New Sinar Hy6 Firmware

[thsinar]

FYI:

Sinar is pleased to announce that a new firmware version 2.10 is now available for the Sinar Hy6.

Registered users can download the Sinar Hy6 firmware from the Sinar website free of charge:
(www.sinarcameras.com <http://www.sinarcameras.com/>: Downloads / Software).

With firmware version 2.10 some new features are introduced and several bugs of earlier versions are fixed. The most important improvements are the following:

- The auto focus process has been improved

- A new option "Capture Delay" allows defining a minimum delay time between two shots

- The camera release is disabled when an SCA flash reports not to be ready

- The current lens type is now displayed in the "Firmware Info"

- On the camera display, if necessary, different texts inform about the reason why the camera is waiting

- Various error displays and image abort conditions have been added

Please note: to perform the firmware update an USB cable (Type A/mini-AB) is currently required.
It is planned, later on, to perform the update through the firewire cable of the attached Sinarback.

The Sinar Hy6 Firmware Updater is available for Apple Macintosh computers and for Windows-based PC
(Windows XP).

More detailed information about all the improvements included in firmware version 2.10 can be found in the enclosed ReadMe file.


Best regards,
Thierry

 

[David K]

Thanks for posting this Thierry... good to see that Sinar continues to work on firmware updates. I'll download and install it later today.

 

[PSon]

Thanks Thierry for the information!

Welcome back David great to see you!

Best Regards,
Son

 

[Stuart Richardson]

Thanks for the update Thierry! I will download it next time I have a chance. Nice to hear about the AF and the lens information data in particular....

 

[BradleyGibson]

Hi, Thierry,

Thank you, as always, for the information! FYI, everyone, I've upgraded to 2.10 and no issues to report so far. I haven't had time to do a comprehensive test, but the AF accuracy does seem to be improved. This is welcome news!

Thierry, can I take this opportunity to make a few feature requests in the firmware? I've ranked these from most important to least important, to help any idle engineers you have prioritize...

1. The existing AF drive/inhibit button is great, but not in the best location. This is the button immediately above the AF S/C/M/* switch. My left hand is usually too far forward balancing the camera body and lens to press this button. Could AF drive/inhibit be an additional option for Softkey B5? This would be a huge help--it would allow the AF control to be under my right thumb, while my right finger controlled the shutter.

2. It would be nice to have selectable AF-S or AF-C whenever AF is moved to the secondary AF drive/inhibit button.

3. I was on location shooting in the mountains for 2 days when one of my last two batteries ran out of juice. Because one is required for the camera, and another for the back, I was out of business. The camera battery happened to be relatively fresh. It would be nice to be able to shoot from just a single battery (like the Leaf AFi can), because in situations like this, I'd accept a short battery life running both camera and back from a single battery over nothing, like I had, in a heartbeat. I did miss some nice shots. (And yes, I've since bought even more batteries! )

4. For some reason, the lens aperture doesn't seem to be properly recorded. As an example, in the metadata window of eXposure, an image shot at at f/2.8 with an AF Tele-Xenar 180 shows "Aperture 215". That's odd. And Lightroom reads the resulting .DNG as f/212. Shutter speeds, ISO, etc. are all fine.

5. Color temperature - I would love to see Sinar use the Hy6 camera's built in color temperature sensor information for better Auto White Balance.

6. Lens name metadata - Camera knows, for example, "AF 180 2.8" and even the lens firmware version, while eXposure indicates "Lens name: not available".

Thanks again, Thierry. I hope to have a few Hy6 pictures from my recent Iceland trip to share soon.

Take care,
Brad

 

[thsinar]

hi Brad,

Thanks a lot for this short feedback and glad that all seems to be fine so far.

As for your suggestions, they are very welcome and I shall of course forward them.

A couple of remarks/answers:

- Batteries: the camera does need less power than the back, thus one can still continue to use a battery which indicates "empty" in the back with the camera and instead using the camera battery for the back (inverse the 2).

- 180 AF Lens and Aperture indication: this seems to be lens related, rather than camera. May be it needs an "upgrade", but not sure.

Thanks again and best regards,
Thierry

Hi, Thierry,

Thank you, as always, for the information! FYI, everyone, I've upgraded to 2.10 and no issues to report so far. I haven't had time to do a comprehensive test, but the AF accuracy does seem to be improved. This is welcome news!

Thierry, can I take this opportunity to make a few feature requests in the firmware? I've ranked these from most important to least important, to help any idle engineers you have prioritize...

1. The existing AF drive/inhibit button is great, but not in the best location. This is the button immediately above the AF S/C/M/* switch. My left hand is usually too far forward balancing the camera body and lens to press this button. Could AF drive/inhibit be an additional option for Softkey B5? This would be a huge help--it would allow the AF control to be under my right thumb, while my right finger controlled the shutter.

2. It would be nice to have selectable AF-S or AF-C whenever AF is moved to the secondary AF drive/inhibit button.

3. I was on location shooting in the mountains for 2 days when one of my last two batteries ran out of juice. Because one is required for the camera, and another for the back, I was out of business. The camera battery happened to be relatively fresh. It would be nice to be able to shoot from just a single battery (like the Leaf AFi can), because in situations like this, I'd accept a short battery life running both camera and back from a single battery over nothing, like I had, in a heartbeat. I did miss some nice shots. (And yes, I've since bought even more batteries! )

4. For some reason, the lens aperture doesn't seem to be properly recorded. As an example, in the metadata window of eXposure, an image shot at at f/2.8 with an AF Tele-Xenar 180 shows "Aperture 215". That's odd. And Lightroom reads the resulting .DNG as f/212. Shutter speeds, ISO, etc. are all fine.

