PMA 2007 Uber Update

With PMA here, there’s just too much cool stuff to talk about. I’ll just point out some highlights that really got my attention.

• Sigma APO F2.8 200 – 500 mm – OMG!! I have know idea what I would do with this, but this thing would be helluva sweet thing to use to shoot sports and neighbors changing with the blinds open
• Samsung L74 Wide – Not only are Samsung’s line up sexier than everyone’s hum-drum silver, they have some pretty neat features. On top of the 28mm wide angle (hence the title), the L74 features it’s own built in travel guide for 30 countries, providing travel info and tips!
• Olympus E-410/E-510 – Since Oly’s E-400 was MIA in North America (in other words, we didn’t get their 10mp DSLR), they finally fill the gap with the 410 and 510 pair. The latter sibling jumping on the image stabilizer bandwagon.
  
• Sigma DP1 – This new trend has always interested me: a fixed lens digital camera. Ricoh’s GR Digital first comes to mind; featuring including: a fast F/2.4 28mm fixed lens, M, P & Av Priority modes, and RAW format. But unlike the GR, the DP1 has an APS size sensor stuffed under the hood!! In fact, the same sensor in the Sigma SD14.
• Nikon Coolpix P5000 – Giving the Canon Powershot G7 a run, the P5000 looks like a high end P&S, in a more compact body. But could we lose the Coolpix moniker??

And you can find more product info here:
http://www.dpreview.com/articles/pma2007/
http://www.popphoto.com/popularphotographypodcasts/3923/pma-podcasts.html

Images source: Sigma USA, Olympus, Digital Photography Review.

You don’t smell like a peasant…
You don’t dress like a peasant…
And you certainly aren’t on fire like a peasant!

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Next up: Nikon D40X

Take a great, inexpensive car, the Honda Civic and make it better with an engine upgrade and then some; and we get a Civic Type-R. What’s this got to do with a Nikon?? Well, it sound like Nikon did an engine, er, sensor uprgrade to the D40.

In this case, they end up with a D40X. Just months after the release of the D40, replacing the D50, Nikon adds another to the DSLR 10MP list. The price and body of a D40. Under the hood, a 10MP sensor (tho rumor has it that they might not be sharing the same DNA as the D80).

There’s some speculation to the new D40X. Just when the D40 was settling in, decides to do an upgrade. One guess is that Sony will no longer be making the 6MP that the D40 and D50 employs. For that matter, the same sensor Pentax’s K100D and K110D (10MP entry level Pentaxs in the near future??).

But here’s the catch, the D40X probably doesn’t share the same 10MP sensor as the D80. Rather a cheaper 10MP sensor. Not to poo poo the ‘econo’ sensor. It’s like getting a Honda Si Civic, it’s still just as good, just not the same. And from initial tests and results, Nikon has themselves a proven winner. Look out, Canon XTi!!

Nikon Canada

Popular Photography Lab Test

Image Source: www.nikon.com

 

No Humps, no hump. I got no lady lump, in the back or in the front.

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Bottom Ten List: Why you shouldn’t own a Digital SLR (DSLR)

DSLR’s are not for everyone. So some reason not to buying a DSLR (yah, some of them are just the counterpoints to my Top Ten List: Why Own a DSLR)

1. Price – they aren’t that cheap once you start buying lenses, accessories, join eBay (see next)
2. Accessories and Lenses – that kits lenses really doesn’t cut it. Plus, you quickly become an eBay junkie.
3. Weight and size – creative control, speed, and too many accessories can be cumbersome
4. Image size – using 3 meg+ size images or RAW is overkill for most pictures. Especially if all you do is email or print 4×6 prints.
5. Learning curve – trying to understand aperture, depth of field, exposure, guide numbers, etc, is not for everyone.
6. Shooting in Auto or p mode – if you don’t plan to learn how to use your camera and you just shoot in auto mode; congratulations, you just bought yourself a really, really expensive P&S.
7. Short life cycle/fast turn over – since August 2003, the birth of Canon’s digital Rebel/300D/Kiss, there has been a new Rebel nearly every year since then then.
8. (No number 8 – writer sick from bad peanut butter)
   
