A date with the Leica M9

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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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Delayed but coming soon! Canon 70-300 L IS !

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The Canon 70-300 f4-5.6 L IS was due to be launched at the end of October but has slipped slightly.  We are seeing the first sign that it is coming soon as all the major retailers have started to take orders for it.  Be the first to get in line because this is going to be a BIG seller and number will no doubt be short to begin with. The lens retails for $1599.

Panasonic launches the GF2 Micro Four Thirds camera

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Panasonic has today launched the new GF2 Micro Four Thirds camera to supersede their popular GF1 model.  The MFT (Micro Four Thirds) standard has been gaining market position quickly over the last couple of years and Panasonic’s cameras have been at the forefront of this popularity boom.  The previous G models (G1, GH1, GF1) were very popular and well received by the press in general.  At Photokina in September Panasonic too the wraps off the new DMC-GH2 and initial reports of that camera have found image quality and autofocus speed to be of excellent quality.  When the original GF1 was announced it surprised a few people by managing to cram nearly all the features of it’s larger brother, the GH1, into a much smaller package. With the GF2 they have achieved much the same thing but with a few key differences.

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Canon delays three of its new lenses until March 2011

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Canon has announced today that three of its highly anticipated new lenses have been delayed until March 2011.  The 300mm f2.8 L IS II , the 400mm f2.8 L IS II and the 8-15mm f4 L fisheye zoom. The lenses have been delayed due to changes in the manufacturing process. I’m personally most disappointed with the fisheye zoom as I plan to purchase that lens immediately and arriving in March it will miss most of my winter work where it would have been very useful.

Impressions of the Leica X1

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The X1 was launched by Leica alongside the M9 back in September 2009 and a new all black version was displayed at Photokina this year, set to ship within the next month.  For those unfamiliar with this camera there are a few stand out features that immediately set this camera apart from other compacts.  Firstly Leica have managed to squeeze a 12MP APS-C sized sensor into the diminutive X1 body which is an impressive achievement and immediately gives it an advantage over most other compact cameras.  Secondly the X1 features a fixed 24mm Leica Elmarit lens.  Elmarit in Leica land …

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New print available – Tree Skier

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I have a new limited edition print available so I thought I would post up some shots of one already printed up and framed.  This is a photo of Austin Ross skiing across a fallen tree in Whistler, BC.

This example is printed at 24″ x 16″ on archival photo rag and then sprayed with an archival spray on top to keep it looking perfect for a very very long time!  The printing is done by a company who I consider to be the best professional printers in Vancouver.  I can ship anywhere and shipping is charged at cost.  If you have a specific image of mine that you would like to have framed then this can also be arranged.  Christmas is on it’s way and a nice framed print is always a great gift !  Click through for more pricing information and print options.

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CalDigit AV Drive review. USB 3.0 comes to the Mac!

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Let’s face it, we all spend more time at our computers than we want to these days.  With digital camera manufacturers pushing megapixel and file sizes higher and higher, and HD video becoming the norm, we are constantly in need of more hard drives.  On top of a need for reliable storage space I’m always looking for a way to speed up my workflow and hence spend less time in front of the monitor.  A couple of months ago storage solution specialists CalDigit announced a new addition to their external drive lineup, the USB 3.0 packing AV Drive.  On top of this they simultaneously released a Mac compatible PCI USB 3.0 cards as well as an Expresscard USB 3.0 adapter for Mac laptops with expresscard slots.

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Apple launches the tiny 11.6″ Macbook Air – How will it work for traveling photogs ?

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Apple has this morning launched a new Macbook in their lineup, the 11.6″ and  Macbook Air.  The Macbook Air in itself is nothing new, it has been around for for a few years though I have yet to meet anyone that actually uses one.  The similarly sized and better specc’d, cheaper 13″ Macbook Pro was always a no-brainer when choosing between the two.  Apple has addressed this today with the introduction of the smaller 11.6″ Macbook Air.  Much thinner and much smaller than a 13″ Macbook Pro you can begin to see some advantage to this solution if you are really looking to travel as light as possible.  Now I am always looking to shave a pound or two off the weight that I carry when I’m traveling. My camera gear weighs me down big time!  And often when I am away, all I need to do is update the blog, check some e-mail and download and backup memory cards.  I had high hopes for the iPad initially because it could deal with the internet side of that problem, but it failed miserably on the memory card download a backup side of things.  But the new Macbook Air can handle that without issue, 2xUSB ports allow me to connect an external drive and a memory card reader and for my SD cards, the reader is built in to the body.  As Steve Jobs said in the presentation, this is what happens when a Macbook and an iPad hook up!  But there is a lot more to it that simple portability….. read on.

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Ad for Atomic Skis

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This is an ad for Atomic Skis that I shot in Alaska last spring time.  It was shot with a Canon 1DMKIV and a 300mm f2.8 L IS with a 1.4 teleconverter on it.  The helicopter dropped me off on an opposite ridge to the line the guys were skiing on so I was quite some distance away.  The skier in the shot is professional freeskier Tim Durtchi and the guys from Poorboyz Productions were also on hand to film the action for their movie Revolver.  I knew Tim was going to do this trick off the cliff so I …

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Pushing flash X-sync to the limit

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For people that shoot fast moving action with strobes like myself, we are always worrying about sync speeds and flash durations.  Today I’m going to talk a little bit about flash sync and give a quick example of how you can push the boundaries of what can often seem like a very limiting factor with DSLRs.

One of the first questions people ask when they start experimenting with flash is “why does my camera not allow me to use a shutter speed higher than 1/xxx second?”  If you scan through the specifications of a camera you will see one called x-sync.  Typically listed as between 1/180 and 1/250 of a second, this is the fastest useable shutter speed of your camera when using flash. The best way to get to grips with it is to understand exactly what is happening in that split second after you press the shutter button.

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