Scribblings About Things
Nikon Z8 Firmware 3.01 Released
Earlier today a minor firmware update for the Z8, firmware version 3.01, was released by Nikon.
It can be downloaded on their official page here.
This firmware update addressed the issue with certain 3rd party lenses (most notably Tamron lenses) not functioning properly after applying FW 3.00 that was released a couple of weeks back.
I covered in a previous post regarding the issue, and also did a small write-up about how I found the situation to be blown a bit out of proportions by online chatter.
To be honest I actually expected Tamron to be rolling out the firmware updates for the lenses, since they did officially mention that they were investigating the issue. But I guess there are deeper exchanges behind closed doors behind the two manufacturers and whatever fixes that were required have now been implemented by Nikon in FW 3.01 instead.
And to be honest, I am glad that the issue is resolved by Nikon’s firmware since you just have to update the body for full compatibility, rather than having to update the individual lenses.
It might have been an unfortunate oversight by Nikon in FW 3.00 that caused the issues with Tamron lenses, but I still stand by my point that if you are using 3rd party lenses, even officially licensed ones, you definitely need to be wary about updating cameras, especially so if you are using the bodies for critical work.
Anyway from preliminary reports online, as expected it seems like the affected Tamron lenses now work properly on the Z8. There were also reports of certain other reverse-engineered 3rd party lenses also seem to work again on the Z8, though there are conflicting results based on which manufacturer or which lens is in question.
This issue seems to be resolved for now, so let’s just stop the finger pointing and enjoy the camera more.
Overblown Arguments Over Third Party Support of Nikon Z8 Firmware 3.00
As I had mentioned in my post a couple of days back, there have been reports of Tamron lenses not working, either partially or completely disabled, with Nikon Z8’s latest firmware 3.00. Tamron themselves have also posted a service advisory regarding this issue on their official site.
I do get that some users are frustrated over the fact that the native Z-mount Tamron lenses that they own are not fully compatible with the latest Z8 firmware, even though Z-mount Tamron lenses are supposed to be developed under license from Nikon.
In addition to that, several new reports of third party mount adapters from Megadap or Techart are not working as well after the update have also surfaced in the past couple of days.
And this has let to quite a bit of overblown arguments online with regards to who is to blame for this and in more extreme cases, how this firmware update is entirely not up to par, leading to some users calling it a fiasco of an update.
To be honest I do think this is quite a disappointing reaction to see from the users, especially considering the fact that many new features have been implemented in this new firmware update, so calling this firmware update a failure just because third party support is not perfect somehow sounds to me like an entitled user whining.
Before I continue, I think Tamron needs to be given a huge round of applause for acknowledging the issue early (literally the same day the firmware update was released) and letting users know that they are looking into the situation. It is indeed a good move from them to instill confidence in their customers.
So now, we all know that firmware updates (no matter major or minor) have shown time and time again that third party electronic peripherals, be it lenses or batteries, may no longer work as intended due to protocol changes or code changes. This has always been the case, so usage of third party accessories will always bring this risk as manufacturers might update certain safety or security protocols and do not guarantee full compatibility with using said third party accessories; even more so for accessories developed through reverse engineering of the electronic protocols.
I know this first hand - I sent in my D800 for routine maintenance in the past and the service center updated my camera to the latest firmware, which led to my Sigma 35/1.4DG HSM being unable to autofocus at all. It was fixed by updating the Sigma lens via the USB Dock.
The main argument for this current problem right now is that Tamron officially developed the said native Z-mount lenses under a license from Nikon, and because of this the lenses should work as intended with the latest camera body firmware update as it is released.
Unfortunately I think that this argument is not sound at all, since it would mean that Nikon would have to develop its firmware around how Tamron writes their lenses’ firmware, either that or Nikon would have to wait for Tamron to finish up updating their lenses’ firmware before releasing the Z8 FW3.00 penalizing users who are using native Nikon lenses.
