Canon launches new Wireless transmitters for 1D Mark IV, 5D Mark II and the 7D
LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., January 7, 2009

Full Press Release: http://www.usa.canon.com/……

Delkin Delivers Genuine Human Contact with New 420X CompactFlash Line
Poway, CA. January 7th, 2010 – Delkin Devices, Inc. today expanded their lineup of CompactFlash card storage by announcing four new blazing fast 420X PRO cards capable of transfer speeds up to 63MB/s. The new UDMA enabled flash memory comes with a remarkable San Diego based customer service team as well as a lifetime warranty, and is available in capacities of 8GB, 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. For a working photographer, the reliability and service support behind a memory card can be just as crucial, if not more so, than the camera itself.

“Unless they have blown it up, dissected it, or their dog has chewed on it, we’ll take it back,” said Eric Findley, Delkin’s Customer Service Supervisor. “Since we’re based out of Southern California it’s easy to call us up and talk to a knowledgeable person withinminutes. We stand by our hassle free exchange policy; in addition to the lifetime warranty on flash memory, we have industry leading product support policies on our batteries, readers, adapters, and most all of our digital camera accessories. We build superb products and we want photographers to know they can count on us to support them.”

Delkin’s PRO memory card line combines blazing fast speeds and increased capacity with unmatched reliability. Every card is manufactured with high grade NAND flash, advanced controller design, and quality control guidelines based on ISO:9001 standards. Additionally, built-in ECC (Error Correction Code) automatically detects and corrects any errors that might occur during data transfer. Delkin’s 420X CF cards are fully compliant with current CompactFlash specifications with support for Ultra DMA (UDMA) mode 6. These high-speed cards are able to instantaneously store high-resolution images and HD video, making recording faster and easier than ever.

Delkin has supported Lifetime warranties on its memory products for over 20 years and maintains a U.S. based support center where genuine human assistance is consistently available Monday through Friday between 8am and 5pm PST. Delkin’s 420X PRO line of CompactFlash memory cards and other innovative digital camera accessories may be found in camera stores and distributors worldwide, as well as the company’s website at www.delkin.com.

cr

*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

http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/…..

They have also added data for the G11 & S90

http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/eng/…..

thanks Michael

cr

"Cold? This aint cold" photo: Ole Jorgen Liodden

Check out the full field report: http://canonfieldreviews.com/7d-1-weather-sealing/

cr

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

http://blog.gsmarena.com/canon-eos-7d-review-bridging-a-gap/

Final Words (From GSMArena)
“There was a lot of commotion in the enthusiast community about the Canon 7D pixel-crammed sensor. The 15 megapixel EOS 50D was not among the Canon’s most successful products and the new 18 megapixel camera made photographers fear the worse – excessive noise without noticeable increase in resolved resolution.

The real-life results however are far from that and they are actually quite promising. The noise is well contained and has a more tolerable film-grain-like look – that’s way better than what most people expected from the most pixel-dense APS-C sensor on the market.

The high-megapixel sensor however turned quite taxing on the current lens designs and as far as resolved detail is concerned, you won’t be able to make full use of those 18 megapixels unless you have one of the handful lenses that can put up with the increased demand.

On the other hand, the excellent design, ergonomics, unmatched video recording, and lots of innovative features make the Canon EOS 7D a ground-breaking camera not only within the Canon portfolio but for the market in general.”

thanks Peter

cr

Thanks for all your hard work Hudson, a lot of people appreciate it.

cr

http://blog.photoframd.com/….

“The First” Feature Length Film….

"Everyone's a critic!"

…. made using the 7D

http://www.theaspectratio.net/….

Disclaimer: I do not fact check “The first” claims.

Darwin Wigget’s 7D Review… the counterpoint
Pro Photo Home has posted a retort to the claims made by Darwin Wigget and his review of the 7D.

Pro Photo Home seems to be doing tests at f/5.6 & f/16. I think the issue with the 7D was in the f/8 to f/11 area. Most seem to be saying that diffraction sets in with larger apertures on the 7D compared to the XSi.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but check it out.

http://www.prophotohome.com/….

Old News, I forgot to post it
Here is Lee’s solution to filtering (some filters) ultra wide angle lenses.

http://www.ephotozine.com/….

The bad news? You still can’t use a polarizer. There is a company working on a solution so you can actually polarize these lenses as well.

thanks James

cr

I was quite surprised by the results….

From Darwin
“Of all the cameras we have ever used, we loved the handling of the Canon 7D the best. What a little sports car of a camera! We so much wanted to love this camera. But in test after test we constantly were disappointed in the quality of the files. For our purposes, landscape and nature photography shot using RAW images, the 7D just does not cut it. Darwin is definitely keeping his Rebel (a great camera for the money) for backpacking. We were so impressed with the Canon G11 that we plan to add it to our camera bags as an everyday walk around camera.”

Read More: http://darwinwiggett.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/the-canon-7d/

CR’s Take
I’m super curious now if I’d get the same results. I’m going to give it a whirl if I get some time.

cr

Read it: http://www.dpreview.com/news/0911/…….

G11 Review Delayed
I wanted to rewrite a bunch of it and do some large prints. It’ll be up before the weeks ends.

cr

It is said that a part of an image, shot prior to the one after may appear as an afterimage (like it has been burned in) on the following shot. It is most unlikely that you will notice this effect in a normal jpeg but it is said that it may become apparent when you adjust the exposure, contrast, etc in post.

Google Translation: http://cweb.canon.jp/e-support/products/eos-d/eos7d-firmware.html

There should be word from Canon USA soon.

thanks Clark

Out of the office today
I won’t be around today, I’m off to have some fun with some mates. Some little band named Metallica has rolled into town and invited CR Guy to come see them(for a large fee).

I obliged.

cr

1. Improves AF accuracy during Live View shooting.
2. Corrects a phenomenon where in rare instances, movie images shot by the camera may exhibit abnormal colors.
3. Corrects a phenomenon that at certain timings, the shutter cannot be released when the camera’s built-in flash or an external Speedlite is used for shooting.

Firmware Version 1.0.9 is for cameras with firmware up to version 1.0.8. If the camera’s firmware is already version 1.0.9, it is not necessary to update the firmware.

For details on Firmware Version 1.0.9, please download the PDF files from the bottom of this page.

Download: http://web.canon.jp/imaging/eosd/firm-e/eos7d/firmware.html

thanks Steve

cr

Read More: http://philipbloom.co.uk/2009/10/13/….

thanks Mehran

cr

Canon 7D v1.09 / Click for larger

DPR Thread: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/….

cr