After testing Canon's newest professional SLR, professional sports photographer Brad Mangin offers praise for the camera's autofocus system that's as lavish as the scorn he heaped upon the model's predecessor.
Mangin tested the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV at a football game, and his overall assessment published on his blog doubtless was music to the ears of designers at the Japanese camera maker: "This camera performed flawlessly...Canon should be able to keep long-time (and heavily invested) users like me happy with the new Mark IV."
The Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
(Credit: Canon USA)Perhaps not so pleasant to hear was his excoriation of the earlier model. "To be brutally honest, I found the Canon EOS-1D Mark III to be a complete disaster. I consider it to be the biggest lemon professional 35mm camera in modern photographic history. I have a considerable investment in Canon cameras and lenses, and was reluctant to jump ship to Nikon," said Mangin, whose customers include Sports Illustrated. "With the Mark IV, it was do or die for Canon."
He shot with Canon's 400mm f2.8 lens, sometimes with a 1.4x teleconverter, in bright sunlight. "Using a Canon Mark III with a 400mm lens and a 1.4x converter in this exact same situation was not an option. The results were embarrassing and upsetting. However, the new Mark IV seemed to like working with the 400mm lens and 1.4x combination and delivered some very nice, tack-sharp images," Mangin said.
His assessment of the 1D Mark III jibes with that of Rob Galbraith, a photographer who extensively chronicled his gripes with the SLR's autofocus system in 2007. Mangin said two others photographing the game using the earlier EOS-1D Mark IIN were relieved that the Mark IV performed well.
Another photographer to get an early model of the 1D Mark IV to test is Jens Dresling, a Danish photojournalist. He also praised the autofocus, judging by a translation of his views that indicates the camera focused well both with wide-angle and telephoto lenses.
The $5,000 EOS-1D Mark IV is Canon's first full-on professional SLR that can shoot video, but it also shoots 10 still frames per second for conventional photography. The 16.1-megapixel sensor can shoot up to ISO 12,800 as a regular setting and up to 102,400 in its extended range setting.
Its sensor is an unusual intermediate "APS-H" size that measures 27.9 x 18.6mm. That's about halfway between the full-frame sensors of most high-end SLRs and the APS-C sensors on Canon's mainstream SLRs. Larger sensors are more expensive but enable better low-light performance and a wider dynamic range.
Raw photo files from Canon's new 1D Mark IV now can be seen in Mac OS X.
(Credit: Canon USA)Apple released one of its routine Mac OS X updates on Wednesday to let its computers handle raw images from a handful of new Nikon and Canon SLRs as well as from Canon's newer high-end PowerShot G11 compact camera.
The update lets Mac OS X 10.6 as well as Apple's iPhoto and Aperture software handle the raw image files taken directly from the camera's sensors without in-camera processing. Raw photo formats offer more quality and flexibility at the cost of convenience and file size.
The update supports Canon's new professional EOS-1D Mark IV and high-end EOS 7D SLRs. Among Nikons, the support ranges from the entry-level D3000, the higher-end D300S, and the professional D3S.
Windows relies on camera makers to supply software to decode the raw images. Adobe Systems and Apple write their own modules to decode the proprietary raw formats.
Updated 7:31 a.m. PST December 18 to clarify that the update expanded existing raw support.
After a plunge of about 3,000 feet during a parachuting trip, the Canon Rebel XT still worked, if not flawlessly.
(Credit: Calin Leucuta)Camera makers tout the ruggedness of their higher-end products, but apparently even an entry-level SLR can withstand a 3,000-foot drop under the right circumstances.
The camcorder didn't fare as well as the SLR.
(Credit: Calin Leucuta)So discovered Marius Ivascu, a parachuting instructor in Florida whose Canon Rebel XT detached from his helmet mount and took the fast way back to Earth on a skydiving trip. The camera mount detached when Ivascu deployed his parachute, recounted Calin Leucuta, a photographer and friend of Ivascu who earlier had sold him the camera.
After searching for less than a half hour after he landed, Ivascu found the camera and a video camera that had been mounted next to it.
"The video camera cracked open, dead, done deal. The Rebel took the fall a little better, just a crack in the left side of the plastic body," Leucuta said on his blog. "With a glimmer of hope, Marius presses the playback button: Quelle surprise! The camera turns on, displays the last image taken, like nothing happened."
... Read moreThe camera industry is in the throes of a digital photography revolution. But a new version of Nikon's 300mm telephoto lens announced this week, a $5,900 model intended for professionals, shows at least some parts of the photography market are constant even as the rest is overhauled.
