Canon and Sony News for Nov 2014 (Page 5)
Thank you for using Canon products.
Canon has released a firmware update for the WFT-E7A Wireless File Transmitter.
Details
Firmware Version 1.1.0 incorporates the following improvement:
Support has been added for the EOS 7D Mark II. Please note interface cable is required in order to update the WFT-E7A to firmware Version 1.1.0.
Eligible Models:
Only WFT-E7A models running firmware 1.0.4. Not applicable for WFT-E7A (Ver.2) models (which began selling in November 2014).
Connection Requirements:
In order to connect the Canon WFT-E7A with the Canon EOS 7D Mark II the following items are needed:
| Items | WFT-E7A |
| Firmware Version installed | 1.1.0 or later |
| Interface Cable | IFC-150AB II or IFC-40AB II |
Support
If your Wireless File Transmitter’s firmware is already version 1.1.0 or later, it is not necessary to update the firmware. When updating your Wireless Transmitter’s firmware, please review the instructions thoroughly before you update the firmware.
Download Firmware Version 1.1.0 for the WFT-E7A Wireless File Transmitter.
This information is for residents of the United States and Puerto Rico only. If you do not reside in the USA or Puerto Rico, please contact the Canon Customer Support Center in your region.
Please register the WFT-E7A Wireless File Transmitter.
By registering, we will be able to notify you via email when future firmware updates become available for download.
Thank you,
Customer Support Operations
Canon U.S.A., Inc
From the Canon Digital Learning Center:
"As a commercial photographer for over 30+ years, my thought process has leaned towards using large strobe light systems in my studio and location photography and to keep the Speedlites for on-camera projects and mostly people subjects. Working with the Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT along with the Speedlite Transmitter ST-E3-RT over the last year has really opened up my mind into a different way of thinking about exposure control and lighting.See the entire article on the Canon Digital Learning Center.Coming from being trained as a film photographer, lighting is something that I have tried to keep as constant like shutter speed, aperture and ISO. Digital was no different – you still need to get it correct in the camera. When working with strobe lighting, if I was happy with the composition, shutter and F-stop settings and I needed to change the overall exposure of an image, it was time to manually adjust the lighting. If the light were exactly in the right position already, I manually raise or lower the power output until I get exactly what I’m looking for. Now at this point, if lighting or camera settings change, everything would need to be reconfigured. For example, if you wanted to change the F-Stop setting from f/22 to f/2.8 for a selective focus effect, you would now have to manually dial down the lighting with some trial exposures to see if you got the exposure correct for the new settings. If you moved the lights in closer for a different lighting effect, it’s time to reconfigure the exposure again. The lighting and exposure changes can go on and on."
I [Sean] have been an Amazon Prime member for a couple of years now. Why?
- Free two-day shipping on most of the items I buy
- Prime Instant Video offers a few entertaining selections that Netflix doesn't have (including original programming)
There are certainly other benefits, but those are the two I take advantage of most often. However, Amazon just added a new benefit that's perfect for us photographers:
- Prime Photos: Secure unlimited photo storage in Amazon Cloud Drive.
Yes, you read that correctly – unlimited photo storage. *yay!*
From Amazon:
"Store your photos safely in Cloud Drive and you can access them anywhere, from almost any device by signing in with your Amazon account. Cloud Drive offers free mobile apps, secure access from any computer, and it's built in to all Fire devices.If you're not already a member of Amazon Prime, now would be a great time to sign up. If you are already a member, you can start uploading photos to your Amazon Cloud Drive Account.With Prime Photos, the photos you've previously uploaded to Cloud Drive and photos you upload in the future will not count against your Cloud Drive storage limit."
Mobile Access Apps
From B&H:
Jeff shows you some of his favorite high school senior portraits and tells you how he captured them. He gives you tips for shooting locations, and talks about how to capture the personality of the senior in your photos - and how to make money doing it.
From Nikon:
TOKYO – Nikon Corporation is pleased to announce that the total production of NIKKOR lenses for Nikon interchangeable lens cameras reached the ninety million milestone at the end of October 2014. Additionally, production of NIKKOR lenses equipped with the Silent Wave Motor (SWM), the autofocus motor developed exclusively by Nikon, recently reached fifty million.
