Canon News: EOS 5D Mark III Firmware v1.3.3

Canon have released an updated firmware release (to 1.3.3) for their popular full-frame DSLR, the EOS 5D Mark III.

Canon EOS 5D Mark III

The changes incorporated are:

1. Improves the AF controllability when shooting in Live View mode with a wide-angle lens (fixed focal length or zoom).
2. Corrects some incorrect indications on the "English" and "Russian" menu screens.

One upgraded, you will be unable to revert to a previous version of the firmware.  This may of course have implications for those running any non-Canon 'hacks', such as Magic Lantern.

The firmware is available to download for Mac or Windows here.

Finland / Lapland

Just before Christmas, we were lucky enough to spend a week in Northern Finland, in the resort of Levi.  Not many people would have chosen Northern Finland as an obvious place to go skiing/boarding, but with a chance to also see the Northern Lights, it was worth a pop!  And in fact, it was a terrific holiday - a catered chalet, virtually deserted pistes, adventures on snowmobiles, driving ice karts and husky sledding!

It certainly wasn't a photography break (I even read a fiction book!), but there were some opportunities to take the camera out...

Northern Lights

Despite it allegedly being a spectacular year for the Northern Lights, this isn't that useful if it's cloudy (it almost always is in Finland in December!), or if Auroral activity is low (this was a great site to check activity).  However, near the centre of Levi was a frozen lake, which was a 5 minute trudge to get away from some of the light pollution to maximise the chances of seeing anything.

I spent 4 nights on the frozen lake, with durations ranging from 30 minutes, to nearly 4 hours.  It's virtually impossible to describe how cold -25°C is, with a wind chill as low as -31°C, but suffice to say with 7 layers on my top half, a balaclava, two hats and a hood, three bottom layers and three paris of socks, I was still very cold!

Whilst waiting for the Northern Lights, I helped pass the time by taking a series of photos of the cloud formations, which I've made into a short time-lapse video:

 


Eventually, when the clouds did disappear, on the Northern horizon, there was a bit of a show, which was great.  Not the 'over the head' displays which can be seen sometimes, but at least there was something!  And I was very grateful for my new Canon 16-35 f/2.8 L II, which not only performed amazingly in the cold conditions, but also gave me a wide enough angle!

And here's an example of the Northern Lights, but severely impacted by light pollution (I'm pretty sure the vertical lights were floodlights from nearby buildings.)


Finally, there's no daylight as such in Northern Finland during the Winter, but you do get some amazing light none-the-less...

And cute huskies!

And even reindeer!

And is that Santa and a couple of elves on the ski-lift...?

Ethiopia - Wildlife

I've recently returned from a fortnight in Ethiopia (for my honeymoon!).  Although photography wasn't the main focus, I took the following kit out with me:

• Canon 5D Mark III
• Canon 5D Mark III Manual (camera was only a week old!)
• Canon 70-200 L f/2.8 IS II
• Canon 1.4x extender II
• Canon 24-105 L IS
• Sandisk memory cards (lots)

The objective was to return from the trip, not only with my wife, marriage and photography equipment intact, but also hopefully some nice images of the trip.  In particular, I wanted to get images of the following endemic (only found in Ethiopia) wildlife:

• Gelada baboon
• Walia Ibex
• Ethiopian Wolf

The first two I'd hopefully see during a (very exhausting!) four day trek in the Simien Mountains; the wolves I was hoping to see in the much more accessible Sanetti Plateau in the Bale Mountains, towards the South of the country.

With very limited time (there was plenty of other things to see and do in Ethiopia), I obviously didn't have time to wait for the perfect shot/light, but please find below a link to the images I did capture (YouTube compression really doesn't do justice to the image quality from the 5D)

I'll write another post soon with impressions of the 5D Mark III.

Canon News: EOS 5D Mark III DSLR Launched

Another much anticipated launch for both still and video enthusiasts, Canon have launched the 5D Mark III DSLR.  

Replacing the Mark II, it brings a host of specification upgrades, albeit nothing extraordinary (except the price initially, we assume!):

• 22.3 megapixel full-frame sensor
• 61-point AF
• 6 fps continuous shooting
• ISO 100–25,600 sensitivity, expandable to ISO 102,400
• Full-HD video with manual control
• 14-bit DIGIC 5+ processor
• Weather sealing
• 8.11cm (3.2-inch) 1,040,000-dot screen
• HDR mode

It will be £2999.99 in the UK, initially at least.

More info here, with sample images here.

Canon News: Firmware updates

Hard for me to get too excited about this post as I don't own any of the equipment, but Canon have launched new firmware, helping with compatibility with wireless controllers:

• 1D Mark III Firmware 1.3.0
• 1Ds Mark III Firmware 1.2.0
• 5D Mark II Firmware 1.2.4
• WFT-E2 and WFT E2A Firmware 2.0.0