Canon Rumors

PowerShot Leaks – Pop Photo

Screencap of other cameras
I didn't check mail today, pardon me if this is late to the game. Submitted by a reader.

click for larger

Just driving the point home I guess.

Nikon D90 – UPDATE

My Original Post
I sort of blew off the D90 movie mode rumors from our friend at Nikon Rumors. Now that I see it in action, I can see a lot of great uses. As pointed out by some readers, the DOF will be crazy fun to work with.

Please don't stop coming to Canon Rumors because I will be using a Nikon for a bit!

Reader Response – Kwanonista

You should at least wait for the 5DMkII, which if your rumors sources are correct would have a superior movie mode, 1920×1080 full HD format, instead of the D90's smaller 720p mode. Having read the preview at DPR, I came to the opposite conclusion regarding the D90's movie mode. It is a rather primitive experiment, for the ff reasons:

- at the highest 720p resolution, the clips can only last for 5 minutes, no doubt because the sensor might “burn out” if used for a longer period. Live View modes in the various SLRs also have time limits for the same reason.

- there is NO AF at all when using the movie mode, so people can forget about “shallow DOF-effects” unless you're using a tripod and the subjects are brick walls & statues. =P

- the optional sound is strictly mono-only.

I think the tag of “world's first DSLR with movie mode” is rather premature, since the still-unannounced 5DMkII would most likely have the same feature, and both the D90 & 5DMkII would be released at roughly the same time. Nikon can claim they were the first to announce a DSLR with movie mode, but not the first to release one. Announcing vaporware is not the same as delivering it at the same time. Wait a while for September-October and we prolly would have 3 DSLRs from Canon, Nikon & Sony all claiming to have the “first DSLR with movie mode”.

Personally, I'm not impressed with the D90 overall, just looking at the models bracketing it (450D, 40D & 50D). Aside from the 5DMKII, the 500D slated early next year would most assuredly have this same novelty feature, albeit at full HD 1080p resolution & better usability (i.e., none of the D90's limitations).

Also, I've read one of the reasons why Canon didn't make a push for this movie mode in their DSLRs even earlier than Nikon is that in some countries (mostly EU?), a “movie-taking device” nets a higher government tax than a pure “stills-recording device”.

This is also aside from the obvious fact that both Canon & Sony have a thriving pro & amateur video cam market for themselves since they are both large electronics companies, unlike Nikon whose business is more or less just optics & still cameras, so there are no products in the Nikon lineup which would be cannibalized (aside from their P&S movie-taking cams).”

Thanks Kwanonista, clearly I was going loopy and you brought me back. I really fell for Nikon's marketing movies… they're great. This is less practical than I thought. I will still try one out however.

5D Mark II Specs [CR3] UPDATE

5D Mark II

This comes from a dude that seems to be right a lot lately.

* 21.1 MP 1.0x
* DIGIC IV
* ISO 100-6400 L:50 & H:12800
* 5 FPS
* 3.2″ High Resolution Screen (LCD)
* 19 point AF
* HDMI Out
* Liveview
* HD Movie Mode
* Viewfinder: 100% Coverage
* Full weather sealing
* EF Lenses only

I will scour until I find a leak…. it's coming.

From Northlight

“The 50D sensor and image processing are a major step forward in what has been a multi-year strategy for Canon to take sensor technology to the limits of physics, simultaneously achieving higher ISOs, lower noise and higher dynamic range. Note Chuck Westall’s announcement that the 50D sensor has 1 to 1 and a half stops better noise than the 40D sensor despite the smaller pixels. Several core strategies have been pursued simultaneously for this:

* Reducing the micro lens gap to capture all the light hitting the sensor. This has been highlighted in the 40D, 1D III and 1Ds III sensors and the new 50D sensor now achieves effective 100% coverage. Only very minor improvements are expected from this point on (e.g. shaping the lenses towards the corners of the frame to capture angled light.

* Reducing the noise level of each pixel. Canon have made changes over several generations of sensors to achieve this, bringing the amplifiers closer to each pixel, changing micro-circuit configuration and lowering voltages so the sensor runs colder. Again the design of the 50D is a big step forward here from the 40D and 1D III etc. Canon have one more big jump lined up, with low voltage cold running CMOS designs to gain at least an additional stop in lower noise at higher ISOs or long exposures.

* Better digital noise reduction. These are the changes in DIGIC noise processing. First with the Chroma Noise reduction in DIGIC III and now with more advanced multi-level noise reduction options in DIGIC IV. Canon believe they have made most of the gains possible via processing algorithms but do still have some areas to develop. The next focus will be faster noise reduction processing so that it does not come at an impact on frame burst rates (look to the 1D3 replacement for example)

* Pixel binning for high ISOs. A new technology enabled by the complexity and processing power of DIGIC IV where they can bin 2, 4 or 8 pixels together at the raw level and average out the noise between them. This is seen by Canon as a key technology in balancing very high resolution sensors (in the 50mp range) with low noise at very high ISOs. Right now they are not pushing this too much with the 50D so as to not create confusion in the market (they see more potential for the technology as sensors get larger and in the pro-market).

