An Open Letter To Canon Asking For Professionalism

Yes, this is directed to Canon, but if you are a Pro or using Pro level gear from other manufacturers, feel free to change the name and model numbers because it applies to you too.

Dear Canon,

Why do you insist on treating those people who spend the money on your Professional or near-Professional equipment with such disgusting disrespect?

I am a Canon Professional Services member.  I own a 1D Mk IV (expensive), a 1Dx (expensive) and a C300 EF (even more expensive).  If I want wireless connectivity, I can spend $849 retail for a chip in a hunk of plastic to do slow WiFi for file transfer.  If I had gone to a 5D Mark III, I would get the privilege of paying over $1,100 for WiFi connectivity.

Considering that your entry line of point and shoot cameras as well as multiple of your non-Professional grade cameras have built-in WiFi, how can you even consider justifying the Highway Robbery of the prices charged for WiFi for your Professional level gear.  Don't tell me it's about the quality.  Your expensive products perform no more better than the Bob's Wifi I can buy for $24.99 for the laptop at the local computer store.  In fact they have lower performance and poorer user interface.

It's thievery pure and simple.  You charge Pros more for less because some turd in Marketing decided that the market would bear it.  Find that idiot and fire him or her or the entire committee that made this stupid decision.  Immediately drop the price of wireless to under $100 and do your highest paying clients a service instead of a disservice.

We use your pro level gear.  We spend more on a single lens than your average customer spends on three cameras.  We upgrade more often and your reputation gets enhanced because of the quality and commitment we put into our work.  Please stop screwing us on the accessory front.

You don't need to prove you can treat pro level users as badly as Nikon does.  They charge $899 for the WiFi adapter for the D4.  They also charge $70 for the same capability adapter for their consumer lineup.  Just because one major Japanese manufacturer screws their customers doesn't mean you have to as well.

I challenge Canon to DO THE RIGHT THING.  I have no optimism that you will, but I'm throwing the challenge in front of you regardless.  I DARE YOU TO RESPOND.

Sincerely,

Ross Chevalier

The Photo Video Guy

Q & A : Lens Size and Image Circle

To submit a question to The Photo Video Guy Q & A send an email to ross@thephotovideoguy.ca Another query from Darren;

"On a full frame camera the image circle has to be large enough to encompass the full size of the image sensor.  My question is: On a full frame mirrorless camera can the size of the lens be smaller?  On a DSLR camera the lens has allow for the mirror. On a mirror less camera the lens does not have to allow for the mirror.  Does this mean a lens like the 70-200 f2.8 can be made smaller for a mirrorless camera??"

The answer to this question is a qualified "yes".

The size of the image circle is an exercise in optical physics.  The arrangement of lens elements in a lens is designed to accomplish the goals of the lens designer, one of which is to define the placement of the image circle to the focal plane.  It's a common understanding that the size of the lens dictates the size of the image circle.

This is not necessarily so.  The size of the lens is also impacted by the distance the lens to the focal plane.  For example. the lenses on my Hasselblad have to create a larger image circle than the lens for the Canon full frame.  The Lenses are physically larger.  Back when I was shooting medium format film, the lenses for my Mamiya RX67 were much larger than for the Hasselblad 500CM.  Both arrangements had to deal with allocating enough space for a mirror.

However, on the Sinar which is a large format camera where the lens board is connected to the focal plane by a bellows, the lenses are actually quite small.

Thus one can conclude that lens size is only partially related to image circle size but also must take into account the distance from the rear element of the lens to the focal plan.

In looking at mirror less camera / lens combinations, we find that most mirror less lenses are physically smaller than their counterparts for APS-C and Full Frame.  This can be attributed to the lack of requiring space for a mirror, a considerably narrower camera body and the requirement for a much smaller image circle.

Creating a larger image circle where the lens mount distance doesn't change and the amount the rear element can enter the camera body is not limited by the presence of a mirror requires that the work must be done optically.  While this could mean elements larger in diameter, it could also mean elements with more radical curvature, the use of more dispersion managing elements and the use of more aspherical correction in the elements.  Lens speed in terms of maximum aperture is also going to be a big factor in physical lens size.  Building that 70-200/2.8 for the full frame mirror less could result in a physically smaller lens, but it may not.  That decision is going to be up to the lens designer.

My guess is that they will work towards smaller and lighter at the cost of maximum aperture.  In the case of full frame mirror less the aperture is a direct comparator when it comes to depth of field whereas f/2.8 on a full frame has less depth of field than f/2.8 on a micro four-thirds built lens when images are compared.

So the answer is a qualified "yes" but only the lens designer will have the final word.

First Look : Nikon AW1

The first run of Nikon's 1 series cameras has been a questionable success. The J1, in local experience, had a huge number of returns related to customer satisfaction. I liked the V1 although I called it the 688 given its resemblance to a Los Angeles class submarine. The J2 lasted about a week. The J3 doesn't seem a lot different from its predecessors and the V2 is, well it has a face only its mother could love. When I heard about the AW1, a waterproof 1 series camera, I first had to cry because the "credible" writer indicated it was the first underwater camera with interchangeable lenses. This is of course a complete load of poo given that Nikon themselves brought the world the Nikonos line of very serious and very credible underwater cameras and lenses.

I was more intrigued because of the possibility of a compact system camera with very good glass, a much better than PS sensor and hardened system. As readers know, I work part time at a camera store and we have the AW1 in stock. It was a bit slow today and I had some short time to play with the AW1.

The Good

This feels serious. Construction is very solid. There is plenty of metal involved. The O Ring system that makes a seal for the lens when mounted is simple and yet very innovative as it doesn't preclude using other 1 mount lenses on the AW1, but does add the ability to use the waterproof 11mm-27.5mm lens that comes with the body. Everything is solid.

The shutter button is clean and actuates smoothly without any rocking. Same is true for the video start / stop button. The rockers on the back of the camera have similar feel and the rear LCD is bright and easy to read. The seals for the battery / memory card area look robust and the locking mechanism is both effective and easy to use.

Despite the CX sensor being the smallest of the Compact System Camera sensors, it still produces very good images.  I confess that I shot it as the buyer would out of the box, default of JPEG medium and that is never anything to write home about, but easily as good an image as one would get from an M43 sensor.

There is a simple yet effective finger grip ridge on the front and a slightly tacky thumb pad on the back.  Surprisingly there is a built-in popup flash and the spring deployment is quite aggressive so it should still deploy effectively underwater.

The zoom ring on the 11-27.5 lens is pleasantly stiff.  It's not screaming fast, at f/3.5-f/5.6 but with a top ISO of 6400 should be more than suitable for the use cases.  For those who think in full frame focal lengths, as I do, the lens is like a 30mm to 75mm.  Decent but not really compelling.  I suspect that the limited range is due to the constraints of making the thing waterproof.

That the little AW1 can shoot 15 fps with autofocus for each shot is very impressive.  The AF is blazing fast and the multiple focus points are very usable.  You can actually get up to 60 fps if you let it lock focus and just fire away.

As one would expect, the camera shoots HD video at up to 1080i.  Video is decent, like any camera of similar sensor size.

Battery has a CIPA rating of 220 frames which is quite good considering the small size of the Li-On battery.

Given the camera's use cases, I will forego my typical bitching about the lack of a proper viewfinder.  It gets the job done.

The AW1 comes in white, black and silver.  None of which is particularly useful if the thing gets away from you in the lake or the ocean but pleasant enough out of the water.  The web site does show some fluorescent orange gel type cover.  You don't need it but it would be a good idea if you were going to dive with this thing regularly.  And by dive I mean no more than 50 feet, which in most cases is not going to be a problem.

The Not So Hot

Nikon is not a software company.  I and many others find their menu layout to be designed with the apparent intent of unintelligibility.  The AW1 is nowhere near as horrible as the Android powered point and shoot, but it could be so much better.  Too much time wasted on graphics could be better spent getting to the point.  It's a small camera, so the buttons are small.

I am not a diver, but would be inclined to use the camera in cold and wet weather and I'm not sure that I could manipulate the buttons with gloves on.  I also believe I would inadvertently move the rocker while wearing gloves.

The flash is going to be of limited value underwater.  A guide number of 5 isn't going to drive much light at all.  Certainly no worse than any of the underwater point and shoots, but no better either.

It would have been nice if the zoom range was a bit greater.  The underwater PS market is typically 4x or 5x optical zoom, this lens is less than 3x.  Not a lot of versatility.

While the autofocus is blazingly fast, I did find that when face tracking engaged it slowed down a fair bit.

While I like that the camera has built-in GPS, the fact that you have to go off-board to get WiFi is just plain goofy.  Having to use the DSLR designed WU-1b WiFi adapter takes goofy to the level of stupid.

Why Go This Route

My Canon 1Dx is a professional grade camera.  I shoot it in crappy conditions.  But if I want to make GPS encodings on the images, I need to buy an insanely expensive add-on that gets in the way.  If I want WiFi transfer, same deal.  Stupidly high price for a nothing piece of kit.  I would consider putting one of these things in the bag and grabbing the first shot at a location with it for the GPS and also for quick updates for field level work.  The lens is Nikon, so sharp and with great contrast and the little beast is surprisingly tough.  It actually feels like Canon's EOS-M in construction quality but with autofocus that doesn't suck.

I haven't yet gone the route of a compact system camera.  Technically, the Leicas are mirror less cameras but I don't think of them the same way I might think of a Sony NEX or Lumix.  I like the GX-7 and the Olympus OM-D EM-5 very much, but not so much that I would drop coin on either of them.  I do think that the AW1 is overpriced in its space, but it will likely drop in price as Nikon gets the market sizing right.  This is a very spiky vertical marketplace.  At $799 it's a tough sell.  If they could get it to $499 it would slay the other vendors by adding use cases beyond the "smaller lighter interchangeable lens" banner.

The three sample shots here are literally fully auto JPEGs right out of the camera.  Had I more time, or better mentally engaged, I would have switched over to RAW or at least JPEG Fine.  Given ISO selections between 800 and 1250 by the camera, noise is well handled and contrast is ok.  I did NO processing on these shots at all, and am confident that working in RAW I could get significantly better colour and contrast even at higher ISOs.

Thanks to Henry's of Newmarket for letting me use the camera for this First Look

Specifications courtesy of Nikon

 

Type

• Type

  Advanced Camera with Interchangeable Lenses

• Lens Mount

  Nikon 1/Nikon Waterproof 1 Mount

 

Image Sensor

• Picture Angle

  Approx. 2.7x lens focal length (Nikon CX format)

• Effective Pixels

  14.2 million

• Sensor Size

  13.2mm

   x 8.8mm

• Image Sensor Format

  CX

• Image Sensor Type

  CMOS

• Total Pixels

  15.13 million

• Dust-reduction system

  Dust Shield

• Image Area (pixels)

  Normal Panorama, horizontal pan (40:7 aspect ratio) 4,800 x 920

  Normal Panorama - vertical pan (8:25 aspect ratio) 1,536 x 4,800

  Wide Panorama - horizontal pan (80:7 aspect ratio) 9,600 x 920

  Wide Panorama - vertical pan (4:25 aspect ratio) 1,536 x 9,600

  Still Images (3:2 aspect ratio) 4,608 x 3,072 3,456 x 2,304 2,304 x 1,536

  Still images (taken during movie recording; aspect ratio 3:2) 4,608 x 3,072 (1080/60i, 1080/30p) 1,280 x 856 (720/60p, 720/30p)

  Motion Snapshot (16:9 aspect ratio) 4,608 x 2,592

 

File System

• File Format

  Compressed 12-bit NEF (RAW) JPEG: JPEG-Baseline compliant with fine (approx 1:4), normal (approx 1:8), or basic (approx 1:16) compression NEF (RAW) + JPEG: Single photograph recorded in both NEF (RAW) and JPEG formats

• Storage Media

  SD SDHC SDXC

• Card Slot

  1 Secure Digital (SD)

• File System

  Compliant with DCF (Design Rule for Camera File System) 2.0 DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) EXIF 2.3 (Exchangeable Image File Format for Digital Still Cameras) PictBridge

 

Viewfinder

• Viewfinder

  LCD

 

Lens

• Lens Aperture

  electronically controlled

 

Shutter

• Shutter Type

  Electronic Shutter

• Fastest Shutter Speed

  1/16,000 sec.

