Today, we're going to update the firmware of a Nikon DSLR. For the purpose of this
tutorial, I'm using the Nikon D5100, but the procedure should be the same for any
Nikon DSLR camera. The firmware is simply built-in software that controls certain
features of the camera, so Nikon occasionally releases them to add new
enhancements, improve existing features, or to fix defects. Updating the firmware
always involves some risk, but I'll be following the precautions and guidelines
listed in Nikon's instructions. It's very important to start with a
fully charged lithium-ion battery since a power outage during the upgrade
process can render the camera inoperable. Alternatively, you can use an AC adapter
if you have one. I'll start off by inserting a memory card in the camera,
then turning it on. Please note that I will be formatting the memory card later
on, so make sure there's no critical data on the card; otherwise, you'll want to
save those files or photos elsewhere before proceeding. There's one other
thing to remember and that is: if you happen to have a camera with two memory
slots, you'll want to use the slot that's assigned as the primary slot. The first
thing I'll do is find out what my current firmware version is in order to
see if it actually needs to be upgraded. After pressing the Menu button, you'll
see the user interface for the D5100. Depending on your specific model, you may
or may not see the same style of menu. To find the firmware, I'll move the cursor
over to the left so i can navigate the icons, then I'll press the down arrow key
three times to the Setup menu. I'll then press right to enter the grid. Scroll
down to a line called Firmware Version, which happens to be the last selection
in this menu, then press the OK button. On this model, you'll see three entries: A, B,
and L. There are two parts to the firmware for the camera itself, labeled A
and B, while the lens has its own firmware labeled L. In this video, we're
going to focus on the camera body, so we'll look at the A and B portions of
the firmware. Other models may have just one letter for the camera, which
simplifies things a bit. For the D5100, label A deals with the operation of the
camera, while label B handles the image processing. As we'll see later on, some
updates will apply to both A and B at the same time, which is the case for the
update in this tutorial, while others may do one at a time - so it's very important
to follow the instructions for your particular camera concerning the
sequence, and I'll show you where Nikon places those instructions later in the
video. While we're in the Setup menus, let's go ahead and format the memory
card. I'll hit OK to go back to the grid, then press the down arrow to roll over
to the top line for formatting the memory card, and press OK. If you're fine
with deleting the data on the card, select Yes, then OK.
After the formatting is complete, you can turn off the camera, then remove the card.
Next, let's move over to the computer. This is a Windows 10 laptop, where I'll
launch my browser. Since I'm in the US, I'll enter
nikonusa.com in the address bar, but if you're located elsewhere, you'll want to
go to the Nikon site localized to your country. Here, you'll want to hover over
Support in the menu, then select Product Support.
After scrolling down, I'll hit the Download Manuals and Software button,
which takes me to their Download Center. In the search box, simply type in the
name of your camera model - in my case, it's D5100 - and it'll auto-return any
matching models directly below the text box. After clicking the result, then
hitting the Search button, you should see a page for the D5100 product, where you
can choose the middle button called Firmware.
Let me scroll down a little... As you can see, the latest firmware
available is 1.02 for label A and 1.01 for label B, released on this date. If you
recall, my camera showed 1.01 for both A and B. The instructions for applying the
firmware will be shown when you click on the View Download Page link, which states
that this software allows for a simultaneous update of both A and B
firmware to the latest version. When i apply this update, it'll increment my A
to 102 but keep my B at 101. After scrolling down a bit, you can read about
the changes that have been made in this update. It looks like they've fixed the
reporting of battery life for a very specific battery model. If you're not
affected by this fix - let's say you're not using this particular battery - then
you may want to skip this update because it won't do anything for you. If it ain't
broke, don't fix it. Otherwise, let's continue. The next section details how to
find your current firmware, which we've done already, and scrolling down even
more, you'll see instructions specific to your camera model. In fact, you may want
to review the step-by-step instructions for your operating system to confirm the
procedure that I take in this video. Returning to the instructions tab, we can
scroll down to the next section, which lists the system requirements for
Windows and Mac OS 10. Last but not least, once you've reviewed and agreed to
the license agreement, go ahead and click the check box to accept, then hit the big
Download button. After the file's been transferred, I'll
open its location, which happens to be in my Downloads folder.
Double-clicking the file will automatically create a folder called
D5100Update, in which you'll find a file with the extension of bin.
This is the firmware update file. What you'll want to do next is take the memory
card and insert it into the laptop. This launches another instance of File
Explorer. Drag the file over to the root directory of the memory card, as i show
here. Afterwards, I can right-click on the card labeled Nikon D5100, hit Eject,
and physically remove the card from the laptop.
Let's now insert the card into the camera, then turn it on. After pressing
the Menu button, I'll roll over to the bottom row of the Setup menu by pressing
Up, then click OK. Since you have the firmware on the memory card, it'll detect
that file and give you the option to Update. Select it, then press OK. It'll
show you the simultaneous updates of the A and B firmwares, though only A will be
incremented. If everything looks good, shift over to Yes, then press OK.
At this point, according to Nikon: do not remove the memory card, turn the camera
off, operate any of the camera controls, attach or remove lenses, unplug or
disconnect the AC adapter (if you're using one), remove the battery, or subject
the camera to powerful electromagnetic noise. Simply wait until it's done. This
could take some time, so I'll go make some chicken nuggets in the toaster oven, and I'll be right back.
OK, I'm back.
It took a little over two minutes to complete the update. It'll now ask you to turn the camera off, and then
to verify that the update actually took, I'll turn it back on again, then return
to the menu. Go back to the firmware screen, where you'll see the firmware
labeled A has indeed been updated to 1.02 while B remains 1.01.
To remove the firmware file from your memory card, you can simply reformat the
card again. Going back to to my laptop, we won't need
the downloaded files anymore, so i'll return to the Downloads folder, where
I'll select both the executable file and the extracted folder, right-click, and
delete them. With that, you're now all cleaned up and
ready to take photos with the latest software available for your camera. You
can follow the same procedure to upgrade the firmware for your lens, but if you'd
like a walkthrough video guide on that specific subject in the future, please let me know in the comments below.
i hope you enjoyed thanks for watching