In 1959, Nikon (then Nippon Kogaku K.K) released the Nikon F as well as its first NIKKOR lenses for Nikon SLR cameras, including the NIKKOR-S Auto 5cm f/2. Since then, the NIKKOR tradition has continued. Nikon continues to actively release new NIKKOR lenses utilizing advanced technologies cultivated over its long history, while further expanding its lineup of lenses for the Nikon 1 compact interchangeable lens camera system. Since reaching the eighty-five million lens milestone in January 2014, production of NIKKOR lenses continues at a steady rate.
In addition, total production of NIKKOR lenses equipped with the Silent Wave Motor (SWM) has reached fifty million. Nikon’s Silent Wave Motor converts “traveling waves” into rotational energy to focus the optics, which achieves extremely quiet autofocus photography. In just eighteen years since the 1996 release of the Ai AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/2.8D IF-ED, which was one of the first lenses to employ SWM technology, a total of 72 lenses equipped with a SWM and covering a broad range of focal lengths have been released for both FX and DX-format DSLR cameras.
In September 2014, Nikon responded to a variety of user needs by adding the new ultra wide-angle AF-S NIKKOR 20mm f/1.8G ED to its already robust lineup of fast f/1.8 fixed focal length lenses for FX-format cameras. The new 20mm f/1.8 lens utilizes the latest optical design technologies to achieve superior resolution, while the adoption of Nikon’s Nano Crystal Coat controls ghost and flare. Lightweight and extremely portable, Nikon’s newest ultra-wide angle lens is ideal for fulfilling one’s photographic vision.
In June 2014, Nikon announced a new super-telephoto zoom lens for the Nikon 1 system, the 1 NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6, the world’s smallest and lightest lens in its class. The 1 NIKKOR lineup consists of twelve lenses with focal lengths ranging from 6.7mm to 300mm (angles of view equivalent to 18mm to 810mm in 35mm format) for coverage from ultra-wide-angle to super-telephoto.
B&H carries Nikon lenses.
With a seven hour round trip drive included, fitting the PDN PhotoPlus Expo trip into 24 hours makes for a huge day. Increase the drive time to 10 hours (thanks to traffic), include a 1 hour wait at the show admission line due to a system outage (yes, I was preregistered), attend seven planned meetings plus a dinner meeting and I am left searching for a word that means much bigger than huge. Perhaps mammoth?
Still, with the show floor closing at 5:00 PM and rest seeming so unproductive, I decided to plan a shoot between the show and the dinner meeting. This year, I headed over to Brooklyn Bridge Park near Pier 1 (in Brooklyn) to the pilings shown in this picture.
I got onto the shoreline rocks beside the boat ramp and positioned the camera so that the opening between some of the pilings curved into the frame. I adjusted the focal length (with some mostly minor variety used) for a good size balance between the buildings and the pilings. An ultra-wide angle would emphasize the pilings while a standard or short telephoto lens would place more emphasis on the buildings. Another consideration is the levelness of the camera. With the camera vertically level, the buildings toward the sides of the frame remain vertically straight in this image.
The Canon EF 16-35mm f/4 L IS USM Lens mounted to the Canon EOS 5D Mark III was the perfect choice for this scene. Perfect for both the angle of view/focal length range and for the impressive image quality it provides.
I was in position in front of the piers as the sun set. While I have images captured during sunset that I like, including the sun against the horizon with the last sunlight of the day reflecting on the water, the city lights were not showing at this time of the day and the colors were not as attractive to me as the late blue hour example shown here. I also have some shorter exposures of this scene, but the choppy river did not attract my eye like the buttery-smooth blurred alternatives. I used neutral density filters and adjusted the aperture slightly (between f/8 and f/11) to keep my exposure times at or near 30 seconds as sunset turned into blue hour and then into dark. I started with a 6-stop ND, moved to a 2-stop ND and removed that filter as darkness came.
