Photonic Shunkan

Man is the measure of all things, so said the Greek philosopher, Protagoras. At least when we compare the size of animals we compare them with ourselves to get a sense of their relative scale. The size of an average adult becomes the standard size reference point. The comparative size of a human = 1. What about cameras? A commonly used standard comparative reference point is the 35mm format camera after it was popularised by the Leica I released in 1925. The odd thing about this comparison is that some people refer to a 35mm format camera as being "full frame". The reason for this is that its comparative size is set at relative size = 1. This makes it a 100% sized camera and hence "full frame". This is like saying that a human being is a full frame animal because its comparative size is set at 1, making it a 100% sized creature. Large circle: 640mm diameter of the LSST space telescope's digital sensor Civilian digital camera sensor formats shown for c...

It looks like my predictions are off as Canon has announced the development of the 1DX Mark III: https://photonicshunkan.blogspot.com/2019/06/prediction-canon-will-put-pellicle.html https://photonicshunkan.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-canon-1dx-ii-successor-will-be.html That's OK—since I originally predicted that the move to a pellicle mirror would take another product cycle after the 1DX Mark III. You have to make predictions bold even when you know there is always going to be a chance of being wrong. I wrote: "I thought it would take another product cycle of the 1D line for this to happen given Canon's conservatism, hence my prediction that it will take another 4-8 years, but it may be happening sooner than thought. It might even materialise before the 2020 Olympics." There were false rumours about the Mark III having an extraordinarily fast frame rate, which were little more than rumours, and which made me hope that Canon would ditch its conservatism and mo...

Last week I was surprised to find a photo I had posted to Instagram was being featured on the Tourism Australia Instagram account. Before long it had 30K likes, but nobody asked me for permission to use it. Other business accounts have also used it in their advertising without asking me. This was the shot in question. It was taken on a Sony a99II with the 70-400mm f/4-5.6 G SSM II lens. It's a combination worth about $7K AUD. I usually have 2-3 other camera bodies and lenses at the same time. The expectation it seems is the photographer bring 30K of gear along, paying their own expenses along the way, then hand the results over royalty-free. It's quite bizarre and astonishing. Here it is featured on the Tourism Australia's Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/p/B2RLoICIeI1/ One newspaper reports that Tourism Australia's annual budget for the 2017 year was $129 million dollars. Yet even a photograph shot with $7K AUD worth of equipment should not be ...

When I first started shooting with an interchangeable lens camera, I chose a Canon and considered myself a Canon shooter for a long time. These days I shoot more Fujifilm, both the X and the GFX Systems. I have kept the Canon EF mount system because there are so many lenses you can't get for Fuji mounts. Today, I would discuss how the field vs studio camera difference  that we previously discussed comes into play in practice. Of late I have been shooting a lot of macro work after making friends with Kiki the neighbourhood brushtail possum! They are encountered often in suburbia here in Australia. Here's a little link to the story on Instagram . Kiki is quite the Fujifilm fangirl. When she sees my camera, she comes rushing down from the treetops to say hello. She is fascinated by the Fujifilm camera and goes right up to it, sniffing it and touching it with her hands. There were issues I had with shooting this scene. The biggest one comes from the fact that poss...

I have said it before, and I am reiterating it yet again. Canon has no choice but to reintroduce the pellicle mirror into the EF mount DSLR line of cameras: https://photonicshunkan.blogspot.com/2019/05/prediction-canon-will-reintroduce.html The key factor is that there are too many EF mount users to be able to expect them to dump this mount for mirrorless EVF cameras . The only way to modernise the EF mount line is by reintroducing the pellicle mirror. This will give the camera live exposure preview along with all the other features that are drawing users to mirrorless EVF cameras. Canon will probably introduce IBIS along with eye detect AF because the Nikon D6 is going to get IBIS just like the mirrorless Z mount bodies have already got it (once Nikon adopts a feature Canon follows suit). There is a rumour that Canon is ending its 7D lineage of cameras . I predict that at the same time that the 1D line is upgraded to a pellicle mirror model, the 7D line will also be upgraded to...

As always, Tony Northrup is someone whose opinions I respect. Here are his predictions on which mounts will survive and which will not. A summary of the points with predictions based on sales points can be found at the  Mirrorless Rumors   website. The analysis is based on sales data from Amazon US data and CIPA Japanese data. Tony's strength is that he typically has data to back his analyses up. I am going to counter a little with respectful counter-analysis of his views. First, the things that back him up. Sales of Sony mirrorless cameras are topping the sales lists of nearly all major Japanese sales outlets. Yodobashi camera sales 1st June to 15th June 2019 : 1. Nikon Z 6 24-70+FTZ mount adapter kit 2. Sony α7Ⅲ body 3. Sony α7Ⅲ lens kit 4. Sony α6400 double zoom lens kit 5. Sony α7RⅢ body 6. Nikon D5600 double zoom kit 7. Nikon Z 7 24-70+FTZ mount adapter 8. Canon EOS Kiss M double zoom kit 9. Nikon...