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The Canon 5D Mark II.

A camera that completely changed the digital SLR game.

When I first wrote about it around a year and half ago, I would’ve given up everything I owned for it. Today, I would still do the same. However, Canon decided that they would lend me the camera without me having to give up my possessions.

After my Round Table Meeting with Canon in December, I was lent the Canon 5D Mark II for 3 whole weeks, most of which would be spent at home in India. I got the camera literally 12 hours before my plane left and the moment I held it in my hands, I fell in love with it.

Every photograph looked stunning, every video looked brilliant, I could sing praises about it for hours at end. One thing is for certain, this is not going to be a technical review of the camera. If you want a technical review, head over to DPReview’s 40 page review. This is going to be a summary of a personal experience with the camera, a brief narrative of what I loved about the camera, what I didnt like and how it fit into my life.

The camera didnt handle particularly different from my 40D except for the fact that it was considerably heavier. The button layout felt very similar as did the menu. The viewfinder was absolutely fantastic, the joy of full frame is really something else. The high-res screen was a much needed upgrade and was gorgeous to look at, although it was a battery drainer. The High ISO capability was outstanding, and being able to take photos lit with nothing but a LED from a crappy phone and make it look like strobes was definitely fun. We shot plenty of videos at dusk, making full use of the sensor and the bokeh with a 50mm f/1.8.

One of my minor complaints with the camera was the autofocusing which didnt seem to have much improvement over my 40D. It proved quite annoying when trying to autofocus in the dark since ultimately it wasnt the ISO that prevented me from taking a photo but rather the focusing. Hopefully Canon are working to sort this out soon, and I’ve heard the 7D has a better autofocus system.

It wasnt only I who fell in love with the camera, it was pretty much everyone who laid their eyes on it. A couple of my friends in India were considering not letting me leave for England so that we wouldn’t have to return the camera. We made the most of it in the 3 weeks I had it and secretly hoped that Canon would let me keep it forever.

During my last day with the camera, I made a small project titled ‘A Day in my Life’ wherein I took photos of my daily activities right from the time I woke up till I went to bed over the course of 16 hours. It was great fun, especially while trying to find an artistic angle for things that would normally be deemed as boring and then attempting to use the tripod and setting the camera to the perfect position. You can see all the 30 photos here.

I got quite attached to the camera and was gutted when I had to return it. I’m back to my loyal 40D now but n eedless to say, the Canon 5D Mark II will definitely be my next investment.

Update – Canon Camera Buzz has been kind of enough to link to my project, check out their post here!

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The Line Up

My relationship with Canon can be likened to that of a lion and his cubs. Hatred one moment and pure love the next second.

Some may recall few of my earlier posts directed at Canon, asking them to get their game into order and appreciating their efforts. If you havent guessed already, this one falls into the latter category.

Earlier this month, I received an email from 1000Heads, a company who I’ve worked with before on BBC Blast, asking me if I’d like to attend a round table discussion with Canon. Being the massive Canon fanboy that I am, it would taken a pack of hunting wolves to make me say no. After confirming my attendance, I got more details about the event and it was finally D-Day yesterday.

After getting to the 1000Heads office in London, I was introduced to the other photographers who had been invited to this session and the Canon Rep, Mark Burnhill. There were 7 photographers in all and as I’ve got used to now, I was the youngest one there. We kicked off on time with the Canon Rep explaining why we were here and we’re going to do during the next couple of hours.

After some brief ‘rambling’ about Canon, he started off by introducing the Canon dSLR line up from the beginner 1000D, working his way up to the flagship 1Ds Mk-III. He had a few lines to say about each camera and patiently answered all of our questions. I’ll mention some of the highlights below.

The Canon 1000D was designed as a beginner/starter camera for students who cannot afford a fully fledged dSLR but would still a reasonable number of features. It does the job perfectly, and is very compact and even used by some professionals as a casual backup camera.

The Canon 450D was initially planned to be phased out with the introduction of the Canon 500D but due to high demand and popularity, they decided to keep it in their line up. It is still very popular and considered as a benchmark camera for the low end of dSLRs.

The Canon 500D received a bit of negative feedback on launch due to its high price but it has gained some support with its high-res screen and video mode.

