Canon and Sony News for May 2011

Canon USA has posted Canon EOS-1D Mark IV firmware version 1.1.0.

Firmware Version 1.1.0 incorporates the following improvements and fixes:

Improves writing/reading speeds when using UDMA 7-compatible CF cards.

Fixes a phenomenon where the ability to shoot movies may be stopped under the following conditions:

When using high-capacity (32 GB or greater) CF cards with little available space remaining and the user attempts to start shooting movies; or

When the camera’s battery is removed and reinserted into the camera and the user immediately attempts to start shooting movies.

Corrects misspellings in the menu screens displayed in Arabic and Portuguese languages (applies to models outside of the the Japanese market only).

Canon Asia has posted Canon EOS 5D Mark II Firmware Version 2.0.9.

Firmware Version 2.0.9 incorporates the following improvements and fixes.

1. Improves writing/reading speeds when using UDMA 7-compatible CF cards.

2. Fixes a phenomenon where the IS function will not work when custom function C.Fn III-2 is set to [5: IS start] and the lens attached does not have an AF stop button. This is because custom function C.Fn III-2 allows users to assign IS start to the AF stop button on the lens

3. Corrects misspellings in the menu screens displayed in Arabic, Portuguese, Spanish, and Thai languages.

B&H has changed the price on a significant number of the Canon Lenses. The really good news is that most of the prices went downward this time.

Canon USA Professional Services has sent notification to members stating that:

EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2011

We would like to take the time to remind you that all products sent in for repair are required to be registered in order to take advantage of your CPS repair discount. As of July 1st, any unregistered products sent in for repair will not be eligible for discount and returned to you. These products will not be eligible for service back-up loans under your current CPS account.

We encourage you to review your CPS account and register any unregistered products through your account at www.usa.canon.com/cps before the specified deadline date.

In the instance of illegible or worn serial numbers, please contact your local service facility for retrieval.

We appreciate your cooperation and look forward to continue providing you with quality service.

Thank you,

Canon Professional Services (CPS)
Canon U.S.A., Inc.

Redrock Micro has launched Universal Bundles for DSLR Cameras. These bundles are looking very nice!

In a press release issued today, Canon USA provides anticipated lens availability information. Canon USA adds "December" as the month for the 500 L IS II and 600 L IS II arrival.

Adobe has released updates for Lightroom and Camera Raw:

Camera Raw 6.4.1 Update

This new version of the Camera Raw plug-in replaces the original one that was installed with Adobe Photoshop CS5, Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 and Adobe Premiere Elements 9 software. Visit the Camera Raw page for a complete list of supported cameras.

English: Windows | Macintosh

Lightroom 3.4.1 update

The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3.4 update includes these enhancements:

• Additional camera support for several new camera models including the Canon Rebel T3i, Nikon D5100 and Fuji FinePix X100

• Corrections for issues introduced in previous versions of Lightroom 3

The Lightroom 3.4.1 update includes an important correction for a bug introduced in the Lightroom 3.4 release

English: Windows | Macintosh

In a noticed issued today, Nikon Corporation has indicated that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Sigma:

Nikon Corporation filed a patent infringement lawsuit in Japan

Nikon Corporation (KIMURA Makoto, President, Tokyo, hereafter referred to as "Nikon") filed a patent infringement suit against Sigma Corporation (hereafter referred to as "Sigma") to Tokyo District Court on May 25, 2011. Nikon's lawsuit seeks an injunction against Sigma's manufacture and sale of infringing interchangeable lenses with vibration reduction for single lens reflex cameras, along with damages for past infringement.

Nikon has invested considerable resources in the form of research and development over a period of many years. Such investments have created intellectual property that are important business assets of Nikon and have enabled Nikon to continuously provide the products and services that satisfy its customers requirements.

Although Nikon attempted to resolve Sigma's patent infringement through negotiation, a non-adversarial resolution could not be reached. Consequently, Nikon concluded that filing a lawsuit was the only way it could protect its intellectual property.

Canon Inc. has announced that it will acquire own shares.

Canon UK has posted some expected availability information for the new Canon lenses we have been waiting for:

Update to sales start for EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM, EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II USM, EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye USM, EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM and EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lenses

United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, 25th May 2011 – Following the announcement of delays to the sales start to the following lenses :- EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM, EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II USM, EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye USM, EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM and EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM, Canon can now provide an update on the planned start dates for these lenses:

EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM - Late August, 2011
EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II USM - Late August, 2011
EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye USM - Late July, 2011
EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM - Within 2011*
EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM - Within 2011*

Canon would like to apologise to any customers who have been inconvenienced by these delays.

*Any sales start dates will be communicated as soon as they become available.

Canon USA has announced the Long Live Imagination Campaign with Ron Howard.

(Reuters) - Japanese camera and copier maker Canon Inc (7751.T) expects its quake-hit supply chain to recover more quickly than originally estimated, giving a roughly 50 billion yen ($600 million) boost to its annual sales, the company's chief executive said.

In an interview with Reuters, Canon CEO Fujio Mitarai said "We now forecast (production) to return to normal by the end of June." Read the full story.

Just posted: Zeiss 100mm f/2.0 Makro-Planar T* ZE Lens Review.

Some reviews are definitely more fun to create than others. The Zeiss 100mm f/2.0 Makro-Planar T* ZE Lens review was definitely one of those. I'll try to get some sample photos online soon.

Lexar has introduced a Professional USB 3.0 Dual-Slot Memory Card Reader (press release).

I'm currently using the USB 2.0 version of the this card reader - it works great.

