Messages

16

EOS Bodies / Re: What do you want from the 5D mk III

« on: May 21, 2011, 11:38:32 PM »

AFAIK the 5d2 comes with an eye piece cover on the strap?

Re the 5d2 what I would love as someone who feeds their kids with their photography is

- more dynamic range even at the expense of higher iso's and resolution
- 16 bit
- same resolution
- wider af 'area'. Why bother having 'outer points' when they are so close to the center?
- less dusty - ff = dust magnet so any way it gets less dust is good.
- more Custom memories.
- less buttons on the back and a bigger, higher res touch screen in their place
- the DP button switchable to a MLU button, who the hell uses DP???
- in body IS, whilst it will be of limited help in many situations there are some primes it would help by a stop or two.
-more 'natural' noise like the 7d, the 5d2 has nasty blocky noise.

what I dont care about
-video. its good enough for home video, don't want it for any more than that. better codecs etc are fine, but dont compromise the stills ability.
- number of af points. 3-9 is enough as long as they work well like the centerpoint on the 5d2.

what I really dont want to see
- frickin novelty junk for the noobs like movable screens, lie down or stand on a chair or shoot blind, those screens are camera killers if you have to use your camera in any kind of weather.
- HDR pano sweep junk functions.
- a high speed fps. nikon make a general use camera, the d700, its pretty fast and has a decent resolution, canon make two specialized cameras, the 5d is a way better landscape cam and the 7d a better (but not by far) action cam. Lets keep it that way and not turn a 5d3 into a generalized camera.

17

EOS Bodies / Re: Roadmaps

« on: April 20, 2011, 12:36:17 PM »

Very true, but what about us poor sods in the middle? Not consumers or prosumers but not large companies either? I get not producing one for rebels etc, but for the single digit series (1/5/7d) it would be nice to know at least what year / half if not what quarter to budget for. The bottom line is some peoples money will go elsewhere. I will replace cameras if they brake, otherwise I will wait until the new models are out unless there is something new I want to do that my current camera is holding back. If I am going to make more money by diversifying my product then I will invest in new technology, if my cameras are nearing the end of a period of use that I am happy with I will 'retire' them to reduce in field failures.

Prices will drop when new cameras are announced, but they usually have been dropping over the course of the now extinct product cycle, production costs had also dropped in tandem with this.

I guess its just me that gets frustrated with it lol. As a consumer you may be basing purchases on tax returns, birthdays, or even insurance jobs when something new and shiny appears, as a business you want to plan your capex so as to minimise the tax you pay. Given that Canikon sell to both professionals and consumers, perhaps dual strategies would be in order ?

18

EOS Bodies / Roadmaps

« on: April 20, 2011, 07:22:28 AM »

I spent about 5 years in IT building and installing networks / laptops and desktops. Intel, AMD, Nvidia, ATI, Cisco, Gigabyte and many more companies all sent us roadmaps of future products and even in many cases engineering samples for testing prior to general release. We may not have known specifics in great detail but we had 18-24 months visibility to a quarter level in most cases.
Would it really cause so much trouble for Canon and Nikon who have very substantial commercial photographer customer bases to let us know whats coming in the following financial year so we can plan capex? If canon say a 1ds4 is due q2 2011 nikon have no huge advantage. They don't know the exact specifications and if they try and upstage the launch by releasing a competitor camera a week early they win nothing. Anybody with half a brain would wait the week or the month to compare with canons offering. Not knowing when the camera will come, or even what year or if at all, now that makes changing brands more likely. I guess some muppet has a flashy powerpoint presentation that sold the board on the secret squirrel approach but  frankly as a commercial customer it sucks hugely and has cost canon all my business this year.
Plenty of other companies release a hell of a lot more information about their products significantly in advance without any negative effects. It probably takes 2-3 years to rtm a top of the line camera or lens, 12 months knowledge of a rough release date is unlikely to have any negative impact.

19

EOS Bodies / Re: Would a multi-MP-Sensor be technically feasable or is it purest Sci-Fi?

