Better Digital Camera

In support of our feature in Issue 43 of Better Digital Camera Magazine, Easy Peasy Video Editing, here are several links to some simple-to-follow video tutorials:
________________________________________________________________________________

Managing Video Assets
https://vimeo.com/38075569

Windows Live Movie Maker Basics
https://vimeo.com/38075570

Getting Started with Windows Live Movie Maker (WLMM)
https://vimeo.com/38075572

Basic Editing Techniques (WLMM)
https://vimeo.com/38075571

Getting Started with iMovie
https://vimeo.com/38075573

Creating Better-Looking Clips with iMovie
https://vimeo.com/38077162

Adding iMovie Transitions
https://vimeo.com/38076619

Adding Text and Titles with iMovie:
https://vimeo.com/38077164

Canon Australia has unveiled the latest addition to its market-defining EOS range: the Canon EOS 5D Mark III. A revolutionary step in the high-performance DSLR camera category, the Mark III is the latest in Canon’s 5D line-up, joining the range above the EOS 5D Mark II.

The highly anticipated EOS 5D Mark III builds on Canon's market-leading position in the DSLR camera market1. Featuring a 22.3-megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor and DiG!C 5+ image processor with a new 61-point High Density Reticular AF system and enhanced full HD movie capability, the camera takes Canon’s 5D range to its highest quality ever, enabling high-level enthusiasts and professional photographers alike to take their photography to the next level.

"The EOS 5D Mark III sets a new benchmark in the high-performance DSLR camera category," said Chris Macleod, Canon EOS Brand Manager. "Built with uncompromised quality, it brings new innovations to an already sublime feature set, anticipating the needs of both high-level enthusiasts and professionals looking for a camera that has the speed, control, and agility to capture everything from landscapes and moving wildlife to portraits and weddings. Its added ability to shoot full HD movies makes it a truly indispensable photographic tool to take your photography to the next level.

Top-class image quality

The EOS 5D Mark III incorporates Canon's full-frame CMOS sensor that delivers image output of unparalleled quality, but now with an increased megapixel count of 22.3. Understanding that image quality goes beyond a simple pixel count, Canon engineers have achieved a balance between resolution and low noise.

The sensor incorporates a photo diode with excellent photoelectric conversion efficiency, together with a gapless micro lens, greatly improving light receiving efficiency.

Image quality is further enhanced by the new-generation DiG!C 5+ image processor. An advanced new algorithm has been developed that more effectively removes noise, improving results when shooting at high ISO settings.

The processing speed is approximately 1.3 times faster than before, delivering improved performance, excellent image quality and more advanced image processing capabilities. The standard ISO range has been expanded by two stops to a standard range of 100 to 25600, delivering a camera that is ideal for capturing everything from outdoor night scenes and portraits to fast-moving action, all with very low noise.

The camera offers Full HD EOS Movie which also makes use of the heightened quality of the sensor and image processor, delivering footage with reduced colour artefacts and moiré.

Uncompromising specifications

Canon understands the varying demands of advanced photographers and has incorporated a high-precision, super multi-point AF system that delivers superior results under a wide variety of shooting conditions. The EOS 5D Mark III's new 61-point reticular AF system, includes up to 41 cross-type focus points2. Extra points have been positioned to the left and right of the centre frame, giving photographers greater and more precise, accuracy and compositional freedom.
The EOS 5D Mark III offers up to approximately 6.0 frames-per-second continuous shooting speed, with a release time of approximately 0.59ms providing users with the ability to shoot anything from fast-moving action to candid portraits.

The EOS 5D Mark III's comprehensive range of features and technologies are housed in a sturdy magnesium-alloy body, providing a balance between reduced weight and superior protection. Dust and water resistance have been improved through the addition of water-resistant seals around buttons, dials and strap hooks. The camera's shutter is rated at approximately 150,000 cycles, ensuring reliable performance over time.

Rounding out the body is an intelligent viewfinder offering approximately 100% coverage. This is achieved through the pursuit of easy viewing using a 0.71x magnification and a 21mm eye point, to naturally reflect the view of the naked eye.

Innovation that expands photographic possibilities

To support the desire of many photographers to push the boundaries of their technique and experience the joy of full creative photographic expression, Canon has introduced a range of new features that allow exploration of new techniques.

The EOS 5D Mark III incorporates a new High Dynamic Range (HDR) mode to enable greater creative expression. The camera captures three images of a single scene at different exposures and then merges them automatically to create a single HDR image. Four additional, in-camera special picture effects (Art Standard, Art Vivid, Art Bold and Art Embossed) allow even greater creative freedom.

