Canon PIXMA PRO-100 Wireless Professional Inkjet Photo Printer deal – $129 (after $250 MIR)

Canon PIXMA PRO-100
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At a glance:

  • 4800 x 2400 dpi
  • Print 8 x 10″ in 51 Seconds
  • Wi-Fi, Ethernet, AirPrint, PictBridge
  • Print Sizes up to 13 x 19″
  • 8 Ink Cartridges Including 3 Monochrome
  • CD, DVD, Blu-ray Printing
  • Print Studio Pro for Photoshop, DPP

This is a pretty good deal. You can get the Canon PIXMA PRO-100 Wireless Professional Inkjet Photo Printer for just $129 after $250 mail-in rebate (instructions) at B&H Photo.

Today’s Gold Box and one day only deals at Amazon US, Amazon DE, Amazon UK, B&H Photo, eBay and Adorama

All that glitters is not gold: Sony A9 not ISO-invariant and sacrifices dynamic range for speed

Sony A9
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Sony a9 at a glance:

  • 24.2MP Full-Frame Stacked CMOS Sensor
  • BIONZ X Image Processor & Front-End LSI
  • 693-Point AF System & 20 fps Shooting
  • Blackout-Free Quad-VGA 3.7m-Dot OLED EVF
  • Internal UHD 4K Video Recording
  • 5-Axis SteadyShot INSIDE Stabilization
  • 3.0″ 1.44m-Dot Tilting Touchscreen LCD
  • ISO 204,800, Silent Electronic Shutter
  • Built-In Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, Dual SD Slots
  • Integrated LAN and PC Sync Terminals

There is no free lunch and anything comes at a price. This appears to be true especially for Sony gear, always hyped and most of the time only because of the specifications sheets.

DPReview wanted to know better. They put the Sony a9 on their test bench, and found some interesting things. So, how does the powerhouse a9 perform when it comes to ISO-invariance (what is it?) and dynamic range.

DPReview found out that the Sony a9 is not ISO-invariant, and that “the camera is adding a fair amount of read noise that results in noisy shadows, limiting dynamic range at base ISO“. They also found that the Sony A9 sensor “was likely optimized for speed at the expense of low ISO dynamic range“.

What does all this mean? According to DPReview “this limits the exposure latitude of a9 Raws, so you’ll have some limited ability to expose high contrast scenes for the highlights, then tonemap (raise) shadows in post“.

All that glitters is not gold. Read DPReview’s in-depth analysis.

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II service notice published again, search function working now

 

EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II

Two weeks ago we reported about a service notice for the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II. The service notice was posted by Canon Philippines. However, the search function didn’t work and the service notice disappeared after a short time..

Now the service notice was posted again by Canon USA.

Thank you for using Canon products.

We have determined that some EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II USM lenses exhibit an AF operation-related malfunction. The details of the phenomenon and Canon’s service policy are described below.

We would like to offer our sincere apologies to users who have been inconvenienced by this issue. Going forward, we will spare no effort in our quality management to make sure our customers can use our products with confidence. 

Phenomenon

At the wide-angle end, focus is not achieved properly when a peripheral AF points are selected, regardless of the AF area selection mode.

Affected Lenses

If the first two digits in the serial number (see the image below) of your lens are ”48”, ”49”, ”50” or ”51”, then your lens MAY POSSIBLY be affected.

How to check if your lens is affected:

  1. Click the search button below to display the serial number input screen.
  2. Input your lens’ serial number (10 digits) and then click the [Submit] button.
    * Please double check the serial number you entered before you click the [Submit] button.
  3. One of the following three messages will be displayed.
    “Your lens is NOT an affected product”　
    “Your lens is an affected product”      
    “Invalid number”  

Support

As soon as preparations have been completed, we will inform users about the start date for accepting support requests for lenses affected by this issue.

Potentially affected products will be inspected and repaired free of charge.  If you own one of the potentially affected products please contact our Customer Support Center.

This information is for residents of the United States and Puerto Rico only. If you do not reside in the USA or Puerto Rico, please contact the Canon Customer Support Center in your region.

