Messages

1

Lenses / Re: EF 200-400 f/4L IS 1.4x Announcement Around the Corner? [CR1]

« on: May 12, 2013, 07:47:46 PM »

Let's call this lens Sasquatch...it's off white, it's got a big foot, and while everybody's heard of it, very few have actually SEEN it.

2

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Canon EOS 7D Firmware Version 2 Coming Soon

« on: June 08, 2012, 02:23:55 PM »

I have to believe they already use Circular Buffers, but they may not have been very good at it.  This brings the other elements into play.  At the time they may have prioritized other tasks thinking they had the time; or yes, it could have been crappy programming.  The hack guys may have a better opinion of the quality of Canon's embedded programming.  It could also be an improvement in their proprietary OS that gave them more time/space headroom.

The question on my mind is whether the technique they used here could be used to squeeze one or two more photos out of a RAW burst on the T2i/T3i/etc.  Not that they'd bother backporting it even if it could...

3

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Canon EOS 7D Firmware Version 2 Coming Soon

« on: June 08, 2012, 02:07:41 PM »

I don't understand how a jump from 15 to 26 can be done with a firmware update either. Good question.

A friend and I brainstormed a few possibilities:

• They had previously used the available RAM as a simple linear buffer, but changed their algorithm to use it as a circular buffer, allowing more images to be taken after the first was written to the card.
• There was already a circular buffer, but the write order was optimized.
• A redundant write verification step may have been disabled.
• A delay that only became evident when the camera was used with higher-speed cards than were available at launch may have been discovered and eliminated.  (If you need a very fast card to get 26; otherwise, it's not this one.)
• Someone did something really boneheaded in the original coding and it slowed everything down.