The Canon 50D is supposed to have much better weather resistance than originally advertised due to different standards of weather testing between Japan and Europe. In my hand, it felt very similar to my own 40D, albeit with a better screen.

The Canon 7D is an absolute beaut of a camera to use. Mark told us that it was one of the few Canon dSLRs to be redesigned from ground up with constant feedback throughout the design process. As the slogan says ‘Designed by you, made by Canon’, and after having used it, I must say it is very true. The handling is very different from the 50D and it fits my hand perfectly. Button placement is great, the screen is gorgeous, the viewfinder is much bigger, full weather sealing and the autofocus system has been completely reworked much to my pleasure. I can sing praises about the 7D all day long but we have to move along. (PS – Christmas present for me, anyone?)

The Canon 5D Mk II, much to noone’s surprise is a magnificent gadget. I think I still like the 7D more than it simply due to the fact that it fits better into my hands but the 5D Mk II does win when compared technically with its full frame sensor vs. the 7D’s 1.6x crop sensor. Every shot I took with the 5D Mk II looked perfect straight out of camera, without any post processing. We were also informed that a new firmware would be out soon to enable 24/25 & 30fps recording at 1080p & a few other surprises. However, 720p would still be missing.

The next camera was the pièce de résistance, the Canon 1D Mk IV. Built like a tank, it weighed like one as well and was a beast to use. The 102,400 ISO is ridiculously high and I cant say it has great quality but it definitely makes 6400 ISO virtually noiseless. Probably a bit too big for my hands, it was still a splendid camera to try out and the shutter click was very satisfying. We were told that sales would start this weekend.

The Canon 1Ds Mk III had quite possibly the most spectacular viewfinder I have ever used. Full frame was really something else and it also weighed a ton! The screen seemed relatively bland after having used all the other high-res screens but I suppose it still does its job. Mark remained tight lipped about its successor but I think we can expect one for mid next year.

Other information we discussed included the famed “Eye Control Focus” which was ditched after using it in very few cameras, and not because of the technology but rather because it violated some patents in America. I thought that was a shame because I really do like that feature in my EOS 5 and would have loved to see it move on dSLRs and be perfected. We talked in detail about the reason for pricing difference in the US and UK/Europe which we were told was due to translation costs for manuals and EU licensing and certification but I still doubt they make the same profit in both markets.

Mark briefly talked about how full frame edge-to-edge autofocusing is something that would a significant leap in innovation simply due to the technological constraints of today. He also mentioned that due to cultural differences between Japan and Europe, it takes a lot of time and effort to convey the requirements of the European customer to them. About new lenses, he said that there were plans to rehaul the full range of lenses over the course of the next few years since a majority of current line up was never designed to work with resolutions beyond 21Megapixels. However, due to technical limitations, they can only redesign a maximum of 8 lenses a year, given that no new lenses were being made.

He said that Canon had no immediate plans to venture into the Medium Format industry and would continue to innovate and excel in dSLRs.

The 2 hours had flown by faster than we thought and it was soon time to wrap up. We were taken to dinner afterwards to a fancy French restaurant, Chez Gerard where we got to know each other better. The food was delicious (I had the Salmon) but the portions were a bit small for my liking. Nevertheless, it was nice to meet other similar minded people, and we exchanged contact details before we departed at around 11pm after a great evening.

My sincere thanks to Nicola & Aaron at 1000Heads for organizing the evening, Mark Burnhill for personally interacting with his customers, Canon for being the best camera manufacturers in my books, and everyone who came along and made the evening pleasant and eventful!

See the full set of photos from the evening over here!

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Been just over a week since I’ve got home. The daily routine has mostly consisted of eat, read, watch TV, check teh interwebz with a considerable amount of sleep between these activities. Other stuff included were catching up with lots of friends which was quite nice, definitely good to see some old faces again, have some good meals at our old favourites, and the likes.

On a sadder note, the world has lost two things this week, both of which/whom I have respected. The first one is the legendary Kodak film, Kodachrome, a transparency film which has been manufactured for nearly 75 years before Kodak took the decision to stop production earlier this week. From the point of view of Kodak, it seems reasonable since it accounted for less than 1% of its sales and there is only one lab left in the world which has the capability to process this film since it is quite complex, and Dwayne’s Photo in Kansas has said that they will continue to process the film until late 2010. However, it will definitely be missed by many film enthusiasts including me, who revered the film like a god. It was the same film used to capture the world famous Afghan girl photo by Steve McCurry in 1984. And this momentous calls for Paul Simon’s classic song ‘Mama, dont take my Kodachrome away’.

