Canon and Sony News for Jan 2016 (Page 2)

From the Sigma YouTube Channel:

Utilizing an advanced material known as “Clear Glass Ceramic”, the SIGMA WR CERAMIC PROTECTOR is a highly reliable filter with outstanding protective capabilities.

The shock resistance of the SIGMA WR CERAMIC PROTECTOR has undergone a rigorous drop ball test based on the ISO 12311:2013 standard using a 49g metal ball, 3 times the weight of a standard metal ball. The test proved the excellent shock resistance of SIGMA WR CERAMIC PROTECTOR compared to conventional protectors.

B&H carries the Sigma WR Ceramic Protector filters.

From Canon USA:

MELVILLE, N.Y. – Canon U.S.A. Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, announced today the company will return as a Sustaining Sponsor to the 2016 Sundance Film Festival (January 21–31, 2016). In sponsorship with Sundance Institute, Canon will pay tribute to the best of independent film and offer exciting new programs dedicated to the filmmakers behind the camera.

Canon celebrates the creativity behind every film at the Festival and is pleased to share that at least 51 of the 247 films premiering as part of this year’s slate – over 20 percent – were shot using Canon equipment. Canon-shot projects screening at the Festival include the seven-hour true crime documentary O.J.: Made in America, Miles Ahead, Liz Garbus’s Nothing Left Unsaid: Gloria Vanderbilt & Anderson Cooper, The New Yorker Presents, Holy Hell, Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You, and Bryce Dallas Howard’s short film solemates.

“In sponsoring with the Sundance Film Festival, Canon and the filmmaking industry connect and grow together,” said Yuichi Ishizuka, president and COO, Canon U.S.A. “The Festival is an annual reminder that the tools we engineer are being used at the highest creative level all over the world, and the conversations we have with filmmakers here help shape the new products that we create for the industry.”

In 2016, Canon will again invite select Sundance Film Festival attendees for a hands-on exploration of the filmmaking process at the Canon Creative Studio (427 Main Street; open Saturday, January 23-Tuesday, January 26, from 11am-6pm). At this daily hub for cinematographers, directors, editors, producers, and crew, guests will explore how Canon supports all aspects of filmmaking -- from production design to image capture, through edit and workflow. The Canon Creative Studio will also serve as host to the invite-only Raise Your Glass with Canon cocktail party on Sunday, January 24, Canon’s fourth annual celebration toasting the filmmakers who push creative boundaries.

Inside the Canon Creative Studio, guests are invited to experience a touch-and-try display of the latest Canon gear, including the new EOS C300 Mark II Digital Cinema Camera, an EOS C500 Digital Cinema Camera mounted on Intuitive Aerial’s Aerigon professional cinema drone and a pitch-black demonstration of the ME20-FSH Multi-Purpose camera, Canon’s exciting new ultra low-light, four million ISO camera.

Each day, Canon Live Learning will offer hands-on workshops with Canon’s newest cinema camera, the Canon EOS C300 Mark II. Loren Simons, Canon senior product and sales trainer, will lead intimate groups on walking tours through scenic downtown Park City, exploring the camera’s high-sensitivity shooting capabilities, dual-pixel CMOS autofocus, and internal HD/2K/4K recording system.

To exhibit how Canon serves filmmakers through the post-production process, Canon is honored to partner with Adobe for a live 4K post-production demonstration led by filmmaker Jon Carr. Utilizing two of Canon’s DP-V3010 4K Reference Monitors, Carr will demonstrate his tricks of the trade for editing and coloring 4K footage shot with the EOS C300 Mark II camera in Adobe Premiere Pro CC software.

While motion picture is at the heart of the Sundance Film Festival, Canon is rooted in supporting the art of still photography. The walls of the Canon Creative Studio will be adorned by a never-before-seen gallery of original images from leading cinematographer Polly Morgan (Holy Hell, The Intervention), shot with a range of Canon EF lenses. Festival filmmakers will also have the opportunity to have their portrait taken by photographer Michael Ori on the Canon EOS 5DS R DSLR camera. Canon will send their guests home with an 8x10 copy of their portrait, printed in-house with the new Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-1000 Professional Inkjet Printer. Canon has partnered with No Film School to launch a new filmmaking podcast out of the Sundance Film Festival, debuting with 10 live episodes recorded on-site at the Canon Creative Studio. The podcast will feature lively interviews with top festival filmmakers including Roberto Schaefer, ASC, AIC (Miles Ahead, Quantum of Solace), Wolfgang Held (Sophie and the Rising Sun, Years of Living Dangerously), Nick Higgins (OJ: Made in America, The Crash Reel), Martina Radwan (Trapped, The Eagle Huntress), Richard Henkels (Author: The JT Leroy Story), Bernardo Britto (Glove, Jacqueline (Argentina)), and Bérénice Eveno (solemates, Verbatim: The Ferguson Case, The Free World).