• Slowest Shutter Speed

  30 sec.

• Flash Sync Speed

  Up to 1/60 sec.

• Bulb Shutter Setting

  Yes

• Shutter Release Modes

  Single-frame [S] mode Continuous Self-timer mode

• Frame Advance Rate

  Approx. 5, 15, 30, or 60 fps

• Top Continuous Shooting Speed at full resolution

  15 frames per second

  with AF; 30/60 fps with focus locked on first frame

• Self-timer

  2, 5, 10 sec. Timer duration electronically controlled

• Remote Control Modes

  WU-1b Wireless Mobile Adapter

 

Exposure

• Exposure Metering System

  TTL metering using image sensor

• Metering Method

  Matrix Center-weighted: Meters 4.5 mm circle in center of frame Spot: Meters 2 mm circle centered on select focus area

• Exposure Modes

  Programmed Auto with flexible Program (P) Shutter-Priority Auto (S) Aperture-Priority Auto (A) Manual (M) Scene Auto Selector

• Scene Modes

  Portrait Landscape Night Landscape Night Portrait Close-up Auto Underwater

• Shooting Modes

  Advanced movie mode (includes slow motion) Auto Photo mode Best Moment Capture mode (includes Slow View and Smart Photo Selector) Creative mode (including: P, S, A, M, Night Landscape, Underwater, Night Portrait, Backlighting, Soft, Easy Panorama, Miniature Effect, and Selective Color) Motion Snapshot (16:9)

• Exposure Compensation

  ±3 EV in increments of 1/3EV

• Exposure Lock

  Luminosity locked at detected value with AE-L/AF-L button

 

Sensitivity

• ISO Sensitivity

  160-

  6400

• Active D-Lighting

  On Off

 

Autofocus

• Picture Control

  Standard Neutral Vivid Monochrome Portrait Landscape Selected Picture Control can be modified User-customizable Settings

• Autofocus System

  Hybrid autofocus (phase detection/contrast-detect AF) AF-assist illuminator

• AF-area mode

  Single-point AF: 135 focus areas; the center 73 areas support phase-detection AF Auto-area AF: 41 focus areas Subject tracking Face-priority AF

• Focus Lock

  Focus can be locked by pressing shutter-release button halfway (single AF)

• Focus Modes

  Auto (AF) Auto AF-S/AF-C selection (AF-A) Single-Servo AF (AF-S) Continuous-Servo (AF-C) Full-time Servo (AF-F) Manual Focus (MF)

 

Flash

• Built-in Flash

  Yes

• Guide Number

  5/16 (m/ft ISO 100, 20°C/68°F) Approx.

• Flash Control

  i-TTL flash control using image sensor available

• Flash Mode

  Fill-flash Fill-flash with slow sync Red-eye reduction Red-eye reduction with slow sync Rear curtain sync Rear curtain with slow sync Off

• Flash Compensation

  -3 to +1 EV in increments of 1/3 EV

• Flash-ready indicator

  Lights when built-in flash unit is fully charged

 

White Balance

• White Balance

  Auto Incandescent Fluorescent Direct Sunlight Flash Cloudy Shade Preset Manual Underwater All except preset manual with fine tuning

 

Movie

• Movie Metering

  TTL exposure metering using main image sensor

• Movie Metering Method

  Matrix Center-weighted: Meters 4.5 mm circle in center of frame Spot: Meters 2 mm circle centered on select focus area

• Movie File Format

  MOV

• Movie Video Compression

  H.264/MPEG-4 Advanced Video Coding

• Movie Audio recording format

  AAC

• Movie Audio recording device

  Built-in stereo microphone; sensitivity adjustable

• Movie

  HD: 1920 x 1080/60i HD: 1920 x 1080/30p HD: 1280 x 720/60p HD: 1280 x 720/30p Slow-motion: 640 x 240/400fps Slow-motion: 320 x 120/1200fps Motion Snapshot: 1920 x 1080/60p (plays at 24p) Audio file format: ACC Movie file format: MOV

 

Monitor

• Monitor Size

  3.0 in. diagonal

• Monitor Resolution

  921,000 Dots

• Monitor Type

  TFT-LCD with brightness adjustment

 

Interface

• Interface

  USB: Hi-speed USB HDMI output: Type C mini-pin HDMI connector

• GPS

  Yes (Built-in)

 

Menus

• Supported Languages

  Arabic Bengali Chinese (Simplified and Traditional) Czech Danish Dutch English Finnish French German Greek Hindi Hungarian Indonesian Italian Japanese Korean Norwegian Persian Polish Portuguese (European and Brazilian) Romanian Russian Spanish Swedish Tamil Thai Turkish Ukrainian Vietnamese

• Date, Time and Daylight Savings Time Settings

  Yes

• World Time Setting

  Yes

 

Power

• Battery / Batteries

  EN-EL20 Lithium-ion Battery

• Battery Life (shots per charge)

  220 shots (CIPA)

• AC Adapter

  EH-5b AC Adapter Requires EP-5C Power Supply Connector

 

Miscellaneous

• Tripod Socket

  1/4 in.

• Approx. Dimensions (Width x Height x Depth)

  4.5 in.

   (113.5 mm)

   x 2.9 in.

   (71.5 mm)

   x 1.5 in.

   (37 mm)

  Excluding projections.

• Approx. Weight

  11.1 oz.

   (313 g)

  camera body only

• Operating Environment

  14 to 104°F (-10 to 40°C) on land; 32 to 104°F (0 to 40°C) in water Less than 85% humidity (no condensation)

Canon Moves the C100 Ahead

We've recently seen the release of the Canon 70D DSLR with Canon's new Dual-Pixel AF that dramatically improves the experience of autofocus while capturing video.  What some people don't know is that only the C100 in Canon's Cinema line does autofocus, the higher end C300 and C500 do not. Today, Canon announced that a service upgrade to the C100 will be available in February 2014.  Owners will send their camera to a Canon Service Center and for $500, the sensor will be replaced with the new Dual-Pixel AF sensor.

Continuous AF is supported with Canon lenses and this upgrade will effectively double the AF performance in the C100.

It's a very nice announcement to see.  A C100 sells new for about $5,700 body only.   The upgrade brings a great camera to the latest in autofocus technology for less than 10% of the purchase prices and prolongs the useful life of the investment already made.  Kudos to Canon for not only supporting new customers but also for providing investment protection to existing customers.  I hope we see similar service centre upgrades from Canon on other products.

First Look - Panasonic Lumix GX-7

The GX-7 is the latest in the Lumix family of M4/3 interchangeable lens mirror less cameras, or as I prefer to refer to them, "cameras".  Seriously, we can stop the whole mirror less vs DSLR crap ok?

Quickly, it is a 16MP micro four thirds architecture using the standard M43 mount for lenses.  The LCD is 3" and has 1040K dots for great viewing.  Of course it does video, I'm pretty sure that if you buy a hamster today it does 1080p video.  The camera is WiFi capable and also supports NFC with capable devices.  The body comes in either black or silver.  Panasonic makes a big deal of the Venus processing engine that has superior noise management for improved low light shots.  In my own AUTO ISO test, ISO floats to 3200 still produced really nice images.

The GX-7 is like many other cameras of the type.  It's compact, takes great lenses and is really targeted at the more serious photographer.  That's not to say you cannot shoot the camera in P all the time, but you don't have to.  Moreover the choices are not cluttered with a bunch of "picture styles".   Relax there are photo styles, but not in the way.  I shot the camera predominantly in Aperture preferred, using AUTO ISO as well as specific settings for ISO.  I used a number of different lenses on the camera including the Olympus 17/2.8, the Sigma 30/2.8, the Sigma 60/2.8, the Olympus 9-18 and the Olympus 14-150/4.5-5.6.  I had some extra time at the store where I work part time so did my first look there.

The camera uses SD cards and is powered by a Lithium ion battery.  While there were Lumix lenses in the store, I just don't care for the Lumix power zoom or the 14-42.

In addition to a very bright and sharp rear LCD that tilts up and down, there is an EVF to the left rear that also tilts.  The EVF has a diopter adjustment hidden on the bottom to adjust for your own eyesight.  The EVF display is awesome with 2764K dot equivalency.  It's bright and easy on the eyes, plus the eye detection system works fast and accurately.

Light in the store was, well it was crappy, so the available shutter speeds even at high ISO were relatively slow.  I was very impressed by the in body stabilization because I typically cannot handhold a 300mm equivalent at 1/60s.  Images on the screen were sharp and easy to check.  Uploaded to Lightroom 5.2 the RAWs were read without problem and all the EXIF data came across.  There are no lens profile corrections at this moment for the combinations I used, but in general the lenses I tried were very good.  Colour balance was excellent even when switching lens brands.  Autofocus is super fast.  I was using my store test card, a 4GB Transcend piece of crap, and writing speed for RAW+JPEG was pretty slow.  I do not blame the camera, I blame the junk card.  When I get a long form test unit, I will use a proper card.

There is a built in transformer like articulating flash, but what is better and far more useful is the fully functional hot shoe.  You can use Lumix TTL flashes of course, but I would be more inclined to use a Pocket Wizard to fire real strobes.  The camera's small size makes it very fast to shoot.

The downside for me is that I have larger hands and while the body is very positively grippable, I found I was hitting the buttons and rocker with the base of my thumb when using the camera one handed.  The LCD is a touch screen and because I shoot left eyed, I not only got nose prints on the LCD, I also managed to activate the touch screen.  Not optimal.  Since this was a first look, I did not read the documentation to see if the sensitivity is adjustable.

I love the image quality, think that the camera is extremely usable and the EVF is brilliant.  I look forward to a longer term test but as it sits, after 20 minutes, I put the camera away and won't miss it.  The right side strap lug could not be in a worse place.  It interferes with the grip, it presses into your hand, and it makes using the camera awkward.  Seriously if this were my camera, I would find a way to remove the lug entirely and use a Black Rapid or Cotton Carrier strap screwed into the tripod socket.  It's such a good little camera that the discomfort of the stupid lug annoys me even to write about it.

If you have smaller hands, or less meaty hands and want a really superlative small, fast camera that has access to the pantheon of M4/3 lenses, take a look at the Lumix GX-7.  I think you'll be impressed.

The sample images contained here are the original RAW files, imported to Lightroom and exported as 80% JPEGs, 72 DPI, sharpened for screen.  No colour, WB or any other processing was done.  You can see that the camera produces really nice images, no muss, no fuss.