The other loss was  a man, although some say otherwise, nevertheless, known as the ‘King of Pop’. I must admit his death came as quite a shock to me, I somehow took his existence for granted and regardless of all the controversies he has been in, I’m sure everyone agrees that he made some pretty damn awesome music. My playlist for today has simply been all of the King’s albums on shuffle. May his soul rest if peace.

On a more positive note, I got my exam results earlier this week and I somehow managed to scrape a 70.7% overall, which is a  1st Class and all I wanted. Next year will be tougher, with a 10,000 word dissertation and all, but it’ll be the test of my mettle to score a 1st Class next year too.

Watched Terminator: Salvation today, barely worth the visit. Just 2 hours of mindless violence and action wrapped around a weak excuse for a story. Christian Bale is a normally a good actor but he doesnt come close to Arnie as the classic Terminator, and Terminator 2 still remains my favourite of the series.

Also played Max Payne 2 today, such a beautiful game to play, I do hope Max Payne 3 doesnt turn out as a bad as it looks.

And thats all for now folks, more updates on life and the world soon!

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The Paintball Machine at its finest!

The Glue Guns

A couple of weeks ago, I was contacted by the BBC (Yes, British Broadcasting Corporation themselves!) to know if I would be interested in taking part in an exclusive preview of their new online creative programme ‘BBC Blast‘. Not wanting to miss out on revision time for my toughest exam, I was about to turn down the offer but thought twice and accepted it since I wouldnt really get a chance like this often.

Upon further research, I found out that I was one of fifteen people creative minds invited to attend the preview and have a fun day out basically. I was quite excited about it and lo and behold, I was not disappointed. On Monday, I headed down to London and after meeting up with everyone and quick introductions, we were taken to Topolski Studio at Southbank London, just off the London Eye.

Since the studio was not big enough to accommodate all of us simultaneously, we were taken in 3 batches. The place was definitely like something I’ve never seen before, different and fresh. It housed four different creative ideas, one was a set of four paintball guns, hacked to be controlled via computers, another was 3 glue guns, once again hacked to be operated via a computer, a couple of printers and fifteen coloured lights sync’d with sounds.

This plethora of instruments could all be operated via a computer there, and you can do it online as well over here. The paintball guns were pointed against a then white wall, now a mish mash of colours, and you can direct it however you choose. The glue guns are pointed vertically down upon a plastic dome and they hope to build a sculpture by the end of the month. The printers can print out anything you type in online on the website and if I’m not wrong, I think they’re going to be displayed eventually in an exhibition. The coloured tube lights can have a different tune assigned to each and glow when you hit the respective key on the keyboard.

The Backend

Overall, there was a decent bit to see, and we were also given booze and snacks which made the whole experience even better. After some tinkering around, we went to the park to do some sweeding, as can be seen in ‘Be Kind Rewind‘. There were a lot of ideas and thoughts being throw around but we eventually settled on the movie Hancock with some random robots thrown in, it was good fun and we’ll have to edit the clips before we can get the final result which should quite amusing to watch.

I’d like to thank the BBC for organising this interactive day, and 1000Heads as well for finding the me and guiding us during the day. It was definitely different, and new and hopefully, as the programme expands, it’ll get lots of people involved in it!

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On Sunday, I went back home to India for a couple of hours. Yep, just 2 hours. But not via plane or train or ship but in a cinema hall. While watching ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. Its a wonderful movie and I definitely enjoyed watching it. Initially, I wasnt so impressed but as the movie went on, it kept getting better and better. And while I thought the movie itself wasnt as amazing as some people told me, it was still really good and it gets extra points for transporting me to a different world seamlessly. When I got out of the movie, I thought I would be facing the exit staircase of Prasads IMAX but alas, I was still in cold wintery England. I loved the movie more for reminding me so much of India rather than the story itself. Its a must watch for all Indians living elsewhere in the world, to remind them of  the culture and diversity of home.