On Monday, January 25, in the New Frontier Gateway Microcinema, Canon will present a screening and panel in celebration of the 10 year anniversary of the Canon EOS 5D camera called “A Decade of DSLRs: Creative Minds Talk the Evolution of Hand-Held Filmmaking.” Moderated by Ryan Koo (Founder, No Film School and author, The DSLR Cinematography Guide), cinematographers Bryce Fortner (Too Legit, Portlandia), Tom Hurwitz, ASC (Nothing Left Unsaid: Gloria Vanderbilt & Anderson Cooper), and Joe Passarelli (Anomalisa) will join photographer, director, and Canon Explorer of Light Lauren Greenfield (The Queen of Versailles) and Canon’s Senior Film and Television Advisor Tim Smith in discussing evolution of DSLR filmmaking, with an eye to the future.

Canon is also pleased to partner again with Indiewire, the leading news and networking site for the independent film and television industry, to deliver exclusive content and share up-to-date happenings from the Canon Creative Studio. Throughout the Festival, Indiewire will feature a series of interviews with Sundance cinematographers called “How I Shot That,” presented by Canon. To read the series, please visit

Indiewire will also feature an online gallery of a selection of Michael Ori’s photographs taken in the Canon Creative Studio portrait studio.

For a full schedule of events for Canon's activities at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and to request access to attend, please visit http://sff16.splashthat.com.

This is a question that I've been asking myself since the Canon EF 24-70mm f/4L IS USM Lens was introduced back in 2012. Since that time, I have second guessed my own decision multiple times, my vacillating illuminated by the fact that I've had and sold two different 24-105 L Lenses since then. Initially, the significantly higher price tag of the 24-70 f/4L IS made the recommendation decision considerably easier. Now that the list prices have completely equalized (though rebates potentially change the equation significantly), the merits of the lenses themselves become the bigger decision factors.

The first significant fact to understand is that these are both great lenses and for most, there is no wrong decision to be made here. Both lenses are well built including weather sealing, focus fast and accurately, have a great general purpose focal length range and have IS. They share a very similar design including appearance and on many accounts, can be used interchangeably.

The primary and significant advantage held by the 24-105 f/4L IS is the extra 35mm of focal length range on the long end.

The 7-years-younger 24-70 f/4L IS is a modestly smaller and slightly lighter lens. It is 0.52" (13.3mm) shorter when retracted (actual measured length) and 0.68" (18.5mm) shorter with the hood installed. The 24-70 weighs 2.3 oz. (65g) less with hood installed (actual measured weight). Are these differences? Yes. Are they significant ones? Not so much.

A stronger advantage for the 24-70 is its very impressive macro capability. A 0.70x maximum magnification from a non-prime-macro lens is eye-opening and significantly more impressive than the 24-105's 0.23x spec. However, it should be kept in mind that a 12mm extension tube can push the 24-105 to 0.60x maximum magnification. Disclaimer: I have not made an image quality comparison with the extension tube in play.

Image quality comparisons I have made show that:

At 24mm with a wide open aperture, the 24-70 f/4L IS bests the 24-105 L IS in sharpness by a modest amount. The 24-105 L delivers a sharper image at 50mm f/4, but at 70mm the 24-70 f/4L is back up to near equality with the 24-105 L. These two lenses perform more similarly at f/5.6 and at f/8 their results are nearly identical. The difference is negligible at f/11.

The 24-70 has less distortion, especially at 24mm. It also has noticeably less CA at the wide end, but more at 70mm. The 24-70 f/4L IS has less vignetting at the wide end at f/4, but more at the long end. By f/5.6, the two lenses are close in this regard.

Affecting image quality on a limited basis is the aperture blade count. The 24-70 has 9 blades vs. the 24-105 L's 8. This difference will primarily be noticed when point light sources are photographed at narrow apertures, with the odd blade numbered aperture creating 18-point sun stars vs the even's 8-point stars.

Another difference between these lenses is Canon's 4-stop Hybrid Image Stabilization featured in the 24-70, correcting both angular and shift movement in macro mode. The 24-105 L has 3-stop non-Hybrid Image Stabilization. Theoretically, the 24-70 can be handheld in 1/2 as much light as the 24-105 can be handheld in.

