lots of other areas.
| Those are also frustrating.
| daleharvey wrote:
| Because its fustrating to have things be worse because rich
| people need to hoard more wealth?
| seabird wrote:
| This isn't just market segmentation. It's a frustrating,
| recurring theme among Japanese hardware manufacturers where
| great products are negatively impacted or outright hamstrung
| by shit software support. I run into it in embedded firmware
| and industrial controls all the time. I think it's a side
| effect of the corporate culture there, which is how it
| manages to cut into multiple market segments. Having to pass
| on good offerings because the software is too bad to stomach
| feels bad.
| ChuckNorris89 wrote:
| I get what your saying but how is their artificial firmware
| limitations different than Apple's own market segmentation
| practices? Or Google's? Or Microsoft's? Or Hashicorp? Or
| Docker?
| foobarian wrote:
| I think the frustrating thing is they can (potentially)
| afford much less to fund a competent software team, so
| the end product is much less than it could be. Which is
| unfortunate because of how good the hardware is.
| Der_Einzige wrote:
| You can't pirate hardware.
| mrandish wrote:
| Magic Lantern is an awesome example of the value which can be
| created by collaborative open source, despite the hardware
| manufacturer doing nothing to document or help. It's great
| because it's also very low risk for the user since the firmware
| mods are loaded on every boot, the camera is never perma-
| modified reducing the chances of bricking the device.
|
| I wish one of the major mirrorless camera manufacturers would
| decide to openly endorse an open source model as an optional
| alternative to their own factory firmware.
| bsder wrote:
| > Camera software is an area that is frustratingly closed off
|
| Then build an open source camera body? We have the ability
| nowadays.
|
| I'd guess they only real problem is getting a decent sensor.
| But I'd be surprised if you can't get something comparable out
| of China.
|
| If no one is doing it, well, then that's a data point in and of
| itself, no?
| brudgers wrote:
| _Camera software is an area that is frustratingly closed off_
|
| Try to get Nikon replacement parts.
|
| Or make your own color film.
|
| Which reminds me that fully mechanical cameras are eminently
| hackable.
|
| And that reminds me that _I_ don 't want to wade into the
| turing tarpit of custom software on _my_ cameras.
|
| Hell, I don't even want autofocus anymore. I want an optical
| system that is easy to focus manually.
|
| YMMV.
| jug wrote:
| Maybe I'm a cynic here but such a specific, single bug fix makes
| it look like it's for PR reasons and headlines like this.
| punnerud wrote:
| And shouldn't they have fixed this 9 3/4 years ago?
| p1mrx wrote:
| A wizard is never late, Harry.
| _Algernon_ wrote:
| Real altruism isn't real. So what?
| Jiejeing wrote:
| Or the most probable thing is that someone internally was
| annoyed by the bug and got permission to release. A single
| update to a 10 years old camera on an apparently abandoned
| product line is not something that gets a big amount of PR
| coverage, especially since nikon DLSRs had very few updates
| ever. Unless it is part of an up-and-coming new updating scheme
| (which I very much doubt), it will not make much difference
| except a little goodwill from D7100 owners.
| giuliomagnifico wrote:
| PR reasons on a DSLR camera now?! I don't think so.
| onion2k wrote:
| This makes Nikon look like a company that supports _all_ its
| products in the long term. That 's some seriously good PR.
| formerly_proven wrote:
| They do just that, though.
| jjav wrote:
| > This makes Nikon look like a company that supports all
| its products in the long term.
|
| Not "look like", that's how they operate. I love it, wish
| all companies were committed to quality and longevity, it
| would be the kind of world I'd like to live in.
|
| Nikon is also pretty obsessive about compatibility, I can
| mount lenses from the 70s on my D7100 and the features
| work.
|
| https://kenrockwell.com/nikon/compatibility-lens.htm
| hef19898 wrote:
| Using a FTZ adapter you can those lenses on a Z9 as well.
| Not sure about image quality so, those old film era
| lenses seems, from what I read since I have zero
| experience, to underperform on modern digital bodies.
| Doesn't make the lenses any worse or the compatability
| any less imoressive.
| giuliomagnifico wrote:
| Yes I agree, a PR for the company, not for the camera.
| Indeed is a good thing this support, for that I posted it.
| A firmware update for a 10y old camera, and a DSLR camera
| that also the lenses are discontinued. Well, I'm glad for
| it.
| hef19898 wrote:
| Nikon is pretty good at supporting legacy products, including
| repairs. Up to the point they almost are embarassed that spare
| parts are not available anymore. And hey, since their cameras
| routinely exceed predicted shutter life by a factor of two that
| is a good thing!
| pastaguy1 wrote:
| ah yes, the PR PR
| selfhoster11 wrote:
| It could be just an instance of
| https://twitter.com/swaglord__420/status/1377051721655066629
|
| I'd totally consider something like that, if an issue was
| bugging me enough.
| tambourine_man wrote:
| I hope that's a joke. I did laugh
| hef19898 wrote:
| If it is not a joke it is a badass move. It also shows that
| user love and deeply care about your product. And I laughed
| as well!