Lightroom Journal has posted the following warning:

Potential JPEG Bug in Lightroom 3.4 and Camera Raw 6.4

The Lightroom and Camera Raw team would like to inform you of a potentially severe bug that was introduced in the Lightroom 3.4 and Camera Raw 6.4 update. Please note that this bug only impacts customers who are saving metadata to JPEG files with a rare characteristic. (JPEG files must have an unusually large block of private camera data included in the file to be susceptible to the bug*) This scenario is so rare that we do not believe that it is necessary for customers who have already upgraded to revert to the previous version of Lightroom or Camera Raw. However, the bug could cause image corruption which falls within our highest severity category of bugs. The team believes it’s very important to notify you of the risk and provide an estimate of when we will be able to deliver a correction in the form of Lightroom 3.4.1 and Camera Raw 6.4.1. We intend to have these updates available by Friday, May 27th.

If you do work with a significant number of JPEG files in Lightroom or Camera Raw and routinely update metadata (keywords, captions, etc) it would be prudent to wait for the updated release of Lightroom and Camera Raw.

The team would also like to thank Doug Cooper who reported this issue on the Lightroom Feedback Portal. Rare bugs like this make it quite difficult to pinpoint the source of the problem or even create a reproducible scenario but thanks to Doug’s persistence we were able to track down this bug quickly.

* To date we’ve only found one camera that generates these large blocks of private data, the HP PhotoSmart R607.

DxO Labs has added 49 new lens / camera combinations to the DxO Optics Modules library, providing supports for Canon, Sigma, Sony, Tamron, and Zeiss lenses, for numerous Canon, Nikon, and Sony cameras.

Visit this page to see the new combinations.

DxO Optics Pro is available at B&H.

"Like" PhotoShelter on Facebook for a free E-book: Facebook Fan Pages For Photographers.

Apple has released Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update 3.7.

This update adds RAW image compatibility for the following cameras to Aperture 3 and iPhoto '11:

Fujifilm FinePix X100
Nikon D5100
Olympus E-PL2
Olympus XZ-1
Samsung GX-1S

Apple has released ProKit 7.0.

This ProKit Update fixes the following minor issues:

Improved support for PopOver style tooltips.

Improved support for Font Smoothing.

Addresses an issue with an unwanted gap between a menu and submenu.

Fixes leaks and improves stability for the color picker and timecode interface in Final Cut Pro and Motion.

Improved compatibility when importing assets from older versions of Soundtrack Pro.

Fixes an issue with the scrubber appearance in Logic Express and Logic Pro.

Addresses AppKit related crashes in Motion.

This update is recommended for users of Final Cut Pro, Motion, Soundtrack Pro, DVD Studio Pro, iPhoto, Aperture, Final Cut Express, Logic Pro, MainStage, Logic Express and iAd Producer.

Canon has posted EOS Rebel T3i / 600D Firmware Version 1.0.1.

Firmware Version 1.0.1 incorporates the following fixes and changes.

1. Clarifies the feature guide description of the digital zoom function for movie-shooting that appears on the camera’s LCD monitor.

2. Fixes a phenomenon in which, in rare cases, a computer connected to the camera with a USB cable cannot recognize the camera.

Think Tank Photo has announced the Speed Convertible Series - featuring revisions to the Speed Demon V2.0, Speed Freak V2.0, and Speed Racer V2.0 shoulder bags.

Here are links to full descriptions of each bag:

Speed Demon: http://www.thinktankphoto.com/products/speed-demon-v2.aspx

Speed Freak: http://www.thinktankphoto.com/products/speed-freak-v2.aspx

Speed Racer: http://www.thinktankphoto.com/products/speed-racer-v2.aspx

Wonder no longer - Canon USA has issued a press release regarding this project:

Canon U.S.A. Commemorates The Setting Of The Last Segment Of Steel For Its New Canon Americas Headquarters

LAKE SUCCESS, May 12, 2011 – Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging, celebrated the setting of the last segment of steel for its new headquarters during a "topping off" ceremony today in Melville, N.Y. Joe Adachi, president and CEO, Canon U.S.A, and Seymour Liebman, executive vice president, chief administrative officer and general counsel, Canon U.S.A., were joined by state and local officials to commemorate this milestone in the development of Canon's new facility which will serve as headquarters for North and South America.

"Today we are celebrating yet another milestone towards completion of the new Canon Americas Headquarters," said Joe Adachi, president and CEO, Canon U.S.A. "I look forward to the day when we open the doors to One Canon Park and provide our employees a world-class facility in which to grow and succeed."

Above, Joe Adachi, president and CEO, Canon U.S.A., and Seymour Liebman, executive vice president, chief administrative officer and general counsel, Canon U.S.A., raise the commemorative steel beam for the Canon Americas new headquarters in Melville, N.Y.

"It has been an exciting experience to watch our new headquarters being built from the ground up and we are grateful for the support we have received from various government officials and community leaders," Seymour Liebman, executive vice president, chief administrative officer and general counsel, Canon U.S.A.

Just in case you wanted to know, the Canon-supplied image above was shot with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II and a Canon EF 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6L IS USM Lens at 50mm, f/11, 1/100 and ISO 100.

Sigma has today announced that the Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Lens in Nikon-mount is scheduled to start shipping this month.

Adorama is taking preorders.

B&H is now accepting preorders for the Canon-mount version, so I expect this one to be available very soon.

Nikon has posted financial results for the march 2011 fiscal year end. A Financial & Business Data PDF is also available.

More entertaining to many of us is the presentation material PDF.

DxO Labs has added 50 new lens / camera combinations to the DxO Optics Modules library, providing supports for Canon, Sigma, Sony, Tamron, and Tokina lenses, for numerous Canon, and Sony cameras.

Visit this page to see the new combinations.

DxO Optics Pro is available at B&H.