Full specifications courtesy Panasonic

DMC-GX7

TYPE	Type				Digital Single Lens Mirrorless camera
	Recording Media				SD Memory Card, SDHC Memory Card, SDXC Memory Card (Compatible with UHS-I standard SDHC / SDXC Memory Cards)
	Image Sensor Size				17.3 x 13.0 mm (in 4:3 aspect ratio)
	Lens Mount				Micro Four Thirds mount
IMAGE SENSOR	Type				Live MOS Sensor
	Total Pixels				16.84 Megapixels
	Camera Effective Pixels				16.00 Megapixels
	Color Filter				Primary color filter
	Dust Reduction System				Supersonic wave filter
IMAGE STABILIZATION SYSTEM	Image Stabilization System				Image Sensor Shift Type
RECORDING SYSTEM	Recording File Format				Still Image: JPEG (DCF, Exif 2.3), RAW MPO (When attaching 3D lens in Micro Four Thirds System standard) Motion Image: AVCHD (Audio format: Dolby Digital 2ch) / MP4 (Audio format AAC 2ch)
	Aspect Ratio				4:3, 3:2, 16:9, 1:1
	Image Quality				RAW, RAW+Fine, RAW+Standard, Fine, Standard MPO+Fine, MPO+Standard (When attaching 3D lens in Micro Four Thirds System standard)
	Color Space				sRGB, Adobe RGB
	File Size (Pixels)	Still Image			[4:3] 4,592 x 3,448 (L), 3,232 x 2,424 (M), 2,272 x 1,704 (S), 1,824 x 1,368 (When attaching 3D lens in Micro Four Thirds System standard) [3:2] 4,592 x 3,064 (L), 3,232 x 2,160 (M), 2,272 x 1,520 (S), 1,824 x 1,216 (When attaching 3D lens in Micro Four Thirds System standard) [16:9] 4,592 x 2,584 (L), 3,232 x 1,824(M), 1,920 x 1,080 (S), 1,824 x 1,024 (When attaching 3D lens in Micro Four Thirds System standard) [1:1] 3,424 x 3,424 (L), 2,416 x 2,416 (M), 1,712 x 1,712 (S), 1,712 x 1,712 (When attaching 3D lens in Micro Four Thirds System standard)
		Motion Image*	MP4	NTSC Area	[Full HD] 1,920 x 1,080, 60fps (sensor output is 60p, 28Mbps) [Full HD] 1,920 x 1,080, 30fps (sensor output is 30p, 20Mbps) [HD] 1,280 x 720, 30fps (sensor output is 30p, 10Mbps) [VGA] 640 x 480, 30fps (sensor output is 30p, 4Mbps)
				PAL Area	[Full HD] 1,920 x 1,080, 50fps (sensor output is 50p, 28Mbps) [Full HD] 1,920 x 1,080, 25fps (sensor output is 25p, 20Mbps) [HD] 1,280 x 720, 25fps (sensor output is 25p, 10Mbps) [VGA] 640 x 480, 25fps (sensor output is 25p, 4Mbps)
			AVCHD Progressive	NTSC Area	[Full HD] 1,920 x 1,080, 60fps (sensor output is 60p, 28 Mbps)
				PAL Area	[Full HD] 1,920 x 1,080, 50fps (sensor output is 50p, 28 Mbps)
			AVCHD	NTSC Area	[Full HD] 1,920 x 1,080, 60i (sensor output is 60p, 17Mbps) [Full HD] 1,920 x 1,080, 60i (sensor output is 30p, 24Mbps) [Full HD] 1,920 x 1,080, 24p (sensor output is 24p, 24Mbps) [HD] 1,280 x 720, 60p (sensor output is 60p, 17Mbps)
				PAL Area	[Full HD] 1,920 x 1,080, 50i (sensor output is 50p, 17Mbps) [Full HD] 1,920 x 1,080, 50i (sensor output is 25p, 24Mbps) [Full HD] 1,920 x 1,080, 24p (sensor output is 24p, 24Mbps) [HD] 1,280 x 720, 50p (sensor output is 50p, 17Mbps)
	Continuous Recordable Time (Motion Image)*				AVCHD: Approx. 140 min with H-FS1442A / Approx. 130 min with H-H020A
	Actual Recordable Time (Motion Image)*				AVCHD: Approx. 70 min with H-FS1442A / Approx. 65 min with H-H020A
	Flicker Reduction				[1/50] [1/60] [1/100] [1/120] / OFF
Wi-Fi FUNCTION	Wi-Fi				IEEE 802.11b/g/n, 2412 MHz - 2462 MHz (11 ch), Wi-Fi / WPA / WPA2, Infrastructure mode
	NFC				ISO/IEC 18092, NFC-F (Passive Mode)
VIEWFINDER	Type				LCD Live View Finder (2,764,800 dots equivalent)
	Tilting				Yes
	Field of View				Approx. 100%
	Magnification				Approx. 1.39x / 0.7x (35 mm camera equivalent) with 50 mm lens at infinity; -1.0 m-1
	Eye Point				Approx. 17.5 mm from eyepiece lens
	Diopter Adjustment				-4.0 - +3.0 (dpt)
	Eye Sensor				Yes
	Eye Sensor Adjustment				High / Low
FOCUS	Type				Contrast AF system
	Focus Mode				AFS (Single) / AFF (Flexible) / AFC (Continuous) / MF
	AF Mode				Face detection / AF Tracking / 23-area-focusing / 1-area-focusing / Pinpoint
	AF Detective Range				EV -4 - 18 (ISO100 equivalent)
	AF Assist Lamp				YES
	AF Lock				Set the Fn button in custom menu to AF lock
	Others				Quick AF, Continuous AF (during motion image recording), AF+MF, Eye Sensor AF, Touch AF/AE Function, Touch Pad AF, Touch shutter, MF Assist, Touch MF Assist, One Shot AF
EXPOSURE CONTROL	Light Metering System				1,728-zone multi-pattern sensing system
	Light Metering Mode				Multiple / Center Weighted / Spot
	Metering Range				EV 0 - 18 (F2.0 lens, ISO100 equivalent)
	Exposure Mode				Program AE / Aperture Priority AE / Shutter Priority AE / Manual
	ISO Sensitivity (Standard Output Sensitivity)				Auto / Intelligent ISO / 125 (Extended) / 200 / 400 / 800 / 1600 / 3200 / 6400 / 12800 / 25600 (Changeable to 1/3 EV step)
	Exposure Compensation				1/3 EV Step, ±5 EV
	AE Lock				Set the Fn button in custom menu to AE lock
	AE Bracket				3, 5, 7 frames, in 1/3, 2/3 or 1 EV Step, ±3 EV
WHITE BALANCE	White Balance				Auto / Daylight / Cloudy / Shade / Incandescent / Flash / White Set 1, 2 / Color temperature setting
	White Balance Adjustment				Blue/amber bias, Magenta/green bias
	Color Temperature Setting				2,500 K - 10,000 K in 100 K
	White Balance Bracket				3 exposures in blue/amber axis or in magenta/green axis
SHUTTER	Type				Focal-plane shutter
	Shutter Speed				Still Images: Bulb (Max. 120 seconds), 1/8,000 - 60 Motion Images: 1/16,000 - 1/25 (NTSC area / PAL area)
	Self Timer				10 sec, 3 images / 2 sec / 10 sec
SCENE GUIDE	Still Image				Clear Portrait / Silky Skin / Backlit Softness / Clear in Backlight / Relaxing Tone / Sweet Child's Face / Distinct Scenery / Bright Blue Sky / Romantic Sunset Glow / Vivid Sunset Glow / Glistening Water / Clear Nightscape / Cool Night Sky / Warm Glowing Nightscape / Artistic Nightscape / Glittering Illuminations / Clear Night Portrait / Soft Image of a Flower / Appetizing Food / Cute Dessert / Freeze Animal Motion / Clear Sports Shot / Monochrome / Panorama
	Motion Image				Clear Portrait / Silky Skin / Backlit Softness / Clear in Backlight / Relaxing Tone / Sweet Child's Face / Distinct Scenery / Bright Blue Sky / Romantic Sunset Glow / Vivid Sunset Glow / Clear Nightscape / Cool Night Sky / Warm Glowing Nightscape / Artistic Nightscape / Clear Night Portrait / Appetizing Food / Cute Dessert / Freeze Animal Motion / Clear Sports Shot / Monochrome
BURST SHOOTING	Burst Speed				Mechanical shutter: H: 5.0 frames/sec (with AFS), 4.3 frames/sec (with AFC, In 1-area-focusing AF mode), M: 4.0 frames/sec (with Live View), L: 2.0 frames/sec (with Live View) Electronic shutter: SH: 40.0 frames/sec, H: 10.0 frames/sec, M: 4.0 frames/sec (with Live View), L: 2.0 frames/sec (with Live View)
	Number of Recordable Images				9 images (when there are RAW files with the particular speed) Unlimited consecutive shooting (when there are no RAW files) (depending on aspect ratio, memory card size, picture size, and the setting for the quality)
BUILT-IN-FLASH	Type				TTL Built-in-Flash, GN7.0 equivalent (ISO200 · m), GN5.0 equivalent (ISO100 · m), Built-in Pop-up
	Flash Mode				Auto, Auto / Red-eye Reduction, Forced On, Forced On / Red-eye Reduction, Slow Sync., Slow Sync. / Red-eye Reduction, Forced Off
	Synchronization Speed				Less than 1/320 second (Built-in Flash) Less than 1/250 second (External Flash)
	Flash Synchronization				1st Curtain Sync., 2nd Curtain Sync.
MONITOR	Type				Tilt static LCD with touch monitor
	Monitor Size				3.0 inch (7.5 cm) / 3:2 Aspect / Wide-viewing angle
	Pixels				Approx. 1,040K dots
	Field of View				Approx. 100%
	Monitor Adjustment				Brightness, Contrast and Saturation, Red tint, Blue tint
LIVE VIEW	Digital Zoom				2x, 4x
	Extra Tele Conversion				Still Image: Max. 2x (Aspect ratio sets at 4:3. Not effective with L size recording. Magnification ratio depends on the recording pixels and aspect ratio.) Motion Image: 2.4x (FHD/60p, FHD/60i, FHD/30p, FHD/24p in NTSC area / FHD/50p, FHD/50i, FHD/25p, FHD/24p in PAL area), 3.6x (HD/60p, HD/30p in NTSC area / HD/50p, HD/25p in PAL area), 4.8x (VGA/30p in NTSC area / VGA/25p in PAL area)
	Other Functions				Guide Lines (3 patterns) Real-time Histogram
LEVEL GAUGE					Yes
DIRECTION DETECTION FUNCTION					Yes
FUNCTION BUTTON	Fn1, Fn2, Fn3, Fn4, Fn5, Fn6, Fn7, Fn8, Fn9				Wi-Fi / Q.MENU / LVF/Monitor Switch / AF/AE LOCK / AF-ON / One Push AE / Touch AE / Preview / Level Gauge / Focus Area Set / Zoom Control / Photo Style / Aspect Ratio / Picture Size / Quality / Metering Mode / Highlight Shadow / i. Dynamic / i. Resolution / HDR / Electronic Shutter / Flash Mode / Ex. Tele Conv. / Digital Zoom / Stabilizer / Motion Pic. Set / Picture Mode / Silent Mode / AFS/AFF/AFC / Peaking / Histogram / Guide Line / Rec Area / Step Zoom / Zoom Speed / Sensitivity / White Balance / AF Mode / Drive Mode / Restore to Default
CREATIVE CONTROL	Still Image				Expressive / Retro / Old Days / High Key / Low Key / Sepia / Monochrome / Dynamic Monochrome / Rough Monochrome / Silky Monochrome / Impressive Art / High Dynamic / Cross Process / Toy Effect / Toy Pop / Bleach Bypass / Miniature Effect / Soft Focus / Fantasy / Star Filter / One Point Color / Sunshine
	Motion Image				Expressive / Retro / Old Days / High Key / Low Key / Sepia / Monochrome / Dynamic Monochrome / Impressive Art / High Dynamic / Cross Process / Toy Effect / Toy Pop / Bleach Bypass / Miniature Effect / Fantasy / One Point Color
CREATIVE VIDEO MODE	Exposure Mode				Program AE / Aperture-Priority / Sutter-Priority / Manual Exposure
PHOTO STYLE	Still Image and Motion Image				Standard / Vivid / Natural / Monochrome / Scenery / Portrait / Custom
PLAYBACK	Playback Mode				Normal playback, 30-thumbnail display, 12-thumbnail display, Calendar display, Zoomed playback (Max. 16x), Slideshow (duration & effect is selectable), Playback Mode (Normal / Picture / Video / 3D Play / Category / Favorite), Location Logging, Clear Retouch, Title Edit, Text Stamp, Video Divide, Time Lapse Video, Stop Motion Video, Resize, Cropping, Rotate, Favorite, Print Set, Protect, Face Recognition Edit
IMAGE PROTECTION / ERASE	Protection				Single / Multi, Cancel
	Erase				Single / Multi / All / Except Favorite
PRINT	Direct Print				PictBridge compatible
INTERFACE	USB				USB 2.0 High Speed Multi
	HDMI				mini HDMI TypeC / VIERA Link Video: Auto / 1080p / 1080i / 720p / 480p (576p in PAL system) Audio: Stereo
	Audio Video Output				Monaural Type, NTSC / PAL, NTSC only for North America * Check the website of the Panasonic sales company in your country or region for details on the products that are available in your market.
	Remote Input				φ2.5mm for remote
	Microphone				Stereo
	Speaker				Monaural
LANGUAGE	OSD Language				English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Russian, Chinese (Traditional), Chinese (Simplified), Dutch, Thai, Korean, Turkish, Portuguese, Arabic, Persian, Japanese, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Greek, Vietnamese * Check the website of Panasonic sales company in your country / region or ask customer support for details of the OSD language available on the products sold in your country / region.
POWER	Battery				Li-ion Battery Pack (7.2V, 1,025mAh) (Included) Battery Charger
	Battery Life (CIPA Standard)**				Approx. 350 images with H-FS1442A Approx. 320 images with H-H020A
DIMENSIONS / WEIGHT	Dimensions (W x H x D)				122.60 x 70.7 x 54.6 mm / 4.83 x 2.78 x 2.15 inch
	Weight				Approx. 402 g / 0.89 lb (SD card, Battery, Body) Approx. 360 g / 0.79 lb (Body only) Approx. 489 g / 1.08 lb (SD card, Battery, H-H020A lens included) Approx. 512 g / 1.13 oz (SD card, Battery, H-FS1442A lens included)
OPERATING ENVIRONMENT	Operating Temperature				0 °C to 40 °C (32 °F to 104 °F)
	Operating Humidity				10%RH to 80%RH

