Just recently I was invited to shoot with Andy Teo (Photocillin) at the amazing Ditchley Park, but not just the fantastic house but London fashion designer Daniel Blake’s collection of stunning clothes.

It was a truly amazing day with the models, stylists, hair, make-up team, dressers and a few more making the quick changes as the five models walked, switched outfits and walked some more. There can be few fashion catwalks as lovely as the drawing room in Ditchley Park.

Teaming up with Andy we shot the collection from a range of angles while Daniel Blake presented and explained the materials and styles to the assembled crowd. We needed to keep out of the way and still get great shots.

Please stop by Daniel Blake’s website to see the results he selected.

Here’s a few more of mine including some “behind the scenes” shots.

Styling and steaming – making the clothes and models look their best

What a day – I loved it

It was a great day, such talented and creative people to be around, and a challenging set of photo conditions to deal with quietly and efficiently. I’m pleased that several of my photos including some not seen here are on Daniel Blake’s website and look forward to shooting some more of this kind of work.

Techie stuff…

For the technical minded I used a combination of EOS 5D Mark III with either an EF 50mm f/1.2L USM or EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens. Even with the bright light coming through the windows the shadows were deep, I pushed a couple of flashes up against the wall and aimed them up toward the ceiling – a long way up, and back down – to lift the shadows. ISO stayed fashionably high, over ISO 800 for most of the day. The Speedlites were paired up and so let me employ high speed sync to get fast shutter speeds.

To make use of the new Picture Style you will need to use EOS Utility to install it in your camera before you shoot the movie.

You can download the new Picture Style directly from Canon Inc in Japan for free

Download Video Camera X-series Look Picture Style

Of course like all Picture Styles, once they are loaded in the camera it is possible to shoot still images or video with the Picture Style applied.

One benefit of the “extended” launching and field testing process is that Canon’s various websites are quite full of user testimonials from working professionals who have trialled the lens. Probably hundreds of professional photographers have had the chance to experience the lens. Key will be how many of them stump up the £12K to buy one, or hope their employers and agencies do.

Thorsten Milse – Canon Ambassador has tested the lens on wildlife subjects [CPN link]

Andrew Redington – has tested the lens for golf photography [CPN link]

I’ve seen a pre-production unit recently in Ireland, and also last year in March at Focus. It’s a surprise to search back through the posts on here to find the lens was first announced as in development way back in February 2011.

Today Canon has finally released an update to it’s Beta Project1709, and for me the most important item is the availability of an uploader for the Mac OS. Since the start of the Project1709 there’s been a windows uploader that would automatically upload images from selected folders directly to Project1709, now some seven months later there’s a Mac version.

Once you login to your Project1709 account you select Upload from the top menu and there it is a Mac uploader – much nicer than the old text that suggested I try Windows There’s a little oddity that it offers a Mac OS 10.6 uploader maybe it should say also works on later OS versions.

Once the uploader is downloaded and placed in the Applications folder and run it prompts you to login to your Project1709 account

The installer logs in and then the next step is to select the folder or folders that you want to automatically upload to your Project1709 account. I’d have loved to be able to create a folder from the folder selection dialog box, but it’s not possible. Still I made the folder called Project1709 in my Pictures folder to use for this article.

Project 1709 BETA is free – I’m sure it won’t remain so

The next step is to set some options to determine how the uploader performs.

It’s here that there’s a few clues to the future direction of Project1709, billing for upload space!

Moving the mouse over the little information icons next to Upload Limit Per Month, Start day of month for upload limit I found that the start of the month tooltip says You can change this to be in line with your billing dates. Quite clearly providing unlimited storage for your photo collection is not something that Canon will offer to anyone without charge in the future. However for the Beta test currently running there is no charge or communicated storage limit.

EXIF is key to make the uploader work

Given that I’ve had the experience of images not uploading using the browser upload feature due to missing EXIF. I wanted to see how the uploader handles JPEG images created from a RAW file from Adobe Lightroom. Exporting the file as a JPEG from Lightroom it’s important to preserve the camera EXIF data. I tried multiple different files, but the only one that would create a JPEG that would upload automatically was to leave ALL the EXIF data in the file.

If you use Canon’s DPP software it does always preserve the EXIF information in files it creates. So if your software doesn’t keep the EXIF intact check the settings or use one that does.

Fortunately the uploader does show you that it’s been unable to upload some files, and even allows you to re-enter the camera make and model or have the software provide Default EXIF. To me it seems a bit strange to allow user entry or default EXIF since that is no more accurate or useful than no EXIF data, though at least they tell you which files have had the problem.