Either of these scenarios just sounds improbable from Nikon’s point of view don’t you think?
On top of that, the actual licensing of the lens mount protocol from Nikon to develop the lenses is not a transparent transaction - apart from the manufacturers themselves (and I would argue even so only a handful within the organizations), no one else outside that circle knows what exactly is being licensed and what kind of royalties are in play over here.
If you look over the fence at the E-mount system, Tamron, and even Sigma, release firmware updates for their lenses every now and then when a new body is released or a firmware update for a current body might have changed something. So this is not exactly something new even when things are being developed in partnership or under a license.
Some argued that Nikon should have sent Tamron a beta copy or SDK of the FW3.00 so that they could prepare firmware updates for their lenses when FW3.00 landed. I do agree with this argument, since as partners this should be the case to maintain the relationship down the road, and if Nikon did not send them any prior information or SDK for Tamron to update their firmware, then I do agree that it is a huge oversight on Nikon’s end, especially considering that Tamron does have quite a fair bit of lenses for the Z-mount.
But objectively speaking, no one knows whether Nikon did or did not send them a SDK, and no one knows if Tamron has perhaps already been working on updates for their lenses prior to the release but just unfortunately could not make it in time for the actual release of FW3.00.
The 2-week gap between the announcement of Z8’s FW3.00 and the actual release date might actually be a little hint that there was more going behind closed doors than we are allowed to know.
Also as of now, it is not as if the lenses are bricked totally (since many users do comment that the lenses have no issues working on their other Z bodies), and the main culprit seems to be the newly added Focus Limiter function. Furthermore, Nikon is one of the few camera manufacturers I know of (or in fact, the only camera manufacturer) that allows you to rollback your firmware to an older version if required.
So right now, if you are using Tamron lenses as a main lens on your Z8, you have these 3 options:
If none of the FW3.00 new features are immediately crucial or required, just rollback to FW2.10 (or not update your Z8 if you have not done so) and you will get the full intended compatibility of the lens and body as it always has been.
If you need Focus Limiter, run Z8 on FW2.10 and use Tamron Lens Utility software to customize the custom function and button to map Tamron’s version of Focus Limiter to the lens.
If you need FW3.00 features other than Focus Limiter, update your Tamron lenses, disable all custom functions on the Tamron lenses (especially Tamron’s version of Focus Limiter via the Tamron Lens Utility software), and the lenses should work as intended on Z8 FW3.00. Do note that this might still cause some unintended hiccups here and there since Tamron has not officially come out to mention what other compatibility issues are there.
However if you are in the group which requires both FW3.00 features immediately and the Focus Limiter ability, your only choice is to just sit down and wait for Tamron’s firmware update. And also perhaps ponder over the above 3 suggestions I gave regarding to workarounds right now. (Update on 16/07/2025: Firmware 3.01 is now out by Nikon which addresses this issue, so you do not have to update each individual lens but just update the camera instead.)
Lastly, regarding other reverse-engineered lenses and mount adapters, the final verdict on their compatibility is still hazy at best, but to play safe it is best to just stick with FW2.10 for now while keeping a lookout on the respective manufacturers’ websites for firmware updates in the coming days.
To summarize everything up, yes the firmware 3.00 for the Nikon Z8 did cause some compatibility issues with 3rd party lenses, even for those developed under license from Nikon. But to be fair we do not know what the license covers, and we also do not know whether Nikon themselves actually did provide SDKs to Tamron prior to the firmware’s release as part of their partnership. It always has been up to the third party manufacturers themselves to ensure compatibility, and if you need your gear working right now you could just rollback the firmware to the older FW2.10 and have everything working as it was.
A little patience goes a long way, so be glad that there are options to make the gear work just as it was. Go out and enjoy shooting!
Nikon Z8 Firmware 3.00 and Image Rotation Settings
A new option called [Auto-rotate during playback] has been added to the playback menu category form firmware 3.00 of the Z8.
