Canon Rumors

2009 Canon Rumors Awards!

Canon Rumors 2009 Awards!
Here are my picks for the best and worst of 2009. Stay tuned tomorrow for my predictions for 2010 from Canon.

*Note: You may disagree with something here, just be nice about it if you make a comment.

Best New Digital SLR
Winner: 1D Mark IV
Runner-up: 7D

This was a tough choice because I have never used a 1D Mark IV (I will be soon). I’m basing this on initial reports from various pros. The image quality, autofocus and feature set make it a winner. The only knock folks have against it is the price. Do digital SLR’s really need to cost $5000?

The 7D is a great camera for most people. After seeing and experiencing the softness of the files at small apertures, my opinion of the camera dwindled a little bit. I still think the 7D is Canon actually listening (for the most part) to consumers of prosumer level camera bodies.

As I said last year, Canon had to rethink the xxD line. The 7D addresses that, now lets see what the 60D brings us.

Worst Digital SLR
Winner: Rebel T1i

More mega pixels and a gimped movie mode. The 18-55 has no hope of resolving the 15.1mp sensor the T1i possesses, so why bother?

The 20fps 1080p movie mode is ridiculous. Lower the bitrate or some other way to gimp the movie mode to keep it below the 7D and 5D2.

The Rebel line also needs scrollwheel. It’s not a saleable feature, but it sure is a great thing to have. Ergonomics of the camera in general feel dated.

I was a big fan of the Rebel line until complacency set it. Yes, the Rebel is the best selling digital slr on earth, but that doesn’t mean it can’t push the boundaries of what a great entry level dslr should be.

Best PowerShot
Winner: S90
Runner-up: SD780

I was happy to see the return of the S line from Canon. I love the S90. I love the size, the ergonomics, the ring and the image quality the camera dishes out. It’s great to see Canon has some creative engineers.

SD780?! Yes, I love that little thing. It’s small (oh so small) and quite stylish. The HD movie mode and image quality are pretty decent. This is another creative offering from Canon.

Worst PowerShot
Winner: SX120
Runner-up: A480

Big, ugly, unreliable and boring.. that’s all I have to say about the SX120. It’s a solid value for what it costs, I’m just not a fan.

The A480 is cheap, and probably worth what it costs. I’d like to see IS put into their entry level camera. The LCD on this camera is horrendous as well.

Best New Lens
Winner: TS-E 17 f/4L
Runner-up: EF-S 15-85 f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

Oh how fun is that 17mm Tilt-Shift? Tons! Canon’s new tilt-shifts, especially the 17mm set the benchmark again for these types of lenses. Image quality, build quality and useablity are second to none. A job well done.

The 17-85 sure needed to be upgraded as a kit lens. The 15-85 is a well built and very good performer on the 7D. You immediately notice the build quality and heft of the new lens when you pick it up. I’ve used it and really think it’s worth the price.

Worst New Lens
Winner: 18-135 IS

Zzzzz….

Best New Third Party Lens
Winner: Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 VC

I was a big fan of the original, adding vibration correction to the lens just makes it an even better value.

Best New Third Party Camera
Winner: Leica M9
Runner-up: Panasonic GF1

The M9 is a fine example of a company listening to its followers and delivering a great camera to follow-up a not so great camera. I liked the M8, but it was a hassle at times to use.

It costs a lot, but who cares? I’m a big fan of the rangefinder and always will be. I currently use some film Leicas and I’m currently waiting for my M9 to arrive (possibly March!). Leica will not be able to meet demand for this camera in 2010.

The Panasonic GF1 is almost great. The problems I have with the camera is it feels like a point & shoot, the external EVF is pretty bad, I find the camera quite ugly with all those logos on the front and the jpg processing is very poor.

However, it’s a giant step in the right direction for Micro 4/3. I wish Panasonic would hire some real camera designers to really bring the system up to par with other photographic tools.

cr

1D Mark IV Information

Arrival in North America?
I’ve heard from a couple of people we should see the cameras starting to appear tomorrow or Thursday. I can’t let you know where as their stock is already called for and they don’t need 3000 phone calls tomorrow. :)

I’m still waiting to see when Adorama and B&H will have them.

1D Mark IV Mini Review
Brad Mangin had the privilege to shoot with the Mark IV at an NFL football game.

I don’t think he could have been happier with the performance of the camera and especially the autofocus system.

Read More: http://manginphotography.net/2009/12/

Thanks Brad

cr

1D Mark IV Unboxed!

Under the weather
Sorry for the delay, I had a nice bout with some bad chicken or stomach virus.

Mark IV Unboxings!
This is from Andrew Hobbs. He received his Mark IV in Melbourne, Australia.

Rudolph The Mark IV Lover

This comes from Jesper in Denmark

1D Mark IV Box

1D Mark IV Unboxed!

Time off

I’ll be off to Ireland on Friday, I’ll be tied up travelling on Christmas Day and sleeping off the jet lag on the 26th.

Everyone have a great and safe Christmas/other holiday/Friday.

cr

1D Mark IV’s Available.

Various Reports
I have reports from Bern, Switzerland and Oslo, Norway that Mark IV’s are being sold to consumers.

I’d like to see an unboxing and/or some high ISO files.

Send it to buzz@canonrumors.com

cr

1D Mark IV Street Dates

Coming Soon

Coming Soon!

As usual with hotly anticipated camera releases, delivery times are all over the place.

