Canon and Sony News for Dec 2013 (Page 2)

I spent a good part of this weekend with my extended family. We celebrated our annual "Christmas at Grandma's" on Saturday. As such, I didn't quite complete the video portion of this week's Recap. Oh well – enjoy the script if you want a rundown of the week's events!

"This is The-Digital-Picture.com's Weekend Recap for the week ending December 21st, 2013.

In the news...

On Wednesday, we highlighted a fast and easy way to resize and share your photos – with CoolTweak. Using CoolTweak, you can create custom right-click mouse actions for resizing, watermarking, or publishing your images to social media. I highly recommend trying it out!

On Friday, we learned that Lenstag had published mobile apps for iOS and Android. Using the Lenstag app, you can register your own gear, check the serial numbers of used items you wish to purchase, or flag your own gear as stolen. The Lenstag service is free, so there’s no reason not to protect your gear through registration with the site!

Also on Friday, we posted a YouTube video created by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center which explained the sequence of events that led up to Apollo 8’s iconic “Earthrise” photo. As it turns out, the photo would never have been captured if it weren’t for a fortunate coincidence and some quick teamwork by the astronaut crew.

In site news and reviews...

On Monday, Bryan posted his full review of the Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX DG HSM Lens. Wide open, the Sigma is not a stellar performer. But its relatively low price and solid build quality will prove enticing for many photographers. Check out Bryan’s review for all the details.

On Tuesday, Bryan posted image quality results and some eye candy for the Sigma 17-70mm DC Macro OS Contemporary Lens. Tests results now available include ISO resolution, flare, vignetting and distortion.

On Wednesday, Bryan posted his review of the Think Tank Photo My 2nd Brain 15 Laptop Bag. Bryan liked the case’s compact design, rugged build quality and surprising amount of storage space. Check out the My 2nd Brain review for more information.

And, for our deal(s) of the week…

Instead of just picking one deal this week, I’m going tip my hat to Adorama for all their fantastic Canon camera and lens deals we posted on Thursday. Some of them are still active, yet even better – now with overnight shipping. Scroll through our news pages if you're needing a special gift to go under the tree!

This has been the The-Digital-Picture.com’s Weekend Recap. Thanks for listening, and as always, happy shooting!"

We've all seen the classic Earthrise photo taken by Apollo 8 on Christmas Eve, 1968. But do you know what events led up the photo's capture?

Watch the video to see how astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders used teamwork and quick thinking to turn an unexpected site into one of NASA's most iconic images.

Lenstag, a website devoted to protecting your camera gear, has just released it's newest tool in the fight against theft - the Lenstag App for iOS and Android.

The Lenstag App allows you to register your own gear and check the serial numbers of cameras/lenses you are considering purchasing to see if the items in question have been flagged as stolen in the Lenstag system.

And if the worst happens to you, the Lenstag App allows you to quickly flag your gear as stolen from your mobile device.

For what it's worth, all my cameras and lenses are registered with Lenstag. I highly recommend taking advantage of this free, valuable service. Check out the Lenstag website for more information. [Sean]

Tamron has announced their upcoming holiday closing schedule.

From Canon:

Canon has released a firmware update for the EOS C500/C500 PL Cinema EOS Cameras.

EOS C500 Cinema EOS Camera & EOS C500PL Cinema EOS Camera

1. When using the Magnify focus assist function, the ability to move the magnified viewing area around the LCD has been added.
2. Maximum ISO setting has been increased to ISO 80,000.
3. Cinema Gamut mode and DCI-P3+ mode have been added to provide expanded color gamut options in RAW capture.
4. 4096x1080-pixel RAW format resolution has been added.
5. A Key Lock menu setting has been added which now makes it possible to lock all operations, including the START/STOP button.
6. Using the optional Canon WFT-E6 Wireless File Transmitter, the camera’s remote-control application allows up to two users to access the same unit via a Wi-Fi link providing simultaneous and independent control of camera operation and metadata input.
7. Canon Log LUT support has been made possible for HD/SD SDI terminal output.
8. ACESproxy output from monitor terminal has been added.
9. [ND]/[ND-] have been added as functions that can be allocated to any assignable button.

EOS C500 Digital Cinema Camera only

1. Ability to assign the two control dials (body and grip) to operate either Iris or ISO sensitivity independently has been added.
2. Peripheral Illumination Correction Data has been added for seven (7) Canon Cinema lenses (EF mount) and eleven (11) Canon EF Lenses.

Cinema lenses (EF-mount) and Canon EF Lenses which benefit from the new firmware update:

The seven (7) supported Canon Cinema Lenses (EF-mount) are:

• CN-E15.5-47mm T2.8 L S
• CN-E30-105mm T2.8 L S
• CN-E14mm T3.1 L F
• CN-E24mm T1.5 L F
• CN-E50mm T1.3 L F
• CN-E85mm T1.3 L F
• CN-E135mm T2.2 L F

Please note this firmware version does not include the CN-E35mm T1.5 L F.

