Then look no further than lensrentals.com. Roger Cicala started the First Annual Photogeek Geek Photo Contest. There is a little more than one week left to participate (10 days left).

Things are a bit different in this contest, compared to “classic” photo contests.Roger’s introduction:

Don’t worry, my pixel-peeping photogeek friends, I know that your usual images of ISO 12233 charts, backfocus targets, dog and cat fur don’t lend themselves well to the various photo competitions out there. I know that a beautiful picture of a cloudy sunset doesn’t give you the opportunity to evaluate corner resolution, and that it’s impossible to assess for spherical aberration in an artfully shadowed nude. Yes, we could enter an superbly sharp brick wall in the architectural category of a normal photo contest, or a 100% crop of our cat’s whiskers in the wildlife section, but we know those ‘artsy’ photo judges never have proper appreciation for that kind of work.

These are the categories:

• Sharpest corner – first prize: a lensbaby
• Bokehliciousness – First prize: An early 1900s Baush and Lomb Tessar
• 3-D Rendering of a 2-D Test Chart – First prize: A 24″ x 36″ Edmund Optics Resolving Power chart
• Largest Number of Accesories Between the Lens and the Camera – First prize: 2 pounds of  lens elements from Roger’s bin (see pic above)
  
• Best Picture of Stuff Inside a Lens – First prize: the Lensrentals repair team will get the stuff out of your lens
• Most Distortion Corrected in Software – First prize: A distortion-free Holga Pinhole lens
• Dynamic Range Demonstration – First prize: A pair of no-longer-available-to-the-public, totally geeked out T-shirts
• Best Picture from a Camera without a Movie Mode – First prize: A Lomography Kunstructor Build-it-yourself film SLR Kit

Be aware of the following:

JUST SO YOU KNOW:  Yes, the contest is in fun, but the prizes are real. So if you’re the only one who enters a category (which seems pretty likely) you win the prize. If no one enters a category, I win the prize (it’s my stuff anyway, so that’s fair.) Although I suspect some of my fellow judges will have a catfight over the T-shirts, at least.

Entries must be received by November 15th, we’ll announce the winners over Thanksgiving weekend after the sales are over. Non U. S. entries are accepted but we’ll only be able to ship to U. S. addresses so you’ll need a friend in the U. S. to forward it to you.

And be sure to check all you have to know at lensrentals.com

Canon Germany announced the upcoming Professional Imaging (ProIG) Roadshow, November 12-26. The roadshow will be held at 5 different spots in Germany:

12. November 2013:  Potsdam
14. November 2013:  Köln
19. November 2013:  Wörth am Main
21. November 2013:  München
26. November 2013:  Stuttgart

It addresses professional users as well as enthusiast photographers who are using Canon’s high end gear. Registration here. A machine-translated excerpt from the press release:

KREFELD 28 October 2013. Canon today announces its upcoming Professional Imaging (ProIG) roadshow, Canon’s Professional Forum, 2013, at. The ProIG Roadshow takes place from 12 to 26 November 2013 held at five different locations. It is aimed primarily at professional users in different market segments and dedicated amateurs who use high-end equipment. In addition to product demonstrations and live shoots and the entire ProIG portfolio is presented at a glance – from the professional cameras, the EOS-1D series, about XF camcorder, Cinema EOS, and broadcast to Pixma Pro printers, large format printers, projectors, network cameras and Reference 4K displays – the Canon Professional Forum provides an overview of all products and solutions around the topic of professional imaging. Services, such as the Dreamlabo finishing and the Canon Service Center Willich are on tour. There is a lot on offer – entry is free!

Canon Germany press release (translated):

Just to digress from the usual deals and news hunting. It’s about the Canon EOS M. Sort of defence of.

These little APS-C cam never received the merits it deserves, for a lot of reasons. No industry-standard auto-focus before the firmware update, poor marketing (does Canon believe in mirrorless?), a wave of harsh critics that missed the strong points of Canon’s first mirrorless system camera: A magnesium alloy body, excellent build quality, even more the image quality, very small size and light weight, well thought and super-usable touch screen interface, adapter for the whole line-up of Canon’s world leading EF and EF-S lenses line-up. Do you think that’s nothing. Well, no, it’s a lot. And it was the reason I was among the first to get an [shoplink 6091]EOS M[/shoplink]. I own all three lenses, and the adapter, and I just love this little camera.

The EF-M 11-22mm IS STM [shoplink 14076](price & specs)[/shoplink] is my favourite toy for the time being (I love super wide angle lenses), followed by the sharp EF-M 22mm f/2 STM [shoplink 6093](price & specs)[/shoplink]. The lens I use less is the EF-M 18-55mm IS STM [shoplink 6095](price & specs)[/shoplink]. Not because it is not well performing, it’s because I have more fun with the other two.

Not all of the EOS M is to my full satisfaction. More annoying of anything else: I miss the optical view finder. I am not smartphone generation. I like taking pictures with my Galaxy S3 but do not feel comfortable with just a display when I am seriously into photography. For me the biggest drawback of the EOS M has always been the lack of a viewfinder – not the auto-focus. Battery time also is not great, I always have a spare battery with me.

The AF is poor? Anyone told you it is? Ask them if they ever used it. Ok, it’s not industry leading, but after the firmware update it is perfectly usable. It makes no sense to measure the EOS M in terms of sport photography or shots that happen in similar settings. The worst of the EOS M’s AF is the tracking. But then: for fast moving subjects I bet there is almost no one who uses a mirrorless camera instead of a DSLR. So the question is: how often do you shot a flying eagle, a running mountain lion, or whatever moves to or by you with a fast pace? Ok, you have childs that never sit still -this could be an issue. As I wrote before, for me AF has never been a serious issue, your mileage may vary. AF is very accurate btw.

So why all these writing? Simple: I stumbled over the pic above, one of the many I shot while travelling the US, and it drove me into the ideas I wrote down. The mantra “the best camera is the one you have with you” is well known to anyone of us. When I saw the picture I thought I may let my [shoplink 14246]Canon EOS 70D[/shoplink] I carry around all time at home and instead take the smart, light weighted  EOS M which doesn’t really need a bag to be carried around and always shots DSLR quality images. Ok, will miss the view finder but I may give it another try. It’s not to say that the pic above is a masterpiece (it definitely is not), it is to say that you can shot a cool picture, or a picture you will like and be happy with, without having to worry about gear. The pic above would look the same if it was show with the EOS 70D, the 6D or the 5D Mark III. It’s about having the tool (the camera) with you when you need it.

It’s my hope that Canon will once more try to make a mirrorless camera that will excite us, I mean something that shows what Canon can do (when they want). They gave us Dual Pixel AF on the EOS 70D, a real technological innovation and a game changer. This is a sensor technology Canon can not avoid to put into a mirrorless camera – it’s made for such cameras. Besides all rumours about the next EOS M, there will be an EOS M2 and Dual Pixel AF will for sure be built in. That’s granted. Oh, Canon, and, please, also a viewfinder.

Keep on shooting.