This is what I have been told.
- Hong Kong has a release date of December 23, 2009
- A Swiss rep has said dealers in Switzerland should expect a couple of cameras to show up before Christmas.
- In Canada I`m told to be prepared for mid January for the first consumer deliveries. Professional customers may receive cameras before that.
- In the States, I hear lots of conflicting stories. All of which say the camera should start shipping after new years.

We usually see cameras trickle out in Asia before most other places. We`ll be keeping a close eye on that.

I`m exciting for the first unboxings!

Thanks W

cr

Odds & Ends

1D Mark IV Delivery?
I’ve received a couple emails that state Canon will begin shipping Mark IV’s mid next week. I have nothing 100% confirmed.

EOS 60D
Lots of 60D questions. I haven’t received any super solid information.

Some things that have popped up over the last month or so. I [CR1] all of this.

1) 60D will be launched in the Spring 2010 and shipping before summer
2) Upgraded 15.1mp sensor
3) 720P video at 24, 25, 30 & 60 fps (No 1080p mode)
4) Same AF system as the 50D with some AI tweaks.
5) 6.3fps remains.

As I said, not much is too solid at this point.

Lenses
I’ve had a lot of emails saying how happy people would be if a 600 f/4 DO actually gets made. If they correct the low contrast shown in the 400 DO, we could have a big winner.

I did receive an email saying we’d see 2 new fisheyes launched in 2010. One for APS-C and one to replace the 15mm fisheye.

cr

1D Mark IV in Slow Motion

Very Nice
Dan Chung got to test drive a couple prototype 1D Mark IV’s for a night at the horse track.

Take a look at the results:

Read More: http://www.dslrnewsshooter.com/….

cr

Video Aliasing Issues

Video Aliasing Issues
The EOS 5D Mark II, 7D and 1D Mark IV (no word on the T1i) appear to be affected by the issue.

What’s the deal?
“The article by Barry Green is about the oft-reported “aliasing” artifacts in video from the Canon HDSLRs (5D Mark II, 7D, 1D Mark IV). Barry does a great job of backing up a few steps and defining the term aliasing.

Aliasing occurs when you sample something infrequently enough that you create an impression of something that wasn’t there. Imagine a blinking light in a room with a door. You must open the door to check the status of the light. If you open the door often enough, you get a pretty good picture of the status of the light, maybe something like on, on on, off off off, on on on, etc. Your samples are frequent enough to accurately represent the light’s activity.”

Read all about it at Planet5D

cr

1D Mark IV Arrival?

USA
We’re been told that a certain business was told by Canon to expect their order of 5 1D Mark IV bodies on December 15, 2009.

Canada
I’ve been told to expect the bodies to be available the first week of January in Ontario. That’s from 1 store, looking for confirmation from others.

EU
We should start seeing them appearing in various parts of Europe around the 15th of December.

Asia
I’ve received no information about the Asian market… as usual, they’ll probably get a few first.

Thanks Mark

cr

1D Mark IV in the Field.

From Jeff Ascough
Jeff had a chance to take the new 1D Mark IV on location to a wedding to test the lowlight AF and higher ISO quality. I can’t think of too many people more qualified to do so. He doesn’t use a flash 99% of the time when shooting a wedding.

Check his thoughts and samples: http://jeffascough.typepad.com/….

cr

1D Mark IV White Paper

Came out yesterday
Here’s a link the white paper for the 1D Mark IV and other Canon cameras.

http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=GetArticleAct&articleID=1787

They’re good reading if you’re bored.

cr

1D Mark IV Manual Online

The countdown begins
The manual usually arrived about a month before the camera will be in the hands of the eager (that’d be me).

Happy reading!

http://www.canonrumors.com/files/1d4_manual_en.pdf

thanks Rhett

cr

Odds & Ends

1D Mark IV Ship Date
I’ve heard December 9, 2009 is when the first batch of 1D Mark IV’s will be in the wild. No word on what country(ies) that would be.

G11 vs S90
Canon has been pleasantly surprised by the initial orders for the S90. Originally the camera was pegged to be outsold by the G11 6 to 1, their internal numbers have changed to 3 or 4 to 1.

Micro 4/3
Canon is watching how things go with the new system. Currently there are no plans within Canon to start R&D on a Micro 4/3 body or anything similar. There is also no plans for a third lens system at this time. EF-S is still a confusing thing for consumers. This is no lie, Canon still gets flack for the FD to EF change which happened 22 years ago!

24-70 f/2.8L IS
A great source has said this lens is coming in 2010.

Initial 1D Mark IV Orders
Orders for the 1D Mark IV have been beyond expectations for Canon. They do expect to meet the demand of initial orders.

24 f/1.4L II
This is still a hard lens to come by in a lot of places. I’m told Canon is working on having the supply issue sorted by the start of 2010.

cr

*UPDATED* 1D Mark IV – ISO 102,400 Shot

More Sample Shots!
A cr fan sent me a link to his flikr site with ISO samples from the 1D Mark IV.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/slvrscoobie/sets/72157622649772276/

We think ISO 65535 is actually H3 (ISO 102,400)

thanks Bruce

I only kept one
I only downloaded one sample image that I’ve seen on the web from the 1D Mark IV.

I’m not sure if it’s irresponsible for me to post it after Canon ran around the web having them taken down, however… I never grew up… so here it is.

(This is nothing new, you may have seen it already. If you find any others, point me in their direction)

ISO 102,400 - 1D Mark IV - Click for Full Size

disclaimer: I’m using this without the permission of the person that took it. If you want it taken down, let me know.

cr