canonupdate

EOL members Greenfield and Nachtwey part of First Annual VII Seminar

If you missed this sold out seminar sponsored by Canon at Tufts University in April, there are many other workshops offered by the photographers of this renowned Photo Agency, including 2 Explorers of Light members: Lauren Greenfield and James Nachtwey. If you ever have the opportunity to attend an event of any kind that is affiliated with the VII Photo Agency, do not miss it. These nine  photo-journalists have provided us with some of the most provacative and moving images of recent years. View a list of their upcoming workshops and events here.

What is the average life span for storage media?

For those of us who like to archive their images onto storage media, there has been some updated guidelines as far as the estimated life spans. Fortunately, media costs has been on the downswing over the past few years. Here's the latest.......

CD/DVD+/-R    2-15 years
CD/DVD+/-RW    25-30 years
HARD DRIVES    3-6 years
FLASH DRIVES    10 years

Washington DC chapter of APA presents "An Evening with Eric Meola"

Canon Explorer of Light member, Eric Meola discusses his career as one of the most noted advertising and corporate photographers, at the local Washington DC chapter of the Advertising Photographers of America.  Sponsored by Canon, this event takes place at The Charles Sumner School, 1201 17th St. NW on April 26th, between 6:30PM and 9:00PM. A unique opportunity at a cost of $15 for APA members ($20 for non-members) or just $10 for Charles Sumner School students.

Mr. Meola's portfolio includes work for such magazines as Life, Travel & Leisure, Esquire and Time to advertisements for Canon, IBM, Kodak, American Express, Jeep, Timberland and Johnnie Walker. His images are enjoyed in several museums including the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC, the International Center for Photography in NYC and the George Eastman House archives. His latest book, "Last Places on Earth" was published in the Fall of 2004.
For registration and questions, email the APA at info@apadc.com.

A tip from the pro's: Simplify your photo

Keep it Simple: One of the universally agreed upon and essential rules to use when composing photographic imagery.

Always try to limit the amount of distractive elements in your photograph.  Too much distraction will divert attention away from the main theme, spoiling an otherwise good subject matter. (Of course, in many cases, photographs need some other subject matter to help identify the main attraction and giving the viewer assistance in identifying where the photo was shot.)

Angle is important too. Sometimes, just selecting the incorrect angle when composing your subject can confuse the viewer, making the main element appear as the supporting element, and vice versa.

Of course, many pages could be written on the subject, but as always, just getting out there and shooting is how we all learn.  Another reason why digital is such a great format!

Canon EOL member Seth Resnick on 'Demystifying Digital'

Those of you in the Los Angeles area will have a wonderful opportunity to see Canon Explorer of Light member Seth Resnick present 'Demystifying Digital' at an American Society of Media Photographers event on April 6th. Discussing such topics as digital photography production and workflow, digital file prep and delivery, RAW vs. jpeg files, metadata, understanding histograms, archiving and much more.

For those few unfamiliar with Mr. Resnick, his bio from the ASMP website says it all:
    'Resnick is a rare mélange of inspiration, business acumen, creativity and tech-no-fluency. A leader   in untangling the snarl of digital issues that frustrate many photographers, Seth is co-founder of  D-65, working with companies like Adobe, Canon, and GretagMacbeth. Seth is a member of the prestigious Canon Explorer of Light program as well as an Alpha/Beta and feature consultant for Adobe Photoshop. He travels extensively presenting the various aspects of photography, and is also the former President of Editorial Photographers, a trade organization dedicated to the promotion of sound business practices for editorial photography. Seth is a founding partner of PixelGenius developing Photoshop plug-ins and software, and he sits on the Advisory Board for WorkbookStock.com.'

All this for as little as $10 for ASMP members! ASMP non-members are welcome.

Go here for further information and online registration.

RAW Format--the Professional's choice

Curious what all the hoopla is about RAW Format?  Increasingly common in even consumer level camera's today, RAW Format is often a better choice when shooting--especially if image quality is your main concern.

Many professional photographers believe JPEG formatted images (the most common default format used by consumer level digital camera's) have been compromised by the in-camera processing that the camera has applied. 

According to the definitive website on the topic, RawFormat.com:

      The JPEG processing compresses your photos and creates visible artifacts.

      Conversion to JPEG shrinks your image data from 4,096 possible tones
      per channel into only 256 tones.

      JPEGs commonly have "first-pass" tonal, sharpening, white balance,
      and other key adjustments that are usually different than what you
      would have set in Photoshop (given the chance). As most pro
      photographers already know, second pass adjustments usually are
      discouraged, as the image data has already been shifted significantly
      by the first corrections.

The secret of RAW files is the fact that they hold ALL the data that the camera has captured. This advantage is demonstrated, for example, when you try to brighten an underexposed JPEG image--and end up getting lots of unwanted noise in the process. Try it in RAW, and you cannot help but be impressed by how much better the results are.

High capacity memory card options for Canon digital cameras

Just as Canon has decided to equip the Canon EOS-1D Mark lI and the new EOS-1Ds Mark ll
with Dual Card Slots, (using both CF and SD memory cards), the speed, and more importantly, the capacity, of these types of memory devices have recently increased considerably.

