Digital Camera News, Reviews and Tips
Eric Austin has cooked up the above contraption, which is an electric, radio-controlled helicopter with a Canon 7D mounted on it. With his HeliVideo he’s providing his commercial clients with unique still and video shots.
DIY Photography has a nice little Q&A session with Eric if you want to read more about it.
The Technical Image Press Association (TIPA), which is made up of an international consortium of photo magazine editors, recently voted on the best imaging products of 2010. Below, you’ll find the categories and picks for the 2010 TIPA Awards. [Read more…]
Switronix, maker of a variety of video accessories for HDDSLRs, has introduced the Powerbase 70, which will be on display at NAB 2010. The Powerbase 70 is a dedicated accessory for the Canon 5D Mark II and 7D and provides up to 6x runtime thanks to its 14.8v battery pack.
More details in the press release below.
The Canon EOS MOVIE Plugin-E1 for Final Cut Pro is a plug-in currently in development that is intended to allow footage from EOS DSLRs to be edited more quickly and easily in Final Cut Pro. The plug-in will be introduced in a free Beta release in March 2010.
Key features of the plug-in includes the enabling of the “log and transfer” of footage from the 5D Mark II, 7D and 1D Mark IV. Moreover, the plug-in converts Canon EOS DSLR footage to Apple’s ProRes 4:2:2 at twice the speed of what you get out of the box with Final Cut Pro. Adding timecode, reel names and metadata to footage will also be a faster and smoother task.
Stay tuned for updates on the availability of the EOS Movie Plugin-E1 for Final Cut Pro.
The Canon EOS 7D is a 18-megapixel DSLR featuring an APS-C format CMOS sensor. At the time of its release, the 7D is situated in the EOS lineup between the 50D and the 5D Mark II.
The Canon 7D brings a number of improvements and new features to the Canon prosumer lineup. Taking these advancements into account, Canon has finally produced a DSLR whose specs outshine its Nikon counterpart – in this case the Nikon D300s. [Read more…]
You knew the Canon 7D could capture video, right? The better question is whether you know how to take advantage of this capability.
In case you missed it, Chad Mumm of Engadget posted a nice little piece on his impressions of the Canon 7D as a filmmaking tool. Chad’s the video producer over at Engadget and he clearly knows a little more than the average bear when it comes to shooting video. He’s also got some great advice about working with mics and sound.
His points will largely apply to the Canon 5D Mark II as well.
So, if video DSLRs are your thing, you might want to check out Mumm’s word on the 7D.
The Sony A850 is the newest full frame DSLR from Sony. It’s based largely on the Sony A900; however, its a couple of notches below on feature sets. Since the A850 uses the same 24.6-megapixel sensor as found in the A900, we shouldn’t expect any real difference in image quality between the two.
Although, comparing these two cameras to the Canon 5D Mark II, which is the current prosumer state of the art for low-light performance, is another story. You’ll also see some Canon 7D samples at higher ISOs for the sake of comparing a crop-sensor camera to these full framers. To see how the Sony A850 and A900 stack up, read on. [Read more…]
If you didn’t get enough in the first Canon 7D vs. Nikon D300s ISO Test (and I know a lot of you didn’t, based on the lively comment section), we’re back for Round 2.
This time, we’ve got a couple of additional variables to mix things up a bit — and to see if the claims of some of the Nikon shooters in the comment section of the first round bear fruit. [Read more…]
Canon USA has issued a service notice regarding a phenomenon where traces of the immediately preceding frame may be visible in an image file from the Canon 7D. This has apparently occurred in situations using continuous shooting mode. According to Canon, the problem “is not noticeable in an image with optimal exposure.”
As the notice states, “Canon is currently investigating and analyzing the cause of this phenomenon, and we are planning to release a firmware update to address this issue.”
I have been unable to reproduce this effect in testing the 7D today; however, an unofficial discussion and sample images demonstrating the problem appear in DPR forums here. According to one observer, optimal conditions for reproducing this error include the following:
1. Shoot with maximum continuous shooting rate.(8.05fps)
2. Shoot with fast shutter speed.(>1/500s ?)
3. Image’s back ground is flat and bright.(Blue sky,etc)
4. Target is a fast moving object.(Bird,Jet fighter,etc)
5. 2nd or later frame image has a ghost of previous frame image.
You can read the entire service notice on Canon’s website.
A couple of years ago, after Canon announced the 40D, Nikon dropped a bomb with the D300 and D3 combo. I remember the cover of Popular Photography read in bold print “Nikon Strikes Back.” That was a very fitting description in the face of what many thought was a rather mild upgrade to the Canon 30D, which was in turn a mild upgrade to the 20D. A year later, Canon failed to really “wow” us with the 50D; however, I found the 50D to be an excellent performer.
Fast forward to Summer 2009 and the stage is set for both Nikon and Canon to take another turn at “wowing” us. The D300s is mostly a rehash of the D300, along with video capture. Canon, however, stepped out with the feature-packed 7D, which also featured video, but added a spec-list that made it look like a 5D Mark II Jr.
Since the introduction of the D300 was Nikon’s turn to “Strike Back,” will the Canon 7D, in response to the D300s, be “Return of the Jedi Canon”? Keep on reading this first round of comparisons, which takes a side-by-side look at the ISO performance of these two prosumer cameras. [Read more…]