If you are like me and got confused with what it actually does since there is already a [Auto-rotate pictures] option in the playback menu, and with both the manual and supplementary manual not giving clear enough explanations, fret not as I have managed to decipher what actually is going on!
So just a little history lesson first. With firmware 2.00 Nikon introduced the [Auto image rotation] option to the playback menu, which sat above the [Auto-rotate pictures] option and was as confusing as it could get in terms of naming. (I had written an article here when FW2.00 was announced)
With firmware 2.10 they thankfully relabeled [Auto image rotation] to [Record camera orientation], which makes it clearer what the option actually does.
However one thing I need to mention here is that the reference guide (both the PDF and the online version) is kind of misleading as to what [Record camera orientation] does, since as a setting by itself it does not automatically rotate images when viewed in camera. The supplementary manual for firmware 2.00 actually had a better explanation in the footnote, which I will paste here for reference (edited for the new label):
If [OFF] is selected for [Auto-rotate pictures], images displayed on the camera during playback are always in landscape (wide) orientation, regardless of whether [ON] or [OFF] is selected for [Auto image rotation] [Record camera orientation].
If [OFF] is selected for [Auto image rotation] [Record camera orientation], images displayed during playback are always in landscape (wide) orientation, even if [ON] is selected for [Auto-rotate pictures].
Ok so with this, I will begin explaining how these 3 settings, [Record camera orientation], [Auto-rotate pictures], and [Auto-rotate during playback] work in tandem with each other.
The very first option, [Record camera orientation], writes into the image file the orientation of the camera when the image is captured (for simplicity let’s just use “portrait” or “landscape” orientation).
If this setting is turned off, regardless of what the settings for [Auto-rotate pictures] and [Auto-rotate during playback] are, images will always be viewed as a landscape image on both the camera monitor and on PC.
This setting needs to be turned on for the other 2 settings to have any effect.
So assuming that [Record camera orientation] is turned on, what [Auto-rotate pictures] then does is that when the playback button is being pressed, depending on the camera orientation at the time when playback is initialized, portrait orientation images would be rotated to fit the screen, i.e. when [Auto-rotate pictures] is on,
When holding the camera in a portrait orientation (vertically), and pressing the playback button, portrait orientation images will fill the screen.
When holding the camera in a landscape orientation (horizontally), and pressing the playback button, portrait orientation images will be shown as vertical images on the horizontal screen (black spaces to the left and right).
However if [Auto-rotate pictures] is turned off, even if [Record camera orientation] is turned on images are always shown horizontally filling the entire screen regardless of what orientation the image was when shot and what orientation the camera was in when playback is pressed.
(This is the exact reason why I mentioned that the reference guide’s explanation is misleading)
So with that, now what does the new [Auto-rotate during playback] do?
Its requirements are that [Record camera orientation] and [Auto-rotate pictures] have to be turned on, and from there, if [Auto-rotate during playback] is turned on, during the playback process, portrait orientation images will be rotated in real-time depending on the camera’s current orientation, and not the orientation at the point whereby the playback button is pressed.
To summarize:
[Record camera orientation] writes orientation data to the image file; needs to be turned on for the other 2 settings to work.
[Auto-rotate pictures] will rotate portrait orientation images depending on what the camera’s orientation is at when the playback button is pressed; needs to be turned on for [Auto-rotate during playback] to work.
[Auto-rotate during playback] will rotate portrait orientation images to match the current camera’s orientation regardless of what the camera’s orientation was at when the playback button was pressed.
Hope this information helps!
Nikon Z8 Firmware 3.00 Issue With Tamron Lenses
Just like to inform Z8 users out there who are using native Z-mount Tamron lenses that there is an issue with the newly released Z8 FW3.00 with said Tamron lenses.
With the new firmware installed, there have been numerous complaints and feedback regarding Tamron lenses not being recognized by the camera body at all.
Tamron has issued a notification regarding this issue at their official support site here.
