Saturday Speedlinks, 10-27-2007

One of the nice things about using light effectively is that it can save you money on your gear. You do not need expensive, cutting edge cameras to make high-quality photos. Ditto the idea of heavy, expensive, fast glass that is designed to look super sharp wide open. (I like to hang out at f/5.6-f/8. Just about any lens looks great there..)

That said, there's nothing more fun than unboxing a new camera or lens and taking it out for a spin. What many people do not know is that you can get the next best thing to a new camera for free by upgrading the firmware.

If you do not know how to do it, hit the jump for more info and links to the firmware download pages.

Your camera will tell you what firmware it is using, and then you simply go and check to make sure there is not a new version out. At The Sun, we'd pop those new 1's and 0's into our cameras just about as soon as the upgrades were posted on the Nikon site.

Upgrading is very easy if you follow the instructions. You use your memory card to transfer the software. Make sure you have a freshly charged batt installed. (Don't want that puppy going dead while installing new firmware...) Some firmware upgrades are minor bug fixes, while others will make you think you are shooting with a whole new body.

The Nikon and Canon firmware links are listed below. If you shoot with another brand and know where to get to the firmware upgrades for it, hit is in the comments and we will bump those up, too.

• Nikon firmware upgrades
• Canon firmware upgrades