By Mike Zawadzki, Technical Specialist
Yesterday I (along with Unique Photo super tech rep Robert Huber) attended Canon Expo at the Jacob Javits Center in New York. Apparently this gathering of Canonites only happens every five years so I would like to thank Matt Thompson, Rick Berk, and all of the great people at Canon for inviting me and showing us a fabulous time.
We were lucky enough to get there early so we could take a look at some of the new products before the rush of people showed up.
Full report is after the break!
Canon EOS 60D
I figured I would report on the 60D first as it seems to be the product that people are most interested in. Personally I found some of Canon's new concept products and technology to be the most exciting, but here we go. At first glance the Canon 60D looked just how I expected, shorter and wider than the 50D. What surprised me was how comfortable the camera was to hold. It's still beefier than a Rebel series camera. In fact the physical handgrip is very similar to the Canon 7D. The articulating screen is nice and bright. Besides the Sony NEX-5, I haven't seen a 3" articulating or tilt screen this good.
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| Sample shot taken with the EOS 60D |
The shooting mode dial on the top of the camera locks in place and you have to push the middle button to unlock it. The new placing of the buttons seemed easy enough, and I would get used to them within a few hours of casual shooting. While I wasn't able to take any video samples, I was able to take a couple still images on a SD card I had in my Canon G11. For what it's worth the 100% crop of the image above looked great for ISO 2000. Here it is. Take it with a grain of salt because this camera hasn't shipped yet and this is a simple JPEG, not a RAW conversion.
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| 60D 100% Crop at ISO2000. (Click to Enlarge) |
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| Another sample shot taken with the EOS 60D |
Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye
This new lens is wild. It is a lens no one thought Canon would make, but we were all pleasantly surprised when Canon announced it. The sample we tried was mounted to a Canon EOS 5D. At 8mm this lens produces a fully circular image on a full frame sensor. As you zoom towards 15 the circle disappears. There is a limiter switch on the lens that allows you to limit the zoom of the lens. So for example on the 5D Mark II you may not want to zoom out by accident and produce a circular image. The switch lets you limit how much of the zoom ring is allowed to turn.
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| There is also a lens shade for APS-C users. If used on a APS-H or Full Frame sensor, the shade will end up in the shot, thats how wide this lens is. |
Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS
I was highly skeptical when I saw this lens announced. I couldn't believe the almighty L series would include a variable aperture zoom lens, but the more the merrier right? As long as the lens lives up to it's L series badge, then I'm all for it. My main concern with this lens was focus speed and I was shocked how fast the lens focused even in considerably low light. I don't have any scientific tests, but the lens seemed to focus much faster than the old 70-300mm Canon lens.
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| A figure skater keeping her balance. Taken with the new 70-300 L series lens on a 60D. |
The build quality is up to part with other L series glass and the few test shots we were allowed to take looked good, but you really need to do a lot more with a lens before coming to a final verdict. A maximum aperture of f/5.6 is still f/5.6 no matter how good the optics and/or IS system are, but cameras are getting so much better at high ISO settings these days, heavy f/2.8 zooms are becoming less of a need. This won't replace your 300mm f/2.8 lens, but it seems like a winner.
4K Video Camera Concept
Canon has really put a lot of effort into improving video technology. They had a whole live set similar to the fashion show above where people could test out cameras. That was pretty cool in itself, but I was intrigued by this 4K video concept camera.
Right now most HD cameras record at 1080HD video. Movies like Star Wars have been shot on 2 or 3K cameras, meaning they record 3,000 lines instead of 1,080 or 720 (popular HD formats). The photo geek inside me was drawn to this camera because it looked like a Medium Format camera. There have been rumors of a Canon Medium Format camera for a while, but this 4K camera actually uses a small 2/3" sensor. It was a functioning product, but I don't expect Canon to release a camera like this for quite some time. Maybe there will be a production model at the next Canon Expo.
The Fashion Show
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| iPhone4 shot by Robert Huber |
This is a photography expo and Canon really wanted to put on a show so they set up a ton of cameras on stands around a fashion runway. There were a variety of professional camera/lens combinations. I picked a 1D Mark IV in the first row with a 50mm f/1.2L lens. There was a Canon Explorer of Light mic'd up and shooting with us, giving tips along the way. The show lasted for several minutes and I filled the complimentary (thanks Canon!) 2GB CF card that was in the camera. Here is one of my favorite shots.