For photographers looking for even more creative expression, the EOS 5D Mark III also offers two multiple exposure modes: function/control priority for composed multi-exposure images and continuous shooting priority mode for multiple exposures of a moving subject. This is the first time such a feature has been available in an EOS camera, enabling photographers to combine between two and nine images in a single image in continuous shooting mode or four in function/control priority mode.

To accompany the launch of the EOS 5D Mark III, Canon has released a range of accessories that further enhance the camera's capabilities and open up even more opportunities for photographers, especially for those on the move.

The BG-E11 Battery Grip has been designed for enhanced capability and comfort, enabling high performance when shooting horizontally and vertically. Capable of housing 2 x LP-E6 and 6 x AA batteries, the BG-E11 has the addition of the multi-controller and M-Fn button for easy and quick operation. The new Speedlite 600EX-RT, successor to the Speedlite 580EX II, is the first Canon Speedlite to offer wireless radio transmission. It also features a shorter recycle time and a wide 20mm to 200mm zoom range. Also available is the WFT-E7 Wireless File Transmitter that supports high-speed communication over 802.11a/b/g and n networks; and it can also be connected to high-speed wired Ethernet networks.

Finally, and essential to the gear bag of any professional photographer, is the introduction of the compact GPS receiver for EOS, the GP-E2, enabling photographers to record shooting location and orientation3. The GP-E2’s high sensitivity, precision and stable operation makes it one of the most reliable units in the segment and supports various modes of use and applications.

Availability

The EOS 5D Mark III will be available through Canon dealers from late March 2012 and will be available in the following kits:

• Body Only
• Premium Kit, containing the EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens
• Pro Kit, containing the EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens
• Speedlite 600EX-RT
• WFT-E7
• GP-E2, GPS receiver

For more information customers can contact Canon on 1800 021 167

 Apolgies for the issues with this website recently. Our host, JustHost, seems to have been compromised and a bunch of hosted sited were vandalised by a hacker apparently from eastern Europe. Nothing serious, but deleting all the user names and admin passwords made it hard to add new content! We are in the process of looking for a new host and will make an announcement when that has been done - it's not a trivial task.

Enter Now - Win up to $5000 Cash

Co-Publisher, Better Digital Camera Magazine 

Enter Now - Win up to $5000 Cash 

The winner of the survey prize is Angela Siebert from Alice Springs. A nice new Leica compact camera will be on it's way to you soon.

Thanks to everyone for taking part, it was very instructive and we will be taking on board all your comments and statistics.

For the first time in Australia an exhibition of stunning images from the acclaimed International Garden Photographer of the Year (IGPOTY) 2010 competition will be held in the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney from 11 – 28 August, 2011, presented by Friends of the Botanic Gardens.

Win 12 Month's Subscription to Better Digital Camera, Better Photography and Better Photoshop Techniques. Oh, and and did we mention the Nikon D3100 plus lens too? And have you image published in TWCs 2012 Calendar as well.

Weather Watcher: Be part of the team and star in our 2012 calendar!

The Weather Channel is looking for their very own on-ground “Weather Watcher’s”; people across the country who can become part of our weather team and help us show the most compelling and comprehensive view of Australian weather.

Submit your most inspired weather photos via our website www.weatherchannel.com.au/weatherwatcher/competition and your picture could be in the running to feature in The Weather Channels’ 2012 calendar.

On the 19^th April 2011 all entries will be uploaded to our Facebook page, where it is then over to the public to vote for which image they feel best captures Australia’s diverse weather.

The top 30 as voted by the public will then be reviewed by The Weather Channel team and the top 12 will be selected to appear in our 2012 calendar.

Each picture also has the chance to be featured on-air on Channel 603, The Weather Channel!

Remember to visit www.facebook.com/weatherchannel after the 19^th April 2011 and vote for your photo to be in the running to win!

Queenstown, New Zealand, 14 February, 2011 - Panasonic has introduced two new 3MOS Full High Definition camcorders – its most advanced consumer camcorders yet.  These new models offer the company’s flagship technologies, including touch screen operation, outstanding imaging via Full HD AVCHD recording and the 3MOS system, and 3D shooting via an optional 3D conversion lens1.

Aurelie Hayon, Product Marketing Manager, Camcorders, Panasonic Australia, said: “With these new models, Panasonic provides camcorders that allow you to capture outstanding images and enjoy them with others on your Full HD TV or 3DTV.  The Full HD and 3DTV markets are growing, and the HDC-HS900 and HDC-SD900 take full advantage of the excitement of these technologies.”

“These two 3MOS models are compatible with the optional VW-CLT1 3D conversion lens, allowing us to offer a total of 3 models across the 2011 range that are 3D-ready.”

Pricing and Availability

HDC-HS900                                                   $2099 RRP                 Available March

HDC-SD900                                                   $1499 RRP                 Available end February

VW-CLT1 optional 3D lens                          $449 RRP                   Available March

The HDC-HS900 and HDC-SD900 are available in Black.

