Photography Bay

Digital Camera News, Reviews and Tips

Tamron SP AF10-24mm F/3.5-4.5 Di II LD Aspherical (IF) – Now With Built-In Motor for Nikon Mount

By

Tamron has updated its 10-24mm wide angle lens to include a built-in focusing motor to accommodate the Nikon D40, D40x and D60 cameras, which do not have a focusing motor in the body of the camera.

Press Release

September 1, 2008, Saitama city, Japan- Tamron Co., Ltd (Mr. Morio Ono, President) announced the SP AF10-24mm F/3.5-4.5 Di II LD Aspherical (IF) featuring an unprecedented 2.4X zoom ratio in its class of ultra wide-angle zoom lenses. The innovative, high-performance ultra wide-angle zoom lens (model B001) is designed exclusively for Canon and Nikon digital SLRs with APS-C sized image sensors. Pentax and Sony mount models will be announced at a later date. [Read more…]

 

Tamron SP AF70-200mm F/2.8 Di LD [IF] MACRO for Pentax and Sony

By

Tamron has added Pentax and Sony to the stable of compatible DSLRs for its 70-200mm f/2.8 lens.  The lens will be available later this month in Japan initially.  The lens carries a street price of about $700 for the existing Canon and Nikon mounts.

Press Release

As previously announced, Tamron Co., Ltd (Mr. Morio Ono, President) has developed SP AF70-200mm F/2.8 Di LD [IF] MACRO (Model A001), a lightweight and fast F/2.8 tele-zoom lens designed for full-size SLR cameras. Tamron is pleased to announce the availability of the zoom lens in mounts for Pentax and Sony SLR cameras. [Read more…]

Canon 50D Photos With 18-200mm IS Kit Lens

By

UPDATE: The Canon 50D has been announced on August 26, 2008. Please see Photography Bay’s Canon 50D Reviews and Resources page and Canon 50D Official Announcement page for more.

You can pre-order the Canon 50D now from Amazon.com via the following links:

The Canon 50D has been revealed with an EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS kit lens option. The image to the left is an official image from Canon, which appeared on this page [Update: Now password protected] from Canon Japan a third party site.

[Update: As some readers have pointed out, the location of the Canon 50D page is not on an official Canon site, nor is it Japanese – the language is Chinese. It looks like it could be a developer for Canon. I am also of the opinion that this page is related to the leak on the official Canon.com.cn site a couple days ago. I think we will see an announcement on Aug. 25th or 26th to confirm the leaks/rumors.]

Below you will find more official images of the Canon 50D. And, for those of you concerned about excessive noise in a 15.1 megapixel sensor, there’s an ISO 1600 sample image below as well.

For more info regarding the specifications and announcement news (when it comes) stay tuned to Photography Bay’s Canon 50D page.

Canon 50D ISO 1600 Official Sample Image (Click for Full Size)

Canon 50D Info Leaked – REAL SPECS!

By

UPDATE: The Canon 50D has been announced on August 26, 2008. Please see Photography Bay’s Canon 50D Reviews and Resources page and Canon 50D Official Announcement page for more.

You can pre-order the Canon 50D now from Amazon.com via the following links:

Canon’s China website has published specifications for the 50D in its public webspace. Although the info is not on the front page of the site yet, it is accessible to anyone. Here is the link (update: it’s down, but this one is still live for the moment 11:51p.m. ET).

We keep check for availability; however, there is no listing on Amazon.com search results or any other vendor yet.

I’ve set forth the relevant translated specs and info below. Please note that the original specs listed here listed in-body IS as a feature. The translation was wrong and the feature has been removed from the spec list below. The specs referenced the advantages and compatibility with lens-based IS instead.

