More Fall Colours, and camera news

Fall Colours, Campbell Valley, BC
This week I was able to get out for a few hours to test drive the Olympus E-410, and so far I'm impressed. I was able to capture some decent shots, such as the one posted above, without too much effort or post processing. The colours are quickly starting to fade, as rain and wind quickly blow the leaves off the trees. I took a number of shots of an abandon building, which can be seen in my photo gallery, along with fall colour focused images. One of the most difficult parts of photographing on fall days in the Metro Vancouver area is the quick shifts in the weather, which can make metering the scene accurately a challenge. For example, today it was raining all morning, then there was broken cloud cover for three hours, followed by more showers. Thankfully while I was shooting there was a good deal of cloud cover, which made shooting possible, during the period of the day that I had free.

Yesterday, following Nikon's release of the D3s, Canon counters with the announcement of the Canon 5D Mk IV. I continue to find it interesting that Canon keeps the 1.3x crop factor alive, when it isn't much smaller, or cheaper to make than the full frame sensors they have available. The 5D MK IV benefits from some of the new features first seen in the Canon D7, including more focus points, 45 total, and no less than 39 cross type sensors, although all but a few of them are F2.8 or faster though, which means only people with F2.8 or faster glass will be able to take advantage of them. Of course, how many Canon users buy a pro camera like a 5D series camera and not have, or buy, pro (L) lenses to go along with them anyway? This does have a negative effect on a large part of Canon's lens range, from consumer grade, or mid range, and the extremely long telephoto lenses that start F5.6. The 10 FPS continuous shooting speed, and ISO12800 are impressive although images taken at ISO6400 are not as good as the D3(s), so one has to wonder how useful such high ISO sensitivities will be on the 5D Mk IV.

From a Nikon shooters perspective, I see this as good news, when the D4 comes, a year or so from now, you can bet Nikon will answer back with more cross type sensors as well. I can see the 5D Mk IV as being very attractive to sports shooters though, due to the fast nature of the camera, and the high ISO shooting abilities, while maintaining a slight advantage due to the small crop factor. If I was a pro shooter, who used a Canon based system, I would be interested, without a doubt.