The Price

If price remains a deciding factor for you ... even though the list prices are equal, there remains at times a considerable difference, thanks to a rebate and a reward differential.

As of this post date, B&H has the Canon EF 24-70mm f/4L IS Lens in stock with a $150.00 instant rebate with a 10% B&H reward. Also in stock is the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS Lens with a 4% reward. Check today's prices as these will, at some point, surely change.

Willing to buy a white box and/or gray (same lens not imported by Canon USA) version? On eBay, the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS Lens can currently be found for as little as $595 – an incredible value. Not too far behind is the Canon EF 24-70mm f/4L IS Lens in white box condition currently priced at starting at $675.00 on eBay. These prices change, so check these links to get the latest.

Buying these lenses in refurbished by Canon condition is another great option. Expect Canon refurbished lenses to be in like-new condition and they usually (verify) have a same-as-new warranty. Check refurbished inventories at B&H, Canon and Adorama.

My Own Decision

After going back and forth, and back and forth, and carrying both lenses some of the time, I've personally settled on the 24-70mm f/4L IS as my primary walkaround, travel and general purpose lens. I usually have a telephoto zoom with me, reducing the value of the 24-105's focal length advantage. That leaves all of the other advantages to outweigh the 24-105's primary advantage. I've used the 24-70 f/4L IS in the 4 corners of the 50 USA states and many locations within. It has served me very well and has now permanently replaced my 24-105 f/4L IS.

Reviews

Canon EF 24-70mm f/4L IS USM Lens
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM Lens

From the Canon Professional Network:

"Colin McMaster is one of the world’s best when it comes to rally photography. The fast-paced motorsport that covers the globe throws up more than its fair share of great images – and great challenges – as he explains to CPN Editor David Corfield...

Colin McMaster lives life by the clock. The sport of rallying – itself governed by hours, minutes and seconds – extends far beyond the lens for him. Rallying is his livelihood and much of his downtime is given over to his passion: photography."

Colin McMaster's Rallying Kitbag

Cameras:

• 2x EOS-1D X
• 1x EOS-1D Mark II (for remote work)

Lenses:

• EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye USM
• EF 11-24mm f/4L USM
• EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM
• EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM
• EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM
• EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM
• EF 50mm f/1.0L USM
• EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM
• EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM
• EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM
• EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM

Accessories:

• 3x Speedlite 600EX-RT flashguns
• Speedlite Transmitter ST-E3-RT
• PocketWizard remotes
• Manfrotto tripods
• MacBook Pro laptop (loaded with Adobe Lightroom)

From the Nikon Europe YouTube Channel:

The Nikon D500 introduces 4K UHD video recording capability to the Nikon DX-range. Check out the official sample video.

The Nikon D500 can record 4K UHD (3840 × 2160)/30p/25p/24p as well as 1080/60p video for up to 29 min. 59 sec, with simultaneous output via HDMI available. It is also possible to generate 4K UHD time-lapse movies within the camera. In Full HD or HD mode, the D500’s electronic Vibration Reduction function reduces the effects of camera shake in the horizontal, vertical and rotational directions during hand-held movie recording, while Active D-Lighting preserves details in highlights and shadows to capture footage with natural brightness.

B&H has the Nikon D500 available for preorder with an expected availability in March.

From Barber Shop Bags:

January 20, 2016 – A must-have of the fall-winter 2015-2016 is undoubtedly the tweed: the famous Scottish fabric that has populated for years the wardrobe of women, as well as of the men.

A warm fabric, elegant and above all timeless; the tweed has now become a must that couldn’t miss in the Barber Shop Bags collection. In particular the Pageboy, the smallest of the family, decided to wear this precious fabric, thus giving rise to the new VANITY TWEED version.

Though the name tends to be feminine, the new tweed Pageboy is unisex and appropriates for both women as well men. This bag is perfect for carrying a camera kit essential (1 DSLR camera with standard lens, 1 additional lens or flash medium and small accessories). The Pageboy also has a padded interior pocket perfect to protect from bumps and drops your smartphone or your mini I-Pad.

The protective camera satchel can be removed when not carrying with you the photo gear, and so you can use the bag as a daily “shopping bag”.

As all others Barber Shop Bags, also this one can be personalized with the initials of your name (up to 3 characters) choosing from several color combinations including red, blue, silver and gold. This gives you the possibility to have an handcrafted product by skilled artisans, but also a customized and very personal bag. Barber Shop products are entirely handcrafted in Italy with the utmost care, using only selected Italian leathers. Leather, being a natural product, will change over time, giving each piece its own authentic personality.