New kit from Think Tank

My friends at Think Tank Photo just launched two new product lines whose intention is to help those us using Apple® devices have an easier time of organizing our accessories and ourselves. My Second Brain – The four ultra thin My 2nd Brain™ bags were created with pockets specifically sized for Apple® computers and accessories and all the tools needed to support a digital lifestyle. Slide a MacBook Pro® or iPad® into the zippered padded pocket that also has an organizer for pens and more. Keep an iPhone in the top pocket with a pouch for earbuds or a Bluetooth headset. Unzip the main compartment to organize and secure adapters and small items in clear zippered pockets. Stow documents in the rear pouch. Even the removable padded shoulder strap has a clip for full-size headphones.  Buy online

Powerhouse – Created for MacBook Pro® laptop power adapters and AC cable plus pens, small cables, USB drives, and other small accessories.  Buy online

Don’t forget, as a supporter of The Photo Video Guy, when you click on these links and order $50 or more of Think Tank Photo gear you receive a free gift, such as a Pixel Pocket Rocket memory card holder. (USA residents only)

Breaking the "pro camera" barrier in DSLM

Digital Single Lens Mirrorless.  It's the name used by Panasonic in their marketing materials.  Being a mostly DSLR person, this is logical.  Compact System Camera?  Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera?  Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Format? How about "camera"?

When I talk to serious photographers who are DSLR (and larger format) shooters and ask them about mirror less cameras (and let's agree that this is a fundamentally stupid name), there are two reactions.  First is that it's not a real camera.  Okey dokey, enjoy your life on planet Denial (which is not a river in Egypt).  Second is that they love their smaller cameras but are less comfortable using them on paid gigs because they don't look professional.  This I definitely understand since Uncle Bob has a 5D Mark III and thinks he is a much better photographer than he actually is, because he thinks that the tool makes the photographer.  Uncle Bob is plainly visiting from planet Delusion.  Clients who are not photographers may expect big, bulky gear and much waving of hands and boiling of potions to make pro photography look like some kind of black art.

Some pros are actively using their new smaller cameras and letting their work speak for itself.  More power to them.  The camera is a tool.  No more.  One of the frustrations I see, and hear in stores, is the perception coming in the door, or created at the sales counter, that a camera that doesn't have a floppy mirror is not a real camera.  This is, a load of poo.

I bought one of the first Lumix micro 4/3 cameras.  It was pretty good, no better at anything than a DSLR and worse only in the number of lens options available at the time.  That used to be a credible argument.  It's not valid any more.  The average DSLR buyer has just under two lenses, so round up and you have a wide angle zoom and a telephoto zoom and that solves pretty much everything for the general consumer.  Sure an enthusiast might start looking at a macro, or an ultra wide or maybe demand a super fast big telephoto, and with the exception of the last option, those are also available.

Hang on though, a DSLR gives me way more override capabilities than one of these new mirrorless things, right?  Um no.  You have as much flexibility in an OM-D or NEX-6 as a similarly priced DSLR, and in some cases, more flexibility and more features.

Oh, but I have more flash options with a DSLR.  Bull hockey.  Most DSLR buyers never go near even a hotshoe flash, let alone anything of studio power.  If you want a bigger offboard flash, they exist, and they do TTL and slaving and sync and all that and you can always load up a Skyport or PocketWizard onto the hot shoe and trip your big studio lights.  Works fine.

But wait!  What about low light?  These smaller cameras cannot possibly have the same low light performance as a DSLR can they?  In many cases we are comparing APS-C sensor to APS-C sensor, sometimes even from the same manufacturer so that argument is spurious.  Yes my original Lumix was not brilliant above ISO 3200.  Neither was the Canon 40D I had at the time either.  Too high megapixel counts on too small a sensor make for small photosites and that is less low light efficiency.  Or at least that was the way it was three years ago.  Digital is as much about the software as it is the sensor and you can get excellent low light performance today that was not attainable at all only three years ago.

Well then, the lenses must not be as good.  Nope, wrong again honey.  Smaller?  Yes.  Lighter?  Yes.  More plastic in the construction?  Probably not statistically speaking.  The gap today is in lens speed.  We don't yet see the f/1.4 variants that we see in the DSLR space.  How many of those are sold to the average customer by the way?  Oh right, that would be zero.

So your question should be, what am I actually losing if I buy one of these smaller cameras over a DSLR.

Here's a list

• physical size - less
• weight - less
• size of the bag to put it all in - less
• really big filters - don't need em, need smaller filters

big super telephoto lenses with huge maximum apertures - yes these don't exist right now, but you may not be Bill Frakes or Dave Black anyway

Manufacturers aren't helping either.  Canon released the anti-enthusiast SL1, basically a Rebel with a lobotomy in a 1/4 smaller body in order to hit a size/weight target.  Sony releases the A3000 that has no pentaprism or mirror box but is built to look like it does giving the camera the feeling that it's filled with foam and cheap plastic.  Stupid marketing is stupid marketing.  Other vendors shoot themselves in the head by making their compacts less functional than their DSLRs because the divisions compete and they are afraid of eating their own lunch, more content to let a competitor do it.  Canon released the EOS-M with the world's crappiest autofocus performance and wondered why no one would pay nearly twice the price of an NEX-3 that could run circles around it.  Nikon released the 1 series with a smaller than M43 sensor creating a completely unique line and mount structure and then compounded the sin with the J1, the camera with the highest customer return rate I have ever seen.  The 1 Series is dead on the pad, yet the V1 and V2 were spectacular performers, virtually ignored by their maker.

Today's digital compacts with interchangeable lenses are for the most part functional equivalents to DSLRs.  You choose the size and style you want and have a tool that will enable you to make great photos if you do your part.  If humping a bunch of kit around is not what you want to do, you should take a serious look at this alternative.  It's interesting that in Japan this market is explosive but in North America it's not nearly as strong.  I put the why down entirely to misperception, misguidance and lies.

The Extremely Useful FRIO

I like lighting.  It's one my my "things".  One of the challenges I have had with hotshoe flash is having them stay where I put them.  I used to own a bunch of Metz 58 units, great flashes all, but very suicidal, they kept jumping off where I put them.  Fortunately they are also Panzer tough and served me well despite their tendency to validate the equations for acceleration due to gravity. Face it, those screw down rings don't always screw down properly.  I had resorted to my other good friend, Mr. Gaffer Tape to be sure and then at the recommendation of Joe McNally's former lead assistant Drew Gurion (I wish you huge success my friend!) I discovered the Frio.  Drew mentioned these things to me at the last Photoshop World, and then I forgot, and then they were out of stock whenever I looked.  Suffice to say, I finally got some and they are as brilliantly simple as they are advertised to be.

Frio is not sold in stores, you order them online from EnlightPhotoPro.  Click here to go to their website.  Ordering is easy and the shipping is both fast and economical because they have shipping centres in different parts of the world,  Being in Canada, shipping here is usually an adventure in pocket-picking but these guys were awesome!

The Frio is a blue clip that you slide your hot foot encumbered device into.  It is a spring type clip lock.  Your device comes off the Frio when you decide it does and at no other time.  The Frio has a ¼-20 standard thread socket on the bottom so you can attach it to, you guessed it, anything with a ¼-20 post.  Like a light stand, (go figure), or a Gorillapod, or one of those Manfrotto Doc Ock style arm thingys, or a tripod, or even a freaking ¼-20 bolt that you've poked through something because you needed a cold shoe there.

Enlight Photo Pro also sells ¼-20 posts so if you have a clamp that takes a ¼-20 post like oh say a Justin clamp or whatever Manfrotto calls their version, you can mount your flash securely to the clamp.

I ordered a 5 pack and a couple of posts.  They showed up at my door in a couple of days, no hassle, no fuss.  As easy as buying from Amazon and that is a compliment in my book.  A Five Pack is $50.

But wait you say!  I need the ability to attach my Frio to a ⅜-16 post!  Whatever shall I do?  Simply unscrew the ¼-20 socket from the Frio revealing the not so hidden and not very secret ⅜-16 socket.

You need these things.  You know you do.  Click the link and order some.  The Frio images used in this post are courtesy of Enlight Photo Pro.  I didn't take these images on my camera, I took them from the vendor's website

Canon Product Announcements August 22, 2013

My friends at Canon passed along this press release summary of the announcements that they made this week.  It's predominantly point and shoot and small printer offerings although there is a new, and much needed STM lens available.  Highlights and verbiage are courtesy of Canon ---

New PowerShots give consumers more options – five new models announced

Canon PowerShot G16

• First G-series to come equipped with Wi-Fi technology
• Available October 2013 for an estimated $549.99

Canon PowerShot S120

• Pocket-sized camera with Wi-Fi technology and a sharp 24-120 mm extra-wide angle lens
• Available October 2013 for an estimated $449.99

Canon PowerShot S200

• Built for users who are looking to explore advanced photography
• Features a 24-120mm extra-wide angle lens with a DIGIC 5 image processor
• Available September 2013 for an estimated $349.99

Canon PowerShot SX510 HS

• Incorporates a 30x optical zoom and a 24mm wide-angle lens
• Equipped with WI-Fi to share images easily
• Available September 2013 for an estimated $299.99

Canon PowerShot SX170 IS

• This camera offers a long zoom in a compact camera body
• Includes 16x optical zoom with 28mm wide-angle lens and Optical Image Stabilization
• Available September 2013 for an estimated $199.99

Canon releases perfect 70D companion telephoto lens

EF-S 55-250 mm f/4-5.6 IS STM Telephoto Zoom Lens

• The perfect companion lens for the EOS 70D, EOS Rebel SL1 and EOS Rebel T5i
• Offers high magnification in a compact and lightweight EF-S telephoto zoom lens with an Optical Image Stabilizer for shake correction

Printing just got more colourful. Canon announces new PIXMA Printers with robust cloud connectivity capabilities

PIXMA MG7120

• Advanced home office capabilities with key benefits for photo-printing enthusiasts
• Available in white, black, red or brown
• Estimated price: 199.99

PIXMA MG6420

• Allows two-sided printing for energy and resource efficiency and produces high-quality images
• AirPrint compatible allowing users to print directly from Apple devices without an app
• Available in white or black
• Estimated price: $179.99

PIXMA MG5520

• Produces stunning high-quality images along with clean and clear documents for home or home office
• Available in white or black
• Estimated price: $129.99

New Bag Series from ThinkTank : Turnstyle Slings

My friends at Think Tank Photo just announced the release of a new line of sling bags, the TurnStyle.  Lightweight with easy access, the three TurnStyle™ models are ideal for DSLRs and mirrorless systems. Their soft, body-conforming shape means all-day comfort and their tough water-resistant fabrics offer lasting protection. Easy rotation gives you fast access to your gear, including a zippered tablet pocket on all three sizes. These hybrid bags can we be worn as a shoulder sling bag or as a belt pack for increased versatility and comfort.