Nikon's new 300mm f2.8 lens
(Credit: Nikon USA)Digital photography is profoundly different from the film era for many reasons. Here are some: new image sensors can enable photography in conditions too dark for film. The same camera can shoot video and still shots. Cameras can record not just when you took a photo, but where you took it. It's easy to publish photos globally on the Internet or to alter them significantly with software. And steadily increasing computing power lets cameras do everything from detect smiling faces to correct lens shortcomings.
And yet islands of stability remain. The high-end lens, with its complex optical engineering and premium pricing, is one of them.
Many SLR users don't venture beyond the kit lens that comes with their camera--an 18-55mm zoom that's reasonable for indoor shooting and basic tourist photography. Those who want to photograph the kids' soccer matches can step up with a telephoto zoom--usually one reaching to 200mm or 250mm and costing a few hundred dollars.
So why all the extra price for a bit more focal length to reach 300mm?
... Read more
Canon's new S90 high-end compact camera.
(Credit: CNET)Adobe Systems released beta software on Wednesday to support raw images from Canon's higher-end new compact cameras, the Powershot S90 and G11, Olympus' rival E-P2, Panasonic's FZ38, and a host of SLRs.
The software updates are betas of Lightroom 2.6, the Camera Raw 5.6 plug-in for Photoshop CS4, and the DNG Converter 5.6. All the software uses the same raw-image processing engine.
Raw images provide more flexibility and image quality but require more processing; typically only higher-end cameras support raw file formats. Most folks are happy with JPEG, but many photography enthusiasts prefer raw.
It's a hassle, though: Adobe and various competitors spend a lot of energy reverse-engineering each new camera's format before software such as Lightroom, Aperture, or Picasa can open and edit the photos.
Raw images are the norm for SLRs. The new beta software supports raw images from Canon's higher-end EOS 7D, and Nikon's new professional-grade D3s, the Pentax K-x, and Sony's A500, A550, and A850. Also on the list are medium-format models from Mamiya and Leaf. For a full list, check the blog post announcement from Lightroom Product Manager Tom Hogarty.
The new software also corrects an error in Lightroom 2.5 and Camera Raw 5.5 that could mar images from some Sony, Olympus, and Panasonic and from various medium format digital camera backs. The glitch only affected people with PowerPC-based Macs.
Update 8:02 p.m. PST: As Michael Reichman observed on the Luminous Landscape site, Canon's S90 is a member of a newer breed of camera that corrects lens distortion on its own, making parallel lines parallel again. Naturally, I was curious if Adobe's raw processing techniques did the same, because the distortion can be pretty severe, and fixing that manually is impossible in Lightroom and a hassle in Photoshop.
So I asked Adobe. The answer: yes.
"The S90 raw support in the release candidates (Camera Raw 5.6 and Lightroom 2.6) provides distortion correction that allows our raw processing results to match the optical characteristics of the JPEG output and what's viewed on the camera LCD," Hogarty said.
Canon has released new firmware for its EOS 7D camera that it says fixes a ghost-image problem in which faint traces of one image could show in the next.
Version 1.1.0 of the camera firmware "corrects a phenomenon that in images captured by continuous shooting, and under certain conditions, barely noticeable traces of the immediately preceding frame may be visible," Canon said of the update.
The ghost-image problem showed only in some circumstances when the camera was used in continuous-shooting mode and was more apparent when software was used to enhance the image.
The Canon 7D, which just arrived on the market, costs about $1,700 and can shoot 18-megapixel images at speeds of up to eight frames per second.
(Via Rob Galbraith)
Canon has warned that traces of one photograph taken with the company's new higher-end EOS 7D SLR can sometimes be seen in the next.
Canon's EOS 7D
(Credit: Canon USA)The good news: new software for the camera should be able to fix the problem at some point. "Canon is currently investigating and analyzing the cause of this phenomenon, and we are planning to release a firmware update to address this issue," the company said in a a service notice.
The problem occurs only when shooting continuously, Canon said: "In images captured by continuous shooting, and under certain conditions, barely noticeable traces of the immediately preceding frame may be visible. This phenomenon is not noticeable in an image with optimal exposure. The phenomenon may become more noticeable if a retouching process such as level compensation is applied to emphasize the image."
The Canon 7D, which just arrived on the market, costs about $1,700 and can shoot 18-megapixel images at speeds of up to eight frames per second.
