Nikon firmware is decrypted, my tool inside

Vitaliy_Kiselev

I made simple working tool based on ideas of Simeon.

http://www.gh1-hack.info/ntool.zip

This is command line tool, and is used like

ntool.exe D5100_0101.bin (for extraction)

or

ntool.exe D5100_0101.bin -add (to add modified files)

Vitaliy_Kiselev

It also uses Fujitsu FR LSI that is good known by usage in Pentax and Samsung DSLRs.
See my previous project :-)

Looks like it is time to fix few bugs in FR CPU module and make it work on IDA Free.

alcomposer

So your thinking of adding Nikon to P-V?
Or does this help GH2 as well?

HHL

Hey Vitaliy! What does this mean about Nikon and your future work? :) Maybe....uh...um.... :)

bleach551

I just recently sold my hacked 2011 model GH1 for a Nikon D7000. I am amazed how much the footage from the d7000 looks likes the footage from the hacked GH1. If someone like Vitaliy could hack the Nikon d7000( which also uses I,P and B frames in its video similar to the GH2) that would be really great!

stonebat

Plan to hack Pentax K-5?

Vitaliy_Kiselev

I made simple working extractor based on ideas of Simeon.

http://www.gh1-hack.info/ntool.zip

alcomposer

Ok... Got it... mmm.... looks like Nikon wants extra units sold due to the VK hack! :-D

So D7000 reads UHS-1 cards... AND... has 2 card slots... all we need to know now is if its ture 8bit or 10bit colour and I am shotgunning the Nikon faster than you can say Nikon!

What Nikon would be your current hit list @VK?

Good thing I only buy Nikon glass... :D Go for it VITALIY!!!!

bumkicho

Vitaliy,

I just tried your tool on D7000 firmware, but now I have no clue what to do with two bin files and a res file. Maybe it is more than a person like me can handle :) I just hope this development can progress like GH2 hack did.

alcomposer

@bumkicho that tool is just the decryptor- those files then need to be feed into an IDE (that translates the machine code into lines of code dependent on the processor used) - correct me if I am wrong VK...

cowboycoffee

does this firmware hack get rid of the On Screen Display when using hdmi?

As a cinema guy, if i could lose all the extra info and just have a clean video signal, i could use an external digital video recorder to bypass the sd cards and lower-quality h.264 codec.

cowboycoffee

ooh, talking about the D7000, here. Thans for all the hard work, Vitaliy!

alcomposer

@cowboycoffee hold your horse's... this has ONLY just been decrypted- now comes the fun part for VK to work out exactly how everything 'likes' to work... (at least with the GH2 he had a 'bit' of an idea because of the GH1)

Then again, knowing VK- and the fact that he has been a little absent on PV lately - he is probably already adding patches for the D7000 for release in the next PTool. :-D

toenee

Does this mean we're going to need a new donation button for Nikon support? *wink wink* ;)

cowboycoffee

@alcomposer i understand. just throwing that out there.

This has to be one of the biggest needs of the pro community, though. Bypass h.264, using a clean hdmi signal to a Atomos or Ki Pro Mini, and you're saving many many filmmakers from having to bump up to a Red Scarlet.

It would change everything.

Seshan

OMG Finally! I'd love to see stuff for my D7000, I'd gladly donate when something final comes out :D

driftwood

Hmmm, another new interesting development. If Vitaliy's gonna spend time on it, I'll defo develop some patches. The D7000 looks excellent in low light already. :-)

bleach551

@Driftwood,

That would be really awesome!

filip

OMG!! dreamin of some added magic to the d7000. definitely would contribute some money to that. Even if it doesn't mean a new firmware tool for Nikon cameras, great job Vitaliy on the decrypt!

troyjason

I am in for a donation if we can get D7000 video quality increases - don't own the camera yet but I know the sensor is capable of incredible dynamic range and low light quality. It is a monster for stills and Nikon lenses with aperture rings are cheap.

Best of luck!

nikonsteve

Awesome! You guys rock, so I just donated and start dreaming about manual control in video mode for the D5100 maybe some day :)

cowboycoffee

yeah, pure awesome. i donated, too

LukeV

This news is the only reason to think about buying Nikon again. I love the lenses and use them on canons and on my GH2 but their lunch has been eaten by Canon for some years now. They,nikon would be smart to help VK but smarts aren't running the companies. But I'm hoping
thanks VK this is great news
A potential buyer of Nikon There is many of us.. is there anybody out there NIKON hello
LukeV

alcomposer

considering that the D7000 is UHS-1 compliant- this should mean that VK could leverage at least 50MB/s + out of this camera! Thats the same and higher than Scarlet X... looks like its going to be one hell of an A cam next to the GH2!!!! But remember that considering what Lenses you like to use, (and the mythical Samyang Cine Kit 2012) a Nikon mount is ONLY a Nikon Mount :-( While a m43 is ANYTHING... (unless you decide to carve off the front of your cam... it can be done!)

