Patrick's Bites: Photography

Canon EOS 40D and 1D Mark III news leaked

Sun, 19 Aug 2007 15:28:10 GMT

News from Engadget that Amazon leaked the release date or EOS 40D (20th Sep 07) and is selling for USD1299. That is less than RM5000 in Malaysia. For the pros, 1D Mark III will be selling for USD8000.

Tokina's Alternative for Canon users

Sat, 18 Aug 2007 14:17:09 GMT

Serious photography will carry a wide and tele-zoom lenses between the focal of 28mm - 200m (in 25mm film format) and for Canon's users they are spoilt with a wider range of choices in this range with a number of high quality L lenses. My favorite would be 16-35mm f2.8 + 70-200m f2.8 if I got a deep pocket else would settle with 17-40mm f4 and 70-200mm f4 combo. Multiply them with 1.4-1.6x that would have give me the 28-200mm focal length. However at f4 it is a bit too dark especially for shootings of night scene or indoor dances where lighting is dimmer. So happen today I browsed through a photography magazine and found out Tokina offers such a focal length at a more compact size. They are both from the ATX-Pro series which have a great quality professional build with satin black metal casing and SD lenses. Tokina also featured in them a new 'Water proof' coating which enables dirt or finger print to be easily wiped away (So the term 'water proof' here is a misnomer) . At 15-50mm f2.8 and 50-135mm f2.8 they covered the 28-200mm focal length with no gaps in between while having the weight and size of Canon f4 L lenses. Such a focal length might not be so practical for 35mm film SLRs but for digital SLR with 1.4-1.6x magnifying on the focal length, they are very practical. Also available for Nikon, Tokina offers a better alternative because Nikon does not have pro graded lenses at a more compact size.

As for the price Tokina of course will be much cheaper. Below is the price taken from a forum

Tokina 16-50 f2.8 = RM 2400
Tokina 50-135 f2.8 = RM 2650

Compared to RSP from Canon

EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM = RM7100
EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM = RM3390
EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM = RM6900
EF 70-200mm f/4L USM = RM3739

18x Zoom from Olympus if you cant wait for FZ18

Sat, 18 Aug 2007 13:59:50 GMT

Panasonic has a great 18x zoom DSLR with FZ18 but unfortunately still not available in the market (at least not in Malaysia). But if you going for a trip soon and want something close to it, then why not consider Olympus SP-550UZ. I only realize it today but this baby has been around since beginning of 2007 and is selling about RM1899. But there are people selling it at 1500 in lelong.com.my however I believe it would be gray market stock. SP-550 has got a similar lens to Panasonic's but at 500mm it is slightly darker at a aperture of 4.5 (maybe half stop?)

Pros? You can have the highest zoom for amateur SLR today with a decent lens quality from Olympus. The only complaint I will give is the usage of propriety xD card instead of the widely used SD or CF card. xD cards are mostly used among Olympus and Fujifilm cameras.

Panasonic FZ18 w/28mm-500mm lens

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 15:32:39 GMT

Panasonic just announce FZ18 with the widest wide angle zoom at 28mm for a semi pro digital camera, I believe it is also a longest zoom for 500mm. It also spots a bright lens with biggest aperture at 2.8 - 4.2. The only other Panasonic semi pro digicam I like is FZ20 with its constants 2.8 aperture. Both FZ20 and FZ18 are really kings of semi pro digital cameras with their Leica lense that can rival Canon EOS 30 and Nikon D80; very portable as a travel gear.

Lumix® - DMC-FZ18 K at Panasonic.com

Sony new Pro and Advance Amateur Digital SLR

Sat, 07 Jul 2007 05:15:38 GMT

Sony has put up images of its up and coming Pro (bottom left) and Advance Amateur (bottom right) series of digital SLR online. Specs are not there yet though.