And to be a real stylish photographer, Barber Shop Bags created a shoulder strap with the same tweed fabric and that will allow you to carry your gear securely in any environment: outdoor, sport events, fashion shows or wedding.

A perfect combination designed by Barber Shop Bags and ideal for those photographers who want a technical and professional product but at the same time a stylish and elegant kit.

B&H has the Barber Shop Bags Small Messenger Pageboy in stock.

From the Canon Digital Learning Center:

"Travel photography can provide some of the most inspiring and intriguing imagery. Photographs trigger our memories, help us to illustrate a story, and show us a sense of place. When we travel, those memories can often seem richer, more vibrant, and more significant to us than when we are at home.

First impressions aren’t something that we only get when we meet new people. Each minute impression that you get from seeing a new country, a new town, or a new restaurant is something that you can express visually. When you travel (or play tourist at home), what are your first impressions of the place? What colors, scents, or sounds stand out? Each of these experiences can be expressed through the visual medium of photography.

When you hear the sound of horse hooves clacking against cobblestone streets or the deep horn of a passing ship in the sea, you can bring those memories and experience to life through your imagery. When you smell fresh baked bread wafting down a street, or feel the warmth of the sand beneath your feet, each of these moments tells a story and creates a sense of place. Bringing that sense of place through to your photography is what makes a travel image a lasting moment, rather than a fleeting snap shot, and your memories will be so much more vibrant for it. Not only is it important to capture the literal look of a place in travel photography, but for strong and memorable imagery, capturing the ambiance is important as well."

From Nikon:

Changes from Version 1.3.0 to 1.3.1

• Renaming folders created in root directory (under startup disk) has been made unable in order to prevent images stored in the folders from being deleted.

Download: Nikon Capture NX-D v.1.3.1 for Mac

YouTube superstar Devin Graham has released his 2015 highlight reel for a second time. Unfortunately for him, he had a little trouble with his first attempt at uploading and sharing the video.

According to Devin's Blog, the original title for the 2015 highlight reel was "People Are Awesome 2015 - ULTIMATE DevinSuperTramp Edition in 4K." However, unbeknownst to Devin, the phrase "People Are Awesome" had been copywrited/trademarked by a company called Jukin and was swiftly removed from YouTube after an infringement complaint.

After a time consuming back and forth, Devin was forced to upload the highlight reel with a new title having lost all of the momentum his first video enjoyed after it was initially uploaded.

For the entire story, check out the Devin Graham Blog.

Manfrotto, world leader in the photography, imaging equipment and accessories industry, announces the new generation compact LED lights for professional and advanced hobbyist videographers and photographers.

CROMA2, MICROPRO2 and SPECTRA2 offer the latest LED technology available (SMT - Surface Mount Technology) in a portable size, which guarantees images with perfect color rendition and improved optical efficiency.

These on-camera LED panels, powered by Litepanels, are part of the new ready to use Manfrotto LED lights.

CROMA2 AND MICROPRO2: COMPACT NEW LED TECHNOLOGY
A new range with the same design, the SMT LED panels embed innovative lenses, which have been specifically created for high efficiency and CRI (Colour Rendering Index).

The intensity of the LED devices can be controlled by the user - CROMA2 up to 900lux and MICROPRO2 up to 940lux. The colour temperature in CROMA2 can be regulated from 3100K to 5600K, which makes this device the perfect versatile LED panel to match the existing ambient lighting. MICROPRO2 is Daylight 5600K and permits the colour correction thanks to the diffuser and gel filter included in the pack.

CROMA2 and MICROPRO2 operate on six AA standard batteries, from mains through the included AC adaptor or on L-Type Li-ion batteries through the included battery adaptor.

Compact and powerful, thanks to the included ball head they can be used for both on camera as well as off camera use.

SPECTRA2: MINI BUT POWERFUL
The most compact LED Panel in the professional range - high efficiency in the palm of your hand. SPECTRA2 features the state-of-the-art LED SMT technology, which guarantees images with perfect colour rendition and flicker-free functionality.

SPECTRA2 is perfect for on camera use with the included new ball-head, as well as for off camera use.

The LED device is dimmable, capable of emitting 650lux, and provides a further increase in the light output thanks to the boost mode (+50%). The colour temperature of the LED Panel is Daylight 5600K but it can be changed thanks to diffusers and filter gels.

SPECTRA2 can operate on six AA standard batteries and offers, as optional, AC or L-Type Li-ion batteries adaptors.

These new powerful and compact Manfrotto LED lights guarantee best performance with a high quality light. CROMA2, MICROPRO2 and SPECTRA2 represent the top range of on-camera units.

