Digital Camera News, Reviews and Tips
Well, we must be getting close to something because Nikon has listed the D700 and D300s as discontinued. Just when the Nikon D800 will drop remains a mystery though.
What are you Nikon shooters more excited about? A new D800 or a D400? Any final spec wish lists as we approach D800- and/or D400-day?
[via Nikon Rumors]
This is going to be a pretty short and sweet review; however, I wanted to get my thoughts out there for those of you interested in run & gun video stabilization setups. When we went to CES earlier this month, we took the Manfrotto 561B and 560B video monopods with us for capturing video from the show floor.
In short, they rock. [Read more…]
Is this the Canon 5D Mark III?
An unknown Canon camera appeared in Kenya this week, along with prototype versions of the Canon 200-400mm lens and Canon 600mm lens. Lots of speculation has ensued as to whether this is the Canon 5D Mark III.
The above photo comes from the Aperture Academy blog and shows a Canon camera body attached to the new 600mm lens. The person using the camera and lenses is claimed to be a Canon employee who is testing new equipment. [Read more…]
Is history going to repeat itself with the Nikon D4 (see above mock-ad re: Nikon D3)? But this time on the video side of the DSLR market?
Nikon is really happy with its new D4 flagship. My favorite quote from a Nikon person at CES was “We like to shut people up.”
Boy, did they…
There’s no doubt that the D4 is an amazing camera. It’s amazing how far they’ve one-upped their own D3s. I’m really hoping to get the chance to shoot some college basketball with one before the season is over.
For sports shooters, Canon’s 1D X and Nikon’s D4 should be close again. I think the D3s edged out the 1D Mark IV in AF performance over series of real world tests I conducted in 2010. However, I think the performance is closer than most forum postings would lead you to believe.
I’m curious to see how well these new cameras stack up against each other on the still image capture side; however, I’m even more interested in how Canon will respond to the Nikon D4’s key video capture features. [Read more…]
The thing about shooting video with HDSLRs is the necessity of using a dual system for audio. I’ve tried several mics that plug-in to the 5D’s mic port and there are many good ones; however, none replace the quality you get from an external recorder and a shotgun mic (my favorite being the Rode NTG-3).
Even if you’re rolling with something small like a Zoom H4n, you need a couple of mounting points for the recorder and mic, which needs to be in a shock mount to avoid noise from camera handling or cords tapping against your gear. Now, that simple little HDSLR run-and-gun kit looks like your TV’s cable box vomited on top of your camera. And, you’d better not forget to hit record twice (camera and H4n) before you call ‘action’ (*raises hand). [Read more…]
One of the new products Olympus introduced at CES 2012 was the LS-100 audio recorder. I had the chance to sit down with the LS-100 for a few minutes during a press briefing. Check out my hands-on report below. [Read more…]
Last month, Adobe’s Colin Smith published a video of SpeedGrade in action, which Adobe acquired from Iridas last year. Today, I’ve got a few more details on what’s to come. [Read more…]
Deep inside the Technicolor booth at CES 2012 was a small table showing off some new color correction software from the same company that brought CineStyles to our Canon HDSLRs last year.
Technicolor CineLights is a program based on Technicolor’s award-winning DP Lights system and is intended for quick color correction such as dailies. It’s not really intended as a finish grading tool; however, it does offer some keying, three-way color correction and a Look Library as part of CineLooks. [Read more…]
After many leaks and rumors, Nikon has officially unveiled its new flagship DSLR – the Nikon D4. In several ways, the Nikon D4 exceeds what Canon offers in terms of HDSLR-video features, all the while maintaining a powerfull still-imaging machine as well.
There are plenty of details below; however, expect some up-close action next week at CES 2012.
Check availability at B&H, Amazon and Adorama.
More details in the full press release below. [Read more…]
This is some kind of New Year resolution for Canon – that is, if all these rumors come to light by the end of the year.
More juice on the Canon 5D Mark III suggests further that the camera would maintain a reasonable MP-count (if not the same as the Canon 1D X). The rumor mill also continues to churn on an announcement for the 5D Mark III in the next few months. For the record, my money is still on an announcement in time for the 2012 NAB Show.
In addition to the 5D Mark III, rumors are swirling that the infamous Canon 3D is a live project. No spec details other than to suggest that it is a “photographer’s camera.” What that means, I dunno. The simplest of guesses has me leaning toward no/minor video functionality, which would go hand-in-hand with earlier rumors of the 5D Mark III as a very video-centric camera.
Hmm? A 5D line as the video-focused line and a 3D line as the stills-focused line? The 3D name would tend to lead to less confusion if the camera didn’t have video capture at all… [Read more…]