What a year 2012 is going to be!

Neogene

My only missing for d7000 is the lack of ability to change aperture during video recording :| why i can't focus at f1.4 to a close subject and then pass to f11 and have the perfect background in focus? If i can i will help developing plugins.

ThorRubin

Simeon has put up a donate page, saying he'll continue his firmware efforts, if he can raise 500$ for "Ida Pro" (whatever that is). :-)

sohus

I am a Nikon fan and would love to learn what the D7000 is capable off. I would buy one in a heartbeat.

John_Farragut

Mmm. If one could add setting aperture during recording and a slightly higher bitrate to the d5100, I might pick one up. I might even be interested in a Nikon J1 if it could do 24p, 25p in higher bitrate.

John_Farragut

I was already thinking about picking up a Nikon 35mm F1.8 for my GH2, so having choice in body is good.

Vitaliy_Kiselev

@ThorRubin

He don't need any $500. And I clearly told him this.
As Fijitsu FR processor module can be made to work with IDA Free.

ThorRubin

@Vitaliy
Oh, so there's a free version? Hmmm, sounds a bit 'worrying' that he wouldn't have checked that himself.
But thanks for the info Vitaliy. :-)

LPowell

@John_Farragut
My understanding is that the Nikons' inability to alter the aperture of the lens while in Live View mode is due to a hardware restriction imposed by the mirror lock-up mechanism. Like most DSLRs with built-in mirrors, Nikon's Live View mode was added as an electronic alternative to the optical viewfinder and the two systems are not seamlessly integrated together. Since the mirror must be locked up in Live View mode in order to shoot video, you cannot use viewfinder features while recording.

That limitation makes the D7000 quite awkward to use as a video camera. Since it lacks the D5100's articulating LCD screen, the only way you can monitor the D7000's screen is to position it a few inches in front of your face. When mounting the D7000 on a tripod, you really need to connect it to an external monitor.

The D7000 records in 1080p only at 24p, while the D5100 also records at 25p and 30p. However, I discovered that the D5100 will not output a video signal to a monitor while recording in 25p or 30p modes, only in 24p mode. So basically, if you use an external monitor with the D5100, it doesn't provide any more functionality than you get with the D7000. While the D7000 practically requires an external monitor, the D5100 works more flexibly without it.

Unfortunately, the D5100 has its own set of limitations. In addition to its semi-manual exposure control in video mode, the D5100 will not allow you to use the manual aperture ring on Nikon AF-D lenses. (However, the D7000 does work with aperture rings, so it's possible a firmware patch could enable the D5100 to do so as well.) As it lacks the D7000's internal focus motor, the D5100 cannot auto-focus AF-D lenses - it only auto-focuses with AF-S lenses. And since most AF-S lenses lack manual aperture rings, they can't be shared with the GH2. In practice, I just use my Nikon AF-D lenses in manual focus mode on both the GH2 and D5100. Vintage AI-S manual-focus lenses are not usable on the D5100 since its exposure meter will not work with them

Even if a hack cannot provide increased video bitrates, both D5100 and D7000 would benefit from having their mutually exclusive firmware features unlocked. The D7000 needs 25p and 30p video modes, and the D5100 needs to support aperture rings and manual exposure controls. It would also be useful to add the D7000's auto-focus fine-tuning adjustments to the D5100 - this would improve the accuracy of the viewfinder's Focus Confirmation feature.

bleach551

@John_Farragut,

@Lpowell

You can change the Aperture when using the D7000 , If you use Manual focusing lenses with manual apertures that have been entered into the one of the 9 data storage slots for "Non Cpu" lenses on the camera. And I believe as of firmware 1.02 you can even change the aperture with CPU autofocusing lenses as well.

Vitaliy_Kiselev

Some data about Nikon controller speed:

http://sportsphotoguy.com/nikon-d7000-raw-burst-test/

bleach551

@Vitaliy,

"The UHS-I (ultra-high speed) speed class allows for up to 104 MB/sec transfers, and the D7000 supports UHS-I cards."

This sounds good to me, But what does this mean for it Hack-ability?

LPowell

@bleach551
Yes, it's only the D5100 that lacks support for AI-S manual focus lenses. I'm hoping it may be possible to unlock this D7000 feature in the D5100 as well.

roos

Just for fun, i made a wish-list for what could be upgraded in the D7000 for serious still photography, no movie-, HDR nor other consumer stuff in this list.

https://docs.google.com/a/roos.tc/document/d/1aW7zk-s-Z7t0YY5UXCgyfTAt1g7GYdkVfZ2W9RuYsSE/edit?hl=en_US

bleach551

@Lpowell,

Sorry, I thought you were talking about the D7000, My Bad.

roos

LPowell: The D5100 (and similar) lacks the physical connection to read the aperture information from an ai(s) lens. In theory, this shouldnt make it impossible to make the camera measure the light and calculate the correct shutter speed in aperture prioroty. It might even be possible to have a full open aperture viewfinder when the mirror is down. However, flash calculation might be a problem and there will be no way of the camera to calculate and inform the shooter of the foreseen exposure time before stopping down.

