Piggybacking on DPReview.com, Canon has finally realized that for the 5D II to become a dominant camera in the emerging video DSLR field, they need to give the user total control over the audio levels that it records, and also a histogram for video recording so that you can tell how good/poor your exposure really is.

It’s amusing that initially, Canon’s reaction to user criticism of the video implementation was one of shock; essentially they said that it wasn’t a video camera, but they they pushed Vincent Laforet’s Reverie movie at the same time.

But now that indie movie producers are jumping on the 5D II and 7D, and 1D IV bandwagons, Canon wants to stay ahead of the Nikon D300s, D3s, and the inevitable D700s.

Look for the firmware in a couple weeks…I’ll link to it when it appears.

Tags: EOS 5D Mark II, equipment
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Ultra-compact new camera with interchangeable lenses, APS-size sensor and AVCHD | image from dpreview.com

On Sunday, DPReview.com syndicated Sony’s announcement at PMA of a new line of mirror-less, interchangeable-lens compact cameras using a proprietary lens mount.  But who cares?

Camera Design of the Future?

For owners of 35mm SLR cameras, the idea of owning a camera that does not allow you to see through the lens–directly through the optics–seems strange.  It seems a throwback to the days of the rangefinder.  Of course, if that was truly the case that no one would want it, then why would Leica, let alone is M9 35mm digital rangefinder, still exist?

The answer, to put it succinctly, is that these smaller cameras with their smaller, but quite fine lenses, bring the fun back into photography.

And with no mirror in the way (electronic viewfinders are getting astonishingly good, and you can have a live preview of what the histogram will be at your given exposure), the lenses can be reduced in size dramatically.  Ever wonder why a 35mm Leica lens looks so different from one from Canon?  Single-lens-reflect requires a retrofocus design to compensate for the distance between the end of the lens and the film plane.  While this is over-simplified, the shorter that distance between film plane and lens, the smaller (and lighter!) the lens can be.

They're doing their part... | Panasonic Lumix G1 and 45-200mm f/4-5.6 lens @ 45mm; exposed 1/60 sec. @ f/4, ISO 400.

For over a year now I’ve been working with a Panasonic Lumix G1–you can see all the photos I’ve posted with it–and along with its standard lens, a telephoto zoom, and an Olympus pancake lens that I’ve borrowed on occasion, it has enabled me to make pictures that I wouldn’t otherwise have because I don’t always want to schlep along my 5D Mk. II and 24-70 f/2.8L lens.

The G1 and its 14-45mm lens weigh in at one pound, six ounces.  The 5D and 24-70 weigh four pounds, five ounces.  Is the quality the same?  Of course not. But I wouldn’t have had the images without the lighter camera, because I don’t want to have bad knees and shoulders because of camera gear.  A bird in the hand…

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: equipment, Lumix G1, Sony
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While I had every intention of sitting in on the judging of the Natural History singles, stories, and Global Vision Award judging today at Pictures of the Year, I couldn’t make it after all. That said, the second place winner is particualrly effective in my opinion: a series of portraits of endangered species from the United States.  It’s worth a look, especially to other nature photographers cum story-tellers.

Tags: contests, Pictures of the Year International
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This past Friday I was recording an interview using my Olympus recorder and a borrowed set of Sennheiser G2 wireless lavalier microphones, and the whole time, despite having the levels set well on my Oly recorder, I thought that there was some distortion to the audio.  Well, lo and behold, there was a reason for that: the Sennheiser’s sensitivity was set way too high.  Did I check this first?  No.  Did I think to stop the interview and re-check the settings on the wireless mic?  No.  Was that a mistake?  Yes.

I would have been much, much happier if its sensitivity had been dialed back to -30 dB, as seen on the left.  What happens if you don’t is that talking in anything but a  low voice/volume leads to the mic clipping the audio considerably.

And one of the problems with the Sennheiser design is that the microphone bodypack has a “peak” light to let you know that there is just too much sound for it to handle, but the receiving end, which plugs into the recorder, has no such light.  Does it have a level?  Sure, but the screen is small and is only illuminated when you’re manipulating the menu.

The take-away is that you have got to be careful whenever introducing a relatively unfamiliar bit of equipment into your work-flow.  When you aren’t so careful, the results can be pretty bad.  Not salvageable, but not the world’s greatest, either.

Tags: audio
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Michael Reichmann of the Luminous Landscape just posed a review of working with a pre-production Canon 7D with beta firmware on his Web site.  Definitely worth a look for anyone interested in the new camera body.

Tags: Canon
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Rear view of the Canon 7D announced today. Image from DPReview.com.

Announced today was a new camera to the Canon lineup that will fit between the xxD series, such as the 40D and 50D, and the 5D II: the 7D.  Read the announcement and preview at DPReview. It appears to be a D300S killer, and it’s refreshing to see Canon being agressive rather than lazily updating the xxD line (again).  Sporting an 18 megapixel sensor and two CPUs, it captures images at 8FPS and, supposedly, will have great autofocus.  Of course, the 1D Mark III was supposed to have great autofocus, too, so I’m sure the jury will be out on this one for a while.  But this does seem to be an answer to the problem of wanting an “action” (sports or wildlife) camera without having the bulk of a 1D series body.  I’m very excited by the idea of this new body, I just hope that the execution meets my very, very high expectations.  After the debacle with the 1D Mark III, anything like this that has a processor dedicated to autofocus should do the job damn well, because this camera might be testing the waters for a new 1D Mark IV coming down the pipeline.  So if the autofocus on this camera sucks, it will be a bad omen for the Mark IV.

Speculation aside, this body seems to have some of the refinements that the 5D Mark II should have, such as the dedicated dial to switch between standard Live View and Movie mode.  And I love the idea of having built-in wireless flash control.  If it could do it without use of the popup flash, like the Nikon CLS system, then it will be even better (not sure of the details).  Will this be the answer to the D300S?  I sure hope so, because the proposition to switching to Nikon is just too expensive for me!

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