Photography Bay

Digital Camera News, Reviews and Tips

 

Canon Refurbished Gear 20% Off at Canon Store

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Canon 7D

The Canon Store online has 20% OFF Select Refurbished EOS Digital Cameras and Refurbished Lenses with coupon code 20SLR612.

Notable deals with this coupon code include a Canon 7D for $1087 (compare at $1699 new retail) or a Canon 60D w/ 18-135mm kit for $831 (compare at $1299 new retail).  See the full inventory on Canon’s website.

I’ve bought refurbished Canon gear before and wouldn’t hesitate to do it again – especially when savings like this are available.

Canon 7D Firmware Upgrade Due in August… Bigger RAW Buffer, GPS Adapter Compatibility and Manual Audio Levels

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Canon 7D

The previously teased firmware update for the Canon 7D is now officially set to be released in August.  The firmware set looks to be a mighty big one with a RAW image burst buffer that now allows 25 consecutive images over the previous 15. [Read more…]

Canon Mirrorless Camera Rumored for July 24 Unveiling

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Canon Mirrorless

Rumors of a Canon mirrorless camera are heating up with July 24 being the unveiling date, according to Canon Rumors.

The camera is further rumored to use a different mount than the current EF and EF-S DSLRs.  An increasingly popular theory is that the upcoming mirrorless line of cameras will adopt the Canon G1 X sensor format, which equates to a roughly 1.85x crop factor.  This is larger than both the Nikon 1 Series (at 2.7x) and the Micro Four Thirds standard (at 2x).

Of course, the advantage of an interchangeable lens design over the G1 X would simply provide better lens selection.  My biggest problem with the G1 X is the rather slow aperture on the long end at f/5.8, as well as the minimum focus distance of 4.3 feet.

Nikon’s rather odd 1 Series format doesn’t quite stack up to other mirrorless camera offerings thanks to the much smaller sensor.  However, Panasonic and Olympus are squeezing a lot of goodness out of the smaller Micro Four Thirds sensor and lenses.

In my book, Sony’s NEX line is the mirrorless system to beat.  Sony uses a larger APS-C image sensor and still manages to keep the cameras very compact.  Lenses like the 16mm f/2.8 and Sigma’s excellent 30mm f/2.8 lens let the NEX models compete in the size department with other smaller-format cameras.  And, Sony’s fast autofocus and fluid video capture match or best just about everything else out there.

Let’s see if Canon can step up the game with a solid offering next month (even if it is a little late to the game).

5D Mark III SD Card Speeds are Slower Than They Should Be

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5D Mark III w/ SD Card

Image Credit: Jeff Cable

Jeff Cable noted a curious fault of the Canon 5D Mark III and its rather sluggish SD card write speed.

. . . for some reason unbeknownst to me, Canon decided to build the 5D Mark III with one very fast CF slot which supports the newer UDMA7 protocol and a standard SD card slot which does NOT support the high speed standard (called UHS – for Ultra High Speed).

Jeff lays out the full details on his trials with the SD format over on his blog.  Note that Jeff works for Lexar and knows more details about memory card specifications than the average photographer.  Word from the horse’s mouth is also available on page 32 of the 5D3 manual with the express disclaimer that the camera does not support the UHS speed class standard.

I’m with Jeff on this one.  It’s a real head scratcher why Canon wouldn’t support UHS-I in its cutting edge 5D Mark III.  (The standard was announced way back in 2010 and has been pretty widely adopted thus far, including prosumer shooters like the Nikon D7000.)  While it’s not as big a deal as a crippled AF system (ahem, 5D Mark II), this certainly is annoying and makes the SD slot unusable for some shooters out there.

Of course, Canon updated the 5D Mark II to provide support for the CF card spec UDMA-7 over 2.5 years after the camera was released.  So, maybe we can hope a little bit that a similar firmware update would come to the 5D3 in order to put the SD card slot on nearly equal footing with the CF card slot.  However, Jeff says that this could be a hardware limitation and not possible to update.

Has anyone else been plagued by the sluggish SD card problem on the 5D Mark III?

More memory card geekery explanation on Demystifying SD Cards.

Canon 60D Firmware Update 1.1.1

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Canon 60D

Canon has issued a firmware update for the 60D.  The new firmware version 1.1.1 includes the following updates:

  1. Fixes a phenomenon where the camera’s serial number that is displayed in the shooting information of the image does not display the correct serial number. *1)
  2. Corrects errors in the Greek, Italian, and Portuguese menu screens.

You can download the update from Canon’s website.

Canon 7D Mark II as Low-End Full Frame Camera? 70D Coming as APS-C Flagship?

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Canon 7D

After the leaky Nikon D600 made its recent waves, rumors of the next generation of the Canon 7D emerged as its potential as a full-frame shooter on the lower end of Canon’s arsenal.

Additional rumors suggest that a Canon 70D would serve as a replacement for both the existing 60D and 7D APS-C models – thus making the 70D the top tier APS-C camera from Canon.

No other specs seem to have emerged in the rumor mill thus far.  Both cameras are rumored for an announcement around Photokina 2012 in September.

[via Canon Watch]

Canon 5D Mark III Firmware Update 1.1.3

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Canon 5D Mark III

Canon has issued a firmware update for the 5D Mark III.  Version 1.1.3 adds the following:

1. Supports the single focal length EF40mm f/2.8 STM lens that is to be released at the end of June, 2012.
2. Fixes a phenomenon in which an image may become underexposed when using the Auto Lighting Optimizer for continuous Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB) shooting.
3. Fixes a phenomenon in which the backlight of the LCD monitor may not turn off depending on the camera settings and timing.
4. Fixes a phenomenon in which the camera’s power may not turn on when a super-telephoto lens*1) is mounted to the camera with an extender*2).
*1) EF 300mm F2.8L IS II USM / EF 400mm F2.8L IS II USM
*2) Extender EF 1.4X III / Extender EF 2X III
5. Corrects mistakes in the Dutch, Italian, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, and Swedish menu screens.

You can download the update from Canon’s website.