In an attempt to speed up its sizable network and lower costs, Facebook recently decided to begin using Google’s WebP image format. The format was designed by Google as a space-saving alternative for PNGs and JPEGs. WebP provides lossless and lossy compression, support for an alpha channel, support for animation and more — all at much smaller sizes and almost identical image quality.
But all of these advantages come at a price, support for the WebP image format outside of your browser is far from universal. Google set it up as a Web format that, for now, is not supported by any of the major operating systems natively. And so, after the switch, when Facebook users tried to download a funny photo or the vacation pics their friends decided to share through Facebook, they wound up with un-viewable WebP files. Read more…
Reviews of the new entry-level full-frame Canon 6D DSLR are starting to make their ways onto the Web. While most reviewers seem to agree that the still image quality of the camera is quite good, the camera appears to suffer from a horrible moiré pattern problem. Gizmodo created the comparison test above pitting the 6D against the 5DMk3, and writes in their review:
All signs pointed toward the 6D sharing the same great video quality of the 5D MK3. The thing that the 5D3 does so well—that no other DSLR has accomplished—is reducing moire patterns (rainbow-like bands along detailed surfaces). But the 6D fails where the 5D3 prevailed. Moire is rampant. This single failure ruins the 6D as a viable alternative to the 5D3 for professional video.
If you’ve been eyeing the 6D, you might want to look elsewhere if solid video recording performance is a must-have for you.
Back in April, there was a small hoopla amongst Nikonians who purchased the Nikon D4 or D800 and discovered that the LCD screen had a greenish tint when compared to the D3s and D700. Nikon denied that anything was wrong with the new cameras, and stated that it was actually the older models that were too cool. A couple of months later, it was rumored that a soon-to-arrive firmware update would address the issue. That update has yet to arrive.
There’s now some good news for those of you looking for a fix “change”. Photographer Noah Bershatsky is reporting that Nikon’s service center will actually do the correction “change”. Read more…
This isn’t a biggie as far as camera issues go, but there are a few photographers reporting some strange discoloration on sections of their Canon 5D Mark III that makes the camera look like it’s a lot older and more beat up than it actually is. Read more…
Canon has issued a couple of service advisories to notify customers of known issues with the 6D and 1D X DSLRs. The former camera has a YouTube problem, while the latter has some autofocus issues for certain customers. Read more…
Back in October, we wrote that the Nikon D600 suffers from excessive sensor dust in the upper left hand corner of the frame — something many owners have been reporting and a flaw confirmed by review sites such as DPReview. Toronto-based artist Kyle Clements wanted to test this himself, so he bought a new D600, pointed it at a white piece of paper, shot 1000 frames, and created the time-lapse video above. Read more…
We tend not to get too excited about sensor dust problems at LensRentals; we clean sensors on every camera after every rental, so it’s just routine. When we started carrying the Nikon D600, they all arrived with a fair amount of dust, but that’s pretty routine, too. Manufacturing and shipping can be a dusty experience. Read more…
Canon made a splash earlier this month by announcing its first EF pancake lens, the Canon 40mm f/2.8 STM. If you’re considering this lens, one thing you should know is that the autofocus noise may interfere with your videos unless you use an external mic. In his review of the lens, photographer Dan Carr writes,
Here then is probably the biggest problem with this lens. With any other Canon lens, if you think the AF motor is making too much noise you can either switch to manual focus mode to disengage the focus motors or with Canons l-series lenses and their ultrasonic motors you simply just turn the focus ring manually yourself and it doesn’t engage the noise producing AF motor. Unfortunately though, the STM motor works in a different way [...] Even when you switch to manual focus mode, rotating the the focus ring engages the STM motor to move the lens elements as the whole thing is a focus by wire system. This means that there is absolutely no way for you to get a silent video. Whether you let the camera do the focusing, as with the new cameras like the 650D/T4i , or whether you do it yourself, you are going to get the background hum as demonstrated in my video
It’s an interesting quirk, since the STM technology is meant to provide smooth and quiet focus for video recording. It may be quiet (here’s a comparison with the 50mm f/1.8 II), but you can’t eliminate it completely. On the flip side, the lens is attracting rave reviews.
A quick update on the “light leak phenomenon” on the 5D Mark III that Canon confirmed last week: after emailing Canon about the issue recently, photographer birdbrain received the following response:
Further to your enquiry we would like to inform you that we very recently (in April) have become aware of this and is now a known issue with the EOS 5D Mark III model. The AE sensor in the camera detects the light from the LCD panel when it is turned on and the exposure value will be altered. The change is not significant as it will be altered by approximately 1/3rd of a stop but can be noticeable. You can continue to use your 5D Mark III and the LCD screen can be turned off to receive the correct exposure.
The video above shows examples of what this 1/3 stop difference does for nighttime photographs. The issue definitely isn’t a huge one (don’t cancel your orders), but the 5D Mark III is a $3,500 camera and it’ll be interesting to see how Canon decides to deal with this flaw.
