Posted by Constantin Chirila on Mar 12, 2009 in Releases
There will be a couple of announcements to be made by 25th of March by Canon. It seams that a new improved lens will be one of them. I don’t what exactly will be improved, but I am guessing a new Ultra Sonic Motor to facilitate a better and faster focusing, and I am guessing that it will be sharper than the previous model.
Also there is a new rumor that on the same day the new Canon TSi/500D will see the daylight. Although the first rumor said that this is going to be released at the PMA ( check this ), but it wasn’t released then. Anyway, we will wait an see.
Ohh and here is a list of specs for those of you who didn’t read the first post about this Canon TSi/500D:
Posted by Constantin Chirila on Mar 4, 2009 in Camera Gear
A couple of days ago, at PMA show, Sigma presented 2 entry level lenses both with OS (optical stabilization) and one ultra-wide lens.
Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5 EX DC HSM
It seams that Sigma improved the popular ultra-wide lens 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM made for APS-C/DX sensors (Non Full Frame), making the new version with fixed a aperture of f/3.5 through the focal range. It also has two Super-Low Dispersion and two Extraordinary-Low Dispersion glass elements for the correction of chromatic aberrations. It will be available with mounts for Canon, Nikon, Sigma, Sony and Pentax DSLRs. Hopefully this will at leas as good as it predecessor, we will see some future reviews, I would like an ultra wide lens for my cropped sensor 40D.
Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8-4.5 DC OS HSM
Sigma also has released a standard zoom lens featuring an optical stabilizer and a wide aperture at it’s shortest focal length. This is also having twoSuper-Low Dispersion glass elements for the correction of chromatic aberrations. As the previous lens it has a Hyper Sonic Motor (HSM) for fast and silent focusing. Sigma also states that its OS it would work on Sony and Pentax bodies with in-body stabilization systems. This also will be available with mounts for Canon, Nikon, Sigma, Sony and Pentax DSLRs. Bottom line this is a good lens to replace the kit lenses, because this is faster.
Sigma 50-200mm f/4-5.6 DC OS HSM
Sigma also talked about it’s telephoto zoom lens. This lens has the same image stabilization as the 18-50mm f/2.8-4.5 and also has the Hyper Sonic Motor. Something to note, due to fact that is a low-budget lens, is the fact that it has internal focusing with a non-rotating front element. Also the lens is treated for correction of chromatic aberrations.
Posted by Constantin Chirila on Feb 27, 2009 in Camera Gear
We often find ourselves wishing and talking about DSLR cameras, we compare them and adopt a geek language babbling about shutter speeds, ISO, camera features, image processing and other technicalities. This makes us forget about the most important piece of gear that helps us take the photograph we want, and that is the LENS.
The lens is the eye of the camera, and every photograph is recorded after the light come through the lens. Taking your DSLR without putting your lens on, and start taking photos, your see that the image processor records and extremely blurry photographs.
Lenses allows us to:
get more light ( lenses with big aperture), even if your camera have high iso numbers, you’ll still need a fast lens to get fast shutter speeds.
get close-up of your subject without actually being close ( telephoto lenses )
get incredibly sharp photographs
get sharp images of a mosquito’s eye ( macro lenses )
isolate our subject with small depth of field
capture sharp images of huge mountains and big fields of flowers ( wide lenses )
make creative photographs with lens-baby
As you can see lenses are way more important that the camera.
In creating the ultimate lens is involved a lot of precision mechanics and optics science. Also there is use a high amount of very expensive glass materials, so you will need a lot of glass elements in building a zoom lens with fast aperture. Also every piece of glass is treated with other substances for durability, minimize chromatic aberrations, reduce flare, etc. Also raw optical glass costs around 1000$ per kilogram, as Discovery Channel points out in their “How it’s made” show.
All of this being said, you can easily explain why a good lens costs hundreds and even thousand of dollars.
Also please check this video created by Discovery Channel on how lenses are made.
