Monthly Archives: November 2011

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CanonS100Canon S100-Camera

I got a pretty sweet deal on this constantly sold out Canon S100. If you find a few available, normally they've marked it up by another $100 dollars. The deal I found happened to come with a bundle for the same price as the basic camera (no tax and free shipping). There were about 7 available at the time, but shortly after posting it on my blog (here), the deal ended.

Fuji-X10-Cheesycam

The Fuji X10 is another hard camera to find for regular price. I was lucky, but shortly after posting this X10 article (here), it's currently on backorder. I'll be testing out the new Fuji X10 and Canon S100 to see which one fits best to replace my GF2.

The X10 is bit larger, very easy to navigate (feels DSLR-ish) and has a better aperture through it's range over the S100. The Canon S100 is smaller, fits in your pocket, and has some fun stylish effects with images. It's sporting Canon's latest Digic 5 processor and is said to be fairly good with controlling noise in low light. The HD video might even be better quality from what I can tell so far. More to come...

Canon Sx240 Fuji X10 Canon S100 Sony NEX5n
Canon SX240, Canon S100, Fuji X10, and Sony NEX-5n

Both cameras are currently sold out, but if it's something you must have for the upcoming holidays, you can find a few with marked up prices via Amazon below.

Fuji-X10
find-price-button Fuji X10 Digital Camera

s100
find-price-button Canon Powershot S100

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The Fuji X10 is in stock and shipping from B&H today (regular price and not marked up like Amazon). I expect it won't be there tomorrow. Following the link (click here).

fuji-x10
find-price-button Fuji X10 Digital Camera

[Update] Looks like they sold out sooner than I thought. I at least gave it one day, but all it takes is a few hours. Hate to rub it in, but mine just showed up from UPS..
Fuji-X10-Cheesycam

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Now that you know what to expect from future Canon cameras, how's that 5D Mark II looking? The camera itself is about 3 years old and it's held up through some of the worst shooting conditions. Even with all the new cameras out, it still holds it's ground. That's one solid product. For portrait Photographers, this Full Frame (not APS-C) camera has an even longer shelf life with it's 22 megapixel images.

Typical price on the Canon 5D Mark II with 24-105mm F4L IS (one of my favorite lenses) normally run you around $3300 bucks. Today over at Amazon it's on sale for under $2750 + Free shipping for Prime members. The lens alone is worth about $1K. Doesn't look like other websites are carrying this deal. Not quite sure why it's discounted at the moment, but you can find it (click here).

Canon 5D Mark III
find-price-button Canon EOS 5D Mark II 21.1MP with EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM

[Update] Talk about snoozing and losing! Looks like they changed the price already, and I know a few people got the deal. Congrats fellas!

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I've always said that since Adobe Lightroom hit version 3, one of the things it does best is Noise Reduction. Don't fear shooting photos in high ISOs if you really need to, you might be able to save it. One thing Lightroom 3 does well is to edit even compressed JPEG files in a somewhat non-destructive way. Just as an example, here's a test from a really bad video sample shot at F/5.6 ISO 6400 from the 5D Mark II. First placed the video file into Sony Vegas at the proper framerate, then exported to an image sequence of TIFF Files. Once I had all the TIFF files, I imported them into Lightroom 3 and ran the amazing Noise filter.

Adobe-Lightroom-3

Once I ran the Noise Filter and color corrected just a bit, I then exported from Lightroom as JPEG files and threw them back into Sony Vegas (same framerate). Don't mind the flickering in the video, this was shot at the worst possible conditions under poor lighting and the TV on. Lightroom is so simple to use because after developing one image, you can apply the same settings across all the images at one time - we're talking thousands of images being batched process. Great for photos, and definitely not the ideal way to de-noise video files, but for you photographers you can see how well Lightroom 3 works.

lightroom-3-noise-reduction
Before and After Applying Noise Filter in Photos (might be too much) - Click to view larger

Right now it's on sale for 50% off only a few days over at B&H (click here) and via Amazon (click here).

Adobe Lightroom
find-price-button Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3

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Merging the sports photographers 1D line along with high end studio 1Ds line brought us the latest Canon 1Dx DSLR. Not yet available, but Amazon has already released a 'notify me' page for the new Canon 1Dx DSLR Camera. Some teaser information, 18.1 MP full frame CMOS sensor, Up to 12fps plus 14fps High speed mode, 100-51200 ISO, up to H:204800, 61 point AF system, 100,000 pixel RGB AE metering, Full 1080HD recording up to 29:59 minutes without interruption. If you want to know more or get notified when it becomes available, there's plenty of other specs, features, and pretty pictures of Canon's 1Dx following the link (click here).

Canon-1Dx-Amazon
visit-button Canon 1Dx Features and Specs page

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Panasonic GX1panasonic 3D1

You've probably heard the buzz around other websites that Panasonic officially announced their GX1 camera (wasn't a big secret) along with another small 3D camera. Their previous GF2 and GF3 cameras were pretty much released one right after the other, and failed to appeal to a mass market. I have a feeling they're missing the boat again with the GX1 mainly because of pricing. In the mini interchangeable lens camera market, we've already seen the Pentax Q, new Olympus cameras, and the new Nikon V1/J1 cameras (which I hear is totally awesome). There's just too much going on right now with small ILC cameras. Although not the same camera body style, personally I think you'd still be better off with a GH2. Pricing found below.

Panasonic GX1
find-price-button Panasonic DMC-GX1

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A few weeks back B&H had Adobe Lightroom 3 on sale for 50% off for 24 hours only. Quite a hit, and many people went in on the deal. Well don't feel bad if you missed out, because here's your second chance. Adobe's Lightroom 3 (legit license) can be had on sale again for the next 6 days over at B&H (click here) and via Amazon (click here).

Adobe Lightroom
find-price-button Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3

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The Fuji X100 has been a very successful camera, and they've followed up with a smaller version called the X10. The X10 is all the buzz right now for the Fuji lineup. If you haven't been keeping up on the X10, this new 2/3" sensor sized 12MP camera has a zoom range from 24-112mm F/2.0-F/2.8. That's pretty amazing specs. To compare the latest Canon S100 (which I just bought) has a 1/1.7" sensor size and zoom range from 24-120mm F/2.0-F/5.9. The camera also offers a hot shoe if you want to expand with a larger external flash.

fuji-x10-camerafuji-x10

So far B&H shows out of stock, Amazon is still accepting pre-orders, and eBay has some as high as double the asking price. I've seen one auction going for $200 dollars above MSRP (and people have paid that price). Poking around the web a bit more, I happened to see BestBuy Online showing the X10 in stock in their warehouse and ships in 1 day. Doesn't say it's available in stores, but the warehouse shows ready to ship. Might be worth looking in to if you've been eyeballing this camera. Find it following the link (click here)

FUJIFILM X10 120-Megapixel Digital Camera - Black
find-price-button Fuji X10 12MP Digital Camera - Available

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If you've been planning to pick up the EVENT rig from Express35.com (old video review above), and wanted to add in an extra handle there's a deal going on. Actually the deal even extends to those who've already purchased the EVENT rig. Personally I find this is an important handle to add if you want to set the rig down on the floor and also adds much more stability when in use. Just check in with Express35.com for details.

Fancier-Event
Express35 EVENT Rig with two handles + MatteBox