Firmware Friday: Olympus E-M1 update lands ahead of schedule, Leica updates S-system cameras
posted Friday, September 19, 2014 at 6:18 PM EDT
The last few weeks or so might have been a bit manic, thanks to the biennial Photokina tradeshow that's been underway in Germany, but that doesn't mean things have been quiet on the firmware front. The very opposite, in fact!
A few days ago, we told you about a new firmware update for the Olympus E-M1 digital SLR, currently under development and promised for delivery from September 24th. Well, as it turns out that firmware has arrived already, so if you're an E-M1 shooter, it's time to start updating. New features on offer in the Olympus E-M1 v2.0 firmware update include all of the following:
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8 new functions have been added:
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Keystone Compensation (Digital Shift)
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Tethered Shooting System (OLYMPUS capture)
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Live Composite photography
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Zoom In/Out and Layout have been added to Photo Story. Save (complete partway through), Temporary Save, and Resume functions have been added to Photo Story mode.
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Vintage and Partial color have been added to art filter.
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Old film effect has been added to movie effect.
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The Aperture Lock function has been added to Aperture Preview.
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The Panning Shot Shooting mode has been added to SCN mode.
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16 operability improvements:
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Image display time lag: 16 msec (when frame rate setting is high)
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Multiple simultaneous settings are now available in Live Guide.
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Exposure compensation (±3 EV) is now available in HDR 1/HDR2 shooting.
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A function was added to cancel Color Creator and return to the original Picture Mode by pressing the MENU button when using Color Creator function.
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Even when Art Filter is set for the Picture Mode in movie shooting, the Movie Tele-converter can now be used.
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AF function for each frame was added to Custom Self Timer. In Drive Mode's Custom Self Timer settings, you can now press the INFO button to change settings.
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MF Assist is now supported in magnified frame position.
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3x has been added to high resolution magnified Live View.
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The Peaking display frame rate has been improved.
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Electronic zoom speed setting function was added. An icon appears on the LCD monitor when using the Olympus zoom lens.
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When the arrow pad is set to Direct function, the Underwater/Underwater macro functions can be used with the left and down button on the arrow pad.
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Double tap is now supported in touch operations on the Super Control Panel.
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The level gauge and histogram can now be displayed during magnified frame display. The Touch Off icon was added to magnified frame display.
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A function was added so that shooting information recorded in HDR1/HDR2 can be viewed in the playback screen. Information on composited number of shots for images recorded with Live Composite was added.
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Short-cut access is now supported for Live Composite, Live Bulb, and Live Time setting menus.
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When the BKT button is pressed for seconds, the BKT menu now appears.
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OI.Share
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OI.Share version 2.4 is supported.
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Quite a list, we think you'll agree! Your first test of the really big new feature among the bunch -- USB tethered shooting -- will have to wait just a little longer, though. That feature is reliant on the new Olympus Capture tethered shooting software, which is still slated to arrive on September 24th.
You can, however, give the new features of Olympus OI.Share v2.4 a spin, because that's already available for both Android and iOS devices. This new release now works with the Olympus E-PL7 camera body, and and can transfer a recorded Geotag log to the latest version of Olympus' OI.Track app. We were previously told that this update to OI.Share would also add support for remote self-timer and interval shooting, but that's not mentioned in the release notes. If you've updated, perhaps you can share your experiences in the comments below!
Get the new firmware and apps at the links below:
Also new this week are firmware updates from Leica Camera AG for the Leica S (Typ 006) and Leica S2, as well as Leica S lenses. The new lens firmware, says Leica, will improve lens performance; no specifics are provided. The Leica S2 update merely adds support for lenses with this new firmware, and the Leica S (Typ 006) adds the same. However, for this camera only, the update also makes the following changes:
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AF Performance: completely new developed AF algorithms and AF drive control for extensive improvements in terms of focus speed, responsiveness, smoothness and precision.
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Predictive AF: improved predictive object tracking in AF Continuous Mode
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Improved GPS precision: Global Positioning System coordinates will only be stored in image data if last signal update is not older than 5 minutes, instead of 24h like former firmware.
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Support of the new Leica S-lens: Leica Summicron-S 1:2/100mm ASPH. (order no. 11056)
Get Leica's new firmware and installation instructions here. And that about wraps things up for this week, as we've already reported on Panasonic's pledge of new firmware for the Panasonic GH4 and FZ1000 cameras. (Missed that? Read about it here.)
Check back next week for all the latest in digital imaging firmware news!
(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.)