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.

Canon EOS 6D Review: Beautiful Full-Frame Stills, Crummy Full-Frame Video [Gizmodo]

P.S. You can find some other sample videos captured using the 6D here. The camera performs quite well in low light at high ISOs.

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”.
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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.
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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.
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A little earlier today, we reported on how Sohail Mamdani of BorrowLenses had discovered that one particular Nikon D600 he was testing was consistently overexposing photographs by two stops. After searching long and hard for the cause, he stumbled upon the culprit: the D600 wasn’t closing the aperture blades to the correct opening size.
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Gear reviewer Sohail Mamdani over at BorrowLenses was testing the Canon 6D and Nikon D600 last week by shooting nighttime photos of San Francisco Bay, when he discovered something strange: the DSLRs exposed the scene differently even when all the settings were identical in full manual. The photograph above was captured using the D600 at f/8, 30s, and ISO 100 (in JPEG mode).
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Way back in February 2011, Canon announced that it is developing a new EF 200-400 f/4L IS 1.4x super-telephoto lens. Since then, there hasn’t been much news on when we might finally see the lens on store shelves, and Canon has issued a couple of press releases stating that it has been delayed. Rumors are now emerging that Canon had to go back to the drawing board with the lens in order to resolve a design flaw that had been reported during tests.
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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.
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Have you been getting rashes on your skin, or redness and irritation in your eyes? Do you own a Canon WFT-E7A Wireless File Transmitter? Those two things might be related. If you remember, a couple of months ago, Canon recalled tens of thousands of Rebel T4i/650D DSLRs due to an issue with their rubber grips that caused allergic reactions. The rubber had been overloaded with too much of certain ingredients, leading to an unexpected chemical reaction that caused white flaking. It turns out the faulty rubber was used beyond the Rebel: Canon has just released a product advisory warning that its file transmitter may have the same flaw.
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