Reviews

Camera preview: Canon EOS 40D DSLR

On August 20, just three days ago, Canon announced the new EOS 40D DSLR, the successor to the very good EOS 30D camera. The camera will begin selling in September, and Amazon has already started taking pre-orders. After reviewing the specs and photos, I am impressed. Canon has made the 40D better than the 30D exactly where it mattered, and more.

Canon EOS 40D (front)

The 40D is a bargain considering its features. Let me run through the important ones:

  • 10.1 megapixel CMOS imaging sensor, capable of up to 3200 ISO natively
  • DIGIC III image processor
  • Redesigned AF
  • 6.5 fps continuous shooting capability up to 75 large/fine JPEG or 17 RAW files
  • 3-inch LCD with a higher brightness level and broader color gamut than the 30D
  • Upgraded viewfinder: 0.95x magnification, 264 degrees viewing angle and 22mm eye point)
  • Magnesium-alloy body with dust and weather resistant construction, unlike the 30D
  • Live View (yes, this isn’t a typo)
  • Integrated sensor cleaning

Although the sensor has the same resolution as the Rebel XTi, it is not the same sensor. The 40D’s sensor has microlenses over each pixel to enable increased sensitivity up to 3200 ISO. More importantly, the sensor can recognize four times the number of colors recognized by the 30D, due to its 14-bit color depth (wow!). In addition to this, the 40D also features Highlight Tone Priority and High ISO Noise Reduction functions as the 1D Mark III professional DSLR.

The amazing frame-rate, which is more than the 5 fps rate of the 30D, is achieved through the new DIGIC III processor, DDR SDRAM memory buffering, four-channel per line sensor readout, and two separate motors for shutter and mirror operation.

The on-screen menu now has the same tabbed format as the 1D Mark III DSLR. The viewing angle had to be decreased from 170 to 140 degrees, in order to make the screen more viewable during bright daylight — this is in addition to the improvements cited for the LCD in the bullet points above.

Canon EOS 40D (back)

AF has been re-designed to produce greater precision at all focal points, up to f/5.6, and increased precision for center AF on lenses at or faster than f/2.8. AF calculations are 30% faster on the 40D than the 30D. Photographers can also opt for two focusing screens: a grid-type screen that makes it easy to compose the shots, or a matte screen re-designed for AF precision.

Not many other reviewers have spotted this, but the 40D offers Live View! Yes, indeed, you can now compose your shots using either the viewfinder or the LCD screen. A quick aside: Olympus was the first company to use Live View on their prosumer DSLRs.

Usually, there’s increased shutter lag with Live View, since the mirror has to swing back down to block out the light, then back up to allow for the proper exposure. The shutter lag with the 40D is said to be minimal because the mirror stays up and only the shutter opens when you click the shutter button. This also helps reduce noise and vibration. Oh, did I mention that you can zoom in on the LCD screen to make sure your focusing is tack sharp during Live View?

The Live View function also works with the EOS Utility software, which means you can see just what the camera sees on your computer’s monitor, and control it remotely for studio sessions.

The EOS Integrated Cleaning System shakes off dust from the low-pass plate installed in front of the sensor with ultrasonic vibrations when the camera is turned on or off. A special adhesive collar installed around the sensor collects the dust and holds it there.

There’s a redesigned vertical grip/battery holder, with weather and dust resistance built-in, and a new Wireless File Transmitter (WFT-E3A) has also been introduced. The battery life’s been improved over the 30D, and my guess is you’ll be able to get about 1,500 shots/battery/charge. That means about 3,000 shots altogether with the vertical grip in place.

You can buy the 40D by itself, or with the new EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Standard Zoom (available in October), or the EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Zoom (as pictured below).

Canon EOS 40D (side)

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Reviews

The Ambassador's Daughter (1956)

The Ambassador’s Daughter (1956)We watched it tonight and liked it. It’s a funny romantic comedy full of light laughs. The script’s somewhat thin at times — some of the plot twists are sewn with white thread, as they say — but the acting’s great, in particular that of Olivia de Havilland, who plays the title role. What’s also a rare treat is the location: Paris in the 50s — need I say more about that? The movie’s in color, in spite of the black and white screenshot (which was the only one I could find).

Overall, the movie’s easygoing, and it’s really a wonderful movie for a quiet evening at home. It’s about an innocent, unlikely romance between the daughter of the American ambassador to Paris and an American soldier on leave. It starts out as an experiment for her, but ends up serious, and with a very happy ending.

