It’ been a while since I last posted here.
Too busy to maintain blogs (http://nomadphotography.com.au/blog) and website (http://www.nomadmodels.com.au) but also with wedding album design and photo shoots, I barely had time to do anything else.
Anyway, time to get back to the keyboard for some typing and posting.

To start with, I’ll have a bit of an insight regarding gears as I have been shooting with some new toys for the last couple months now.
In the bag I have:
- Canon 5D Mark II
- Canon 7D
- Canon 1D Mark IV

While the first two cameras are not the hottest cameras at the moment, I confess that I haven’t touched my 7D since I had the Canon 1D Mark IV.
I can shoot a whole wedding with this camera and the Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8 L.
When I can see the reason why Canon maintains its x1.3 crop sensor I tend to use less and less the full frame of my Canon 5D Mark IIs (I have two of them)

Having the Nikon D700 and the exciting Nikon D3s, I found in the new release Nikkor 16-35 f/4 VR an exciting piece of glass but I didn’t feel the need to buy it.
Why did Nikon build this lens? Is it to compete with teh Canon 16-35 f/2.8 L II or is it just to have one?

As mentioned above, putting the 16-35 f/2.8 L II on my Canon 5D Mark II body and the 24-70 f/2.8 L on the Canon 1D Mark IV, I have virtually no gap in my focal range from 16mm to 94mm FF equivalent.
Not that Nikon doesn’t have a crop sensor in its range of D-SLR but because they have the excellent 14-24 f/2.8 to complement the 24-70 f/2.8 and the 70-200 f/2.8.
Having these 3 awesome lenses with my two Nikon bodies, there is no need for me to buy that Nikkor 16-35 even if it has VR. Note also that at this focal range and on full frame bodies, you almost never need VR anyway.

below are a few images from recent shoots with the above discussed cameras.

Canon introduced a complexe AF system back to the EOS 1D MArk III giving the user (you) more control on the camera.

Aside from the debacle of the AF system itself, the idea of taking more control of the camera  is really interesting and less forgiving.

To make the most out of it, YOU really need to know what you want to achieve.

With teh release of the EOS 7D, Canon has designed an even more complex AF system with more accuracy and again gives you more control.

To make sure you understand all the features and explore the abilities of the camera, make sure you check Canon’s Learning Centre at this link:

http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=GetArticleAct&articleID=3167

As mentioned in my previous post, there is nothing worst than watching the battery charging after all the wait.

Yes, the new Canon 1D Mark IV has finnaly arrived at my local dealer (thanks Greg) and I am sitting here waiting for the battery to charge.

It is sure very exciting to shake this camera and I couldn’t resist to squeeze a few snaps to have a personal feel about its high iSO capability.

There is nothing sexy and scientific, yet, in this sequence of quick snaps but I can already tell that his is a hell of a camera.

For these snaps I used my Canon EF 85f1.2 L II at an aperture of f/1.8. Why did I use f/1.8 ? There is no particular reason for it and I just wanted to have something very shallow and allowing a high shutter speed to avoid camera shake. All images hand held and captured seconds from each others.

You can download the full size images clicking on the thumbs. Please allow sometimes as there are big files.

Some basic infos about the images:

Shot in RAW and AWB. Converted with Canon DPP without adding any ingrdien (no sharpen, contrast, color correction, saturation … or what soever)

EXIF has been added onto the images and images resized in CS4 again with NO additional ingredient.

All settings by default.

Canon 1D Mark IV & ISO 400. Click on image for full size (4.6 MB)

Canon 1D Mark IV & ISO 800. Click on image for full size (5 MB)

Canon 1D Mark IV & ISO 1600. Click on image for full size (5.6 MB)

Canon 1D Mark IV & ISO 3200. Click on image for full size (6.4 MB)

Canon 1D Mark IV & ISO 6400. Click on image for full size (6.5 MB)

Canon 1D Mark IV & ISO 12800. Click on image for full size (7.2 MB)

]]> http://www.photoerrant.com/canon-1d-mark-iv-quick-iso-snaps/feed/ 0 http://www.photoerrant.com/the-story-behind-the-still-hd-video-contest-by-canon/ http://www.photoerrant.com/the-story-behind-the-still-hd-video-contest-by-canon/#comments Tue, 19 Jan 2010 23:03:06 +0000 Thierry http://www.photoerrant.com/?p=937

HD Video Contest By Canon

Introducing the first user-generated HD Video Contest where photographers become filmmakers, and we all see beyond the still. To kick off the contest, Canon asked photographer, Vincent Laforet, to interpret what story lives beyond this still and to tell that story with the new Canon EOS 7D. His will be the first chapter of seven, each ending with a still photograph for the next aspiring filmmaker to interpret. Posing the question to everyone, what do you see beyond the still?

