D300 firmware Upgrade -- this could be a big deal

[Tony Beach]

According to Nikon:

The following improvements have been made in version 1.10
- The Highlights playback display option has been moved from Display mode > Basic photo info > Highlights in the playback menu to Display mode > Detailed photo info > Highlights.
- The size and color of “Demo” displayed in the monitor with playback when No memory card? in the Custom Settings is set to Enable release, have been modified.
- The range of settings available for ISO sensitivity settings > ISO sensitivity auto control > Minimum shutter speed in the shooting menu has been increased from 1/250 – 1 s to 1/4000 – 1 s.
- When shooting in hand-held live view mode and the frame is magnified prior to autofocusing, operation has been modified so that display returns to the magnified display rather than full-frame display.
- Images captured with Rotate tall, in the playback menu, set to On are not automatically rotated for display immediately after capture (image review).
- A Copyright information item has been added to the setup menu.  When Copyright information is enabled, the copyright symbol (©) is shown in the shooting info display.
- Recent settings can now be displayed in place of My Menu.
- Custom Setting e3 Flash cntrl for built-in flash (e3 Optional flash when an optional Speedlight is mounted on the camera) can now be added to My Menu using the Add items option in My Menu from Add items > Custom setting menu > e Bracketing/flash.
- The degree of the High ISO NR setting can now be confirmed in the shooting info display while the High ISO NR setting item, in the shooting menu, is being applied.
- Ankara, Riyadh, Kuwait, and Manama have been added to the Time zone options for the World time item in the setup menu.
- When a GPS device is used and no heading information is available, ---.--° is now displayed for the Position > Heading option in the GPS item in the setup menu.
- When shooting in live view mode using Camera Control Pro 2 (Ver. 2.2.0 or later) with a PC-E lens, the aperture setting can now be adjusted from the computer.
- Focus acquisition performance in dynamic-area AF mode has been improved.
. Focus acquisition performance with contrast-detect AF has been improved.
- Auto white balance performance has been improved.
- The fourth digit in seconds display for GPS latitude and longitude information is now rounded off rather than omitted.
- The current MB-D10 battery type setting can now be confirmed in the shooting info display when R6 / AA-size batteries are used with the Multi-Power Battery Pack MB-D10.
- An issue that caused an increase in noise with shooting in [M] exposure mode at a shutter speed setting of bulb with the shutter held open for less than 8 seconds and Long exp. NR enabled has been resolved.
- An issue that prevented shutter release at the specified shutter speed when no operations were performed for 30 seconds in mirror up mode has been resolved.
- An issue that caused abnormal image display when  Image review was set to On and the playback zoom in button was pressed immediately after shooting at the following settings has been resolved.
・ Image quality: NEF (RAW ) + JPEG
・ NEF (RAW) recording:  Lossless compressed or  Compressed
・ Image size: S or M
- When the Speedlight SB-800 was mounted on the camera with flash mode set to distance-priority manual (GN) mode, and the camera recovered from standby mode triggered by the auto meter off function, the distance information displayed on the SB-800 changed.  This issue has been resolved.

USA Windows

USA Macintosh

Biggest highlights for me are:
Improved AF acquisition.
Improved Auto-WB.
Auto-ISO can now be set as high as 1/4000.
Copyright symbol now available.

[jasonrandolph]

Thanks for the info Tony!  I think it's great to see Nikon paying attention to those of us who haven't opted to go full-frame...yet.  With that said, the D300 is already a great camera.  Improving it is just icing on the cake.

[Tony Beach]

Thanks for the info Tony!  I think it's great to see Nikon paying attention to those of us who haven't opted to go full-frame...yet.  With that said, the D300 is already a great camera.  Improving it is just icing on the cake.

You're welcome Jason, I hope others find it helpful too.

I actually do think that the biggest thing about this is that Nikon had seemed to be neglecting the D300 with the release of the D700 and that has contributed to a sense that DX may no longer be a putatively pro format for Nikon, and this firmware upgrade addresses two issues that might distinguish the D700 from the D300, namely AF acquisition and auto-WB.  I still have to do the upgrade (had to work today), and I'm not going to have any way to do an objective before and after comparison of the AF; although I could do that for the auto-WB, there are so many different lighting conditions that might or might not show a difference, it just seems like there are too many variables to reach anything but a cursory evaluation of that too.

I agree that the D300 is a great camera, a definite step up from the D200, it's even a step up from the D2x in terms of dynamic range and high ISO performance.  I actually prefer the small but rugged body to the larger D2 and D3 bodies.

I'll post a follow-up reply after I've installed the new firmware and have had a chance to evaluate it for myself, and I'm hoping others will post there experiences here too.

[Tony Beach]

Update

Unfortunately I cannot report any miracles for AF or auto-WB.  I saw no appreciable difference in a series of before and after tests of either using a target illuminated with incandescent lighting.  I'm not saying there is no differences, I'm just saying that I couldn't detect any using the testing parameters I chose -- unfortunately, I now have no way of doing any further testing and will only be able to report my impressions, and those impressions will be anecdotal at best as I never really push the camera's AF acquisition capabilities and don't use auto-WB.