Tag: gear

The 50D has surfaced

Jason1 Comment

I got home tonight to quite a few emails of people asking if I’d heard of the 50D yet and whether there was any validity to the rumors flying around the internets.  While Canon does not confide inme, I’ve seen some pretty intriguing information, and at the risk of perpetuating rumors, I will share some of what appear to be the more valid remors.  Most specifically intriguing is a Chinese website for Canon that shows a banner of the entire EOS line, which includes a 50D on the right hand side of the banner.  Hard to say whether it’s legit or not, but with Photokina right around the corner, and the desire of all manufacturers to hopefully get a little buzz going on their announcements, I’ll play into their hands a little.  Here’s the links I’ve received that suggest it is a reality rather than rumor:

  • http://bgpictures.com/blog/
  • http://www.photographybay.com/2008/08/21/canon-50d-info-leaked-real-specs/
  • http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/cameras/Canon_50D.html
  • http://www.canonrumors.com/index.php?entry=entry080125-142506
  • http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/24/canons-eos-50d-product-shots-test-photo-leaked/
  • http://www.canon.com.cn/products/camera/eos/index.html

The fact that the source URL of that last one is from China and not Japan (Canon is in Japan, not China…or are they?) makes me suspicious, but by the same token, another portion of the site has interviews that discuss the history of the EOS lens system for Canon, saying it’s the anniversary of their 20t year.  Plus, the graphics aren’t exactly the makings of hacks and pseudos who are trying for a temporary jump in their web traffic – there’s nothing to buy there!  Anyway, the movie itself has a translation and was kind of neat to watch, so here’s a link to that too:

http://www.canon.com.cn/specialsite/EOS_final/index-e.html

Plus, I finally learned that EOS stands for Electro Optical System.  As a guy running a blog about Canon and photography, I guess I should have known that! 🙂

No tutorial for today folks – just too busy to get one recorded in time.  As I have an event to shoot at work tonight I suspect that the post tomorrow will be the “no blog” day…but I’ll try to make it back here Thursday to share some more detailed shots and thoughts from the photowalk last Saturday.

Until Thursday then, happy shooting and watch those apertures! 🙂

Wednesday Walk around the Web returns

Jason2 Comments

Surprise!

As the final hours approach me here on Tuesday, I still find myself struggling to capture something of interest that would be a fun topic for the “What’s This?”, so, a rather easy one is up for your guessing pleasure. Truth be told though, this is kind of lame, and as such, I would like more of the focus for today’s post to be the traditional “walk around the web” Here’s what’s going on this week in photo land:

  1. First, stop over to Scott Kelby’s blog – guest writer John Nack from a little company called Adobe will be filling in, and if you don’t already know who he is, and why we listen, stop over at his blog to catch up…
  2. Next, some shout outs to…well, myself sort of, but also to Scott Eggleston, over at Weekly Photo Tips. He chose an image I shared with him over on his blog as a monthly winner in his photo contest! While I am flattered to have won the prize, it’s just more germane to say that as I was packing things up the other day, I was talking to my wife about how I wished I had some convenient way to pack my AA batteries! Hello Alanis Morrisette, isn’t that ironic? He also had a post on late last week on how to shoot reflective surfaces with a YouTube video too – very informative!
  3. Next, Brian Reyman over at Professional Snapshots has his third in a series of lighting tutorials he’s posting on. Very useful and a great presentation of the info there. I’ve been reading Brian’s blog for a while now and he has a truly innovative way of thinking. Shout outs to Brian! 🙂
  4. Visual Realia continues to keep my creative juices flowing, even though I did not come up with a very good image for today./ Look at Andy’s blog any time you need a kick start for your creative voice. His last three images of normal playing cards, show how anything can be beautiful if well visioned and composed!
  5. Finally, stop over to Hyperphocal for some great reading material if you have some time. It’s becoming quite the repository of excellent photo-related articles. A couple recent articles include the subject of Getting your photos into gallery shows, and Reasons to watermark your imagery. Like I said, great reading all around!

Since others have discussed it, particularly today, it bears mentioning (at least acknowledging anyway) that Nikon has released to new bits of gear – the D700 body and the SB-900 flash. Rather than regale you with tons of links on both of these, let’s just say that since reading quite a few posts from some respected photog-types, it seems people are curious about teh new body, but almost to the tune of 75%, they are expressing more excitement over the flash. Even Michael Johnston from The Online Photographer
picks up on the news, and throws in an off-handed remark about the new flash (and two new PC lenses that I’d not even read about until hitting his blog). Just goes to show you, the bells and whistles are there to generate new interest, and in many cases, it works! Having said that, it seems more and more that the tried and true utilitarian upgrades and additions to a camera line are what pulls repeat buyers back for more.

