Working up an image this evening and decided it was time to clean the sensor on my trusty old Canon 1D mkIIN.
All those white circles are the 'worst' dust bunnies (spots)...there are still a few left...
-!-
Canon, Lightroom, Lightroom3 in Digital Processing For those of you who must have/can afford the new mkII big Canon primes, they recently announced new sales availibility/release dates on the Canon UK blog:
| 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* |
These dates seem to be in line with the main Canon press release for the USA (with prices):
-!-
So, does the new Canon EOS XSi/450D make the EOS 40D a bad choice?
If you think megapixels and marketing buzzwords define the best camera then yes, the XSi is the camera for you.
If you are actually interested in handling, performance and image quality, you may want to wait for the independent reviewers to finish putting the new camera through its paces.
Canon have managed to cram more pixels onto the small APS-C sensor without increasing the price of the camera - it seems unlikely to me that the new sensor is going to win awards for high ISO image quality.
I spent a little bit of time on dpreview comparing the specs of the new camera and the 40D and put together this little table...
| Feature | XSi/450D | 40D |
| List Price | $799 | $1299 |
| Body Material | Plastic (stainless steel chassis) | Magnesium Alloy |
| Sensor | 12.2 effective megapixels | 10.1 effective megapixels |
| File formats | No sRAW | sRAW |
| AE Lock | Auto with One-shot focus in Evaluative metering | |
| ISO | 100-1600 in 1 stop increments Auto (100-400) | 100-1600 in 1/3 stop increments (or 1 stop) and 3200 Auto (100-800, depending on shooting mode). |
| Shutter | 30 - 1/4000 sec Flash sync 1/200 | 30 - 1/8000 sec Flash sync 1/250 |
| Viewfinder | Pentamirror Magnification: 0.87x Fixed focus screen | Pentaprism Magnification: 0.95x Interchangeable focus screen |
| Drive mode | Continuous 3.5fps | Continuous 6.5fps Low continuous 3fps |
| External Flash | In-camera flash configuration (currently only 580 EX II) Wireless multi-flash support PC Sync | |
| Custom functions | 13 custom functions with 34 settings | 24 custom functions in 4 groups |
| Storage | SD / SDHC card | CF Card |
| Dimensions | 129 x 98 x 62 mm (5.1 x 3.9 x 2.4 in) | 146 x 108 x 74 mm (5.7 x 4.2 x 2.9 in) |
| Weight | 475g (1.0 lb) | 740g (1.6 lb) |
| Wireless connectivity (with WFT-E3) | No | Yes |
| Buffer | 53 JPEG / 6 RAW frames | 75 JPEG / 17 RAW frames |
| Shooting modes | 3 user set modes |
And while I was doing that, dpreview posted what's changed with some more detail to their initial hands on.
...but it isn't the long awaited replacement for the 5D.
Canon EOS Rebel XSi camera with EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens
"CANON U.S.A.'S NEW EOS REBEL XSi PLACES SUPERIOR OPTICS AND PROFESSIONAL FEATURES INTO THE HANDS OF EMERGING PHOTO ENTHUSIASTS"
or if you are in Europe
"EOS 450D: get ready to play"
Key features are listed as:
The new 3 inch LCD on the back of the Canon EOS Rebel XSi camera
This camera replaces the EOS Rebel XTi (EOS 400D), which was first announced on 24th August 2006, and there are a few changes, listed below (or you could say XTi vs XSi or 400D vs 450D).
| Feature | XTi/400D | XSi/450D |
| Sensor (effective megapixels) | 10.1 | 12.2 |
| A/D conversion | 12 bit | 14 bit |
| Image processor | DIGIC II | DIGIC III |
| Auto focus points | Cross type at center point with f2.8 or faster lenses | |
| Metering | Added Spot (4%) | |
| ISO | Added highlight tone priority | |
| AE Bracketing | +/- 2 stops | +/- 3 stops |
| Exposure compensation | +/- 2 stops | +/- 3 stops |
| Viewfinder info display | Upgraded with extra information such as ISO, flash info, monochrome shooting | |
| LCD Monitor | 2.5 inch | 3.0 inch (no increase in pixels though) |
| Live View | Added | |
| Custom Functions | 11 with 29 settings | 13 with 34 settings |
| Menu languages | More supported... | |
| Storage | CF card slot | SD / SDHC slot |
| Power | Lithium-Ion NB-2LH rechargeable battery | Lithium-Ion LP-E5 rechargeable battery |
| Battery Grip | Changed for the new batteries and body BG-E5 | |
| Dimensions | 127 x 94 x 65 mm (5.0 x 3.7 x 2.5 in) | 129 x 98 x 62 mm (5.1 x 3.9 x 2.4 in) |
| Weight | 514 g (1.1 lb) | 475g (1.0 lb) |
Information from Canon press releases and dpreview.com
Worth upgrading from your existing XTi/400D? Probably not.
Worth upgrading from an XT/350D or older digital EOS? Well worth considering if you don't want to spend the extra on a 40D (which would be my choice...).
Full Canon USA press release can be found here.
Full Canon Europe press release can be found here.
All images on this post are courtesy of Canon
Santa (read the lovely Mrs W) was very kind at Christmas and left a Canon G9 digital point-and-shoot camera under the tree with my name on it.
And it is one fine piece of kit, has a flash shoe, shoots RAW and now goes everywhere with me.
Although I can't praise the camera enough, I still don't have a case for it nor any filters...so a Google search lead me to this site that praises Richard Franiec's components for the G9.
Most interesting to me was the custom mechanical release adapter and link to the Lensmate.
The Lensmate screws on to the G9 lens adaptor ring and covers/protects the camera's lens. You can get a lens cap to fit the Lensmate and it has a 58mm thread to allow you to attach filters...which means I just have to buy an adaptor ring and can use my existing cokin filter system.
Genius. Not exactly what I was looking for, but genius!
Update: browsing some more links, I ended up at Luminous Landscape and Nick Devlin's recent piece on using a G9 travelling in Japan...and guess what? He was using a Lensmate and Richard Franiec's grip.
I actually subscribe to the Luminous Landscape RSS feed - I really should read my feeds more, it could save me time going through Google results!
Canon, G9, point-and-shoot 