dslr.ws

Casio introduced the Casio EX-F1 digital camera at CES 2008, and it does look like an interesting camera, what with 60 fps burst shooting and 1200 fps slow motion video (which I’d love to play around with.) However, despite what some web sites are reporting, this is not a DSLR camera.

Take these fragments from this post about the camera:

Casio have launched a new concept digital SLR camera at the CES 2008 convention in Las Vegas. This is a revolutionary piece of kit that everybody is going to want!

A digital SLR camera that takes 60 frames per second at 6 mega pixels. Surely not, but Casio have done it, and a remarkable camera it is too. While taking a whopping 60fps the Casio EX-F1 is capturing what happens after the event.

The Casio Exilim EX-F1 DSLR camera will be available in the Spring and will be priced in the US at $1000.

Not true. Sure, the camera does what it says, but it’s a standard point and shoot camera, not a DSLR. Don’t be fooled. Casio getting into the DSLR game would be as newsworthy as 60 fps burst shooting on a DSLR, but neither exist.

Like I said, I’d like to play with 1200 fps video footage for super slow motion captures, but that’s an unrelated tangent (and I’m not sure I’d be willing to pay $1000 for that.) You have to assume the image quality won’t be very competitive with a DSLR.

ADD-ON NOTE: In EX-F1 news that is of interest to the DSLR community, I just read that the EX-F1 will use the open DNG file format when you shoot in RAW mode. I believe that’s a first, I don’t know of any other digital camera that shoots in DNG. And it’s a welcome change, moving away from proprietary RAW formats to an open, standard format which will always be readable.

Happy holidays to all of you anonymous and quiet readers out there!

I wish you the best for the holidays and the new year, no matter if you want to buy me a Nikon D3 as a Christmas present, or you just want to give me a cheap little $15 keychain camera. Either will get you a sincere holiday wish from me, although one might be slightly more sincere than the other. Just sayin’…

I don’t know whether or not I’ll get a chance to update much over the holidays, so don’t be too surprised if things settle into a quiet stupor around here. Rest assured knowing that I am just busy and holidaying, and not ignoring you and the lack of DSLR news that’s sure to be spreading throughout the Internets over the holiday season.

The Digital Picture website has posted a review of the new Canon 14mm f/2.8 L II USM lens. It may be a $2000 lens, but it is very wide (and is rectilinear, not a fisheye lens.) And on the plus side, according to the review, it’s a big step up over Canon’s original 14mm f/2.8 L:

I was simply not impressed with the original Canon EF 14mm f/2.8 L USM Lens optically – and wasn’t very excited to hear about a replacement for it as I really like the 16-35mm II. However, within a couple of days of using the 14mm L II, my mind was changed.

The review reports good sharpness even wide open, and sharp corners as well, with the biggest improvement in stopping down being less vignetting rather than any real improvement in sharpness. In short, they really like the lens. Perhaps the biggest surprise about the review was seeing the comparison shot with the original version of the lens. That original lens looked like it had some serious chromatic aberration issues, especially considering its similar $2000 price tag.

The more I use ultra-wide angle lenses, the more I like them. I find it especially challenging to compose a pleasing 14mm full frame image as this angle of view takes a lot in. Keeping track of all the angles and subjects in a full frame 14mm shot is not easy. Keeping your fingers, feet and tripod legs out of the frame is just one issue you face. This focal length is especially good at emphasizing a foreground subject against an interesting background. Take in a wide landscape, capture architecture — both interior and exterior, shoot in ultra-tight spaces … When you get everything right, the result can be spectacular.

The Canon EF 14mm f/2.8 L II USM Lens is so wide that getting adequate full frame flash coverage can be a problem. Expect to minimally need the built-in flip-down diffuser on an external flash. These flashes can also utilize a Sto-Fen Omni-Bounce Diffuser to yield complete flash coverage. Bouncing the flash is another method of covering the 14mm field of view.

The biggest downside to the Canon EF 14mm f/2.8 L II USM Lens is perhaps the price tag. This is another case where you have to pay the price for the best.

I guess if you have to have an ultra wide angle lens, you’ll find a way to cope with the $2000 price tag. Or maybe you’re making enough money from your photography that it’s an easy spur-of-the-moment purchase. If that’s the case, I salute you and your expensive lenses.

The good people over at Luminous Landscapes have posted a “first impressions” essay based on a pre-production Canon 1DsMkIII. It’s very preliminary, and he warns people not to put too much stock in any one part of the post, since he was just out taking photographs for fun, not for evaluation or comparison purposes.

That said, he did shoot enough to come up with, as promised, some first impressions:

Auto white balance is as good as I’ve ever seen. Tonal renditions are excellent, and it appears that the 14 bit processing capability is of definite value, especially when working on files which require some extensive manipulation.

At 21 MP the extra pixels are very welcome for either making big prints, or cropping. I have not done any comparisons yet to a 1Ds MKII or the 5D (I plan on doing this before my Madagascar report appears in mid-November).

My quick summery is that the 1Ds MKIII is Canon’s best camera yet for anyone that doesn’t specifically need higher frame rates for sports or similar subjects. The camera has excellent image quality, much improved features and user interface, a much superior battery system, faster frame rate, etc etc.

Sounds good to me! Even more entertaining is this little blurb about an upcoming trip to Madagascar and the opportunities that will bring for a more extensive look at the 1Ds Mark III. My favorite part is to see what he considers traveling light:

Our shoot will encompass landscape, wildlife, and cultural photography, and we’ll be offroading, flying in small planes, canoeing, camping, and hiking – what promises to be a pretty rugged journey. We have to travel light, so what camera gear to bring is going to be a tough choice. Right now the 1Ds MKIII will be my primary camera, with a 5D as backup. I also have a Canon G9 along as my pocket snapshot camera. My lens choices aren’t final yet, but I’m thinking of the 24-105mm f/4L IS, the 50mm f/1.4, 70-200mm f/2.8L IS, and 100-400mm f/5.6L IS. All of this and whatever other shooting gear I bring will have to fit in a Lowepro Minitrecker. A 13″ Macbook Pro and 4 portable hard drives totaling about 300GB of storage, as well as a satellite phone, will travel in a rolling briefcase, and everything else including tripod, chargers and clothes in a duffle bag.

Two DSLRs, one point and shoot, four lenses, a laptop, four hard drives, a satellite phone, and a tripod. And here I’m often leaving my single DSLR and its two (relatively) small lenses behind because I don’t want to deal with the bulkiness. I’m clearly not doing this right.