In the Fall of 2010 Canon announced the introduction of new MKIII extenders to replace the previous MKII versions. Super Spectra coatings were introduced to help reduce ghosting and flare as well as fluorine coating to make water spots and finer prints easier to remove. I’ve always fond the MKII extenders to be extremely useful when used in the right circumstances so I was eager to try out the MKIII versions to see if there was an improvement.
Aug 292011
Aug 062011
The Canon EF 8-15 F4 L fisheye lens is one highly anticipated piece of glass ! First announced back in Autumn 2010 this is not a replacement of any existing lens, but an all new design with unique potential. Canon originally started with the 15mm f2.8 fisheye which was designed before the digital days. This lens provided a full 180 degree field of view on a full frame camera but users of 1.6 or 1.3 crop cameras were left with slightly less fishy look to their images. On the Nikon side of things, Nikkor released a beautiful 10.5mm fisheye for their crop cameras but Canon never followed suit. Sigma built a Canon mount 10mm fisheye and a few people got by with a Tokina 10-17 which did give you a wide view on a 1.3 crop camera but neither of these lenses were hugely high quality. I often use fisheye lenses in my action sports photography work but the problem is I shoot with a full frame Canon 5dMKII and a 1.3 crop Canon 1dMKIV. I’ve always made do with a 15mm f2.8 fisheye which is great on my 5d with it’s full frame sensor but always left me wanting when used on the cropped 1d. Well with this new Canon 8-15 they have solved my problem and designed a lens that can achieve a full 180mm field of view on any of their digital cameras, a simply fantastic idea.
Full review with video and samples after the break.
I’m not sure I can ever remember Think Tank having a SALE before so this warranted a quick post. Especially since I’ve just reviewed one of the things they have put on sale. Just last week I reviewed the Skin set from Think Tank and having used it on a couple of assignments now I can say that I’m totally sold on it. I would recommend it over the regular modular set BUT both the Skin and the modular set are on sale for this limited time offer. 20% off AND receive a FREE gift when you check out.
Last month I went to France to shoot the 24 Heures du Mans in Le Mans and before I left I grabbed a few extra items to make my assignment a little easier. First up was the Think Tank Hydrophobia 300-600 V2 rain cover which I have already reviewed HERE. The next think I wanted to do was take a look at the Think Tank Skin system to carry some additional items around with me while I was shooting. A lot of you know me for my winter sports photography and for that I use a variety of specialized bags from F-Stop but this time I needed a belt based system more suitable for event photography. Think Tank’s selection of bags and solutions for photojournalists and sporting event photographers is unrivaled and they have a couple of belt systems, the Modular Components and the Skin Components. The Skin lineup is essentially a less padded version of the Modular components with a few additional features. The idea here is that once your gear is safely transported to the location of your shoot you don’t really need bulky padding and that allows you to be a little less encumbered. Packing the Skin Components into your travel bag is also pretty easy as they fold completely flat. Currently there are 5 different components into the in the set as well as the Skin belt. I didn’t need the full set for this trip so I grabbed a Skin 50 , a Skin 75 and the Skin Belt. Continue reading »
Jun 292011
DSLRs with HD video capabilities have changed the way many of us shoot and many photographers are being asked to return from assignments with videos, or simply making that choice themselves to make their business stand out from the crowd. The problem is that DSLR video is incredibly susceptible to camera shake because in-body image stabilization has yet to be implemented in these larger cameras. Combine that with the tendency to create rolling shutter artifacts when panning too fast and you quickly realize that a good video head (fluid head) is necessary to get even a reasonable job done unless you are using a large shoulder mount system. An extra accessory to pack in your gear bag is never welcome though, especially if you travel a lot (which many photographers do) with ever decreasing baggage allowances. Most photographers already have a regular ballhead for stills photography and I know that on more than one occasion I have eagerly added my video head ( a Manfrotto 701 HDV) to my to-be-packed pile before a trip, only to cull it from the list at the first indication that my bags were over weight. Manfrotto have set out to solve this conundrum with the 055 Mag Photo-Movie head.. A head that can be both a photo ballhead with 3-axis adjustment, and a fluid video head for pan and tilt movements. So how does it perform ? Read on to find out…..
