My Telephoto is Longer Than Yours...

In the ever-growing "To be tested" pile, today we tried out this beast of a telephoto conversion lens. It's the Raynox HDP-9000EX 1.8x Tele convertor lens.

It mounts to any 72mm filter thread, including those on photo lenses. The shear magnitude of this lens is ridiculous. But in a good way. It gives you the extra reach to get that shot that would be impossible otherwise.

But when you see it, you can't help but giggle and then think to yourself - "That looks bad a$$!"

Just make sure your tripod is strong enough to handle this bad mother tele-converter!

A Canadian Landmark That Is Out Of This World...

In 1967, a proposal was made to build the world's first UFO Landing Pad as a landmark for the town of St. Paul, Alberta. The Government of Canada responded to this proposition and, during the grand opening on June 3 1967, St. Paul was declared the Centennial Capital of Canada.

In the 1990's Mayor Paul Langevin officially opened an adjacent UFO tourist information centre to welcome visitors. As you enter St. Paul from the West, drop in to visit this landmark and see the UFO exhibit downstairs. This is an opportunity to view actual photographs of UFOs, crop circles and cattle mutilations. The exhibit is designed to educate. A UFO Hotline compliments the display with reports of UFO sightings and encounters of all kinds.

http://www.town.stpaul.ab.ca/UFO-Landing-Pad

So you thought 12fps was fast...

MIT Media Lab researchers have created a new imaging system that can acquire visual data at a rate of one trillion frames per second. That's fast enough to produce a slow-motion video of light traveling through objects. Video: Melanie Gonick.

Gear in Action: Canon XA10

New user videos shot with the Canon XA10:

32°F from Steve Savage on Vimeo.

Canon XA10 from Daniel Fery on Vimeo.

The Dancing Clairs - Dead Mans Hand from ITB Films on Vimeo.

The 5D Mark III Cometh - Finally

A heavy sigh of relief around the DV Shop as Canon announces the
long-awaited much-anticipated 5D Mark III. Finally, people will stop asking
us when the 5D Mark III will be announced, as they have been doing on an
hourly basis for the last 18 months. I'm not joking - hourly, for 18 months.

Unlike the gangsta Nikon D800 announcement, this is more of tweakage update
- better sensor, better video, better low light, but not a jaw-dropping,
oh-my-god-the-world-has-changed announcement. Some will be disappointed, as
their expectations (4k uncompressed video, 40mp sensor) were not met.

I'm sure Canon will argue that their 22mp sensor does more with less than
Nikon's 36mp, and Nikon will argue the opposite, but we'll leave the
pixel-peeping to others. Both are going to be excellent cameras, and both
will be shipping soon. Getting one will be another matter, as the waiting
lists will be long.

I give it about 60 days before people start asking us about the 5D Mark
IV...