5. Color temperature - I would love to see Sinar use the Hy6 camera's built in color temperature sensor information for better Auto White Balance.

6. Lens name metadata - Camera knows, for example, "AF 180 2.8" and even the lens firmware version, while eXposure indicates "Lens name: not available".

Thanks again, Thierry. I hope to have a few Hy6 pictures from my recent Iceland trip to share soon.

Take care,
Brad

 

[Stuart Richardson]

Thierry -- do you know if the firmware update improve accuracy and speed with the regular AF lenses as well as the AFD lenses?

Thanks,
Stuart


Bradley -- looking forward to seeing your Iceland shots. How did you like it? I am just waiting for my work visa in the mail so that I can finally move there. Surely I will get it just in time for there to be no light anymore...

 

[thsinar]

hi Stuart,

Yes, this FW does "affect" both lenses, AF and AFD.

Best regards,
Thierry

Thierry -- do you know if the firmware update improve accuracy and speed with the regular AF lenses as well as the AFD lenses?

Thanks,
Stuart


Bradley -- looking forward to seeing your Iceland shots. How did you like it? I am just waiting for my work visa in the mail so that I can finally move there. Surely I will get it just in time for there to be no light anymore...

 

[Stuart Richardson]

Thanks Thierry,
It's nice to see everyone at Sinar is on top of these things. Might I add as well, that the Hy6 continues to be superb. I am still trying to get the hang of the whole workflow and I have been extremely busy with other things, so I do not have many examples to post. But in terms of just using it for less serious tasks to get a hang of it, it really is superb. Every time I pick it up, the ergonomics and responsiveness impress me again.

 

[David K]

Downloaded and installed the firmware update without a hitch but haven't had a chance to test it yet. With regard to White Balance, as mentioned above by Brad, I've always been partial to a Kelvin setting. If it's not a big deal perhaps that could find it's way to a wish list.

 

[BradleyGibson]

That's a great tip, Thierry, about swapping the batteries, thanks.

Actually I did try that with all the batteries I had but my guess is it was just too cold. (I was at altitude on the mountain.)

Only the one battery had enough juice to power anything, and I just couldn't swap it back and forth fast enough to keep both the camera and back running!

Thanks,
Brad

 

[BradleyGibson]

Thierry -- do you know if the firmware update improve accuracy and speed with the regular AF lenses as well as the AFD lenses?

Thanks,
Stuart


Bradley -- looking forward to seeing your Iceland shots. How did you like it? I am just waiting for my work visa in the mail so that I can finally move there. Surely I will get it just in time for there to be no light anymore...

Are you kidding me--moving there would be absolutely awesome!!

I think the winters must be pretty long (here in Seattle we get a taste of the darkness in winter with it being pitch black by 5pm, but in the dead of winter in Iceland the sun comes up at 11:30am and goes down by 3:30pm--ouch!)

But the light and the landscapes there are spectacular. You'll have the longest "golden hour" you've ever experienced! The long summer days kept me up way past my bedtime--there was just so much to see.

I saw such amazing light that I was dumbfounded for a few days on how to capture it--and I've been shooting for 15 years, most of it on slide--but after I figured out how to see "Icelandic Light", I got a few pictures that I'm just thrilled with.

People were superb--loved their quirky senses of humor; they don't tend to smile as readily as one would expect until you say 'hi' to them and and then they're as friendly as can be. Must be that Viking heritage that keeps 'em looking fierce...

What will you be doing there, if you don't mind my asking?

Take care,
Brad

 

[Stuart Richardson]

Hi Brad,
I have spent about six months living there, about half of that in the winter, so I am reasonably prepared for that bit -- my favorite part was the winter storm with the 135mph winds (up in Akranes, it was only around 80mph in Reykjavik). And to be honest, there is not much in the way of outdoor photography possible in the deep winter unless you are doing auroras or night photography. What little light there is is generally behind mountains, and then, only if it is not cloudy, which it is about 70% of the time.
This sort of thing is the best you can hope for:

That was taken at around 1 or 2 pm in late January, so a month after the shortest day...

As to what I am doing? Being crazy (according to most people I know). I went there a few years ago and completely fell in love with the place and decided I wanted to live there. I found a commercial photographer there who agreed to employ me as an assistant a couple times a week, and I am friends with an advertising executive there who also agreed to help me find work. The owner of the local photo gallery liked my stuff, and has some on display. I figured I would try to find a job with Iceland Review or the Grapevine and just generally see what kind of photographic or English writing work until my Icelandic gets better. The populace is generally extremely helpful once you are somewhat established there, and people will go out of their way to help you. I already have a few jobs lined up. I did get my work permit and visa granted though, so I have pretty much free reign to work for anyone, though it did take me awhile. I applied on February 9th and just got the confirmation on August 9th. I still don't have the actual document in my hands...

 

[Stuart Richardson]

Or this one, which was into 50mph winds. They actually blew over my Rollei 6008AF and the 180/2.8 AF! That's a heavy heavy camera and lens as you may know. Luckily, I had a metal hood on it, and despite going headfirst into Icelandic gravel, it was none the worse for wear.
This was with an Xpan though...

Anyway, sorry to hijack the thread Thierry!

 

[thsinar]

No, don't be sorry: continue posting such wonderful landscapes.

Best regards,
Thierry

Anyway, sorry to hijack the thread Thierry!