• TurnStyle™ 5: Fits a mirrorless system with two to four lenses plus a small tablet. The front organizer pocket holds memory cards and other small accessories. Examples: Fuji X-Pro1 with 50mm f/1.4 attached + 38mm f/2.0 + 60mm f/2.8 with hoods reversed OR Olympus E-P2 with 14-42mm attached + 17mm f/2.8 + 40-150mm f/4-5.6 + VF-2 viewfinder + FL-14 flash.
• TurnStyle™ 10: Fits a standard size DSLR with one to three lenses plus a small tablet. The front organizer pocket holds memory cards and other small accessories. Examples: Nikon D800 with 24-70 f/2.8 attached + 50mm f/1.4 hoods reversed or Canon 5DMIII with 50mm f/1.2 attached + 16-35mm f2.8 hoods reversed.
• TurnStyle™ 20: Fits a standard size DSLR with one to four lenses plus a large tablet. The front organizer pocket holds memory cards and other small accessories. Examples: Nikon D800 with 70-200 f/2.8 attached + 50 f/1.4 (or flash) hoods reversed or Canon 5DMIII.

And don’t forget, as a The Photo Video Guy reader, when you click on this link you receive a free gift with your purchase.  Unfortunately the promotional gift offering only works for readers living in the United States.

http://www.thinktankphoto.com/categories/sling-camera-bags/turnstyle.aspx?code=AP-743

First round with the Sinar P 4x5

Just after Christmas 2012 I bought a used Sinar P and lenses from a fine gentleman in Illinois.  I loaded up five film holders and then proceeded to do pretty much nothing with the camera.  This past weekend, I took the four unexposed holders into the woods with the camera and kit and made eight exposures.  I processed the film myself.  Fortunately, I did not screw up the negative developing step and while it's been nearly three decades since I last processed my own negs, it was really a blast.

So I ended up with eight sheets of 4x5 Kodak TMAX 100 hanging on a piece of string in the mud room to dry.  Two out of the total ten that I shot, I screwed up the in camera part, forgetting to close the iris completely before pulling the dark slide on the film holder.  The other eight came out ok, but I have made a note to carry a spot meter in addition to my incident meter when I next decide that humping the Sinar, lens, tripod and related kit into the woods is a good idea.

One of the challenges with the 4x5 is that while I have very good lenses for it, with reliable shutters, the image on the ground glass, even when under the dark cloth, is pretty dark.  Using my old Nikon slide loupe for focus worked fine but I need a loupe with a bit more power, and I probably need to think about having more available light when I shoot as each exposure was 1 second with the aperture varying between f/13 and f/18.  You focus with the lens wide open, but even then I had some trouble checking the edges and in one case, when I first put the 75mm Nikkor wide angle on, I neglected to remove the monorail extension that is needed when shooting the 210mm Nikkor, so the frame has this silver cannon poking in from the bottom.  A real amateur mistake, but I caught it before the next exposure.  I've also got a light streak on one sheet so either one of the film holders is wonky, or one of the sheets was touching something in the tank.  It happens.

I am loving the 4x5 because there is absolutely no spray and pray, and while the images made this time are nothing that special, I was shooting for practice, not for art.  Even then, by the time you check the meter half a dozen times, make myriad tiny adjustments, play with the shift, the tilt and maybe some swing, making a single exposure takes a while.  After about two hours in the woods, I made eight exposures in total including the 1.5km hike in and out.

I processed the film in Ilfotec DDX because it was recommended on a forum for TMAX 100.  I had bought Kodak TMAX developer because it was recommended, and then I discovered that Kodak says not to use it on sheet film.  So I went all Ilford except for the Photo-Flo 200 wetting agent and everything worked out fine.  I had intended to go with tray developing, but I was able to get a Yankee tank designed for sheet film so the only real darkroom work was loading the sheets from the film holders into the slots in the tank sheet rack.  Once closed up, it was a room light experience.  I was very glad to have found my ancient timer, and for the web on guidance on agitation and timing for the chemistry.

After letting the negs dry and then spending a day out shooting, I sat down today to learn how to get the negatives into the computer.  I bought my Epson 4990 scanner several years ago, and I knew that it came with negative and slide holders.  So I had to discover where they were after over five years.  Fortunately, someone else in the house is organized and I found them quickly.  I loaded the first two sheets of film into the film holder and did a preview.  Then I played with the settings a bit and kept at it until the preview looked close to right.  About the time I was trying to determine the correct resolution to scan at, I came upon a very useful web site produced by Konrad at www.howtoscan.ca  The information there was well laid out and very helpful.  Konrad suggests that 900dpi resolution on a 4x5 negative is suitable for a 24x30 print.  So I decided to scan at 1200 dpi understanding that I would end up with larger files and a longer scanning step.

At first I scanned using the Epson Scan software that came with the scanner.  It seemed to work fine.  Then I read that post OS X 10.6 scanning should be invoked from the operating system, so I tried scanning from Photoshop CC.  The scanning part worked ok but the exposures were all very dark.  I remembered that the Epson Scan software had done a nice job so I gave up on scanning from Photoshop CC and went back to the Epson software.  Each image at 1200dpi scans to 49.3 megabyte files.

Then I opened the first image in Photoshop.  I'm not a Photoshop guru, but I did read a tip for people who are Lightroom / ACR types so I converted the image to a Smart Object and then used the Filter | Camera Raw Filter tool to make my very subtle adjustments.  There is so much tonal range in this film it is absolutely awesome.  When I saved the TIFF after the adjustments, the file size had loomed to about 230mb average.  So 8 shots consume about 2GB.  I have a lot to learn about working with scanned negatives in Photoshop but for a start, I'm pretty happy.  I'm sure I will look at these in a year and ask myself what I was thinking.

REVIEW : Westcott Skylux - Continuous Light in a Studio Flash Style Head

A big tip 'o' the hat to Chris Atkinson and Louise Booth at Henry's Store 005 in Newmarket Ontario for providing the Skylux for this review. I have six studio flash heads, 4 at 500ws and 2 at 1000ws.  Why?  When using modifiers, it's better to have enough power to be able to select the aperture you want for the amount of depth of field you want.  When it comes to flash, there's no such thing as too much power.

Most studio heads have modelling lights that help the photographer position the light to get the style he or she wants.  However, I find that sometimes users still struggle.  For some subjects, flash can be disconcerting or downright frightening so an alternative is needed.  A couple of years back I added Westcott Spiderlites to my arsenal, a TD-5 and a pair of TD-6 units.  For soft continuous light they are really nice.  The big drawback is that while you can control output by switching banks of lamps on and off, there is no continuous dimming function like you find on professional video lights, and so I've found myself going with my KinoFlos more than not when needing continuous light.

Westcott has stepped up with a continuous light that looks and mounts like a studio flash head.  It's a frosted LED lamp head that accepts a variety of standard softboxes and octaboxes using Bowens speed rings.  In fact you can buy the head in a kit with Westcott Octas if you so desire.

Let's start of with what Westcott has to say;

• Dimmable daylight-balanced LED for motion and still capture
• Pristine 5600K continuous output
• Cutting-edge 94CRI LED technology
• Quiet operation essential for video
• Lightweight, solid metal housing
• Diffused front emits shadow-free output
• Built-in tilter bracket and umbrella mount
• Attaches virtually any light modifier
• Regulated ballast for flicker-free output
• Multi-voltage for international use

The Skylux is equivalent in output to a 1000 watt photoflood, that you can dial down to 30% output or about a 300w light.  The LEDs are colour-balanced to 5600K, equivalent to daylight.  LEDs typically run very cool, but the head has a built-in fan that will keep temperatures down.  Normally fans are anathema to videographers because of the noise, but this fan is very quiet, not silent as sometimes articulated but still reasonably quiet, so this makes the Skylux good for videography as well as stills.  The head is of metal construction as is the tilter bracket, nicer than the plastic used by other vendors.  There is a carry / grab handle on top as well.

Looking at the unit from the back there is a connection for power, a dimmer for output and an on/off switch.

Looking face on, you see the LED arrangement, that is positioned to not cast edge shadows and has a diffusion panel mounted permanently.  The ring mount system is easy to use and the light comes with a mid-depth disk reflector so you can direct the light.  And I mean direct.  Expect harsh shadows from this arrangement.  Fortunately, the mount is a Bowens S Mount, so you can take anything that attaches to a Bowens Speedring and attach it directly to the Skylux.  Very handy in concept.  In execution, it was much more of a struggle.  The Bowens speedring fits the mount fine, but turning it to achieve a lock required more force and fuss than it should have.  As I was handling a medium sized soft box this was somewhat annoying.  I would have to work on this if I owned one, but when I tried the Bowens Maxi-Lite reflector, it connected quickly and correctly.

Westcott has been thinking about how people need to work.  The power connector is a screw down five pin connector and the cable is about 15' long to where it plugs into the external ballast.  The ballast then has a 5' cord to the AC outlet.  The ballast unit comes in a lightly padded case with a strap so you could hang it on a light stand or hook if you wish.  The lamp feels lightweight, the ballast feels like a brick, so separating them makes it much easier to hang the Skylux at the end of a boom arm.  This is where that 15' initial power cable comes in handy.  In reality the head is heavier than the ballast according to the specs but it just doesn't feel that way.  In a couple of the sample shots you can see that the unit is attached to the light stand via a Manfrotto Magic Arm.

At the top of the tilter handle, under the lamp housing,  is a small recess designed to take an umbrella.  I slid a Bowens umbrella into the holder and it worked fine.  I would have used my big Westcott but did not have the room for the demo shot.

The real question is how does it light?  The answer is pretty darn well.  I came away impressed and admittedly I was asking myself what kind of desperate person would pay $1200 for a single continuous head.  I set up my usual config with the light, some modifiers, a table and my habitual model Sondra.  She looks annoyed because the aforementioned soft box detached itself and landed on her part way through the shoot mussing her hair.  Exposures are not optimal in the attached shots, mostly because I was trying to balance the light from the Skylux and still show the surroundings.  The background is an 18% grey roll, the model lighting is by the Skylux and the room illumination is by my tried and true KinoFlo Tegra 4-Bank.

So what's the verdict?  I came to the review with plenty of skepticism.  Price was the main driver, and in fact I still think that the device is much too expensive for most people.  I like the continuous power control, but wish it would go below 30% power.  I am guessing Westcott holds it here to maintain colour temperature consistency as you manipulate the power.  Turned up full, it's quite bright but it's not going to give you flash head levels of depth of field.  Shooting with the 100/2.8 Macro, I was able to get the aperture down to f/5.6 maximum running at 30% power before I would have needed a tripod.  That's a good indicator of where you're going to be with this light.  Since it is pretty well suited for flash hating children and pets, understand the limited depth of field and remember that you are going to have to get the light in close.  My meter readings at full power firing into the umbrella at ISO 400 were 1/40 @ f/5.6 evaluative, with the focus point on Sondra's near eye.  This produced a very pleasant exposure but it's hardly action stopping.  The inside of the umbrella was about 3' from Sondra at this reading.

I like the Skylux very much.  I don't like it $1200 worth though.  For the same kind of money, you can get a pair of Bowens 400w/s heads with stands and modifiers or the 400w/s Elinchrom D-Lux 4 system.   I'm really very excited about the potential for studio head style continuous lighting.  If you are doing videography as well as still photography, there is a benefit there if you cannot afford to get into two different lighting systems, or don't have the space for all this stuff.  Westcott is funny from a pricing perspective.  Their Rapidbox offerings are very price competitive and an excellent value.  Their first portable continuous light, the ICElight is dim, expensive, has short battery life and did I mention it was dim AND expensive?  The Skylux is absolutely the direction to be looking.  If it had a bit more power, a wider dimming range and sold for about $600 with a stand, it would be perfect.  As it is, it's a very nice light, easy to use and quite flexible, but priced too high to get real market traction.

Specs are below and are courtesy FJ Westcott.

