Posts tagged digital cameras

New Canon Stuff

Yeah, this is a late posting. Was busy yesterday with an AsukaBook production plus and bunch of other things.
Of the recent releases from Canon, two are the most interesting; the 7D and the new 100mm macro lens. They still don’t have a Panansonic TZ-7 equivalent so I’ll still be picking that up in October. The EOS-7D adds two important elements, a better AF system and a built-in master flash commander (ala Nikon). The 60FPS 720P video also rocks. I’ll probably get the 7D as a second body in Feb, once my 40D reaches it’s 3-year cycle. I’ve got other photo things to get first which are more important. Not sure how the image quality will stack up with such a dense sensor.

I’m loving the smooth images that have a 3D-feel and the depth that my 5D Mark II produces… I might get a second body as well! However, my biggest want is a better flash than the 580EX II.

For previews of the 7D, you can drop by one of these sites:

DPReview

Rob Galbraith

Imaging Resource

Digital Camera Info

Small camera conundrum

The digital camera industry today is churning out point & shoot cameras like no tomorrow. There are new models released by major manufacturers almost every six months. The real deal is that I find them so boring. Tweak here, tweak there. Raise the megapixel count or put in this silly feature. Nothing really appeals to me despite that I’ve been looking for a small camera since Chinese new Year this year. That means in the last six months, I’ve not found something that I really like.

What could I want in a small camera? My DSLRs churn out amazing image quality and superb full HD movies. Actually, I want a camera I can carry with me 24×7. So what’s the current toss-up? Canon’s SX200IS and Panasonic’s TZ7 (ZS3). At this time, the TZ7 is a strong contender and I’m about 90% sure of getting it. Until of course recently, Panasonic just unveiled a bunch of new compacts. The FX60 looks strong as well. Since Canon usually releases around the third week of August and that’s not very far away, I’ll give myself another month before I jump into the fray 🙂

Panasonic’s excellent TZ7

DCIM 2009

Wanted to post this earlier but time did not permit. Anyways, when we went on a Saturday, traffic to mid-valley mall was clear despite the heavy rain and there was ample parking. Touted as the Malaysia equivalent of Photokina or Photo Marketing Association (PMA) show, DCIM or Digital Camera, Imaging and Media show was a let-down. Some people wondered why Sony was absent. I don’t consider Sony a digital camera player still (sorry, my bias!) despite them buying Konica-Minolta. Most of the display consisted of everyday products like memory cards, light boxes, printers and all that. One part of the area just had prints from magazine contests and a few other local photographers. They didn’t even have prints from Malaysia’s most awarded photographer! Anyways, even the Canon or Nikon booth was just a glorified display area with cameras for everyone to play with. No 500D or 270EX flash, nothing new like radio poppers or the new pocket wizard. The only thing there was a lot of were underweight, leggy women. Yup, the whole show seemed to revolve around the models. There was a model search and every day, a model parade will be held and more. People seemed to be coming for that, all equipped with ladders and all. All very ho-hum for me. I think they should have called in the Digital Camera and Model show.

Oh, well, just have three photos to share. So disappointing generally that my Mark II stayed in my Think Tank most of the time.

5D Mark II in the house!

Fully pumped up (and out due to having a bad night yesterday and catching very little sleep) about the shoot tomorrow! Yes!! Looks like I need to figure out the video mode in a jiffy… 8Gb Sandisk Extreme IV cards standing by!

EOS 5D Mark II in HK now!

Time to head over to have a lip-smacking dim-sum breakfast, pick-up a new camera body and settle-in a roast goose dinner before the flight home? Crazy? Ambitious? I don’t know yet as Canon Malaysia hasn’t announced anything about availability here. Echo Photo & Audio has a nice price… let’s hope Canon Malaysia doesn’t disappoint otherwise, it’ll be another Canon gastronomical adventure in HK. In case you didn’t know, I got my EOS-40D in HK last year. The 5D Mark II sells at HK$19,500… it’s about RM9,000. A full RM4,000 less than what the 5D launched at three years back!

Thanks Roland for the head’s up!

Full resolution 5D Mark II videos

Canon has made available three full resolution (1080p) video files available for download. The video was shot by Vincent Laforet. Go over here to drop Canon a comment that we also need 24 and 25 fps instead of just the 30fps. I’m drooling all over my keyboard! These video files are huge. So far, no stutter or dropped frames. I’m playing them on a Quad-core CPU machine with 4Gb RAM.


© Laforet Visuals Inc – blog.vincentlaforet.com