Cardiff Bay - I'm always lurking about this place!

Through the trees

Cardiff Bay

Cardiff Bay

Cardiff Bay

Cardiff Bay

Canon EOS 5D Mark III coming soon!

Well we all knew the camera was coming but today we get a major hint that it's going to be pretty soon, a book dedicated to using the 5D Mk III has shown up on several websites for pre order, this has happened in the past and in fact happened just prior to the release of the 5D Mk II so I would consider this to be pretty conclusive proof that the camera is very close!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-EOS-5D-Mark-III/dp/2744094382

The only factor that might cause further delays is the effect the flooding has had on Canon along with many other companies.

First pictures of the Panasonic GH3 !! Well........Possibly.

There's two images going around that appear to be the new Panasonic GH3 although there is a high chance it's just some photoshopping, having said that it does look quite realistic so I will withhold judgement for now, it's interesting to note that the panel with GPS written on is larger than the equivalent panel on the GH2 which may give the images some credibility.

I have (badly) joined the images to make things clearer.

HOW MUCH!!??? Canon, you do realise we are in a global recession? Ridiculous prices for the new 24-70mm, 24mm and 28mm!

It seems Canon are committed to putting enormous price increases on updated lenses! It started with the 70-200mm F/2.8 L IS MK 2 which was around $800 more than it's predecessor and now the new 24-70mm looks set to launch at $1000 more than it's predecessor, there's just no way this kind of price increase is justified, they haven't even added IS!

It's even more painful living in the UK when Canon normally just switch the $ symbol for a £ one and whistle innocently!

It gets worse, the new 24mm F/2.8 IS USM and 28mm F/2.8 IS USM lenses are between 2-3x the price of the forebears, they are undoubtedly superior lenses but I cannot imagine the price increase is justified, these are supposed to be the consumer grade primes! What's next? an 85mm F/1.8 MKII for $1000?

Sadly it seems that like Nikon, Canon have realised that there are enough deep pocketed people out there to make these kind of prices feasible, some people with less money such as I are happy to save up for an expensive lens but not when it suddenly becomes twice as expensive, the gap in the market for the likes of Sigma, Tamron and Tokina seems to be getting wider and wider!

I've been searching for a perfect standard zoom and have been through more copies of the 17-55mm IS than I care to think about with various quality control issues, I often think that maybe the MKII version will be a safer bet but I just know I will not be able to afford it, the same goes for the 100-400mm, the next version will probable be a twist zoom and have better quality control but I would be surprised if it isn't around $1000 more than the current version!

Brand new Canon Lenses: EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L II + EF 24mm f/2.8 IS USM And EF 28mm f/2.8 IS USM!!

Three new upcoming Canon lenses were leaked in an online catalogue, there's the 24-70mm F/2.8L MKII and new versions of the 24mm and 28mm F/2.8 primes featuring USM and IS! The primes looks great but I'm sure many will be disappointed that the 24-70mm appears to lack IS, a feature many where crying out for!

Trees in Silhouette

Sony NEX-5N
Sony E 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 OSS

Trees in Silhouette

Sony NEX-5N
Sony E 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 OSS

Heading home

Canon EOS 60D
Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 L IS USM

First full pciture of the new Olympus OM-D

The first complete image of the new Olympus OM-D E-M5 was leaked by Amazon Japan earlier and has since been removed but not before people were able to grab the image!

What do you think? I love the retro styling for the most part, it certainly looks a lot like some of the classic OM cameras if not most slab styled SLRs of the 60's and 70's. The only thing I'm not sure about is the (hopefully removable) hand grip, I'm sure it will be great in terms of function but it seems at odds with the rest of the styling like it's too modern compared to the rest of the camera.  I really like it on the whole though, retro styling can get boring and overly contrived in some peoples eyes but I think that when done well it looks great, there has been a lot of nice looking retro style cameras recently so this seems to be an increasing trend.

I like the fact that there is a battery grip too, that certainly makes the camera seem more of a serious tool.

Ooops I did It again. Bought another G1 that is.

I sold my Panasonic G1 last year because although it was a fantastic camera in many ways I just hated the noisy sensor and I had just gotten a Sony NEX-5 so I put it up for sale on ebay.

Since then I have decided I would like a Panasonic GH2 not so much for still photography (although it's sensor IS much less noisy than the one in the G1) but because it's simply the best camera out there for video quality and that's before you apply the amazing hack!

So why have I got a G1? Simple, the 14-45mm kit lens is sharper than the newer 14-42mm and is better built too so I have purchased the G1 for the lens and in time I will replace the body with the GH2. I must admit though that while it is still noisy at anything above base ISO I did instantly fall back in love with the sheer usability of this camera, the EVF is still pretty good and the amount of external controls is fantastic. I'm also still impressed by the autofcus speed which is easily as fast as the brand new NEX-5n, not bad for a 3 year old camera that was the first of it's kind! It looks quite nice in red too! Time to play with those c mount lenses that don't cover the NEX sensor!

Next stop (when I can afford it!) GH2!

New Tokina 300mm F/6.3 Mirror Lens for Micro Four Thirds!

Kenko/Tokina have announced another new mirror lens, this time a 300mm F/6.3 for micro four thirds and it's absolutely tiny!

The lens is manual focus but does communicate with the camera for accurate metering and exif information.

The fact that Tokina have put their name on it instead of Kenko means there's real potential for decent image quality from this lens but time will tell!

Kenko/Tokina seem to have their finger on the pulse and have noticed the ridiculous amount of interest in mirror lenses at the moment, some dismiss these lenses as being inferior to conventional designs but I think they miss the point, people tend to buy these lenses specifically for their quirks such as compact size and donut bokeh, few would buy a lens like this as a genuine alternative to more conventional designs.

As with the recently announced 400mm I am looking forwards to some reviews!

First pictures of the Pentax K-01 Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera and 40mm Pancake!!

The first images of the new Pentax mirrorless camera have emerged and it's a very interesting looking piece of gear!

Some people had said the camera was ugly but I think it looks pretty cool, it manages to combine both traditional and modern elements and has an overall masculine and functional air about it.

Some have criticised Pentax for sticking with the K mount which means the body is relatively deep compared to other mirrorless systems but just look at the size of the new 40mm pancake lens, it's a slither! The body is deeper but that can be compensated by very thin lenses that actually give decent quality unlike some such as the Sony 16mm

It's also important to remember that with Pentax cameras most lenses are driven by a motor built into the camera body. When you try to use contrast detect with Canon EOS lenses or with Olympus 4/3 lenses on a micro 4/3 body (or Sony A mount lenses on NEX with the cheaper adapter) that the very poor speed is dictated by focusing motors that are optimised for phase detect focus, with the K-01 the motor is part of the body so I see no reason why all compatible lenses (Nearly all of the FA lenses will work) wouldn't focus at full speed, this means the camera will launch with a huge range of fully compatible lenses!

It's still early days at the moment but this camera looks very interesting and appears to be based around the highly regarded 16mp Sony APS-C sensor so the potential for great IQ is there!