While this may seem like a long time to shoot a single scene, this was the shot I wanted and I wanted a variety of options to choose from. I was shooting 3 bracketed frames (this is an HDR image) with the longest exposure at or near 30 seconds in duration and I had long exposure noise reduction enabled, meaning that dark frames were captured for an equally long period of time. This means that I was spending several minutes for each potential final image. With exposures that long, one cannot predict the large boats and other detractants that will possibly influence an image and I threw away some frames for this reason. In the end, I had a nice amount of images, but not a crazy number.
Likely, only a few of the images from this shoot will see the light of day. But, I really like those few images and consider the time and effort well spent. I can cross "Pilings at Brooklyn Bridge Park" off of my location bucket list.
The day started at 5:00 AM and ended at 2:45 AM the next morning. The overall results from the day, including the meetings and the show, were totally worth the effort.
A larger version of this image is available on: Google+, Facebook and Flickr.
ISO 100
5760 x 3840px
From the B&H YouTube Channel:
Tim Cooper, shares tips and tricks to create light painting masterpieces. Painting with light is an exciting and artistic way to portray your subject in a completely unique manner.
Image quality, vignetting, flare and distortion test results along with specs, measurements and standard product images have been added to the Canon EF-M 55-200mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM Lens Review page.
Canon EF-M lenses are compatible only with the compact Canon EOS M MILCs (Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Cameras). The 55-200 IS STM is the telephoto lens option in the "M" lineup (though others are available via the EF to EF-M adapter). This lens has good image quality with a very small size and light weight.
Please note: Like the T5i, T4i and 70D, the EOS M has image sharpness dialed up (by Canon) in-camera. Even though the EF-M lens test results shown use our standard sharpness setting of "1", you will see the sharpness difference when comparing against EOS 60D-based lens test results. The increased sharpness comes directly at the expense of increased high ISO noise and can be adjusted to taste. Still, this is a good lens.
Canon USA is not currently importing this lens. My suggestion is to order your EF-M 11-22mm IS STM Lens from DigitalRev.
Special thanks to John S for loaning us this lens!
From the LensRentals Blog:
"For those who want to take my word for it and skip on to some other blog, the Canon 7D Mk II may be the best weather-sealed camera I’ve run across. It’s excellent. For those who would rather see for themselves, gory camera dissection pictures follow!!For the complete set of teardown images, check out the LensRentals Blog.
B&H has the Canon EOS 7D Mark II available for preorder.
Image quality, vignetting, flare and distortion test results along with specs, measurements and standard product images have been added to the Canon EF-M 11-22mm f/4-5.6 IS STM Lens Review page.
Canon EF-M lenses are compatible only with the compact Canon EOS M MILCs (Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Cameras). The results from the 11-22 are very good – this lens will be a great addition to any "M" kit.
Please note: Like the T5i, T4i and 70D, the EOS M has image sharpness set higher in-camera. Even though the EF-M lens test results shown use our standard sharpness setting of "1", you will see the sharpness difference when comparing against EOS 60D-based lens test results. The increased sharpness comes directly at the expense of increased high ISO noise. Still, this is a good lens.
Canon USA is not currently importing this lens. My suggestion is to order your EF-M 11-22mm IS STM Lens from DigitalRev.
Special thanks to John S for loaning us this lens!
From Profoto:
Octagonal softboxes are great for portraits, fashion and beauty shots, as they create an appealing round catch light in the subject's eyes.
A new octa softbox has now been added to Profoto's extensive line of RFi Softboxes. The new 4' Octa fills in the gap in between the 3' Octa and the 5' Octa.
The new octa is not too small and not too large. It is just perfect.
Benefits of Profoto's RFi Softboxes
- 13 unique models in four shapes.
- Compatible with over 20 flash brands, thanks to our speedring adaptors.
- Deeper shape and recessed front for more precise control.
- Double-layered diffusers and a highly reflective silver interior.
- Optional Softgrid available for even more precise light shaping.
- Color-coded speedrings and Velcro attachments result in hassle-free assembly and disassembly.
- Designed to withstand years of professional use.
B&H carries the Profoto RFi 4' Octa Softbox and other RFi Softboxes and accessories.
As we rolled back the clocks this weekend, did you remember to adjust the one in your camera(s)? If not, here's a gentle reminder!
And if you want all your cameras' times to be synchronized perfectly, check out this post I made back in September.
Happy shooting!
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