Firmware Friday: Sony A6500 and Nikon Speedlight SB-500 bugs fixed; Pentax tethering updates released
posted Friday, January 27, 2017 at 10:01 PM EDT
Our Firmware Friday roundup this week brings news of just two firmware updates -- one apiece from Sony and Nikon, respectively -- but we also have news to report on the software front from Ricoh's Pentax brand. Sony has updated its A6500 compact system camera, and Nikon its Speedlight SB-500 flash strobe, while Ricoh offers up new versions of its tethering software for Windows and Mac systems.
We'll start off the roundup this week with Sony...
Sony A6500
Firmware version 1.01 for the Sony A6500 brings with it two changes, according to the company's official release notes. Firstly, a problem which could cause the camera to be unable to power on after making certain settings changes has been corrected. Sony also notes that it has improved overall stability of the A6500, but doesn't detail what specific changes were made to achieve this.
You can download Sony A6500 firmware version 1.01 here.
Nikon Speedlight SB-500
Moving along to Nikon, the company has updated firmware for its Speedlight SB-500 flash strobe to version 13.002. This fixes a bug which could cause the flash to stop functioning when used in a Creative Lighting System setup with any of a wide range of cameras. (Specifically, these are the Nikon D5, D4, D4S, Df, D810, D810A, D800, D800E, D750, D700, D610, D600, D500, D300, D300S, D7200, D7100, D7000, D5600, D5500, D5300, D5200, D5100, D5000, D3400, D3300, D3200, D3100, D3000, D90, D60, D40, and D40X DSLRs, and the Nikon COOLPIX A, COOLPIX P7800, and COOLPIX P7700 compacts.
To resolve this potential issue with your SB-500, you can download firmware version 13.002 here.
Ricoh / Pentax Image Transmitter 2 and Tethered Capture Plug-in for Lightroom
Finally for this week, Ricoh's Pentax brand has released updates to both its Image Transmitter 2 and Tethered Capture Plug-in software. The current release of Image Transmitter 2 is now version 2.2.1 on both platforms, and this is said to add support for the new Tethered Capture Plug-in version 2.0.0 update, as well as including Ricoh's usual note that it has "improved stability for general performance". No note is made as to what has been changed in the updated Tethered Capture Plug-in version 2.0.0 release, which is also available on both platforms, but if we had to guess it's likely that the company has added support for its upcoming Pentax KP DSLR.
You can download Ricoh / Pentax's updates at the links below:
And that's it for this week! Be sure to check back next time for more of the latest news on the firmware front!
(Camera parts image courtesy of Kelly Hofer / Flickr; used under a Creative Commons CC-BY-2.0 license. Image has been modified from the original.)