McGillveray Studios

Canon 40D

Canon released an up dated firmware for the Canon 40D. I have a 40D and the update was released without the fan fare from some of the large web sites. I guess as it is not the latest in this line of cameras, the 50D is.

1.  Fixes a malfunction that in rare occurrence causes a low battery indication to be displayed when using the EF 85mm F1.2L II USM lens. Depending on the battery check timing of the camera, the battery level displayed on the camera’s LCD data panel may shows Battery will be exhausted soon or Battery must be recharged, even though the battery capacity is sufficient.
2. Fixes a malfunction that in rare occurrence causes an Err 06 Self Cleaning Sensor malfunction to appear on the camera’s LCD monitor and LCD data panel, even when the Self Cleaning Sensor Unit is operating normally. This message may appear depending on the timing of when the camera is switch to the ON position.
3. Fixes a malfunction that prevents correct colors from being printed when direct printing. RAW images captured using the camera’s custom Picture Styles (Emerald, etc.), which have been downloaded from Canon’s Web site and registered under User Def. 2 or User Def.
4. Modifies the level of subject brightness that causes the AF-assist beam to fire when using an external Speedlite.
5. Enables an external flash connected to the camera’s synchro terminal to fire even when the camera’s built-in flash is popped up.

Link to the update procedure and firmware files on the Canon site.

X-Rite sent me an email today that said they released tutorial videos for the colormunki. They are quite nicely done and one video is about basic colour management. The links to the downloads are below.

Download today and get the most out of your ColorMunki purchase!

ColorMunki Photo users on MAC:
Download Interactive Flash Training using the following link (or paste link directly into your browser) 101 MB:
http://colormunki.xrite.com/Documents/Literature/EN/CMPhotoTraining_Mac_EN.zip

ColorMunki Photo users on WIN XP and Vista 32:
Download Interactive Flash Training using the following link (or paste link directly into your browser) 98 MB: http://colormunki.xrite.com/downloads/software/ColorMunki/PhotoTrainingVideo/Win_XP_Vista32/CMPhoto_WinXP_V32_EN.exe

ColorMunki Photo users on WIN Vista 64:
Download Interactive Flash Training using the following link (or paste link directly into your browser) 98 MB: http://colormunki.xrite.com/downloads/software/ColorMunki/PhotoTrainingVideo/Win_Vista64/cmphoto_vista64_en.exe
If you have download difficulty, please click here for more detailed instructions.

If you would like to have a training disk mailed to you, please send your request with shipping information to cmphototrainingcd@xrite.com.

Pro photographer and film maker Phil Holland produced this video with the new Canon 5D Mark II. It is pretty neat that now you can shoot a full 1080p video with this camera, for about the same price that I paid for my 5D 18 months ago. Will not be buying it right away though as the stock market beat me up too. This is an amazing camera for the price. The image quality is close to, if not even better than the $5000 more top of the line Canon 1Ds Mark III.

Santa Monica Sunrise – Shot with a Canon 5D Mark II from Phil Holland on Vimeo.

The previous post I did the pictures  with Essential HDR and this is an older picture done with Photomatix 3. The image alignment is much improved in Photomatix 3 over version 2 and works very well. This was done in Exposure Blending mode, which is a lot like Fast Tone Balancer in Essential HDR. Photomatix has more sliders and options for tonemapping, but Essential HDR is simple. Essential HDR claims it produces less artifacts in smooth and out of focus areas. I know that this a bit unfair as this pic is vertical and the others are horizontal, but I like this older pic. I have other small HDR Photomatix pics in a previous post. Then there are Essential HDR examples in this post. Which is better? I really don’t know. What do you think?

This photo was taken with a Cannon 5D 70-200L IS UCM with -2, 0, +2 f/stops on a tripod.

A new HDR tone mapping program just has been released. This program called Essential HDR is very quick and easy to use. It will align and process RAW files right out of the camera and get the colour balance right. There is 2 tone-mapping algorithms, one called Fast Tone Balancer and one called Detail Reveler. This program has only a few sliders for tone mapping, but they work, making creating HDR images very easy. You also get the usual colour balance, brightness and contrast sliders. I gave a little sharpening and a little contrast boost to these quick examples in Lightroom after exporting the images as a .tiff files. There is a 30% discount for the first 1000 buyers and of this writing the discount is still good, but it has been selling since I think the July 18, so hurry. That makes the price only $49 USD.

See also this post about comparing Essential HDR and Photomatix, with a Photomatix example.

This image was created using 3 files -2, 0, +2  f/stops using the Fast Tone Balancer.

This image was created using 3 files -2, 0, +2  f/stops using the Detail Reveler.

This image was created using 3 files -2, 0, +2  f/stops using the Fast Tone Balancer.

This image was created using 3 files -2, 0, +2  f/stops using the Detail Reveler.

All these pictures were taken hand held with a Cannon 40D, 6 frames/sec. You can see this program can align the images properly. I recommend this program. Get it before the price goes up!

Here is the LINK

I like new technology and here is some. A 360 deg full panoramic movie camera. The camera features 11 lenses that plugs into a real time blending box and some serious video streaming equipment. The camera is the product of Immersive Media of Calgary, Alberta and they have a lot of demo movies on their web site, including one of Stanley Park and Whistler village! To get to those movies click on the 360 deg sightings icon on the top right of their header and click on the location icon in the Google map. Or Click Here. It is one of the coolest things I have seen in awhile. Click and pan in the movie screen to pan all around.

Or check out the special surfer coverage on the Red Bull site!