Yearly Archives: 2008

Vince LaForet on the Canon 5D Mark II

Canon 5D

A real user – that I trust.

I haven written before of the exceptional commercial photography of Vince LaForet.

Click the picture to see LaForet’s first impressions of the still and movie modes of the 5D Mark II.

When a great commercial photographer extols the image quality of a camera, (“The 5D MKII camera produces the best stills in low light that I’ve ever seen – what you can see with you eye in the worst light (such as sodium-vapor street lights at 3 a.m. in Brooklyn) – this camera can capture it with ease.“) I tend to be somewhere between belief and skepticism. Is the writer conflicted? Does the manufacturer pay him with free gear or hard or soft dollars?

In LaForet’s case I trend to the belief end of the scale. He has too much great work out there to risk his reputation.

The intriguing thing about his blog entry is that he seems most enthused with the movie mode of the new camera. Who would have thought it? If he is right, then it is indeed a game changer – 1080p HD video from a DSLR! I don’t make movies (though the genre fascinates me) and don’t need the awesome low light capability, but for many these facets of the new body may put them on the upgrade path.

Immersive media

Panoramas

A step up from QTVR.

I have written a lot in this journal about my discovery and adoption of QTVR 360 degree virtual reality photography using Quicktime and a special camera mount. If you would like to see some of the results of my efforts, please click here.

Now all of that is old hat!


Immersive Media’s Dodeca 360 camera

How about a 360 degree movie version? Click here for a demonstration. The camera, by Immersive Media has no fewer than eleven lenses and can be worn on the head, for those seeking to emulate the man from Mars. It seems pretty light.

Now where’s my check book?

Canon EOS 5D Mark II

Canon 5D

No more speculation.

Hop over to DPReview for all the details you could possibly want on the new Canon EOS 5D Mark II.


The new camera looks less well balanced than the old, looking top heavy to my eyes

I speculated about the features a few days ago and was dead wrong in some important ways.

  • The sensor is 21 mp, similar to that in the top of the line 1Ds Mark III. Wonder how they are addressing the cannibalization of sales?
  • Price. $2,700 in the US, not $3,000. This will clobber used prices for the 5D, making that a very attractive entry into full frame digital.
  • Full weather sealing. Seems like they added it.

Here are some other features which add value:

  • Movie mode. If you don’t like it, don’t use it. Nice to have.
  • Highlight tone priority – cuts down on burned-out highlights.
  • An allegedly improved LCD screen. Given how awful the one in the 5D is it’s hard not to believe Canon on this one.
  • Three Custom modes, up from one. Great. Especially as that Print button is still there and still useless, though it now doubles for Live View.
  • ISO 25,600 maximum, which may work well with the improved sensor. We will see. If so the expense of ultra large aperture lenses can largely be avoided, as this is three stops faster than the 3,200 on the 5D.
  • Wireless file transmission using the new removable handgrip. Great for studio previews.
  • The ability to fine tune the focus setting for up to 20 lenses – a great way of keeping lens cost down by forcing the user to tune the lens to the body.

And yes, Canon has still to Fix that flap!

All in all, a worthwhile update and a boon for those looking to get a 5D whose used price will likely head south of $1,500 with the glut of amateurs updating for the latest and greatest. Don’t knock them. These gear heads are your friends. If you can live without the new features (sensor dust removal is nice!) then save $1200 and get a 5D.

The new photojournalism

Photography

Some career choices.

Here are some things you may not want to do for a living:

  • Work on Wall Street
  • Win the US election on November 4, 2008
  • Go into home building
  • Become a photojournalist

The first three are obvious, but the fourth?

Check out this smart way in which CBS is seeking to get millions of prospects to work for them absolutely free:

Basically, you load this application on your smartphone (iPhone, Blackberry, whatever) and, when you see a newsworthy event, you snap the picture and send it to CBS.

Given that the chances of seeing a newsworthy event are close to zero, these things being random and unlikely (plane hits bridge, intelligent life found in Washington DC, etc.), CBS has just smartly hired a few million photojournalists with no payroll, labor, transportation, copyright, etc. issues. Smart. The sort of thing the media need if they are to survive the gale force storm of the internet, TiVo and blogs.

And at least CBS has the sense to know that a phone camera is just fine; there’s no point in wasting money on expensive DSLRs.

Still want to be a photojournalist?

The iPhone version of this application is available from Apple’s AppStore. Price? Exactly what the future value of photojournalism is. $Zero.

A handy backpack

Cameras

From LowePro.

When I sold my Rollei medium format film gear the LowePro bag in which it was stored was sold also. Way too large for anything I would contemplate in terms of equipment given the Canon 5D’s more compact size.

I finally got around to deciding on a new bag for the 5D gear and settled on the LowePro Mini-Trekker AW. LowePro has such a huge selection of products that it’s not easy finding what suits your needs best and though they have a selection aide on their site it’s not as good as it could be.

I narrowed it down knowing that I wanted a comfortable backpack design for trekking through the woods and aware that a handful of lenses, a ring flash, a few spare CF cards, batteries and the 5D’s instruction book (yes, I still get lost in all those menus and buttons sometimes) would be my companions on such trips.


Loaded for bear

In the above configuration, reading clockwise from the top left: 85mm/1.8, 15mm fisheye, 24-105mm L, 5D/200 L, 100mm macro, 50/1.4, 20mm, ringflash. I use UV filters on all lenses (except the fisheye whose bulbous front element precludes the use of a filter) so have need of only one lens cap – for the fishy. Alternatively, I can exclude any one lens and mount the 400mm f/5.6 L on the camera instead. It fits nicely with the lens hood collapsed. A neat attached fold-out plastic cover makes the whole thing weather resistant and quality is top notch – a notable feature of LowePro bags. It comes in green or black (ugh!), does not scream ‘Steal Me’ and has external straps and a supporting pocket for a tripod. (I prefer a shoulder bag for the tripod to spread the load and use a Tamrac for my 30 year old Linhof tripod). Add the QD sternum and waist straps, included, and you have something clearly thought through at the design stage by a working photographer. As I want for nothing gear wise, this bag should have a long and useful life ahead of it.

LowePro’s site asks for $182 for one of these which is ridiculous. I bought mine on ePrey for $120 delivered, new with all OEM instructions, labels, what-have-you.

By the way, here’s my old one with the Rollei 6003 kit:


A throwback to the bad old days of film

The scale is different, but the old bag was some 50% larger than the Mini-Trekker.

As usual, I find that all those zippers need some breaking in but once you get over that the bag is as user friendly as these things can ever be.