* Increased image resolution – This is a newer strategy (most evident on the 450D where they have changed the anti-aliasing filter (thinner and closer etc) so as to achieve a crisper image per pixel without loosing the benefits of anti-aliasing filter on diagonal edges etc.. The 50D has the same technology. One further option for the future is for Canon to drop the anti aliasing physical filter and do it in a future DIGIC generation where there can be smarter allocation of colour values than the blurring achieved by a light based filter.

* Increased raw bit depth for improved dynamic range. Here Canon have made the jump to 14 bit and will move to 16 bit in their future sensor technology generations. Canon see the main usage of extra bit depth as providing the dynamic range to translate the sensor image into a printable or viewable image with a higher dynamic range. In other words mapping the 14 or 16 bits into an 8 bit viewable or printable image that mimics the dynamic range in the scene.

* Dynamic range preservation options – Canon are putting a lot of focus into how to provide the photographer with the best options for preserving the dynamic range of the original image in both a RAW file and the 8 bit JPEG. The highlight tone preservation option on the 40D, 1D III etc was the first step. The new 'automatic brightness' options in the 50D are another, where they try and optimise the brightness of various parts of the image to reduce the dullness from shadows. Canon are planning much more in this area, down to the equivalent of varying the ISO level across the different parts of the sensor when the image is taken (easier in live view mode of course).

Another of these, It must be true!

Canon EOS 5D Mark II For Her

This comes from a very good source.

click for larger

New Powershots [CR4] UPDATED

Screenscap of the G10 Leak: Click for larger

Powershot SX1S (S5IS Replacement)
10mp
20x Zoom
28-560mm
Articulating LCD
Hotshoe
DIGIC 4

SD 990IS
14.7mp
DIGIC 4

SD880IS
10mp
DIGIC 4

UPDATE: Google Screencap Showing the Page. (Cache Doesn't Work) Click for larger

If anyone has a screencap of the above cameras, I'd like to see it.

New Pricing – CANADA MSRP

18-200 Pricing
I waited to comment on the 18-200 until I saw pricing, I thought maybe they were going to kill the 55-250, since it's on backorder in Canada. Then the no USM thing would make sense.

I can see the logic in not wanting to cannibalize higher end EF-S & L lens sales with a kick butt superzoom (like the 28-300L). I know for a fact Nikon has lost additional lens sales because of the “do it all” lens.

Now Canon has priced what appears to be a plastic fantastic lens almost to where the well built (other than the barrel creep) Nikon is. Adding an Ultrasonic Motor can't cost that much, it's been around forever.

Perception seems to say Canon has really dropped the ball on this thing if pricing is correct.

Canon Canada Pricing MSRP

50D Body Only – $1449

50D w/17-85 IS – $1799

50D w/18-200 IS – $2049

18-200 f/3.5-5.6 IS – $749 (No USM?)

A1000 – $229

A2000 – $259

SX110 – $299

E1 – $229 (Huh?)

B&H Pricing on the 50D

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/control … rch&Q=*&bhs=t

Weird Kit

Canon G10 Leak?

From a reader
From PopPhoto (LINK IS DEAD)
http://www.popphoto.com/photonews/5497/ … unced.html

Canon has today announced the Canon Powershot G10 (SRP: $499), a 14.7 megapixel luxe-class compact digital camera as the replacement to the popular G9. The G10, along with the other compact cameras announced today, is powered by the Digic 4 processor.

The Canon Powershot G10 will be available in October 2008. Stay tuned to PopPhoto.com for a full test of this cool new compact camera.

50D & 18-200 Official

I have to sleep sometime!

50D
http://www.dpreview.com/previews/canoneos50d/

18-200 f/3.5-5.6 IS
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0808/08082 … -200mm.asp

EF-S 30mm f/1.8 USM [CR2]

A non macro EF-S prime?
Two emails have come in recently in regards to such a lens being developed.

A new EF-S 30 f/1.8 would make sense. That's about 50mm on a 1.6x. But why EF-S? Wouldn't an EF 30 1.8 sell well to a lot of people? I think so.

5D vs D700 – A Very Good Review

Enjoy
http://pixinfo.com/en/articles/nikon_d7 … on_eos_5d/

I don't like to slam other brands, because in the end it's the shots that matter. This just goes to show that Canon currently offers a sub $2K full frame camera that can outdo the D700 and D3 in some key areas.