Tag: canon Posts

Good news is I’m fairly happy with the outcome, especially with the branding part of it. Plus transcoding only took about 3 or 4 minutes. I signed up for a Pro Account on a month by month basis for this upcoming weekend. It gives me priority transcoding and the ability to automatically generate iPod specific versions at the same time. The only question left is weather to shoot at 320×240 or 640×480. If I were at home, I’d just shoot 640×480, but the files end up rather large, and if I’m limited to a crappy hotel connection, might prefer speed over quality. Plus, 320×240 is basically iPod/iPhone resolution, so the conversion is easier (it’s going on 15 minutes trying to convert my 640×480 into an iPhone version). I’ll have to think about this one some more. Here’s an embed link which should (in theory) bring up an iPhone media player. […]

I went out tonight and bought a new digital camera, the Canon SD 870 IS. I did some basic research before hand and that was one of about three cameras I considered buying for this upcoming weekend. What sold me on it was that a guy at work recently picked it up and heaped a pile of praise on it. Also, it’s the only camera in it’s class that had image stabilization *and* a useful wideangle end (something most cameras lack of this size). This is, unfortunately, probably the 8th digital camera I’ve purchased in about as many years. Several of them had untimely deaths, and one was even the victim of a previous girlfriend’s stupidity. I have an older model Canon Digital ELPH that hit the floor hard in a New York bar a few years ago, and it’s never been the same. So hopefully this one doesn’t break […]

Image from PBase.com That, my friends, is Canon’s biggest lens, the Canon EF 1200mm f/5.6L. For obvious reasons, they only make a handful of these every year. The cost? Approximately $10,000 $100,000 if I remember correctly.

Last night, Rebecca and Trevor told me about the sex show this weekend taking place at the Vancouver Convention Center. Since I’ve never been to one, and haven’t had an opportunity to take my camera out in a few weeks, I decided to head down and check it out. Live Entertainment In terms of layout and logistics, it was like any other tech conference I had ever been at. There were tons of booths, some of which made sense given the aim of the sex show, and some which obviously shouldn’t have been there. One that comes to mind is Sun Life Financial in the back corner. Seriously, do you really expect many people to sign up for a bank loan at a sex show? Maybe.

As I mentioned in my last blog entry, the other day I had a chance to photography my first wedding. All in all, it was a pretty rewarding experience. The day started at around 11am for me and Hesty. We suited up, did some last minute charging of equipment, and then got in touch with the groom. Normally the photographer heads over to the where the bride is getting ready for some photos, but Kim’s aunt wanted to do those ones, so I was relieved of that duty. We met Mike and the groomsmen down at the Holiday Inn in Langley to get ready. In true Chilliwack style, Mike, instead of hopping in the shower and putting his tux on, convinced everyone to head across the street to get a few beers. So, we started the day in the Shark Club, drinking beer with some old friends. After the groomsmen […]

Considering that my 70-200mm f/2.8L is completely hosed, and there’s absolutely nothing I can do with it, I figured I would just toss it on eBay and see if I could get like $50 from some guy that wanted to play with it or something. So, you can imagine my surprise when, after getting out of the hospital and checking my eBay page, I noticed that the sucker had sold for $260. I was completely clear in the description that the item doesn’t work, and that it would require major repair. But still, I’m completely astounded that someone would pay that much for what I perceive as basically a paper-weight. I’m gonna go around the house tomorrow and see what other broken things I can flog on eBay.

Yesterday, after dropping Boris off at his place so that he could get ready to go to Spain, I went down to Broadway Camera to see if I could play around with a Canon EOS 40D camera. I had called the day before to see if I could actually purchase one, but unfortunately they said they were already completely sold out. So imagine my surprise when, after asking if they had any in stock (which was basically a rhetorical question for me), they said “yeah, we have one here.” Unfortunately for me it was the box that contained the kit-lens, when I really wanted to just purchase the body only. The lens in the kit is a 17-85mm f/4.5-5.6 USM IS lens, which is pretty much the EF-S equivalent of the EF 28-135mm IS lens that is super popular. So, while I really have no use for that lens, I […]

So, I called around this morning, and the first trickle of the Canon 40Ds are hitting stores. Unfortunately, Canon is behind on manufacturing them, and there are tons of pre-orders, so the average Joe won’t be able to buy one for some time. I have my name on a wait list, and I’m pretty sure I’ll get mine on Tuesday, should I still want it. But since today was payday, and I have money sitting aside for it, I think I’ll probably get it.

I got a call from Canon today about my lens with water vapour in it. They verdict: completely unfixable. To be honest, I’m a bit pissed off. When I shipped it out to them, I followed it up with a call telling them it was rather urgent, and they needed to get to it first since it concerned water damage. The lady on the phone told me they were 5 days behind, and there was nothing she could do. Anyways, when they finally get to it, it was corroded inside and not worth fixing. The replacement cost of the new lens is around $1600, so I’m going to be submitting my first ever insurance claim. The shitty part is that I have special insurance on all my camera equipment, except of course that lens since it’s rather recent. Had anything else bit the dust, I would have been able to […]

I told myself before the upcoming wedding that I have to shoot that I would buy what will probably be my last lens for a while, Canon’s EF 24-70 f/2.8L lens. I have a wide angle in my kit, and a medium telephoto (although mine is currently being repaired, it is absolutely great for flattering portraits), and a fixed 50mm prime lens. However, everything in my kit is fairly special purpose, which means I sort of have to know what I am shooting before hand and make sure I have the right lens on. Canon’s best all-purpose zoom lens is the 24-70 f/2.8L. It’s from their professional series line, and it has overlap with both the wide angle and telephoto ends. It’s not cheap, running around $1500, but it’s the kind of lens you can leave on your camera body almost all the time. It’s fairly flexible range is perfect […]