CCD technology explained (video)

 

Have you ever wondered how those CCD sensors work? What’s behind the science that captures light and outputs all these nice pics you are shooting? We all know that having a larger sensor is usually a pretty good thing, but how exactly is a sensor working? Well, there is one thing you can take for granted: there’s a lot of sophisticated work to do. And Bill Hammack (The Engineer Guy) is here to help us understand. Enjoy the video!

[via engadget]

 

Tamron SP 24-70mm f/2.8 DI VC USD Review

Update: the following shops have the Tamron SP 24-70mm f/2.8 VC USD in stock and ready to ship (world-wide availability check at the end of the post):

ephotozine just reviewed the eagerly awaited Tamron SP 24-70mm f/2.8 VC USD lens. It’s an interesting lens: it covers a popular zoom range and has a constant 2.8 aperture. It weights 825g (29.1 ox) and has an 82mm filter mount. Closest focusing distance is 0.38m (15.0 in). Having a price tag of $1,299 it’s cheaper than Canon’s equivalent EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM, which sells at $1,599 and does not have image stabilization (called vibration compensation in the Tamron galaxy). Build quality is rather good: High quality plastics have been used for much of the lens barrel’s construction and the wide rubberised zoom ring is well enough damped to prevent lens creep. Generally speaking, the performance of this lens is very good. Some excerpts from the review:

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How tough is an EOS 7D? (very tough!)

Ok, DO NOT replicate these “tests” using your camera. You could regret it. :-) Over at Digitalrev they decided to see how durable an EOS 7D is, and to check this they decided to throw the camera downstairs, to let a truck hit it, to freeze it, not to speak of the microwave oven and the flames and the fire that were used. Want to know how strong and durable your 7D is? Then this is the video for you. It’s unbreakable. Have fun! And don’t take it too serious. :-)

Check the latest EOS 7D pics uploaded to Flick clicking here. EOS 7D price check: Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon IT, Canon IT, WEX Photographic, Canon FR, Canon UK, Canon DE.

EOS 5D Mark III vs Nikon D800 Live-View Usability

Ok, it appears that the D800 has more problems than most people would like it to have. After what we already reported (and here too), it looks as if there was another little big problem. The live view of the Nikon D800 seems to be rather disappointing if compared to the one featured on the EOS 5D Mark III – at least for night shots. Photographer Ron Martinsen writes about what he calls a D800 live view zoom bug:

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EOS 5D Mark III vs Nikon’s D800 & D4 video mode comparison by P. Bloom

Good comparison between three different full-frame cameras used to shot video. Philip Bloom compares the Nikon D4 with the Nikon D800 and the EOS 5D Mark III. It’s a 30 minutes review (conclusion at ~23:00) and it focuses on aliasing artifacts and low-light performance. Needless to say, the 5D Mark III has outstanding low-light performance and controls aliasing very good (check the 400% zooms!). The aliasing on the D800 is very bad, especially at 720p. So bad, that an additional aliasing filter was mounted on the D800’s sensor (to show how much it could be made better). On the other hand, the D800 has cleaner HDMI output and is generally sharper out of the box than the 5D Mark III. All in all the review shows once more that the 5D Mark III is a very good all-purpose camera. The video shows live-crops beside the recorded scenes (different high ISOs). Enjoy the video!

For the latest 5D Mark III pictures uploaded to Flickr click here. 5D Mark III availability & price check: Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon IT, Canon IT, WEX Photographic, Canon FR, Canon UK, Canon DE