New Firmware - Amazing

[Greg M]

It really is! My D30 with a 28-135IS and a 550EX can now get a focus lock in an almost completely dark room at night with no lights on. It definately could not do this before I did this update. The picture is off center because I could not even see what I was shooting. There is no post processing and the flash was facing straight up with the wide panel extended.

I have only shot a couple of shots but, to be honest, I am very excited about the improvement and I wanted to share it.

 

[mpeltier]

It really is! My D30 with a 28-135IS and a 550EX can now get a
focus lock in an almost completely dark room at night with no
lights on. It definately could not do this before I did this
update. The picture is off center because I could not even see
what I was shooting. There is no post processing and the flash was
facing straight up with the wide panel extended.

I have only shot a couple of shots but, to be honest, I am very
excited about the improvement and I wanted to share it.

 

[wolfwatcher]

It really is! My D30 with a 28-135IS and a 550EX can now get a
focus lock in an almost completely dark room at night with no
lights on. It definately could not do this before I did this
update. The picture is off center because I could not even see
what I was shooting. There is no post processing and the flash was
facing straight up with the wide panel extended.

I have only shot a couple of shots but, to be honest, I am very
excited about the improvement and I wanted to share it.

Greg, could you be more specific on the "new firmware" please. Where did you get it?
Thanks--Chris

 

[ometofu]

This update came from Chuck Westfall at Canon USA but has not been posted on their web site yet. Both a Windows and Mac compressed download file is available from Fred's forum at:

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/viewtopic.php?TopicID=22

There's a .pdf file that describes the installation process, it requires a card reader as the firmware update is installed from a CF card.

It really is! My D30 with a 28-135IS and a 550EX can now get a
focus lock in an almost completely dark room at night with no
lights on. It definately could not do this before I did this
update. The picture is off center because I could not even see
what I was shooting. There is no post processing and the flash was
facing straight up with the wide panel extended.

I have only shot a couple of shots but, to be honest, I am very
excited about the improvement and I wanted to share it.

Greg, could you be more specific on the "new firmware" please.
Where did you get it?
Thanks
--
Chris

 

[bluedot]

Hmmm... I wonder:

A. Why did Canon release new firmware without posting it on their official website? (As they've always done in the past).

B. Why would Canon improve the most major flaw in the D30 (AF) and not tell anyone about it?

Sure sounds strange to me. Sure would be wonderful if it is in fact the case. I'll watch this space.-- cheers, buru-dotto.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - In a nutshell, I'm a nut.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - http://www.pbase.com/nichijin

 

[JCDoss]

A. Why did Canon release new firmware without posting it on their
official website? (As they've always done in the past).

I had the same question:
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1019&message=2012390

B. Why would Canon improve the most major flaw in the D30 (AF) and
not tell anyone about it? ...Sure sounds strange to me...

Every firmware upgrade comes with it's share of "Wow, look at how fast my AF works now!" type exclamations. I don't believe it. I could install the firmware and see for myself, but there's something fishy about the backdoor route Canon chose to distribute this version.

Besides, my 28-135IS is on it's way back to Canon for a "recalibration." More on that later.

JCDoss

 

[Yuri47916]

looks like i'm not alone, after all....
see this thread:
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1019&message=2009558

It really is! My D30 with a 28-135IS and a 550EX can now get a
focus lock in an almost completely dark room at night with no
lights on. It definately could not do this before I did this
update. The picture is off center because I could not even see
what I was shooting. There is no post processing and the flash was
facing straight up with the wide panel extended.

 

[EricF]

Hmmm... I wonder:

A. Why did Canon release new firmware without posting it on their
official website? (As they've always done in the past).

It will be posted, matter of time... Canon is not like Microsoft, they make sure everything goes smoothly before their software goes to customers. Chuck leaked it out, if one is to be blamed

B. Why would Canon improve the most major flaw in the D30 (AF) and
not tell anyone about it?

I won't use the term "flaw" here despite some having some frustration myself. Plus a lot of software vendors fix their bugs in secret and release them without telling customers. I think they might have made some improvement but not big enough to make it a headline ...

 

[Greg M]

looks like i'm not alone, after all....
see this thread:
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1019&message=2009558

Yuri,

It was your thread that got me to look into this. I read many of the "conspiracy" threads and combinded with your claim I decided to give it a try.

I know there are some who won't believe me but I am very excited about the improvement in the low light AF. That picture WAS taken in a room so dark that I could not see what I was shooting. Sure if you're aready using fast L glass you might not notice any improvement, but you will if you are using non L glass.

I started a new thread because I didn't want to get "lost" in another thread. I wanted to try and make sure that as many people as possible heard about our claims about this new firmware. Agreed, it doesn't transform the D30 into the perfect DSLR but it does improve the most complained about shortcoming it has.

Thanks Yuri for your thread.

