Irvine Portrait - Irvine Photography

Well, that fantastic new camera I preordered from Ritz in October is still showing “on backorder”.  Ritz tells me there’s been none of their allocation received by them yet, and I’ll certainly get mine when they get theirs.

Here’s what some people are saying:

http://www.unwir3d.com/887243/canon-5d-mark-ii-pre-order-and-shipping-release-date-update

http://www.canonrumors.com/2008/11/26/5d-mark-ii-shipments/#comment-3012

http://www.1001noisycameras.com/2008/12/as-the-canon-5d-mark-ii-world-turns.html

I am getting antsy as I’ve held off several projects waiting to take advantage of low noise, high ISO and the cool HD movies….

I have an insider friend who says the new 5D Mark II is shipping to all stores TODAY!  This is good news because we may have in time for Thanksgiving (and wouldn’t that be a nice thing to be thankful for?)

 For those who don’t know, this camera has been pre-ordered from Ritz for the past few months.  I am excited by the possibilities of full frame, ultra high ISO/Low Noise, 1080P Hi-Def video capture, etc.  This camera will blow away the comptetition at this price, particularly if you have good Canon lenses already.

Updated:  Gearlog confirms ship date http://www.gearlog.com/2008/11/canon_5d_mark_ii_ships_merges_1.php#more

http://dvice.com/archives/2008/11/universal_photo.php

 Thanks Gary Amundson for pointing me to this outstanding little gadget, that can synchronize your flash to sound which would allow you to capture speeding bullets, etc.  VERY cool for $170!

Well, between DP review and other sources, I’m hearing we will see our preorders delivered the first week of December in time for Christmas.   I’m preordered as many others, anticipating getting my hands on this new camera and trying out the

a. low noise at high ISO

b. HD video recording

But I’ve had a hard time rationalizing cost; my perfectly good 1DS Mark II could not even fetch $2900 reserve on Ebay when I tried to sell it to cover the cost of the new 5D on preorder.  So, I decided to keep the 1DS rather than give it away for $2600.

Why all the buzz?  Here’s some great information from blogger TWWilliams
http://twwilliams.com/5d-mkii-faq/

 Contents

• Accessories
• Autofocus
• Availability and price
• Battery
• Previews / Reviews
• Samples
• Storage
• Video and audio
• Weather sealing

I HATE those little hotshoe adapters for cameras that don’t have a PC socket; they always seem to be sliding out of the shoe, and unreliable with missed flashes.  So for the new Norman strobe setup I ordered, I searched for a cord that had male hotshoe on one end, and 1/4 ‘ mono plug on the other.   Guess what?  Nobody makes them!!!

Luckily I found a fantastic site called http://www.paramountcords.com where they have all kinds of custom cables you can order with their “cable builder” website.  You simply choose the connector on the left end, the connector on the right end, and the size/type of cable (coiled or straight, how many feet long) and presto, you can order your cable right on line.  This means I have a good sturdy solid connection between my hotshoe and my strobe so no misfires!  It cost me $56 and for a heavy duty item like this it’s worth the price!

Well, I bit the bullet and bought the Norman “manual” strobe system because I have never been happy with the ETTL Canon flashes, the output and the inconsistency I couldn’t ever seem to get sorted out.

http://normanlights.com/battery_systems_compkits.asp

The weird thing was I could not find hardly any good definitive technical information (like, what kind of sync cord does this thing need?  Do I need an adapter for my Canon hotshoe?)

Turns out the website is unbelievably bad, dead links all over the place.  They make some of the finest workhorse portrait/wedding lighting around, but they don’t have much in the way of a marketing department I guess since they got purchased by Promark International.

But it has 400WS, Guide 168 at ISO 100 and should blast some serious light when I do my upcoming Beckman Coulter event.  I prefer manual shooting anyway, so this is right up my alley; a portable studio strobe!

This model doesn’t include the built-in Pocket Wizard, but I have 4 of them I can just plug in if I want to use as an off-camera light, bounce, etc.  I can’t wait to play with it!!

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/543425-REG/ATP_Electronics_AF_GPSMBG_GPS_PhotoFinder_Standalone.html

• In use, the PhotoFinder is extremely simple to operate. When the unit powers on, it will seek out the signals from GPS satellites above. Once the channels are “locked,” the device can and should be left on and operating as long as the user is out shooting. The time to lock will vary depending on the ready state of the GPS and the clarity of the satellite link. “Cold-start” times can be as quick as 45 seconds; “hot-start” is 1 second. A set of two AAA batteries will provide 7.5-8 hours of constant use.

  When ready, all a user has to do following a day of photography is insert a card into the PhotoFinder or copy the tracklog into their favorite photo editor that can accept such data. Actually, the Geotagging operation using either method can be done at anytime as the PhotoFinder is simply matching the times it has recorded, with the time stamp the camera records onto each photo. Couldn’t be easier!

• Price: $ 89.95
• Instant Rebate: - $ 10.00
• Price after Rebate: $ 79.95