Until tomorrow, happy shooting and watch those apertures!

As a shameless self-promotion slug, as we move toward the holiday weekend, it’s time too brush up on your night photography. Remember what apertures and shutters are and how they relate? Refresh over at The Online Photography Test , hosted right here at CB! So, stop over there to test your A&S awareness (among other things) before heading out to shoot for the day! Don’t forget to pick up the feed for CB if you haven’t already.

Friday Feel-goods

Jason4 Comments

Canon 40D

Found a couple neat resources around the web over the last few days. But, I am not gonna share them today. That’s right, the old bait-and-switch! I say something then switch gears once you’re hooked and talk about something else entirely. But, rest assured weary reader, I am not selling anything…yet! Quite simply – I got my 40D!!! That’s right, pulled the trigger, but the bullet, took the plunge, and every other metaphor you can think of. So, now with not one but 2 SLR’s in hand, I feel a little better knowing I have a backup.

That means my trusty Canon XT is now a backup camera! The funniest thing about it is that when I got my XT about 3 years ago, I paid more for that than I just paid for the Canon 40D (body only)! Back in 2005, the XT was hot off the presses and I was chomping at the bit to get it. The market started with it around $1000, and when I found one at Beach Camera for $850, I thought – “This is a good deal!” So I took the plunge.

Fast forward to 2007, the Canon 40D debuts for $1140 retail for the body. Within a year, rebates start kicking in – the struggling economy starts impacting camera manufacturers, so the rebates are big. The Canon 40D now has a $200 rebate, and it’s not the mail in kind! That’s right, an instant in-store rebate knocks the 40D down to $940 bones. This is a pretty darn good deal considering where the 40D stands in the Canon lineup. (3rd in line as I see it: 1D Mark II, 5D, and then the 40D)

But wait, hold the phones, that deal gets sweeter! If you are a current XT, XTi, or XSi owner, an additional $50 mail in rebate is offered too. So, now after all rebates, you can get the pristine new 40D for under $900…a mere $890! What a steal! But, here’s the thing – that means the aftermarket is starting to feel a pinch. This means the 40D that many bought a mere 6 months ago for $1200 could concievably drop to half that in the aftermarket since the XS is coming out, and a likely successor to the 5D which will push it down further. No one wants to see their gear depreciate to the tune of 50% in a mere 12 months. Heck, the XT new was around $100, and it still can be found for $450-$500 after being in the market place for about 4 years! (Although I suspect not for much longer – it’s not even in the current lineup anymore…)

So, anyway, the aftermarket starts picking up. By keeping up with the market via 1001 Noisy Cameras I can see that Canon is taking the majority of the top ten deals for a good 3 months. Now, with the standard for after market stuff typically running around 10-15% less than retail, 40D owners start pushing their bodies for $900, then $875, and most recently I saw one for $850. Well, last week I posted in the Buy/Sell forums of one particular community that I wanted to buy (WTB) a 40D at the 10% off retail rate…after rebates! That meant $800. Within an hour I had a taker, so – for less than the price of my XT, I upgraded to the 40D a year after its release.

Ironic, because it was about a year after the XT was released that I got it for about just as the retail price dropped 10%. In the aftermath, I learned a valuable lesson about camera gear: bodies depreciate, lenses retain value. If you want to spend money wisely, don’t upgrade your body every year, upgrade your glass. Hopefully this upgrade will have been worthwhile – 3 years in the making, and for $100 less than my previous body – I think it was probably a good investment. The only reason I did it was because I really did feel as though I was starting to bump up against the limitations of the XT body. Frame rate was not where I wanted it, the image counter was becoming more of a hindrance as I take more, the images were harder to see, and it was just starting to show signs of wear and tear. A bit of the plastic casing had peeled off in my sweaty mitts. It was just time to upgrade. To the forum guy (you know who you are) that hooked me up…thanks so much!

In looking at the counter, it seems the actuations are even lower than I thought with the count in the 500’s! I simply just re-set it back to 0 and I am rockin’ and rollin’! So, in case you hadn’t guessed it – this is just a “Feel Good” post today – nothing insightful, informational, or even useful – just a gleeful post of what was formerly an adult and what is now a 5-year old kid at Christmas! Have fun all, go out and shoot some (I know I will be…)

Oh yeah, here’s your WTD for the week:

What the Duck - June 26th 2008

Rituals – Cleaning your Gear

Jason3 Comments

Checklist

Rituals are an important part of many cultures and belief systems. Yet rituals can also be patterns of behavior. We drive the same way to work every day, we tend to eat similar meals from one week to the next, and we do certain things each and every day, like brushing our teeth, taking a shower (hopefully anyway!), and a host of others. Well, just like other rituals, many of us become very fastidious about our work flow. We color manage things, we duplicate images, back them up, and save in multiple locations. Yet I’ve not seen anyone really talk about establishing rituals over cleaning their gear. In that area, I feel that I am something of a loner, because I do clean my gear in a very ritualistic pattern. It may be overkill to some, while to others it may not be enough. Nevertheless, cleaning our gear is something we should all consider making a part of our recurring activities.

