One Photo a Day #199 – Dfine test

I wanted to test my new noise control plugin Dfine 2.0 from Nik Software, so went looking for a really nasty lighting situation that would use ISO800 on my Canon 50D. Here is the results, original working title was DOF OFF . Other RAW processing was upon loading in Adobe Photoshop CS4, believe me at the original size the ISO noise was a lot more pronounced. The plugin also works in Adobe Lightroom and Apple Aperture 2.1

p.s. I hate the crop, but it was the only angle I could find to get just one of the ‘off’ labels sharp and the others blurred.

After

Before

Canon updates EOS 50D firmware to 1.0.6

Canon has released an updated firmware for the EOS 50D, as always they recommend updating the software as well. Among changes are a fix for vertical banding (I have installed but not tried it the new firmware out yet).

You can find all the details along with downloads at this link.

One Photo a Day #112

My weapon of choice. Canon EOS 50D with 24-105 f4/L and extended battery grip.

One Photo a Day #104

I had been intending to try a shot of a candle jar for a while. I always loved those shots where you see above and below water and wondered what it would be like with a candle.

One Photo a Day #76

I like this shot, I used Nik Software Silver Efex Pro to convert to B/W with a tint of Sepia. Shot with a 70-200 f/4L with a Canon 500 close up filter.

Click on the image for a larger view, which you really need to appreciate the textures.

One photo a day #8

Day #8 brings Christmas a little closer, we are breaking out the Festive candles!

Aperture 2 + Canon 50D RAW, nice.

I have to say, based on my initial tests the latest Apple update for Canon 50D RAW support is pretty darn nice. Personally I think I prefer what I see in Aperture 2 more than Lightroom 2 and Adobe Camera RAW at this time, detail is nice and noise seems to be handled better.

Only Canon’s software can handle the 6400 and 12800 ISO noise still, and I do not see that changing anytime soon but in general everyday use I am leaning towards Aperture 2 at this point for my 50D files. And that surprises me since I simply adore Lightroom 2 for just about everything else.

No images to share this time, you’ll just have to believe me for now. I’ll take some decent images soon enough and post them using Aperture 2 for processing.

Apple updates RAW support

Apple has updated RAW support for some of the latest cameras.

From the update…

This update extends RAW file compatibility for Aperture 2 and iPhoto ’08 for the following cameras:

Canon EOS 50D
Nikon D90
Sony DSLR-A900
Nikon Coolpix P6000
It also addresses issues related to specific cameras and overall stability.

Find it in Software update or at this link.

Canon EOS 50D 1.0.3 firmware released

Canon has released the much awaited 1.0.3 firmware update for the Canon 50D. Here are the notes, and lets hope that it does indeed deal with the err99…we should find out soon enough.

Link to site

Notes from the page regarding changes,

This firmware update (Version 1.0.3) incorporates the following fixes.

1. Corrects a phenomenon in which an image becomes overexposed when C.Fn.II-3 Highlight tone priority is set to “1″ together with other camera settings. (This correction has already been incorporated in the Version 1.0.2 and later firmware.

2. Corrects a rare phenomenon in which “busy” blinks on the camera’s display panel and the shutter cannot be released due to the timing of battery installation.

3. Corrects a rare phenomenon in which “Err 99″ appears on the camera’s display panel and LCD monitor and the shutter cannot be released due to the timing of pressing the shutter button.

Firmware Version 1.0.3 is for cameras with firmware up to Version 1.0.2. If the camera’s firmware is already Version 1.0.3, it is not necessary to update the firmware.

….

My install was fast and painless, now the testing begins…

Canon 50D err99 failure yet again today

I am going to continue to report the problems I am having with the 50D because it is clear from the hits I get on my blog, forums I’ve read, and posts that I have read that the 50D problems with err99 are more than ‘just a few bad bodies’. Now I will say that it has only happened to me once in maybe 150 shots, but that’s not the point….you should be able to trust hardware to either work or fail (and at the price and brand new status of the 50D I’m going with work not fail), no one wants to be on a shoot or at a place you cannot go back to and take the shot again and have a failure.

Today whilst shooting I got another err99, the interesting part was I knew it was about to happen!

I was shooting shots with high speed burst, the bursts were 3 to 4 frames only and around 15 seconds between each of the bursts. That is plenty of time for those few files to be written from the camera’s memory cache to the compact flash card.

The way I knew something was about to happen is that on the last two or three bursts that I shot the camera appeared to be getting slower between frames. Each frame exposed correctly and the shutter speed was correct but the time between each shot being taken felt like it was getting a little longer each time, and then sure enough it finally did an err99 on me.

This makes me continue to believe what I already feel, the problem is related to the writing to/from the cache and or the compact flash card. I know it’s not the card it’s self since I had been using it for at least a year on my 30D with no problems. And I know it’s not the lens as I have been using that on my 30D for at least a year and a half and have never had a problem with it.