  • 15.1 megapixel CMOS sensor
  • DIGIC 4
  • 1.6x crop
  • Dust Reduction
  • Auto Brightness Processing
  • 95% viewfinder .97 magnification
  • 9 point af (All Cross Type)
  • 35 meter area equipped with high-precision sensors
  • AF Fine Tuning
  • ISO 100-12800
  • 6.3 fps (high speed) 3fps (low speed)
  • Buffer: 16 RAW – 60 JPG – 10 RAW+JPG
  • 920,000 points VGA 3.0-inch LCD monitor
  • 100,000 cycle shutter
  • Rugged magnesium alloy bodyFull Specifications

Canon 50D Full Specifications

General

Camera Type: Has a built-in flash AF / automatic exposure single-lens reflex digital cameras
Media Type: I or Type II CF card, UDMA compatible
Image Sensor Size: 22.3×14.9 mm
Compatible Lenses: Canon EF-series (including EF-S series lenses) (35 mm converted the focal length of the lens focal length is about 1.6 times)
Lens mount: Canon EF mount

Image Sensor

Type: CMOS Image Sensor
Effective Pixels: Approx.15.1 million pixels
Aspect ratio: 3:2
Dust removal function: Auto, Manual, add the dust data

Recording System

Recording format: Camera File System Design Rule 2.0
?Design rule for Camera File System 2.0? (Design rule for Camera File System 2.0)
Image types: JPEG, RAW (14 place Canon original); RAW + JPEG
Records of pixels: (4752 x 3168? Large: about 15.1 million pixels (4752 x 3168)
Medium: about 8 million pixels (3456 x 2304)
Small: about 3.7 million pixels (2352 x 1568)
RAW: about 15.1 million pixels (4752 x 3168)
sRAW1: about 7.1 million pixels (3267 x 2178)
sRAW2: about 3.8 million pixels (2376 x 1584)
Create / select: Folder Yes

Image Processing

Photo style: Standard, portrait, landscape, neutral, reliable setup, monochrome, User-defined 1-3
White Balance: Auto, the default (Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten Lamp, White fluorescent light, flash), user-defined, Color temperature settings (2500-10000 K)
Noise Reduction: Can be applied to long time exposure and high ISO sensitivity shooting
Automatic image brightness correction: Automatic brightness optimization
High-priority tone: Yes
The amount of light surrounding the lens correction: Yes

Viewfinder

Type: Eye-level pentaprism
Rate outlook: Vertical / horizontal direction about 95 percent
Magnification: About 0.95 times (-1 m-1, using 50 mm lens on the infinite distance AF)
Focus: About 22 mm (eyepiece lens from the central -1 m-1)
Built-in diopter adjustment: -3.0 – +1.0 M-1 (dpt)
Focusing Screen: Ef-A equipped with the standard screen, and can replace the screen (2 sold separately)
Mirrors: Express back –
Depth of Field Preview: Yes

AF

Type: TTL auxiliary video coincidence, the phase detection
Automatic focus points: 9 (all cross-)
Metering range: EV -0.5 – 18 (23 ° C/73 ° F, ISO 100)
Focus modes: Single AF, AI Servo AF, Artificial Intelligence AF, manual focus (MF)
AF-assist light: By the built-in flash for a short flash
AF fine-tuning: AF can be fine-tuning

Exposure Control

Metering Mode: 35 Zone TTL full-aperture metering

  • Evaluation meter (with the focus of any automatic linkage)
  • Partial metering (the viewfinder about 9 percent of the area)
  • Spot (viewfinder central area of about 3.8%)
  • Central focus of the average metering

Metering range: EV 1-20 (23 ° C/73 ° F, the use of EF50mm f/1.4 USM lens, ISO 100)
Exposure Control: Programmed auto exposure (automatic, portrait, landscape, Macro, Sports, Night Portrait, Flash off, creativity automatic, procedures), shutter priority automatic exposure, aperture priority auto exposure, depth of field priority auto exposure, manual exposure
ISO Sensitivity: (Recommended exposure index)

  • Basic shooting zone mode: automatically set between ISO 100-1600
  • District creative shooting modes: ISO 100 – 3200 (in 1 / 3 increments), Auto, ISO sensitivity can be extended up to ISO 6400 or ISO 12800

Exposure compensation: Manual and automatic exposure bracketing (with manual exposure compensation can be used in combination) – Can be set numerical: ± 2 Stage 1 / 3 or 1 / 2 units to adjust
Auto exposure lock Auto: evaluation of the use of metering single AF mode – Manual: auto exposure lock button