And speaking of diversity, I realized yesterday how diverse London was after successfully getting lost thrice, again. I must have walked atleast 4 – 5 kilometres and my legs feel like they’re going to fall off any moment. I managed to find my destination after much trial and error and time. It was hectic and tiring but in the end, I got my job done and thats the point. Nevertheless, next time I go to London, I shall remember to carry a map with me.

My last Moleskine diary finally got filled up and I had to get a new one. Not wanting to get another Moleskine, I did extensive research on notebooks and stumbled upon this great site which was very helpful. I really wanted to get a Cartesio but it was out of stock everywhere and I ended up buying a Guildhall. I do like it a lot, one for the fact that you can completely fold which makes things a lot more handy while travelling, etc. However, the build quality is not upto the level of the Moleskine but it doesnt really matter since it doesnt affect my writing in any way. Overall, its a great notebook for the price but I think I’ll get the Cartesio next time.

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I bought a couple of cameras over the past week, both of them are older than me and use film but are absolutely gorgeous.

The first one is a Canon AE-1 Program, a 35mm Canon FD Mount SLR. You can read an elaborate review of it here. It came with the standard 50mm f/1.8 lens which is pretty decent. It was love at first sight with the camera, and even though I’ve only shot about one and a half rolls of film with it, I’ve already got quite attached to it. The meter on the camera is still quite accurate but I’m slowly training my eye to judge exposures without referring to the meter. Apart from the meter, the camera is completely mechanical and doesnt require power. I also got a nice big and bright red Canon neck strap with it which makes it properly retro. A Canon 133A flash was also thrown in for free and it works pretty well for my needs. I bought a cable release from Jessops so that I could experiment with star trails and long exposures.

The first roll of film I shot with was one of those free rolls of film  which I was using it to test the camera but the prints came out surprisingly well. I was very pleased with the outcome and thought I may never shoot digital again. The thrill of getting the freshly developed prints from the lab and going over them with your friends is something that digital cant really offer. There is that element of surprise when you see them for the first time and when you know that its come out so well, you feel quite happy and satisfied with yourself. I’m shooting some Black and White Film now (Ilford HP5) and I plan to process it myself and I’m going to imagine that it will be even more exciting than getting it developed in a lab.

Digital does have its conveniences in several applications though, it does greatly aid in shooting sports where you can quickly check your photo and also shoot hundreds od frames without worrying about changing the film. Film is definitely more useful for casual photography when there is no pressure to get great photos everytime.

The second camera is a Mamiya C330 Twin Lens Reflex which I only received yesterday. I had been anticipating the arrival of this camera for quite awhile and my fingers were literally shaking with excitement as I opened the package. My first impression of the camera was that it was huge, it was much bigger than I expected it to be. As I lifted it carefully out of the bubble wrap packaging, I also realized that it was pretty heavy. Its built like a tank, very solid and has more knobs and dials that one can imagine. I didnt even know what to do with it until I pored over the manual for a good half an hour which introduced all the different parts of the camera. After playing around with it for a bit, I was in awe with the way it worked, everything so complex yet so smooth and perfect. It was a monster of a camera and for a second, we were wondering whether it would just get up and transform itself into something else.

Jokes apart, it is a masterpiece of a camera and another example of the great workmanship by the Japanese. They definitely dont make cameras like these today and I consider myself quite lucky to have handled it. I will most probably be buying some medium format rolls of film today to try with the Mamiya.

And as with tradition, we also had to name the cameras and after much thought and consideration, we christened the Canon AE-1 Program ‘Wally’ and the Mamiya ‘Chuck Norris’. You can see more photos of these cameras here and I shall try and upload some photos taken with them as soon as possible!

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Some of you may remember my previous post requesting Canon to come with something revolutionary in thei next dSLR. And they’ve done exactly that, killing the competition with the newly announced Canon 5D Mark II. With a resolution of 21.1 Megapixels, maximum ISO of 25,600 and full HD movie recording, Canon has just proved to everyone why they are the leader of the camera market with the 5D Mark II.

And the features mentioned above are just the start of the story. It sports the newly introduced Digic IV processor which can process the full 1080p HD video at 30fps and also allows one to shoot still images while the video is being taken without any interruption. It also has audio at a decent quality of 16-bit PCM at 44KHz along with a provision for an external stereo mic. The burst speed is probably a bit slow at 3.9 fps but it still can shoot 310 frames non stop.

