Nikon today announced the world’s first water/shockproof interchangeable lenses for use with the Nikon 1 AW1 compact system camera. The Nikon 1 Nikkor AW 11–27.5mm f/3.5-5.6 lens is a standard zoom equivalent to a 30–74mm lens in a 35mm system, and the 1 Nikkor AW 10mm f/2.8 is a 27mm equivalent wide-angle prime lens with a tough build and a metallic exterior. Both lenses are waterproof (to 15 m and 20 m respectively), shockproof from heights of up to 2m and freezeproof for temperatures down to -10°C. The Nikon 1 Nikkor AW 11–27.5mm f/3.5-5.6 will only be available in a kit with the Nikon 1 AW1 camera, while the 1 Nikkor AW 10mm f/2.8 can also be bought separately, for £299.99 / €359.

DIWA member Steves Digicams have reviewed the Canon PowerShot A620, which features a 7.1 megapixel sensor, 2 inch LCD screen and 4x optical zoom lens equivalent to 35–140 mm focal length.

“These are some of the most well designed models I have dealt with. They are not your typical compact consumer models, yet they are small enough to be carried in a coat pocket or purse. When I first saw the A620 and A610, it seemed like they were a cross between the consumer A95 and the prosumer G6 . After working with the A620, I can now confirm that this is the case. Its high-end features speak of “only the best”, while its more affordable price says “I’m easy on the wallet”.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Canon PowerShot A620 Review

Website: Read my Canon Powershot A620 Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Canon PowerShot A620

Write a Review of the Canon PowerShot A620

Imaging Resource are reporting today that Olympus Japan have just announced a new Ferrari-branded digital camera, which is based upon the the ultracompact Olympus Camedia AZ-1 (first announced on April 19th 2004). 10,000 cameras will be sold worldwide.

Website: Imaging Resource - Olympus and Ferrari announce new digicam

Website: Olympus Japan Press Release

Canon have released a new version of firmware for the Canon EOS 10D DSLR.

This Firmware update (Version 2.0.1) incorporates the following change:

- Correction of the LCD monitor display in firmware version 2.0.0

This firmware update applies to cameras with firmware versions 1.0.0, 1.0.1, or 2.0.0. It is not necessary to perform this update on cameras that already have version 2.0.1 firmware.

Website: Canon EOS 10D Version 2.01 Firmware

Canon have released a new version of firmware for the Canon EOS 10D DSLR.

This Firmware update (Version 2.0.0) incorporates the following changes:

- PictBridge support*
Improvements or corrections to the following:
- The release time lag when using Microdrives
- C.Fn-04 AE lock operations
- Exposure compensation display errors when using the Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2

*PictBridge is a new industry standard for direct printing that allows you to print images without using a computer by directly connecting digital cameras and digital camcorders to a printer, regardless of the devices’ brand and model.

This firmware update applies to cameras with firmware versions 1.0.0 or 1.0.1. It is not necessary to perform this update on cameras that already have version 2.0.0 firmware.

Website: Canon EOS 10D Firmware

It has been quite a long time since I last posted some news about the Canon EOS 10D, with the recent release of the cheaper 300D over-shadowing its big brother. Anyway, Photo.net have published a guide to cleaning the sensor of the EOS 10D and other digital SLRs. Essential reading if you’re starting to get really annoyed by that dust that always appears in the same place, but you’re not quite sure what to do about it.

“If you don’t know if your sensor is clean and want to check, here is how to do it. Put a lens on your camera, set focus to infinity, set exposure compensation to +1, set the aperture to its smallest value (largest number), at least f22, f32 if you have it. Now hold the camera in front a uniformly illuminated target and take a shot. Look at the image. Do you see dark spots? If so you have dust. At wider apertures the dust specs will be much less visible. At f11 they may be very faint and at f8 or wider apertures they may be undetectable.”

Website: Photo.net - Canon 10D Sensor Cleaning Guide

Clint Thayer is a photographer who is lucky enough to own both the Canon EOS 10D and Nikon D100. He has published a comparitive review of both cameras (found via digicamera.net).

“Which one is better? Which one takes the best picture? I receive countless emails asking me this question. I own both cameras, so these questions are certainly not unreasonable to be sure. I?m going to attempt to clarify this for you, and give you some reasons for your considerations. There are many photographers who own or have used both cameras. These are my experiences.”

Website: Comparing the Nikon D100 with the Canon 10D

David Burren is an Australian nature photographer who uses Canon digital camera equipment. He has posted a couple of articles recently that will be of interest to all current and would-be Canon DSLR owners. “Sigma 15-30mm vs. Canon 17-40mm” and “Choosing a wide-angle zoom lens for an EOS D30/D60/10D” are self-explanatory articles with plenty of technical info, personal opinion and sample images. Visit David’s site first if you haven’t bought a wide-angle lens yet (or a 10D for that matter!) (found via digicamera.net).

Website: David Burren Photography

Petteri Sulonen has added a new article to his website which attempts to answer the eternal question that everyone asks on all Canon website forums - “Which lens should I buy?” for my new Canon 10D. If I had a ?/$/Euro for every time that question is asked, I would be a moderately rich man by now…

“In my opinion, before embarking on lens selection, you should sink two fenceposts: budget and weight. A lens that’s too heavy to take along is utterly wasted money. A lens that’s so expensive that it leaves you short in a critical area will also hurt you… although, of course, patience helps—you can always get the other stuff later.”

Website: Petteri’s Pontifications - “Which lens should I buy?”

