Why Scott Kelby switched to Canon

All the Nikon fanboys are complaining and weeping like girly men around the Internets because of a recent video of Scott Kelby explaining why he switched to Canon. It’s endless amounts of entertainment. Just go here and read the comments. That’s just one example. You should check out the dpreview forums for even more comedy.

But to readers of this blog, this came as no surprise, of course. Months ago I had already blogged about Kelby switching to Canon:

Fuck the megapixels, give us exceptional image quality instead. Most pros are satisfied with 12-16MP. Look at the 1DX. It’s “just” 18MP, but the images are absolutely gorgeous. Even Kelby ditched Nikon and is now using the 1DX because it’s the fucking best camera on the planet right now. And remember, this is the same Kelby who was hugging a Nikon D4 last year like his firstborn baby.

Here’s what Kelby had to say about the 1DX after using it for the first time:

“First Impressions This was my first time shooting with the 1Dx, and I gotta tell ya — it is a camera absolutely born to shoot sports. I shot at 2,000 ISO all night and you don’t even see any noise (I did no noise reduction). Michael says the Falcon’s crew routinely shoots at 5,000 ISO and you just don’t see any noise, but after the way they had raved about it, I was expecting insanely low amounts of noise, and that’s what I got.

Better than the low noise… …the auto-focus system on the 1Dx. It’s AF is insane! It’s so fast, and so precise that I know I’m picking up shots I would have missed otherwise. That’s the part that really surprised me. I need more time with it to really get the little nuances of setting it up for my style of shooting, but of everything on this camera, that was what impressed me most.

Everything about the 1Dx feels fast. I was shooting at 12-frames per second and I know that’s only 2-frames faster per second than what I’m used to shooting, but it felt like it was 10 frames faster.”

Of course, we knew that a long time ago. This really puts the bullcrap from DxOMark and the fuckwads at EISA into perspective, doesn’t it?

And this image says it all:

It’s never too late to see the light.

Admittedly Kelby does come across quite weak in the above video trying to justify the switch. However, from everything I’ve blogged here in the past, I can honestly say that there are two very very very valid reasons for the switch:

1. The lower noise and overall MUCH better image quality on the 1DX and 5D Mark III.
2. The fucking awesome autofocus system on the 1DX and 5D Mark III.

You guys know I’ve called the 1DX and 5D Mark III the best DSLRs on the planet right now many months ago, and this still holds true today. Nothing comes close.

And this has nothing to do with me working at Canon USA. I’ve been very critical of Canon from the moment I started this blog, to the point that Canon fanboys suspected I was working for Nikon’s marketing department. The simple fact of the matter is that I only care about the truth and based on my expertise, will honestly tell you what I think is better.

Sure, it may be true that some black SUVs, with no license plates, sporting just a long red stripe on the sides and fully darkened windows, stopped by Kelby’s office with some of our undercover guys and made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. I can’t confirm nor deny that. There are some rumors spreading online that those same black SUVs were also seen near the homes of Chase Jarvis, Joe McNally and The Lord of the Speedlights. Quite possible. Let me just say that you shouldn’t be surprised when more photographers switch to Canon in the near future. As I reported many months ago, we’ve been having discussions with McNally for a long while now. We got the in-camera HDR feature he wanted in the 5D Mark III, but last I heard he wasn’t quite satisfied with it yet. The HDR images coming out of the camera didn’t look overprocessed enough to meet his high standards. We’ve been sent a link to some examples of what he’s looking for, and our engineers are busy getting the dirty-supersaturated-radioactive-halo containing-ultra high pass look he requested into the next firmware update. I’m confident we’ll have McNally on board as a Canon Explorer of HDR Light very soon.

I just hope Canon Inc. hasn’t lost their focus on what exactly matters when professionals are concerned and have learned what works with the success of the 1DX and 5D Mark III. What makes those bodies successful is the combination of incredible autofocus system and image quality. Megapixels don’t matter. Make everything 16MP as far as I’m concerned, but make it 16 sharp, extremely low noise, no artifact, high dynamic range, color accurate and overall fucking superb megapixels. Just look at the 70D image quality; it fucking sucks ass. I pray to God they don’t fuck up the future bodies with too many megapixels and crappy image quality. But knowing Canon Inc. I for one won’t be surprised when they do decide to fuck everything up again.

And finally to all the Nikon fanboys I say this: Continue to kiss Nikon’s ass even in the wake of them screwing you over and downright raping your ass (D800,D4 green color casts and D600 sensor oil etc. etc.), instead of being critical, and see how well that’ll work out for you in the future.