It has the much touted 3.0″ Clear View LCD screen with a viewing angle of 170° which can automatically adjust brightness to suit viewing conditions and Live View with 3 different modes of autofocus, similar to the 50D.

In the area of ISO, Nikon was winning with its first full frame camera which had an ISO of 25,600, until today. Canon has trumped the D3 which only had 12 Megapixels with the 5D Mark II, which along with having 21.1 Megapixels of resolution, also has an ISO range of 50 – 25,600 which is the largest range of any dSLR to date.

The 5D Mark - II in all its glory.

It has a 9 point autofocus sensor which doesnt sound too fabulous when compared to the D3’s 51-point autofocus but it is also assisted by 6 additional invisible autofocus points present inside the spot-metering circle which, now, only covers 3.5% of the frame.

No surprises about the introduction of sensor cleaning, it has the standard EOS Integrated Sensor Cleaning System, but with an addition of a new Fluorine coating on the low-pass filter.

Additional improvements include a minor increase in viewfinder coverage from 96% to 98%, three levels of noise reduction which will kick in when shooting at ISOs higher than 800 and larger battery capacity.

Along with the camera, Canon has also announced a 24mm f/1.4 L II lens for wide angle shots in low light, featuring several new technologies.

The only reason one would buy a Canon 1Ds Mark – III is for the slightly faster burst rate, build quality, more autofocus points and its higher shutter durability.

Now that Sony has entered the 20 Megapixel camera race with the A900, we can only wait and see what Nikon has to offer.

The Canon 5D Mark – II will ship in November with a price tag of US: $2,699, EU: €2,499, UK: £2,299 for the body only. I cannot wait to see some sample videos and photos from this masterpiece.

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I’m going to kick off this post with some very sad news, one of the best violin players in India, Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan, passed away yesterday night due to a cardiac arrest. He was 75 years old and had been awarded a Padma Shri title. His classic style of music will be sorely missed. You can watch his work here.

I also have some good news, my last photo of the 365 Day Project, ‘Day 366‘ had appeared on the frontpage of Flickr Explore. It feels really nice to have the final photo of the project become popular, it give me the satisfaction that I’ve achieved a lot with the project. I’ve taken a screenshot of this memorable event which you can see below. My thanks to everyone who viewed, commented and favorited the photo.

Day 366 on Flickr Explore

And as I mentioned earlier, Sony has announced their newest dSLR, the A900 with a full frame sensor and a whopping resolution of 24 Megapixels and thus winning the megapixel race among dSLRs. It also features a 2.5-4 stop internal image stabilization feature, a 100% viewfinder and dual BIONZ processors. It has a bust rate of 5fps which might seem a bit low but then again, you’ll probably used such a highres camera only in studio situations which wont require high burst rates. The ISO range is decent, ranging from 100-6400. And the fact that it only costs $3,000 makes it a clear winner.

Sony has also announced two new lenses to accompany the A900. The first is a 16-35mm f/2.8 Carl Zeiss priced at $1,800 and the second is a 70-400mm f/4-5.6 costing $1,500. Both of them will ship in Jan 2009 and seem very impressive indeed.

This is obviously a problem for Canon who seems to be slightly going down in the market due to lack of innovation. It has everyone eagerly awaiting for the new 5D for which they have released a teaser saying “Destined Evolution’ which has only increased expectations. But the real problem here is not the A900 but since Sony manufactures the sensors for Nikon, there is a good chance that a D3x will be announced sporting a 24MP sensor and 25600 ISO which would make any loyal Canonian cry. But only time will tell so lets wait and see.

Apple has also announced the new generation of iPod Nanos. They dont have any spectacular improvements function wise but look better with a curved slim body and lot of fancy colors. Take a look at it here.

If you are Bulgarian, you should probably hang your head in shame since Slovakia beat Bulgaria in women’s ice hockey with a final score of 82-0. Read all about it here.

And thats all for now folks, but keep your eyes peeled for some wallpapers soon!

