I received the Canon 5D Mark III today. I did a few quick shots in the backyard with the kit 24-105 f/4 L lens and my 100mm f/2.8 L macro lens. The last photo of the watch was taken at ISO 25600. Unbelievable – and I was even able to stop down to 5.6 and still shoot at 1/80! The camera is amazing and a great upgrade from the 7D.
Lightroom 4.1 RC2 is out and has an amazing new feature: Defringe controls to help remove additional chromatic aberrations! Lightroom 4.0 only had a simple check box to turn on or off the “remove chromatic aberration” feature.
I took the shot above with the Canon 50mm f/1.4 at 1.4. While the image looks great at web size, at 100% there is severe chromatic aberrations or purple lines, on the edge of the white napkin and the rings of the silver bucket (see the first photo below). To remove the purple lines all I needed to do was slide the defringe amount slider to 13 (see the second photo below). Amazing! This is great because those purple lines would definitely show up in a larger print.
I was eyeing the expensive Canon 50mm f/1.2 after watching the DigitalRev video comparing the three Canon 50mm primes – the 1.8, the 1.4, and the 1.2. Is it really worth over $1k more for the 1.2? I resurrected my 10 year old 1.4 and put it to the test. I’m happy to report that, while soft at 1.4, I’m really happy with the results. The photo of the nut is a f/3.5, the books at f/2.2, the portrait at f/2.0, and everything else was at f/1.4.
It feels great to be back to shooting with my Canon 7D. I carried it without a bag all weekend attached to a Black Rapid RS-4 with a WhiBal keychain card clipped on.
I’ve been trying to shrink down my camera kit by trying various micro 4/3s cameras and the Sony NEX series. I’ve tried the Panasonic GH2 a few times, Panasonic G3, the Sony NEX-5N, and the Sony NEX-7. Of all these cameras I liked the NEX-5N the best and have used it for the past 6 months. It is extremely portable with excellent image quality, however I found the ergonomics a bit fiddly and the menus, as we all know, horrible. I had hoped to replace it with the NEX-7, but I couldn’t get comfortable with the 7′s viewfinder. If I got in a comfortable position with it, the viewfinder would shut off. I would then need to angle the camera a bit to get it to turn on. No fun.
The conclusion I have come to is that I am just not a fan of mirrorless design cameras. I love the optical live view and the versatility of my DSLR. This reminds me of when I visited the dental trade show many years ago to find a new set of magnifying loupes. My goal was to find the smallest and lightest pair on the market. Instead, I ended up buying the Zeiss loupes, which are the biggest and heaviest on the market. They’re like having two mini camera lenses strapped to your face: Bright, sharp, contrasty optical quality. There’s no gray area for me: I either want a big heavy DSLR or either an iPhone or mini point and shoot camera.
Here are the last few shots from the Sony NEX-5N before it was sold.