The new Full HD camcorders feature 1920 x 1080/50p AVCHD recording to create crisp, detailed videos. The combination of 3MOS recording, a large-diameter F1.5 Leica Dicomar lens and Crystal Engine Pro ensures rich image quality, outstanding light gathering, increased sensitivity and reduced noise when shooting, even in dim lighting.

For shooting convenience, the camcorders offer large 3.5-inch LCD screens with advanced touch operation that allows for extremely smooth shooting and playback – including touch zoom, to swiftly move in and out at the touch of a finger; and touch shutter, where you can automatically focus and take a photo by touching the subject on the screen.

Both models can record to SDXC/SDHC/SD Memory Cards, while the HDC-HS900 has a 220GB hard disk drive for additional memory storage.

Key features

Advanced Imaging

At the heart of Panasonic’s advanced processing system is the high-sensitivity 3MOS sensor with 7.9 million effective motion image pixels (2.53 megapixels x 3). The 3MOS sensor separates light received through the lens into the three primary colours – red, green and blue – processing each independently for rich colour quality, detail and gradation.

The 1080/50p recording (Full HD 1920 x 1080, 50 progressive recording), produces richly expressive images with twice the information of 1080i (interlace) recording.  It minimises the after- images and flickering caused by subject motion and renders crisp, detailed images.

Crystal Engine PRO instantly processes the large amount of data that goes into Full HD quality for extremely clear, crisp motion images. The improved Crystal Engine PRO increases sensitivity and reduces noise by 45 per cent compared to 2010 Panasonic models, resulting in brighter images with minimal noise when shooting under low-light conditions.  This maximises the 3MOS features of excellent colour reproduction, high resolution and rich gradation, and lets the user capture vividly coloured images in either bright or dark places.

The camcorders also feature the large-diameter 46mm F1.5 Leica Dicomar lens which produces brighter images and helps suppress ghosting and flare, while also minimising distortion and degradation of contrast and resolution.  In addition, its 35mm wide-angle capability makes it ideal for many different shooting situations, such as self-portraits and group photos indoors and landscape shots outdoors.

Large 3.5-inch LCD with touch operation

The camcorders offer easy touch operation functions. In addition to the single handed variable speed zooming of previous models, the new ‘Touch Zoom’ provides stable zooming while recording.  The user simply touches the LCD to activate slow zooming, for smooth adjustment of the angle of view. ‘Touch Shutter’ automatically focuses and takes a still picture when the user touches the subject on the screen.  The user can also change thumbnail pages by sliding a fingertip across the screen.  This kind of advanced touch operation provides much smoother shooting and playback than in previous models.

Hybrid OIS (Optical Image Stabiliser)

The HYBRID OIS is a hybrid optical and electrical image stabilisation system which achieves powerful correction during zooming or when shooting on the move.  In addition to the blurring caused by vertical or horizontal wrist movements, the camcorders can also detect the subtle blurring that occurs when the entire arm moves vertically or horizontally, and correct it using a lens in the optical system and a sensor in the electrical system. 

3D image shooting with the 3D conversion lens

Dynamic 3D content can now be created and experienced firsthand using Panasonic’s optional 3D conversion lens, the VW-CLT12.

In natural vision, people see slightly different images with their right and left eyes.  This difference is called ‘visual disparity’. The brain processes these images with visual disparity to reconstruct spatial conditions, enabling us to see things with three-dimensional depth and solidity. This visual disparity is artificially produced for 3D images so that the brain will interpret it as depth and solid-appearing objects.

The VW-CLT1 records right-eye and left-eye images simultaneously through its two lenses.  The right and left images (each with 960 x 1080 pixels) that enter through the lenses are recorded using the side-by-side method.

Other features of the camcorders include:

·         Panasonic’s highly popular iA (Intelligent Auto) mode makes it easy for anyone to take beautiful videos.  When iA is engaged, the camcorder automatically selects the most suitable shooting mode at the press of a button.  The camcorder offers six iA functions: AF/AE Tracking, Intelligent Contrast Control, Intelligent Scene Selector, HYBRID OIS, Face Detection and Face Recognition.

·         35mm wide-angle lens that captures beautiful images of wide landscapes and allows large groups of people to fit into the frame, making it highly versatile for use in all kinds of situations.

·         A manual ring provides easy, fingertip control over the focus, zoom, exposure, shutter speed and white balance settings. 

·         An Eye Viewfinder provides greater precision when shooting.

·         5.1-channel surround sound system:  Uses five microphones so when sounds recorded from front, left, right and back are played on a 5.1-channel home theatre system, viewers are surrounded by crisp, detailed sound that makes them feel as if they are right in the middle of the action.