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‘Rock On’, possibly one of the first Hindi movie that I had hopes for and it did well to live up to the hopes. Ever since I bought the soundtrack a couple of weeks ago, I realized that the movie had potential to be one of the better Bollywood movies made. The songs were excellent and the very fact that I took efforts to buy a Hindi movie audio CD says a lot about it. Great job by Shankar Ehsaan Loy with the music, a good mix of 80’s style rock and harmonious songs. The lyrics (Javed Akhtar) were quite good too, not the usual meaningless stuff but rather words with some significance. It was the music that made me go to the theatre along with a few friends and watch the movie on the first day.

The movie features Farhan Akhtar, the director of the much famed movie ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ in his debut role as an actor along with Arjun Rampal who sports long hair throughout the movie and a couple of Channel V VJs as the main characters. Acting was good, not amazing, but good enough to keep the flow of the movie. The best performance, in my opinion, was by Arjun Rampal who managed to portray both sides of his life beautifully.

The story of the movie was solid and did a wonderful job of intertwining both the old and the new without leaving the viewer confused. It was well laid out and often left us waiting for the next scene eagerly, not nail biting eager, but just enough to keep you comfortable and not bored. It also did a good job at expressing several different types of emotions which made the audience laugh, cry, think and scream with joy, all in less than a span of 3 hours. Each individual band member’s life was looked into equally so as not to concentrate the movie completely on the main characters which dispersed the story over a wide range of topics.

The plot revolves around the band ‘Magik’ which was formed during their college days and seemed to be doing quite well. But incidents happen, and over the course of 10 years, the members lose touch with each other until one meeting by coincidence after which a whole lot of reminicising happens and brings the band back into the limelight. A simple but beautiful story very well executed with humour, emotion and the works.

Cinematography was superb using Hollywood-like camera angles and lighting. One feature which struck me in particular was the fact that all the bokeh in the movie was perfectly circular and the director must have known this because there was lots of it. Everywhere. And I’m not complaining, it only made the movie look better.

The seats were possibly not the best, being 3 rows from the front, but I was just happy watching the movie on the first day and fuelled by almost a litre of Coca Cola, the experience was enjoyable. And the fact that I had gone with 3 girls did much to make it a good movie overall. The other main influence of the movie was that it gave me some hope about Bollywood and that all of the new Hindi movies are not complete bullshit.

The movie had a nice message at the ending to not download the music but rather buy the CD which I thought was nice. Being anti piracy myself, I had already bought the audio CD sometime ago and you should probably do the same.

Definitely watch the movie if you have time and if you dont, make some and go watch the movie. A must for all musicians, upcoming or not, and music lovers in general.

If you have watched the movie, please give your opinion in the comments.

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Monday, 20th August 2007

Canon announced two brand new dSLRs, the Canon 40D with a 6.5fps burst and 3″ Live View LCD and the Canon 1Ds Mark III with a whopping 21 Megapixel Full Frame Sensor. The 40D is acknowledged by the photography world as the true successor to the 20D since the 30D wasnt very revolutionary. With a 10 Megapixel sensor, it was only a small leap from the 8 Megapixel sensor of the 30D but it included several additional features such as DIGIC III processor and 6.5fps burst capable of shooting 75jpgs, which earned it some nods of approval from the photography world.

The Canon 1Ds Mark - III

The 1Ds Mark III naturally stunned everyone with its large megapixel count, something only earlier achievable by medium format digital cameras and to this day, remains the dSLR with the highest megapixel count. It had a burst rate of 5fps, admittedly slower than the 40D but at capable of recording 56 21Megapixels RAW, one cant really complain. It also boasted of Dual DIGIC III processors to process the 185MB of data every second produced at full burst. It had a decent ISO range from ISO 50 to ISO 3200 and a 19 point autofocus sensor. A $8,000, it was expensive but there were probably a lot of people willing to spent that much of money for the megapixels.

Thursday, 23rd August 2007

Nikon retaliated with its two latest offerings, the Nikon D300 with a 51-point autofocus sensor and an impressive 922,000 pixel 3″ LCD with Live View and autofocus, and the Nikon D3 with a mindblowing ISO of 25,600 and a Full Frame 12 Megapixel sensor capable of 11fps burst. The D300 is probably not directly comparable with the 40D since it falls in a higher price bracket (the D300 cost $1,800 opposed to the $1,300 of the 40D) but the mind tends to compare things and since both of them were announced within 3 days of each other, people started saying how the D300 was so much more awesome than the 40D which was true.

