I took a few minutes today to update my D800e body with the new Nikon firmware released this week.

To be honest, I haven’t fallen in love with this camera yet, so I hoped that the tweaks Nikon made would help me better appreciate this body. I know it has a huge following and many wonderful features, but so far for my needs it hasn’t quite hit the mark. I didn’t purchase it for its speed, but I’d expected it to be just a little more functional for birding and other moving subjects.

Gurus on some of the Nikon forums have said they’ve found vast improvements in autofocus and tracking with the update, so I took the camera out for a brief spin this afternoon while I waited for Cam’s school bus.

Peppermint was my model, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the focus tracking has indeed been improved. It was much more accurate in tracking Peppermint as she bounded around the yard, and when she stopped to shake off the leaves and twigs caught in her coat, the camera caught her eye in lovely focus.

When I first pulled up the image on my computer, though, I was dismayed to see a lot of floating debris and dust particles in the photo, thinking my sensor was dirty again. But then I realized that it was all of the stuff she’d shaken off. Yikes! I had no idea how much dirt she picked up while out in the woods. And this camera has no problem with fine details!

Tonight I’m going to take the camera to Cam’s soccer practice where they have a scrimmage with a rival team. The lighting will be a challenge as we have overcast skies, but I’ll be curious to see what I can catch. Perhaps after viewing the photos I’ll have to throw Cam and Peppermint in the bathtub when we get home!