(Via Cameratown)
It counts only as a footnote compared to today's announcement of the professional EOS 1D Mark IV camera, but Canon also had a nice nugget of news for those who've invested $2,700 for the 5D Mark II SLR.
Canon's EOS 5D Mark II
(Credit: Canon USA)Specifically, through a firmware update due to arrive in the first half of 2010, the SLR will be able to shoot 1920x1080 video not just at today's rate of 30 frames per second, but also at the 25fps rate used in European TV and the 23.976 fps rate used in cinematography, videography, and U.S. TV.
Lisette Ranga, program marketing specialist for Canon USA, confirmed the change Tuesday.
The 5D Mark II isn't a cheap camera, but it's an affordable option in some circles--documentaries being one example. "The Battle for Hearts and Minds," a documentary on Afghanistan by independent filmmaker Danfung Dennis, was shot with a Canon 5D Mark II. In some situations 30fps is fine, but a lot of the videography industry is built around a rate of 23.976 frames per second.
However, there's no word on whether the firmware update will also enable 60fps video at the lower 1280x720 resolution--a feat possible with the new EOS 7D, an 18-megapixel camera with a smaller sensor and lower price than the 5D Mark II.
The firmware update reflects how software updates available over the Internet can significantly change a camera after it's introduced, something that gives camera makers some new flexibility to fix cameras and adapt to customer desires. The 5D Mark II arrived in late 2008, but through a firmware update in January, Canon fixed a "black dot" problem that afflicted high-contrast areas of some images, and in June, Canon added manual controls for video.
Via Planet5D
(Credit:
Nikon USA)
Budget for a smaller turkey this Thanksgiving; you'll need to save your pennies if you want to upgrade to Nikon's latest pro dSLR when it ships at the end of November. With a few substantial changes that should appeal to nighttime shooters or the video-inclined pro, packed into the old D3 body, the slightly more expensive D3S seems like it'll be a decent successor.
Though it retains the same 12.1-megapixel resolution and 8.45-micron pixels of its predecessor, the D3S uses a new sensor. Combined with updated image-processing firmware, Nikon manages to eke out sensitivity of up to ISO 102,400 (Hi 3), for a whopping 10-stop sensitivity range. How much of that will be usable? Well, the D3's looked pretty good as high as ISO 12,800--formerly Hi 1 and the new top of the standard range--and given the tweaks it should at least gain another usable couple of stops, which is worthwhile in itself. I saw some prints from Hi 3 shots taken with a preproduction model, and they looked pretty serviceable for emergency shooting in the dark.
The other major enhancement is support for Nikon's 24fps, 720p video implementation, which allows for shooting with sensitivities up to ISO 6400, shutter and aperture adjustments in preview mode and selectable sound levels. Like most models it has a built in mono mic, though it has a minijack for stereo audio. Plus Nikon supplies some postprocessing for trimming video and extracting frames.
... Read moreOn Sale Now: $5,199.95
View the latest prices for Nikon D3S (body only)
Does the body color of a camera say anything about how it performs?
(Credit: Pentax)On September 16, Pentax launched the K-x, an entry-level-ish digital SLR that it's offering in navy, red, white, and black versions. While different body colors are not unusual for point-and-shoot digital cameras, offering more than a black dSLR is still rare. (In fact, just Pentax and Sony offer color options, currently.)
Unfortunately, after testing many snapshot cameras available in a single color as well as those offered in several colors, I've developed a working theory that the more colors a camera comes in, the more likely there's something wrong with the model.
It's not the case with all cameras, but more often than not that's how things shake out. It's especially true if its available in more than four options and if the company has gone with two-word color names like flaming red or warm silver.
Want examples? Check out the Nikon Coolpix S220, the Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS, and the Casio Exilim EX-S5. The Nikon and Canon come in six different colors, the Casio in five. And all three of them have issues with performance, photo quality, or both. (Though, if forced to go with one, the SD1200 has the fewest issues.)
All of these are lower-end models, too, which brings me to my next point: expensive point-and-shoot cameras come in three colors or fewer, and usually only in one: black. Serious photographers only buy black cameras, right?
Which brings me back to the Pentax K-x. The camera colors are definitely refreshing and will likely get people questioning you on the street. They also make the K-x more approachable for those switching from a pocket camera, which fits its entry-level status. But would you take someone seriously if they were shooting with a bright red digital SLR? I'm leaning toward "no." Much like laptops, colorful cameras are great until you want to be taken seriously.