New Technology
While the recently announced products were cool to check out, Canon's concept products and technologies really blew me away. The 120 Megapixel APS-H CMOS sensor is interesting, but I am not sure what lenses exist today that could even come close to being able to resolve that much detail. I won't put a numerical limit on megapixels, but the optics aren't out there right now to fully make use of that many pixels. People used to say the same thing about 6, 8, 12, etc... Megapixel cameras, so we will wait and see what happens there.
The new giant 300x300mm (Almost 8x8") CMOS wafer was also on display. While there are no specific plans for it's integration, I can imagine the military or NASA making great use of this technology. It's sheer size its astounding. It's almost like comparing a 35mm slide to an 8x10" negative. Again I'm not sure what lenses could cover this image area and resolve this great amount of detail. I suspect a telescope or some advanced military makes sense. Don't expect to find this in the next 1Ds camera. ;-)
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| New exciting battery charging/multimedia sharing dock concept. Ok I should have used flash here instead of pushing the G11's ISO. |
To me, the most innovative piece of technology was a battery charger. (see above) You read that right! Canon had a new charging dock on display that could fit up to three cameras on it. These prototypes actually worked and the G11 and Rebel camera actually started charging their batteries when placed on the dock. A small strip was attached to the bottom of the camera, but the Canon rep mentioned when this technology is finalized, Canon cameras will have the appropriate internal modifications made to allow for this without having a bottom piece attached to the camera. The dock would connect to a HDTV or other type of display. A wi-fi connection allows users to share photos and videos with each other instantly, even being able to send a photo right to someone else's printer. If you are "friends" with another dock owner, you can even send something to their printer when they aren't home! There seems to be an intent on Canon's part to create this type of product for both consumers and professionals. We were only allowed to take one picture and while it doesn't seem that exciting, trust me this is the future of sharing your digital images.
Canon also had several 30" 8 Megapixel Displays set up. There is no display that exists today that shows such high resolution. It was scary seeing photos on this display because you felt like you were looking at something real without any gimmicky glasses or goggles. For once I can say I've seen a display that looks better than a printed image. This won't kill the print, there will always be something special about a printed photograph, but this high resolution display technology will offer an alternative to printing for serious photographers. To many this might not seem like a big deal, but to photographers this is huge. Never before has their been even an "acceptable" digital display for showing photographs in a gallery. Soon there will be "extraordinary" displays. Eventually you will see consumer photo frames with this technology, but I expect it to be very expensive when it is first officially introduced.
Earlier this year Canon announced it was working on a compact camera with a lens that zoomed from ultra-wide angle to super-telephoto. It would give DSLR image quality and also be very simple to use. Sounds scary for professional photographers like myself! Anyway this camera along with some other gadgets and glasses based on 3D technology were shown off. These are all concepts right now, but it's great to know Canon is already thinking ahead.
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| My colleague Robert Huber tries out new Virtual Reality Technology from Canon. Photo by Matt Thompson |
Speaking of 3D technology, Bob and I went with Canon Rep Matt Thompson to a new virtual reality station. Matt photographed us while we made fools of ourselves trying to draw a simple human avatar of ourselves in 3D.
The LCD in the glasses could be improved, but again this is all very new/in-development technology, so I am sure it will be up to par when it comes to the market. If I had to sum this technology up, think Nintendo Wii on steroids. There is huge potential in the gaming market for something like this. A lot of companies have been working on virtual reality technology for decades, but it seems Canon has made recent developments.
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| Canon Rep Matt Thompson chases some pixels up the wall! |
Canon seems very into the whole prospect of 3D imaging and interactive products, beyond the camera as well. A small room with two mirror walls, a digital display on one wall, and a floor with interactive tiles was both the most bizarre and most fun area we visited. Depending on what "mode" the rep put the room in, the floor interacted differently when stepped on. This seemed like something more out of the Matrix than Canon Expo, but again it is good to see a company looking forward and thinking about the whole photographic/visual experience rather than just some new lenses with impressive specs.
Summary
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Canon Expo was one of the most exciting photo events I have been to. They really know how to throw a party and show off. I felt welcomed by all Canon reps and they were able to answer almost all of my annoying questions. While I tried to cover as much as I could in one day, there were some things we didn't make it to, such as the printing station that lets you print directly from a still-grab/frame from a video. Again I would like to thank Canon for inviting me to this spectacular event. Hopefully some of the new products will be arriving soon here at Unique Photo.
-Mike Z
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