Boy has this been a long time coming! We first learned about the Fuji x100 way back in September 2010 where it was shown in prototype form at Photokina. The internet was instantly ablaze with hands on impressions (as much as you can get from a prototype) and forums were full of excited people in love with Fuji’s classic design. An astute move by Fuji’s marketing department capitalized on peoples desire and the official x100 page gradually leaked a series of in-depth preview articles discussing every aspect of the camera over the next 8 months. By the time they actually started appearing in stores we knew every little detail about this camera and consumers were practically foaming at the mouth to get their hands on them. Even now, a month or so down the line , supply are fairly constrained and the x100 has clearly been a runaway sales success. This doesn’t necessarily guarantee a great product though as the clever marketing strategy and beautiful classic looks could have sold many thousands before anyone even reviewed one. Read on to find out about one of the hottest cameras from the last 10 years….
Jun 062011
The Zoom H1 has been around for a year or so now and I’ve mentioned it before on this site but only now had a good reason to pick one up for myself. At the time of writing this I’m packing my gear to head to France to shoot the 24 Heures Du Mans, arguably the worlds greatest motor race. I decided that the sound of the cars on the track would be interesting to capture for some multimedia content after the event and the H1 looks to be a reasonable solution. Ever since DSLRs began to record video, photographers have been looking for ways to expand their trade and offer more to their digital clients. Whether it’s purely video or a melange of video, audio and photos from an event or news assignment, multimedia is here to stay on the internet or in digital magazines on platforms such as the iPad. The only problem is that the on-board microphones of the DSLRs are….. well they are crap aren’t they! So you need another solution and there’s two ways to do it. Either you run an external mic into the camera and record the audio track alongside the video, or you use a separate reorder and sync the sound with the video in post production using software such as Plural Eyes. The first option has speed and ease on it’s side whilst the second has audio fidelity and flexibility on it’s side. A separate recorder can be placed anywhere, or simply used to record ambient noise.
Jun 012011
Around this time of year he rumor mills really start to turn the greasy wheels. July, August and September are often months that see the key players in the industry announce new products either for immediate delivery, or increasingly in recent years , for deliver before Christmas. In the last few years a wealth of websites have cropped up to deal with rumors for specific camera brands. A few of these sites have good track records in tracking down new information long before anything official is released by the manufacturers. Some of the other sites……. well they don’t have the best of luck. Often there are snippets of correct information but it’s muddled in amongst bogus specs and rarely are things correct many months out. Once things get close to an official announcement the rumors start to get a closer to the real deal.
I’m sure we are going to see weekly updates on these sites with supposed specs on new gear, one thing for certain though is that Sony, Nikon and Canon can be expected to make some major announcement in this time frame.
Sony looks set to bring an A77 to the market in July featuring their pellicule mirror technology to an APS-C camera with some decent specs to sit above their A55.
Nikon will be replacing the D3 and the D700 at some point. It seems likely that at least one of these will be in August. Before the Pixiq tradeshow was cancelled, Nikon and Canon were probably planning on releasing things at that show.
You guys know that for me it’s the Canon gear that I’m most interested in. The website Canon Rumors has had so many conflicting reports over the months it’s hard to make sense of it. We will certainly see an official release of the 200-400 f4 L IS which was announced as in development some months ago. We have also been waiting for an eternity for a 24-70 f2.8 replacement. Its been reported that there are several patents and test versions out there, some with IS and some without. I’d say this one will finally come alongside some sort of 1dsMKIII replacement. There has also been some reports that the 1d and 1ds line will be merged. Not sure about that one! And of course it’s about time for a 5dMKIII too. On top of that there has been rumors of a 35mm f1.4 II and the much needed 50mm f1.4 II. My bet would be on the 35mm to come first. Continue reading »
You might be wandering why I’m going to talk about this lens when Canon has already announced it’s replacement, due to hit store shelves in December 2011. Whilst it’s true that the new EF 500mm f4 L IS II is 17% lighter than this version, the optical improvements will be fairly minor. It’s tough to improve on the quality of any of Canon’s super telephotos. The list price of the upcoming MKII 500mm is $10,000 but the current version is selling for “only” $6900. When version 2 hits the second hand market there is sure to be an explosion of the MKI versions available and prices for a good condition one will probably be below $5000. Fully half the price of the MKII , and still an incredible lens! It might just bring this lens into the realms of possibility for a lot of shooters who wouldn’t have considered it before.
These reviews have been incredibly popular so here’s a quick index to remind yourself of your options when you need a new photography backpack!
Guru – 28 liter all purpose mountain pack for small & medium ICU
Tilopa BC – 48 liter backcountry specific pack for small,medium & large ICU.
Loka- 37 liter all purpose mountain pack for small,medium & large ICU.
Satori EXP – 58 liter expedition photography pack for small, medium, large, XL and Monster ICU
Dakota Components – Accessories designed to compliment the Mountain Series.
Continue reading »