I think that for me the uploader will make my use of Project1709 simpler and more streamlined, I might even make a specific Lightroom export preset to ensure that the EXIF data stays in the files.

You might also like to read my initial assessment of Project1709 when it first launched…

The Technical Image Press Association (TIPA) have announced the winning products for their 2013 awards, and Canon have picked up a total of five awards this year out of forty categories of awards given by TIPA.

Twenty seven member magazines and the Camera Journal Press Club (CJPC) of Japan voted for the best product in each category at the TIPA General Assembly in April 2013. TIPA has member magazines from nine European countries plus Australia, Canada, China, South Africa and the USA.

All the awards winners are on the TIPA 2013 awards website

Canon’s TIPA 2013 winning products

EOS-1D C – Best Video DSLR

As the first Canon “hybrid” DSLR, the EOS-1D C has an 18MP full frame CMOS sensor that can capture 4K (4096×2160) or HD video as well as 18MP still images in JPEG and/or RAW format. Geared towards film and TV production, as well as specialty work, onboard 4K recording can be done at 24p or 25p and HD recording at frames rates up to 60p. Recording is done onto CF cards and all Canon EF-mount lenses can be utilized, The EOS-1D C also has all the features of a pro DSLR for still recording, making it an extremely versatile camera for today’s pro shooters.

- TIPA awards 2013

EOS 6D – Best Digital SLR Expert

The Canon EOS 6D melds consumer-oriented features with a very advanced set of photo options. It has a 20.2MP full-frame CMOS sensor and can record Full HD 1080p video; the full frame advantage here is excellent quality at its highest “native” ISO of 25,600 and beyond. The bright 104k 3-inch monitor offers high-resolution viewing for video and live view still shooting, as well as access to many creative controls. A “Q” button evokes a screen menu with the most used controls that, with other dedicated buttons and an 8-way toggle control, makes for a very pleasing and fast shooting experience.

- TIPA awards 2013

EOS 100D – Best Digital SLR Entry Level

The Canon EOS 100D challenges the assumption that DSLRs need to be bulky and creates an attractive alternative to smaller CSC format cameras for those seeking DSLR handling, viewing and of course access to the entire range of Canon EF and EF-S lenses in a very portable and lightweight body. Its 18MP CMOS APS-C sensor has an ISO range of 100-12,800 for stills and 100-6400 for video. Hybrid CMOS AF II offers accurate focus tracking during Live View shooting, and video quality is enhanced with Full HD and Movie Servo AF capability. A 3-inch LCD Touch Screen provides ready access camera controls and functions including numerous Scene and Creative modes.

- TIPA awards 2013

EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM – Best Professional DSLR Lens

This constant aperture Canon zoom is constructed of 18 elements in 13 groups and utilizes 1 Super UD lens element and 2 UD lens elements. Two types of aspherical lenses are combined to help reduce spherical aberration over the entire image area through the full zoom range, plus optimized lens coatings are used to minimize ghosting. The lens is equipped with a circular 9-bladed diaphragm and a ring-type USM and high-speed CPU with optimized AF algorithms to enable silent and fast autofocusing. It is constructed with improved dust sealing and water resistance with fluorine coatings on the front and rear lens surfaces.

- TIPA awards 2013

PIXMA Pro-10

Oddly Canon’s press release this morning shows the PIXMA Pro-10 as winning a TIPA 2013 award, but details are not displayed on the TIPA website at the time of writing.

The PIXMA PRO-10 is a wireless and AirPrint capable printer that utilizes Canon’s new 10-colour LUCIA pigment inks, plus incorporating a Chroma Optimizer cartridge that helps eliminate bronzing and metameric failure effects. The printer offers two paper feeds—a rear tray for a variety of papers and a manual slot feed for thicker and heavier weight inkjet substrates. Utilizing 7,680 4-picoliter-size nozzles, the unit can deliver up to 4800 x 2400 dpi in both colour and monochrome images in sizes up to 13 x 19 inches (A3+). Print speed for an 11×14-inch image on A3+ paper is 3mins 35 secs (5 mins for PT-101).

- TIPA awards 2013

Previous TIPA awards posts

• 2012 – Canon takes six TIPA awards
• 2011 – Canon takes four TIPA awards

The long awaited fimrware for the EOS 5D Mark III is now ready to download for free from Canon. Key improvements in the new firmware suit both videographers and photographers. Clean uncompressed video available from the camera’s HDMI port, autofocus now possible with certain lenses / extenders at f/8 using the centre AF point, plus  AF speed has been improved when using the Speedlite AF assist beam.