« on: April 19, 2011, 09:28:17 PM »

hmm I think you may mean 'pixel binning' where you have say a 20mp sensor that can group blocks of say 4 pixels together to reduce noise and make a 5mp image thats very clean compared to the 20mp image.
Yes it is possible The amount of benefit gained is debatable as the 20mp image would have much smaller pixels so in a larger print size it may end up looking better anyway even with the noise and whilst there would be more deviation between pixels those pixels would be a quarter of the size and therefore have less impact than you may think,

20

EOS Bodies / Re: 5D Mark III [CR1]

« on: December 28, 2010, 12:19:45 PM »

Well I'm terribly terribly sorry for daring to think out loud lol. I merely suggested one of several potential reasons, my initial comment supported your comments but I guess you missed that one Demand surely outstripped supply and a likely reason for that is poor forecasting. Not the only reason, and given you provided no supporting facts I fail to see how any of the comments, yours included, is anything more than guess work (well it is a rumours site ).
Doesn't it contradict your poor forecasting suggestion that years after production started they are still not making enough? Yes in some ways it doesn't make much sense to restrict supply, however a certain german car maker has been restricting supply to some models for a long time and as such has cars which appreciate after being sold. There are reasons for doing it, it has been done and it will be done again in the future. I have no idea if this was the case with the 5d2, I was just suggesting some possibilities.
Perhaps you should suggest to canon they sack their sales forecasting team given after 3 years they cannot reliably predict demand.
The ps3 and bluray drives were a perfect example of supply outstripping demand due to new technology being hard to scale, however in the face of demand productivity did scale. Just look at the iphone and how easy it is for apply to massively increase production every quarter (11m-14m-21m or something equally silly, they are allegedly ordering an extra 6 million cdma units for Q1 2011, thats a serious bump), it can be done in some circumstances (the ford s max is an example of it taking forever to ramp) under the right conditions.
Given canon must be making money on a unit basis, you have to admit that they should be able by now to keep the thing in plentiful supply unless perhaps there is another reason? Unless they have diverted capacity elsewhere (they have added extra tiers, I have lost count how many different tiers they have these days)? Again, not intending to offend any sensibilities, just thinking out loud.

21

EOS Bodies / Re: 5D Mark III [CR1]

« on: December 28, 2010, 08:29:47 AM »

+1 for more DR

Re sales figures. I have no idea if it exceeded predicted demand but demand did outstrip supply for a long time, possibly because canon didn't predict demand or possibly because they restricted supply to reduce the impact on 1ds3 sales or just to produce hype (i.e. if its in short supply it must be awesome) but perhaps I'm just too cynical lol.

IIRC the season finale of house was at least partially shot with 5d2's due to their compact size and low light ability, but I think I also remember comments about it costing a fortune in post, I'm not a videographer or DP so I couldn't say lol It's sure been loved by many people.

Canon also make video cameras, quite decent ones costing many many pennies. I would imagine that canon are in no hurry to produce a 2.5k camera that not only canibalises 1ds sales but also their lucrative video business. I would love to be proved wrong, I have no evidence just guessing based on logic.

The same logic applies to the af. No real technical reason prevented the 5d2 having better af, it will have been deliberately offered with 'midrange' af to keep at least some kind of a reason to buy their 8k 1ds3. Canon are far from stupid (although the direct print button worship coupled with the resistance to a mlu button has me worried they may not be that far from it) and will have carefully mapped out their offerings to get the most money from the most number of people.

What suprises me is that Nikon who AFAIK have no video business have not been pushing video harder.

Raw video is possible, perhaps we may even see two versions of a 5d3 with a higher priced one able to record longer video clips?

Couldn't agree more re the gains in noise being jpg not raw.  When the d3s came out folks were posting web sized jpegs at a trillion iso but noone had the cahoonies to post a raw / nef at that iso, always some excuse about loosing some functionality etc. No doubt its a great camera, and post processing advances in nr are great but lets keep a fair baseline and check out the raw starting point.

