Canon | Stuff-Review

Canon 5D Mark III goes under the knife, gets its anti-aliasing filter removed in the name of sharpness

April 1, 2012 at 2:04 pm

Camera makers load their goods with moiré-busting anti-aliasing (AA) filters, however these low-pass filters come with a big caveat. You see they are placed in front of the camera’s sensor and work by slightly blurring the image in order to avoid moiré and aliasing effects at the cost of resolution and sharpness.

It seems that Canon has chosen a pretty strong AA for its latest full-frame shooter, the 5D Mark III, which is bad news for videographers and lovers of sharp stills. Nikon offers two versions of the competing D800, the D800E flavor has a weaker anti-aliasing filter than the standard model, but Canon fans are pretty much stuck.

Now you’d think that a weak low-pass filter leaves you at the mercy of moiré, but in reality these patterns are not as common as they are made to be and we’ve seen the benefits to resolution of a weak anti-aliasing filter in our real world review of the Fujifilm X100 here.
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Canon EOS 5D Mark III full-frame DSLR unleashed: 22-megapixels, 61-point AF and 6fps burst for $3,500

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March 2, 2012 at 1:15 pm

While we’ve already brought you the full specs of the EOS 5D Mark III before it was announced, Canon officially revealed the new full-frame DSLR early this morning. The EOS 5D Mark II allowed photographers to get their hands on a relatively affordable and lightweight full-frame camera, but after three years since its release it’s been showing its age.

The hotly anticipated successor is now a reality and Canon has brought a pretty solid feature list to the new camera. It’s got a new 22.3-megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor with DIGIC 5+ processing technology. The new camera has actually adopted some of the features of the flagship EOS-1D X, like its 61-point autofocus system with up to 41 cross-type points and the rear 3.2-inch 1,040,000 dot display.
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Full Canon EOS 5D Mark III specs leaked ahead of official anouncement

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March 1, 2012 at 5:57 pm

The Canon EOS 5D Mark III is the proud successor to the popular full-frame 5D Mark II DSLR, and is going to be announced officially in a few hours. But as with most good things, it’s hard to keep it a secret, with photos and details of the new DSLR having leaked repeatedly (just check out timeline below).

Well the latest leak from CanonRumors now has a full list of specs for the Mark III along with some additional pictures of the camera.
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Canon EOS 5D Mark III full-frame DSLR leaked again, to be announced March 2nd

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February 28, 2012 at 6:07 pm

It’s been more than three years since the Canon EOS 5D Mark II hit the streets and the, relatively, affordable and lightweight full-frame camera has met a lot of success. But three years is a long time in the ever-changing world of tech and Canon has long been rumored to be preparing a successor.

The Canon EOS 5D Mark III was first spotted on an African safari, though at the time it was yet unconfirmed whether it was indeed Canon’s upcoming full-frame DSLR. A new leak over at the forums of Canonrumors has brought us a number of new pictures, confirming the Canon EOS 5D Mark III.
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Fujifilm X-S1 26x superzoom bridge camera takes on a Canon DSLR (video)

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February 18, 2012 at 1:07 pm

We’ll admit that we are generally pretty harsh when it comes to superzoom bridge cameras. These are cameras that look like DSLRs but have fixed zoom lenses and sensors much smaller than APS-C. This means that you can’t change lenses, e.g. use any fast and sharp prime lenses, and bridge camera have worse low-light performance than DSLRs.

When we first had a look at Fujifilm’s latest 12-megapixel 26x superzoom X-S1 bridge camera we weren’t too intrigued, especially because of the hefty $800 price point. For the price of the Fujifilm X-S1 you can get an entry DSLR, which has some undisputed benefits, like the bigger sensor and optical viewfinder.
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Canon 5D Mark III or 7D Mark II DSLR spotted shooting animals the good way

News

January 24, 2012 at 6:46 am

Where do you go when you have a still unannounced camera and some shiny big new lenses to try out? Apparently on an African safari. A Japanese Canon employee was spotted by photographer Stephen Oachs testing some new camera gear in Kenya Africa. Thankfully the spotter had his own DSLR with him and snapped a couple of pictures of the yet unidentified Canon camera body.

The spotted DSLR could be the new 5D Mark III or even a 7D Mark II. The captured camera has some of the looks of the 7D, with a more streamlined and modern button layout, however the lack of a pop-up flash points to the former as being more likely.
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Canon PowerShot G1 X announced: 14.3-megapixel sensor, larger than Micro Four Thirds, and 4x optical zoom lens for $800

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January 9, 2012 at 12:05 pm

Canon will not enter the mirrorless interchangeable lens camera space, instead the camera maker has announced a new large sensor bridge camera in its PowerShot G series. The PowerShot G1 X will become the flagship model in the series ahead of the G12. What’s special about the G1 X is the new 1.5-inch 14.3 megapixel CMOS sensor which is slightly larger than a Micro Four Thirds sensor. The new sensor measures 18.7 x 14 mm compared to a Micro Four Thirds sensor which is 17.3 x 13mm. In fact the G1 X’s sensor is 6.3 times larger than the sensor inside the PowerShot G12.

We would imagine that such a large sensor will allow the G1 X some pretty respectable low-light performance, while the camera can shoot up to ISO 12,800. The lens offers an 4x optical zoom from 28-112m with aperture ranging from f/2.8 to f/16. Combined with the large sensor it should offer some pretty nice shallow depth of field. The G1 X has EOS-like features, like 14bit RAW shooting and is compatible with various accessories including Speedlite hot-shoe flash units. The camera comes with a 3-inch 922,000 dot articulating LCD screen and it’s capable of 1080p HD video shooting.
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When technology becomes culture and when making a lens becomes art

News

November 18, 2011 at 2:18 pm

We mostly don’t think of how the things we use daily are made. You buy a new gadget, take it out of the box and concentrate on what you can do with it, rather than its origins. We have this subconscious idea that things roll out of a nameless and faceless production line which is there for the sole purpose of feeding our voracious appetite for material goods.

Canon’s virtual lens plant is a series of videos demonstrating the entire painstaking process starting from the raw powdered optical lens material up to the construction of the Canon EF 500mm f/4.0L IS USM lens. It’s a testament to man’s achievement, that we continue to evolve. It’s technology and engineering that have become part of human culture, pushing our boundaries as humanity forward. We have evolved from making basic tools for survival to precision instruments such as these. After watching the full nineteen videos, I’m again reassured of humanity’s progress and technology’s role as an agent for progress.
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