Rob Galbraith is reporting that Canon USA has started to inform key photographers of a new autofocus fix for the Canon EOS 1D Mark III (available at Amazon and B & H Photo). There are few details, but he reports that there will be a hardware and / or firmware update. Supposedly, Canon engineers in Japan are confident that they have identified the root cause of the problem. Hopefully, this would be the final hardware fix from Canon. If not, they will really begin losing market share to Nikon.
The Alpha 700 was introduced as a complementary model to the Alpha 100; aimed more at the serious amateur and semi-professional photographer it enters a segment of the market which is buzzing with new models (EOS 40D, D300 and E-3). The A700 clearly has a lot of Minolta DNA(more…)
The Nikon D300 dSLR has been out in the wild for some time (shipping now at Amazon). For all you dSLR Dad’s out there who are looking for one more bit of information to justify that purchase, here you go: (more…)
I love this site. If you have never visited PhotoZone, head over there now. They have posted their review of the new Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S Nikkor Zoom Lens (available at Amazon and B&H Photo). Nikon announced this lens earlier this fall along with the D3 and D300.
The Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED exceeds the already very good performance of its predecessor. The center quality is nothing short of outstanding matching or beating the resolution of a 10mp APS-C sensor. (more…)
The Canon EOS 1D Mark III has been selling for quite a while now (since February 23, 2007 at Amazon). Unfortunately, the pro community have been quarrelling with Canon over the poor performance of the 1D Mark III’s servo-autofocus engine, especially at high temperatures. Rob Galbraith’s site has been out in front of this issue since the beginning (June 19 was his first update). Now Rob has released an update assessing the 1D Mark III’ssub-mirror fix and v1.1.3 firmware.(more…)
California based professional photographer Phil Holland has posted his in-depth report on the Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III.
In this review I’ll go over some real world and not so real world shooting conditions. I’ll also occasionally compare the 1Ds Mark III to the 1Ds Mark II as it’s been my main body for a couple of years now. (more…)
Canon has released a firmware update for the Canon EOS 1D Mark III. This firmware update (Version 1.1.3) incorporates the following improvements and fixes.
Increases transmission speed when using high-speed SD cards.
Fixes a phenomenon involving not being able to release the shutter.
Improves AF tracking in specific conditions.
Corrects errors in the Spanish and Korean menu screens.
Canon USA will be shipping the Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III in the U.S. starting this week. The first units of the 21MP SLR are expected to land on dealer loading docks in the next few days, says Chuck Westfall, Director of Media and Customer Relationship at Canon USA.
Please note that all shipping 1Ds Mark III bodies are supposed to contain the redesigned sub-mirror mechanism already announced for the EOS 1D Mark III.
Canon made it official by announcing that the AF mirror mechanism may be out of adjustment in some EOS-1D Mark III cameras.
After a thorough investigation, we have found that some EOS-1D Mark III cameras may have an issue with the mirror mechanism, which is part of the autofocus optical system. This issue may cause inconsistent focusing accuracy or inconsistent focus tracking with moving subjects when using AI-Servo AF and continuous shooting modes, particularly in high temperatures.
The EOS-1D Mark III cameras that could have this problem can be identified by serial number: If the serial number on the bottom of the camera is between 501001 and 546561, the camera might require an adjustment of its AF mirror mechanism. Please note that the issue occurs only in some EOS-1D Mark III cameras within this serial number range.
If you need more information from Canon, you can find it here.
OK, I know what you’re thinking, ‘come-on, a $39,000 Medium Format vs. a 2 year old $2000 DSLR with a 50% smaller sensor?’. But, while the differences can be seen and 39 Hasselblad Megapixels are certainly great for that full page print ad, the Canon EOS 5D (Amazon, B&H Photo) does show why it’s so highly regarded. Of course, you dSLR Dad’s could always do what most of the pros do, just rent the Hasselblad at $500 a day for that big project….. like for this year’s Christmas cards.
You can read the full article over at Lincoln Barbour’s blog here.