Download EOS 5D Mark III firmware v.1.2.1 from Canon USA

-OR-

Download EOS 5D Mark III firmware v.1.2.1 from Canon UK

Canon’s information about the firmware has a few more details…

Changes

Firmware Version 1.2.1 incorporates the following functional improvements and fixes.

1. Uncompressed HDMI output is now enabled.

2. Enables the center AF point to autofocus when the camera is used with Canon EF lens/extender combinations whose combined maximum aperture is f/8.

3. Improves the speed of the camera’s acquisition of focus when using a Canon Speedlite’s AF-assist beam.

4. Fixes a phenomenon in which the LCD monitor may freeze and display Err 70 or Err 80 when a still photo is taken during Live View or in movie shooting mode.

5. Fixes a phenomenon that may occur when the continuous shooting priority setting is enabled for multiple exposures, such that, after the sixth image is taken, there is a slight pause before the remainder of the sequence is completed.

6. Fixes a phenomenon in which the viewfinder display shows incorrect information during AEB shooting.

7. Communication with the WFT-E7 Wireless File Transmitter has been improved.

8. When images have been successfully transferred with the WFT-E7 Wireless File Transmitter through the FTP protocol, an “O” will be displayed. When images have not been successfully transferred with the WFT-E7 Wireless File Transmitter through the FTP protocol, an “X” will be displayed.

9. Fixes a phenomenon in which the camera may not function properly when an Eye-Fi card is used.

10. Fixes a phenomenon in which the focal length value listed in the Exif information is not displayed correctly for images shot with the EF 24-70mm F4L IS USM lens.

11. Fixes a phenomenon in which the lens firmware cannot be updated properly.

12. Corrects errors in the Arabic language menu.

13. Fixes a phenomenon in which the camera changes the AF microadjustment value to -8.

14. Fixes a phenomenon in which the on-screen guidance cannot be fully displayed when setting the maximum limit value for the “Setting the ISO Speed Range for Auto ISO” option.

* Items No.1 through 12 have been incorporated into firmware version 1.2.0.

* Items No.1 through 14 have been incorporated into firmware version 1.2.1.

Firmware Version 1.2.1 is for cameras with firmware version 1.2.0 or earlier. If the camera’s firmware is already version 1.2.1, it is not necessary to update the firmware.

Lenses are not all perfect, in fact perfect lenses are just not possible. They would be impossibly large, heavy and expensive. They’d probably be impossible to manufacture too.

Most modern EOS cameras can be set to automatically improve images taken with a huge range of Canon lenses. There’s a feature in the camera called lens aberration correction and it uses a profile to optimise images.

You can see the difference even with the professional L-series lenses. See the tabs below for an image with no peripheral illumination correction, the default amount that would be applied to in-camera JPG.

• No lens correction
• Correction level in-camera

Uncorrected lens aberration correction for peripheral illumination

In-camera level of lens aberration correction for peripheral illumination

You need to look at the level of corner shading between the two pictures. Clearly the corrected one is less dark at the corners. This picture was taken with an EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM lens on an EOS 6D. Aperture was f/6.3, and the focal length 160mm. The difference is subtle but still exists.

26 out of 40 profiles installed at the factory

Each camera that provides lens aberration correction can store 40 different lens models. Canon typically installs 26 lens profiles in the camera at the factory, the ones installed vary by camera model.

36/40 lens aberration correction profiles installed in EOS 5D Mark III

How to update your camera’s lens profiles

You need to use the Canon EOS Utility software to change the lens profiles in the camera.

 Step 1 – open EOS Utility & select camera settings / remote shooting

Step 2 – choose lens aberration correction

Once the camera settings / remote shooting window opens, select Lens aberration correction – highlighted in red in the screen grab – to bring up the list of lenses installed and available to install.

Step 3 – select the lenses you own, use or plan to use

Selected lens profiles installed in my EOS 5D Mark III

Each new version of EOS Utility adds lenses, sometimes new ones, sometimes older or obsolete ones. I have found some real improvements with an old EF 24mm f/1.4L USM lens I own.

It’s important that if you have or use EF Extenders to add those for the lenses  too. A lens like the EF 135mm f/2.L USM can work with extenders so I would add the lens, the lens plus the 1.4x Mk II extender I have and also the latest 1.4x and 2x Mark III models as they are the ones I most likely will borrow or rent.

The lens aberration correction profiles are different to the enhancement provided by the Digital Lens Optimizer (DLO) feature in Digital Photo Professional (DPP). You can read more about DLO here. 

Just a quick post as I’m about to head for the airport for a trip to the Emerald Isle to deliver photo workshops and seminars over the weekend.