| bornfreddy wrote:
| The commit was (supposedly) made on March 32nd.
| Loic wrote:
| Sorry but no. This is in the DNA of Nikon[0][1].
|
| [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23862471
|
| [1]: https://petapixel.com/2020/07/16/nikon-issues-recall-
| for-16-...
| justin66 wrote:
| I think we can all agree it would be better if they issue press
| releases and advertisements when they want good PR. Fixing bugs
| is some underhanded stuff.
| ChrisMarshallNY wrote:
| They are dead serious about supporting legacy stuff, and it
| long predates the advent of PR. They've been doing it for 100
| years, and it's part of their DNA.
|
| If you go to one of their service centers (there's a lot fewer
| of them, nowadays), in the back, you will often find camera
| bodies and parts for cameras that are fifty years old. They
| won't necessarily fix it under warranty, but they'll definitely
| try to fix it, if possible.
|
| When 9/11 happened, they had cameras in the Melville service
| center from The Pile, covered with that dust, and they busted
| their butts to get them fixed up and back out there.
|
| They are a very old company, and take their work seriously.
| There's lots of things to complain about, with them, but they
| are serious about Legacy.
| _tik_ wrote:
| I am still servicing my camera from the 80s and lens from the
| 70s with them. Nikon warranty in my country does not cover
| Internationally. But I am usually able to get servicing in
| every country even after out of the warranty period. Nikon
| waives my service fee quite frequently too.
| tambourine_man wrote:
| PR is as old as humanity.
|
| But even the name predates Nikon by almost two decades
| according to Wikipedia.
| kloch wrote:
| It's ok to praise/reward companies for doing the Right
| Thing, even if they try to make the most of it with PR.
| tambourine_man wrote:
| Sure. I didn't say it isn't.
| gzalo wrote:
| My guess is that an employee wanted to use it as a webcam via
| hdmi and was annoyed by the time limitation, so they fixed it
| themselves :P
| shultays wrote:
| One employee wouldn't have that much freedom to release patches
| like this. Or maybe he is an old guard that was annoyed by the
| time limitation and no one was able to say no to him
| vanderZwan wrote:
| Don't forget it's a Japanese company. Which, as I understand,
| has a culture where people can't get fired, only promoted to
| positions where they do nothing and are out of people's way.
| Maybe it was one of those people.
| gfaster wrote:
| Japanese companies are also stereotypically drowning in
| bureaucracy and have strict adherence to hierarchy. Maybe
| it was a manager that got annoyed and had an underling do
| it?
| manceraio wrote:
| That sounds about right. But how come a manager having a
| 10 year old camera and not a newest model?
| dylan604 wrote:
| Sometimes, you just love a device and don't want to use
| something new. I still shoot a 5DmkII, and there's really
| only one feature that is available in the newer models
| that I'd love to have on my older body (specifically
| number of focus points). I've used all of the models
| after that including mirrorless, but this older body
| still my fave.
|
| So the 10 year old camera isn't that strange to me.
| snerbles wrote:
| Fax machines are still regularly used for business
| purposes in Japan.
|
| While uploading some trip photos at an Akihabara cafe in
| 2018, I noticed that my laptop at the time (a used Dell
| XPS from 2015) appeared significantly newer than the
| laptops of the other patrons. There were even a couple of
| integrated trackballs, which I haven't seen in a laptop
| since the late '90s. I also suddenly realized I was a bit
| under-dressed in a plain polo shirt and slacks.
| radicaldreamer wrote:
| Panasonic Let's Note machines look ancient but are packed
| with the latest processor/memory guts.
| washadjeffmad wrote:
| Rolling stones gather no moss.
| herpderperator wrote:
| Promoted... with increased pay?
| hinkley wrote:
| I don't know if it's still true but at one point it was
| said that unlike in the US, the corner office was a mark
| of shame, because you go into that office, you close the
| door, and from then on your interactions with the rest of
| the employees are curtailed.
|
| You get that office not because you've done things they
| thought were great, but because you've done things they
| thought weren't and they want you to slow your roll.
| You're a fish in a bowl.
| m463 wrote:
| or it prevents use of 3rd party toner cartridges. (joking)
| that_guy_iain wrote:
| My guess is a major client got pissed about this reported it
| ages ago it got no trancation. The client is currently super
| pissy about other things and mentioned this in their list of
| greivances and it gets fixed now because Nikon is worried that
| the client will go elsewhere.
| JohnBooty wrote:
| Could also have been a task assigned to a junior engineer or
| something, to see how they handled such a project - one with
| real world stakes, but minor ones.
|
| Alternatively, could have been a junior engineer doing it of
| their own accord, to show the bosses what they were capable of.
| mosselman wrote:
| This is great. I have a D5000 lying around, I've given up on DSLR
| photography on holiday since my iPhone is smaller and better at
| video and photography in dark places and about 10000x smaller and
| lighter, but I just couldn't sell my Nikon. Happy to see the
| company being dedicated to its customers after such a long time.
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