Hasta La Gadget!

Canon’s Live View implementation may not be a deal-breaker for most DSLR users, but there’s certainly plenty of room for improvement, and a recent Canon patent application suggests that the company could possibly be aiming to do just that. The short of it is that the company seems to have found a way to overcome the inherent problems of employing so-called phase-difference autofocus in Live View, which is caused in part by the physical limitations of the mirror and the AF sensor (hit up the read link for some more background). Canon’s solution, it seems, is to place the phase-difference AF sensor below the image sensor instead of above it, and make use of a semi-transparent mirror that’d allow for simultaneous transfer of light to the image sensor and the AF sensor. The average user would see the changes in the form of three new shooting modes, including a Standard Viewfinder Mode, a Fast AF Live View Mode, and a Full Live View mode, which each shift the position of the mirrors for the task at hand. What’s more, while the patent application doesn’t address it specifically, it would seem that this same method could also bring autofocus to DSLR video or, at the very least, video recorded via Live View.

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Canon patent application offers solution for Live View autofocus issues originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When we recently posted a Vietnam-era Bolex camera with a rifle stock attached, we thought the concept was a little nuts. Then Army Reserve Staff Sgt. and wartime photographer Jeffrey Duran set us straight.

In our original post, we speculated that using a gun stock for shooting a camera seemed like a good way for a photographer to get shot. And we wondered how common these stocks could be. Duran wrote back with a short, informed response, but I was able to twist his arm into telling us a bit more.

Pointing a long lens mounted on a stock is indeed a recipe for getting shot if you’re not careful. In fact in training at Fort McCoy, Wi., I was “shot” by Soldiers on practice missions.

I was not where they expected me to be… i.e. mixed in with the opposition who happened to be shooting at them at the time. Thus, I was “shot” at with blanks during the training even though I was in uniform. They *saw* what they assumed was a rifle in an area where bad guys were shooting at them..

This, of course, is why we train. Even as military media, we need to train in realistic conditions. It was a learning event for both myself and the Soldiers in training.

At Kajaki Dam in Afghanistan, I was there to get some on the ground coverage for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the Afghan National Army. The Afghan National Army troops there are “spot on” as the Brits say and the dam has great strategic importance. There are lots of bad guys.
I took my Bushhawk stock along for the ride out to Kajaki. The stock is of limited use as in remote regions such as this, the local population has never seen a DSLR so they limited trust when you’re pointing a long lens at them. In operations where we were going patrols or at night with night vision I’d use it a lot. However, when going where the bad guys are, there is little worry as I was with some of the best Soldiers in the world.

Okay, so why risk losing your life. Good question. Lemme see if I can figure it out.

Ok. It is an extremely stable platform to shoot pictures with (i.e. that’s why rifles are designed that way). It is very natural and comfortable which results in good images. When using long lenses, holding the camera steady is damn important.

Plus, you can sling the camera stock while walking. This is very important when trying to keep up with Soldiers that are in *much* better shape than you (lost 20 pounds during the tour). Although I’m a Reservist, there’s only one standard… so I have the keep up with Olympic-grade athletes when on Active duty.

Monopods work very well but are a pain in the ass when on the move. You have to open them, then close them when you’re going to roll out. Which happens unexpectedly at times 🙂

Handholding with two hands is about the only way and how most of the world gets it done. I would not advise *any* media in a war zone to use a stock. In my case, I’m a member of the armed forces and I’m with the guys with the guns. We used to joke about it in that the Taliban would wonder if we bought some some secret weapon since we were the only Americans at Kajaki. Either way, the bad guys would shoot at me anyway on any patrols with little regard if I had a camera or a rifle.

My main thing was not to make the local population feel threatened…
I have to say that there is something inherently fun about shooting a camera like a rifle. It is really more fun than I should admit. I found myself grinning every time I used the darn thing.