Link to Vincent Laforet’s, Nocturne, video here.

Canon press release:

Canon U.S.A. Kicks Off Innovative “Story Beyond The Still” Digital Image Contest On Vimeo.Com

Lake Success, N.Y., January 15, 2010 – Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging, today announced the commencement of “The Story Beyond The Still Contest,” allowing photographers and videographers to showcase their creativity in a new style of filmmaking that blends still and video images into a continuous cinematic piece begun by Canon Explorer of Light . The contest, sponsored by Canon and hosted by Vimeo, the online video sharing site hosting one of the largest collections of HD content on the Web, invites participants to use the HD video capability of their camera to create short, two to four minute videos that tell a story based on the final still frame from Laforet’s piece, and then from each successive winning “chapter.” Videos can be submitted to and viewed on a dedicated site within the Vimeo online community before they are judged.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Exciting news! New Canon HD video contest on Vimeo! (vimeo.com)
• Wirelessly Transfer Files From Your DSLR with Transmitters From Canon [Dslr] (gizmodo.com)

Following this post: http://www.photoerrant.com/canon-vs-nikon-confrontation-update/ I decided to order the Nikon EN-EL4 to go with the MB 10 batery grip for the Nikon D700.
With the “new” battery, the D700 will be able to fire @ 7fps and I will update the confrontation between the “old” AF system on the Nikon vs the “new” AF system on the Canon 7D.
Stay tuned as Xmas is near by…

Let me know what you think.

Click on the thumbnails to open original size.

Photo by Thierry

Photo by Thierry

I have used numerous Canon and Nikon cameras for wedding and always carried “bulk” bodies with attached accessories, especially battery packs on my Canon 5D Mark IIs and Nikon D700 bodies.

When I got my Canon 7D,m the first next thing I was planning to buy was the vertical grip but after playing abit with it, I found that the redesign of the body (a bit Nikon like IMO) gives the Canon 7D a perfect handling and there was no need for a vertical grip.

I like the compactness of the camera and also its light weight. As the maximum fps is achieved without the need of additional battery pack (as per the Nikon D300s) the is no real need for the vertical grip and also because the battery can handle more than a wedding, in my style of shooting of course.

Anyway, here are a few images taken with the Canon 7D and a selection of Canon lenses (EF-S 10-22, 24-105 f/4L, 85 f/1.4 L II)

In term of field of view, I personally prefer my EF-S 10-22 to my 16-35 f/2.8 L II. It’s just me

I added a lot of grain in this picture. For some reason, I just like grain …

I added lots of vignette here to get the videographer out of the frame.

He was just all over the place.

Amazing blue eyed bridesmaid

I have been drooling on the new Canon TS-E 24 mm f/3.5 L II tilt shift lens for a while and … just got it as an early birthday present.

Big thank you to me lovely wife for this amazing gift

Here is a short video shot behind the scene during  the makeup and hair for a Catwalk Hairdressing Event in Canberra last Saturday.

I have tilted the lens about 4 degrees on the right for this clip.
More to come.

Makeup Slapped on by Dave from Thierry on Vimeo.

I’m loving my Canon 7D more and more.

I have tried and tested the 7D in several different situations shooting sport, low light, high speed and fashion.

Last week, I put it to the test of landscape photography and real life wedding assignment.

I was a bit reluctant when packing for  wedding at more than 2 hour drive from home. Always conscious that I have to be better than the previous wedding, I knew what I could do with my full frame cameras (Canon 5D Mark IIs and Nikon D700) so packing a crop sensor if a bit of a hesitation.

Anyway, I loved the high tone priority of my previous Canon 1D Mark III so I wanted to check out the new version of it on the Canon 7D.

To be honest, I packed the Canon 5D and the Nikon D700 along with the 7D.

These are a few landscapes taken during my location scouting before each of my weddings.

Images from the wedding are coming soon. Check back this space for more.

Today Australian Olympic swimmer Katrina Lewis, Bronze medal in Beijing 2008, posed for Thierry.

It was a perfect occasion to try the new Canon 7D in a modeling photography situation. The weather was warm in Canberra. Katrina was just amazing. She posed naturally, captured the afternoon light. We laughed a lot with her. Great champion for a glamorous photo session.

For this session Thierry used the new Canon 7D with a 24-105 f/1:4 L USM and a 135 f/1:2 L USM lenses.

We are quite pleased with the results.

More photos here

Behind the scene photos were taken with a Canon 5D Mk II and 16-35 f/1:2.8 L USM.

Interview of Katrina in 2008

Let us know what you think of the photos in the comment section.