Nikon has pulled it’s latest firmware update from their website because the program has a photo corruption problem.

Here’s the latest from Digital Photography Insights:

An advisory states that the problem occurs only when the camera is capturing RAW or RAW + JPEG images, it’s set to record 14-bit NEFs and the camera is fired at 9 fps. Switching the D3 to 12-bit NEF or slowing the frame rate to 8 fps or less prevents the corruption from occurring, says the advisory.

A version of D3 firmware that corrects the problem is expected to be released in late-April 2008.

Also, if you’re interested in readying the full advisory, here is what Nikon had to say officially:

On April 15, 2008, an announcement was made on the Nikon website that the Ver. 1.10 firmware update for the D3 digital-SLR camera was available for download. However, it has been confirmed that when the following settings are applied with the updated firmware, image data may, in some rare cases, be corrupted. Therefore, we have terminated the firmware update download. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this issue may have caused.

• Release mode: Continuous high speed (CH), or Continuous low speed (CL) with Custom Setting d2 set to 9 fps
• Image area: FX format (36×24) or 5:4 (30×24)
• Image quality: NEF (RAW) or NEF (RAW) + JPEG fine/normal/basic
• NEF (RAW) recording>NEF (RAW) bit depth: 14-bit

*The issue related to NEF (RAW) recording>NEF (RAW) bit depth may occur regardless of the option selected for NEF (RAW) recording>Type (Lossless compressed, Compressed, or Uncompressed).

If you have downloaded the D3 Ver. 1.10 firmware update but have not yet updated the camera’s firmware, please do NOT perform the update. If you have already updated the D3 firmware, please do not shoot with the combination of settings indicated above. This issue does not occur with other combinations of camera settings (for example, when NEF (RAW) bit depth is set to 12-bit, or when shooting in continuous low speed (CL) release mode with Custom Setting d2 set to 8 fps or lower.)

The download version of the revised firmware update is expected to be available in late April. For more information regarding this matter, please contact Nikon Customer Support.

Again, we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this issue may have caused. We hope that you will continue to choose Nikon for your photography needs.

Check out DPI for the full story. 

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