Updated 11/9: I upgraded the firmware in one D300 while using the other D300 (A 1.01 B 1.00) alongside while shooting football this weekend. The AF performance in the upgraded camera was noticeably better, feeling much more responsive and yielding nearly 100% keepers, compared to maybe 80-90% for the other body. While I used only 9-point continuous AF in conditions that varied from sunny to heavy clouds, I think Nikon has made some meaningful “tweaks” to their autofocus. I skipped firmware v1.03 but I would advise installing this upgrade ASAP!
The complete list of modifications and improvements can be found on Nikon’s download page. The ones I find most interesting:
- Auto ISO minimum shutter speed value now goes all the way up to 1/4,000 – a long needed improvement in this function for sports shooters.
- You can now set Copyright Information EXIF field in the camera. No need for clunky (C) annotations in the comment (caption) field.
- Claimed performance improvement in dynamic AF, contrast-detection AF, and automatic white balance. We’ll have to see about these.
Be sure to follow Nikon’s detailed instructions for upgrading your firmware. No shortcuts!
4 responses so far ↓
1 annonym // Nov 2, 2008 at 6:29 am
And one more thing for sports photographers – if you use MB-D10 grip. Lately if you put normal battery inside D300 and 8 AA’s in grip you had still 6 PFS. The only option to have 8FPS was to remove the main battery from D300 and use only AA’s (or the battery from D3). Now using this newest software you can have battery inside D300 ad 8 AA’s in grip and you have 8FPS! And that’s F.A.S.T!
2 The Sports Photo Guy // Nov 2, 2008 at 7:48 am
Not sure I agree with that – I’ve never had a problem getting 8 fps with an EN-EL3e in the body and AAs in the grip at the same time. I don’t see this in the list of firmware changes, either.
3 Chris // Nov 3, 2008 at 2:42 pm
I can corroborate the initial problem recognizing AAs in the grip. You had to remove the batt from the body, install the grip/AAs, then remove and replace batt inside the body, then re-install the grip.
I only had to do this once, when I first got my camera, and it’s worked fine every since, 8FPS. Way before the other firmware upgrade as well.
But, in AutoISO mode, FPS ‘drops’ to 7.5. Wonder if this part was fixed or remains the same.
4 The Sports Photo Guy // Nov 3, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Interesting…perhaps an issue like “dead battery syndrome” (DBS), which never afflicted either of my D300 bodies but for which Nikon also released a firmware update.
Since the FPS decrease to 7.5 fps is documented in the manual, I doubt it is something Nikon considers something that needs “fixing” – but it would be nice to have the full 8 fps. My D300s at 7.5/8 fps are definitely faster than they are at 6 fps, but they don’t quite seem to keep up with my D2H at 8 fps.
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