Category: Canon

Canon’s Competition…

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Although this is primarily a venue for discussing Canon gear, since it is also about photography news, in the interests of full disclosure, it only seems fair to at least acknowledge the competition.  Apparently, Nikon has responded to the Canon release with their own new DSLR cameras.  Whereas Canon has the 1Ds Mark III and the 40D, the Nikon has announced the release of their competitive bodies, the D3 and the D300.  The Online Photographer and DPReview have reviews and information on the new product lines.  For those interested in more info, each venue is hyperlinked for your convenience.

From a personal perspective on the matter – it seems more and more the two largest market share holders are losing something of their signature and recognition by having the confluence of naming conventions.  While I understand that the “D” is for digital, and there is no getting around the English language in that regard, one can easily see how the average consumer could become very confused very quickly.  Sure, one has the “d” before the numbering system, and the other has the “d” after, but when both vendors have a “40” series, the possibilities for confusion between a 40D and a D40 seem just obvious to me.

While I realize it’s an exercise in futility as both product lines were established well before my entry into the field, and will likely continue long after my ashes are scattered – I can’t help but wonder how much easier it would be to identify Canon and Nikon brands with a naming convention along the lines of CD and ND respectively.  Of course some might confuse this with the abbreviations for the Congo Democratic Republic and New Delhi or something like that – the odds are minimal at best.  Okay, that’s enough for my Thursday rant. Now for the Thursday apologies:  Due entirely to laziness factors that were totally within my control, the previously promised podcast that looks at the Canon EOS 40D was not recorded for release yesterday as my initial post had suggested.  Boy, I’m off to a great start here, eh?  Okay, well, that’s the joy of being a one-man operation (again):  no one to blame but yourself.  I accept full responsibility and will forewarn any of the probably three or four people that have discovered the blog thus far that I have several previously scheduled obligations today, tomorrow, and Saturday that will require my presence, so it looks like the promised podcast will not be delivered until Sunday.  So…look for the podcast on your feeds Sunday night, and download to your music player for Monday morning enjoyment… I will likely stop in with random bits of news between now and Sunday, but that’s the latest on the elusive podcast front. 

The First “Official” Post – 40D and 1DsMark III

JasonLeave a comment

As my first “official” post, I should probably give a nod to the recent release of the latest EOS gear from Canon.  This was a much anticipated release of the new EOS 40D and 1Ds Mark III bodies.  The hype that led to these news releases was palpable.  Various photo communities and technical repositories have been monitoring sites like Amazon and Canon 24/7 for the last few months in hopes of being “the first” to uncover the release of any good information on new product lines.  Just a brief look at some of the more popular venues like Photo.net, P.O.T.N, Fred Miranda, and DPReview, as well as the authors own regional site, SC Photogs show at least some curiosity, if not an almost perpetual buzz of thread postings on the anticipated release date.  Subjects have ranged from specs we want to see, speculation over what will be included in the gear, who the gear is marketed for, what the fallout will be on the rest of the market, and what Nikon will do in response.  Heck, there was even one report that came from someone with a cell phone shot of an in-store best Buy screen showing the ship date, and estimated retail pricing.  All in all, there was a lot of speculation leading up to this release.  Now that the news is there, we can expect to see them in online stores within a month.  Brick-and-mortar stores may take a while longer as pre-ordered online sales will likely drain initial stock quickly.  

While each of these camera bodies and the added features they will offer is quite exciting in its own right, largely due to the feature enhancements in both grades, extensive coverage of both would bore some, lose others, and just make for a really long post.  So, in the interests of brevity, I will take a more direct look at the one that I will likely be throwing my wallet at (unless of course Canon happens to be viewing this blog and would like to send me an advance model for testing and review, I would be happy to accept the responsibility of testing this equipment in “real world” situations for them.  (Canon, are you listening? 🙂 ). 

So, look for the first podcast later this afternoon or tomorrow morning , where I pour over all the nitty gritty details of one of the latest gear releases from Canon…the EOS 40D! 

Until then, I leave you with a few bits and pieces of general photography news and links to check out during the day (as if you don’t have enough from the inline references above!):

  • Photoshop TV has released its latest weekly episode for viewing on their website.   

  • The Digital Photography Show has their latest podcast up for listening, as well as a post about the 40D too.

  • The Strobist is a great blog/resource for those interested in lighting gear and techniques.  Great stuff here!

Until I post again (likely this afternoon)…happy shooting!