I think the workflow could be something like this:
1. User sets the aperture on the aperture ring.
2. Camera keeps the aperture full open when turned on.
3. When the user half press the shutter release the camera release the aperture pin, making the lens and stop down to the chosen aperture. Camera also starts to meeter the light on the focusing screen.
4. Full press or full release of the shutter release goes back to normal camera behaviour.

LPowell

@roos
Thanks for the background info on D5100 exposure. However, it's not clear to me why the Nikons can't work the same way the GH2 works with manual lenses - i.e. treat the lens aperture as externally stopped down and adjust exposure accordingly. Of course, this works more intuitively when you have Live View displaying what-you-see-is-what-you-get exposure levels. On the D5100 (but not the D7000), Live View works this way in P, A, and S modes, but not in full Manual exposure mode. I get the impression that Nikon still has a viewfinder-centric approach to camera design, and has not completely digested the implications of full-time Live View mode to the degree that Panasonic has.

roos

There is actually no need for a new firmware to stop down at all during live view nor OVF viewving on the D5100, it only makes the viewfinder darker which makes it harder to frame and set the focus. The reason the GH2 does it stopped down all the time is propobly because they cant control the aperture at all with such lenses or it is a manufacturer decision to cripple the use of old lenses and boost the sales of new ones or they just didnt bother to implement open aperture viewing. The need for stopping down comes when starting the meetering system, that is usually then half pressing or hitting the ae/af-button.

Vitaliy_Kiselev

It looks like we badly need "Nikon fantasies" topic.

alcomposer

+1 VK!

bleach551

Forgive me for not Knowing this, but what is "Nikon Fantasies". I assume its a wishlist of desired hacked features for the Nikon DSLR cameras.

Vitaliy_Kiselev

@bleach551

Yep, exactly this. Bunch of unfounded fantasies :-)

bleach551

Well here goes,

The Features I would like are:

1) Higher bit rates other than the 20 to 28mbits it currently uses in "High" Quality mode( With preference for all "I" frames as in "Driftwoods" settings)

2) Live Histogram in "Live View" with a Plus/minus exposure bar, along with a Battery info indicator as in the GH1/GH2.

3) Customize "AE-L/AF-L" button for either a " User 3" button or to be used for an in-camera setting other than for Auto exposure or Auto focus.

4) Customize "Main Dial" for more in-camera functions.

5) to be able to incorporate "Active D-lighting" more in the video mode of the D7000 to improve dynamic range.

6) To remove, Like others have mentioned, the onscreen display info. for a clean HDMI signal out.

7) 2K record out and possible record.

LPowell

The D5100 works fine as-is, though any hacks that unlock buried D7000 features would be most welcome. However, in order for manual exposure settings to work properly on the D5100 in video mode, three different patches would be required:

1. Support for setting aperture manually with the lens aperture ring in M exposure mode.
2. Use of manual shutter speed setting in videos recorded in M exposure mode.
3. Display of actual exposure on the Live View screen in M exposure mode.

If manual video controls were patched in without also patching in proper Live View display of exposure in M mode, you would have no way of monitoring the effects of your exposure settings. This is what makes manual video controls worthwhile on the D7000.

dtrashr

Great work! Very excited to see what this may bring. The d7000 is a great camera with excellent low light performance, but could really use some hacking magic to improve it's video.

Improvements to the video quality, with options for all "I" frames etc. would be absolutely fantastic of course! If more frame rate options (25p, 30p or dare I dream of 60p) could be enables then that would be amazing.

The same would live histogram or zebra peaking during recording, since the d7000 has no way to accurately judge exposure in live view.

For photos, I would love to have more than todays limited three frame(-2 to +2 stop) bracketing.

LPowell

@dtrashr
On the D7000, you can accurately judge exposure levels on the Live View display in any of the P, A, S, or M exposure modes. On the D5100, you can judge exposure in P, A, or S modes, but not in M exposure mode.

Unfortunately, neither camera has histograms or zebras in Live View mode, nor do they support 60p recording in any resolution.

dtrashr

@LPowell: Not quite sure what you mean here, since there are no exposure indicators in live view on my d7000, only when using the viewfinder. If you mean that live view reflects exposure changes, then you are of course correct.

bleach551

@dtrashr,

I believe what Lpowell is saying is that with exposure on the D7000 and D5100 what you see in your lcd screen is what you get. I just wanted another way to check that what I am seeing is correct. Like the old Ronald Reagan slogan goes " Trust, but verify"

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