The Nikon D3

As for the D3, it was a reason to rejoice for Nikonians all over the world since it was their first full frame dSLR and came with features that would make some Canonians burn with jealousy. Even though it only had a 12 Megapixel Sensor, the fact that it could shoot at 25,600 ISO, the highest in the world even today, was a huge selling point. It had a screen similar to the D300 and a Virtual Horizon feature and even HDMI output. At $5,000, it was also noticeably cheaper than the Canon equivalent.The 1Ds Mark III did have its advantage when it came to megapixels but the D3’s ISO and autofocus tempted several sports photographs to switch sides as was visible in the Beijing Olympics with a marked decrease in white lenses.

Tuesday, 1st July 2008

Nikon officially announced the much rumoured about Nikon D700, a camera with the guts of the D3 and the body of the D300. It was in direct competition with the Canon 5D which was a highly successful full frame camera. The D700 would also prove to be popular among the people since one could have the essential features of the D3 minus the fast burst rate and could carry around a much more portable camera. Costing $3,000, it was well worth it.

The Nikon D700

Tuesday, 20th August 2008

Canon announces the much anticipated successor to the 40D, the Canon 50D. With a remarkable 15Megapixels of resolution and 12,800 ISO, it sounds like a clear winner. In addition to that, it will be the first camera to sport the new DIGIC 4 processor. Learned from Nikon, it now boasts of a sparkling 3″ VGA LCD with Live View and 3 modes of autofocus and also HDMI output. The LCD is supposed to be superior to that of the Nikon D3 which is good news. Priced reasonably at $1,400, it almost looks like Canon is making a comeback against Nikon.

Wednesday, 21st August 2008

Nikon announces the successor to the hugely popular D80, the Nikon D90. With a 12Megapixel sensor and a maximum ISO of 6400, it doesnt sound like a worthy opposition to the Canon 50D. It also has the same screen as the D3 with Live View and a 4.5fps burst. But the magic feature of the D90 is its ability to record movies. Yes, Nikon has just released the world’s first dSLR with video recording capabilities. This is sure to create a lot of buzz among everyone and since its priced at $1,300, it’s going to be very tempting for some potential 50D buyers.

Canon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

Along the the 50D, Canon has also announced its newest superzoom lens, the Canon EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.5 IS for use the with crop sensor cameras. It was about time that Canon annouced a superzoom lens since Nikon had already done so a long time ago. However, the leader in the world superzooms is Tamron with its newest offering having an impressive range of 15x with a focal length of 18-270mm with VC which is Tamron’s version of IS. Once again, consumers will have a choice of Canon’s higher priced lower focal length offering or Tamron’s lower priced higher focal length solution. The difference in quality can only be determined once they have been released and one has to see whether there will be remarkable differences which would make the Canon worth the money.

In the world of flashes, Nikon seems to be leading as well with the new Nikon SB-900 which is Nikon’s top of the line flash and definitely trumps Canon’s top of the line 580EX-II. The SB-900 comes with some world’s first features such as a flash zoom range of 17-200mm and three different illumination patterns. Sony is making a revolution in its own world with the first flash in the world with a vertical swivel. The HVL-F58AM from Sony has a very innovative “Quick Shift Bounce” system also makes it a must have for many photographers.

Sony will also be entering the Full Frame with the announcement of its much anticipated new Pro level dSLR which is touted to have a 24Megapixel sensor and will effectively become the dSLR with the highest megapixel count. And since Sony supplies the sensors for Nikon, it shouldnt be too much of a surprise if Nikon announces a D3X with a 24Megapixel sensor as well. This would be a huge blow to Canon which needs to get its show together at Photokina this year. Photokina starts on the 23rd of September at Germany and almost every photographer is eagerly awaiting the announcement of the Canon 5D’s successor. Several rumours have been all around the internet but we wont know for sure until Canon announces it officially. I sincerely do hope that Canon have something mindblowing and revolutionary in store for everyone because if they dont, Nikon is going to slowly start taking the lead…

Disclaimer – I own a Canon 40D which I bought around a year ago.

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