Red Dust Storm Hits Sydney

Sydney has been hit by a red dust storm this morning. Find some great images here:

http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/environment/dust-turns-sydney-sky-red/20090923-g0tw.html

Leica Factory Tour

This is quite interesting if your are into camera technology.

dpreview has posted a "Leica Factory Tour". It shows the camera and lens manufacturing in the German plant. Follow the linik below. To access pages 2-4 use the drop down menu on top of the page!

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/leicafactory2009/

Warranty at D-D Photographics – Sydney

I recently had a quite good customer service experience with Discount Digital Photographics (DD Photographics) in regards to their warranty on cameras.

DD Photographics (http://www.d-d-photographics.com.au/) is a popular online retailer for photographic equipment. They also have a store in Sydney and Brisbane where you can test, pick-up or buy.

DD offers competitive prices. Their cameras are genuine manufacturers' products. However, the products are imported by DD from overseas and therefore do not have the Australian manufacturer warranties. Instead DD is the warrantor and their cameras have a 12 month parts and labour warranty.

I was a bit worried about the above when my Canon 5DII suddenly had an issue with the sensor. The camera was 4 months old at the time. And the images looked like this:






DD's repair service was great. The camera was taken back without any questions and returned to me within 2.5 weeks. This was a good customer experience and I can really recommend DD for buying camera equipment in Australia.


Disclaimer: I am not related to DD Photographics, besides the fact that I bought a camera there.

Canon 5D MkII, 5D, 50D – technical data / specification

Cannon has updated their online white paper documents and included the EOS 5D Mark II and EOS 50D.

The white papers are not manuals but offer

• A detailed description of the camera’s features
• Explanation of system enhancements and new technologies
• Comprehensive overview of software and accessories

It’s a great read and highly recommended for all technical minded photographers.



Here is the link:
http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=GetArticleAct&articleID=1787

Nikon announced new high-end DSLR: Nikon D3X

Canon started shipping the 5D MkII. However, Nikon has something new as well.

On Dec 1st 2008 Nikon announced its new top-of-the-range D-SLR, the D3X.

• Nikon FX-format CMOS sensor: 24.5 megapixels, 35.9 x 24.0
• Wide sensitivity range. The D3X offers ISO 100 to ISO 1600. The sensitivity range can be increased by two stops (up to ISO 6400 equivalent) and decreased by one stop (down to ISO 50 equivalent
• New EXPEED-based image processing
• Continuous shooting speed of approx. 5 frames per second in FX format (36 x 24) and 7 frames per second in DX format (24 x 16)
• AF system employing high-density 51-point AF
• Superior durability: Magnesium alloy is used for the exterior cover, chassis and mirror box to ensure light weight and rugged reliability
• High-resolution 3-inch LCD monitor with approx. 920k­-dots (VGA),
• Two Live View modes available

Expected Price

• $7999
• €7728
• £5499

New Canon EOS 5D MkII DSLR camera manual available online

I have to admit, I can't wait to get my hands on the new Canon EOS 5D MkII digital SLR camera. Here is a link for everybody else who is interested in "the details." The user manual for the new camera is available online.



Canon EOS 5D user manual link: http://gdlp01.c-wss.com/gds/6/0300001676/01/eos5dmkii-im-en.pdf



The web rumors say the camera will be available in stores within the next 4 weeks.

James Nachtwey TED prize 2007 Results

In 2007 photojournalist James Nachtwey won the 100k US$ TED prize and was granted "a wish to change the world".

See his inspirational speech here: JN_TED_2007_Link

The results are out now: TED_Wish_2007

Warning: Some may find the images disturbing.