Firmware Friday: Direct Wi-Fi SnapBridge for D850, D5600, D7500; new Ricoh Theta V firmware incoming

posted Friday, May 10, 2019 at 10:52 PM EDT

For a second post running, our regular Firmware Friday roundup brings news of new Wi-Fi Direct-enabling SnapBridge firmware for Nikon DSLRs. We also have news both of new firmware on the way for the Ricoh Theta V 360-degree spherical camera, and new / updated software for the just-launched flagship Ricoh Theta Z1.

There's a fair bit to discuss, so let's get right down to it!

Nikon D850, D5600 and D7500

We'll start off this week with Nikon. The company has updated the D850 (download here), D5600 (download here) and D7500 (download here), with all three cameras now running version 1.10 firmware. In all three cases, there's one new feature and oneor more bugfixes, but while the feature addition remains the same for all three cameras, each bugfix is unique to a specific model.

Starting off with the D850, Nikon has resolved occasional issues with focusing using AF points towards the edge of the image frame. For the D5600, the company has fixed a problem causing intermittent unavailability of the Touch Fn, which allows quick access to exposure variables through the information display. And finally, for the D7500 there are two bugs squashed: Unintentional changes in ISO sensitivity when switching from Program to User 1 mode and back again, and unexpected behaviour if you repeatedly zoom in and out on the movie live view display while set to 4K resolution and a 30p frame-rate.

In addition to these bug fixes, all three cameras now support SnapBridge connectivity over a Wi-Fi Direct connection to a device running version 2.5.4 or later of the SnapBridge app.

Ricoh Theta V and related apps

Moving along to Ricoh, we have news both of new and updated software for its Theta-series of 360-degree spherical panoramic cameras, and of an upcoming date for the Theta V model, specifically. The Theta V firmware is "scheduled for release soon", according to the company. Without providing an expected date or full details of what the update entails, Ricoh does confirm that it will bring better image quality, faster image transfer, and support for ISO-priority, shutter-priority or manual exposure during video capture.

And how do we know that this new firmware is on the way? Well, the company tells us in the release notes for several of its software applications, all of which also now officially support the Ricoh Theta Z1, and apparently will also fix other, unspecified bugs. That's it for the changes in the Ricoh Theta apps for Android and iPhone, which carry version 1.23.0 and 2.5.0, respectively. Updates can be installed through either the Google Play store or Apple App store.

For desktops and laptops, meanwhile, the Ricoh Theta for Mac and Ricoh Theta for Windows apps (download here) now share version number 3.10.0. As well as Theta Z1 support and unspecified bug fixes, the new versions now immediately start playback of videos stitched at capture time, and top/bottom correction can be enabled through the file menu.

There's also one brand-new app, but you're only going to need it if you've just purchased a Theta Z1. The Stitching Plugin for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic CC does pretty much what it says on the tin, and is available for download here for Windows, or here for MacOS. (Both links are direct to the installer package, so fear not if you see a popup to download a file.)

And that's all for this week's roundup. Be sure to check back next time for more firmware news!

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