Shutter

Type: Electronically controlled focal plane shutter
Shutter speed: 1 / 8000 second to 1 / 60 seconds (automatic mode), flash synchronization speed of 1 / 250 second 1 / 8000 to 30 seconds, B Mun (the shutter speed range. With the availability of various shooting modes. )

Flash

Built-in flash: Recoverable, auto-flash
Flash: 13/43 (ISO 100, to m / ft unit) flash coverage: 17 mm camera angle. Recycle time of about three seconds
External flash: X series of flash (camera can set up some flash function)
Flash Metering: E-TTL II automatic flash
Flash Exposure Compensation: ± 2 Stage 1 / 3 or 1 / 2 units to adjust
Flash Exposure lock: Yes
PC terminal: Yes

Driving System

Types: Single-shoot, high-speed shot, low shot funny (10 seconds or two seconds delay)
Continuous speed High-speed: Approx. 6.3 / sec. max
Low: the most about 3 / sec.
Continuous maximum number of (High-Speed Continuous):

  • JPEG large / distinctions: about 60 (90)
  • RAW: about 16 (16)
  • RAW + JPEG large / distinctions: about 10 (10)

* Based on these values to use 2 GB of memory cards, Canon testing standards (ISO 100 photos and standard style).
*Value in brackets apply to the testing standards based on Canon’s Ultra DMA (UDMA) 2GB memory card.

Live View Shooting

Focus: Fast mode (testing phase)
Real-time mode, real-time facial priority mode (contrast detection)
Manual focus (can be enlarged five times / 10 times)
Metering Mode: The use of image sensors to evaluate Spot
Metering range: EV 0 – 20 (23 ° C/73 ° F, the use of EF50mm f/1.4 USM lens, ISO 100)
Mute shooting: Yes

LCD Monitor

Type: TFT color liquid crystal display (there are seven brightness adjustment)
Monitor size and resolution: 3 inches, about 920,000 points (VGA)
Coverage: About 100%
Language: Interface 25 (with English)

Image playback

Image display format: Leaflets, pamphlets + information (image quality records, the shooting information, the histogram), four images index, nine image index, rotating images
Zoom: About 1.5 times – 10 times
View images method: Leaflets images, 10 or 100 images, screen, the date, Folder as a unit Jump
High-warning: Excessive exposure of the regional high-flicker

Direct Print

Compatible printer: PictBridge-compatible printers
Print Image: JPEG and RAW image
Print command: DPOF1.1 compatible version

Custom

25 Custom Functions
Camera user settings In the mode dial position of the C1 and C2 registered
Registration menu: Yes

Interface

Digital Video: For computer communications and direct printing (Hi-Speed USB)
Video output terminal: 3.5 mm mini-jack (optional NTSC / PAL)
HDMI mini OUT: terminal C –
Remote Terminal: And N3-compatible line of the shutter
Docking Systems terminal: WFT-E3 Used to connect wireless file transfer for WFT-E3

Power

Battery: Battery BP-511A (1)
* AC adapter can be packaged using the AC ACK-E2
* Installation of the battery box and handle BG-E2N or BG-E2, you can use on the 5th (AA/LR6) battery
Battery capacity shooting (Based on CIPA testing standards): 50 percent of the normal use of flash photography: 23 ° C/73 ° F at about 640. 0 ° C/32 ° F at about 540. 50% of the use of flash photography of real-time display: 23 ° C/73 ° F at about 170. 0 ° C/32 ° F at about 130.