The eleven (11) supported Canon EF Lenses are:

• EF-S18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM
• EF500mm f/4L IS II USM
• EF600mm f/4L IS II USM
• EF28mm f/2.8 IS USM
• EF24mm f/2.8 IS USM
• EF40mm f/2.8 STM
• EF24-70mm f/4L IS USM
• EF35mm f/2 IS USM
• EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM
• EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM
• EF200-400mm f/4L IS USM Extender 1.4x

Firmware Version 1.0.4.1.00 is for Cinema EOS C500 and EOS C500 PL cameras with Firmware Version 1.0.0.1.00 through 1.0.3.100. If your camera's firmware is already Version 1.0.4.1.00, it is not necessary to update the firmware. Once the camera is updated to the latest firmware version, it cannot be restored to a previous version.

Download:
Download Firmware Version 1.0.4.1.00 for EOS C500.
Download Firmware Version 1.0.4.1.00 for EOS C500 PL.

The Instruction Manual provides more information on the new features and benefits available in this firmware update.
Download the new version of the Instruction Manual for the EOS C500.
Download the new version of the Instruction Manual for the EOS C500 PL.

Adorama carries the Canon EOS C500 Cinema Camera.

Use promo code Thirt30y ($30.00 off) at Focus Camera to get the Canon EF 75-300/4-5.6 USM III Lens for $119.99 with free shipping. Regularly $149.99.

Yann Kerangueven, the author of CoolTweak asked if I wanted to try a handy piece of software that our site visitors might be interested in. Once I started reading about CoolTweak, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to try it out.

For the last couple of years I've been using a program called Faststone Photo Resizer to quickly resize photos for posting to social media or emailing. And I've been very happy with it – until now. CoolTweak is my new favorite [quick] resizing tool.

Installing CoolTweak adds the option to resize photos with a simple right-click action. But that's not all – you can also share your images to social media sites or add your watermark with a right-click action. You even have the ability to modify the output options to customize each right-click action to suit your needs.

So far, I've really enjoyed using CoolTweak. There's only one feature I'd like to see added – the option to dynamically change the size and placement of your watermark image based on the size of the image it's being applied to. Right now, you'd have to create different watermark presets based on specific image sizes or do it manually each time. I've contacted the developer and hope it's a feature he can implement in the near future.

Oh, and here's my recommendation for getting high quality images on Facebook – create a custom preset that uploads images that are 1024 (or 2048) pixels on the long side with a quality setting of 98 or higher. That seems to work really well for Facebook uploads.

From CoolTweak:

Everything is just a click away with CoolTweak !

Resizing, adding watermarks and sharing your pictures on social networks has never been so easy with COOLTWEAK.

Completely free, this smart software pops directly from the right-click contextual menu of all your images and process them in an trice.

No more time wasted, process all your files with a single click. All these very handy features make COOLTWEAK an essential tool to have.

Best of all, you can customize and manage all the menus and their actions with a really intuitive menu editor. Change them at will and build the menu you like.

Don't wait any longer to get your life simpler, let COOLTWEAK handle all the tedious tasks for you.

Resizing and sharing your photos from a single click... Sounds good to you ?
We often need to share pictures around us and we usually have to face the painful problem of reducing their weight before we can send them. For most of us, that is the beginning of lots of troubles and wasted hours, resizing one picture at a time with Microsoft Paint.

Fortunately those days are gone ! Let COOLTWEAK handle repetitive processing and watch it do this work for you in seconds. A single right-click on your pictures folder and voila.

Even better, it can publish your pictures on main social networks with the same ease.

Just build the right-click menu that suits you
COOLTWEAK is a mighty tool but keeps it simple.

You have the full control of what will be shown in your right-click menu. It comes out the box with a wide range of actions that you can customize any time you want to fit your needs.

Adding a new menu by choosing what action it will complete is an easy task thanks to COOLTWEAK menu editor. You can create an action (from the simplest to the most sophisticated one) and then make it appear in the right-click menu immediately.

(Everyday) Life saving features
Be able to manage ourselves right-click menu's contents, we honestly wonder why it has never been invented before ! All your shortcuts are anytime just a click away, that is the true strength of COOLTWEAK.

COOLTWEAK is a powerful toolbox that enables you to resize your pictures, protect them with a watermark and share them on main social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Picasa/Google+, Flickr et 500px.com).

You can even combine several operations to create your own « tweaks » (actions).

The time savings are real ! Just give COOLTWEAK a try and you will probably love it (and wish you had installed it way earlier).

Everything comes with a price... It’s 100% free
COOLTWEAK is a personal initiative designed to provide a free but valuable tool for Microsoft Windows users.

The license is entirely free, there is no advertising and no personal data gathering.

Download
CoolTweak for Windows

We would like your input in our short shopping survey. Answer three very short questions about photography gear shopping and get a chance to win a $100 Visa debit card!

At the close of this survey, we will randomly select one participant to receive a $100 Visa debit card. We of course need a way to contact the prize drawing winner, so an email address is required for entry. No worries – these email addresses will be used for the sole purpose of contacting the winner.

* Please note that we require a USA address for delivery of this prize.

Complete the survey!

