A Swedish hacker and robotics student named Björn Mabrö is claiming that he has successfully developed a custom firmware for the Canon 5D Mark II that adds Apple’s Siri voice assistant to the DSLR. Mabrö claims that the hack allows the camera to respond to 124 different voice commands that control everything from the shutter to changing values in settings.
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Nikon’s firmware got decrypted last month, and now an unofficial firmware for Nikon DSLRs has emerged. Rather than offer useful adjustments, the firmware is purely for geekiness: it gives Nikon D5100 DSLRs a Star Wars theme.
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4K video recording may soon be available to Canon T2i/550D users willing to load a firmware hack onto their cameras. Apparently a guy known as Earz62801 on YouTube will be releasing a firmware hack on 1/1/11 that will give the T2i/550D 4K, 3K, and 2K recording capabilities and bit rates between 45MB/s and 175MB/s. He claims that 91 seconds of footage can be recorded at 2K and 175MB/s, though the time drops down to 6 seconds for 4K.
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Owners of Sony’s NEX line of EVIL cameras can now autofocus A-mount lenses that are used with Alpha DSLRs. Previously A-mount lenses attached to NEX cameras via the $200 LA-EA1 adapter could only be manually focused, but with the firmware update Sony released today they can be autofocused for single shots at the blazing speed of 2 to 7 seconds per autofocus.
Wait, what?
Yes, apparently users may have to wait up to seven seconds for your camera to lock onto a subject. You might want to stick with that manual focus after all. The new firmware can be download here.
(via Engadget)
Sony has released a new firmware update for the NEX-3 and NEX-5 EVIL cameras that adds 3D Sweep Panorama technology. This is the technology shown in the super-annoying Taylor Swift commercial that invaded YouTube videos, except it’s enhanced to offer 3D viewing.
This is interesting, since traditional stereoscopic 3D photographs require 2 separate lenses to record footage from different perspectives. However, the Sweep Panorama technology works by shooting a burst of frames while having you smoothly pan across a scene, so it looks like Sony is using some fancy processing techniques to figure out perspective from the panning action.
Head on over to the Sony Europe Support site to download the firmware update if you have a NEX camera.
Image credit: SONY NEX-5 by DORONKO
Hanson’s new music video for their single, “Thinking ‘Bout Somethin’” is really something — and it’s no MMMBop.
The video was shot on a Canon 7D, fitted with some Nikon AI (automatic indexing) prime lenses.
Paul Lawson, the creative director and director of photography for the video said:
I chose the Canon 7D, primarily because this was before the 5D firmware finally came out and I got sick of hearing the rumors so I just went with the 7D to shoot the video. (a week later the firmware actually was released this time). I used an array of old 80’s Nikon AI Prime Lenses to shoot the entire video, to really try an emulate the look and feel of the vintage film.
There’s definitely a lighthearted, vintage feel to the video, which pays homage to the film, “The Blues Brothers,” and features a cameo of “Weird Al” Yankovic on the tambourine.
(via Philip Bloom)
A photograph of a Canon 7D with firmware version 1.2.0 has appeared before any official word of the update from Canon. It was posted to POTN by forum member garycoleman, who says,
My 7D came from the Canon headquarters in NY because it was a replacement for my defective one. The serial starts with 077xxxxxxxx and has firmware 1.2.0 which I find interesting because the Canon only goes up the 1.1.0 on their webpage. Maybe 1.2.0 is going to be released any day now?
Canon Rumors reports that the firmware update will fix problems related to third party batteries, and adds support for future remotes, accessories, and lenses.
It doesn’t look like the firmware update will be a big deal, but it’s interesting that it appeared in the wild from Canon before any official announcement was made.
Well, that was fast.
Just a day after removing Version 2.0.3 of the 5D Mark II firmware due to a bug, Canon has released firmware Version 2.0.4, which simply fixes the bug in Version 2.0.3.
We apologize sincerely for the inconvenience caused to our customers by suspending the availability of the Version 2.0.3 firmware.
We are now introducing the Version 2.0.4 firmware. This firmware corrects the malfunction that occurred in the previous Version 2.0.3 firmware, in which the manual recording level changed and made recording impossible.
Customers who have the Version 2.0.3 firmware on their cameras should update the firmware to Version 2.0.4.
Hopefully Canon got it right this time.
Thanks for sending in the tip Jonathan!
Just days after releasing a firmware update that brought 24 fps video to the 5D Mark II, Canon has pulled the update due to a malfunction that occurred.
Photographers who used the new firmware discovered that in a certain situation, the firmware would cause the camera to be unable to record audio. After receiving reports of this issue over the past couple days, Canon has pulled the update from the firmware page and has put up a notice, saying:
Recently we have discovered a malfunction that occurs with Firmware Version 2.0.3, in which the manual recording levels for C1/C2/C3 are changed and the camera becomes unable to record audio if the power is turned off (or if Auto power off takes effect) after registering “Sound Recording: Manual” in the camera user settings.
If you’re already using the new firmware, you can avoid this issue by having your sound recording settings set to “Auto” when using C1/C2/C3.
Canon is currently working on a new update that fixes the problem, but has not announced when it may be available.
Looks like they should have tested the firmware more before setting it loose.
When Canon released the 5D Mark II, many who wanted to utilize the HD-video recording capabilities were disappointed that it only offered 30 frames per second (fps) and not 24.
Today, after a long wait, Canon has finally released version 2.0.3 of the firmware that brings 24 fps (actually 23.976 fps) to the 5DMkII.
Here’s why this matters:
24 fps is a desirable frame rate because it delivers video that has a cinematic look and feel. Of course, many other factors contribute to giving video a “movie look”, but frames per second is a big component. Virtually every movie you see at the movie theater was filmed at 24 fps (also known as 24p).
On the other hand, most of the stuff you see on television is shot at 30 fps, which is closer to how our eyes naturally see. This means there can be less motion blur, making it more suitable for things such as sports and news. This is also why most TV shows don’t have a “movie feel” to them.
The problem is that video cannot be perfectly converted from 30fps to 24fps, or vice versa. Thus, those who used the 5D Mark II were either stuck with the native 30fps or less than ideal 24fps if they somehow convert it.
Now, with the firmware update, the 5D Mark II can naturally obtain the movie-like quality that many have waited so long for.
If you have a 5D Mark II, you can download the firmware update from Canon’s website.
