Judging by VK's comments, it seems there is very little we can realistically expect at this moment. I guess the first question should be if Vitaliy foresees this development going anywhere or not.
I think he just doesn't want to have anyone waiting thinking that he owes them anything. That would be my assumption. Have you thought about hacking it Vitaliy or are you busy with the other hacks?
If you ever get the time to look into it, I'm sure a lot of Nikon users would be happy to donate for the needed hardware etc. Me included. But I understand that you are super busy now.
I might just start such a project to create a hacked firmware. Its a long time since i did assembler, but machine code is always machine code and it cant be that much more complicated than coding compilers. A lot of new stuff to learn ofcourse and a lot to relearn too, but this could actually be a such a project that could revitalize my interest in coding.
Getting the checksums and encryption right to actually enable a modified firmware to be accepted by the camera would be the hard part for me. My skills are old and modern encryption is young in comparison. Tracing the code to figure out what it does and modify it to do slightly different things on the other hand would be much more in line with my former line of work.
I agree that discovering the checksum CRC algorithm is the next important thing. Simeon did a little test on his blog where he changed a single text character, and the the update failed so the checksum is clearly used during firmware updates.
D7000 firmware parts use the xmodem algorithm and that the archive doesnt need a checksum at all. After that, changing the words, applying the checksum and crypto before loading it into the camera was pretty straight forward.
D7000 A and B files use xmodem type CRC16, big endian encoding on the whole file except the checksum itself. The bundled file doesn’t need to be signed, the camera loads it fine anyway. We didn’t do much testing on the D5100 or the D3s files, however we couldn’t make it work with the same algorithm. Just confirmed that the B firmware for the D7000 is using the big endian CRC16, but seems the FR CPU is big endian, that implies they copied the little endian code. A firmware checksums all workout fine using the above mentioned method, but the B’s don’t… the plot thickens… You’re also correct, it does not work for the D3100 or D5100.
Hi! you to a great and importent Job on catching this high Potential, esp. for the GH2! (Love this possibilties and your Work)
I think the D5100 (i own) has the best APS-C Sensor on the Market. But poorly horrable limitations in the Video Mode!
- ISO in Video is not adjustable(!) ..many here don't notice! - Shutter Speed in Video is not adjustable. (- and the Aperture in Livew. not changing until Livew. off/on) - more Bitrate would always be fine..
I would give a big donate if you can do something on this. Best Regarts and good luck
@Mika23 Since it lacks a Live View histogram, I think the Nikon D5100 actually works best in Auto-ISO mode when shooting video. However, it is possible to preset the camera's aperture and shutter speed. Here's a link to a detailed description of the technique I use:
Wow. Respect LPowell. YOU got the point exactly. Very nice to see that People are thinking and spending time much about Nikon D5100 Video Mode, i didn't know that. (I was very frustrated until today) Thaught that only possibility improving Nikon Video is ..to wait and buy next Models in coming years. :-(
Yes! Better Results with CPowell's Help in Auto ISO (max. is 200) Aperture Mode works now manually. I was reading once the Shutter Speed will not go under 1/30 anyway, iso setting that will be overwrighted!?
I still think D5100 (& D7000..) and GH2 (and GH3..!) have THE Potential / the BEST compromises on market to do what everybody wants, pointed to the Hardware. (and i don't like canon).
My wishes: Any 60p Mode (720p ok..), kind of metering, bitrate / codec improvements and a quicker Access to the manual Funktions. Thank you all