Rise of the Smartphones

#Sandy

Just a month ago I wrote a post about how Canon Inc. was starting to feel the heat from smartphones in the digital photography market. And if you weren’t yet convinced that smartphones are taking over digital photography market right now, then the book #Sandy will convince you.

I received an email from Moses earlier today on my smartphone while I was sitting on the crapper, with a link to an article mentioning this book and this is what he had to say:

Another one of his projects, #Sandy, featured pictures taken by him and a number of other photographers of the devastation caused by hurricane Sandy in October 2012. All pictures were taken and processed on their iPhones. The pictures in the book are absolutely amazing. During his presentation, Wyatt mentioned that the people from the LA Times actually emailed him to confirm that the pictures were really taken on an iPhone apparently because they found it hard to believe. He also said that there are a few photojournalists that he knows who are primarily covering their stories using their phones right now. Since recently camera manufacturers like Nikon and Canon are facing heavy competition from smartphones as this story on the Wall Street Journal confirms, and apparently it’s not just the normal consumers that prefer to take pictures with their smartphones instead of a compact camera or DSLR, but now also professional photographers.

Of course this book by Wyatt Gallery is not the first featuring iPhone pictures. Chase Jarvis was one of the first to publish such a book back in 2009.

The Best Camera

Bradley Cooper and Chase Jarvis (right) – Seperated at birth?

If you don’t know who Chase Jarvis is, he’s the guy playing Bradley Cooper in the Wedding Crashers and the Hangover movies. Chase apparently was ahead of his time with his book and saw the smartphone revolution coming way in advance.

And then there’s the WSJ article. Man, it’s fucking awesome. Just check this out:

Declining sales of high-end cameras and lenses are raising an alarming question for companies like  Canon Inc.  and  Nikon Corp. Could the proliferation of camera-enabled, app-heavy smartphones be crushing not only the simple point-and-shoot, but premium models as well?

This year, shipments of what’s called “interchangeable-lens cameras”—high-end models that let users swap out different lenses—are diving suddenly after years of robust growth. Most of those are digital single-lens reflex, or DSLR, cameras—the bulky models used by professional photographers and enthusiasts.

…

But the example of Lie Fhung suggests consumer tastes could be changing too. The Hong Kong-based artist and graphic designer says she now rarely uses the Canon DSLR camera that she bought five years ago. Instead, Ms. Fhung, 44, takes most of her photos with her iPhone, and satisfies her urge to manipulate the images with a bevy of photo-editing apps.

When the editing process is complete, she posts her snapshots straight from her phone to photo-sharing app Instagram, where she has nearly 1,600 followers. Ms. Fhung says she has no plans to replace her aging Canon.

See that? That’s precisely what I said in a previous post. People aren’t going to be choosing to shoot with bulky DSLRs and not even compact cameras, when their smartphones are perfectly capable of shooting good pictures. But there’s more:

This wasn’t supposed to happen. Camera makers have argued that although smartphones and mobile devices have decimated sales of cheap, compact cameras, premium products shouldn’t be affected, since they offer a level of control and picture quality that a smartphone’s tiny lens and sensor can’t replicate.

“Taking photos with smartphones and editing them with apps is like cooking with cheap ingredients and a lot of artificial flavoring,” says Canon spokesman Takafumi Hongo. “Using interchangeable cameras is like slow food cooked with natural, genuine ingredients.”

I beg to differ. The picture quality on DSLRs and compact cameras is becoming crappier all the time thanks to the continued increases of megapixels. Unless these stupid dumb fucks start to get a clue and focus on image quality instead of megapixels, there will be increasingly less difference in image quality between smartphones and bigger cameras. I mean, just look at the 70D. At higher ISO values you would swear that the pictures it takes were taken by a smartphone as it looks grainy and digital and awful as fuck.

Even lens maker Tamron has acknowledged a potential problem, although it doesn’t blame that for the recent decline in sales. “Smartphones pose a threat not just to compact cameras but entry-level DSLRs as well,” general manager Tsugio Tsuchiya said in a phone interview.

Even professional DSLRs are going to start feeling the heat soon. Like Moses mentioned above, professionals are starting to use smartphones to do some of their work as the image quality gets better. And then there’s this stupid dumb fuck from Nikon:

“We are seeing tough figures at the moment, but I don’t think this will last forever,” said Nikon Chief Financial Officer  Junichi Itoh, at an earnings news conference on Thursday. “There still is potential demand, and I think China is the key.”