9. Viewfinder can be hard to see with/no LCD preview – especially if wear glasses or the DSLR uses a pentamirror instead of a pentaprism. Altho, Olympus’ E-330 and Canon’s new Canon EOS-1D Mark III DSLR now feature LCD preview. But that’s another story.
10. 1.5 crop factor/wide angle sucks – Moving beyond the kit lens, which is a respectible 28mm-75mm equvalent, wide angle lenses are very expensive.

Pentax PMA/Photo Imaging Expo Update: 3 New Star (*) lenses, limited lens, 645 Digital, Dedicated Autoflash

Okay, sorry this update is late, it’s press release was last week. Still, I feel it’s worth mentioning, cuz Pentax as many other camera companies are left unnoticed in the shadow of the giants, Canon and to a lesser extent, Nikon.

For anyone that knows their bodies and glass, Pentax is best known for their 645 medium bodies and their famous star lenses and limited lenses. With that, Pentax is (finally) debuting their 645 digital medium format camera at PMA 2007 and the Photo Imaging Expo 2007 in Japan. Tentative info mentions a possible 31.6 megapixel CCD image sensor, developed by Kodak. Simultaneously, Pentax will be releasing a standard lens made for the new digital 645; a standard 55mm F2.8 lens.

For the Pentax DSLR line, the release of 3 new star lenses of the highest performance and optics, and first for Pentax, the use of supersonic motor in the lens (like Canon’s USM).
Look out for two prime telephotos, DA 200mm F2.8 and DA 300mm F4; and a constant aperture zoom, DA 60-250mm F4.

Since Pentax’s acclaimed limited lens trio, Pentax has dished out another 3 digital only limited lenses (DA 40mm 2.8, DA 21mm F3.2, DA 70mm F2.4). Just to clarify, ‘limited’ has nothing to do with availability, but a higher quality (prime) lens. Anyways, new to the family is a DA 35mm F2.8 macro limited. At about a 52mm equivalent, it would be ideal as a standard lens.

Finally, the AF200FG dedicated flash. Uh, yah. It has a guide number of 20 at ISO 100/m. Sorry, very little info available at this time. But from the looks of it, it will be a compact, inexpensive flash providing a bit more power and usefulness than the built-in flash.

Images Source: www.pentax.com

Full press release here.

They’ve done studies, you know. 60% of the time, it works every time.
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Canon EOS-1D Mark III DSLR with live LCD

I try to keep up with what available for the latest and greatest for cameras and camera equipment (mostly DSLR tho). My favorite sources for the latest camera news are Digital Photography Review, Popular Photography or Engadget. I’ll add links as I find them for your reading convenience. Thank you in advance to Digital Photography Review, Popular Photography and Digg.

Image Source: www.canon.com
http://www.usa.canon.com/templatedata/pressrelease/20070221_1dmark3.html

http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/21/canons-eos-1d-mark-iii-dslr-with-live-lcd/

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0702/07022208canoneos1dmarkiii.asp

http://www.popphoto.com/photonews/3853/canon-announces-eos-1d-mark-iii.html

I bent my Wookie
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Top 10 List: Why own a Compact/Point and Shoot (P&S) Digital Camera

Some counter points to the last list. Again no particular order.

1. Sexy form factor
2. Excellent zoom range, upto 12X zoom in some cases
3. Light weight and small size
4. Easy to use, hence the title ‘P&S’
5. ‘Anti-shake’ or ‘image stabilizer’ available on nearly all P&S cameras now. Excellent for low light and shakes
6. Very affordable
7. Huge selection – everything from inexpensive entry-level to prosumer and everything in between (see below)
8. Specialty cameras available – ie. underwater (Pentax W30), rugged, dual lens (Kodak V610), prosumer level (Canon G7), etc
9. Video/movie recording
10. Uhh, I’m working on it.

