How To Update Nikon Firmware for CF Express Cards In D5 D500 D850

How to update to Nikon’s latest firmware which supports CF Express memory cards for the Nikon D5, D500 and D850. This is great news for all Nikon shooters who own one of these DSLR’s.  Previous to this firmware update we were locked into XQD cards with read speeds of 440 Mb/s and write speeds of 400 Mb/s.  The new CF Express cards take that read speed up to 1700 Mb/s and write speeds up to 1500 Mb/s.

So What’s The Big Deal With CF Express?

With read and write speeds that are approximately 4X faster you should get two immediate benefits:

1/ Your camera can write images to the card much faster so the camera’s internal buffer can clear faster.  This translates to you not experiencing that reduction in frame rate as quickly during long bursts especially on your Nikon D850.  No big deal with my D5 because I can already shoot a burst of 200 shots without an issue even without CF Express.  I will be very curious to test what the results are in real world shooting.

2/ Transfer speeds from your card to your computer with a USB-C CF Express reader will be lightning fast.  Note this offload speed will be determined by how fast the drive you are copying to.  If you’re copying to an internal SSD drive or an external USB-C SSD drive that can support those speeds you will see a significant boost.

What Will I need To Buy To Support CF Express?

Before we jump into what the updates include and how to perform those updates you’re likely going to need to purchase a Type B CF Express Card and a CF Express card reader. There are many options from a variety of manufacturers so I’ll list the six CF Express cards you’re likely to see in the market and you can hunt for the best deal unless you are brand loyal.  You will also require a CF Express reader so I’ve included two options for you that support both the CF Express and SDXC cards in one reader.

CF Express Cards

• Sandisk 128GB Extreme PRO CFexpress Card Type B
• Sony 128GB CFexpress Type B TOUGH Memory Card
• Prograde Digital 128GB CFexpress 2.0 Gold Memory Card
• Lexar 128GB Professional CFexpress Type-B Memory Card
• Delkin 128GB CFexpress POWER Memory Card
• Wise Advanced 128GB CFX-B Series CFexpress Memory Card

 CF Express Readers (These two both have support for CF Express Type B and SDXC)

• Prograde Digital CFexpress Type B & UHS-II SDXC Dual-Slot USB 3.2 Gen 2 Card Reader
• Wise Advanced CFexpress / SDXC USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C Card Reader

Nikon D5 Firmware Update

Link to Nikon D5 firmware update version 1.40

What’s Included In The V1.40 Firmware Update?

• Added support for Type B CFexpress memory cards. For more information, see the Nikon support website for your country or region.
• Users can now choose the band (2.4 or 5 GHz) for the host SSID when connecting to wireless networks via a WT-6 or WT-5 wireless transmitter attached to the camera. The band is listed in Connection Wizard network-selection dialog and post-connection in the Network display.
•  Fixed an issue that prevented normal shutter release and caused an error to be displayed if all the following conditions were met during shooting in photo live view:
  • A Type E lens and a flash unit such as the SB-5000 were attached.
  • A shutter speed of 1/500 s or faster was selected with Auto FP High-Speed Sync enabled.
  • Single frame was selected for release mode, or  (Self-timer mode) was selected with the number of shots for Custom Setting c3 (Self-timer) set to 1.

How Do I Update The Nikon D5 Firmware?

1. Create a folder on the computer hard disk and name it as desired.
2. Download F-D5-V140W.exe to the folder created in Step 1.
3. Run F-D5-V140W.exe to extract the following file to a folder named “D5Update”:
   • D5__0140.bin (the camera firmware)
4. Using a card slot or card reader, copy “D5__0140.bin” to a memory card that has been formatted in the camera.
   Note: Be sure to copy the firmware to the root (top-most) directory of the memory card. The camera will not recognize the new firmware if it is placed in a folder under the root directory.
5. Insert the memory card into the Slot 1 on the camera and turn the camera on.
6. Select Network in the SETUP MENU and confirm that Disable is selected for Network connection.
7. Select Firmware version in the SETUP MENU and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the firmware update.
8. Once the update is complete, turn the camera off and remove the memory card.
9. Confirm that the firmware has been updated to the new version.

Nikon D850 Firmware Update

Link to Nikon D850 firmware update version 1.20

What’s Included In The V1.20 Firmware Update?

• Added supported for CFexpress cards (Type B). For more information, see the Nikon support website for your country or region.
• Changed the default for Custom Setting b6 Center-weighted area from ⌀8 mm to ⌀12 mm.
• Fixed the following issues:
  • When shooting with the lens aperture ring rotated to maximum aperture on a non-CPU lens for which lens data had been supplied via Non-CPU lens data in the SETUP MENU, the camera would sometimes fail to display the correct aperture value in the monitor or record it to the Exif aperture value field for photographs taken with On (Mode 2) selected for Silent live view photography in the PHOTO SHOOTING MENU.
  • When movie live view was output to an external recorder via HDMI, the R and L volume indicators in the camera monitor would show the reverse of the indicators for the HDMI device.
  • A portion of the display would dim during silent photography if all the following conditions were met:
    • On (Mode 1) selected for Silent live view photography in the PHOTO SHOOTING MENU
    • Continuous low speed (CL) selected for release mode
    • 2 fps selected for Custom Setting d1 CL mode shooting speed in the CUSTOM SETTING MENU.
  • When a VR lens was attached, the camera would stop responding if all the following conditions were met:
    • Photo live view enabled
    • Shutter speed set to 1.3 s or slower
    • On selected for Long exposure NR in the PHOTO SHOOTING MENU
    • On (series) or On (single photo) selected for HDR (high dynamic range) > HDR mode in the PHOTO SHOOTING MENU
    • ON selected with the lens VR switch

How Do I update the Nikon D850 Firmware?

Link To Nikon D500 firmware update version 1.30

What’s Included In The V1.30 Firmware Update?

• Added supported for CFexpress cards (Type B). For more information, see the Nikon support website for your country or region.
• Fixed an issue that caused both the Entire frame and Background only options for Custom Setting e3 Exposure comp. for flash in the CUSTOM SETTING MENU to produce the same results as Entire frame during flash photography.

How Do I update the Nikon D500 Firmware?

1. Create a folder on the computer hard disk and name it as desired.
2. Download F-D500-V130W.exe to the folder created in Step 1.
3. Run F-D500-V130W.exe to extract the following file to a folder named “D500Update”:
   • D500_0130.bin (the camera firmware)
4. Using a card slot or card reader, copy “D500_0130.bin” to a memory card that has been formatted in the camera.
   Note: Be sure to copy the firmware to the root (top-most) directory of the memory card. The camera will not recognize the new firmware if it is placed in a folder under the root directory.
5. Insert the memory card into the camera and turn the camera on.
6. Select Firmware version in the SETUP MENU and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the firmware update.
7. Once the update is complete, turn the camera off and remove the memory card.
8. Confirm that the firmware has been updated to the new version.