These morons are going to have to wake up pretty soon to face the hard facts of the reality we’re heading into right now. Especially in light of their recent fuckups with the D600 sensor oil spots issue. I still can’t believe Nikon was able to fucking get away with largely ignoring that problem instead of fixing it and owning up to their fuckups, and just releasing a new D610 model a year later where the problem had been fixed, leaving all D600 owners on their own. It’s incredible how complacent and passive consumers are today. And hardly any professional photographers have mentioned and questioned this unethical move by Nikon. Honest to God, sometimes I think you ignorant sheeple deserve to get what’s coming to you.

But now is really not to the time to be fucking up with the prosumer and professional products. And Canon Inc. had better start paying some serious attention to what’s going on. A seriously high priority should be placed on producing imaging sensors that produce exceptional image quality. Forget about the megapixels; focus on better pixels, like Fujifilm plans on doing. Like Moses wrote in his 5D Mark III review:

• Please keep the sensor resolution on the 35mm sensor in the 21-24MP range. We don’t need more resolution!! It’s great where it’s at now. For people who want more resolution, consider introducing a medium format system. Or alternatively, introduce a new camera line, say a 4D, with more megapixels and more noise and slower framerate for the amateurs (as Ken Rockwell calls them) who go crazy about megapixels. But for us professionals, keep the 5D at 22MP.
• Instead of more megapixels, give us better usable dynamic range on the sensor. Sony can do it as demonstrated on the D800, so Canon should be able to do it. Get rid of the pattern and banding noise issues when pushing the exposure of an image in post.
• Instead of more megapixels, give us even lower noise and even higher usable ISO values. Make ISO 1600 the new ISO 100.
• Instead of more megapixels, give us even faster framerate. At least 8fps or higher.
• Instead of more megapixels, give us better image quality. I love the lens aberration correction features for example. Give us more of that. Use more DIGIC power to improve the image quality. Give us better pixels, not more!!!
• Better metering system. Perhaps we can get the 1DX metering system in the 5D Mark IV. Also, spot metering linked to the selected autofocus point.
• I like the new HDR features and extra exposure bracketing options. One thing that is missing is focus bracketing. Add this feature on the next 5D. Give us an option to specify how many images and how far to shift focus for each bracketed shot. And then, similar to the HDR feature, let the camera combine them into a single shot with combined dept of field, which is going to be a great feature for macro shooting. Let it be possible to shoot all focus bracketed shots in a single quick burst.
• Give us an articulating LCD screen. This is essential for video shooting, but also for stills to be able to get the more difficult angles.
• Better autofocus system with more cross-type points, spread out more to the edges (rule of thirds), and more sensitive. Autofocus needs to be extremely fast and especially accurate.
• It’s time for an electronic viewfinder with all the benefits that come with that, including real-time exposure simulation (what you see is what you get). While this isn’t very essential for the next 5D, the one after that should have one. And it should be high resolution and look almost like the optical viewfinder.
• Flash sync speed of 1/500s. Why is the 5D Mark III stuck at 1/200s???
• Much sharper HD video and 1080p at 120fps.
• Get rid of the jello effect in video mode.
• Faster contrast detect autofocus in live view shooting, and faster, smoother and automatic autofocus during movie recording.
• Quality control needs to improve much more. I bought two 5D Mark III cameras. One of them was perfect, while the other one came with a dirty sensor (dust spots visible at f/16) and two small black spots inside the viewfinder (fortunately at the edges). This is unacceptable for a brand new camera. It’s not the first time this is happening to me. Years ago a brand new 40D I bought came with a large particle on the sensor visible at f/11. Fortunately I was able to clean the sensor myself in all cases, although it took a while and at least 5 swabs to get the 5D Mark III sensor spotless because of the tiny particles that kept moving around instead of attaching to the swabs. A quick Google search reveals that these kinds of quality control problems are still occuring too often. Please improve.

Personally, I’d keep the resolution on full frame 35mm sensors at 16MP like on the 1DX, and then focus on seriously improved dynamic range, low noise and great color reproduction even at the highest ISO values. And then add to this on sensor phase detection AF covering the entire frame, with the sensitivity to accurately autofocus on the dark side of the moon in nanoseconds.