22

EOS Bodies / Re: Design Your Own Canon Body

« on: November 15, 2010, 09:23:55 PM »

1dL mkI (L for landscape?)

+6x12 140mp sensor (would keep pixel density relatively low) (6x17 would be nice but crazy big)
+3-4 fps
+16 bit, 16-18 stops dr.
+radio flash built in
+5 inch 1366x768 touch screen on reverse and get rid of a multitude of the buttons
+sensor cleaning
+55 2.8, 90 2.8 , 110 2.8, 180 4.0, 250 4.0 & 400 5.6 mm lenses with IS.

Would be happy to pay 40k for that if canon had the cahoonies to make it.

23

EOS Bodies / Re: Disappointed with Canon?

« on: November 15, 2010, 09:16:53 PM »

erm canon made pellicle cameras years ago, long before sony!

There are several big players in the market, theyre all doing things their own way. This way we get a choice. If you don't like canon go buy nikon or sony or olympus. All make great products with a different approach. For me canon pays my bills along with mamiya. YMMV but plenty of people are happy with canon and their cameras. The d700 is a great camera, very responsive, but around half the MP of a 5d2. You pays your money and makes your choice. As a wedding tog you can (for about the same price) take 2x d700 or a 5d2 & 7d. I don't think there is one clear choice there, but both make very compelling options.

Mirrorless is fine for carrying around for a giggle but it isn't for pro work yet. Fuji have made an interesting sensor with phase detect built in which has to be the way forward for mirrorless. Pellicles, well lets see how that pans out, the sony's look interesting and might be worth a try but canon wouldn't be where they are if they made junk. They just chose to take a different route. Just because a camera isn't right for you doesn't make it bad, just means it was meant for someone else.

24

Lenses / Re: How many lenses could you mount on a 5DMkIII?

« on: October 29, 2010, 12:37:59 PM »

Plenty of lenses will work just fine. Re the 'awful' AF, thats just daft. Sure it isn't as great as a 1 series but it doesnt cost as much either. AF issues are more likely due to a lack of skill.

On corner sharpness, very true, the way round it is to work to a larger image circle if its very important. TS lenses have larger image circles and un tilted / shifted they are some of the sharpest lenses across the whole frame you can get.

25

EOS Bodies / Re: How long do i have to wait for continous AF on VDSLR?

« on: October 22, 2010, 01:15:08 PM »

I would agree with expecting it on a lower end camera first due to product cycle lengths, although it could appear first on the 5d3 depending on when that is launched.

As for how, haven't fuji built phase detect af onto a p&s sensor? That is another route I'm not sure at what point it becomes more of a pain in the ass to do and how much it might risk the stills side IQ (and how much canons video guys are crying that the stills boys can't have AF video as it would hurt their sales). Would be nice to see. With practice you should get fast enough at MF anyway.

26

EOS Bodies / Re: 1Ds Mark IV Feature

« on: October 19, 2010, 02:11:58 AM »

Thanks man, I needed a laugh. Pixel binning may not be of huge benefit to many but if you had worked with medium format digital you would understand the significance of the AA filter, and what it means to work without one.

I can see the sense in delaying and 30-35 mp would be the upper end of what I would want to see. Remember the 7d would be 45mp ish if it were full frame. Canon lenses aren't well known for being sharp in the corners anyway, for me thats not a huge issue, for some it is. I would hope people dropping nearly 10k on a camera wouldn't be using a rebel kit lens on it anyway, and L glass can mostly keep up with that kind of pixel density (the 100-400 probably stands out as one that wouldn't). I wish canon would keep the MP count under 30 though, if people need more then there is medium format which wouldn't sacrifice quality to get to 80mp.

Binning is useful in low light for sure, and in video. The big thing is the AA filter, if they do get rid of the AA filter it will make for a big change in the way we work with the files, closer to medium format. No real need for USM anymore, but careful shooting to avoid moire inducing patterns as much as possible and careful post to reduce or remove what is there.

