Canon Celebrates Grand Opening of its Most Advanced Cinema Industry Resources Facility to Date

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More information about the new facility in Burbank, California is here, the folks at NoFilmSchool had the chance to mak a visit.

Canon press release:

New Professional Service & Support Center in Burbank, Calif., Becomes Dedicated Location for Studios, Post-Production Facilities, Suppliers and Professional Organizations

MELVILLE, N.Y., July 13, 2017 – Continuing its support of professional clients in the filmmaking and still imaging communities, Canon today officially opened its doors to its newest Professional Technology & Support Center in Burbank, Calif. Evolving from what began at Canon’s original Hollywood facility, the new state-of-the-art Canon Burbank facility provides these customers with enhanced technical environments and accessible service and support.

Canon Burbank is poised to support Canon’s clients’ productivity through a dynamic mix of product evaluation and testing, product & workflow training, industry events and expedited repairs. Every aspect of the new facility’s design and operation was made in consideration of improving customers’ experience with Canon products from input to output, and in improving access to the highly trained Canon service and support team. Facility highlights include:

• Enhanced on-site repair capabilities

• Industry standard 4K projection and DI capabilities

• Workflow Lab for software training and NLE workflows

• Image lab for in-depth camera & lens testing, demonstration and troubleshooting

• Fully equipped multipurpose room for training, events, demonstration and shooting

• Immersive product showroom

“Since our 2011 launch of Cinema EOS, Canon has been steadfastly committed to exceeding the high expectations of our professional clients in the production community,” said Eliott Peck, executive vice president and general manager of the Imaging Technologies & Communications Group, Canon U.S.A., Inc. “Our new Burbank location represents the culmination of our commitment to listen to our clients, understand their needs and provide them with what they need to bring their artistic and passion projects to life. As Canon continues on its journey to support the production community and evolve with changes in this industry, our mission is now clearer than ever, to be a resource and a beacon for industry professionals.”

At Canon Burbank, customers may now take advantage of walk-in service Monday through Friday, with plenty of convenient parking. The location will feature a steady calendar of educational offerings from top professionals on the latest equipment and filmmaking techniques, the ability to color correct and screen content, and a lab for testing Canon cameras and lenses. The facility’s multipurpose room is also configurable for industry gatherings and special events.

The new Burbank location is yet another extension of Canon Professional Services’ (CPS) powerful support network for the region’s professional photographers, filmmakers, and videographers. CPS members are invited to visit Canon Burbank for all of their service needs, Canon Live Learning sessions, and professional training tailored to their needs.

For a virtual tour and more information on the Burbank facility – usa.canon.com/canon-burbank

Off Brand: Leica announce TL2 mirrorless camera with 24MP and 4K video ($1950)

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Leica TL2 at a glance:

  • 24.2MP APS-C CMOS Sensor
  • Leica Maestro II Image Processor
  • UHD 4K30 and Full HD 1080p60 Video
  • Up to 20 fps Shooting and ISO 50000
  • 3.7″ 1.3m-Dot Touchscreen LCD Monitor
  • 49-Point Contrast-Detect AF System
  • Electronic Shutter Function: 1/40000 Sec
  • MyCamera Menu; Faster Touch Controls
  • 32GB Memory and UHS-II SD Card Slot
  • Integrated Wi-Fi and USB 3.0 Type-C Port

Pre-order the Leica TL2 ($1,950) at B&H Photo | Adorama

Leica press release:

Leica Camera presents the Leica TL2: Perfected features and persuasive performance meet unique design.

Wetzlar, 10 July 2017. Based on the Leica TL-System, which has been continuously advanced in terms of speed, ease of handling and flexibility since its market launch, the new Leica TL2 embraces all the perfected features and leads the innovative camera concept into a new generation with additional innovations and new design aspects. The particular hallmark of the Leica TL2 is the unusual design of its compact body. Each camera body is precisely machined from a single block of aluminium in the Leica factory. The use of premium materials and their engineering in an elaborate manufacturing process are unique in the history of camera construction and lend the Leica TL2 an unmistakeable look, feel and solidity.

Brilliant still pictures and video footage

The Leica TL2 is equipped with a newly developed, 24-megapixel CMOS sensor in APS-C format that, in combination with an equally new, Maestro II series high-performance image processor, guarantees outstanding picture quality with impressive dynamic range, excellent contrast and colour rendition, exceptional sharpness and finest resolution of details. However, the Leica TL2 impresses not only with its still picture performance, but also with its video capabilities. The camera’s various video recording modes, such as 4K (3840 x 2160p at 30 frames per second), full HD (1920 x 1080p at 60 frames per second), HD (1280 x 720p at 60 frames per second or slow motion [SLOMO] captured at 120 frames per second), leave absolutely nothing to be desired.

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Canon EOS 6D Mark II seems to have less dynamic range than EOS 80D and EOS 6D

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This might stir more disappointment than the ridicolous and boring discussion abut the lack of 4K in the Canon EOS 6D Mark II.

A user of the Fred Miranda forum posted some test results he did on raw files shot with the EOS 6D Mark II. According to this figures the EOS 6D Mark II has less dynamic range than the EOS 5D Mark II, EOS 1D X Mark II and even less than the APS-C sized EOS 80D and the EOS 6D.

