1/60, f/1.2, ISO 400

America (the world) really needs Barack Obama. That’s all I gotta say.

85mm, 1/60, f/2.0, 1600 ISO. I have a vertical version of this shot here. I used to do a lot of these shots with my first digital camera, a small Fuji Finepix E550, very nice camera for its price. You can all the pics I shot with this camera here. My most faved picture on flickr to this day was shot with this camera. Since I uploaded this picture on Paronamio I receive comments almost on a daily basis, mostly via Google Earth. I was at the right spot at the right moment. Since I had almost no zoom on this camera, I had to crawl next to it to take the shot. I was very surprised that the butterfly never took off. I gues it’s a proof that whatever camera you actually have, what matters most is your skill at getting close enough. Like Robert Capa said, If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.

24mm, 1/400, f/2.8, 400 ISO.

I am experimenting a lot these days in an effort to discover new way of expressions through photography. One of the projects I’m doing is a study of bokeh or background blur. Its a simple project to conceptualise but very difficult to execute in my opinion. Here’s how…

How to do it? Well, I took my EF 85mm f/1.2 L (Canon’s king of bokeh) and my 1D Mark III out in broad daylight and I had to look for scenes where the sun would provide a backlight such as a tree. The trick is to spot places where the sunlight could peek through such as between the leafs. Find a nice foreground subject such as a flower, compose as you would normally but making sure the streams of sunlight can get through and there you have it. If done right, the streams of sunlight will be rendered as circles (or near circles) of varying intensity.

I want to find more ways to use bokeh as part of the image. Maybe use street lamps in the background at night. Let me know if you have any other suggestions eh?

The new tv commercial for the Rebel XSi is way, way, way cool. You can view the commercial here. They’ve also released a behind the scenes look at how the commercial was made. They had 10 photographers who shot 70,000 images which was then arranged in a breathtaking collage. Most (if not all) of the images were taken by the (ahem) Canon EOS 1D Mark III. And the commercial has actually made me think of new ways to take advantage of the 1D Mark III’s blistering 10 fps.

The 5D and EF 35mm L combo is brilliant for landscape. Unfortunately, I have since parted company with both of them (sigh). This one was taken 2 years ago and i still continue to revisit it and re-process it based on new processing techniques I have learnt since. The colours here was obtained by pushing the white balance was to the left.

Canon EOS 5D
EF 35mm f/1.4 L

f/22 1 sec ISO 100 Aperture Priority

I love taking pictures at weddings (though I don’t like being hired to do so). Haven’t taken any wedding photos for a long time so it was nice to be able to do so at my cousin’s wedding.

This one was a quick one as I was not the official wedding photographer. I just brought my EF 85mm f/1.2 L on my 1D Mark III. She was sitting on her bed with her face facing the window on the her right. Available light only and no flash was used as fill in. I find that knowledge of light and how to use it has been the single biggest contributor to improvements in my photography (and it also the single biggest obstacle).

I have been getting a lot of dud shots with the 85mm f/1.2 lately especially when shot wide open. Not only is careful focussing is needed, careful positioning of the lens relative to the face is also required.

Canon EOS 1D Mark III EF 85mm f/1.2 L
f/1.2 1/250th ISO 400 Aperture Priority

Lawrence Ripsher has posted a review of the Canon EOS 1D Mark III (Amazon, B&H Photo) on his Photo Journal Blog.

I’ve been the owner of a 1D Mk3 since early December 2007 and this review comes about a month in after many thousands of actuations. For those of you who are not familiar with my background, I have shot Canon for some time now (having transitioned over from Nikon) and shoot a variety of subjects including sports, portraiture, street and what I call narrative photography. For examples of my work, you can click on the galleries to the left (or simply follow this review).

The Canon EOS 1D Mark III has had quite a ride. Released as part of Canon’s 20 year EOS anniversary strategy it was both highly anticipated and widely applauded when it was announced. From the outset it has arguably generated more noise (of the vocal kind) than any other camera in the market today, with the possibly exception of the Nikon D3. Leading the emotionally charged opinions on the camera have been photographers from all walks - some highly respected professionals, some skilled amateurs, some hopeful hobbyists and typically, an even greater number of users who have never touched this particular camera. The 1D has been heralded as everything – from the greatest sports and photojournalism camera in the world today, to a huge disappoint and failure. Even in the already emotional and divided world of camera equipment forums, the Canon 1D Mark III has shown an extreme example of split opinion. Read the rest of this entry »

The Canon EOS 1D Mark III has been selling for quite a while now (since February 23, 2007 at Amazon). Unfortunately, the pro community have been quarrelling with Canon over the poor performance of the 1D Mark III’s servo-autofocus engine, especially at high temperatures. Rob Galbraith’s site has been out in front of this issue since the beginning (June 19 was his first update). Now Rob has released an update assessing the 1D Mark III’s sub-mirror fix and v1.1.3 firmware.