This is also the time when Canon Inc. needs to seriously stop crippling features on their cameras to force consumers to buy the higher end models. THEY ARE JUST NOT GOING TO FUCKING DO IT ANYMORE. Either you go all out and give them innovative and high end features even on the lower models, or you risk losing them to the smartphones. I mean, really, why the fuck didn’t the 5D Mark III have built-in GPS and Wifi? WHY THE FUCK NOT?? Oh, so you could sell the overpriced GP-E2 and WIFI Battery grip and financially milk out people even more???? THIS SHIT IS NOT GOING TO FLY ANYMORE. You have been warned. There’s no excuse not to include these features in ALL upcoming camera models. FUCKING BUILT-IN!!!!!1

The time has come to stop dicking around and show us what you’ve got, Canon Inc. And start fucking shipping the 14-24mm f/2.8 L we’re waiting on for so long now. The 16-35mm is fucking soft and outdated as fuck.

Alright that’s it, I’m gonna try to enjoy the rest of my weekend now.

Fujifilm is gonna tear us a new one

Canon Inc. should be afraid, very afraid

I saw this just now over at Photo Rumors, and I think it’s very clear that Canon Inc. had better fucking cut the bullshit now and start focusing on image quality instead of megapixels. It wasn’t too long ago when I wrote that Fujifilm may be fucking us up in the near future (read that post if you haven’t yet), and it looks like it’s gonna happen.

I have been here for over 5 years now arguing that we should focus on image quality and Canon Inc. still isn’t fucking listening, as we recently saw with the 70D:

I’m getting fucking tired of pointing out that increasing the megapixels while having to apply noise reduction to keep the noise levels low is FUCKING POINTLESS. All detail gets lost anyway!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DON’T YOU FUCKING MORONS IN JAPAN UNDERSTAND THIS????????

…

Of course it’s not just Canon Inc. that’s to blame but also the fucking moron consumers who think more megapixels is always better. Fortunately we’ve seen recently that people are wisening the fuck up. Many complained about the piece of shit D800 having 37MP while most would have been satisfied with 16MP. I had warned back then that it makes no sense to compete on megapixels. Nokia now has a goddamn phone out that takes images at 41MP!!! The fierce market competition Nikon mentioned got a whole lot fiercer now. What do you think people are going to be choosing now? A bulky D800 that costs so much with a professional lens, or a Nokia Lumia 1020 that is small and easy to carry around and offers you SO MUCH more apart from the 41MP images?

…

If you can offer a compact camera or DSLR that can take 12MP images in low light shot at ISO 6400 that really look like ISO 400, or even better like ISO 100, then I think you have a chance at competing with smart phones. Otherwise fucking forget about it.

Canon Inc. is already taking a serious beating:

Canon Inc. (7751), the world’s largest camera maker, cut its annual profit forecast and predicted its first drop in sales of models with an interchangeable lens as consumers switch to smartphones to take photos.

Smartphones are eating into digital camera sales as companies such as Apple Inc. and Sony Corp. release new handsets with stronger built-in lenses and sensors to lure shoppers. The value of worldwide camera shipments dropped 19 percent in August from a year earlier, a ninth consecutive monthly decline, according to the Camera & Imaging Products Association in Tokyo.

“The downward revision is larger than expected and will have a negative effect on Canon’s stock price,” said Takashi Aoki, a Tokyo-based fund manager at Mizuho Asset Management Co. “Smartphones are creating a structural problem for camera manufacturers.”

Yeah sure you ignorant motherfucker, blame it on the smartphones. What the fuck happened to innovating and giving consumers a fucking reason to ACTUALLY WANT A COMPACT CAMERA OR DSLR???????? With the files looking like crap, no wonder consumers choose a phone instead! Might as well choose a smaller more convenient device if the bigger ones produce the same crap anyway.

At least Fuji gets it:

PIXEL QUALITY IS WHAT IS IMPORTANT!!!!!!!! GET THIS THROUGH YOUR HEAD YOU PIECE OF SHIT MOTHERFUCKERS IN JAPAN!!!!!!!! THIS MEANS LESS MEGAPIXELS, BIGGER PIXELS, AND FAST AND ACCURATE AUTOFOCUS THAT COVERS THE WHOLE FRAME AND IS NOT FUCKING CRIPPLED!!!!!!1

Don’t deliver, continue to act like fucking morons, and see what’s gonna happen you fucking assholes!

When that new full frame Fuji sensor comes out we’re gonna be fucked. FUCKED I tell you!!

Jesus fucking Christ, I can get so worked up over this shit. I need a drink. I’m out,

FUCK YOU ALL!!