I'm not sure on the whole waiting for a big jump thing, if they release next year that means the camera is going to be near finalized now anyway and be in the hands of folks being tested in the wild or at least very close to that stage.

27

EOS Bodies / Re: 5D Mark II Replacement

« on: October 17, 2010, 05:11:46 PM »

Its just a choive. The 5d2 af is good but not excellent. The d700 lacks the res for large prints. Just pick which one suits you Saying the 5d2 af doesnt work in low light is like saying a ferrari isnt great for hauling cement, really ?? The 5d2 is a budget portrait \ landscape camera and in that context it rocks, the 7d is a budget sports camera and rocks, the d700 is a budget all rounder and again it rocks but it isn't perfect and as someone else pointed out the 5d2 has nearly twice the pixel count. They already made a 5d2 with great af, the 1ds3
Its great canon and nikon took different approaches as you can have a choice.

28

EOS Bodies / Re: My wish list

« on: October 17, 2010, 04:43:49 AM »

4)   if I’m going to wish then I’m going to wish for what I want and not what think Canon will release.

ohhh okies that sounds like fun. I'll go for a 6x7 40mp sensor with anti dust and some IS lenses to go with it.
Nothing too stupid, just a decent landscape \ portrait camera. 1-2fps would be fine. 7d af a must

29

EOS Bodies / Re: 5D Mark II Replacement

« on: October 16, 2010, 06:44:35 PM »

I guess the same folks who bought that 50mp sensor that canon made but never sold to the public, the spooks and banks will have had some. 120mp sensors would be awesome in a bank \ reserve security application

30

EOS Bodies / Re: 5D Mark II Replacement

« on: October 15, 2010, 09:40:16 PM »

Canon make cameras around all the same price points as nikon, ergo the whole nikon don't make prosumer cameras thing is just marketing. The 300 \ 700 is in the same ballpark as the 7d \ 5d. Nikon just market differently.

Re the AF, yup but did nikon put the d3x sensor in the d700? They put their 'lower end pro(if that makes sense)' sensor in. So canon put a sensor from a body that costs 8k into the 5d2 yet nikon only put a sensor from a 4-5k body in their d700. That is why canon scuppered the AF. Also the AF motors in the d700 aren't as fast as the d3. Minor difference but it is there, else why would anyone buy a d3? For the d3\d3x and 1ds4 to sell for 2-3x the price as the d700&5d3 they have to be significantly better. Nikon chose not to put their best sensor in the d700, canon chose not to put their best AF in the 5d2. Want to shoot sports on a canon, prior to the 7d just get a 1d2 or 1d3 used. Want to shoot landscapes on a nikon, stitch. Both makers had to down spec their 'mid range \ pro sumer \ its pro honestly' cameras otherwise it would kill sales of their top lines.

I would love to see truly crazy specced cheap cameras, and specs do evolve, but pining for a $2500 camera thats an amalgam of all the best parts of $4000 and $8000 cameras seems a little optimistic I would love it, it would slash my capex, but really, put yourself in the position of trying to sell that to canons board. Yeah I want to completely destroy the sales of our two flagship cameras by drastically undercutting them in price whilst offering virtually all the same features.

A decent amount of money for canon comes from pro's, probably not as much as from rebels, but we still spend 10-40k a year probably each. They know we will make purchases mostly based on a business case. There would be virtually no business case for a 1ds4 if the 5d3 was that good. I truly wish it was, because it either means I get a great camera cheap, or the 1ds4 has to come with dancing girls and a lifetime supply of la grande annee. Either way its all good. 

I just canon would grow a pair and release their roadmap for a rolling 12 months. It wouldn't be fast enough for nikon to react to as cameras can take 24-36 months to come to market, and it would allow pros to budget during and between financial years which is important.

Take care

PS- I wish they would sell a more expensive 7d and 5d2 with the 5 minute video thing removed. Crazies. I know its to protect their video line. But I don't want to carry extra stuff and having both in one makes sense even if it costs more.