Firmware Friday: New updates land for Canon 7D Mark II, Panasonic GH4 and SZ8

 

 

If you're shooting with the Canon EOS 7D Mark II DSLR, Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH4 compact system camera or Panasonic Lumix DMC-SZ8 compact, we have good news for you this Firmware Friday. Updates have just landed for all three cameras that promise to make your shooting experience better!

We mentioned Panasonic's update for the DMC-GH4 in last week's roundup, but at the time it wasn't yet available, with the US market predicted to receive the new firmware from October 7th. The company has beaten that schedule by almost four weeks, though, delivering the new firmware version 2.3 yesterday. And as well as the new V-Log and V-Log L picture style options -- which require that you purchase a license key, and provide increased 12-stop dynamic range for video capture -- the new firmware also allows time-lapse recording to be paused or stopped with a press of the Function1 button.

You can get the new firmware update here, and our affiliate B&H can sell you the license key if you want the new V-Log and V-Log L picture styles. (The license key isn't actually available just yet in the US market it seems, but it will likely be landing pretty soon now that the firmware update is available.) The firmware update process can be seen in the video below:

The Panasonic SZ8 firmware is rather more straightforward, meanwhile. Available here, the new version 1.3 firmware fixes a problem that could cause instability when playing back movies on the camera.

And that just leaves Canon's EOS 7D Mark II version 1.0.5 update, which makes five changes over the previous firmware release. Autofocus accuracy has been improved with the EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM and EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM lenses, and four bugs have been squashed. You should no longer see the progress bar freeze at 100% when updating lens firmware, and nor should you see inconsistent application of peripheral illumination correction. Canon has also resolved an issue which could have caused an Error 70 warning or prevented shutter release, and fixed a leap second-related problem with geotagging and track log recording.

And that's it for this week! Check back next time for more camera 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.)