It was promised at the back end of last year, but finally, the new firmware for the EOS 5D Mark II has arrived. Praise be, this makes the camera a real powerhouse in the world of film making.

The changes are thus:

Frame rates:

NTSC:
1920×1080 : 30 fps (changed - actual 29.97 fps)
1920×1080 : 24 fps (added - actual 23.976 fps)
640×480 : 30 fps (changed - actual 29.97 fps)
PAL:
1920×1080 : 25 fps (added - actual 25.0 fps)
1920×1080 : 24 fps (added - actual 23.976 fps)
640×480 : 25 fps (added - actual 25.0 fps)

- Adds a function for manually adjusting the sound recording level (64 levels).
- Adds a histogram display (brightness or RGB) for shooting movies in manual exposure.
- Adds shutter-priority AE mode (Tv) and aperture-priority AE (Av) mode to the exposure modes for shooting movies.
- Changes the audio sampling frequency from 44.1 KHz to 48 KHz.
- Fixes a phenomenon where communication between the camera and the attached lens is sometimes interrupted after manual sensor cleaning. (This phenomenon only affects units with Firmware Version 1.2.4.)

 Having had a play with the new firmware at Focus on Imaging last week, all I can say is that it's not come too soon! The audio features will solve the requirement for double system sound, and those that have invested in Zoom, Edirol or Tascam units or the like can now use them for ambient sound recording. It will also mean more sales of small shotgun mics like the Rode VideoMic or Sennheiser MKE400, as well as (for the more serious practitioner) Juicelink and Beachtek boxes that allow XLR inputs to be fed into the camera. 

With the 48KHz recording and maual gain control, you can now record all audio with the camera - a big advantage in time saving from having to syn audio later (although PluralEyes is a fantastic piece of software and still has a place in the workflow arsenal). 

If you've got an EOS 5D Mark II, then you should update your firmware even if you don't think you'll use the movie features. 

I can't wait to get to using it in the real world. In fact, I'm thinking that since I'm in Dublin, maybe I'll make use of my day off tomorrow to go take a look around the St PPatrick's Day parade. 

To download the firmware, go here.

Well, it was a busy day yesterday - Canon announced four new firmware updates:

Ver 1.2.4 for EOS 5D Mark II

Ver 1.3.0 for EOS-1D Mark III

Ver 1.2.0 for EOS-1Ds Mark III

Ver 2.0.0 for WFT-E2/E2A

Before you all get excited about the EOS 5D MArk II one though, it's not the promised one from last year to give new frame rates for video shooting. It's mainly to add compatibility with the updated WFT unit for the EOS 5D Mark II, the WFT-E4 II.

The firmwares for the two Mark III cameras are equally functional, adding compatibility with new WFT unit (WFT-E2 II). 

Even if the new wifi units are not of interest, you should update your firmware anyway. Especially since the EOS 5 D Mark II firmware also "corrects a phenomenon in which visible noise may appear in images taken with continuous Bulb shooting".

Before doing any firmware updates, make sure you have a fully charged battery for the camera and that while the firmware update is happening, you don't touch ANY buttons at all. 

To find the latest firmware for your camera, visit the Canon BeBit site. 

Well, the obvious one, the one we've talked about already, is the addition of full HD movie control! Having spent this morning playing a bit with it, I can safely say it works, and it works well!

If you want to get to the manual movie controls, here's the tip - don't spend ages looking through the menus to find where the setting is or how to enable it, just slip the mode dial into M and off you go. Not only will stills shooting be in manual, but movie exposure will be too. This presents another bonus too. Before, when shooting stills while shooting movies, you weren't quite sure what exposure the camera would use for the still image.  Now though, you're exposure is set in the manual mode so stills and movies will have the same exposure... while taking stills during movie shooting has not proved to be that popular, it's nice to know it's a little easier to make the two match now - perfect for when you want to put them together in a multimedia slideshow later.

v1.1.0 has incorporated some other changes as well, here's the list:

1. It disables the function of the depth of field preview button when you're playing images back or when the menu screen is displayed. This is actually a big change and not one I'd even realised I wanted! It has become a fact of life that I regularly knock the DOF preview button when review images or looking in the menu, thereby having to stop what I'm doing and find my way back there. Now though, it doesn't! 

2. Fixes a phenomenon where the peripheral illumination of images cannot be properly corrected, even if the images were captured with the lens peripheral illumination correction function set to Enable.

3. Fixes the algorithms of the Auto Lighting Optimizer function when Custom Function C.Fn II-3 Highlight tone priority is enabled.

4. (The fabled language update so often seen in firmware changes!) Fixes incorrect indications on the Arabic, Romanian, Spanish, and Ukrainian menu screens.

5. Changes the battery information displayed on the camera when using the optional Battery Grip BG-E6.

For those struggling to find the update link, enlightenment can be found here!