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Cameras

Canon SX40 HS has much improved video

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One my cameras is a Canon SX1IS that I bought used. This model is probably 2 1/2 years old now. But once I figured out how to really use it (think RAW!), I get great results. I really like using this camera for stills – I don’t have to carry a bag for lenses. Sure, its not a gaziggle pixel camera with the world’s sharpest lens, but I am not shooting professionally. Instead, it provides a lot of capability in a convenient package.

But the SX1 video has been a disappointment. It’s 1920×1080 is decent for relatively non-moving scenes, but once things have motion, the video codec gets blotching, and then there’s always the SX1’s image noise issues at higher ISOs. Since ISO selection is automatic in video mode, the video is nearly unusable in anything other than shooting video outdoors.

The Canon SX40 appears to have greatly improved the video codec, as seen in the sample video clips in this YouTube video – watch in 1080p, if you can:

 

No idea how the new model handles low light as that was not demo’d in that otherwise great video sample. Sony is also coming out with several new cameras that might compete with this, and I have been impressed with their low light capabilities. By next year, I suspect everyone will have full 1080p cameras at the low to mid range, and I have seen indications of 1080p60 – that’s 60 progressive frames per second, full size, coming next year too.

The video demo, above, also includes the required rolling shutter test, panning the camera quickly left and right on a vertical fence. While effective for showing what rolling shutter is, that is not a common scenario. I’ve been discovering some issues with rolling shutter on my Lumix GH-2 at long telephoto settings that are more problematic than fast pans. Specifically, if I use the 45-200mm zoom at the 200mm setting (think 400mm full frame equivalent lens), and then switch into the ETC extended digital teleconverter mode where it isolates just 1920×1080 pixels (multiply by 2.6 times) giving a 1040mm (full frame) effective lens, the very slightest motion produces skew and wobble in the image.

Last week I shot a scene using this feature – since a 1040mm equivalent lens is compressing a huge amount of atmosphere, the thermal refraction occurring in the image made the image wobble. And sure enough, that resulted in rolling shutter issues even though the camera was locked down securely on a tripod!

Some day … an electronic global shutter will be added to CMOS sensors, I suppose. Until then, for long range video shooting, I prefer CCD imagers.

Update: October 10, 2011: I previously labeled the camera the SX40IS but it is the SX40 HS. I corrected that in the title of this post. A lot of us made that mistake as the older cameras it replaces were “IS”.

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Sound, Technical, Techniques

Home made wind suppressing blimp for microphones

Photo taken in the Yellowstone area.
Image via Wikipedia

After dealing with wind one too many times, and especially in Yellowstone, I decided to build my own blimp. I assembled what you see in this photo:

After I built this, I discovered plans on the Internet for this same idea, even using the same components!

The tube is made from two inexpensive bird feeders, purchased at Home Depot. The sections are glued together using epoxy putty. Home Depot said they didn’t have any, but Lowe’s across the street, had Loctite, which is the same thing. I used two packages of Locktite on this.

The handle is a $1.68 paint roller handle, picked up at Lowe’s.

The end caps were made from two wire mesh sink drain covers, trimmed around and glued onto remnants of the bird feeder caps using more epoxy putty. The original bird feeder caps were drilled and then cut out with a jigsaw, leaving the rims.

I originally planned to weld the metal pieces together, but the bird feeder seems to be an aluminum alloy or something and was not weldable with my wire feed welder.

I still have to head to a fabric store to buy some fake fur to sew up a cover. That should happen within the next few days. I’ll try to post a followup picture of the final version.

Pros: Cheap, should work quite well. Can be mounted on any standard paint pole, as well as my 16 foot aluminum window washing pole.

Cons: the handle is not adjustable.

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Cameras, Still photography

Firmware update for the lens?

It seems odd, even to me, a software engineer, to be updating the firmware in my camera lens – but its for real. Panasonic released firmware updates for several of their camera lenses, including the standard 14-42mm kit lens: 43 Rumors | Blog | Panasonic firmware update for four m43 lenses!.

The improvement is said to improve auto-focusing, image stabilization, and reduce potential focus noise when recording video. I have installed the update on my 14-42mm lens via the camera today, without any problems.