Nikon D3 firmware short-lived

Most of the time it makes sense to update electronics immediately. For owners of the Nikon D3 digital camera, however, this week wasn't one of those times. On Tuesday, Nikon released a firmware update for that 12.1 megapixel protog bytecam, which sells for just shy of $5,000. By Thursday, the software had already created a buzz because curious hackers had scrutinized the code and discovered hints that the next generation D3-- the D3x--would be a 24.4 megapixel powerhouse. Nikonophiles barely had time to digest that news before the camera maker recalled the firmware. In the "Answers" section at the company's support Web site, an item was posted today with the subject line "IMPORTANT-Termination of D3 Firmware Ver. 1.10 Download." In that item, Nikon noted that when certain settings were applied with the updated firmware "image data may, in some rare cases, be corrupted." Those settings are as follows:

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

"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," Nikon cautioned.

"If you have already updated the D3 firmware," it continued, "please do not shoot with the combination of settings indicated above. This issue does not occur with other combinations of camera settings."

The company said that a new firmware version would be available later this month to correct the bugs in this week's firmware update.