The Nikon Hackers team would like to announce the release of the first hack for the D5100 (also D3100 & D7000): Removing time limit restrictions on video recording.

The web-browser cross platform patch tool

To use:

Download the D5100/D3100/D7000 firmware Use Web Tool above Copy the resulting output to your SD card and remove the “.patched” extension Upgrade firmware from D5100 menu, as per the normal Nikon instructions

This should not brick your camera, but if it does I and the other Nikon Hacker team members will not have/take responsibility for any damages or liability. I have this firmware on my camera, and have taken a 25 minute video with it, but result may vary. Also damages that may occur due to camera operation times longer than specified by original manufacturer are your responsibility.

The Nikon Hacker forums is the place for discussing this patch, future patchs, or just to get involved.

We would like to invite any interested developers to help progress the firmware decoding process.

Soon we will be releasing the same patch for D3100 and D7000 camera’s but we have not tested these patches at all, so we are looking for VERY KEEN Alpha testers to try it out these changes. Contact me directly (simeon@simeonpilgrim.com) if you are interested and don’t mind possibly bricking your camera. If you don’t know what bricking means, don’t apply. All three tested and released.

[update] If you apply the patch please report results here or On this Nikon Hackers Forum post

[Update 31/3] v1.1 has been released with support for D3100 camera’s

[Update 2/4] v1.2 has been released with support for D7000 camera’s

Interested in more, come join the us at Nikon Hacker, or use the Online Patch Tool (Help)