Pinoy Photographer

Manual Video Controls on the Canon 5D Mark II… Coming soon!

Posted by tekgik under News, Tips & Tricks, kaBlog

Well well well! I saw it coming! And Canon is treating its loyal customers by giving the most demanding feature of  video capable 5d mark II, MANUAL CONTROLS.

I know how frustrating the auto-exposure of the video is. I was commisioned filming a music video few months ago and it was very hard to always AEL and do the nasty hand block tricks!

But by 1st week of June 2009 Canon will be releasing a new firmware that ends all this misery!

Kudos to Canon!

Time to reconsider those video rig again!!!

Poster via www.canonusa.com

Dpreview overview

Panasonic Lumix DMC LX3 V1.20 Firmware now up

Posted by tekgik under News, Tips & Tricks, kaBlog

I updated my LX3 today, before typing this entry. A little disappointing since the new FW only fixes “other” things. I was expecting a fix on the magenta cast plaguing the AWB white balance option but alas, wala. Im hoping someday they will hear our voice. For the time being it wouldnt hurt if you update yours so try yours and hit the here link below. Take precautions when making a FW update READ CAREFULLY the instructions provided.

Firmware Version Update:

Released 1/15/09

Panasonic Lumix DMC LX3 Ver 1.20 Firmware

• Improved white balance flash mode setting when DMW-FL220 is connected.
• Proper setting of shutter speed on iA mode and Scene mode when OIS is turned ON.
• Proper Exif information in the JPEG picture file.

Download it here

64GB memory cards

Posted by tekgik under Tech, Tips & Tricks, kaBlog

This is not good. As I’ve said digital is not cheap especially if its in your line of work. Recently i bought 2 pcs of 16GB CF cards, Its a Sandisk Extreme III compact flash cards capable of writing 30mb/s. This is in conjunction with my new venture in HD video recording with the Canon 5D Mark II.  I now have a total of 64GB memory that I spread to all of my three camera bags for emergency.

BTW I still have those 256MB cards at home just for keeps

Another Panasonic LX3 Firmware 1/15/2009

Posted by tekgik under News, Tips & Tricks

From the Panasonic Lumix LX3 Firmware download page

Sorry, This download site is temporally closed due to Next version of firmware, It is scheduled on Jan/15th/2009.
Sorry for this inconvenience.

It will probably try to solve (again) the AWB problem plaguing the LX3. Hope im right!  :/

Canon EOS 5D Mark II Firware Update

Posted by tekgik under News, Tech, Tips & Tricks, kaBlog

Firmware Update Version 1.0.7 improves and mitigates the following two types of image quality phenomena that occur under certain shooting conditions.

1. “Black dot” phenomenon (the right side of point light sources become black)
2. Vertical banding noise

Firmware Version 1.0.7 is for EOS 5D Mark II cameras with firmware up to version 1.0.6. If the camera’s firmware is already version 1.0.7, it is not necessary to update the firmware.

Notes:
When updating to Firmware Version 1.0.7, please also update the Digital Photo Professional and Picture Style Editor software. Firmware Version 1.0.7 can be downloaded from the bottom of this page. Updates for Digital Photo Professional and Picture Style Editor can be downloaded from the following Web site.

I dont like the idea of that magenta cast on sRAW file. The black dots is no biggie to me so Il probably wait for the “complete” that includes the magenta issue on sRAW’s.

See the complate firmware update page here

Lightroom 2.x runs on 64-bit mode

Posted by tekgik under News, Post Processing, Tips & Tricks, kaBlog

In case you don’t know (cause I dont), Adobe Lightroom 2.0 runs on 64 bit mode natively in OS X. I was fiddling with my apps folder and was curious about what i saw (see left photo) . So i checked out Adobe.com and confirmed it is running on 64-bit mode

See Adobe’s feature highlights below

Canon is working on the “Black Dots” issue

Posted by tekgik under News, Tips & Tricks, kaBlog

Canon released press releases of the “Black Dots” issue plaguing the newly released EOS 5D Mark II. Mine has it but It doesnt bother me even though Im very meticulous on details (sharpeness, clarity & etc). Its just that, I have to focus my time on others things like shooting and quality time with my family.

Heres the excerpt of the press release at Canon USA website:

Thank you for using Canon products.

We have learned that some users of the Canon EOS 5D Mark II digital SLR camera have identified two types of image quality phenomena that appear under certain shooting conditions.

1. “Black dot” phenomenon (the right side of point light sources becomes black)
2. Vertical banding noise

We are currently investigating and analysing the causes, and examining measures to reduce or eliminate these phenomena by providing correction firmware.  An announcement will be made on the Canon Web site when such measures have been determined.

Details of the phenomena and shooting conditions under which they are likely to occur are as follows.

1. “Black dot” phenomenon (the right side of point light sources becomes black)
   When shooting night scenes, the right side of point light sources (such as lights from building windows) may become black. The phenomenon may become visible if the images are enlarged to 100% or above on a monitor or, if large prints of the images are made.
2. Vertical banding noise
   If the recording format is set to sRAW1, vertical banding noise may become visible depending on the camera settings, subject, and background.

Canon USA Press Release

Canon Europe Press Release

We will have to wait for that fix… While waiting, Im planning to have a good photo trip with its full black dots potential (pun-intended) with the family this coming loooong holiday. BTW im enjoying the HD video!!

Canon EOS 5D Mark II RAW .CR2 now compatible with OSX

Posted by tekgik under News, Tech, Tips & Tricks, apple, kaBlog

Apple just released an update of their Camera Raw Compatibility for some of the previously released digital cameras. The Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update 2.4 now supports the EOS 5D Mark II, the powershot G10 and many others. The only one left for me is my Panasonic Lumix LX3. The RAW files of the said camera can now be natively viewable in Finder and iPhoto.

Update: No finder compatibility

Apple’s support release:

About Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update 2.4

This update extends RAW file compatibility for Aperture 2 and iPhoto 08 for the following cameras:

• Canon EOS 5D Mark II
• Canon PowerShot G10
• Pentax K2000/K-m
• Leaf AFi-II 6
• Leaf AFi-II 7
• Leaf Aptus-II 6
• Leaf Aptus-II 7
• Leica M8.2

It also addresses issues related to specific cameras and overall stability.

Fire up your software update or manually download it here