Posted by Constantin Chirila on Jan 12, 2009 in News
The rumor I was talking about a few days ago about the release of the new professional camera, Canon EOS 1D Mark IV, seams to be true according to a lot of articles gathered at Northlight Images blog. Here’s a quote regarding the use of the video function at sport events (it seams canon is looking for approval of FIFA):
“…Canon has a replacement for the 1D MKIII ready to launch during the second quarter of 2009. What’s holding Canon back is a decision from FIFA … to allow pro-cameras with video capability ( see 5D MKII) during sporting events. FIFA is currently looking into the legal implications with television rights and contracts with broadcasters. If FIFA give the green light then Canon will release the camera.”
But it’s not a huge dead, because Canon won’t delay the launch of the camera whatever the answer from FIFA will be. There isalso a rumor that the possible announcement date is May 19, 2009.
As I promised a few posts back i would like to start talking about some basic aspects of the camera. Like Shutter Speed, Aperture, ISO, Camera Settings, etc.
Today I will talk about Shutter Speed. Here is a list o things you should know about this:
1. What is Shutter Speed?
As the name says, it’s the speed of the shutter is opening and closing. In fact it is measured in the time the shutter stays open (from 1/8000 of a second to 30 seconds and more in the bulb mode). So if you take your photo with 1/250th of a second the shutter stays open for 0,004 (1/250) seconds, or if you take it with 1/25 of a second the shutter stays open for quarter of a second. Read more…
The worst nightmare of a photographer worst than get his equipment stolen, it’s to lose his photographs. Being in digitized era the risks of losing you photographs and even documents, it’s higher than in the film era. There are a bunch of risks, from accidental deletion to hardware failure, file corruption and the list goes on.
Losing a photograph it’s worst than loosing something you created, which can be recreated the only thing you’re going to lose it’s time. But a photograph, you cannot go back in time and nail the exact same shot (I also consider that a photograph is unique, there aren’t two photos that loo the same even if there where shot at the same time).
So I will try to give you some advices on how to protect your precious photographs.
1. Always backup your photos on a DVD.
Every time you copy you photograph from your camera to your hard drive the first this you have to remember to do is to back up onto a DVD or CD. There are so cheap compared to how much trouble can get you out from.
Nikon has leaked their own announcements themselves by mistake. How did this happened? Well, it appears that they released their magazine named “Nikon Pro Magazine” in Europe to early, before they could launch the “official announcement”.
The new Nikon D3x is a full-frame DSLR camera with a 24.5 megapixel 16-bit EXPEED image processor. Here are some more specifications:
24.5 megapixel the highest resolution seen in a Nikon DSLR to date
16 bit EXPEED image processor (35.9 x 24mm)
51 point autofocus system
5fps continuous shooting (or 7fps at 10 megapixel)
ISO range 50-6200
Extra High Active D-Lighting
Live preview shooting mode
3 inch LCD screen with 922000 dots
Extremely durable magnesium construction with economically optimized and weather-sealed
Dual CF slots
According to cameraworld.co.uk the price of the D3X camera is expected to be around £5500 (they even take pre-order deposits of £20). And it is said that will be released in December.
I wonder if it’s worth buying it. Beside the high megapixel number there is not much improvement compared to D3. I guess that this D3X it will be a relief for fashion/portrait/product/etc. photographer , but a disappointment for wedding and sports photographers photographers where they need speed and god image quality at very high ISO. But we will wait and see how it will present itself.
There will be a couple of announcements to be made by 25th of March by Canon. It seams that a new improved lens will be one of them. I don’t what exactly will be improved, but I am guessing a new Ultra Sonic Motor to facilitate a better and faster focusing, and I am guessing that it will be sharper than the previous model.
Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5 EX DC HSM
Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8-4.5 DC OS HSM
Sigma 50-200mm f/4-5.6 DC OS HSM
We often find ourselves wishing and talking about DSLR cameras, we compare them and adopt a geek language babbling about shutter speeds, ISO, camera features, image processing and other technicalities. This makes us forget about the most important piece of gear that helps us take the photograph we want, and that is the LENS.
