Saturday, May 28, 2011

New Canon Lens Release Dates

Canon has announced release dates for their new telephoto and wide angle lens line up. These dates have change twice before, not sure why? Let's hope they are correct this time.



Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye USM lens is scheduled to be available in late July 2011
Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens is scheduled to be available in late August 2011
Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens is scheduled to be available in late August 2011
Canon EF 500mm F4L IS II USM lens is scheduled to be available in December 2011
Canon EF 600mm F4L IS II USM lens is also scheduled to be available in December 2011

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Open Doors Toronto - Photographic Possibilities

Looking to photograph something different? Maybe you like architectural photography and are looking for new locations. Next weekend (May 28th & 29th) is full of possibilities as Toronto throws its doors open and allows you to tour some often closed areas of our city. Nearly 150 buildings of architectural, historic, cultural and/or social significance open their doors to the public. Admission is free. And this year the theme is Photography.

 Check out the link for a list of locations participating this year. I also suggest you drill down into the links for the  sites that interest you because some have limited access or times. The details for each site will also provide any photographic restrictions. Some sites may not allow flash, tripods or in the case of Old City Hall no photography of any kind is allowed.

Open Doors Toronto 

Remember to wear comfortable shoes, bring your tripod, a remote shutter cable and plenty of memory cards. There are some great opportunities to experiment with HDR too, some of the churches have beautiful stained glass.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Henrys Spring Digital Imaging Show


This weekend Henry's is holding it's Spring Digital Imaging show out at the International Center (6900 Airport rd. Hall 5). The show starts Friday May 13th and runs thru to Sunday May 15th (Show Hours: Fri & Sat: 10am-7pm  Sun: 11am-5pm). The list of exhibitors includes most of the main camera manufactures, accessory and software producers.
If you're in the market for a new Camera, Lens or maybe a bag most are set up in such a way that you can get a hands on feel for the item. Canon in the past has had all of their lenses available for you to try with your camera, including their long telephoto line which were set up on tripod heads.
Henry's also holds small seminars on everything from taking pictures to printing them afterwards and everything in between. These 45min long demos provide a small taste of what to expect if you attend one of their full day courses at their learning center. Unfortunately the 1st and last 5-10 minutes of each seminar is used to promote their learning center. After hearing the same commercial 2 or 3 times you get bored, and the minimal things you could learn are overshadowed by the promotional stuff so you tend to skip them altogether.
 Not a bad show if you're in the market for some new gear, there are some deals to be had. If you're thinking about taking a training seminar at Henry's you can sample it here before hand and often they have deals if you book your training at the show. There are free tickets floating around too, admission is $15 so it wont break the bank if you do need to pay etc....

Note: If you plan to attend and want to bring your camera, be prepared to register it as you enter and you will be searched as you exit to ensure that the camera you brought is the one you're taking home, unless of course you dropped some cash on an upgrade.

Update 13-May-2011:  Attended the show today and was pleasantly surprised that the seminars are no longer filled with advertizing for Henry's learning center. In fact the instructors today were non Henry's staff, they were exhibitors from the manufactures booths themselves. They too were advertizing their products, but at least they were different for each class and related to what you were learning etc...
 The hall seem to be larger and was setup better than the past. The Henry's sales booth was larger and allowed more room for customers to purchase items. There was a system to purchase items, customers obtained product sheets from the manufacture booths, much like a menu that they could check off what they wanted. They would hand it to the sales clerk at the Henry's booth and they would put their order together. Although I didn't buy anything, the system look very efficient.