On the Canon 70D Image Quality and other stuff

Canon EOS 70D

Being the first is overrated. What matters is being the best. Google wasn’t the first search engine, but it’s the best. Facebook wasn’t the first social networking website, but it’s the best. Nikon was the first to deliver autofocus in video mode. But Canon now has the best implementation as seen on the recently released EOS 70D, thanks to the new on-sensor dual pixel autofocus technology. Take that Nikon and Sony.

We had to wait a little for it, but with this kind of technology I’m all for Canon Inc. taking their time to come up with a good solution rather than a crappy first implementation. This is also why we haven’t yet seen a flip out LCD screen on the higher end models, and why there’s no electronic viewfinder in our DSLRs yet. Trust me on this, once we get our electronic viewfinders out, combined with fast on-sensor phase detection AF, it’ll revolutionize photography.

I wanted to elaborate a little on the recent podcast I did with Planet5D. I mentioned some stuff that I want to clarify a little more.

First is the 70D image quality. I still don’t understand what it is about the fucking megapixels that makes people go crazy. On bigger sensors it makes sense, but not on smaller sensors. At least not right now with the current state of our technology. Increasing the amount of pixels only degrades the image quality more in terms of noise especially at the higher ISO values. The images get to look too rough and grainy and I fucking hate that. Not to mention the fact that the colors look more washed out as well. Even on the 7D this is a problem. I am fucking tired of complaining about this to Japan. The sensor in the 70D could have been kept at around 12-16 megapixels and that would have been enough. The image quality would have been so much better.

Canon 70D Image Quality Sucks Donkey Dick

Check out the above image at 100%. It’s a fucking travesty. Sample images are from Canon Inc.’s website. That landscape photo is shot at ISO 100 at f/11. Check out the noise in the sky. If I didn’t know better I would think that image is shot at ISO 400 or perhaps even ISO 800. But ISO 100??? Jesus fucking christ. My God, my God. And keep in mind that this is probably JPEG with noise reduction turned on. I really don’t want to see the RAW image. It’s probably a fucking nightmare. And at f/11, check out the fine detail in the forest and water. This is what all this extra resolution is for right?? RIGHT?????????? Instead of trees and leafs what we have is fucking green mush. I’m getting fucking tired of pointing out that increasing the megapixels while having to apply noise reduction to keep the noise levels low is FUCKING POINTLESS. All detail gets lost anyway!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DON’T YOU FUCKING MORONS IN JAPAN UNDERSTAND THIS????????

And look at the image with the parrot. That’s at ISO 400 but look at the noise and dithering going on in the image. Then there’s this image of butterflies, if I didn’t know better I’d swear it was taken with a crappy smart phone. Look at it at 100%, it has that rough texture feel to it that’s clearly digital and looks downright ugly. 

I swear to God, if I had a weak heart I would have died by now. One of these days my brain is going to start bleeding in my skull. I had complained about this shit when the 7D came out. Remember the melted hay post? Read it again. You would think that after 3 years Canon would have learned something about this.

Of course it’s not just Canon Inc. that’s to blame but also the fucking moron consumers who think more megapixels is always better. Fortunately we’ve seen recently that people are wisening the fuck up. Many complained about the piece of shit D800 having 37MP while most would have been satisfied with 16MP. I had warned back then that it makes no sense to compete on megapixels. Nokia now has a goddamn phone out that takes images at 41MP!!! The fierce market competition Nikon mentioned got a whole lot fiercer now. What do you think people are going to be choosing now? A bulky D800 that costs so much with a professional lens, or a Nokia Lumia 1020 that is small and easy to carry around and offers you SO MUCH more apart from the 41MP images?

Nokia Lumia 1020

Ya gotta love the camera grip accessory as well. Pure genius. For just a couple of bucks more, not only do you have a killer smart phone with a pretty decent 41MP camera, but you can also have a compact camera as well. The image quality is grainy at the pixel level to be sure, but for a phone it’s phenomenal quality and really more than most people would need. If you have this, why get a dedicated compact camera? Hell, why get a DSLR??

It’s clear that megapixels just won’t cut it anymore as far as Nikon, Sony and Canon are concerned. The smart phone industry is becoming a force to be reckoned with. And the only way you can compete is by offering better image quality — something that’s an advantage of the lager sensor in compact cameras and DSLRs that phones will never have.