B&H has the Manfrotto CROMA2, MICROPRO2 and SPECTRA2 on-camera LEDs in stock.

by Sean Setters

If the term "stroboscopic" is unfamiliar to you, you're not alone. My guess is that many Canon 580EX / 580EX II / 600EX-RT owners have yet to explore this intriguing feature found in their Speedites.

So what is stroboscopic flash? Fortunately, the 600EX-RT manual provides a good description in the feature's introduction:

"When using stroboscopic flash with a slow shutter speed, you can shoot multiple successive movements within a single picture, similar to stop-motion pictures.

In stroboscopic flash, set the flash output, number of flashes, and flash frequency (number of flashes per second = Hz)."

What kind of subjects work well when captured with stroboscopic flash? Dancers and falling/bouncing objects are commonly utilized, but just about anything that moves will work. Keep in mind that a dark shooting environment is necessary to achieve optimal results because any constant/ambient light will cause motion blur to be captured between flash bursts.

To set up your flash for stroboscopic/MULTI mode, press the Mode button until "MULTI" is displayed on the Speedlite's LCD panel. If the flash is set to Slave mode, you may need to hold the Mode button for a few seconds until it switches out of ETTL mode. Note: In Slave mode, the MULTI label will blink.

Next, you'll need to set the flash power, number of total flashes and number of flashes per second (Hz).

Note that as you use higher flash powers, the number of flashes you can fire in succession begins to dwindle. That means that there's a limit to how many continuous flashes you can expect to achieve at various power levels, with higher power level use allowing for fewer continuous flashes. Once again, the 600EX-RT's manual comes to the rescue to provide a handy resource for determining the number of continuous flashes we can expect at specific power levels:

To create the image above, I used a tripod mounted 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, ST-E2 and (2) 580EX Speedlites set to stroboscopic/MULTI mode. The flashes were set to 80mm zoom and positioned slightly behind the bouncing platform (a board) so as to limit the amount of light spilling onto the background, an Impact Collapsible Black/White Background.

The flashes were set to 1/128 power, 15 flashes at a rate of 30Hz. This made my shutter speed calculation quite easy – 1/2 second. And if you look closely, you'll notice that the exposure time and framing allowed me to capture every flash burst from the Speedlite in the image (you can count 15 individual balls). With an aperture of f/7.1 and an ISO of 250, I was able to capture a dark background while maintaining a good exposure on the subject, a ping pong ball. Note that I purposefully shot this image at night with the overhead lights turned off to minimize the ambient light in the room (I left a hallway light on and the studio door cracked to provide enough working light). To create the exposures, I set the camera to manual focus noting the plane of focus on the board. I then gently dropped the ping pong ball at the point of focus while triggering the camera's shutter button with my other hand.

So why would someone uses stroboscopic flash instead of simply firing off a continuous burst from the camera with flash set to trigger on every exposure with the intend of combining the exposures in post? One word – speed. For example, an EOS 7D Mark II can achieve a burst rate of 10 frames-per-second, meaning that the camera's burst rate limits the number of individual exposures you can create in a 1-second duration. And if shooting with a Rebel/xxxD series DSLR, the burst rate becomes even more limiting. But using stroboscopic flash, you can essentially capture a subject 40 times within the same 1-second time period (at 1/128 power), translating into a much faster burst rate while simultaneously reducing the amount of post-processing required to achieve the desired result.

If you've never tried stroboscopic flash, we invite you to do so. Creating images using stroboscopic flash is a great way to spend an evening creating fun, creative images. And when you've captured your favorite stroboscopic image (or if you already have one), share it in The-Digital-Picture Flickr group with the tag "stroboscopic flash".

A larger version of the example image can be found on my Flickr photostream.

Introduced in 1976 and discontinued in 1998, the Nikon 13mm f/5.6 is often dubbed "The Holy Grail" because of its ultra-wide angle of view with minimal distortion. It was only available via special order during its production run making it one of Nikon's rarest lenses.

However, a Nikon 13mm f/5.6 lens has just appeared on eBay. If interested in bringing home this ultra-wide, ultra rare lens, a significant emptying of the wallet will be necessary.

The serial number of this particular lens translates to a production year after 1982.

From the Canon USA YouTube Channel:

Professional motorsports photographer Kevin Wing takes the Canon EOS 5DS R out to canyon roads to show off its action shooting capabilities.

B&H carries the Canon EOS 5Ds R which currently qualifies for 13 Months Of Complimentary Damage Protection and Priority Service (CarePAK PLUS).