Thank you,
Customer Support Operations
Canon U.S.A., Inc

Contact Information for Inquiries
Canon Customer Support Center
Phone: 1-855-902-3277
TDD: 1-866-251-3752
Email: [email protected]
Support options and hours of operation: www.usa.canon.com/support

Off Brand News: Sony Releases High-Speed Vision Sensor that Makes Detection and Tracking of Objects at 1,000 fps Possible

IMX382
High-speed vision sensor IMX38

Sony pushing technological innovation. Sony press release:

Tokyo, Japan—Sony Corporation today announced the release of the new IMX382 high-speed vision sensor, which enables detection and tracking of objects at 1,000 frames per second. Sony will begin shipping samples in October 2017.

This vision sensor features a stacked configuration with a back-illuminated pixel array and signal processing circuit layer. The circuit layer is equipped with image processing circuits and a programmable column-parallel processor, delivering high-speed target detection and tracking. This configuration enables high-sensitivity imaging thanks to the back-illuminated pixel array, with target detection and tracking at 1,000 frames per second. The new sensor uses information such as color and brightness obtained from pixels to detect objects, then extracts the object’s centroid, moment and motion vector, and finally outputs the information from the vision sensor in each frame.

This vision sensor has achieved imaging, target detection and tracking at 1,000 fps on a single chip. This not only expands the scope of application, but delivers new value that was difficult to obtain with conventional systems.

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Canon EOS 7D Mark II firmware 1.1.1 no longer available (communication error)

Canon Eos R7 Canon EOS 7D Mark III
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It doesn’t happen often. Canon pulled firmware 1.1.1 for the Canon EOS 7D Mark II because of the rare occurence of a communicstion error with the WiFi Adapter W-E1.

Canon advisory:

A communication error has been discovered when using the EOS 7D Mark II running Firmware Version 1.1.1, which version was released on April 27, 2017, in combination with the Wi-Fi Adapter W-E1.

Remote shooting with the Camera Connect App is not possible after connecting the EOS 7D Mark II to a smartphone via the Wi-Fi Adapter W-E1.
This error occurs for cameras that have been updated from Firmware Version 1.0.5 or earlier to Firmware Version 1.1.1
This phenomenon will not occur if the camera meets either of the two conditions below:

• If the camera has been updated from Firmware Version 1.1.0 to Firmware Version 1.1.1.
• If the camera was already equipped with Firmware Version 1.1.1 at the time of purchase.

We are currently making preparations to correct this phenomenon with the release of a firmware update in early June. In the meantime, the tentative countermeasure is as follows:

• Firmware Version 1.1.1 will no longer be available for download, and Firmware Version 1.1.0 will be made available for download again.
• Users whose camera is affected by this phenomenon are asked to download Firmware Version 1.1.0 and install Firmware Version 1.1.0 onto the camera.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused to customers, and we ask for your ongoing patience.

If you want the improvements and fixes provided in Firmware Version 1.1.1* applied to your camera, please contact the Canon Customer Support Center in your region and make a request for your camera to be re-updated to Firmware Version 1.1.1.
Firmware version 1.1.1 for the EOS 7D Mark II incorporates the following changes:

• Enhances reliability of communications when transferring images using Wireless File Transmitter WFT-E7 B.

• Corrects the phenomenon of Err70 which occurs with certain combinations of settings.

• Corrects the phenomenon in which in very rare cases the shutter can no longer be released.

• Enhances reliability of operations for specific custom function settings.

Firmware version 1.1.0 is available for Windows and Mac. If you have any enquiries, please contact us for further assistance.

Sigma firmware updates for 4 Canon mount lenses

 

sigma

Please read the Sigma press release before applying the update.

Thank you for purchasing and using our products.

We would like to announce the availability of a new firmware update for the following Canon mount lenses.The lens firmware updates improve the AF accuracy when it is mounted on the SIGMA MOUNT CONVERTER MC-11 EF-E, and offers the improved usability for video shooting.For customers who own the following applicable products and the SIGMA USB DOCK, please update the lens firmware using SIGMA Optimization Pro.

【Applicable products】
・SIGMA 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM | Art CANON
・SIGMA 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC MACRO OS HSM | Contemporary CANON
・SIGMA 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 DC MACRO OS HSM | Contemporary CANON
・SIGMA 18-300mm F3.5-6.3 DC MACRO OS HSM | Contemporary CANON

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