Don’t spay or neuter your pets
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Top Ten List: Why Own a Digital SLR (DSLR)

In no particular order, 10 reasons why DSLR are great to have:

1. Creative Control – depth of field, shutter speed, multiple manua/auto focusing points, exposure control
2. Picture/image Quality – large sensor size, pixel density, low noise, RAW/DNG file output
3. Accessories – lenses, filters, flash, etc
4. True anti-shake/shake reduction – lens or sensor shift
5. Price and selection – reasonable cost and good selection of consumer/entry level DSLRs
6. High speed operation – no shutter lag and instant start up, fast and accurate autofocus
7. Pentamirror or Pentaprism Viewfinder – superior to LCD screens.
8. High quality and build
9. Used equipment – eBay is your best friend for accessories
10. 1.5 crop factor – hello telephoto
11. Excellent learning tool (vs film SLR) – instant viewing, EXIF, less environment impact (no film and developing chemicals involved)
    

Okay, it’s really a top 11, but only cuz top 10 is more searchable than 11.
Please email me if any of these points should be expanded or discussed.

I’ll talk at you soon.
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Goin’ Old School

Right: Pentax ME , 24/12/2006. Pentax *ist DS, Pentax-M F/1.7 50mm. Focal length: 50mm. Exposure: Manual Program, F/?? (I forget cuz I didn’t make note of it), 1/90sec, ISO-400.

As I mentioned previously, I acquired some (lots) of old camera equipment. Most importantly, it’s film equipment (obviously), but even more importantly, a number of pieces I can still use (and I intend to), as it was originally intended (the previous owners kept everything in minty, well stored condition). And even better, I can use some of this old equipment on my DS.

In case you didn’t know, Pentax and Nikon, both retained their original K and F mounts on their current camera bodies. What does that mean?? It means new bodies are backwards compatible with those gorgeous, well built old lenses (with some limitations).

The biggest limitation would be lack of auto focus, with a manual lens. But if you’re out shooting portraits, landscapes, architecture, etc. auto really isn’t a problem. Another major limitation would be having to use full manual for some lenses. Which can be troublesome if you don’t know how to meter manually. And chances are, the camera is going to be limited to spot and/or centre weighted metering.

With the DS and other Pentax digial bodies (with some limitations), you’re in luck. In fact, the digital Pentax’s have better backwards compatibility with lenses than the last film SLR bodies Pentax made. Setting to M mode, adjust the aperture ring on the lens , push the ‘green’ button/AE lock button on the back to get a stopped meter reading, based on the aperture value you selected. This would be the equivalent of using Av priority (a little slower cuz it’s not auto). Then adjust the shutter speed as required.

It’s a bit of extra work, but at least you have the TTL metering to fall back on. Using any other mode (P, Av, Tv) and the camera will operate the lens at the largest aperture. Which is pretty much useless.

Just to note, if you have an old manual lens with an ‘A’ on the aperture ring, then you are in good shape. These lenses will operate in all modes, like it normally does, but sans the auto focus. But this another episode.

Operations aside, using a manual lens on a new body definitely has it’s perks. Weight and size. Not having a motor or any auto focus mechanism in a lenses greatly reduces the size and weight of the lenses. This is very apparent with telephotos and faster (small f/stop) lenses.

Plus, old lenses tend to built tougher and feel much more solid than a lot of newer lenses. This would be back in the days when things were made of metal (me-t-al??), and not nearly as mass produced as it is now.

Hmm, funny how this post was supposed to be about my growing equipment collection (yes, I am now a camera equipment whore), yet I never once mentioned what lenses or camera bodies I now have. Oops, next post.

I love lamp.
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Happy Holidays (belated)

Right: Calgary Banker’s Hall X-mas Tree, 12/12/2006. Pentax *ist DS, Pentax DA F2.8 40mm. Focal length: 40mm. Exposure: Aperture Priority, F/2.8, 1/30sec, ISO-400. Centre Weighted Average. Soft Filter.