Product Specifications

SKU	4850
Warranty	One year against manufacturer defect
Material	All-metal construction

Item Specifications

Color Temperature	5500K
Mount	Built-in Tilter Bracket
Lux	2250 Lux at 6' (1.8m)
Lamp Type	LED Array (94 CRI)
Footcandles	209 at 6' (1.8m)
Dimming Control	30%-100%
Beam Angle	60.1-degrees
Lifespan	Over 50,000 hours
Softbox Mount	Bowens S-Type Mount Speedring (sold separately)
Power Cord	20' (6.09 m) attached
Reflector Diameter	4.84" (12.3 cm)
Length: Light Head	10.8" (275 mm)
Width: Light Head	4.8" (124 mm)
Height: Light Head	8.5" (124 mm)
Weight: Light Head	4.2 lbs. (1.9 kg)
Length: Ballast	10.2" (260 mm)
Width: Ballast	3.5" (89 mm)
Height: Ballast	2.0" (51 mm)
Weight: Ballast	3.3 lbs. (1.5 kg)
Packaged Width	11.8" (299.4mm)
Packaged Height	11.6" (293.4mm)
Packaged Depth	8.4" (214.4mm)
Packaged Weight	7.5 lbs. (3.4kg)

Looking for video rigs

I went out shooting with buddy Jay Stinson today and on the way home we stopped by the downtown Vistek store, just to have a look around.  As some of you know, I have been studying videography/filmmaking and I've recently been looking at rig systems for my video camera.  I had seen the Redrock Micro stuff at a trade show and one of their inside sales people (Rachel) had helped me build a configuration for budget purposes over a period of several days.  She was very helpful, but I have to say that picking the right parts for this "adult lego" system was pretty confusing.  By the time I was done with the exercise, I sat back to retrench because the config was into multiple thousands of dollars that I don't have and cannot justify. Robert Cole is my video consultant at Vistek and he suggested taking a look at Shape products.  They're made in Canada and they in fact have a complete bundle for the Canon C300.  Shape is, I think, a small company, but I like the idea of potentially supporting fellow Canadians.  I cannot talk to them until August 4th because they are closed for vacation, but I'm hopeful.  They are based out of Montreal.  Have a look at their kit here.

What was even more interesting was the introduction to a Turkish company called edelkrone.  There's an accent missing on the last e so please bear with me.  He could only show me digital brochures but is going to see if they can accommodate my use cases as most of what they show on their website while extremely comprehensive, is primarily oriented to having a monitor mounted on the rig.  When I got home, I spent some time viewing their videos on their website.  The founder does most of the presenting, and the videos are pretty well done.  You see that the products are not only well built, the engineering is very thoughtful and the packaging is very lovely, very Apple-esque.  If you want to learn more about this now available in Canada product, or if you just want to see some video rig kits that are incredible and priced for real people have a look here.  I was particularly impressed by the thinking that went into their two follow focus devices.  They are designed for the one person cameraperson/director/dp and have things like reversing gearing (to work with Nikon lenses that focus backwards) and unlike most other follow focus units are not height dependent.  Very cool stuff.

How to drive users away from DSLR video one accessory at a time…the Zacuto Striker as poster child

I own the Zacuto Z-Finder and think it is a terrific tool and a must have for me for DSLR video.  Ok end of full disclosure and on to the post. In prepping to teach a workshop called Introduction to DSLR Video, I've been looking into some of the very useful and often delusional accessories that are labeled must haves for DSLR users getting in to video.  Holding up a DSLR for handheld work can get tiring especially if you don't have a Z-Finder or other loupe to make your head a point of contact.  Tripods and monopods are great but DSLR video allows for a kind of run and gun shooting that makes you want to work without a net, or brace, or something.

So at some point, people start thinking about a shoulder rig of some kind.  There are all kinds of solutions in the marketplace but I thought I would look at the Zacuto because a) they have a great reputation in the cine world b) they are somewhat readily available and c) I could get my hands on a kit for testing.

What's in it?  There's an aluminum hollow rod 15mm in diameter with three clamps, each clamp having two 15mm holes and clamping fittings to connect two rods together.  There's a Zacuto Gorilla plate that attaches to your DSLR and that has a hole and an aluminum tube.  There's a sort of shoulder stock on a locking ball joint with an aluminum 15mm tube.  And finally there's a grip handle with a locking ball joint with a 15mm aluminum tube.  The image in this post shows you what comes in the box.

With a bit of futzing around, you can make yourself a shoulder stock for your DSLR camera to make it more stable for run and gun style video and ostensibly less fatiguing to hold over time.  Seems like a decent idea.  Then you look at the price sticker.  On Zacuto's web page this sells for $855 USD.  The retailer I was working with sells the kit for $1049.99 or more correctly DOESN'T sell it since the unit I got had plainly been around the block and visited re-pack city a few times.

Let's suppose you own a Canon T4i or 60D or even a brand spanking new Nikon D7100, all decent DSLR video cameras.  You've invested between $650 and $1200 in an awesome camera that does great stills and great video.  And there's this vendor that wants to charge you nearly what your incredible camera cost you for a box of aluminum tubes, clamps and plastic.  You might then be inclined to say this DSLR video idea is a scam, a stupid idea and even get pissed off about your excellent camera.

There are vendors building video accessories at a more reasonable cost, but even the low end stuff is WAY overpriced for what it is.  $230 for a Sevenoak slider that is basically a piece of aluminum track whose claim to fame is being too flexible and not all that slidey?  Try an aluminum track with a bogey box and four skate wheels.  Should be able to build and retail for $65 and still have outstanding margins.

It's no wonder that DSLR video cannot get any respect.  Video is a very different game from stills with new terms and the more that vendors and sellers try to make add-on sales with overpriced toys, the higher the probability it never hits its stride.  Many of the manufacturers involved, like Zacuto, Cinevate and Redrock Micro made their bones in big time cinema where budgets are ginormous and money apparently grows freely at the side of the road.  Maybe the enthusiast DSLR video market isn't the right place for them because to price hobbyist products reasonably would hobble their overinflated prices to industry.

The majority of us are not studios with huge budgets or buckets of time to learn all the nuances of every little piece of kit.  While I would love a Kessler slider, odds are against it because of the return I would get for the investment, and I am an admitted gear hound and try to do things right, often to my personal detriment.  It's ridiculous to believe that regular buyers with kids and family and jobs and real life debt are going to drop $1000 on a freaking shoulder rig to be able to get more stable video of Sally's soccer game.  A smart person with access to a simple mill and some basic tooling will be able to create an entire market.  So if that's you, could you get on with it please?

Just don't create a $50 bean bag.

A Tale of Two Sigmas - the new and the old Sigma 120-300/2.8 OIS

I bought my Sigma 120-300/2.8 OIS lens last fall, literally three weeks before Sigma announced it's replacement was coming in their new lens architecture.  I contacted the Canadian distributor for more information and for a month the reply was "we don't know what you are talking about" even though there was plenty of information becoming available on the web.  -10 points for being obtuse. Bryan Weiss, owner of Daytripper Photo has an excellent relationship with Gentec Canada, the local distributor for Sigma lenses.  They provide him samples to use on his day trips for his paying clients to use and hopefully fall in love with and buy.  As Bryan is a full time seller at Henry's Camera, the client has a very simple path to follow.  He graciously offered to let me try out the new Sport series of the 120-300/2.8 OIS as he had received it for a day trip.

I bought the 120-300/2.8 after using Sigma's 300/2.8 on a similar trial period based on the fact that I could buy 2.5 lenses for the purchase price of a Canon 300/2.8 and because I really did not have that kind of coin available.

The 120-300/2.8 OIS I own is a very good lens with excellent sharpness, quick AF motors and limited distortion.  It's also a pig, meaning shooting it handheld is an exercise in weightlifting and carrying it around will fatigue you in due course.  The colour rendition of the lens is not as good as what I find with Canon L glass, although some allowance must be made for cost and it's common that different vendor's lenses have a different colour rendition.  Canon is consistent throughout the L range.  Sigma probably is too throughout their DG (full frame) line, but I have no real experience with multiple lenses to provide guidance.

Here are a images of the two lenses.

The new lens increases the number of switches on the barrel to include a focus limiter to reduce focus range and ostensibly improve AF performance in poor contrast conditions.  It also has a switch to invoke custom lens profiles that the owner can construct using Sigma's USB based lens adapter and software.  Otherwise the switching is consistent between AF/MF and three OIS settings, although the layout is different from lens to lens.

Both lenses have tripod collars as expected and needed.  The new lens has strap lugs on its collar, a useful addition.  The new collar loses the finger ledges in favour of a heavier design.  As I use RRS plates on my lens collars, there was no real difference to me, although the knob to lock the collar on the new lens is considerably less knurled than on mine and in hot and sweaty conditions will be more difficult to grip.

The new lens feels heavier than the one I own.  Not by much, but heavier nonetheless.  The filter diameter is 105mm and there is still no option for drop in filters as in the Canon line so buying that polarizer is going to feel like a mortgage payment.  Sigma does have filters available for the lenses.

Balance is similar between the lenses, with acclimatization achieved reasonably quickly.  Immediately after that comes the realization that you have to have at least a monopod to shoot this if your name is not Kal-El.

The Sport line has a pretty S in a silver inlay on the lens barrel.  Autofocus was no faster or slower on the new lens than on the one that I own.  Both lens have a bit of slop in the mount that I find extremely annoying, neither feels rock solid when mounted.  In some very rudimentary shooting tests with a Canon 1Dx on high and low contrast subjects, neither lens appeared to outperform the other.  Viewing shots on the computer screen, I could not see any difference between the two.  Focus is not consistent across the zoom range, so focus at 120mm requires adjustment when you zoom in to 300mm and vice versa.  This is not entirely uncommon so more a nuisance than a bug.

The lenses do not differ in their ability to work with Teleconverters.  Sigma (understandably) specifies that to use a teleconverter, one must use only a Sigma teleconverter.  This is not necessarily true as I found both the Canon 1.4x III and 2x III teleconverters to work just fine, although the Sigma branded converters will be black tubed and less expensive than the Canon white tubed versions.

I was perturbed at having spent so much money on a lens only to have it replaced in less than a month and more perturbed by the seeming ignorance out of the Canadian distributor.  I am grateful to Bryan for the loaner because now I know I am not missing anything.  The USB dock / profile thing is of no value to me.  I can set individual lens profiles in camera and do not need to code them independently.

Should you buy one?  Certainly you will save a lot of money over the Canon or Nikon 300/2.8 variants and there is real flexibility in having a zoom instead of a prime where you may not be able to control your placement and that of your subject.  For OJHL hockey I find myself between about 210mm and 280mm on the 1D Mark IV and for the recent Polo for Heart the zoom really allowed for more flexibility in image capture.  List price is around $3800 so not cheap by any stretch but if you need 300mm and f/2.8 this makes a credible entry point.

First Impression : Introducing the Canon 70D

After literally months of speculation, Canon has announced the 70D, the evolution of what they have been doing successfully for a long time in the X0D series of cameras. The 60D has been a real workhorse for enthusiasts wanting great stills and strong video options, without entering credit hell to pay for things. The 70D looks like a big step forward for Canon customers and I expect a rush when the product hits stores in September 2013. Why is this so? Because of the phenomenon created by marketing professionals about being a hybrid photographer. Let me cover that first.

There are a number of vendors blatting on about how today's serious photographers need a hybrid camera. The reality is that most DSLRs are hybrids already, the definition specifying the ability to capture stills, video and audio. While most cameras "can" do these things, not many do these things well.

Stills have specific requirements including excellent low light capability, access to a wide variety of great lenses, a short learning curve and speed of use. A camera that is hard to use or overly bulky often becomes a closet queen, a term most often used to describe vintage guitars that never see the light of day. That camera is a bad investment. The best camera is the one you have with you. Any vaguely serious DSLR offers at least 8 bits of depth in the images and better units offer 12 or 14 bits of depth, critical for accurate tonal response. Even the "consumer" level T5i now offers 14 bits. But, while many DSLRs are actually hybrids, a disturbingly low percentage ever get used for any kind of hybrid work. The rationale for this reality is that it's harder to do video on a DSLR than on some alternatives.