The movie also has Myrna Loy, and that’s a treat as well. If it only had Bill Powell, too, but you can’t have everything, can you? John Forsythe plays the American soldier. I’d never heard of him before this movie, but he played his part very well.

Pick it up and relax with your significant other while you watch it. It’s a quiet, nice little movie that’ll let you have a peaceful night’s sleep afterwards.

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Thoughts

What should your superpower be?

Blogthings is running a quiz on this, and I went through it. The questions were a bit loaded, and I wasn’t sure about a couple of the answers, but even after I went back and changed them, I still got the same result. That short fuse of mine shows through again… For the record, I don’t think I’m terrifying, and neither does my wife. And I’m not keen on that whole “world belongs to you” business either. But, I’ve got a short fuse, I’ll admit that. And I’m definitely intense, driven, passionate and obsessed — sometimes to my detriment.


Your Superpower Should Be Manipulating Fire
You are intense, internally driven, and passionate. Your emotions are unpredictable – and they often get the better of you. Both radiant and terrifying, people are drawn to you. At your most powerful, you feel like the world belongs to you.

Why you would be a good superhero: You are obsessive enough to give it your all.

Your biggest problem as a superhero: Your moodiness would make it difficult to control your powers.

What Should Your Superpower Be?

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Reviews

The future of image resizing is here

If you think you’ve got it pretty good with Photoshop and Genuine Fractals when it comes to image resizing, think again. Here comes a new technology, developed by Dr. Ariel Shamir, called Content-Aware Image Sizing, that will literally blow away our current concepts of image sizing and cropping. Yeah, it’s that good! I don’t often gush about products, but I would absolutely LOVE to see this software integrated into Photoshop.

You can see the original video here, but know that it’s really slow to load, at least today. It’s also been uploaded to YouTube.

Adobe, are you listening? Please buy this and integrate the functionality into Photoshop.

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Lists

Condensed knowledge for 2007-08-21

  • Knight News Challenge: Round 2 Launches. The Knight News Challenge, in which winners get grants ranging from tiny to huge, is in its second year. It awards big money for innovative ideas using digital experiments to transform community news. The contest is run by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Last year’s winners won awards ranging from $15K to $5 million. If you’ve got a worthwhile idea that’s news-related, by all means, submit it!
  • ProBlogger.net has a great post that points out five WP plugins that can help with managing your comments and responding to readers.
  • Brian Auer of the Epic Edits Weblog has a post on the differences between exposing for highlights, shadows or midtones.
  • A couple of Russians put together a wry video where they demonstrate a new product, the Americanizer. Their English accent is a bit thick, so pay close attention.
  • On the same blog, English Russia, you’ll find another post with HDR photos of the Moscow sewers. These are pretty well done, and I do believe I spotted a crocodile in two of them…
  • The top tech blogs are revolting against Wikipedia’s “no follow” link policy by using the same rel=”no follow” tag in their outgoing links to Wikipedia. Alright! Wikipedia’s been getting a lot of link love for years, and I think they’ve been entirely ungrateful by not responding in kind.
  • Sal Marinello, writing for BlogCritics, has a few words to say about the famed “300 Workout”, the physical regime that prepared the actors for their roles in that movie. A lot of people got it wrong. Also very worth checking out is the site of the physical trainers that put together that workout and trained the actors, Gym Jones. Have a look at the Video section. Very different stuff from what you see in gyms today, but you can’t argue with the results.
  • Mental_Floss has a GREAT post on life before air conditioning. Why is it great? Because it points out why today’s construction is so horribly shoddy — our overreliance on air conditioning lets builders get away with using cardboard and plywood for what passes for homes in the DC area. The homes of old were built with thick insulation, out of stone or brick, and they could do just fine without A/C. If we’d be without A/C nowadays, we couldn’t live in our homes. Kind of makes me sad for all these people buying McMansions on River Road and Georgetown Pike and the like. I see the way they’re built, and it’s an insult to millenia of good building practices…
  • The Daily Mail has an article on spotting illness by looking at our faces.
  • On a similar note, Deputy Dog has a post on the 5 scariest medical mistakes. Don’t read it during lunch…
  • Have you ever wondered about the 100 Inuit words for snow? Here they are.
  • Hans Rosling gave a speech at TED this year, and they’ve posted it to their website. It’s really, really good stuff. You will not regret the 19 minutes spent watching it, I guarantee it. It’s about poverty and developing countries, but he’s got a very different take on things.
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