Zombies are the reason Sigma continues to make cameras, CEO Kazuto Yamaki says

sigmaIn an interview at Photokina 2016 by the folks of Lensvid, Sigma CEO Kazuto Yamaki gave a weird reason about why the company is still making cameras.

Mr. Kazuto Yamaki lists three reasons Sigma continues to manufacture cameras, and that’s where the zombies come in:

  1. It’s important for a company specialized in lenses to produce also cameras. The know-how coming from camera production helps to design and build better lenses
  2. Designing cameras is a true passion of Sigma’s engineers
  3. Michihiro Yamaki, Kazuto’s father and the founder of Sigma, always dreamed about making cameras. If Sigma would stop doing it, Michihiro Yamaki might come back as zombie and try to kill his son.

The interview in the video below lasts 15 minutes and is definitely worth your time.

[via heise.de]

Tamron SP 150-600mm F5-6.3 G2 sample image gallery

Tamron SP 150-600mm
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DPReview posted a set of real world sample photos shot with the new Tamron SP 150-600mm F5-6.3 G2 lens. Click here to see the pictures.

Sigma product advisory for lenses used on Canon EOS 5D Mark IV

sigma

Sigma released a product advisory concerning Sigma lenses for EOS system when used on the new Canon [shoplink 40051]EOS 5D Mark IV[/shoplink].

Sigma advisory:

ADVISORY 2016.09.23

Dear Canon EOS 5D Mark Ⅳ Users

Thank you for purchasing and using our products.

Please find the following notes on the usage of SIGMA interchangeable lenses for EOS, when attached to Canon EOS 5D Mark IV that is released on September 8th.

  • MO (Manual Override) function is unavailable with this camera (Full-time Manual function can be offered).
  • When using a SIGMA interchangeable lens for EOS, setting the corrections to [Disable] is recommended, as “Lens Correction” functions of the camera, such as Peripheral illumination correction, Chromatic aberration correction, Diffraction correction and Distortion correction are not supported.** If those functions are activated, the performance of lenses may not be accurate.
    * This is not only for EOS 5D Mark IV, but also for other camera bodies with the same function.

We appreciate your continued support for our company and products

Canon makes non-profit CDP’s ‘Climate A-List’ for first time

canon rumors

Canon press release:

TOKYO, October 25, 2016—Canon’s initiatives to tackle climate change have been recognized by the international non-profit organization CDP,1 based in the United Kingdom, earning the Company its first inclusion on the Climate A List.

Since 2003, the CDP has evaluated major companies worldwide on their efforts to tackle climate change. The evaluations are based on information disclosed in response to questions sent to the companies2 regarding business risks and opportunities associated with greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. In 2016, approximately 6,000 businesses were assessed, of which 500 were Japanese. The evaluation ranks companies on a scale from A to F, with A being the highest, and Canon was declared one of the 193 companies in the world to make the A List.

Click here to open the rest of the article

This experimental timelapse was shot using two EOS 5D Mark III side by side to get extra wide angle and no distortion

panola

From time to time I like to feature timelapse videos that in my opinion stand out from the pack. Pano LA is a time-lapse by Joe Capra that has it all: it’s a well working and interesting experimental setup and it’s visually beautiful.

What makes this timelapse of Los Angeles different from others is the setup. By using two Canon [shoplink 2431]EOS 5D Mark III[/shoplink] cameras side-by-side on a custom rig, Joe gets a very wide angle of view without the distortion that usually comes as side effect when using wide angle lenses. He used longer lenses to shoot the time-lapse, i.e. two Canon [shoplink 232]EF 24-70mm f/2.8L[/shoplink], two [shoplink 230]EF 24-105mm f/4L IS[/shoplink] and two [shoplink 8658]EF 70-200mm f/2.8[/shoplink]. If you watch the video below, you’ll see how well the compression effect of the longer lenses works for the panoramic rendering.

In joe Capra’s words:

Shooting Pano LA has been the most ambitious, challenging, demanding, and rewarding project I have worked on to date. It was shot over a period of two years entirely in true panoramic form using two synced DSLR cameras side by side. The resulting panoramic timelapse footage comes in at a whopping 10K x 4K resolution when stitched. I did not shoot this film to achieve the extreme resolution. I shot it for the panoramic look, especially the compressed look you get when using long lenses.

Shooting panoramic timelapse was something I had always wanted to do. I love panoramic images and wanted to bring that look to timelapse, and I wanted to do it proper, not by faking it by just cropping the top and bottom of regular timelapse shots. I gave it a try many years ago but was never able to get the images from the two cameras to sync properly and get the images to stitched together correctly.

Along with the custom rig, Joe used RamperPro to control flickering and day to night transitions. For motion control he used a custom motion controller with Kessler Crane TLS with Second Shooter.

Kudos!

[via DIY Photography]