Tag Archives: Canon

Are DSLRs a Dying Breed?

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Trey Ratcliff recently posted his view that the future of high end digital photography doesn’t lie with DSLR cameras, but rather with the new breed of mirror-less cameras that many of the major manufacturers are starting to produce. If you haven’t do so already, his post is well worth reading.

I agree with the general thrust of his argument. Namely that the mechanical nature and form of modern DSLRs owes more to their film heritage than the manufacturers’ desire to make the most of the digital medium.

To be quite frank I don’t need a mirror in a camera. If you follow my blog you’ll know the problem I’ve had with a DSLR mirror and my views about what I wanted from the next Canon Pro camera. What I need is a digital camera that gives me the image quality and control I need for my work. At the moment that really means a DSLR, and a Canon one at that. Not because I think Canon are necessarily better than Nikon or the other major players, but rather because I’m heavily invested in lenses and other Canon related paraphernalia. To switch formats for me is more expensive than just buying a new camera.

Where do I believe the future is though? I believe its in mirrorless cameras. Excellent sensors,  optics and electronic viewfinders/screens combined with masses of CPU power will create a camera revolution over the next 5, 10 and 20 years. It’s happened in consumer electronics and computers, and as cameras are a combination of both now I see it as inevitable.

So, the question is, will my 5D Mk II, be the last digital SLR that I buy? The simple answer is I don’t know. I’d like it to be the last, but that is only going to happen if a viable alternative is released. Canon make enormous amounts of money from their high-end DSLRs and more possibly importantly, their lenses. I can’t see them wanting to let go of this just yet. But, they and Nikon are not calling the shots anymore. If they don’t embrace this electronic future and do it quickly they’ll be left behind by the the likes of Sony, Panasonic, Fuji etc. They know this better then me, so I fully expect to have an alternative ready in a couple of years – just when I’ll be looking to switch!

Corrupt Compact Flash Card

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There’s a lot to be said for cameras with dual card slots; Unfortunately my Canon 5D Mk I isn’t one of them! Yesterday we spent the day taking photos at Swanage (in the UK). When I checked my images this morning the card was almost entirely corrupt. After running a recovery tool (Camera Salvage) I got a few back, but for the most part they are very similar to the one below.

Corrupt Compact=

I’ve just tried a series of 80 test shots with the same camera and CF card and they are all fine. So, it’s left me in a bit of a quandary now about whether I have a problem with the camera, card or whether it was just a one off glitch. Technology eh?!

New Canon EOS 1D X – Initial Opinion

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My current camera is a 5D Mk I. At the time the 5d Mk II was released I decided to sit tight and wait for the Mk III. I was quite happy with the performance of my 5D Mk I at the time and didn’t feel that the Mk II would make a dramatic difference to me.

My partner Kim had a different view and bought a Mk II, so I’ve had an opportunity to use both cameras. In hindsight I think I was wrong. I think the Mk II would have made a difference to me, in particular its live view mode (good for long exposures & tilt/shift) and the increased pixels allow much more flexibility to recompose during post processing. But, by the time I had come round to this way of thinking more time had passed and I thought a 5D Mk III, or a replacement for the 1Ds Mk III wouldn’t be too far away. In fact I was leaning towards going for the 1Ds Mk III replacement over the 5d Mk III.

Now having seen the announcement of the 1D X, I’m starting to think that maybe I should buy a 5d Mk II after all. I’m not all convinced that the features of the 1D X are appropriate for my type of photography. The anticipated approx £7k price tag (assuming the usual $1 = £1) has pretty much sealed it for me: I’m not going to buy this camera. In fact if I was thinking of paying this sort of money, I would seriously have to consider it against an entry level medium format system. As it happens, I had a half a wish that Canon would head in the larger sensor direction themselves.

My work is mainly low ISO based landscape photography. I also take quite a lot of long exposure and HDR shots. I’ll also quite often manually focus for hyper focal distance or some other creative reason. I tend to take very few shots, because of the amount of time each can take. So I don’t really need, the 1D X’s features such as high ISO, high fps, 1080p video, multiple flash cards and Ethernet. Also, lowering the megapixels to increase the quality (especially at higher ISO) is very little use as I shoot usually shoot ISO 100 on a tripod.

So the question is, do I wait for a the 5D Mk III or buy a 5D Mk II? My thoughts are:

Here in the UK, the Mk II is very competitively priced at around £1,500 inc VAT. Based on current trends, it is likely that the Mk III will be more expensive.

The Mk II has live view and I suspect the Mk III will also have it. So a draw there, although there is a possibility that the Mk III may have an articulated screen which would be handy. But that’s purely speculation.

The Mk II’s ISO is high enough to use live view with a 10 stop filter (for long exposure). It is likely that the ISO rating for the Mk III will increase so would give more flexibility in this regard. A win for the Mk III, but not a big one.

The Mk II produces excellent quality results at ISO 100. I’d be very surprised if the Mk III wouldn’t at least match this quality. But having seen Mk II images, I’m not sure I would gain much from this without a great leap forward. So a draw.

The Mk II has 21 megapixels which allows for an adequate amount of re-composition. It is possible the Mk III will use a similar (if not the same) sensor as the 1D X, so it may be a slight win for the Mk II here.

The Mk II is available now. The Mk III hasn’t been announced. Considering the 1D X has been announced 6 months in advance (assuming Canon can keep to their timetable), the Mk III could be a year away, and then longer before supply settles down. Win, Mk II.

So, what am I gaining by waiting for the Mk III? At the moment, for my work at least, I seem to gain very little by waiting. I’m sure when the Mk III does finally appear, it will be packed full of features that I’d love to have, but for now, Canon’s announcement has actually convinced to think seriously about buying a 5D Mk II!

New Canon EOS 1D X

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Canon have announced their replacement for the 1Ds Mk III and 1D Mk IV. It’s the new 1D X, currently scheduled for release in spring 2012. The headline megapixels is down from the 1Ds, with the aim of improving quality, dynamic range and sensitivity. Some of the key numbers are:

18 megapixel full frame
iso to 51,200 standard, 204,800 extended
12 fps shooting
61 point auto focus
1080p video
Twin compact flash
Gigabit Ethernet (for tethering)

More details at dpreview

My Wishlist for Canon’s Next Pro DSLR

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The Canon rumour mill is in full flow at the moment. There’s lots of speculation about what the major announcements will be, with new pro DSLRs and new video cameras being amongst the favourites. Not that Canon usually listen to me, but for what’s it’s worth this is my DSLR wish list if Canon truly want to live up to the hype they seem to be generating:

  • Convergence of current 1D/1Ds/5D range
  • Modular system (eg the sort of flexibility we had on some of the old larger formats of film camera)
  • Interchangeable backs (eg Phase One etc for Canon cameras)
  • If increasing the megapixels, increase the sensor size (apart from better signal to noise we seem to be getting close to the resolving power of the current lens range so there seems little point just pushing up the megapixels)
  • Preference for improved high ISO quality over more megapixels
  • Remove the mirror. Mirrors were needed for film but are pretty redundant for digital. This may mean new lenses, but a converter in the meantime would be useful. Removing the mirror will also mean no more issues like this
  • Very high quality “immersive” electronic viewfinder
  • Histogram and framing aid overlays for the viewfinder


I probably won’t get all these, but it doesn’t stop me wishing…