Most DSLR owners don't know that the sensor in their camera is massively oversized for the requirements of Full HD video. A 20.2MP sensor delivers a lot more photo site coverage (5472x3648) than the 1920x1080 coverage needed for Full HD. DSLR vendors often use a technology called line skipping (Canon has in the past, I don't yet know about the 70D), to use as much of the sensor as is possible for video capture without overloading the capability of Full HD. Unlike traditional video cameras, that have tiny sensors, the larger sensors have larger photosites and therefore do better in low light. Typically though, because the autofocus works when the mirror is down, autofocus in video has been a non-starter for DSLRs. In fairness the T4i, T5i and 60D all support autofocus with video and it works but it is very slow and if you don't use Canon's STM (stepper motor) lenses, the audio track sounds like a Terminator flexing its digits as motor noise is horrible. Users become accustomed to Autofocus and when they discover that it generally is not there for video in their DSLR, try it once and never go back. The data shows that this is accurate across the board. DSLM (Digital Single Lens Mirrorless) cameras have no mirror and so most of them will do autofocus in video but it has never proven to be as fast as AF for stills, although I will give some credit to Sony for the video AF in their NEX series and also in their higher end SLT line, such as the A99 which is very fast.

The third leg of hybrid is audio and this is where most cameras fall down. They have built-in mics and automatic gain control, just like their video camera counterparts, and just like their counterparts the audio would need to improve a lot to achieve the level of terrible. So smart manufacturers add a microphone input. Smarter manufacturers add a headphone output to monitor the audio and the smartest ones allow manual audio level control in camera. You can shoot the greatest video in the world but if it has bad audio, no one is going to bother watching it and you are going to get flamed by viewers. Many amateur videographers use external recorders and better quality mics to get the audio tracks down and then combine them in post with either a clapper event or using software such as Pluraleyes to match the internal audio to the external audio and then mute the internal track. Bad audio makes for bad video.

If these three things are the hallmarks of a hybrid camera, and many DSLRs are already hybrids let's look at why the 70D is going to be a market leader.

It is a hybrid camera out of the box. Great stills are a given, because the heritage is already there in the 60D and its predecessors. A high default ISO of 12800 (pushable to 25600) means shooting in super low light produces good results. Canon has a built-in system for infrared control of flash that is functionally the equal of the Creative Lighting System from Nikon but really needs to step up their marketing of the functionality. Many existing Canon owners don't know it is there and think that to get "it" they need to move to Nikon. No need, it's good and with the popup flash you can control external speedlites with ease making this a solid portraitist's camera. While I personally tend to stick to the centre focus / recompose model, 19 points of cross-type autofocus make this a very solid all around offering. And of course you have access to all the Canon EF and EF-S lenses but do yourself a favour and buy it with an STM lens because...

The whole major point of the 70D is the enhancement to Canon's video capability.  Until Sony's release of the A99, Canon stood alone in this space.  (Please don't write me to tell me that other brands have had video. I know that.  I also know that Canon unloaded a can of whip-ass on them from the get-go)  Many pros use T4i cameras as their B cameras because the camera is so good for video. The 70D will drive an upgrade push.  It has a brand new Dual Pixel CMOS autofocus that makes AF in video not just practical for most users, but useful!  If audio is going to be recorded, you'll have to go with the silent STM lenses. The T4i does autofocus in video, but the system is slow and does a focus past and then back up execution model. Based on promotional content from Canon, the new system gets to focus much more quickly, quick enough that it is tolerable in a clip and without all the hunting back and forth. Serious videographers are going to use manual focus anyway, but the 70D is not targeted to be the A roll camera for a serious shoot. The prosumer user is going to love this new AF. Also absolutely critical is the flippable and rotating LCD display. It's not just for overheads or low angle shots, you can see what's happening on a bigger display when you are in front of the camera. For family and small productions where the director is also the actor, this is not an option and I don't understand why other manufacturers don't do what Canon has figured out up front. Look at the flip screen this way. It saves you $400 by avoiding having to buy an HDMI shoe mount monitor.

What I am not yet clear on is what the audio story is going to be. I have seen a mic input, no headphone output (yuck) but the big question is whether there will be a manual level control option to avoid the usually execrable automatic gain control (AGC). If it doesn't have manual audio levels, there are devices mountable to the camera that will do the job very well like the Tascam DR-60D although too often I see misadvised videographers bolting on some piece of junk from Beachtek that costs too much, comes with lousy preamps and does a terrible job of defeating AGC. Friends don't let friends buy Beachtek but apparently some photo retail employees do not have such scruples.  I hope Canon is smart enough to give us manual level control and make this a non-issue.

Thinking of specs, let's take a look at what Canon has to say about the new 70D

• 20.2MP APS-C 'Dual Pixel CMOS AF' sensor
• AF down to f/11 maximum aperture
• DIGIC 5+ image processor
• ISO 100-12800 standard, 25600 expanded
• 7fps continuous shooting, burst depth 65 JPEG / 16 RAW
• 1/8000 to 30s shutter speed, 1/250 flash sync
• 'Silent' shutter mode
• 1080p30, 1080p25, 1080p24 plus 720i60, 720i50 video recording, stereo sound via external mic
• 19-point AF system, all points cross-type, sensitive to -0.5 EV
• 63-zone iFCL metering system
• 98% viewfinder coverage, 0.95x magnification, switchable gridlines and electronic level display
• Fully-articulated touchscreen, 1040k dot 3" ClearView II LCD, 3:2 aspect ratio
• Single SD/SDHC/SDXC card slot
• Built-in Wi-Fi
• Single-axis electronic level
• Built-in flash works as off-camera remote flash controller
• AF microadjustment (can be set individually for up to 40 lenses, remembered by lens serial number)
• In-camera High Dynamic Range and Multiple Exposure modes (JPEG-only)
• 'Creative Filter' image processing styles, previewed in live view

So if these specs look like they kick the 7D's butt, you'd be correct.  Of course Canon will respond with the long-rumoured 7D Mark II at some point but as of right now, the 70D wins out.  The camera uses the proven LP-E6 battery but in classic Canon fashion has a new battery grip meaning the grip from your 60D won't be an upgrade path.  The new grip, called the BG-14 no longer loads the batteries from the rear but instead from the side into a removable tray a la Nikon.  The WiFi and iDevice remote is as is found in the current 6D.  I am glad to see Canon put WiFi into more DSLRs, now if they would just drop the exorbitant price on the WFT-E6A WiFi adapter for the C300 I'd be happier.  The remote isn't CamRanger feature rich but definitely gets the job done and doesn't pick your pocket for an extra $300.

Compared to what else is in the market today, the 70D looks like a real winner and the only viable step up from the T5i for the general user.  Make no mistake, this unit is designed to knock down the barriers found to DSLR video and it does this with the new Dual Pixel AF system.  I had an opportunity to read a technical analysis and assessment of the design and process and believe that Canon will be able to make autofocus video in a pentaprism mirrored body not only usable but acceptable.  The promotional video made available to me showed AF in video to be 5x faster than what we see out of today's products.  Of course as noted at least twice, if you will use AF in video you MUST go with an STM lens.  I am not personally gaga over the 18-55 variant that Canon is showing that arrived with the T5i so I would suggest if you are going with a zoom, select the optically superior, and more expensive, 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM.  This is a great walking around lens and definitely a go to range for video.  If you need lens speed, spend $250 or so and add the 40mm STM pancake to your kit.  I have tested this lens extensively on crop sensor bodies and it's really very sharp and dead silent focusing in video.

Here's a shot of the back of the camera.  It looks very similar to the 60D, meaning a slightly smaller frame than the 7D and the same control layout as what is familiar to 60D users.  Note that this LCD has higher resolution than its predecessors and it too is a touchscreen.  That's a love it or hate thing for you to decide on your own.

Here is the pricing information provided by Canon.  The EOS 70D will be available in September 2013 for an estimated retail price of $1299.99 for the body alone and $1449.99 bundled with an EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens or $1649.99 bundled with the EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens. Also available is a new Battery Grip BG-E14 that conveniently accepts up to two LP-E6 battery packs or a set of six AA batteries for an estimated retail price of $329.99.

I look forward to getting hands-on a 70D when they become available and shooting some tests.  I also want to specifically thank Erika from Edelman Canada for sharing the press release and official images with me on the day of announcement.  Certainly made my job a bit easier.

Is it better? Reexamining the Canon EOS-M with the 2.0.2 firmware

I think that I've mentioned that I like this little camera. Construction is solid, control layout is decent, images are good out of both the 18-55 kit lens and the 22/2 pancake. Video is quite good with no AF noise (EF-M lenses are all STM type), although the built in microphones give you what you expect - utter crap. The camera fits the hand well is only marginally bigger than the Sony RX-100. But the camera as shipped had a real problem. It's autofocus performance could be described as slower than molasses flowing uphill in winter and that would have been charitable. Compounding negative speed, it tended to hunt back and forth in low light resulting in most reviewers desiring to see how well the device bounced. Consequently, Canon couldn't give the darn things away to the point that when the original kit came out with the 18-55 lens and the 90EX micro flash at around $900 it was laughed all the way back to the warehouse. Today that same kit, less than one year later still languishes on dealer shelves at $499 (sale price, reg $699) collecting dust, that's how bad a reputation the camera has. Canon has not helped by shipping only two EF-M lenses until the recent debut of the 11-22 zoom which is afflicted by the same slow lens speed as the default 18-55. Can anything change the tune for the little mirrorless Canon?

Canon this past week releases a major firmware update for the camera. While they chatter inanely about better foreign language support in the menus, those issues weren't stopping sales. The new firmware purports to significantly improve autofocus performance so I arranged with Chris Atkinson at Henry's in Newmarket to borrow their demo, upgrade the firmware and see what's new. The camera is very familiar, it's the SAME one I tried out over six months ago...

I fired a few frames with the default firmware, charged the battery and ran the firmware updater. It completed successfully.

So the big question. Is autofocus performance improved in terms of speed? Yes, it is better. Is it a lot better (as in NEX-5n better)? No, but it is Fuji X better. An NEX-5n or OM-D will still kick its butt around the corner and I won't even talk about the size of the can of whup-ass the RX100 would open on it. But it's better. Usable better. In good light outdoors, focus lag was not noticeable. Indoors, particularly with the 18-55 at the 55mm end (resulting in a max opening of f/5.6), there had better be mucho de contrast or the camera will hunt and then give up cold. AF performance on the 22mm f/2.0 is better overall.

The lenses are very sharp but as the barrels are REALLY narrow (like the Sony NEX barrels) and they are not brilliant optics when it comes to vignetting and distortion. Using the lens profile correction in Adobe Lightroom 5, the corners in shots taken with the 22/2 brightened up nearly 2 STOPS, which is not horrible but not very good either.

Since internally this is basically a T4i, it should be a lot better than it is. My daughter has a T4i and it's plenty quick to focus and does pretty well in crappy light. She uses it primarily for video and like the EOS-M the internal microphones make you yearn for manual audio controls or a sharp needle to destroy them forever. Good video with bad audio is bad.

The firmware update doesn't change the fact that you have to do most everything through the touchscreen. Touchscreens on my phone are ok, not ok on cameras. The update also didn't add a viewfinder so you still look like a dork holding the thing out in front of yourself like some lost tourist, with all the inherent stability loss that goes with hanging your arms out into space.

So what's the verdict?

I've attached a gallery of images that were shot as either RAW or JPEG in camera, imported to Lightroom 5 and given my basic workflow (less than 30 seconds spent per image). Using the lens profile correction is REQUIRED, but after that what comes out of the box is pretty darn good, certainly as sharp as anything else in this DSLM APS-C sensor space, with good contrast and typical Canon colour fidelity. If you've never experienced Sony autofocus you might be just fine with the enhanced AF brought about by the firmware update. It's not a good ambassador for the DSLM space though, with shoddy AF in poor light, a touchscreen dominated UI, small battery and no viewfinder (that LCD is nice but glares out fast in sunlight) and even at the sale price of $499 you can do better. There's allegedly a newer EOS-M enroute, but this critter definitely feels like Canon's version of the red-headed stepchild. Maybe if they dropped the price to $249….

REVIEW : The Westcott Rapid Box Octa 20" and 26"

FJ Westcott has been doing umbrella frame softboxes for a while, and I like their Apollo line EXCEPT when you want to wirelessly control your flash with infrared. Because the flash is "in the box" infrared control fails most of the time. Westcott recently released a new family of products called Rapid Box. There are two octagonal softboxes and a small strip light. All use an umbrella stay collapsible system to make the units transportable, but most importantly, place the hotshoe flash on an included bracket outside the box. With the support of Chris and Louise at Henry's in Newmarket Ontario, I was able to do a test of the Octa versions of the Rapid Box units.

