Archive for the ‘Third Party Cameras’ Category

The Blackmagic Production Camera 4K

An EF mount 4K cinema camera
For the second year in a row, the biggest buzz from the show has come from Blackmagic Design (you’re a close second Freefly).

Last year they launched a 2.5K cinema camera that has been plagued with availability issues. People that have got their hands on one seem to genuinely like the camera. Although there are still a lot of people that have been frustrated by their inability to get one.

This year Blackmagic Design launched two new cameras, a compact cinema camera for $995 and the very exciting 4K camera for under $4000. The camera itself has a Super 35 sensor and has a global shutter, which eliminates the rolling shutter frustration.

From Blackmagic Design
“Shoot Ultra HD TV or 4K feature films with the new Blackmagic Production Camera 4K. You get a large Super 35 size sensor with professional global shutter combined with precision EF mount optics, high quality visually lossless compressed CinemaDNG RAW and Apple ProRes 422 (HQ)™ file recording for a complete self contained solution. The built in touchscreen lets you monitor, change settings and enter metadata directly on the camera!”

I spent a half an hour or so with Blackmagic Design along with my friend Mitch from Planet5D. It was a good talk and has changed my view of Blackmagic Design and how successful I think they can be.

First up, the production issues of the first camera. The company feels those are behind them, they’ve learned a lot from the issues. The first camera had issues with sensor production, one of the only a handful of parts inside the camera that Blackmagic Design doesn’t manufacture themselves. For the last year, they have had an abundance of camera bodies without sensors inside them. The new sensor comes from a new supplier and they’ve made sure they are going to be able to meet demand. Blackmagic Design wouldn’t tell us who that manufacturer was at the time of writing this, as they don’t feel it matters to consumers where the sensor comes from. As long as they can produce them, and the camera gives good results, who cares? I agree with that point, but I do appreciate the passion of camera lovers.

That being said, the speculation is the sensor is made by CMOSIS , as it shares some physical similarities to the Leica M sensor. CMOSIS also makes a Super35 sensor that is in the Apertus camera.

The camera will only be available in EF mount, as the distance to the sensor prevents a PL mount version of the camera. The image circle is also too big for Micro 4/3 lenses.

The camera is slated for release in July, so there should be decent stock of them in August if what were told today about product was true.

This may not be the only cinema camera you own, but it’s shaping up to be one a lot of people with add to the kit. At under $4000, it’s almost a no brainer. One may appear in my camera bag, so I can continue to make bad movies, but at 4K resolution!

Thanks for your time Blackmagic Design.

Visit Blackmagic Design | Preorder the Blackmagic Production Camera 4K $3995

cr

Canon EOS 5D Mark III vs Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera

From OneRiver Media
The folks at OneRiver Media decided to compare the EF model of the Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera with the Canon EOS 5D Mark III. They put both cameras through a battery of tests to compare sharpness, dynamic range, lowlight performance as well as a few others.

OneRiver recommends that you download the video to your computer, as they weren’t completely happy with the compression on Vimeo. Although, even the compressed file shows the differences in the two cameras pretty easily.

Release Information

After several DAYS of trying to upload this video to Vimeo, we’ve ultimately had to reduce the bit-rate compression down to 18mbps (Vimeo recommends 5mbps, ha!), which is down from our minimum quality level of 40mbps. This means the SOURCE file you can download will also inhibit some amount of compression blocking and smearing, even in the Cinema Camera footage, which doesn’t originally exist in our ProRes master file. We’ve tried EVERYTHING, multiple types of uploads, different encoding methods, you name it. This is as best as it will get unless someone can host our 40mbps H.264 file (about 3GB) on their server that the world can download from.

Although the downloadable source file is a little better than the streaming version, it still doesn’t compare to the original ProRes source file which imposes no banding, compression artifacts, or chrominance sub-sampling (down from 4:4:4 to H.264′s 4:2:0 space). Please keep this in mind when viewing.

Unfortunately Vimeo only allows 100 downloads per day, so check back to download the 2GB file if the queue is filled. And remember to always watch in FULL 1080 HD or you will have added scaling and moiré issues on some of the tests than what is already been added by Vimeo and our horrid bit-rate restrictions.