A new version of firmware, 1.0.1, has been released for the Canon EOS 10D. I think it must win the award for the most unexciting update ever, as it only corrects 2 very minor things:

1. It increases the reliability of USB communication when used with the camera direct print.
2. It corrects wrong simplified Chinese letters on MENU.

Website: Canon BeBit - EOS 10D Firmware Update Version 1.0.1

Popular Photography Magazine have published a 5-page review of the Canon EOS 10D. As with most other reviewers, they seem to quite like it…

“As we said, the Canon EOS 10D is built more like a pro camera than either the D60 or D30. But does it perform like one? On nearly every level, the answer is yes!”

Website: Popular Photography Magazine - Canon EOS 10D

Photoxels are reporting that Canon France have admitted that the focusing issue that many new Canon 10D owners have complained about is a real problem. I’ll see what everyone’s saying on the DPReview Canon DSLR forum…

“French photography magazine Chasseur d’Images made a similar request to Canon France and received an official acknowledgement of the autofocus problem. (They’re still maintaining it affects only a small percentage of owners, though.) The good news is that it is easily fixed with a simple firmware adjustment by Canon.”

Website: Photoxels

Here are a couple of recent Canon EOS 10D user reports/reviews for you (found via digicamera.net), which join a long line of articles and reviews in praising Canon’s latest DSLR.

Website: macdevcenter.com

Website: Photographic.com

Roger Cavanagh is a Canon 10D owner with his own blog and a series of 10D-related articles, the latest of which explains Roger’s current workflow, from downloading files to using Capture One DSLR LE to process them. Worth a read if you’ve just purchased the newly released Capture One software…

Website: Roger Cavanagh - Capture One DSLR LE Workflow

Find out exactly what Michael Reichmann thinks of all the “does your camera focus properly?” questions that have plagued the Canon 10D web forums for the last few weeks. Thankfully my camera seems to focus where it should…

“There are currently two controversies ongoing within the Canon community ? one quite public, about the 10D camera, and the other more contained, concerning something that I wrote a while ago about the Canon 100-400mm zoom lens.

The larger issue concerns the fact that some purchasers of the new Canon 10D digital SLR are complaining that the autofocus doesn’t work properly; that the camera focuses slightly ahead of or behind the intended spot. These complaints have mainly been voiced on Net discussions boards…”

Website: Luminous Landscape - Current Canon Controversies

Norman Koren has published an exellent in-depth look at the Canon EOS 10D, including his reasons for buying the camera, initial impressions, sample images and more. A must-read for anyone that is even remotely interested in buying the 10D, and also for all current 10D owners.

“I was very impressed by the Canon EOS-10D at the PMA show in Las Vegas in early March, 2003. 13x19 inch prints were stunning and 24x36 inch prints still impressive when viewed from a moderate distance. (You wouldn’t expect them to be absolutely sharp at that size.) The fast, positive, 7-point autofocus, rugged magnesium body, lack of obvious shutter lag, and reduced price compared to the D60 ($1499 vs. about $2200) were factors in my decision. I ordered one shortly after I returned home, and it arrived, after a few days delay, at the end of March. This is a big change for me—I’d been using Canon FD manual focus cameras and lenses, which date from 1986 and earlier.”

Website: Norman Koren - Canon EOS 10D

Strictly one for all the Canon owners out there; a new version (1.2.2) of Canon’s File Viewer Utility has been released. Rob Galbraith has all the news and links to the download files for Windows and MAC users. There doesn’t seem to be a massive amount of changes, but I’ve downloaded it anyway…

Rob Galbraith - News

To round-up my brief look at the macro capabilities of the Canon EOS 10D, here are 6 photos of varying quality from my initial try-out of the Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM lens.




What I’ve forgotten/neglected to tell you so far is that all of the macro samples that I’ve posted were inadvertently shot at the 800 ISO setting (I forgot yet again to check the camera settings). So if you assumed that they were ISO 100 images and were maybe a little noisy, think again, because they’re actually ISO 800 images that don’t really display that much noise.

Macro #3	Macro #4	Macro #5
Macro #6	Macro #7	Macro #8

It’s been pointed out to me (thanks Ian!) that yesterday’s sample macro photograph was perhaps not the best subject to choose, as it wasn’t easily identifiable (not identifiable at all really!). So I’m posting a more recognisable subject - the British pound coin - which will hopefully give you a better idea of what the 10D and the Canon 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro lens can do.




As with yesterday’s sample, the images demonstrate 3 things. From left to right, the first photo is a resized version (500x333 pixels) of the original JPEG file, with levels adjustment and USM applied. The second is a 100%, non-altered crop from the original JPEG. The third is a 100% crop with levels adjustment and USM applied.

Macro #2	Macro #2 - 100% Original	Macro #2- 100% Sharpened

I haven’t really posted any samples yet showing what the original images files from the Canon 10D look like - I’ve been too busy using it to try and take photographs, instead of pictures of test charts/rulers/cats etc.




Yesterday I bought a macro lens, the Canon 100mm f/2.8 USM, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to show one of the first pictures that I’ve taken with it in various states. From left to right, the first photo is a resized version (500x333 pixels) of the original JPEG file, with levels adjustment and USM applied. The second is a 100%, non-altered crop from the original JPEG. The third is a 100% crop with levels adjustment and USM applied.




If you’re thinking of buying a 10D or a macro lens, it might give you an idea of what to expect. If you’re not thinking of buying either, you may just want to skip this post entirely and read about the Minolta Dimage S414 review instead.

Macro #1	Macro #1 - 100% Original	Macro 1 - 100% Sharpened