Saturday: Mahers Photographic, Drogheda

I’m really excited and pleased to be invited back to deliver two sessions of seminars in Drogheda for Mahers Photographic on Saturday. Plenty of advice on equipment, configuration, software and lighting over the two sessions.

Sunday: Photofest Ireland, Dublin

On Sunday I’ll be at Photofest on the Canon Ireland booth delivering some free to watch seminars all about working with the EOS 6D wirelessly. I’ll add in some Speedlite flash, workflow and a range of topics. I even hear that Canon Ireland has a pre-production sample of the mythical EF 200-400mm lens on their booth.

Then once the shows are over you can find me on  the Canon Ireland facebook page answering questions from around 15:00 for an hour or so. Make sure to get your questions on their page, and while you’re on facebook make sure to like Brian Worley – p4pictures too.

I’ve been doing some picture searches for an up and coming presentation and found these tight headshot pictures of the distinctive model Ivory Flame.

These are simply the full image as shot, not cropped and just a tweak to the overall brightness in Lightroom. Lighting with Elinchrom studio lights with Elinchrom Rotalux softboxes.

I have a favourite, but which is yours?

Amid an environment of continued economic weakness with slowdown of growth in China and Europe, Canon’s results show a sales and profit decline. The company sees that markets are cooling and price competition is getting ever more severe.

However the company still expects a stronger global economic recovery in the second half of 2013, and plans to activate the market with vigorous sales and marketing activities. They also hope that investment in new products will improve product competitiveness.

Particularly hard hit this quarter was the compact camera business (PowerShot/IXUS) with a negative 37% growth rate over last year and DSLR (EOS) with a negative 15% growth. Interestingly Inkjet printers showed a positive turn, up 14% in volume.

Given that the company still is predicting to beat it’s last full year projections for 2013 they must have some great new products that will launch soon and sell well.

Full details can be found on Canon Inc. Investor Relations site. [link]

In the past I’ve followed the market shares of camera brands quite closely, these days it’s not so critical, but it’s important to ensure I provide training for the most important camera system, the one that sells the most cameras. That is why I specialise in providing Canon EOS system training. Canon’s press release this morning announces that they have held a global #1 market position in terms of the numbers of cameras sold for a consecutive ten year period from 2003 to 2012.

In 2003 the EOS 300D was launched in London t0 a packed European press event with more than 400 journalists (I was there). At the time the potential size of a consumer market for digital SLR cameras was created from predictions, guesswork and a bit of hope. Moving forward 10 years and I looked at the Camera and Imaging Product Association (CIPA) website to find that in 2012 the industry shipped over 16 million DSLR cameras at an average price of ¥38,760 (about £280 at December’s exchange rate). That’s not including mirror-less models.  I’m sure that means that there is a big number of Canon camera owners out there that need my training

Canon press release…

Canon holds No. 1 share of global interchangeable-lens digital camera market for 10 years running

TOKYO, Japan, April 22, 2013—Canon Inc. today announced that the company’s interchangeable-lens digital cameras (digital SLR and compact-system cameras) have consistently maintained the No. 1 share worldwide in terms of volume within the interchangeable-lens digital camera market for the 10-year period from 2003 to 2012.*¹

In addition to the interchangeable lenses, Canon also develops its own key components—the CMOS image sensors and image processors—employed in the company’s interchangeable-lens cameras, incorporating the most advanced of these technologies in its flagship EOS-1D series. By applying these technologies to other models as well, Canon has successfully created a powerful product lineup that effectively responds to the needs of a wide range of users, from professionals to entry-level users, which has enabled the company to maintain the top global share.

In 2003, the dawn of digital SLR cameras, Canon introduced its breakthrough EOS 300D Digital, a compact and lightweight user-friendly camera that set the stage for growth in the digital SLR market while, at the same time, captured the top share of the global market. Since that time, Canon, in the company’s ongoing pursuit of high image quality, has launched a number of models targeting advanced-amateur users that offer among the highest levels of performance for their class, including the EOS 5D series, which paved the way for digital SLR video recording.

In 2012, Canon celebrated the 25th anniversary of the introduction of the EOS system and marked its 10th consecutive year as the market’s world leader. During the year, Canon launched the compact-system EOS M, aimed at expanding the company’s entry-level user base, along with the EOS 6D, the world’s smallest and lightest*² digital SLR camera equipped with a 35 mm full-frame CMOS sensor, which contributed to the growth of the advanced-amateur user segment.

This year, Canon introduced the EOS 100D, the world’s smallest and lightest*2 digital SLR camera equipped with an APS-C-size sensor, bolstering its product lineup with a model befitting the industry’s top brand while targeting its 11th straight year as the world’s market leader.