Background: This video compares the Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera and the Canon 5D Mark III in several tests. This includes dynamic range, sharpness, pushing levels, banding, artifacts, rolling shutter, chromakeying, wide/telephoto lengths, DOF (depth of field), low light, macro blocking, contrast, and more.

Thanks for watching. Hope this is as informative for you as it was for me making it.

Marco Solorio

Source: [Planet5D] via [OneRiver Media]

cr

*UPDATED* Big Megapixel Camera Next Week.

*UPDATE 1* Nikon Announcements Next Week
A reader has written in about this post and says the big megapixel camera is from Nikon.

A Nikon division (I won’t mention the country) will be showing new Nikon products on August 24, 2011. The showing is “confidential” and will require an NDA. We already know the Nikon mirrorless will be coming.

Please don’t yell at me for posting Nikon stuff on Canon Rumors (trust me, it’ll happen).

Whatever Nikon does, could give some insight into what Canon and others in the industry will do. Photographic equipment companies rarely one up each other in the span of a month or so.

Upcoming DSLRs
I received word that one manufacturer will surprise everyone with a big megapixel camera next Thursday, August 25, 2011.

The report is very vague, but comes from a bang on source. I’d almost [CR3] this.

5D Mark III
Two great sources are both saying Canon is extremely quiet at the moment. There hasn’t been a real whisper about anything upcoming.

I am finished posting spec lists until I hear something more concrete.

A lot of people are talking about price drops of the 5D Mark II. It’s pretty interesting to me too. We’re coming up to 3 years on the Mark II. Maybe there will be something announced in 2011.

No one has received any press invites to a Canon event yet.

It looks like Nikon will announce first.

cr

Red Epic with an EF Mount

Vincent Laforet is at it again

The angle of video of a Canon 600mm f4 EF Lens with a 2X converter on a RED Epic, is roughly one degree. (1 Degree, 45 arcminutes horizontally to be exact.)

The focal length in terms of 35mm is more than 3400mm – not too shabby when you consider this was shot at 4K, 120fps in full RAW on the Epic.

So who cares? Is this just a case of “just because you can…”

The yet to be released EF mount for the RED system fully supports IS, autofocus, digital aperture control, touch to focus, touch to rack focus and distance readout. All you need to convert your RED to EF is a Torx screwdriver.

Vincent shot this film at Mono Lake 45 minutes after sunset until it was dark. He used an ISO range of 800 to 2000.

Visit the Vincent Laforet Blog to see more images of the setup.

cr

The Leica M9 Experience

Yes, I wrote a Leica review
Please don’t give me heck for it, Leica and Canon can get along. Rest assured no Nikon review will ever appear here.

I did this because people ask me why I use one, so this seemed like a good way to tell them. It’s more of an experience review than a technical review of the camera.

I also did this because it’s a 1 of a kind camera, there is no other full frame camera like it. There should be more of them, and Canon should make one.

If you read it, I hope you enjoy it.

Read the review

cr

Fujifilm FinePix X100

The Fujifilm FinePix X100

It’s not a Canon!
No, it’s not. It’s something that has caught the photo gear world by surprise. I don’t think too many people were expecting Fuji of all companies to compete head to head with the German made Leica X1.

On the surface the camera looks like a winner. The retro design is getting big thumbs up from everything I have read. Some are even calling it “more beautiful than a Leica M9″ (easy now).

Specifications

The Hybrid Viewfinder Explained in Pictures.

Hybrid Viewfinder
This looks like a very cool development if I understand it correctly.

The Hybrid Viewfinder on the FinePix X100 combines the window-type “bright frame” optical viewfinder found in high-end film cameras such as 35mm or medium-format cameras, and the electronic viewfinder system incorporated in fixed single lens or mirrorless digital cameras. By using integrating a prism for the 1,440,000 dot LCD panel image on the viewing screen in the reverse-Galilean optical finder, the Hybrid Viewfinder can show both the shooting frame and a variety of shooting data.

What does it costs?
Initial reports list the camera at around $1500 USD. Is that too much? To sell a lot of them, yes it is. The world may love it today, but I have a lot of doubts the world will love it enough to shell out $1500+ in droves.