·         Zoom Microphone, which links the microphone’s zoom action to the camera’s action, reducing surrounding noise and making it possible to record target sounds with superb clarity.

·         The Wind Noise Canceller automatically detects and suppresses only wind noise to ensure natural sounds with lifelike ambience.

·         In addition to the HYBRID OIS system, the camcorders provide even more powerful hand-shake correction with OIS Lock.  By pressing the OIS Lock button on the LCD monitor, the blur detection sensitivity is maximised, and all kinds of camera movements are detected as hand shake and corrected.  OIS Lock is ideal for applications like bird watching, which call for zooming at a fixed angle.

·         The Highlight Playback function is designed for users who want to view recorded images as quickly as possible.  It detects zooming, panning, scene changes, faces and so on in recorded images as ‘highlights’ and automatically plays back the detected highlight scenes according to a set time interval. Playback effects include Slow, Fading Still Image and Flash Playback. There are also four special effect modes: Natural, Pop, Dynamic and Classical.

·         The Auto Power LCD automatically adjusts the LCD screen brightness according to the shooting environment so it is always easy to view

·         Time Lapse recording is a convenient function that plays a scene such as a sunset at an accelerated speed.  By setting the recording interval to 1 sec, 10 sec, 30 sec, 1 min or 2 min, the user can view an otherwise long recording in a reduced time period – for example a 10 minute scene can be played back in around 12 seconds.

·         Interval recording with lifelike 3D images is also possible by attaching the 3D conversion lens to the camcorder – for example showing a blooming flower as it gradually opens.

·         Intelligent Zoom, which allows telephoto shots at up to 20x magnification

·         1.9-sec quick power on also helps capture sudden shooting opportunities, and when combined with Quick Start mode, the camcorder can start in just 0.8 second.

·         Pre Rec – continually records three seconds of buffer memory so you don’t miss those spontaneous moments.

·         50 frames/sec High Speed Burst Shooting is designed for fast motion subjects and lets the camcorder snap up to 50 consecutive 2.1-megapixel still images per second for a total of 180 consecutive images in about three seconds.

·         Optional Accessories – including the VW-CLT1 3D conversion lens; a Video DC Light (VW-LDC103) for illuminating dark scenes, with a switchable Spot/Wide function that allows the lighting range to be selected according to the scene; a Shoe Adaptor (VW-SK12) for attaching multiple accessories; Stereo Microphone (VW-VMS2); and DVD Burner (VW-BN01E).

2D Playback

For playback, insert the SD card into the slot of a compatible VIERA TV or AVCHD-compatible player/recorder.  VIERA Link compatibility allows the user to simply connect a camcorder to a compatible VIERA TV via a Mini HDMI cable, and operate it using the TV remote control and following on-screen prompts.

3D Playback

By attaching the 3D lens to the HDC-HS900 or HDC-SD900 and connecting it to a 3DTV, vivid and immersive 3D images can be viewed at home3.

Users can play back 3D videos recorded using the 3D lens on 3DTVs, including Panasonic VIERA 3DTVs – either by connecting the Camcorder to the TV via the optional 3D-compatible Mini HDMI cable, or via the SD card slot of any AVCHD-compatible player/recorder.

PC Editing/Archiving

The camcorders are supplied with HD Writer AE 3.0 PC editing software for 2D and 3D editing (Windows OS).  Import your recorded 3D footage to your PC via SD Card slot or HDMI cable.  3D footage can be viewed or edited on your PC and archived to SD Card, or Blu-ray disc.

The software allows easy uploading of video clips to YouTube™ and Facebook©, so even inexperienced users can post video clips on the Web. For added convenience, the iFrame (960 x 540/30p) video recording format, which is optimal for Mac users to import quickly and maintain small file sizes, is also supported. 

Also, the ordinarily time-consuming task of converting and archiving data from 50p to AVCHD or MPEG-2 format can be easily done at high speed by connecting the 3MOS camera to a PC with a USB cable and using the camcorder’s Conversion Assist function.

Included accessories: Li-ion battery, AC Adaptor, AC Cable, DC Cable, Stylus pen, lens hood, IR Remote Control, Video Component Cable, USB Cable, AV Multi Cable, HD Writer AE 3.0 PC editing software.

Queenstown, New Zealand, 14 February, 2011 – Panasonic Australia today welcomed the compact LUMIX DMC-TZ20 and LUMIX DMC-TZ18 – the sixth generation in its popular TZ Series designed for travellers, featuring an impressive 16x optical zoom, 24mm wide-angle LEICA DC lens, with the DMC-TZ20 also offering Full HD AVCHD movie recording and convenient GPS functionality. Thanks to the versatile LEICA DC VARIO-ELMAR lens1, users can capture ultra wide-angle shots and telephoto images with ease.