User cgarcia writes:

At the pixel level, the ISO 100 […] image (IMG_9106.CR2) reaches 11.04 EV at 26MP (11.89 normalized to 8MP) compared with my 6D which reached 11.53 EV at 20MP (12.19 EV normalized to 8MP). The measured read noise is 7.53556 DN (compared to about 4.68699 DN in my 6D). The new sensor uses a 512 blackpoint at ISO 100 instead of 2048 (just like the new crowd of sensors). But unfortunately doesn’t achieves their dynamic range performance. The measured white point is 16383, which could point to a preproduction camera (my 6D doesn’t seem to top there at ISO 100) so the real dynamic range could be even half a bit less.

Instruction to replicate the tests are provided in the discussion thread.

Pre-orders USA:

Pre-orders UK:

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Canon EOS 6D Mark II user manual available

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EOS 6D Mark II at a glance:

  • 26.2MP Full-Frame CMOS Sensor
  • DIGIC 7 Image Processor
  • 45-Point All-Cross Type AF System
  • Full HD Video at 60 fps; Electronic IS
  • 3.0″ Vari-Angle Touchscreen LCD
  • Dual Pixel CMOS AF and Movie Servo AF
  • Native ISO 40000, Expanded to ISO 102400
  • 6.5 fps Shooting; Time-Lapse & HDR Movie
  • Built-In GPS, Bluetooth, & Wi-Fi w/ NFC
  • Dust and Water Resistant; SD Card Slot

You can download the user manual for the new Canon EOS 6D Mark II. Good to learn more about the features of Canon’s new entry-level fullframe DSLR.

Sample pictures shot by DPPreview with a pre-production EOS 6D Mark II are here. An introduction to the EOS 6D Mark II is here. Canon Japan’s sample photos and videos are here.

Pre-orders USA:

Pre-orders UK:

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Canon EF-S 35mm f/2.8 Macro IS STM in stock & ready to ship

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At a glance:

  • Standard macro prime designed for APS-C-format Canon DSLRs, this lens offers a 56mm equivalent focal length.
  • One glass-molded aspherical element is featured in the optical design to control spherical aberrations and deliver a high degree of sharpness and clarity.
  • Maximum 1:1 magnification and a minimum focusing distance of 5.1″ permits making life-size imagery of close-up subjects.
  • Built-in front-facing Macro Lite LED can be used to produce additional illumination to subjects when working at close distances. The light can be configured to illuminate only the right or left side, or both sides, and the brightness can be adjusted in order to produce greater visual depth and reduce shadows caused by the close proximity of the lens to the subject.
  • Hybrid IS image stabilization minimizes the appearance of camera shake for sharper imagery when shooting handheld.
  • Lead-screw-type STM stepping motor offers fast, quiet, smooth, and accurate autofocus performance that is ideal for video recording as well as still shooting.
  • Full-time manual focus mode (AF+MF) lets you instantly switch to manual focus control in AF mode for making fine-tuned adjustments.
  • Rounded seven-blade diaphragm and bright f/2.8 maximum aperture help to render smooth and pleasing bokeh to benefit shallow depth of field imagery.

The Canon EF-S 35mm f/2.8 Macro IS STM is in stock at various retailers for $349: Adorama | B&H Photo | Amazon

DPReview posted a set of 68 sample pictures shot with the Canon EF-S 35mm f/2.8 Macro IS STM.

Canon’s satellite CE-SAT 1 is building a high-resolution Earth-imaging system using EOS 5D Mark III

CE-SAT 1
CE-SAT 1 (© Canon)

We wrote about Canon’s foray into space before. On June 23, 2017, the CE-SAT 1 (Canon Electric Satellite 1) was launched into orbit from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, southeastern India. It’s since 2014 that Canon puts efforts into space technology, with some unlucky events like the first rocket exploding.

Spaceflight 101 reports, the CE-SAT 1 is

[…] an experiment satellite developed at Canon Electronics Space Technology Laboratory to create a high-resolution Earth-imaging system by combining a Cassegrain telescope with a conventional Canon image sensor found in the firm’s EOS product line.

CE-SAT 1
CE-SAT 1 (© Canon)

The “conventional Canon image sensor” most likely refers to Canon [shoplink 2431]EOS 5D Mark III[/shoplink] cameras:

CE-SAT 1 hosts a slightly modified EOS 5D camera detector with 5760 x 3840 pixels, capable of imaging a ground area of 6 by 4 Kilometers at a resolution of around one meter.

The 5760 x 3840 resolution computes to 22MP, the resolution of the EOS 5D Mark III sensor. However, the cameras used to build the high-resolution Earth-imaging system are not stock EOS 5D Mark III. I guess the “slightly modified” means (at least) the sensor has no low-pass filter.

The satellite

[…] has a launch mass around 60 Kilograms and is 50 x 50 x 85 centimeters in size to facilitate the sizeable telescope. The craft uses body-mounted solar cells and a three-axis stabilization system with accurate pointing capability as required by the imaging payload.

CE-SAT 1
CE-SAT 1 (© Canon)

You can read more about the Canon’s satellite at Spaceflight 101. There is also a short technical paper in Japanese.

I’m truly surprised and amazed they can do this uaimg a camera with no 4k ;-)

[via albedomedia.com]