Size and weight

Size (Width x x high-thick): 145.5×107.8×73.5 mm / 5.7 x4.2×2.9 inches
Weight: About 730 grams / 25.7 ounces (body only)

Operating Environment

Temperature range: 0 ° C-40 ° C/32 ° F-104 ° F
Working humidity range: 85 percent or less

Battery BP-511A

Type: Rechargeable lithium batteries
Rated voltage: 7.4 V DC
Battery capacity: 1390 mA
Size (Width x x high-thick): 38x21x55 mm / 1.5 x0.8×2.2 inches
Weight: About 82 grams / 2.9 ounces
Battery Charger: CB-5L

With battery BP-511A, BP-514, BP-511 or BP-512
The length of the power cord: About 1.8 m / 5.9 ft.
Charging time: About 100 minutes
Input Voltage: 100-240 V AC
Output voltage: 8.4 V DC
Temperature range: 0 ° C-40 ° C/32 ° F-104 ° F
Working humidity range: 85 percent or less
Size (Width x x high-thick): 91x67x32.3 mm / 3.6 x2.6×1.3 inches
Weight About 105 grams / 3.7 ounces (not including the power cord)

More info is coming in and I’m still working on verifying the translations of the above specs, so stay tuned to PB’s home page and the Canon 50D page.

Canon 50D Rumor Update

By

We are still very much in “rumor” mode with regard to the Canon 50D; however, another DPR forum member claims to have solid second-hand info.  [Ed. – Name redacted by request], a photographer for the [Ed. – Organization redacted by request] and fervent Canon 1D Mark III user, says that his dealer has tipped him off to the existence and coming release of the Canon 50D.

[Ed. – Name redacted by request] stuck his name and reputation out on the line and defended his take on the info and his source in several follow up posts, which is why it carries a little more weight with me than the usual banter you see in some forum posts.  Of course, we’ll just have to wait and see if the info turns out to be legit, but it seems to confirm a trend anyway.

On to the details…

The dealer was apparently at a Canon event in Hawaii, to which event I’ve been seeing many references lately.  Purportedly, the Canon 50D will be released in the coming days prior to Photokina 2008.

This bit of info pegs the Canon 50D at 15 megapixels, instead of the previously rumored 12 megapixels.  Additionally, the “dealer” confirmed the 50D would be weather sealed, which is quasi-consistent with prior rumors.

Finally, the dealer also said “he couldn’t remember if it was 5-6fps like 40D or maybe as high as 8fps.”  While this seems like an odd fact to mix up, the prior rumors had stated the specs were 6-8fps, depending on the grip.  I think this makes the spec a little easier to jumble up.  So again, another point for consistency here. [via DPR]

While I remain quite skeptical over a 40D replacement coming along while it is just a year old, the rumors are mounting and, as they say, where there’s smoke, there’s fire (either that or a steaming turd).  Stay tuned.

For the latest news and rumors on the Canon 50D, stay tuned to Photography Bay’s Canon 50D page.

Canon 1Ds Mark III Review at DP Review

By

DP Review has published its review of Canon’s flagship EOS 1Ds Mark III.

It is undeniably impressive, and though it appears on the surface to be a fairly low key update to the Mark II, the more you use it the more you realize how all the little improvements add up to a significantly better camera (and that’s aside from the resolution hike).

For the latest news and reviews, be sure to visit Photography Bay’s Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III Reviews and Resources page.

Canon PowerShot A590 IS Review at Imaging Resource

By

Imaging Resource has posted a review of the Canon Powershot A590 IS.

The Canon Powershot A590 IS proved to be an excellent compact digital camera. With a well-rounded feature set including full-manual controls, image stabilization and unlimited continuous shooting, plus use of readily available AA batteries and chear SD (and SDHC) memory, the A590 is one of the best digital camera values currently available.

For the latest news and reviews on the A590, check out Photography Bay’s Canon PowerShot A590 IS Reviews and Resources page.

Sony A900 at Photo Image Brazil

By

The Sony A900 made an appearance at Photo Image Brazil this week.  Here on some shots of the displays that surfaced on the DPR forums.  In the image above you can see the see-through body of the A900 along with an example of the size differences in an APC and full-frame sensor.

Above is a head-on shot of what looks to be the final version of the A900 with references to its massive 24.6 megapixels along with the sure-to-perform Carl Zeiss 24-70 f/2.8 lens.  Now there’s a kit lens.

For more on the Sony A900 flagship DSLR, stay tuned to Photography Bay’s Sony A900 page.