The entirety of his in-depth analysis of the update is here.

Canon has released a firmware update for the Canon EOS 1D Mark III. This firmware update (Version 1.1.3) incorporates the following improvements and fixes.

1. Increases transmission speed when using high-speed SD cards.
2. Fixes a phenomenon involving not being able to release the shutter.
3. Improves AF tracking in specific conditions.
4. Corrects errors in the Spanish and Korean menu screens.

The Version 1.1.3 firmware being released this time is for cameras with firmware up to Version 1.1.1. If the camera’s firmware is already Version 1.1.3, it is not necessary to update the firmware. You can download it here.

Firmware Q&A

Q : What has been changed in version 1.1.3 of the firmware?

A : It includes the following improvements and fixes:

1. Increases transmission speed when using high-speed SD cards.

Through the efforts to accelerate transmission, the speed of writing images to or reading images from high-speed SD cards is made faster.

*Depending on the SD cards you use, there may be no difference.
2. Fixes a phenomenon involving not being able to release the shutter.

Depending on the timing at which the AF-ON button and shutter release button are pressed, in rare cases the shutter could not be released; but this phenomenon has been fixed.
3. Improves AF tracking in specific conditions.

a) Improves AF tracking when shooting outdoors in bright environments.
b) Improves AF tracking of low-contrast subjects.

*The improvements described in a) have been incoporated since Firmware Version 1.1.1.
The improvements described in b) are new to Firmware Version 1.1.3.
4. Corrects errors in the Spanish and Korean menu screens.

There were errors in the Spanish wording of some of the C.Fn items and in the wording of messages that appear in Korean during firmware updates, but those have been corrected.

*The errors described above that appear in Korean during firmware updates will be corrected after this update is completed.

Q : Are the previous versions of firmware included in version 1.1.3?

A : Yes, the following improvements from the previous version are included:

Version 1.1.0 changes:

1. Improves the look of images when played back on the LCD monitor.

Applies a slightly stronger sharpness setting to the LCD monitor when images are played back.
2. Countermeasures for Main Dial response errors (Main, Quick Control, Vertical-grip Main).

Fixes a rare response error in the Main Dials in which they either did not respond when rotated or would change several clicks’ worth even if only clicked once.
3. Reduces the tendency to autofocus on the background instead of the main subject when shooting in AI Servo AF under certain conditions.

Reduces the tendency of the camera to autofocus on high-contrast backgrounds when shooting in conditions where AF detection is difficult, such as when the main subject is not completely covered by the AF frames or if the main subject’s contrast is low.
4. Corrects errors in the Italian and Simplified Chinese menu screens.

5. Fixes a rare phenomenon in which the camera cannot start normally when the battery is inserted.

Fixes a rare phenomenon in which the camera cannot start normally when the battery is inserted, such as after replacing the battery. This phenomenon sometimes occurred with the version 1.0.9 firmware when the battery was inserted into the camera due to the camera’s communication timing. The occurrences were extremely rare, and abnormal operation could be fixed by reloading the battery.
The version 1.1.0 firmware incorporates countermeasures for this phenomenon.

This is distressing news. Canon is doing a worldwide recall of their recently released Canon EOS 1D Mark III. I was fortunate to have gotten hold of the first batch when it arrived in Malaysia. Not all are effected apparently and they are recalling the camera bodies bearing serial number serial numbers 501001 and 546561 and as luck would have it, mine qualifies. Sigh. This is not a good week……

My 3 hopes when I get in touch with Canon;
-first, they need to able to give me a clear indication of the timings involve (when I can bring my camera in, how long will it take and therefore when I can get it back).
- second, that they will give me a replacement while I’m waiting for my Mark II to be fixed
- and last, that the warranty will be extended.

I’m almost afraid to call them. If I get a ‘I don’t now’ response I’m going to flip……

Click here for a description for a full write up of the 1D Mark III autofocus problems as first described by Rob Galbraith

Click here for an update of this post…..