Earlier this month I visited several of the photo equipment manufacturers at the annual Consumer Electronics Show. Of course the two majors are Canon and Nikon. And while sales by other camera makers including Sony, Olympus, Pentax and Fuji trail by a large margin, new features continue to arrive rapidly among all new models by all manufacturers. This year, one feature that was common in many models is the addition of wireless functionality.

Since CES, I’ve acquired and tested two of the new DLSRs with wireless capabilities: the Canon 6D and the Nikon D600.

Here’s a quick report on how wireless works with the Canon 6D.

The 6D is the newest DSLR from Canon. Its full-frame sensor has a resolution of 20MB with good low light performance. Its autofocus system uses 11 focus points. Compared to it’s bigger brother the 5D Mark III, it is smaller in size, lighter in weight and less expensive. The two “new” built-in features are the GPS receiver and its wireless capability. Having GPS automatically adds location information (latitude, longitude and altitude) to the EXIF data of the images. My interest in the 6D was to see how its wireless capabilities worked.
The Canon 6D can communicate wirelessly with several types of devices: another camera, a smartphone, a printer, a web service or a DLNA device. For this review I’ll describe my experience connecting with a smartphone. For wireless, there’s a few preliminaries that have to be performed. The first is to give the 6D a wireless identifier. This step takes just a few minutes using the menus on the back of the camera. Here I’ve set it up with the identifier “Arnie 6D“. By completing this step, the 6D is now its own wireless station.
The 6D can be used with either an Android or iPhone smartphone. You’ll first have to install the free EOS Remote app for your particular smartphone. In my case, I installed the app onto my iPhone. Using the Settings menu on the iPhone, you connect to the camera with Wi-Fi. Look for the camera’s identifier – Arnie 6D. For security, you’ll have to enter the Encryption Key to establish the connection.
After the camera and smartphone are connected, the EOS Remote app is ready to use. It can perform two different functions. Firstly, you can view the images that have been captured with the 6D. Secondly, you can use the smartphone as a remote shutter release.
Viewing Images from camera Choosing Camera Image Viewing brings us to a screen on the smartphone that looks like this. By default the thumbnails are ordered by date but this can be changed to order them by rating (1 to 5 stars) or folder (if multiple folders are on the camera’s SD card). In addition to the thumbnail, the technical data each image is also presented. This is helpful if you plan to evaluate the images while still in the field with the purpose of adjusting the settings.
Tapping one of the thumbnails presents a larger version of the thumbnail. For each image you can: Download – to smartphone (1920 x 1280 jpg) Email – send image with a text message Rate – 1 to 5 stars Delete – removes it from the camera
Capturing Images using the smartphone Your smartphone can be used as a remote shutter release with extra capabilities. Here I’ve set the camera on a tripod. Choosing Remote Shooting activates the 6D Liveview. The smartphone then presents the same view as the camera. By tapping on the different areas of the smartphone screen, I can change the autofocus. Depending on the 6D’s mode setting I can also change the ISO, shutter speed, aperture and exposure compensation using the smartphone. Another simple tap and the camera shutter is released.
Here’s the image that I took remotely. And of course, the just captured image is immediately available if I change back to EOS Remote’s Camera Image Viewing.

There’s nothing earth shattering with this wireless capability. Yes, you can easily transfer images from the 6D to your smartphone and send them via email to others. And yes, it allows for backup, however the images are reduced to a smaller 1920 x 1280 jpg size.

I’ll cover more soon in another article about the Canon 6D’s wireless capability with a computer.

Also in the works is an article about the Nikon D600’s wireless capability.

 

 

Written by Arnie Lee

 

 

for both professionals and consumers

When someone asks me where I’m from, I usually volunteer a two part answer: “I grew up in New York but I live in Michigan”. Still after almost 40 years, it’s a treat for me to return to New York to see friends and family.

My most recent visit was in late October to attend the Photoplus Expo that’s held each year at the Javits Convention Center. I’ve traveled there for the past several years to report on the newest photo products, speak to the equipment vendors and watch several of the live “how-to” seminars. This year thousands of professionals and enthusiastic consumers also traveled to New York City to get a hands on experience with the latest photographic equipment and accessories.

For this report, I’ll concentrate on several of the new digital cameras as these are the among the most popular.

Nikon D600

I first saw the Nikon 600 a few weeks ago at the huge Photokina Expo in Cologne, Germany. Nikon’s newest DSLR is positioned as a “prosumer” model. Its full-frame sensor, the same size as a 35mm film frame, offers an impressive 24MP resolution with superior light gathering power and less noise than the more common APS-C size sensors found in many consumer targeted DLSRs.