Versus The Leica X1 & Sigma DP2?
The other 2 APS-C sensor fixed lens compacts (hopefully I’m not forgetting anyone) have  found a niche market of sorts. The X1 has received some rave reviews from the Leica community. The DP2 has found fans as well, and their camera is priced in the “affordable” range for someone serious about a compact.

Full Press Release: http://www.fujifilm.com/news/n100920.html

I’ll be sure to check this camera out at Photokina, I’m sure there’s going to be a very large crowd around it.

Availability is pegged to be the spring of 2011

cr

Canon Rangefinder?

Jeff Ascough teasing us

Jeff Ascough posted on his twitter that he’s testing a new rangefinder.

Could it be Canon? Maybe a digital Bessa? Howabout a digital Ikon?

Its definitely not a Nikon or a Leica.

Thanks Joseph

cr

*UPDATE* Odds & Ends

*UPDATE*

Error 500
If you’re like myself and some other readers, you’ve been experiencing a few or a lot of Error 500 messages whenever you navigate Canon Rumors. I guess this is good news, as I have outgrown the hosting capabilities of my current package. Because of this, Canon Rumors is moving to a dedicated server.

The switchover will hopefully go unnoticed by the end users. It should be completed over the next 7 days.

Thanks to everyone that frequents the site and have made it such a huge success. Growth continues!

cr guy

1Ds3 & 1D3 Price Drops (HK)
You can read about the price drops on the two EOS-1′s.

http://www.canon.com.hk/Download.aspx?pressrelease_id=10366&file_type=1

thanks everyone

Zeiss ZE 18 f/3.5
Received a notification that we can expect a release sometime in the last quarter of 2009.

I’m looking forward to it.

thanks Gregor

New Laser Printers
Adding to its robust line-up of award-winning imageRUNNER systems and helping to redefine desktop productivity, Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging and office solutions, today introduced its latest desktop laser beam printer (LBP) – the Color imageRUNNER LBP5460. This model is the newest addition to the Company’s successful LBP desktop printer line, which also includes the Color imageRUNNER LBP5975 and LBP5970, both introduced last year.

http://www.usa.canon.com/templatedata/pressrelease/20090803_lbp5460.html

Hahnemuhle Adds Canon Pixma Pro 9500 Mark II Profiles
I asked Hahnemuhle about 9500 Mark II profiles and they sent me the following email.

“The profiles of the Canon 9500 work on the Mark II, too. It’s the same technology.
Here you can download them http://www.hahnemuehle.com/site/en/222/canon.html#kat8 ”

My Next Camera
The Leica M9 has made its way into the rumor world. It looks like we’ll see an announcement in September.

There’s still speculation it will use the Canon 5D Mark II Sensor. Others feel it’s going to be a full frame Kodak sensor. As long as it works, I don’t care what’s in it.

The projected cost of the camera is $7700 USD.

cr

It’s nice when it’s not Canon

Nikon Service advisory D5000

1. The camera cannot be operated when the power switch is on, even with a fully-charged battery.
2. The camera cannot be operated with the EH-5a AC Adapter connected through the EP-5 Power Connector and the power switch on.

http://nikonusa.com/Service-And-Support/Service-Advisories/D5000-Service-Advisory.page

Rebel T1i Service advisory is probably imminent. :)

I posted this because people can get pretty angry about a camera service advisory. It has been a rough 24 months for Canon and their quality control. This is just a reminder that no one is immune.

*group hug*

cr

EF 400 f/4.5L IS [CR1]

Replacement or Addition?
Received a cryptic email saying that a 400 f/4.5L IS is in development. The lens would fit between the 400 DO and 400 f/5.6. Neither of those lenses would be discontinued.

I’m not sure Canon needs four 400mm lenses. Nor do I have a clue what such a lens would cost.

Interesting concept anyway.

Nikon Roadmap Leak
Everyone has been pretty enamored by the apparent Nikon Roadmap leak.

I’m not a big believer, that is A LOT of lenses to launch in the span of 18 months.

We’ll see though.

The link in case you missed it:
http://nikonrumors.com/2009/07/08/nikon-roadmap-2009-2010-leaked-part-2.aspx

cr