From DxO:

16,800 DxO Optics Modules now available – Special Holiday Season sale on all DxO products through December 25, 2013

December 18, 2013 – DxO Labs announces the immediate availability of DxO Optics Pro v9.1.1 for Mac and Windows. This upgrade allows DxO Optics Pro 9 to provide support for the Nikon Df (Elite Edition), the Sony Alpha 7 (Elite Edition), as well as for the Sony DSC-RX10 and A3000, the Pentax K-3, and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LF1.

The image processing software of reference for all exacting photographers, DxO Optics Pro 9 integrates powerful tools for processing RAW and JPEG photos so as to bring out the best in photos in just a few clicks. Furthermore, the software offers the revolutionary new PRIME denoising technology that recovers details even in photos shot at the highest ISO; DxO Smart Lighting, an intelligent tool that optimizes exposure and contrast; and powerful lens and geometrical corrections.

New DxO Optics Modules
DxO Optics Pro v9.1.1 benefits from the addition of new DxO Optics Modules: more than 580 new camera/lens combinations have been added to the library, which now counts 16,800 available DxO Optics Modules.

Among the new lenses now supported are the Carl Zeiss Distagon T* Otus 1.4/55 for Canon and Nikon (which received very good scores on DxOMark), as well as the Carl Zeiss Apo Sonnar T* 2/135 for Canon and Nikon. Also note that six long-awaited Zeiss lenses for Nikon cameras are now also supported. 
DxO Optics Modules contain numerous information about the characteristics of each camera and lens. This extraordinary database enables DxO Optics Pro 9 to automatically correct distortion, vignetting, chromatic aberrations, and lens softness at an unrivaled level of quality.

Availability and special Holiday Season offer
The Standard and Elite editions of DxO Optics Pro v9.1.1 for Mac and Windows are now available at photo resellers at a special discount price through December 25, 2013:

• DxO Optics Pro 9 Standard Edition: $99 instead of $169
• DxO Optics Pro 9 Elite Edition: $199 instead of $299

Adorama carries DxO Optics Pro 9.

Just Posted: Think Tank Photo My 2nd Brain 15 Review

A product named "Brain", sent by "Brian" and reviewed by "Bryan". Hopefully you will find the review considerably less confusing.

From Nikon:

Modifications enabled with version 2.8.3:

Additional modifications to the Windows version

• Compatibility with Windows 8.1, Windows 8.1 Pro, and Windows 8.1 Enterprise has been added.

Additional modifications to the Macintosh version

• Compatibility with Macintosh OS X version 10.9 has been added.
• Support for Mac OS X version 10.6 has been eliminated.

Download: Windows 32bit (87.2MB) | Windows 64bit (94.1MB) | Macintosh (157MB)

Image quality (ISO 12233 resolution chart crops), flare, vignetting and distortion results along with eye candy are now available on the Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4 DC Macro OS Contemporary Lens Review page.

I'm not certain if or when I will get time to complete a full review of this lens, but hopefully the test results will provide the information you need to know.

Amazon has the Chromecast HDMI Streaming Media Player for $29.99. Regularly $35.00.

While not specifically a photography item, I'm a big fan of the Chromecast. I've had one since they first came out and use it all the time. I primarily use it to watch YouTube videos (like those from AdoramaTV) on my living room TV, but it can do so much more. It's definitely worth the small investment!

Just Posted: Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX DG HSM Lens Review

Learn how Sigma's latest entry into the 24-70 f/2.8 market performs.

"This is The-Digital-Picture.com's Weekend Recap for the week ending December 14th, 2013.

In the news...

On Tuesday, we learned that Nikon’s newest firmware updates may have contained an undocumented modification. Users report cameras with the new firmwares no longer work with 3rd party batteries. Did Nikon purposefully attempt to kill 3rd party battery compatibility or was this an unanticipated side effect of the updates?

On a related note, we shared our own experience with 3rd party batteries being incompatible with Canon’s newest LC-E6 battery chargers. That got us wondering – did Nikon take a page out of Canon’s playbook?

On Thursday, we learned about Zeiss’s plans produce an 85mm f/1.4 OTUS lens. Zeiss outed the lens’s development via a Facebook comment displayed on their own website.

In site news and reviews...

On Tuesday, we posted a full review of the Pocketwizard PlusX Radio Transceivers. In short, the PlusX transceivers offer a rugged build quality with a limited, yet attractive feature set that will surely grow Pocketwizard’s fan base.

On Wednesday, we posted our standard image quality test results for the Sigma 180mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro Lens. Tests available for viewing include ISO resolution, vignetting and distortion [flare results are also available].

On Thursday, Bryan posted his full review of the Sigma 24-105mm f/4.0 DG OS HSM Art Lens. To sum up the review, Sigma’s new 24-105mm lens follows in step with all their recent Global Vision releases – meaning excellent image quality, sound build quality and a moderate price tag. Check out Bryan’s review for all the details.

And, for our deal of the week…

On Sunday, we posted a deal from BuyDig.com where you could get a Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM Lens for $1,679.00 after rebate. That’s a $620.00 savings off the normal MSRP.

This has been the The-Digital-Picture.com’s Weekend Recap. Thanks for listening, and as always, happy shooting!"