Introducing the F-Stop Satori EXP Backpack

Last week we took a look at the newly released Guru 28 liter backpack.  This week I’m giving you guys a first in-depth look at the soon to be released F-Stop Satori EXP which is due to be on sale this coming July.  This pack sits at the opposite end of the Mountain Series to the Guru, with a Capacity of 62 liters and as the EXP designation implies this one will hold everything you need on your next expedition.  The pack might be larger than the F-Stop Tilopa backpack, but by forgoing the waterproof TPU base seen on the …

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Canon 8-15 f4 L Fisheye Image Samples

If you aren’t familiar with this upcoming lens from Canon then check out my previous post with all the details.  We still don’t know when this lens is going to become available and Canon is currently tight lipped about how badly production schedules are being affected by the situation in Japan.  Last week though, the Canadian camera store Henry’s hosted a show in Toronto and the 8-15 f4 L was on show for all to see.  What made it a little different this time is that people were allowed to use them and shoot photos of them to their own memory card.  Friend of the site Chris Tanouye contacted me and showed me some sample images that he shot at the show.  Obviously lighting conditions on tradeshow floors are terribly low so it’s a difficult test but he posted some full resolution images up on his Flickr account.  You can view the whole set HERE yourself.  The images were shot on both a 50d and a 5dMKII at varying focal lengths.  They were all shot wide open (f4) and some of them at pretty slow shutter speeds so bear this in mind.

Now we have no real way of knowing what stage the sample lens was in.  i.e. how close to the production model it will be. Things may change and probably will so this is just a bit of fun to look at these really as we haven’t heard or seen anything new about this lens since September and I for one am getting impatient 🙂

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Quick Review: Aquatech Monopod Wrap

The Australian company Aquatech are best known for their underwater camera housings but over the last few years they have been slowly releasing a range of very well thought out accessories for photographers and in particular, long lens shooters.  I have an assignment coming up in June that will see me carrying my longest glass around on my monopod for a whole week whilst putting in some serious leg work.  While looking over the B&H website last week I noticed this new monopod wrap from Aquatech and thought it might come in handy.  It also coincided with some shooting I …

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Canon T3i – Video Digital Zoom Function

In Feb. 2011 Canon launched the Rebel T3i.  Occasionally consumer level products offer a sneak peek at something which may filter up to pro gear in a more refined manner.  The T3i, or 600D depending on where you live has one such interesting feature. The feature in question is called Video Digital Zoom.  Now before you all yell BLEUGH …. digital zoom sucks… bare with me.  Yes in general digital zoom does suck so this feature comes with some caveats.  Unfortunately Canon has not provided any information on exactly how they are implementing this zoom mode so there is a …

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The Ultimate Wildlife Lens – Canon 200-400 F4 L IS USM EXTENDER 1.4×

The full press release for the Canon 200-400 first announcement can be found here.  I wanted to touch on a few further thoughts about what is an incredible lens.  For years Canon shooters complained about the old school style of the Canon 100-400 f4.5-5.6 L IS.  With it’s push pull design many people found that it sucked in dust and there were also large variations in the quality of them.  Sometimes you could get a great copy, and if you didn’t mind dealing with the odd zoom design you could make some great images with it.  Many wildlife photographers used …

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Canon T3i Vs. T3 (600D Vs.1100D) Which one is for you ?

It’s not very often that Canon announces multiple SLR cameras on the same day, and even rarer that the two place next to each other in the product lineup.  Canon just announced (FEB 2011) the new T3i and T3 DSLRS, also called the 600D and 1100D depending on whether you are in N.America  or Europe.  For the rest of the article I will refer to them using the N.American nomenclature of T3i and T3 but the European models are just the same! The consumer DSLR market has become incredibly competitive over the last few years especially with Sony flexing their …

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Redrock Micro Running Man HDSLR rig review

The ergonomic difficulties associated with HDSLR movie making is something we take as a given.  We accept it without much complaint because the end results can be well worth the trouble it takes to put together an HDSLR rig that suits your needs.  Cameras like the Canon 5dMKII and 7d were not intended to be used for pure video production purposes so there are a number of problems that need to be tackled if you are going to produce quality work with them.  The first such problem is a way to view the screen, which I have already touched on …

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5dMKII bit rate hack! Magic lantern firmware update.

Fans and users of the Canon 5dMKII will probably remember Tramm Hudson’s incredible firmware update that he created LONG before Canon did to allow for various additional features  like audio meters, zebra stripes and a feature to disable the auto audio gain.  Well ever since Canon’s own 24p firmware update that also included manual audio control, all has been quiet from Tramm and his Magic Lantern firmware.   Until today! Tramm has just released a new version of his firmware and this time it follows in a similar direction to the popular Panasonic GH1 bit rate hack.  Essentially it allows you …

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Canon 5d MKIII speculation

Ok lets have some fun this week!  What would you like to see from Canon in the 5d MKIII ?  I asked myself this question and this is what I came up with. There’s no doubt that the 5D MKII was a revolutionary camera both in terms of it’s video capabilities and also it’s full frame still image quality at a much more affordable price than then 1DS MKIII.  I have no official information on 1DS sales figures but it’s pretty safe to assume they took a huge hit with the 5D MKII’s introduction, to the point where the ever …

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Canon 70-300 f4-5.6 L IS Review (Vs. 70-200 f4 L IS)

The Canon 70-300 f4-5.6 L IS was announced in September 2010 and made it to stores at the beginning of November.  There already exists two 70-300s in the Canon lineup but neither of them have ever been showered with praise.  The previous 70-300 f4.5-5.6 DO IS lens was incredibly small due to its difractive optics design, but image quality suffered and it never sold in large numbers.  The 70-300 f4-5.6 IS (non-L) is a more budget oriented lens (approx. $550) and again never really turned any heads.  I heard a lot of people cry “Oh my god a variable aperture …

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A date with the Leica M9

Last week I wrote about my experiences with the Leica X1.  While I was down in Vancouver I also had the opportunity to have a more extended test period with the Leica M9. 50mm Summicron on the left with a 35mm Summilux on the M9 First a bit of a history lesson.  The M7 and MP were the last of the film rangefinders and the first digital Leica , the M8,  was introduced in 2006 with a 10.3MP 1.3 crop sensor.  An incremental improvement was made in 2008 with the M8.2 which still employed the same 10MP sensor but with …

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