Some users have found that by turning off the newly added “Focus Limiter” function, it solved the issue and the Tamron lenses would work as normal, but if you are worried about other functions breaking with the Tamron lenses (like custom Tamron button functions and such), I think it might be safer to just stick with FW 2.10 first until Tamron release firmware updates for their lenses.
I will update this page again when more information becomes available either from Tamron or Nikon.
** Update 3/7/2025
It seems that for the Tamron 35-150/2-2.8, as long as you’re running on firmware 2 on the lens, the lens works without issues on FW3.00 Z8 as long as custom functions are not mapped to the lens via Tamron Lens Utility and the Z8’s new focus limiter is turned off.
I suppose this should be the case for the other Z-mount Tamron lenses too, but I do not own them to test out.
** Update 16/7/2025
FW 3.01 is now officially out and can be downloaded here from Nikon’s site. It resolves the issue with Tamron lenses. My write-up of the patch can be read here.
Nikon Z8 Firmware 3.00 Released
The previously announced Z8 firmware 3.00 is now officially released.
It can be downloaded on their official page here.
Since it is a major firmware update, the list of changes is pretty substantial, and along with it comes a supplementary manual which can be downloaded here.
(They do update the supplementary manual links sometimes so instead of linking directly to the supplementary manual’s PDF I have linked to the manual overview page instead)
I covered in my previous post regarding some of the changes that were announced, so do refer to it if you would like a summary of the changes in the new firmware.
I will update my camera some time later this week after my assignments are over and write a more detailed article on my opinions on the changes after I have tested them out.
Nikon Z8 Firmware 3.00 Announced
Last week, Nikon announced firmware 3.00, a major firmware update, for the Nikon Z8.
Details of the firmware changes can be viewed at the special contents page on their official website (in English here).
For Japanese readers, unfortunately there is no special content page yet, so the information is on the Z8’s product page here, and the press release here.
Interestingly, it is not a development announcement, yet the actual firmware is unavailable for download (both at time of announcement and at the time of this post), which I suspect might be due to last minute ironing out of bugs or wanting to coincide with the Photonext 2025 convention last week.
Being a major firmware update, there are some new features being implemented in this firmware, and some of the more prominent ones are:
Pixel shift combined with focus shift or AE bracketing. This is definitely a big plus for macro shooters or still-life studio shooters since you can eliminate moire and also get high resolution images.
In-camera focus distance limiter. I can see how it would be useful for a wide range of photographers to prevent unnecessary hunting and improve response speeds. It feels like an evolution of the auto-capture feature implemented for the Z9 (and later the Z8), which brings me to wonder if the directional movement detection of the auto-capture feature could be implemented in normal shooting modes too.
Support for flexible color picture controls. This would bring the Z8’s picture control support more in-line with the newer EXPEED7 bodies, though as of writing the announcement did not mention any support for Nikon Imaging Cloud, so I suppose Imaging Recipes are still not supported with FW3.00. With flexible color picture control support, one workaround for this is to use a Imaging Cloud-enabled body (as of writing, Z50II, Z5II, Z6III, Zf), load one of the Imaging Cloud Recipes you like and take a shot, extract the picture control profile using NX Studio, and load it into the FW3.00 Z8.
Custom wide-area AF (C1/C2) have been updated to support up to 135 different patterns (from the initial 20 patterns in previous firmware versions), and also the customizations are enabled to the edges of the sensor (29 x 17) as well, as compared to the previous 21 x 13 maximum area. This is significant as it brings a lot more options for the custom wide-area AF (and more in line with the newer EXPEED7 bodies), and this is the first Nikon body with the 45.7MP sensor with full customization for this, and we can be quite sure that something similar will be available for the Z9 soon enough.
Subject detection is now available in manual focus modes, similar to that of the Zf and Z6III.
There are also other quality of life and workflow improvements, such as higher zoom magnification or voice memo implementations, as well as some video-related upgrades, all of which are detailed in the links provided at the top of this post.
