Nikon Z9 Firmware Version 4.0

[ShunCheung]

https://downloadcenter.nikonimglib.com/en/download/fw/494.html

It looks like most of the changes are on the video side. For still photography, the pre-release duration is significantly increased from 30 seconds to 300 seconds. Previously, when you engage pre-release, if you don't do anything for 30 seconds, the Z9 would automatically get out of the pre-release mode.

Nikon also added the Exposure Delay Mode back to the Z9, which previously did not have this feature, although it is available on the Z6, Z6ii, etc. It becomes the new Custom Setting D6. The previously D6 through D20 are bumped up by 1, to D7 through D21.

[ShunCheung]

Just did the upgrade. It took the usual five and half minutes.

[mike_halliwell]

Auto Capture looks kinda wild!

It explains the firmware leap to 4.0.

It looks game changing....

I bet it eats batteries and probably needs an external power supply. I often wondered what the location sockets on the bottom where for!

Edited June 13, 2023 by mike_halliwell

[ilkka_nissila]

12 minutes ago, mike_halliwell said:

Auto Capture looks kinda wild!

I know many wildlife photographers have been using camera traps for some years now. However, these are usually relatively inexpensive cameras. I am not sure how many people would be willing to place Z9's and lenses in outdoor locations to capture images of wildlife. Battery power would become an issue, not to mention theft. It seems more likely that Nikon had sports photographers in mind when implementing this feature; sports events usually last a finite duration and some (privileged) photographers control many remote cameras in those events. I imagine for the BBC to use this in a cave to capture tigers and bears would require quite a power bank!

 

Still, it seems to have quite advanced functionality. Nikon USA says in their video that the auto-capture feature will come to the Z8 in a firmware update also.

Edited June 13, 2023 by ilkka_nissila

[mike_halliwell]

I wonder if it will get to the stage when you can use User Defined target types? 

Show the camera a few shots of your own dog and it will only take pictures of your dog amongst others. Waders but not ducks?

There was a basic 'only shoot the guys with red vests' in the Airsoft Auto Turrets.

I'd be interested if Distance would work handheld as a bug/bird catcher?

 

Edited June 13, 2023 by mike_halliwell

[ilkka_nissila]

18 minutes ago, mike_halliwell said:

I wonder if it will get to the stage when you can use User Defined target types? 

Show the camera a few shots of your own dog and it will only take pictures of your dog amongst others. Waders but not ducks?

There was a basic 'only shoot the guys with red vests' in the Airsoft Auto Turrets.

I'd be interested if Distance would work handheld as a bug/bird catcher?

 

I don't think this is possible given that machine learning is very computationally intensive operation. They teach the cameras' algorithms to recognize subjects by showing large numbers of images and then using the machine learning algorithm to correctly identify the subject. This may be done on a supercomputer, or at least one with powerful GPU cards. The final algorithm is then stored in the camera firmware but I don't think they have any means of adjusting it based on how the camera is being used. To recognize subjects, they need to be shown in different lighting conditions and from different angles, at different sizes etc.

 

With regards to auto capture, I don't see why it wouldn't work hand-held.

Edited June 13, 2023 by ilkka_nissila

[mike_halliwell]

1 minute ago, ilkka_nissila said:

To recognize subjects

Something as basic as colour would work OK?

I was out orchid 'hunting' yesterday, and found a cluster of bright pink/purple Pyramidal orchids amongst plain green grass. That would be simple, no?

There are quite a few natural history apps that can readily identify moths, butterflies, flowers trees etc. There must be an algorhythm for, say, a Peacock Butterfly, that the users own photograph can be compared to. No heavy lifting there!

[ilkka_nissila]

41 minutes ago, mike_halliwell said:

Something as basic as colour would work OK?

I was out orchid 'hunting' yesterday, and found a cluster of bright pink/purple Pyramidal orchids amongst plain green grass. That would be simple, no?

There are quite a few natural history apps that can readily identify moths, butterflies, flowers trees etc. There must be an algorhythm for, say, a Peacock Butterfly, that the users own photograph can be compared to. No heavy lifting there!

Colour as an additional selection criteria (i.e. black dog) might work, and in sports photography, the colour of the clothes, etc. those could be used to help identify the correct subject. However, when it comes to shapes it gets complicated very quickly. Think how different a particular animal can look depending on where the light is coming from, is it diffuse or specular, dark silhouette or frontal daylight, wings in different orientations, the animal can be of different sizes in the frame, in or out of focus etc. All these things have to be taught to the algorithm by showing examples. Eventually machine learning may come to the camera (in the sense that you can teach it) but it's not there yet.

 

For now, let's just enjoy what we do have. 

[Rob Davies]

Nice summary from Ricci:

 

 

[ShunCheung]

Besides Ricci, Nikon USA also has a video to introduce firmware 4.0 for the Z9. It is presented by Mark Cruz, who did both the Z9 and Z8 announcements in 2021 and earlier this year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6hUQZZHPWw

 

[joseph_smith3]

There is a firmware guide pdf at download center for this new Z9 firmware. I downloaded it before I downloaded the firmware. I also downloaded the Reference Guide in case it got updated. 

I need to figure out what if anything in this new firmware will help me. 

