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I use Nikon D3100 and its image quality was okay and sharp enough. Recently I updated its firmware from 1.00 to 1.01 for the Nikon support page claimed this :

When Noise reduction in the shooting menu is set to On, operation is as follows.

Processing to reduce noise is performed at all ISO sensitivity settings. Noise reduction is especially effective with shooting at high ISO sensitivities.

However, after the update, the overall quality and sharpness of the images being taken has reduced. I would like to know what went wrong and if its reversible, how do I go back to my previous firmware of 1.00.

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    \$\begingroup\$ It would be interesting to see before and after images compared. \$\endgroup\$
    – Olin Lathrop
    Commented Jun 10, 2013 at 14:54
  • \$\begingroup\$ It looks like the text for the original 1.00 firmware was instead: "If Off is selected, noise reduction will only be performed at high ISO sensitivities; the amount of noise reduction is less than that performed when On is selected." \$\endgroup\$
    – mattdm
    Commented Jun 11, 2013 at 0:18

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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There are a few things I would try first:

  • If you normally shoot at low ISO, the camera is probably using more noise reduction than it was before. See if there is an option to turn off in-camera NR at lower ISO settings.
  • Normally when updated firmware is installed, all of the camera settings reset to the default values. You may have had in-camera sharpening turned up higher than the default setting. Try adjusting the sharpening setting and see if that helps.
  • If you are not doing so already, start saving your images as RAW files. This will allow you to non-destructively change the sharpening and noise reduction settings in post processing.

I've never updated firmware on a Nikon, so I'm not sure if you can roll back the firmware by reinstalling ver.1.00 over ver.1.01. If you have a copy of ver.1.00 it is worth a try. Some devices will allow you to install an older version, some will not.

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