First, a few definitions and clarifications that might be helpful:
Compflash (CF) cards are available in capacities from 16MB to 12GB. The CF Specification can actually support capacities up to 137GB. The only difference between CF Type I and CF Type II cards is the card thickness. A CF Type I is 3.3 mm thick and the CF Type II cards are 5mm thick. A CF Type I card will operate in a CF Type I or CF Type II slot, however, a CF Type II card will only fit in a CF Type II slot.
The Microdrive is a type of CF Type II card and while not flash media, these devices are extremely popular with professional photographers because of the inherent security that this type of media offers.  These devices are essentially miniature hard disk drives.

Here are some of the option when looking for high capacity cards:

The Lexar Media 80X Professional Series CF cards are available in capacities up to 4GB.  These cards are among the fastest available, and are often the card of choice for the professional photographer.

Claimed by many to be the fastest high capacity CF card on the market, the SanDisk Extreme III is backed by a no-questions-asked lifetime warranty and also come with the data recovery software, (RescuePRO), a dedicated technical support line and a travel case.   

A few camera's in the Canon lineup are unique in regards to memory cards:
First, the PowerShot Pro 70 contains two CF card slots, a Type I and a Type II slot.  Secondly, as mentioned above, the EOS-1Ds Mark II comes equipped with two card slots, one for CompactFlash (CF) and one for Secure Digital (SD) Memory cards. The camera can be set up to record images on either card for maximum storage capacity, or, for extra security, the same image can be recorded simultaneously on both cards. And according to Canon, Type I and Type II CompactFlash cards with capacities up to and beyond 2GB are supported on this camera.

The largest (but not the fastest) CompactFlash Type I card is the 8 GB SanDisk Ultra II.

CompactFlash Type II
The largest CompactFlash Type II card is Lexar's new 8GB 40X.  This card requires the host camera to support the FAT 32 file system and while it is not the fastest card, it certainly has one of the largest capacities.

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Inc. (HGST) has recently announced that it will begin to ship a 6 gigabyte Microdrive called the 3K6 (named after the drives speed of 3,600 RPM). This drive will hold 50 percent more data than the company's current highest capacity model, it said Wednesday. The new drive will cost US$299, which is a 40 percent reduction from the $499 price at which HGST has introduced new Microdrive products in the past, said Bill Healy, senior vice president of product strategy and marketing at HGST. The company is also lowering the price of its 4GB Microdrive to $199.

Customers who buy HGST's drive in bulk for use in their own products have been enjoying regular price cuts for sometime, said Healy. HGST's customers include Apple, which uses the 4GB Microdrive in its iPod Mini music player and on Wednesday announced a 6GB version of the player (using the new 3K6 drive).

Can I use the Microdrive in my Canon digital camera?
All PowerShot digital cameras, and all EOS digital SLR cameras, use the CompactFlash(CF)-format memory cards to save your digital photos.
Compatibility, therefore, is dependent on the physical size of the CF card slot in the camera. Following is a list of models which are compatible with Type II (Microdrive) devices:
PowerShot 600 (with optional PCMCIA adapter)
PowerShot S10
PowerShot S20
PowerShot Pro 70
PowerShot Pro 90 IS
PowerShot G1
EOS D30

Sony also offers a 2GB and a 4GB CF Type II card using the Microdrive format.

Also, Seagate has now entered the market for Type II cards, offering a 2.5GB model and also a 5GB card as well.

To best optimize the enhanced speed provided by cards such as these, your camera needs to have an optimized CF interface.  Canon cameras with this include the EOS-1D Mark II, EOS-1Ds, 20D and 10D. Performance increases while using these cards are most noticeable during data downloads using the USB 2.0 interface.

Check out this URL from the CompactFlash Association website for more information about CF cards.

Canon Powershot Pro 1 vs Nikon Coolpix 8800 vs Konica Minolta Dimage A200 vs Olympus Evolt E300

Check out a recent comparison of these camera's by the New York Times here.....

Some helpful hints for those traveling photographers

Here is an insightful article from this new Lexar Media website providing some great tips on traveling for both the analog and digital photographer.

Canon launches 14 new products at PMA trade show

At the Photo Marketing Association trade show in Orlando, FL, Canon will be introducing some exciting new products, including:

The updated EOS Digital Rebel® XT (EOS 350D)

Two new PowerShot® Digital ELPH® cameras (the SD 400 and SD500)

One  new ZR (model #400) and two new Optura (the 50 and 60) camcorders (featuring a new high-resolution 16:9 Widescreen video recording mode and the Print and Share function, allowing direct printing to select Canon brand or PictBridge photo printers)

A new Macro EF-S 60mm f/2.8 USM lens (designed especially for the two Digital Rebel cameras and the EOS 20D SLR)

An improved Wireless Controller called the  LC-5 (offering photographers the flexibility of not only controlling the shutter release, but also other essential camera functions up to a line-of-sight distance of 330 feet--perfect for using with the new EF-S 60mm Macro USM lens!).

The new Compact Photo Printer SELPHY CP600 (replacing the CP330), features high resolution, 300 X 300 dpi output, increased printing speed, newly improved image processing using Canon's DIGIC II technology, and also supports four print sizes and is compatibale with IrDA-equipped camera phones that use the IrOBEX "vNote" protocol for image transfer.

For those fortunate enough to be able to attend, you can find Canon at booth #3503 at the Photo Marketing Association trade show from Feb. 20-23.