[mike_halliwell]

interesting that focused distance is now shown in the EVF above the Min > Infinity Graphic.

Maybe they're working on my idea of a User Defined Focus range limiter, say anything between 4 and 5 meters ONLY.

Morten quite likes it too.

@21mins he sounds like he needs an IR Converted Z9!

Edited June 14, 2023 by mike_halliwell

[mike_halliwell]

Update completed pain-free.

Had an interesting play with AutoCapture settings for DISTANCE with the Z9 + 800mm PF combo.

It won't let me set distance any closer than 16m.... or 22m with the TCZ1.4.

Anyone else confirm this?

EDIT.  Found in the PDF guide that near focus is limited to 20x the focal length....thus 16m.

I wonder why??

Edited June 14, 2023 by mike_halliwell

[ShunCheung]

Saw one report on FaceBook that one person attempted to upgrade his Z9 to firmware 4.0 and bricks his camera, i.e. that Z9 is totally unresponsive. Last year, I read about 2 such cases for the FW 2.0 upgrade, out of perhaps hundreds of users. Typically it is some corrupted firmware and once that gets into the memory on the motherboard, the camera is dead and the fastest repair is to replace the motherboard. Nikon will need to reflash that memory.

[mike_halliwell]

3 hours ago, ShunCheung said:

one report on FaceBook that one person attempted

Statistically irrelevant.

Cosmic Ray damage maybe...😱

 

Edited June 14, 2023 by mike_halliwell

[raczoliver]

4 hours ago, mike_halliwell said:

Statistically irrelevant.

Cosmic Ray damage maybe...😱

 

Meh... One or two out of "hundreds of users" is significant enough if it's going to brick a $5500 camera. That person may have been doing something wrong, but still it is significant, and it should be figured out what it was that they did wrong, and users should be warned about it.

[mike_halliwell]

6 hours ago, raczoliver said:

That person may have been doing something wrong, but still it is significant, and it should be figured out what it was that they did wrong, and users should be warned about it.

Accidentally popped the battery out mid update?

The ON/OFF switch on my Z9 is too stiff to accidentally move, but the battery latch cover can snag.

14 hours ago, ShunCheung said:

Last year, I read about 2 such cases for the FW 2.0 upgrade, out of perhaps hundreds of users.

Surely that's high 10's of thousands (maybe 100K by now?) not just hundreds. Or did you mean most Z9 users didn't upgrade to FW 2.0?

[ilkka_nissila]

18 minutes ago, mike_halliwell said:

Accidentally popped the battery out mid update?

The ON/OFF switch on my Z9 is too stiff to accidentally move, but the battery latch cover can snag.

Surely that's high 10's of thousands (maybe 100K by now?) not just hundreds. Or did you mean most Z9 users didn't upgrade to FW 2.0?

I imagine quite a lot of people (in the event of bricking the camera) would take the camera to service rather than write about it on an online forum. I suspect only a few thousand people nowadays contribute to camera-related forums. or write about such things on social media.

Edited June 15, 2023 by ilkka_nissila

[mike_halliwell]

25 minutes ago, ilkka_nissila said:

I imagine quite a lot of people (in the event of bricking the camera) would take the camera to service rather than write about it on an online forum. I suspect only a few thousand people nowadays contribute to camera-related forums. or write about such things on social media.

True!

Bit like accidental discharge of a fire-arm.  Best not tell anyone......🤣

I guess Nikon are the only people who know how many bricks are made....🙂

Popping the card out mid update probably kills it too...☹️

With these longer FW Update times, I can imagine someone absentmindedly popping the card out to edit a few images while they're waiting.....😱

[joseph_smith3]

My first attempt at the ver 4 update failed due to my user/stupid error. I copied the bin file into DCIM and not the root directory. When I inserted my card the Z( could not see the bin file. 

Step two was to reformat the card and copy the bin file into the root directory. All went well after that. 

I am sure this error happens as many do not want to report on their own mistakes. 

[ShunCheung]

So far I have read one firmware version 4.0 upgrade that totally disables the camera. There were two back in April 2022 when version 2.0 was new. Who knows how many people have upgraded, maybe 20K, 30K. Of course only those who have serious problems complain on web forums and social media. I think somehow the binary file is slightly corrupted but not serious enough that the camera would reject it. Once bad firmware gets into the memory of the camera and displaces the previous version, there is no way to fix it without sending it to Nikon.

[mike_halliwell]

On 6/15/2023 at 2:35 PM, ShunCheung said:

Who knows how many people have upgraded, maybe 20K, 30K.

Any idea just how many Z9s have been sold?

Is this FW going to added to the Z8 anytime soon?

I'd rather leave this unattended than my Z9!

[ShunCheung]

Since Nikon camera bodies use regionally coded serial numbers, instead of just one set of serial numbers world wide, it is difficult to estimate the number produced. Worse yet, at least for Europe and US Z9 serial numbers, there was a big jump by approximately 10K around April/May in 2022. I assume the jump could be exactly 10,000, but there is no way to verify it. I think Nikon has sold very roughly 20K Z9 in the US, thus making it around 60K, 70K world wide. Nikon claim that the Z9 is the best-selling flagship body in 15 years, i.e. since the 2007 D3. That sounds right to me.