One particular feature that sounds a bit confusing right now is the new a14 option “Maximum Aperture Live View”. In the special contents page it sounds like it would work for autofocus as well by focusing at maximum aperture and stopping down just right before shooting (like how the DSLRs worked) for better accuracy and light gathering during focusing. However, a similar implementation for the Z9 seems to work only for manual focus, so either this feature has been refined for the Z8 (and updated for the Z9 accordingly), or there is some misunderstanding on how the feature would work.
Nevertheless I’m definitely glad that new features are coming!
Nikon Z8 Firmware 2.01 Released
Earlier today Nikon released a minor firmware update (2.01) for the Z8.
The firmware can be downloaded at the official Nikon page here.
This minor firmware update changed the default encryption keys of the camera, which is similar to the recent wave of firmware updates that have been released for the other Z bodies.
And the main attention of this minor update is to fix the issue regarding the d-pad panning the image in wrong directions when used in vertical mode. (I have written about this in more detail in this post over here).
One interesting note of this patch is the fixing of green color cast with some pictures taken. While I personally have not encountered it myself (and thus not sure what combinations of settings would trigger it), I am wondering if they changed the imaging algorithm a bit in FW2.00 since there has been some buzz in forums and discussion boards about FW2.00 RAW files looking cleaner and less noisy at higher ISOs. There is no concrete evidence so far to substantiate the high ISO improvements as far as I know, so take this statement with a pinch of salt.
That said, I am really curious what are the conditions that would trigger the green color cast. Hmm..
Live View Exposure Preview Settings for Nikon Mirrorless Cameras
Just remembered that I did not write an update to my previous blog post requesting for a quality of life update in the live view exposure preview settings for the cameras.
To briefly recap, the initial batch Nikon Z mirrorless bodies that were based on the Expeed 6 CPU (Z5, Z6, Z7, Z6II, Z7II, Z30, Z50, Zfc) have the option to turn on or off live view exposure preview (under custom settings), which simulates and shows changes in the captured images’ exposure when shutter speed/aperture/ISO is changed.
However even when set to “On”, whenever a strobe or TTL-compatible commander is detected in the hotshoe, this setting would be nullified and switched off as the cameras assume that it would be used in a studio setting; i.e. it is a low light environment with strobes as the main light source so live view exposure preview is not needed.
This however creates a slight inconvenience for people using strobes or on-camera flashes as fill light, as we still want to know and expose for the ambient light, and the strobes are just there to fill in the shadows. I mentioned previously that I got around by setting one Fn button to toggle the a “Forced Flash Off” function, and use it to quickly check for ambient exposure.
With the Expeed 7 bodies (Z8, Z9 and Zf as of writing), this particular feature has been improved, with the user being able to now decide between having it automatically turned off when a strobe is attached, or keep live view exposure preview on even with strobes attached - exactly what I had been clamoring for!
But with Firmware 1.60 for the Z6II and Z7II, this particular setting is now available and does really improve the handling and efficiency, and I personally am really glad that user feedback had gotten through to them.
As this setting is slightly obscured with slightly different names depending on the CPU version, I have briefly compiled the instructions on how to check and activate them here:
Z6II/Z7II (FW1.60 and above) - go to Custom Settings d9 “Apply settings to live view”, choose “On”, press the right d-pad key, and choose either “Always” for persistent preview, or “Only when flash is not used” for automatic toggling. Detailed instructions can be read on this official page.
Z8/Z9/Zf - this option is available to all these 3 bodies from their initial production firmware, under the name “View Mode (Photo Lv)” within the Custom Settings menu, but their exact location in the menu is dependent on current firmware version - as of writing, Z8 FW2.00 is under d9, Z9 FW5.00 is under d10, Zf FW1.10 is under d9. Select “Show effects of settings”, and press the right d-pad button to choose between “Always” for persistent exposure preview or “Only when flash is not used” for automatic toggling.
