5D Mark III & Other Random Stuff

[Etienne]

S P ... agreed. Ultra-wide is gaining popularity. Some of the hottest new lenses are UW. And UW is very useful in video.

however, unless you have deep pockets, switching brands is tooooo expensive on lenses. Bodies will come and go every couple of years, and each brand will have a turn on top. I expect Canon will step up with the FF lineup.

[leGreve]

S P ... agreed. Ultra-wide is gaining popularity. Some of the hottest new lenses are UW. And UW is very useful in video.

You're talking indie right? Cause I would never look towards an ultra wide for anything serious or mainstream (money)... except the odd hip hop video now and again. It just looks... amateurish. But then again, it's all a cycle and I guess this generation will look towards the looks of the 90s :S eeek

[UngerPhotography]

however, unless you have deep pockets, switching brands is tooooo expensive on lenses. Bodies will come and go every couple of years, and each brand will have a turn on top. I expect Canon will step up with the FF lineup.

This is the truth. I love Canon, and after all I have invested in their lenses, I will never switch. That doesn't mean at some point Nikon or Sony will have better cameras. I hate it when people don't realize that different brands leap frog each other. They hardly ever release competing cameras at the same time. And while each brand may have better stats in one area or another, if you cannot get the photo you want with which ever camera, maybe you should look at another job/hobby.

[DJL329]

It probably means absolutely nothing, but I just noticed that the advert for Focus on Imaging in Birmingham NEC which runs from the 6-9th March has a picture of a Monkey holding a 5D mk2 with a 50mm 1.4 lens on it. The mk2 bit on the camera cant be seen, which makes me wonder why they would use a camera more than 2 years old in there advert for the show unless its a hint of what might be unveiled b4 or at the show??

1.  She's a chimpanzee, not a monkey. 
2.  She's obviously got good taste in cameras!
3.  If you watch the video about her, http://www.focus-on-imaging.co.uk/show-suzy.htm, you'll see they were using the cameras owned by her handler.

I was able to get freeze frame of the camera body, and while you cannot read the "Mark II" label (the light is reflecting off of it), you can clearly see that it is the 5D Mark II.  Oh, well...

[S P]

S P ... agreed. Ultra-wide is gaining popularity. Some of the hottest new lenses are UW. And UW is very useful in video.

however, unless you have deep pockets, switching brands is tooooo expensive on lenses. Bodies will come and go every couple of years, and each brand will have a turn on top. I expect Canon will step up with the FF lineup.

Well as someone who switched from Nikon to Canon (this past June), I can speak from first hand experience that it doesn't need to be super expensive to switch systems.  For me it was a big investment as far as time and effort more than anything else, getting photos of all of your gear, listing it for sale, and then keeping track of dozens of messages and transactions.  I actually pocketed a grand or two on the switch though.   It was a combination of Canon having a much better selection of lenses and not forcing me to more lens than I need like Nikon was, and buying and selling at wise times.  Some stuff I even made a profit on.

If you're a full-time pro and are competing with other photogs for quality and results, it could be that you couldn't afford NOT to switch.  In the grand scheme of things, a $10-15k investment in gear for a full-time pro is chump change, and a business write-off in the US as well.  No big deal.

Yes, things do swing back and forth, so it'll be interesting to see what Canon comes out with next.  I hope it's not 'yet more megapixels'.  I personally prefer Nikon's quality over quantity approach. 

[Etienne]

S P ... agreed. Ultra-wide is gaining popularity. Some of the hottest new lenses are UW. And UW is very useful in video.

You're talking indie right? Cause I would never look towards an ultra wide for anything serious or mainstream (money)... except the odd hip hop video now and again. It just looks... amateurish. But then again, it's all a cycle and I guess this generation will look towards the looks of the 90s :S eeek

I don't know where you're getting this idea from. Big budget films use every focal length from super-tele to ultra-wide, including fisheye. That's part of what makes them so visually interesting. Fisheye and ultra-wides were used to great effect in Harry Potter films. In fact, I'm surprised that I would ever have to make this point.

Some professional photographers use almost exclusively 20 - 24 mm, and I listened to a talk by one fellow who believed anything over 35mm produced boring images.

Variety is welcomed, it is the lack of imagination or skill in the photographer/videographer that makes an ultra-wide look amateurish.

[Macadameane]

All I can think about is, you better not drop that camera monkey...  I'd rather have it for myself.

[canon50duser]

Just flew from London Gatwick Airport and was playing with 5d mkii in a branch of Dixons when i noticed a sticker saying "New Model Coming Soon"... here's hoping as i've been putting off getting a mkii for over a year now!!

[CR Backup Admin]

Just flew from London Gatwick Airport and was playing with 5d mkii in a branch of Dixons when i noticed a sticker saying "New Model Coming Soon"... here's hoping as i've been putting off getting a mkii for over a year now!!

It would be interesting to see a photo of that.  You imply the sticker was on or related to the 5D MK II, is that correct?

[canon50duser]

Yep, it was right next to the price sticker for the MKII, unfortunately i didn't take a photo as proof..

Worth noting that Dixons in the UK is a large high street electrical retailer and not a specialist camera store, i'm not sure if they'd know anything before anyone else - but they could be stupid enough to inform the public before they're supposed to.

[neuroanatomist]

Yep, it was right next to the price sticker for the MKII, unfortunately i didn't take a photo as proof..

Worth noting that Dixons in the UK is a large high street electrical retailer and not a specialist camera store, i'm not sure if they'd know anything before anyone else - but they could be stupid enough to inform the public before they're supposed to.

A comparable US chain, Best Buy, has been known to let things slip (I'm aware of a few Apple updates where the new models were listed in their inventory system prior to announcement).  However, individual outlets in a chain are unlikely to have advanced knowledge.  More likely they were supposed to put those stickers on the T2i boxes, and some hapless store clerk screwed up.