 

[Walt60320]

It doesn't matter how many people tell me it's all in my mind. The fact is, I too can auto focus in a completely dark room with my 28-135mm IS lens. Of course the focus assist light has to be turned on. Taking pictures around the house in dim light is no problem at all. However you do have to use some care (at least I do) such as setting the camera to just the center focus point and focusing on some area of contrast. The completely dark room shot was done in the bathroom pointing the camera at a contrasty wall paper. Keeping that in mind, the 28-135 will quickly focus everytime. It didn't do that before the firmware upgrade. If it is all in my mind, then that's okay too. Whatever the reason is, it works.

Walt

looks like i'm not alone, after all....
see this thread:
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1019&message=2009558

 

[Griffin]

Back in July last year, I can achieve the same thing with ST-E2 + EF28-135 IS USM too! I don't think it is the 1.0.2.2 firmware.

I still think it is kinda psychological effect.

Griffin.-- http://www.pbase.com/griffin/

 

[Greg M]

Back in July last year, I can achieve the same thing with ST-E2 +
EF28-135 IS USM too! I don't think it is the 1.0.2.2 firmware.

I still think it is kinda psychological effect.

Griffin.
--
http://www.pbase.com/griffin/

Mine could not get a focus lock in low light. I tried and I was really frustrated. It does now. I'm not imaging it. There was obviously a problem with mine that the update corrected. Yours obviously is not in need of the update.

 

[Jeff Morris]

My D3 Serial X 1B28000xx was purchased from Canoga a few weeks ago. I just returned a 28-135 lens because ion moderate light the unit would "Hunt" for focus. I ordered a 16-36L.

I assume that my software version is 1.0.2.0 from a previous thread. What does the last .2 update do?

(I do not know for sure what my firmware version is since I can not get my D-30 to sync to my Dell laptop with Win ME.)--Jeff Morris

 

[Jeff Morris]

Sorry it's a D-30 not D-3. I hate laptop keyboards! I need to proofread more often.--Jeff Morris

 

[Walt60320]

Griffin

I'm not using the ST-E2 or the infrared of the 550EX. This is without any assistance except the focus assist light built into the camera.

Walt

Back in July last year, I can achieve the same thing with ST-E2 +
EF28-135 IS USM too! I don't think it is the 1.0.2.2 firmware.

I still think it is kinda psychological effect.

Griffin.
--
http://www.pbase.com/griffin/

 

[DSylvester]

Is there a way of backing up your old firmware before overwriting with the new (unoffical?) one? Call me paranoid, but having an undo option would be nice.

Derek.

It really is! My D30 with a 28-135IS and a 550EX can now get a
focus lock in an almost completely dark room at night with no
lights on. It definately could not do this before I did this
update. The picture is off center because I could not even see
what I was shooting. There is no post processing and the flash was
facing straight up with the wide panel extended.

I have only shot a couple of shots but, to be honest, I am very
excited about the improvement and I wanted to share it.

 

[Sanjay Jhawar]

Greg and Walt

please post the serial numbers and purchase dates of your D30's

thanks
Sanjay--Sanjay Jhawar

 

[Tom Stotler]

Back in July last year, I can achieve the same thing with ST-E2 +
EF28-135 IS USM too! I don't think it is the 1.0.2.2 firmware.

I still think it is kinda psychological effect.

Griffin.
--
http://www.pbase.com/griffin/

Mine could not get a focus lock in low light. I tried and I was
really frustrated. It does now. I'm not imaging it. There was
obviously a problem with mine that the update corrected. Yours
obviously is not in need of the update.

I up-dated mine last night after reading the replies to the other thread, and you can call me crazy, but the AF on my D30 locked-on in low light when before it would hunt for a couple of seconds. Not sure what is the big difference, but it seems to work a lot faster now. Go figure. Hopefully we are not all crazy, right?

Tom

 

[Jay Bean]

Just download 1.0.2.0 directly from Canon before they update and keep a copy saved away somewhere on your PC.

Derek.

It really is! My D30 with a 28-135IS and a 550EX can now get a
focus lock in an almost completely dark room at night with no
lights on. It definately could not do this before I did this
update. The picture is off center because I could not even see
what I was shooting. There is no post processing and the flash was
facing straight up with the wide panel extended.

I have only shot a couple of shots but, to be honest, I am very
excited about the improvement and I wanted to share it.

 

[Jay Bean]

Sigh, my AF did NOT get any better. I ran a controlled test in a darkened room before and after upgrading. I had 1.0.2.0 and load 1.0.2.2. There was no discernable difference in AF speed or accuracy.

For those that are seeing an improvement, which version of the firmware did you have before? Perhaps the improvment was in 1.0.2 or even 1.0.1 and had not loaded it yet?

Another possibility is that there is a specific fox for the 28-135 problem. Everyone seeing an improvement seems to be seeing it with that lens.

It really is! My D30 with a 28-135IS and a 550EX can now get a
focus lock in an almost completely dark room at night with no
lights on. It definately could not do this before I did this
update. The picture is off center because I could not even see
what I was shooting. There is no post processing and the flash was
facing straight up with the wide panel extended.

I have only shot a couple of shots but, to be honest, I am very
excited about the improvement and I wanted to share it.