New firmware for Z cameras.

[Akira]

I welcome every firmware update. It makes the Z’s more competative/better.
But seriously; cat/dog eyefocus? What joke!
The other changes are looking much more important to me. Better AF tracking, easier AF-tracking.

Chris, Sony is the pioneer of the pet eye focus.

[longzoom]

Quick and dirty test of version 3.0. Z7, 24-70 Tam G2, at 24mm/2.8. AF-C, Auto AF, F1 activated. The magic square was following this person, from the right side, where she was detected by the system, to the left side, where I pressed the button completely. The small part of the hydrant was my orientation, to turn the camera and wait.  LZ2020-02-18-3 by longzoom, on Flickr2020-02-18-2 by longzoom, on Flickr

[longzoom]

The same combo, at 70mm/2.8, the same settings.  The dark blue car was chosen. It was covered by the other ones, but the system was keeping it in focus.  A very significant improvement, a great success for Nikon, I think. LZ 2020-02-18_1 by longzoom, on Flickr2020-02-18_1-2 by longzoom, on Flickr

[Mike G]

IMHO the implementation of pet eye focus mode seems to me to be a very clunky way of doing things! Have Nikon made arrangements with cats and dogs to stop what they are doing while the camera operator faffs around diving into menus or button pressing to get to the pet mode!
At least this situation can be fixed by another firmware update!

[Luc]

Mike, that's what the three user settings are for. Just store your cat/dog af setting under one. No firmware needed. No panic, Mr Mainwaring!

[Nikfuson]

Had a go with continuous tracking and in this case, flying seagulls (~50m distance) against semicloudy sky: very disappointing as the camera seemed much more interested in the cloudy backdrop than the gulls.
Will, with interest, try this with a human face and trying to understand if the background is still "algorithm'ed" as the preferred distance to focus on.
The good: starting tracking is way easier - once the OK button has been pressed. My set-up is AF-ON focus activation and as soon as I let go of the AF-ON button the AF square box re-centers itself, ready for a new target. Then it's just a matter of positioning the target within the box and push the AF-ON and Bob's supposed to be yer uncle...but with seagulls not so much.

[Mike G]

Mike, that's what the three user settings are for. Just store your cat/dog af setting under one. No firmware needed. No panic, Mr Mainwaring!

This particular Mr Mainwaring is definitely at a loss to understand why Nikon is making it such a faff, why is it not easier to access! I won’t be assigning animal AF setting to one of the user numbers!
Even if one of the U modes is assigned, it will still take too long to access! And the moment will be gone! Shame it’s so damned clunky.

[Bent Hjarbo]

Haven't used the special tracking, just single point AF-C, have no complaint.
Never have had any luck with the 3-D tracking on my DSLRs even for skiers in white surroundings 
I did try the Z6 with the previous software and my local seagulls.
It flew behind some branches at the Z6 followed it until behind the trunk
I did start the shooting befor the first frame shown here.
Z6 AF-S 70-200 f2.8 VR II @f4

[Eddie Draaisma]

Just out of curiosity I was wondering if it would be possible to update the Z camera firmware in the field with help of an iPad only.

At first sight this looks trivial with the latest iPadOS, just download the firmware file to the download folder and move it to an XQD card in a connected XQD reader.

The caveat is that Nikon firmware comes enclosed in either an .exe (for Windows) or an .dmg (for MacOS) file, both type of files cannot be opened on the iPad by default.

With no suitable utility in sight in the App Store I found a few online file converters that are able to convert the .dmg file into a .zip file. Another issue: the camera firmware is stored in a subdirectory in the .dmg file, most online converters won’t handle that.

The online converter at https://www.freefileconvert.com however does handle subdirectories, so experiment succeeded.


So the basic flow is:

go to a Nikon website and download the firmware .dmg file in Safari

go to https://www.freefileconvert.com and upload the downloaded file in step 1, convert it to a .ZIP file and download the resulting .ZIP file.

In the Files app, open the downloaded .ZIP file (it is in de download folder), open it and locate the firmware file

connect an XQD reader, insert a card and move the firmware file to it

transfer the XQD card to the camera, and update the firmware as usual

[Mike G]

Eddie, the ZIP file is not suitable to use for the FW update it has to be a bin file which is extracted from the ZIP!

[Eddie Draaisma]

Mike, the .Zip file has to be opened first, iPad can do that.

[Mike G]

Eddie yes I do know the zip file has to be opened first, never used an iPad yet always extracted the FW on my desktop Mac!

[Bent Hjarbo]

I have tried to read my XQD card via a card reader, but the iPad can not deliver the required power, so it is a no-go

[Mike G]

Bent, I can see that as a problem also is it so important to update the FW in the field?
FW updates are rarely that urgent!

[Eddie Draaisma]

I have tried to read my XQD card via a card reader, but the iPad can not deliver the required power, so it is a no-go

I was able to do this out of curiosity thingy with an iPad Pro and a Lexar XQD reader (with an USB to USB-C dongle in between).

Bent, I can see that as a problem also is it so important to update the FW in the field?
FW updates are rarely that urgent!

"Not useful" is a proper statement; it leaves enough room to prove otherwise for someone somewhere in the future 

Nikon could just offer the firmware files as plain downloads without the .dmg or .exe packaging (as other companies do), a little more convenient on desktop and/or laptop too.