How Nikon could implement raw pre-capture on existing cameras

[sirhawkeye64]

Has Nikon ever made users pay for a firmware upgrade? If not, why would they start doing so now?

Yes, they have. The most recent was the video feature upgrade for the Z6.

Yep - ostensibly some of that fee was necessary to pay licensing fees for Black Magic raw.

Thank you both. Even knowing that it has been done before, a paid upgrade to one or more existing cameras seems highly unlikely.

I wouldn't say unlikely. I mean I could see Nikon including it with the Z8 / Z9 II to push those, and offering it as an upgrade to the Z8/Z9 (gen 1) for those who want it. Not everyone will need it though (I don't use pre-capture at all mostly because I don't shoot much wildlife/action to being with). But it wouldn't surprise me if Nikon did charge a fee for this, at least for the current Z6III/Z8/Z9 models. Also it likely wouldn't have to be a huge upgrade, maybe $100 or something. I think part of the reason the Pro-RES option was "so expensive" ($250 I think) was because it was licensed.

--
* PLEASE NOTE: I generally unsubscribe from forums/comments after a period of time has passed, so if I do not respond, that is likely the reason. *

 

[jtr27]

Has Nikon ever made users pay for a firmware upgrade? If not, why would they start doing so now?

Yes, they have. The most recent was the video feature upgrade for the Z6.

Yep - ostensibly some of that fee was necessary to pay licensing fees for Black Magic raw.

Thank you both. Even knowing that it has been done before, a paid upgrade to one or more existing cameras seems highly unlikely.

I wouldn't say unlikely. I mean I could see Nikon including it with the Z8 / Z9 II to push those, and offering it as an upgrade to the Z8/Z9 (gen 1) for those who want it. Not everyone will need it though (I don't use pre-capture at all mostly because I don't shoot much wildlife/action to being with). But it wouldn't surprise me if Nikon did charge a fee for this, at least for the current Z6III/Z8/Z9 models. Also it likely wouldn't have to be a huge upgrade, maybe $100 or something. I think part of the reason the Pro-RES option was "so expensive" ($250 I think) was because it was licensed.

If I am understanding what Thom and Horshack have said in this thread, adding it to both existing cameras (paid or not) and next gen cameras could mean two different implementations. Perhaps I'm mistaken about that, but if I'm not, that IMO makes the upgrade to current gen cameras even more unlikely. Why expend the time and resources to solve the same problem two different ways?

If "doing it right" requires a new version of EXPEED then that is an excellent reason to offer it in the next generation only.

As Thom has written in his "Z9 Dissonance " article, there are plenty of other "opportunities" to improve the current Z9, should Nikon choose to do so, and so have it catch up with the Z8.

--
Jonathan
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jtr27/

 

[Once bittern]

Nikon is about to release firmware v3.0 for the Z8, which includes a couple of upgrades to pre-release capture, allowing JPEG-Fine and a couple of lower frame rates. My gut feeling is that if NEF were possible, Nikon would have included it in this release. In an ideal world, I’m wrong and it will come later.

 

[jlsturbo]

Pre-Capture on Nikon is ridiculous. My OM-5 can pre-capture in RAW. And it's an old camera with an older processor. That Nikon's newest cameras (which smoke the OM5 in autofocus) can't precapture in RAW must be a joke.

 

[Bird_Nerd]

Has Nikon ever made users pay for a firmware upgrade? If not, why would they start doing so now?

Yes, they have. The most recent was the video feature upgrade for the Z6.

Yep - ostensibly some of that fee was necessary to pay licensing fees for Black Magic raw.

Thank you both. Even knowing that it has been done before, a paid upgrade to one or more existing cameras seems highly unlikely.

I wouldn't say unlikely. I mean I could see Nikon including it with the Z8 / Z9 II to push those, and offering it as an upgrade to the Z8/Z9 (gen 1) for those who want it. Not everyone will need it though (I don't use pre-capture at all mostly because I don't shoot much wildlife/action to being with). But it wouldn't surprise me if Nikon did charge a fee for this, at least for the current Z6III/Z8/Z9 models. Also it likely wouldn't have to be a huge upgrade, maybe $100 or something. I think part of the reason the Pro-RES option was "so expensive" ($250 I think) was because it was licensed.

I'd pay for this in a heartbeat. I don't use pre-capture that often either, even as a dedicated birder. Although when it's handy it's extremely handy.

One the of the reasons I avoid using it is because editing the jpgs is painful vs editing raws and I'm on a big editing kick right now.

So yea, $100 to add raw pre-capture to a z9, I'm in! Hope Nikon see's this! Haha.

 

[sirhawkeye64]

Has Nikon ever made users pay for a firmware upgrade? If not, why would they start doing so now?

Yes, they have. The most recent was the video feature upgrade for the Z6.

Yep - ostensibly some of that fee was necessary to pay licensing fees for Black Magic raw.

Thank you both. Even knowing that it has been done before, a paid upgrade to one or more existing cameras seems highly unlikely.

I wouldn't say unlikely. I mean I could see Nikon including it with the Z8 / Z9 II to push those, and offering it as an upgrade to the Z8/Z9 (gen 1) for those who want it. Not everyone will need it though (I don't use pre-capture at all mostly because I don't shoot much wildlife/action to being with). But it wouldn't surprise me if Nikon did charge a fee for this, at least for the current Z6III/Z8/Z9 models. Also it likely wouldn't have to be a huge upgrade, maybe $100 or something. I think part of the reason the Pro-RES option was "so expensive" ($250 I think) was because it was licensed.

I'd pay for this in a heartbeat. I don't use pre-capture that often either, even as a dedicated birder. Although when it's handy it's extremely handy.

One the of the reasons I avoid using it is because editing the jpgs is painful vs editing raws and I'm on a big editing kick right now.

So yea, $100 to add raw pre-capture to a z9, I'm in! Hope Nikon see's this! Haha.

For me, I wouldn't use it enough to want to pay for it but I'm sure there are others that would (like yourself). Part of that is I shoot very little wildlife or sports in reality (ocassionally here and there but only for personal use, so getting the shot is not exactly critical for me, but rewarding if I get it).