With a history of producing cameras that dates back to the company’s founding in 1937, Canon will continue refining its diverse imaging technologies based on its core optical technologies, striving to produce exceptional and reliable lenses and cameras that cater to the varying needs of photographers—from first-time users to advanced amateurs and professionals—while contributing to expanding the photographic and video imaging culture.

*¹ Based on a survey by Canon.

*² As of March 1, 2013, based on a Canon survey.

– ENDS –

Odd file numbering behaviour… or is it?

The photographer was using an EOS 5D Mark III with an SD card and a CF card in the camera and the camera was set to put JPG images on the SD card and RAW images on the CF; what Canon terms Record Separately.

When he gets back from a shoot he takes out the CF card and downloads the RAW images to his computer then erases the card – either in his computer or by formatting in camera. The next image is created in a new folder and is once again numbered 0001. He was a bit perplexed since he expected  (aka hoped) that it would just carry on from the last numbered image. He was convinced that even though he had made sure that File Numbering was set to Continuous, it still reset the file number.

What’s more his folders 100EOS5D, 101EOS5D were increasing each time even if they were not full. Normally the camera only increases the folder number once IMG_9999 has been written to the folder. He asked if there was something odd about his camera – it kept forgetting the last file number and in the case of shooting several projects in one day could create the problem with multiple IMG_0001 images being created.

The reason why

As both cards are being written to by the camera then the camera needs to ensure that the images can be safely written without overwriting an existing image. You can think of it like this; the camera remembers that the last file number it created was in folder 104EOS5D and was IMG_0670. Normally you would expect that the next image would be IMG_0671 in the same folder.

However since the camera has only one card with the 104EOS5D folder it needs to do something to create a folder on the empty CF card. What it does is create a new folder that is one number higher than the highest numbered folder it can find on either card. So it creates 105EOS5D on both cards and also the act of folder creation resets the file number to IMG_0001.

A solution…

This apparent odd behaviour is due to the fact that the SD card was not also formatted or cleared at the same time as the CF card, so the solution is to format the SD card and the CF card once the images have been transferred to the computer. Then the file numbers follow on in the expected order.

Not just EOS 5D Mark III

This is a situation that occurs with several cameras that can record separately to multiple cards like the EOS-1D Mark III, EOS-1Ds Mark III, EOS-1D Mark IV, EOS-1D X and EOS-1D C. You could get a similar situation if you use a WiFi transmitter and connect external storage to it for some other camera too.

There’s a certain sense of satisfaction finding out the cause of these kinds of behaviours and then helping photographers understand why they happen, so if you have similar settings or deep Canon system questions that you seek answers for then get in touch.

Eagle-eyed readers of Canon USA’s website have noticed that “A firmware update for the EOS 5D Mark III is scheduled to be released on April 30, 2013“

This is the long awaited update for the AF system to work with lenses, or lenses and extenders, with a maximum aperture of f/8, and also provides the option for a clean HDMI output signal as required for external video recording devices like the Atomos Ninja 2. Canon actually must have released a firmware beta to some vendors at the recent NAB show in Las Vegas, since there were several reports of external recorders working with a clean HDMI signal from EOS 5D Mark III cameras.

Twelve more sleeps…

It’s been nearly six month in the making – Canon pre-announced this firmware in October last year – so it would be great for the firmware to have a few other nice fixes too. Red focus points in AI Servo would appeal to me for sure!

It seems to be turning in to firmware news week

EOS 6D firmware update v1.1.3 now available

Canon has made a new version of firmware available for the EOS 6D camera, it’s recommended for all customers with prior versions of the camera firmware to update to the latest version.

Download EOS 6D firmware version 1.1.3

Can says firmware update version 1.13 incorporates the following fix:

Fixes a phenomenon whereby the Date/Time/Zone settings screen appears on the LCD display, after the user has already configured these settings. The values for the Date/Time settings may reset if the backup functions which retain those values do not perform properly.

Even if the camera does not exhibit this phenomenon currently, it may in the future. We recommend that you update the Firmware to version 1.1.3 as soon as possible.

As it’s now April 2013, and half way through at that, I’m wondering when in the next two weeks will be the release of the updates for the EOS 5D Mark III that were “pre-announced” way back. The clean HDMI output was demonstrated on several EOS 5D Mark III cameras at the recent NAB show in Las Vegas so it can’t be far away…

One of the keys to these pictures is the expression on the faces of the models, we’re not after the normal, but we need the expressive and with these great performers that’s what I got.

Here’s a few for you…