Canon Angle View Finder

Quite a few times I wished I had screen to tilt or an angle finder for the Canon 5D MKII, but I am not willing to spend 200 U$ on an accessory that I will use only once in the blue moon. Luckily there is some cheap alternative from Seagull, a Chinese company selling a variety of photo equipment (inclusive of a range of large format cameras!). You find the angle view finder with a range of adapters for Canon, Nikon, Sony,.. cameras on ebay for about 50U$. There are different models for 2 to 3x magnification, you can switch from 1x to an alternative magnification factor with a mechanical switch, useful to check focus.

My first impression:

• It works.
• The adapter is a bit flimsy, you cant easily slide in and out the view finder.
• If you dont use an angle view finder permanently you can work with this one.

The items in the box

On a Canon 5D MK II

 I dont know about any shop in Singapore selling it off the shelf.

Canon TS-E 17mm shift and tilt lens

I fancied TS lenses for a long time, even bought a 4x5 to experiment some years back, but thats not exactly the kind of camera you carry around with 2 to 6 exposures. Yes, we can use Photoshop and tilt and warp images, fake miniature scenes, etc. but is not the same as using a TS lens. There are only few in the market and they are all expensive (though you can try a shift adapter for MF lenses on Canon or Nikon DSLR). Finally I got one from DDElectronics in Singapore (almost 400 SGD cheaper than other shops in town !), and just start to enjoy this new lens and learn to create images again in a completely new way. I spare you with technical details, as the web has quite a number of reports, tests and comparisons about this:

• http://guytal.com/wordpress/2011/03/review-canon-ts-e-17mm-f4l/
• http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/showproduct.php?product=371
• http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/cameras/lenses/ts-e_17_f4_l.html
• http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-TS-E-17mm-f-4-L-Tilt-Shift-Lens-Review.aspx
• http://www.ronscheffler.com/blog/?page_id=309

I highly recommend to read Peter Hills' introduction about tilt and shift here:

• http://www.redbubble.com/people/peterh111/journal/5713153-an-introduction-to-tilt-shift-photography

Drop by the TS-E 17mm Flickr group with plenty of real-life sample images:

• http://www.flickr.com/groups/canontse17mmf4l/

My first personal impression:

• Its a fantastic lens, a prime lens worth every cent. 
• Crisp sharp.
• You can shoot handheld, its a myth a shift lens always requires a tripod and a big screen.
• Lot of glass without protection, you will take care of this lens !

A quick comparison to get an idea what it means to shift:

1. Shifted 10mm, camera levelled
2. Not shifted but camera tilted up to capture rooftops
3. Not shifted but camera levelled

Lightweight Shooting

Being on a trip with a car in Australia or New Zealand, I dont mind carrying along heavy lenses like the Canon L 100-400, whatever I dont use I can keep in the boot. But sometimes on walk-abouts I prefer to carry less. I decided to go for 2 more prime lenses. The 50/1.4 and the 100/2, despite not being L lenses they are lightweight, very sharp and worth the "little" (as compared to L lenses) money. Both match very nice with the 5D II.

I can recommend Ken Rockwells reviews:

• www.kenrockwell.com/canon/lenses/50mm-f14.htm
• www.kenrockwell.com/canon/lenses/100mm-f2.htm

OEM Panorama Software

The RAW processing application DPP (Digital Photo Professional) is a pretty good tool to work with your images. It is "free", as it comes bundled with the camera, and can even handle the specific characteristics of Canon lenses. Unfortunately it only works with Windows (and dont run properly with WINE under Linux).

But what I dont get is why Canon still bothers to add the application PhotoStitch !? The software is outdated and can handle only perfect flat images and fails the smallest challenge. It rather turn new photographers away from panorama photography. Canon should have done a OEM deal with some of the serious panorama applications, similar to the Photoshop Light Version that you found earlier bundled with scanners and cameras.

11 images aligned.

Stitching error (ghost problem)

Essential Links for Canon (5D) Cameras and Lenses

• http://blog.planet5d.com
• http://www.canonrumors.com
• http://theeoscars.com/5dblog (no updates since 2009)
• http://5dmk2blog.1001noisycameras.com
• http://www.canon5dtips.com
• http://vimeo.com/channels/canon5dmark2 
• http://vimeo.com/channels/68539
• http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Canon
• http://dforum.de/home (in german)

Equipment Update

Decided to send my Canon 1Ds into retirement. I bought it end 2002, shortly after it was launched and the 11MP was a big deal at that time (with a lot of consumer cameras hovering around 3MP) ! Why not 1 Ds III or a 1Ds IV (going to be launched at Photokina) ? I am not going to spend another fortune which could buy me easily a second hand car. And I found a good alternative, the 5D MK II ! Fullframe is a must, so this is the choice when you want to stay in budget. Btw, no 5D III to be released before next year ! The 1Ds served me well accompanying me to a lot of countries and never failed, except the third-party batteries that collapse now after 2 shots.

It is just amazing to compare the specs and results of 2 Canon cameras being apart 3 generations.

• http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos5dmarkii/
• http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Canon/canon_eos1ds.asp

Why not stick completely to the Mamiya ZD (which also runs at 21MP) ?

The Mamiya is an awesome camera together with its wonderful lenses, but the camera can only create stunning results if you use it with a tripod (in my opinion). I still use it, but the 5D is lighter and I have a range of L lenses that are much easier to carry around. The ZD is not for hiking and does not have IS.

Canon Camera Hack

I came across some websites with in-detail information about hacking Canon cameras. Not all, but some models allow changing the firmware in a temporary fashion, means it is non-destructive and reversible. Some pretty cool new functions you get out of an el-cheapo consumer cam. RAW, timelapse, scripting, to name a few.
Unfortunately I dont have one of the supported cameras and I fear if I buy one, it wont support because of a different firmware version.
Why is it interesting for us ? Because we can turn a camera with full-auto only into a manual camera ! (please note I am not 100% sure about this)

Links:
Lifehacker.com (link)
CHDK Wiki (link)

Closing Remark: This "hacking" function seems to be a support function backdoor that found its way into public. X-Files: Maybe it was leaked intentionally to make the camera more hip to the tech geeks ?