Sorry about the lack of updates/posts in the last couple weeks. The holiday season really eats up blogging time. Sadly, I can’t say I took many holiday related photos. Calgary seems to lack any sort of holiday spirit and the availability of any decorations or lights around town is absolutely dismal. And even worse is the lack of snow. So a brown Xmas and no decorations was pretty disappointing. HK and NY probably are the best locales in the world for Xmas spirit and decorations (in spite the underlying reason is just to sell, sell, sell and not to celebrate the birth of our Lord)

Hopefully I will be back to speed after the new year. I have lots of good stuff to talk about and plenty of new albums and pictures to share.

One new segment to be added will be my ‘Camera Bag’ category. In the last month I’ve acquired some (free) camera equipment. Some will be in active use, while others are part of my museum pieces.

From all of us at In the Corner, happy belated X-mas, Chanukah, Kwanza, Boxing Day, Festivus, etc, and have a Happy New Year.

They put his halo on a duck. The oldest trick in the book.
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Hotter than a Fox New Weather Skank

Right: Iginla vs Koivu , 12/12/2006. Pentax *ist DS, Sigma F4-5.6 70-300mm. Focal length: 150mm. Exposure: Action Program, F/4.5, 1/350sec, ISO-1600.

What’s hotter?? The Flames are!!

I was at the Calgary Saddledome, Tuesday to see the Calgary Flames take on the Minnesota Wild. Needless to say, Calgary won 5 to 2 (tho it should have been 5-0, stupid mistakes), and went onto a 10 game winning streak. A new franchise record infact. Go Flames!!

I was very happy to be a part of the event. But even more so, I got a taste of shooting some fast action, sport photography. All I can say is that it is a lot harder than it looks. For one thing, it’s hard to keep up and take pics if your busy watching the game. My DS, tho a bit slow in the AF department, managed to keep up at decent pace. Shooting in the ‘sport’ mode, seem to do the trick. Unfortunately, my telephoto left something to be desired. Namely, something a bit faster. F-stop of 4 to 5.6 max is disgustingly slow. Especially with hockey, as the ice confuses the camera (see the ‘I’m dreaming of a White Balanced Picture’ entry), I had to use a ev compensation of +1.

I had a decent seat, first balcony level, 9^th row. It wasn’t centered to the rink, nor exactly in the corner of the dome, but closer to one side of the rink. Which would explain why I had some pics with that high puck netting (I’ll get to that in a second). Aside from the lens being a bit on the slow side, The lens did do a decent job of getting in on the action from where I was sitting. With the 1.5x factor on the APS sized sensor, the 70-300mm was more than enough. But what I found difficult was keeping up with the action, while keeping the camera close to eye level and ready to shoot. You want to watch the game and watch the action, but at the same time, ready to shoot. It was either enjoy the game or be shooting, but not both L

After a while I found, depending on which end of the rink the action was, I would pre-zoom the lens to around 135mm to 250mm range. But even having the zoom ready didn’t help all the time. One issue the cameras auto focus had trouble with was that safety netting. It would really confuse things if I tried to focus within it. I had to quickly switch to manual focus and take over. On the other hand, with the ‘sport mode’ on, continuous/tracking focus from outside the net and following the players into it, didn’t seem to cause the auto focus any problems on what to focus on.

I would definitely love to try sport photography again. But the chances of getting such good tickets are pretty slim. And expensive. Face value on those seats were $120+. Nose bleed seats?? Not so sure about that. Namely cuz I don’t want some drunk spilling beer on me and my camera.

BTW, I finally started using my Flickr account. So the pics on the side bar will be my pics and not some random junk. When I get the time, I’ll transfer the existing albums from imagestation to Flickr.

Milhouse, knock him down if he’s in your way! Jimbo, Jimbo, go for the face! Ralph Wiggum lost his shin guard! Hack the bone! Hack the bone!

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