 

The D600 is smaller than the full-frame Nikon D800 which was introduced only a few months ago. Its $2100 price is $900 less expensive than the D800 which has a 36MP sensor. The autofocus system is switchable between 9, 21 or 39 autofocus points depending on the type of subject. Its high speed image processor can capture up to 5-1/2 frames per second. The large 3.2″ LCD automatically adjusts the brightness to suit the surrounding lighting conditions. The D600 automatically recognizes when a DX lens is mounted and adjusts the camera resolution to about 10mp. So owners of DX lenses can continue to benefit from their earlier investment.

Other notable features are:

• built-in flash with versatile wireless control of external units
• dual SD card slots – you can configure the D600 to record duplicate of images on both SD cards or to record jpg images on one card and RAW images on the other
• in-camera HDR capability – multiple exposures are combined automatically to capture a wider range of tones
• Active-D lighting – reduces very contrasty scenes to retain detail in highlights and shadows
• time-lapse – captures multiple frames at specified intervals
• full 1080p HD video at multiple frame rates
• uncompressed video output via HDMI cable
• external stereo input with visual auto level monitor

Users who want to transmit images directly to a smart device can purchase the inexpensive WU-1b wireless adapter. With this they can backup images and/or share images as text messages or online social media sites.

The D600 will prove to be a very capable model for those looking to upgrade from one of Nikon’s DX format cameras to a full-frame body. It’s available now for $2100. The price of the WU-1B wireless transmitter is $60.

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Canon 6D

Pick up the Canon 6D, and you’ll immediately notice how much smaller (less wide) and lighter it is compared to Canon’s previous full frame 5DMkII and 5DMkIII models. The target market for the 6D is the prosumer who wants to upgrade from an APS-C frame size body, similar to what Nikon is doing with its D600 model.

Other features of the 6D are:

• 20MB full-frame sensor
• 11-point autofocus system
• high speed capture at 4.5 frames per second
• single SD card slot
• in-camera HDR – combines bracketed exposures to yield images which encompass wide exposure levels
• multiple exposure – superimposes up to nine separate images onto single frame
• full 1080p HD video at multiple frame rates
• built-in WiFi – sends images wirelessly to smart devices (computer,mobile phones) for backup or preview
• built-in GPS – adds location information to images

 

One feature missing from the 6D is a built-in flash. Normally, this classifies the camera as a professional model. Originally slated for release December 15th, the Canon 6D was already shipping in late November. The price is $2100, same as the Nikon D600.

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Sony NEX-6

I have to admit that I’m a big fan of Sony’s line of mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras (MILC). The newest member of the NEX series is the NEX-6. The MILCs are all much smaller and lighter than any of the DLSRs, making them very convenient to carry.

This model uses a hybrid autofocus system that addresses a shortcoming of the earlier models. Autofocus is now performed by combining fast phase-detection for coarse focusing with contrast-detection for precise focusing.

Many of the controls on the NEX-6 have been reworked from earlier models to change the settings faster and more conveniently. The high resolution electronic viewfinder lets the user preview the effect of the settings before the shutter is released.

 

Sony has also introduced a new 16-50mm zoom lens for the NEX series. This lens is the first E-mount lens with a power zooming feature. The lens ring is used for zooming and manual focusing. When it’s not being used, the lens retracts to less than 30mm thereby making the camera and lens combination even more compact.

The 3″ LCD display has a 920K dot resolution and tilts 90 degrees upward and 45 degrees downward for easy viewing in a variety of shooting situations.

Among the innovative shooting features are:

• in-camera HDR – combines three separate images into a single image with wide tonal range
• adjustable DRO – dynamic range optimizer helps prevent overly contrast images
• multiframe NR – captures multiple frames and combines parts to produce single framewith least amount of moise
• sweep panorama – sweep your camera horizontally to take multiple frames which are stitched together in camera
• built-in flash
• built-in WiFi – sends images to mobile device or computer for backup or display
• full 1080p HD video

The Sony NEX-6 is available now with 16-50mm lens for $1000.

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Thanks to the vendors from Nikon, Canon and Sony who provided me with much of the technical information that I’ve presented here.

The show management told me that more than 24,000 visitors attended this year’s Photoplus Expo. Based on my conversations, I recently added a new Canon 6D to my large inventory of photo equipment. I’m sure that I wasn’t the only one to have made a purchasing decision after the show.

 

Written by: Arnie Lee

 

 

Photokina Part 2 – the new stuff

Photokina is the largest photographic trade show and takes place every two years in Cologne, Germany. Photokina is a major venue where photographic manufacturers showcase their upcoming products. Here’s a short report about some of the new products that caught my attention during my short visit in late September.

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Walking the aisles, I observed two opposing trends taking place among the photographic equipment makers.

On one side, there’s a movement towards larger sensors. Advanced and professional photographers have typically chosen equipment that produces the highest quality images regardless of size and weight. Equipment with larger, full-frame sensors have dominated this category. In Part 1 of this article, I described several of the new full-frame cameras that I demo’d at Photokina.

On the other side, there’s is a flood of activity devoted to making smaller, higher quality cameras.
(more…)

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