As of now the 3 DX bodies (Z30, Z50, Zfc), as well as the first generation FX bodies (Z5, Z6, Z7) did not get an update to their live view exposure preview setting, so unfortunately they still have an automatic toggle to Off whenever a flash is detected in the hotshoe. I would certainly be elated if an update comes out for the first generation FX bodies, though definitely not keeping my hopes too high for that.
Nikon Z8 Firmware 2.00 (Auto Image Rotation)
Z8’s FW 2.00 introduced a new setting, Auto Image Rotation under the Playback Menu, and as I was going through the options setting up my camera, I thought that this option sounded pretty confusing, especially since the next option just below is it called Auto-Rotate Pictures, and thought perhaps I could do some explaining.
Anyway it seems like what Auto Image Rotation does is to include or exclude rotation(orientation) data (most probably in the EXIF) when the image is saved. This data is then used when loading the images in the computer, so that images shot in vertical orientation can be automatically rotated and displayed properly as shot.
Similarly, the next setting, Auto-Rotate Pictures, if turned on, would use the same embedded rotation data to rotate vertical images during playback (i.e. when using the back LCD horizontally, vertical images would be rotated to be vertical with black bars beside it)
So once you know what these two options are actually for, the effects are as such:
Auto Image Rotation “On”, Auto-Rotate Pictures “On” - This is the default settings. Images shot will rotate properly on PC, and also rotate during playback when using the camera in horizontal position.
Auto Image Rotation “On”, Auto-Rotate Pictures “Off” - I use this pair of settings personally. Images shot will rotate properly on PC, but during playback images will always be displayed in landscape orientation.
Auto Image Rotation “Off”, Auto-Rotate Pictures “On” - Images shot will always be displayed in landscape orientation on PC and at the back of camera.
Auto Image Rotation “Off”, Auto-Rotate Pictures “Off” - Images shot will always be displayed in landscape orientation on PC and at the back of camera.
Hope it clears some confusion for any one out there who finds these pair of settings puzzling.
Anyway the Japanese menu option for this is “縦横位置情報の記録” - literally translated to “Recording Orientation Data”, and it explains what this option actually does clearly. While I get that there might be character limits for the menu items, why not just call it “Orientation Data” or “Image Rotation Data”, which makes it much easier to understand?
Side note 1: more information on this can be accessed on the Z8’s FW 2.00 supplementary manual (page 48 to be exact)
Side note 2: Auto-Rotate Pictures used to be called “Rotate Tall” in older Nikon bodies, so if you know what Rotate Tall does then it might be easier to understand.
** Extra Information Update (14/2/2024)
There seems to be a bug when these settings are set:
Playback Menu’s Auto Image Rotation ON
Playback Menu’s Auto-Rotate Pictures ON
Setup Menu’s Auto Rotate Info Display OFF
With these particular settings in place, when the camera is held in a vertical orientation and you playback a vertical image, the D-pad and touch controls for panning around the image act as though the camera is in horizontal position (in simple words, it’s moving in the wrong direction)
Have escalated this issue to the service center for them to look into it.
** Bugfix Update (23/4/2024)
Nikon has released FW2.01 (can be downloaded here) which addressed the issue mentioned above, and contains some other minor bug fixes.
** Information regarding FW3.00 settings here (2/7/2025)
Nikon Z8 Firmware 2.00 Release
Nikon has just released a firmware update (2.00) for the Z8 a couple of days ago.
I have updated my unit and tested it out, and am really liking the changes so far - please feel free to go through my Z8 equipment notes page to learn more about how I am using the Z8 with the new firmware if you are interested.
Anyway, here is a set of links for useful information regarding the new firmware update for the Z8.
Official Firmware Download Link
Official Firmware 2.00 Supplementary Manual (PDF)
FW 2.00 Video Introduction by Ricci Talks (YouTube)
I definitely recommend downloading a copy of the supplementary manual and go through it as the list of changes is really extensive.
At the end of the manual a set of default settings for the camera is also listed, so it is a useful reference if you wanted to revert any settings back to the original in the future.