Soon uncle Bob will be making 41 and higher megapixel images at the events you cover. You can’t impress clients by showing up with your puny 36MP D800 that captures grainy images and requires a dedicated heavy duty tripod to take sharp images. Nor will the grainy, mushy and digital looking 20MP images from the 70D be enough. The only way your images will surely be able to stand out is with the smooth looking images, even at very high ISO in low light situations, where uncle Bob’s images will start to look like crap. And with beautiful saturated colors free of digital noise and artifacts, where uncle Bob’s images will look dark and grainy as fuck and completely washed out.

>>>> If you can offer a compact camera or DSLR that can take 12MP images in low light shot at ISO 6400 that really look like ISO 400, or even better like ISO 100, then I think you have a chance at competing with smart phones. Otherwise fucking forget about it.

Also important in all of this is lightning fast and accurate autofocus, of course. But smart phones have a much better chance at competing here. They can improve their autofocus performance in various ways, but will never be able to compete with sensor size and thus image quality, as long as the megapixels are kept at reasonable levels. Look at what Fuji is doing with the X100s, the image quality is way ahead.

That’s why in all the years of blogging here I’ve kept hammering on image quality. Fuck the megapixels, give us exceptional image quality instead. Most pros are satisfied with 12-16MP. Look at the 1DX. It’s “just” 18MP, but the images are absolutely gorgeous. Even Kelby ditched Nikon and is now using the 1DX because it’s the fucking best camera on the planet right now. And remember, this is the same Kelby who was hugging a Nikon D4 last year like his firstborn baby.

It’s never too late to see the light.

Here’s what Kelby had to say about the 1DX after using it for the first time:

First Impressions
This was my first time shooting with the 1Dx, and I gotta tell ya — it is a camera absolutely born to shoot sports. I shot at 2,000 ISO all night and you don’t even see any noise (I did no noise reduction). Michael says the Falcon’s crew routinely shoots at 5,000 ISO and you just don’t see any noise, but after the way they had raved about it, I was expecting insanely low amounts of noise, and that’s what I got.

Better than the low noise…
…the auto-focus system on the 1Dx. It’s AF is insane! It’s so fast, and so precise that I know I’m picking up shots I would have missed otherwise. That’s the part that really surprised me. I need more time with it to really get the little nuances of setting it up for my style of shooting, but of everything on this camera, that was what impressed me most.

Everything about the 1Dx feels fast. I was shooting at 12-frames per second and I know that’s only 2-frames faster per second than what I’m used to shooting, but it felt like it was 10 frames faster.

Of course, we knew that a long time ago. This really puts the bullcrap from DxOMark and the fuckwads at EISA into perspective, doesn’t it?

The 5D Mark III would have been so much better with the sensor from the 1DX inside it. I seriously hope Canon Inc. learns from all of this and starts to understand where their focus should be. Either they get it now, or they are going to see a massive decline in business as the smart phone industry becomes an even bigger threat.

The 70D is great with the on-sensor phase detection AF, and the 19-point AF system (thanks Canon Inc., seriously), but it’s a pitty that the image quality isn’t what it could have been, I’m very sorry to say. And not only the stills would have benefitted from this, but especially the movie mode (clean high ISO movies) where the new autofocus technology can really be put to good use. Let’s hope that on the next 7D we get a 16MP sensor instead with on-sensor phase detection AF, and no moiré and stupid crap like that. AND STOP INTENTIONALLY CRIPPLING THE PRODUCTS. There’s no reason why Canon Inc. couldn’t have made the video in the 70D free of moiré and aliasing like the 5D Mark III.

That’s why I liked Dave Dugdale’s rant in the video above starting at 2:50. More people should grow a pair of balls and start telling it like it is.

Another thing I mentioned in the recent podcast I did with Planet5D is the fact that we’re going to see more computational photography in the compact cameras and DSLRs in order to offer unique advantages to the smart phones, apart from image quality and speed. One of the things I’m surprised hasn’t been included so far is multiple exposure noise reduction — taking at least one or more additional shots very quickly after the real one, to be used for noise reduction. This has huge potential for capturing even cleaner low light high ISO shots. We’ve seen in-camera panoramic photography and in-camera HDR, but I think the multi-exposure noise reduction needs to get here fast. The same also goes for in-camera focus bracketing, which Canon Inc. had on some compact camera models in the past, for greater dept of field in macro shots.

Anyway, I’ve got Mitarai on hold on line 2 right now, gotta go.

The very first live interview with yours truly on Planet5D

Mitch from Planet 5D got his 5D Mark III before me. I hate him for that.

Check out the latest podcast on Planet5D, featuring an interview with me done from my remote hideout via Skype. Obviously I had to use some very sophisticated technology to hide my exact location and identity. I think I fooled Mitch, Barry and the lovely Pamela, but I’m quite sure the NSA knows who I am.

