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Cameras, lenses and
technology
This year Nikon has announced some great cameras - the
D3s is the state of art in terms of low noise, and the D300s is a nice
improvement of the D300 (even though in the $1600 price range I prefer the
Canon 7D). I don't expect to see a D4 and D400 soon, since the D3s/D300s
have been just announced, but they may come in late 2010...considering
that the current cameras are already great, I expect the new generation
to be truly spectacular.
Canon in 2009, instead, has been a mixed bag. The
7D is awesome, one of the best cameras ever produced by Canon - good
image quality, great video, fast and rich of features at a very
affordable price! The 1D Mark IV,
instead, had been a disappointment for me: after the 7D, I had great
expectations for the 1D4. Instead, the 1D4 is essentially a 1D3 with
more megapixels and video...not bad, but not a big step forward either, and in my opinion it
is not as good as the Nikon D3s, that has FF sensor and - from the
samples I have seen - better high ISO capabilities.
With the D300s and 7D, APS-C cameras have reached a
quality that is good enough for most applications. Of course, using the
same technology, FF will always have an advantage, but: 1) often the
technology is not on par 2) you have to evaluate if the FF advantage is
worth the higher price. I believe that fullframe will be always be the
best for specific application, as extreme low noise (e.g. the Nikon D3s)
or extreme high resolution (the future 30+ megapixels Canon 1DsIV), but
APS-C will stay as mainstream format. Medium format will survive as an
extremely niche format, as far as it gives much higher resolution than
FF cameras.
Video is now a standard feature in every reflex, and it keeps getting
better and better - the 7D video has nearly everything a video amateur
may want (except usable autofocus). Canon is currently the leader in
video performance, while Nikon is a step behind, but I expect to see
much better video in Nikon cameras by the end of next year. At the very
high end, the new RED Epic
and Scarlet are coming closer to production: these cameras offers
"out of this world" video quality and high end features for much lower
prices than other super high end cameras, but they are still expensive
products (from $4,500 for the cheapest model to the $ 60,000 of the Epic
617, and these prices are easily doubled if you add some accessories and
memory cards). If you are into professional video you may be interested,
while for the video amateurs a camera as the 7D is more than enough.
In term of lenses, in 2009 there have not been big
announcements; the most interesting new lens is, in my opinion, the
Canon 17mm TS-E, that is a great lens but for very specialist use. Next
year, I hope to see some super wide lenses for APS-C - something like
8-20mm, to equal the Sigma 12-24 on fullframe; I don't expect to see
these lenses from Canon or Nikon, but Sigma or Tamron may announce
something like that (if image quality will be good, I'll buy it in a
heartbeat). Other than that, I'd like a new 180 or 200mm macro with
image stabilization; even though I take the 99% of my macro with tripod,
the IS would help in the rare situations when I have to handhold the
lens.
Memory cards are getting bigger and faster; this year
all major manufacturers have announced their 64 GB compact flash, and
Pretec has announced even a 128 GB CF: I
expect to see others 128 GB CF by the end of next year from SanDisk and
Transcend, too. With one of these
cards, you have enough space for thousand of photos, and they are way
safer than portable HDDs. In 2010 I expect to see the debut of the first
64 GB SDXC cards, too. That said, while increased size is always
welcome, speed is not always necessary: first, you have to see if your
camera is able to take advantage of super fast cards, second, you have
to evaluate if you really need that speed...if you take macro and
landscape photos, a super fast card is money thrown away.
Camera phones have now reached the quality of a consumer
digicam. The
Samsung M8920 has 12 megapixel, relatively good image quality in low
light, xenon flash, 3x optical zoom, full manual control on exposure and
1280x720px at 30FPS video...wow! Of course it can not be compared with a
reflex camera, but for me it replaces the need for a compact camera.
While I don't carry always with me my Canon 7D, the mobile phone is
always in my pocket, and a phone with good camera capabilities is a
great tool for snapshots and for many usages where image quality is not
essential. Currently I have the Nokia 5800 that is so-so in terms of
camera, but I'm going to buy the Samsung M8920 when it will arrive in
the European market. By the way, the M8910 is not just a good "camera" -
it is almost a "mobile computer", it has an advanced smartphone OS,
great screen, internet, DivX support, mp3, and a tons of other features.
About me and my equipment
This year I have not done any change in my lens lineup, and honestly I
don't feel much need for change here: I have the four essential lenses
for nature photography (wide angle - Sigma 12-24, standard zoom - Canon
24-105, macro - Canon 180, tele - Canon 300 2.8 IS), plus two
"specialist" lenses, the super bright Sigma 20 f/1.8 and the super
telephoto Canon 600 f/4 IS. I have not used a lot these two, even though
sometimes they have helped to get otherwise impossible photos, while I
used a lot the other four. In particular, the 300 f/2.8 IS (with
teleconverters) has replaced the 600 f/4 in most of my travels...I love
the 300! It is small, light and super sharp. The only lens I'd buy is a
8-20mm or 7.5-20mm for APS-C sensors, if some manufacturer announces it
- I'd use it on the 7D instead of the Sigma 12-24 on 1DsIII.
Instead, I have used two new cameras - in early 2009 I bought the 500D,
and I have appreciated its video capabilities and the increased reach
given by the small pixels. Later in November, I have replaced it with
the 7D, that is a truly awesome camera - I like it so much that now I
use it as my main camera body, even though I still own the 1DsIII that I
use for landscapes. You may be surprised, but reality is that in two
years the technology has made big advancements, and nowadays even a 1400
€ camera is better (in some respects, not all) than a 2 years old 8000 €
camera as the 1DsIII. Of course, there will always be those who claim
that a more expensive camera, or a "1 series" camera is always the best
- I believe these claims are plain wrong but, after all, who cares:
everyone is free to spend his money for the thing he prefers :-)
In 2009, I have made a big update to the JuzaPhoto website - the page
width has jumped from 800px to 1240px. While the majority of comments
was positive, there were some JuzaForum users saying it was too much,
the facts have proven them wrong: the visits have kept increasing after
the upgrade to 1240px :-)
One of the main reason for this upgrade was to make room
for the new photos at 1200px resolution: it has taken three months to
replace all previous 720px images with the 1200px version, but I think
it was worth the effort. The photos at 1200px shows a lot more detail
and they are a pleasure to view on large screens; other than that,
resizing the images to 1200px helps to make a more rigorous selection -
only photos with quite good image quality looks great at 1200px.
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