Posts tagged with 40D

File Backup Strategy

January 15th, 2008

Photos are the most precious material possession anyone owns, and should be the first to be saved in the case of a fire.

So how does one provide the appropriate backup solution to safeguard their cherished memories? My general approach to backing up the photos is by no means simple, yet it does the job. Read more »

ACR 4.2 Released and now Lightroom 1.2

September 14th, 2007

Many souls weren’t happy that Adobe didn’t support Canon’s 40D when they got it, in ACR and consequently in Lightroom.

Now you can jump for joy - as right now ACR supports 40D

Also note that on the page it lists Lightroom 1.2 as available also, yet this has been reportedly false. which is available for download over at Adobe

Canon 40D + Lightroom Auto-Rotate

September 1st, 2007

Cameras these days record the orientation of the camera when you take a shot, and write this into EXIF which is embedded into the photo. There seems to be a new way in which the 40D does it.Adobe Lightroom 40D Auto rotate

If anyone has attempted to import from 40D into Lightroom, they might notice that all the images are rotated 180%.

Windows picks up the correct way up, yet Lightroom simply doesn’t.

I hope Adobe will be quick to remedy this problem, as well as update the RAW converter to accommodate the 40D

Update

Having a further look into it - I noticed this only occurs when you connect the camera directly to the computer, as opposed to extract the CF, and using it within a reader.

Also windows didn’t automatically rotate the photos when looking at them through explorer, so possibly this is a Windows Vista problem, and not Lightroom.

If anyone in XP or OSX can reproduce this - do post.

Update 2

After trying this with Lightroom 1.3 - the issue still persists.

Not fixed yet.

Canon EOS 40D - mini Review + Problems

September 1st, 2007

Am a happy owner of the Canon 40D.
Canon EOS 40D
You can get plenty of complete previews/reviews off other sites

I will merely mention several things.
I purchased the kit, which included the 17-85mm f4-5.6 IS USM lens.

Initially I was considering of purchasing the 400D, although after having a handle of my friends 350D [which practically has the same physical dimensions] – I decided that the camera felt … feminine. Not the build of it, but more so that actual ‘lack-of’ grip. It was simply too small in my hand.
To overcome this – I thought of getting the battery grip, and upon a visit to the local CameraHouse – I didn’t like that either, as the seams of the battery grip didn’t meet up properly with the base of the 400D. This resulted in the camera simply not feeling right, plus it was smaller than my 300D!
Then I envisioned purchasing the 30D, but that thought quickly faded, as I’d be investing in old[er] technology. So I set my sights on the 40D.

Upon driving 90km to the store I ended up a happy camper. So how did it fare?

Body

Holding this puppy makes me feel like Kim Jong-il with his finger on the button. The finish of the body can be described like Vista – without the sarcasm – “Wow”. It is quite solid, and I have yet to drop it, hopefully I won’t be testing that feature.
The LCD is simply stunning, large [3.5"] and the LiveView is quite nice, if ever-so subdued and seemingly dull.
The buttons and their layout will be familiar to all previous Canon SLR users.

Lens

The kit lens is nice and bulky so it has a right balance with the body. The USM is very quick to focus, and the IS helps you get those photos you previously discarded due to being too blurry.
One gripe, and the main gripe I have with the lens is its ability to focus. I hope I just got a bad copy of this beast, but it simply cannot focus properly. I end up with images that are way too soft to be appreciated. At first I thought it was the camera, yet upon donning the 50mm 1.8 II and seeing the exceptional images it produced I simply decided to take the lens back, which I’ll be doing once the store opens up on Monday.
So far – that is it. There are too many features to mention that this camera contains, which is most likely more than an S-Class Mercedes.

Overall

Extremely happy with the camera, not so much with the kit lens.

UPDATE

I did a few test shots, to outline what I believe is a pretty bad copy of the 17-85, or perhaps as some have suggested the new focusing mechanism in the 40D playing up with a lens that can’t go f2.8..

Lens - 50mm 1.8 II

210
Focal Length: 50mm
Exposure: 1/160
FStop: f/2.2

211
Focal Length: 50mm
Exposure: 1/60
FStop: f/3.5

212
Focal Length: 50mm
Exposure: 1/50
FStop: f/4.5

213
Focal Length: 50mm
Exposure: 1/30
FStop: f/5.6

Lens 17-85 IS USM

NOTE: Check the focal length
217
Focal Length: 17mm
Exposure: 1/60
FStop: f/4

218
Focal Length: 17mm
Exposure: 1/30
FStop: f/5.6

219
Focal Length: 17mm
Exposure: 1/13
FStop: f/9

220
Focal Length: 35mm
Exposure: 1/50
FStop: f/5

221
Focal Length: 35mm
Exposure: 1/30
FStop: f/6.3

223
Focal Length: 53mm
Exposure: 1/40
FStop: f/5.6

224
Focal Length: 53mm
Exposure: 1/25
FStop: f/6.3

226
Focal Length: 85mm
Exposure: 1/25
FStop: f/5.6

227
Focal Length: 85mm
Exposure: 1/15
FStop: f/7.1


As you can see, the lens simply isn’t usable around 17mm, yet it does perform quite nicely at 35 and over. Understandably this isn’t L glass, but I don’t think it should be THIS soft. I will be returning the lens to Canon for re-calibration.