Some un-video news

Sony pushing for consumer 3D cameras
Put this under the category of "hardly surprising," but DP Review is reporting that Masashi ‘Tiger’ Imamura, President of Sony’s Personal Imaging and Sound Business group told them Sony is pushing to produce a 3D digital camera.

A still camera? A video camera? Consumer or professional? Nobody knows...I'm just hoping that if I lie down, this whole 3D thing will blow over...


Canon EOS-1D Mark IV review
DP Review also has it's full review up for the Canon EOS 1D Mark IV. Interestingly, they aren't too happy about it's video functionality. While they say "the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV offers Canon's most sophisticated implementation to date," the video formats the camera supports seem to be the same as those of the Canon 7D. Worse, the EOS-1D lacks the dedicated video mode button of the 7D and functions more like the 5D Mark III. To shoot video you first go to Settings to set up the Live View mode:
Once this is done, activating Live View primes the camera to shoot video, and filming commences when the FEL button is pressed (you can set up FEL to both start Live View and movie recording but again, only if you have live view set to movie mode).

This two-stage system is oddly labor-intensive compared to the EOS 7D, and can inevitably result in lost video opportunities if you happen to have the camera set to the wrong Live View mode at a crucial moment. It seems likely that Canon wanted to maintain as close to ergonomic parity with the EOS 1D Mark III as possible, but we can't help thinking that this is a missed opportunity to make video shooting easier.
I would note that I don't know why anyone would buy this camera if their primary purpose is to shoot video. They'd be better off buying the 7D (or even the T2i!) The 1D Mark IV might do slightly better in low light than the 7D, but you're really paying for that.


SanDisk Ships 64GB SDXC card
Just in time for the CanonRebel T2i, SanDisk has announced a 64GB SDXC card. Yours for $349.99 - Ouch!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sony GV-D200 review

Image
Sony GV-D200 I've been using a Sony GV-D200 deck to transfer old Video8 and Hi8 tapes. Some of these tapes are over twenty years old, and no longer having a Hi8 camcorder that worked I was concerned that if I didn't do something about transferring them to a more modern format soon, I might never be able to. While Sony no longer make camcorders that use these tapes - that I know of - Sony does still sell the GV-D200 deck (or Video Walkman, as it's sometimes labelled.) They also offer the GV-D800, which is almost identical but adds a small LCD screen for about $120 more. I didn't think I'd need a screen since I was using this to capture to the computer, but you will need an external monitor when you first set it up. Physically, the device is small. At 5 7/8" wide, 5 3/8" deep and 2" high, it's the smallest video deck I've encountered. I used to have a Video8 deck that I thought was small; and it was twice as deep and twice as high. The t...
Read more

Response: Which iPhone to Get?

Image
In response to my iPhone musings, I got the following reader email which actually sums up a lot of my second and third thoughts too: You might have a point about the fancier camera, but otherwise I would buy the smaller model. Its screen is about the same size as that of my Nexus 4, and I don't feel at all like it limits me with a too-small screen. But I do sometimes stretch to get my thumb the reach to the other corner of the screen. It is plenty big for a phone. A phone is a pocket thing. (Well, in my case it lives an ancient REI soft sunglasses case that I have on my belt.) Ubiquitous, handy, convenient, almost always with me. Small is crucial for all of that. Certainly a large screen is cool, but you need a place to put it: don't break a fundamental feature of a pocket phone by getting too big. That is what your small tablet is for. I have my phone with me almost always. I have my Nexus 7 tablet with me nearly as much. The bigger screen is great, yet it fits in some...
Read more

Should you buy the Sony NEX-FS100 Kit Lens?

Image
The Sony NEX-FS100 is available in two configurations: B & H : NEX-FS100U Camcorder only $4,999 B & H : NEX-FS100U (with 18-200mm lens) $5,599 But what does that extra $600 get you? It get's you this: Sony 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 Zoom Lens for NEX Camera This lens is also available separately for $799.99, so at $200 off you'd think everyone would be jumping on it. But not so fast... In his article about switching from the Canon 5D Mark II to the Sony NEX-FS100 , Paul Antico  at Need Creative says of the kit lens: 7) Its 18-200 F3.6-6.3 kit lens absolutely sucks and should be avoided (thankfully, you can order it without one) [ 1 ] But is it that bad? At B & H 's site, 43 reviews give it an average of 4.6 out of 5 stars. That's not a bad rating, though many of these people are using it for stills, and the most common complaint noted is how large and heavy it is. Of course this feeling of size would be exacerbated when you put it on a tiny camera ...
Read more