I guess there’s just something obsessive with me and rifle stocks for cameras. I actually designed one in drafting class in high-school but it wasn’t until this last tour that I ponied up the cheese to buy one. It’s just a lot of fun.

– Jeff Duran

or Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Duran one weekend a month, two weeks a year (unless called to go to far away places and meet new people… and take their picture).

A special thanks to Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Duran for writing in and sharing his experiences. You can see more of his photos here and here.

Whoa, what camera is that?

One of my favorite photograph sub-genres is the mirror self portrait, with camera in sight. I suppose I have a fetish for these shots. These are the best I could find. I saw one like this on an aggregation site popurls.com. And followed the link to Flickr.

Then I found a few more and before I knew it, I found a group called Self Portraits in Mirrors and eventually ended up with 50 of these shots. And that’s when I realized I was obsessing over them. I don’t know why they’re interesting to me. Perhaps it’s the contrast between man and machine. And the expressions, they’re generally candid and, no pun intended, reflective, with no one else around; not even another photographer. Just the gaze of a sensor through a fine piece of focusing glass. Some of the shots go a step further, TTL viewfinder to the eye, giving the subject a cyborg look, the bio-mimed curves, faux leather and lens somehow matching the human facial structure and eyes. Plus, they look beautiful.

My favorite of the bunch are from a series from a Flickr user named Chile, shot for Anastasia Volkova Photography.

Which of these are your favorite?

[In no particular order, photography credit and thanks to chiie, julianne.hide, hamedmasoumi, demibrooke, etwood, pinkspleen, multiget, tacoekkel, paranoicafierita, stallio, dc-white, cesarastudillo, einfachalex, okko pyykkö, vanguardist, elanacxliv, okko pyykkö, kennymatic, r.s.m.b.Sees, james the photographer,
meg rorison, jovivek, voxefx, pmarkham, melissa rudik, lucas de vries,
sarchi, ingorrr, melissa rudik, -amy-, ooOjasonOoo, beard papa, , ooOJasonOoo, josh holmes, kooshan jazayeri, starry eyed ali, johannarudd, th nuzi, twak, morvai, fledsbo, skiidolley, androgynousectomor, john zhang, mrok1970, teezilla, chocolate candy, chiie, mafafamisguito, chiie 2, chiie 3, mtgroseth, sarcomical, moonjadis, special thanks to Andi Wang for collating the images.]

Olympus’ E-30 just recently began to hit store shelves after being announced last November, and the shutterbugs at DigitalCameraReview have taken the liberty of critiquing it for all prospective buyers to see. The cam maintained the quirkiness that tends make an Olympus, well, an Olympus, but when it came down to actual performance, the DSLR didn’t disappoint… much, anyway. It should be noted that it couldn’t hold a candle to the D90 at ISO 3,200, so low-light fiends may want to look elsewhere. That aside, critics were more than pleased with the copious amount of features, the top-shelf focusing speed and the remarkable build quality. If it were priced a few hundies lower, it’d almost be a no-brainer, but with an asking price of around $1,300 at present time, it’ll be hard to sway the eyes of those already focusing on another shooter. Have a look at the read link for a few sample shot comparisons and the full writeup.

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Olympus E-30 DSLR reviewed: distinctly different, but that’s a good thing originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 24 Jan 2009 13:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While all of the Nikon D3x previews from December largely heaped praise on the camera, Thomas Hogan’s recent review is decidedly more evenhanded. Though lauded for what he calls the best image quality of any DSLR on the market, its $8000 price tag receives some harsh criticism. Compared to its D3 predecessor, he says you’re paying a $3600 premium for what is essentially just twice the pixel count (12.1 megapixels vs. 24.4). If you’re the kind of person who needs the higher resolution, this is the camera for you. For everyone else, it might be worth a pass. Hit up the read link for an exhaustive analysis.

[Via 1001 Noisy Cameras]

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Nikon D3x reviewed: unmatched image quality, steep price tag originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Jan 2009 12:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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