I’ll be posting again about this later adding some comments, but I need to focus on some work stuff right now. In the mean time, check it out.

The DxOMark of the Beast

Un-fucking-believable

Boy those morons at DxO Labs really know how to get to me. Their sensor scores for the EOS 70D were recently published, and as you would normally expect by now, it’s way behind the Nikon sensors. If this doesn’t prove to you that they’re on the take from Nikon, then nothing will. I mean, I’m not very impressed with the 70D image quality myself for a few reasons. But giving it that low of a score compared to a fucking 6 year old sensor in the Nikon D300s really is absurd.

The below scores are equally as absurd and sad and do not reflect reality at all. In fact there’s not even a shadow of a doubt in my mind that reality is probably not a concept that’s well understood at DxO Labs.

Wait jest wan bombaclad minute, mon! Dees nuh look irie tuh me!?

I’m beginning to suspect that there’s something bigger going on here and all of this may be leading to something far worse for Canon Inc. I know for a fact that they’re watching us. Just a few days ago on August 28 the below message suddenly popped up in my inbox.

Somebody’s watching me

And this was on the same day that they published their 70D scores. Don’t believe me? Fucking look it up.

So they published that bullshit score for the 70D, and then added me just to see what my reaction would be! This just goes to show you that this is all planned and done on purpose. And I think there’s a larger conspiracy going on here and I intend to get to the bottom of it.

Not too long ago I predicted in my interview at Aputure that this would be a time of tremendous upheaval.

I and many others in this industry got frustrated with Canon more than 3 years ago around the time of the great 1D Mark III debacle. Many ancient civilizations had foretold a time of great upheaval at Canon which would occur in our lifetime during the coming of the new age of Aquarius. And I think that’s what we started experiencing back then. It was a major change in our collective consciousness at Canon. Everyone got fed up with the way Canon Inc. were handling a number of issues, and I took it upon myself to start my blog and let the world know what was going on at Canon. You’ve just witnessed EOS making a serious comeback in this industry, and so far you’ve just seen the beginning. Do you think it’s a coincidence that this is happening in the year 2012?

It’s no coincidence that Canon Inc. is making a major comeback now, with Nikon fatally wounded in the aftermath and left behind hemorrhaging customers to Canon and Sony. And the biblical prophecies clearly stated that during these end times the anti-Christ would unleash the mark of the beast (666) on all of us.

Well folks, what we have here is DxO Labs AKA the anti-Canon, and DxO Mark which is their Mark of the beast.

Don’t believe me? I did some investigation over the weekend and it turns out the letter combination “DxO” contains the number 666 which as you know is the number of the beast. Many of you may be familiar with the ASCII table, which is the code table for characters you see on your computer screen. Well follow the link and look up the decimal values for the characters D, x and O. Here’s what you get: D = 68, x = 120 and O = 79.

Now if you add these decimal values together, you get: 68+120+79 = 267. Now multiply that result by 2.4943820224719101123595505617978 and lo and behold, you get the number 666 — which is the number of the beast.

Coincidence…? I think not.

This, in my honest opinion, is clear evidence that the anti-Canon has been among us for a while now during these last days, and that they have been putting their 666 Mark, the mark of the beast, on our products while trying to deceive all of you to go down the wrong path.

All of you Canon customers out there, you have to remain strong during these challenging times. You will be put to the test. Have faith in Canon. Do NOT get misled by the anti-Canon or you will perish just like Nikon when judgment day comes. Do not accept their DxOMark of the beast!!!

Please take out your bibles now my brothers and sisters, and let us read the following verses together:

Isaiah 50:10 — Who is among you that feareth Canon, that obeyeth the voice of His blogger, that walketh in darkness and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of Canon, and stay upon his Brand.

Isaiah 45:7 — I form the light, and create darkness; I, Canon, do all these things.

1 Corinthians 4:5 — Therefore judge nothing before the time, until Canon come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall every man have praise of Canon.

Psalm 18:28 — You, O Canon, keep my camera working; my Canon turns my darkness into light.

Matthew 6:22 — “The eye is the lens of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.

Job 33:28 — Canon redeemed my soul from going down to Nikon, and I will live to enjoy the light.

2 Samuel 22:29 — For Thou art my lamp, O Canon; and Canon will lighten my darkness.

Psalm 89:15 — Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O Canon.