Tomorrow is the second Friday of the month, and since I’ve set that date (just an arbitrary date, no specific logic behind the date other than I didn’t have anything else “scheduled” for that date at the time I came up with this) as my monthly camera cleaning date. I clean every piece of equipment I own. It takes a few hours, but that way I do maintain a regular schedule of maintenance for all this gear. So, today I am sharing my cleaning schedule with you.

My Gear Cleaning Ritual

  1. Part One – Wipe Down This can take anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours depending on amount of crap in my bag! I first take the battery out of camera and insert in charger. While camera battery is charging to full capacity I use lint free lens clothes (you can get a 12-pack from WalMart for $1) to wipe down the camera body, the lens casings, my CF cards, my flash cards, everything! Then I take out all the velcro dividers from my camera bag. With the bag empty I use canned air and spray out my camera bag. Then I wipe everything down with a only slightly damp paper towel. I’ll also pick any fuzzies I can see off my velcro tabs.
  2. Part 2 – Glass cleaning This takes about 20 minutes, depending on whether certain lenses need multiple swipes. I Use the Eclipse/PecPad/Sensor Swab kit for all my detailed cleaning. First I remove the lens caps (front and rear, and dust them off with my canned air. Setting these aside I take a PecPad out and dab a few drops of the Eclipse solution on it. In a light circular motion I wipe from the center of the lens to the edge and swoop it away in a fluid motion. I then return the caps to the glass.
  3. Part 3 – Card clearing and formatting I lightly tap the CF cards with the holes facing down and stack them label side up by my card reader. After each is tapped, I run them through my computer, copying any images off into a folder titled “Unsorted”. Once the content is safely moved, I then format the cards from the OS command prompt (for me it,s format E: /FAT32)
  4. Part 4 – Air cleaner I take my Giottos Rocket Blower and with battery compartment open I pump twice into chamber, and then close. I then turn the camera sensor side down, uncap and repeat in that chamber with the blower. I recap the body then and lay it sensor side down on a pre-placed static bag.
  5. Part 5 – Sensor Cleaning I prep the sensor swab according to instructions with firm tight folds. I take the now fully charged batter, insert in the chamber, turn the camera on and move the menu to sensor cleaning mode, flip the camera over and lay it down on the bag. Then I dab two drops of Eclipse onto the edge, uncap the body and angle the wand to 45 degrees, placing the edge against the sensor. and in one motion move it from the first edge to the far edge. Without lifting the wand, I then shift the wand to the opposite 45 degree angle, slide it up and align the top edge of the PecPad to the top edge of the lens and in a single light motion, slide it back across the top of the sensor mirror. Using the same fluid motion I then lift the swab off the sensor, replace the body cap with my other hand and set the swab down on the static bag. I then turn the camera back over, and power down.
  6. Part 6 – Accessories check I take the now mostly de-charged camera/battery combo and insert my CF cards back into the camera. All cards are formatted in camera. Once the formats are complete, I then insert back into computer one last time and copy the low res contact info image back onto all CF cards. The battery is then taken back out and recharged again. (I do have spares too that get charged, and I take this opportunity to also charge all AA’s and stuff back in my camera bag. I’ll check my notebook for enough paper, my pen for ink, flashlight for batteries, business cards in front pocket of bag, ensure I have at least 5 model release forms, and I’ll wipe down my Krages card and cheat sheet (two laminated sheets of info I keep in my bag).
  7. Part 7 – Repack Reassemble Velcro dividers and insert everything back into my bag
  8. Part 8 – Tripod Maintenance Take legs off tripod and wipe everything down there. Remove all quick release plates and do the same. I then re-assemble the tripod and tighten down all the legs again.
  9. Part 9 – Inventory List Print out checklist inventory and insert in camera bag (when travelling).
  10. Part 10 – Relax Drink an ice cold beverage!

So, which of these rituals do you include in your gear maintenance schedule? Did I miss anything? Does anything I am doing sound weird or wrong? What do you think? Share your cleaning schedule in the comments or via email: jason <AT> canonblogger <DOT> com In the meantime:

  • Happy Friday 13th
  • Happy Fathers Day Weekend
  • and Happy Shooting (watch those apertures!)