Assembly of the box itself is a no brainer if you have ever used an umbrella. Then simply attach the bracket on the box to the flash bracket that comes in the box by rotating the bracket arm and screwing in the flash arm. The only way it could be simpler is if it came fully assembled but that would defeat the superb portability of the unit when packed into the included travel bag. Total set up time including putting the whole thing on a light stand is less than five minutes if you pace yourself.

Mount the flash on the bracket and adjust the height so the flash head just fits inside the opening so all the light from the flash gets into the box. The octal and strip boxes are lined with a high quality silver foil for lots of efficiency and there is a simple diffusion panel that velcro attachs to the edge of the box at the front.

Using either the Nikon Creative Lighting System, Canon Creative Flash System (Infrared) or Canon RT Flash System (Radio) is a breeze. Set the camera flash to be master and to act solely as a trigger. Set the flash attached to the Rapid Box to Slave mode and start shooting. In order to confirm ease of use, I tested in eTTL, eTTL II modes on Canon and iTTL on Nikon. The exposures were excellent without any real need for compensation, leaving control in the hands of the artist. I even made some test exposures using old Canon 580EX units at my friend's home and the shots were beautiful right off the bat with soft clean light that wrapped very well when the light stand was placed properly.

The general rule for any soft box is to put it as close to the subject as possible while keeping it out of frame. Used in this way the Rapid Box is a great choice. Regular readers know that my raved about offering is the Lastolite Joe McNally Signature soft box and I still prefer it for portraits because its light is so creamy. However, I would say that the Rapid Box is as good as the regular silver interior Lastolite and much nicer than the Westcott Apollo collapsible softboxes. The 20" octal sells for around $169 and the 26" octal for around $199. The strip box is 10" x 24" and sells for around $199. There is also an internal reflector disk available to force more internal bouncing around for about $25. I have one of these for my Elinchrom Deep Octa and it does serve to reduce hot spots, although I did not try the Westcott Rapid Box version.

You can find Westcott products online or at Henry's locations in Canada. Support them if you would in thanks for providing evaluation products to me to test.

First Look : Pentax MX 1

I remember the Pentax MX from about 30 years ago. It was a good quality SLR. Pentax has gone through a lot since then, most recently being acquired by (and in some opinions, saved by) Ricoh. My friend Steve Davies has been with Pentax Canada for a long time and when I saw him at a trade event this week, he asked me what I thought of the MX 1. I, as one might expect, gave him the dumb look, since I did not know what he was talking about. Never to let a challenge go unpunished, I determined that the MX 1 was stocked at the camera store where I work on a very part time basis, and with the assistance of the most awesome Louise Booth, obtained one to do a first look with. The first thing you notice about the MX 1 is the weight. If you've handled other larger sensor point and shoot style cameras, the first difference you feel is construction. With top and bottom plates of brass, finished in either gloss black or retro silver, the MX 1 feels built tough. The lens is a 4x zoom measuring from 6mm to 24mm with an aperture of f/1.8 to f/2.5 That translates in 35mm language to a range of 28mm to 112mm so wide angle to short telephoto, with an aperture range of f/8.4 to f/11.6. This is decent range for a pocket camera, but isn't really going to rock low light. ISO runs from 100 to 12800 but I found it gets noisy around ISO 1600. Still, certainly more than some other cameras of this type. It incorporates a CMOS sensor noted as 1/1.7". I confess that this tendency of most manufacturers to play silly buggers when quoting sensor size makes my teeth hurt so some basic math says the sensor is about 0.68 inches on the diagonal. Certainly larger than the generic point and puke, but less than the much loved (by me) Sony RX-100, but similar to Canon's S110, Olympus' XZ-2 and the Lumix LX7. The sensor delivers files of maximum 12MP.

Like other cameras of this type, the camera captures not just in JPEG but in RAW format as well and a big clap on the back to Pentax for selecting the open standard DNG format for it's RAW files, so you don't need some wonk-ola software to get at your RAW files such as one encounters with oh say Fujifilm. Don't kid yourself though, the in camera JPEGs are generally the way to go until Adobe, DxO and the rest of the lens profile magicians get profile corrections available because when I shot RAW+JPEG fine on the MX 1, the RAWs were, to put it softly, showing a bit of the old barrel distortion. The in camera JPEG builder applies the needed lens correction so the JPEGs look pretty decent, albeit without the colour depth because of the JPEG "parsley to throw away" storage model.

By the way, if that phraseology doesn't mean anything to you, go find the episodes of The Flintstones where Fred and Barney buy a Brontoburger stand.

Charging the battery takes just over two hours and you can charge the battery out of the camera because it comes with an external charger, like any intelligent camera should. Manufacturers who are too frakking cheap to put an external charger in the package and then require that you charge the battery in camera, need to have Mr. Bat meet Mr. Kneecap. Pentax says you should get about 290 shots on a charge, putting the MX 1 in the same park as its competitors.

The menu system reminds me of most Japanese camera menu systems, meaning it looks like it was built after the architect just came off a three week long sake and Suntory bender. Adding insult to injury is a font style that brings back memories of the long dead and unlamented MGA from the original IBM PC. I would have hoped that Ricoh would have had some influence into the menu system. It's confusing because different presses do different things for different areas. This can be addressed in firmware so I hope that Pentax listens to buyers and hires a good UI company to redo the menu system. Button layout is pretty straightforward. Shutter is on top with a zoom rocker around it, video start / stop is a separate button, There is a shooting mode dial and a separate exposure compensation button giving ±2 stops in ⅓ stop increments. The power button is easy to find without hunting for it and it glows a bright green when the camera is on.

Modes include GREEN, Auto Pict, SCN, HDR, USER, M, Av, Tv, P and Movie. I expect many buyers will use GREEN or Auto Pict and for the most part they are pretty darn functional. You have to manually popup the flash to do any flash function selections and it emerges on a little cantilever arrangement like many other cameras of this type. The switch is on the upper left side of the camera. It's bright enough for basic work but it is very small and so harsh shadows and blow outs should be expected. There is no hot shoe, so this is what you get. It offers a couple of red-eye modes, as well as slow sync and "second-curtain" sync.

The back has a rotary wheel that does different things depending on the mode you are in. There's an AE lock button and the usual four way rocker. The rocker labelling needs work. The flower that everyone naturally believes is macro mode actually takes you into the different selectors for focus mode. Not all that intuitive. There's also a Play button, a Menu button to open that door to hell mentioned earlier and an Info button whose function varies depending on mode from doing nothing at all to popping up a Hollywood Squares style grid to select different configuration options. The Play button also empowers the rocker to move back and forth but if you rocker down, you get access to all the "fun" stuff, like in camera filters, HDR simulation, toning, Instacrap style things and a bunch of other junk I would never use, but that's probably needed for someone, though I cannot imagine who that might be.

The LCD display is large and bright. The image quality displayed is very good and I rate the LCD as one of the best elements of the little camera. It tilts up or down via a cantilever arm system that while solid is not all that smooth. The other side of that is that it doesn't flop all over the place.

The tripod socket is metal and screwed into the brass base plate so while a little thing, it indicates that some engineer has been thinking about the more demanding user.

Image quality is easily as good as any of the cameras in the price range, which is about $450. The lens is sharp and contrast is good, but beware the tendency to barrel distort. A close in shot in wide angle mode definitely made the upper right of Sondra's face start to wander into the corner. I won't publish that one, to avoid getting yelled at but trust me on this, you don't want to be taking head shots with this thing in anything but full telephoto.

The 4X zoom is adequate. There is also intelligent zoom available when shooting in lesser JPEG quality that basically reduces the MP count so as to use more of the sensor for zoom. A peer at the store says that doing this doesn't diminish quality. We're going to agree to disagree, I think there is a visible quality drop. The camera also has digital zoom, which as all readers should know is basically a simple way to make a decent shot look just like cat vomit.

I shot a small range of images with the camera because I only had it for a short time. I think that the JPEGs are quite good and expect the RAWs to be more usable when there are lens profiles available for Lightroom etc.

The Pentax MX 1 is a fine camera. I did not find anything that really set it dramatically apart from its competition in the price point except that it has much sturdier construction. Certainly it's very usable and the lens is very sharp. The menu systems need work, but in fairness, most menu systems look like they were designed by rats on typewriters. I think it's a strong contender in a field of good options. Certainly the price point gets it into the hands of people who might otherwise look at the excellent Sony RX-100 or the laughably sad Nikon Coolpix A.

The Leica X Vario. Mini M?

As regular readers will know, I am a Leica owner.  I shoot an M9 now, have an M240 on seemingly endless backorder and my first Leica was an M4-P with motor winder and 35mm f/2.0 lens.  I still miss the M4-P even though the only film I shoot these days is in my Sinar P. There has been a LOT of noise about this new Leica that has been referred to as the Mini M.  But that's not right.

It's an X, but Leica refers to it as the Mini M.  Confused yet?

Specifically it is the X Vario and fits into what for Leica is the point and shoot marketplace.  I have shot the Leica X1 and really liked everything about it except the price and think that the X2 was a major step up.  Except for the price.  Now M cameras are really stupid expensive but there is just something about a real manual focus rangefinder...

Anyway about the X Vario.

Off the top, it is an X series camera, so that means autofocus, non-interchangeable lens on with a larger sensor than a traditional Point and Shoot.  Internally known as the Type 107 it is a CMOS APS-C sensor based device capturing 16.2 megapixels.  Captures can be RAW in the open source DNG format or Leica's 4 JPEG resolutions.

The lens is a Leica Vario-Elmar 18-46mm f/3.5-6.4 ASPH.  This translates to about a 28-79 in the full frame world and it incorporates 2 aspherical elements.  That will mean great sharpness and resolution but not exactly buckets of lens speed.  It may not be an issue as Leica has gone with newer CMOS sensors with superior low light capability instead of their older CCD sensors that had the Leica "look" but fell apart badly above ISO 800.

ISO range on the new camera is ISO 100 to ISO 12500, so that should have you covered.

The camera will shoot HD video at 1920x1080 and 1280x720 both at 30fps.  So high quality but not much in the way of framerate flexibility.  Video is stored in the higher performance MPEG-4 format.

Still shooting modes are Program, Aperture preferred, Shutter preferred and Manual.  Bracketing is built in over a three shot range and EV increments start at 1/3 stop to a maximum of ±3 EV.  Shutter speed range is from 30s to 1/2000s.

White balance features the usual suspects of Automatic, Daylight, Cloud, Shade, Flash and Halogen, which I presume is what the rest of us think of as Tungsten.  There are also two user configurable WB settings, manual WB and fine adjustment controls.

In addition to single shot there are two burst modes, at 3fps and 5fps respectively with a buffer capable of handling 7 burst shots in DNG+JPEG fine.

As one would expect there is a popup flash unit, and as one would expect it has a Guide Number of 5 so it's not very powerful.  It does allow for lots of controls though including Auto, RedEye reduction, always on, always off, slow sync (dragging the shutter) and slow sync with redeye reduction.  Since it's on camera and on axis, it's going to look like the flash from any point and shoot.  What is nice to see is that there is a REAL hotshoe on the camera so you could go with a Leica shoe mount flash that bounces if you need one.  That Leica flash is TTL and looks suspiciously like a Metz (cannot imagine why that might be :D).  And, it's expensive.

So what does this lovely bit of kit set one back?  Well it is an X so presumably it is not restricted access as are M and S series cameras.  According to the web B&H has the camera for $2,850 USD with availability around June 18th.  No pricing at Vistek for Canadians at time of writing but figure it will be close to that.   If you want to preorder, please consider buying through the link to B&H posted below.

I don't know if I will get a hands-on test option with this critter.  It's about $800 more than the X2.  Where it is interesting is that it is priced right in line with the Sony RX-1.  I have shot the RX-1 and while opinions vary, I really did not like the handling.  The images were excellent, but the fit in my hands is very awkward.  Will the Leica be better?  Don't know but if you are the person set to drop three grand on a top end point and shoot, you would be well served to check out the Leica X Vario.