Canon Explorers of Light

Ephesians 5:8 — For ye were sometimes darkness, but now ye are light in the Canon. Walk as explorers of light.

Luke 16:8 — And Canon commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely; for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the explorers of light.

Revelation 22:5 — And there shall be no night there, and they will need no candle, neither light of the sun; for Canon giveth them speedlight. And they shall reign for ever and ever.

In the name of Canon, AMEN.

Be strong my brothers and sisters. Do not get tempted by the dark side. Stay on the path of light and have faith in Canon. Now take out the tools of joy, granted to us by the lord our Canon, and go out as explorers into the light and be blessed capturing it.

The Canon EOS 70D is here

Yeah I’m a bit late but I actually work for a living here at Canon USA, so sue me. The EOS 70D is out, and you can see some of what’s to come with the 7D Mark II in there. Most importantly the new sensor with on-sensor phase detection autofocus, which, as far as I’m concerned is one of the best innovations we’ve had in a long while. This is going to open up a whole host of possibilities and new features, most of which Canon Inc. will introduce with the higher models.

I mentioned a few posts ago how I was wrapped up in an internal battle with Japan about the godawful 9-point autofocus system. Man that struggle alone lost me another 20% of my hair. I managed to convince Japan to step up the AF system on the lower models, and the 70D now has the same AF from the 7D, which is a big deal. Yes, take note, and you have me to thank for it.

Of course this means the 7D Mark II is gonna have to get the AF system form the 5D Mark III. Before you start smiling keep in mind that the price of the 7D Mark II is gonna be much higher than the 7D. But as far as I can see right now, it’s gonna be worth it. Especially with the frame rate we’re planning on having on it.

The only thing that concerns me right now is the image quality. But before I post about that I’m gonna wait for Japan to deliver the production firmware so I can be fair about it. I don’t know what it is with the Japanese and megapixels. I thought I had won that battle long ago with the 5D Mark III, but they keep on pushing it. I pray to God that the new medium format lineup gets ready soon so that the marketing department can masturbate all over the megapixels there while they leave the 35mm sensors where they are right now.

It’s a fucking shame that the 70D has the autofocus system that should have been in the 6D. Canon Inc. just completely fucked the 6D up by including such an ancient AF system on it. Mainly because of that crap autofocus system I can’t recommend that camera to people when they ask me. You’re just better off getting a 5D Mark III. And if you just can’t afford that, you better get the Nikon D600, tho it’s not that great compared to the 5D Mark III, which is still the best fucking DSLR in the history of human civilization, if we don’t look at the 1DX.

Van Niekerk – In theaters soon.

Van Niekerk, photographer by day and vampire slayer by night, did an ISO comparison between the 1DX, D4, 5D Mark III, 6D ad D600, which I think you should check out. It clearly shows the superiority of the latest Canon EOS models. Some of what he says:

1. To my eye, the Canon 6D and Canon 5D mark III behaved similarly in this aspect – high-ISO performance.
2. There is a definite (but not that an incredible) jump from the Canon 5D mark II, to these two cameras.

[..]
5. The Nikon D600 performed surprisingly poorly, especially if you think of how fantastic the Nikon D3s and Nikon D4 perform, and how the Nikon D3 was the high-ISO king for quite some time. The D600 that I had, did have the latest firmware, so I can’t explain the noticeable poorer performance compared to the other cameras.

Keep in mind that the 5D Mark III is slightly better compared to the 6D with regards to image quality for stills, and much better if you’re doing video (moire, aliasing etc.). Canon Inc. just fucked with the image quality on the 6D and totally sent everything to hell with the piece of crap 9-point AF system.

But what’s even more interesting here about Van Niekerk’s observations is with regards to the Nikon D600. The reason is because this, AGAIN, proves that those goddamn motherfuckers at DxO Labs are fucking fooling the entire industry with their bullshit benchmarks. Just take a look at the screenshot below. You’d think that the D600 is so much better compared to the 5D Mark III and 6D based on those scores. Yet, in reality things are completely different, and I’ve shown this before with my analysis of the piece of crap D800.

DXO Mark Sucks Balls

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, this isn’t a surprise to you. Why people still take those morons at DxOLabs serious is beyond me. I’ve given up long ago to understand this shit. I have better chances understanding my wife to be perfectly honest with you.

Yo’ kin’t go wrong wif a D800 acco’din’ t’them fuckwads at DXOLabs

Anyway, I’ve got a conference call that’s about to start with Tokyo regarding the new 14-24mm lens so until next time. Take care!