South Carolina Photography Guild

The monthly meetings for March are rapidly approaching - as the group has been invited to assist in hosting the 21st Century Photographer’s Meetup group here in Charleston, it seemed only natural to make an announcement here too.  We’re meeting tomorrow evening in North Charleston at a restaurant across from Northwoods Mall (7pm).  More details can be found here:  http://photo.meetup.com/687/calendar/7327313/?a=cr1p_grp

In club-specific news, our monthly photo shoot has been adjusted due to weather and the delayed spring, so this weekend we’ll be heading up to Cypress Gardens.  They open at 9, so the start time is 8:45 in the parking lot - bring your camera and a friend!

Just a reminder, the shoot for February has changed from Cypress Gardens to the South Eastern Wildlife Expo (SEWE).  The SEWE event is an annual occurence for February, and this will be a unique opportunity to practice a wide range of photography from candids (there will be a lot of people around), to the dog jumping contests, and of course the wildlife.  We’ll be meeting in Marion Square around 9am to hopefully get positioned well for the Birds of Prey demonstration that will be happening at one - just look for a group or gaggle of people with cameras!

With the revised schedule, I thought it might be handy to have this as a reference for future months, so after the meetup tonight with Chuck Boyd (thanks Chuck ), I promised to post the handout here.  Clicking on the links in the digital version will take you to the respective sites for our various points of interest for 2008.  Hope to see you there!

2008 Schedule.pdf

With the realization that the 2008 SEWE festival will coincide with our monthly shoot, we’ve made an adjustment for the month of February to accommodate the event.  As we solidify details, those will be announced here, but please make a note that the monthly outing that was originally scheduled for Cypress Gardens has now been shifted to downtown Charleston for the South Eastern Wildlife Expo.

For more information on all the activities that will encompass the 3-day event, their website can be found at the following link:  www.sewe.com

sMan, it is cold out.  I’m from up North originally, including having lived in states like New York, Colorado, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.  When it gets in the upper teens in SC, trust me when I say it’s kinda cold!  It brought back memories of why my wife and I moved south to begin with!

Anyway, I am guessing that is the reason why many were not on site for the January shoot at Middleton Plantation yesterday.  That and the fact that I never got the announcement out on the blog *sheepish grin*

So…in order to prevent that from happening again…here’s a tentative schedule for all of 2008:

1. January - Middleton Plantations
2. February - Cypress Gardens
3. March - Bull Island
4. April - Magnolia Gardens
5. May - Beidler Forest
6. June - Market Street
7. July - Patriots Point
8. August - Ft. Moultrie
9. September - Old Santee Canal Park
10. October - Drayton Hall
11. November - Waterfront Park
12. December - Holiday, no shoot scheduled

Hopefully, I’l remember to re-post this schedule periodically as things are always subject to change…

As the holidays draw closer and closer, the forums and blog get quieter and quieter.  Just a reminder to the community, that although we are on a sabbatical of sorts, the shoot schedule for SC Photogs will resume in January.  Stay tuned for the shoot location, and mark your calendar for the third Saturday.  Until after the holidays, those of us at SCPG would like to take a moment to say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to the community and to one another.  As always, happy shooting!

With personal projects and other activities taking up a lot of time, the past three months have seen teh SCPG blog see some quiet time.  Back into a routine of sorts, and just in time for the holidays!  So…before they hit us, SCPG would like to get together for a fall shoot.  Our usual third weekend of the month is rapidly approaching, so stop in the forums to see where we’ll be headed this go around.  Any and all are welcome to join, so bring your camera, and a friend, and join the fun!  Until Sat, there’s always lots of scenes to take so keep on snapping!  Happy Shooting!

For Veterans Day, we would also like to take a moment and offer our thanks to those who have served and who are serving our country both at home and overseas.  Our thoughts and prayers are with each and every one of them and their families.  There is no greater service than serving one’s country, and we here at SCPG would like to just say “Thanks!”.

The 2nd issue of the SCPG monthly newsletter has been published!  If you’re a registered member, check your email!  If you didn’t get one, let us know!  If you want to get one, let us know!  If you want to register and share photos and fun, thoughts and shots, tips and tricks, etc., etc., etc. stop on over!  It’s always free to register and share images, and we’d love to see some new faces….  So where’s all the closet photogs out there?  For those that would like to read the latest news, for the time being the issues are being made available for download…just stop in the forums to grab the latest issue.  Contests, a photo of the month, and much more is available in there.  As the old saying goes, “Thars gold in them thar pages!”

The August Monthly Assignment has also ended.  The theme was Nothing but Skies.  Turnout was a little light, but the shots that are in there were neat to see.  Thanks to all who participated.  Check them out here:  August Skies  For September, the theme will be Glass.  So, get the lead out (of your glass) *insert drum / cymbal sound for bad joke here*, and join in the Monthly Assignment fun.  The forums are the preferred place to post images, but you can also post here in the comments if you like too.  Whatever, as long as it’s theme appropriate!  So..until next post:  Happy Shooting!

The club get together from last weekend went off quite well despite some rainy weather.  Shots are up and shared in the forums, including a few candids from an impromptu “hot dog show”.  Next up for September is a Lighting “workshop” of sorts - up to a total of 25 people can be accommodated, so if you’re interested, log into the forums, or notify admin@scphotogs.com and we’ll get your name to the coordinators.

In personal news, I’ve finally started my own personal blog.  As this one is moving toward infrequent postings on club events, news, and information, I’ve been hesitant to post my own personal thoughts and musings in this venue.  While this is still a useful place to get general photo news about the club and area activities,  those interested in following my more daily musings are welcome to tune in at:

www.canonblogger.com  The post feeds work, but something is wrong with the comments feed, so if anyone knows how to fix that, email me! (jason AT scphotogs DOT com)

From their website, after press releases confirmed the body and it’s specs, here’s the info compiled into one nice place:

Product Features

• 10.1-megapixel CMOS sensor captures enough detail for photo-quality poster-size prints
• Large 3.0-inch LCD display with enhanced Live View and broadened color gamut
• 6.5 frame-per-second continuous shooting capability (for bursts of up to 75 Large/Fine JPEGs or 17 RAW images)
• sRAW mode; 35-zone metering system; integrated Self-Cleaning Sensor Unit
• Powered by BP-511A, BP-511, or BP-512 lithium-ion battery pack; stores images on CF cards

Technical Details

• Resolution: Approximately 10.1 million effective pixels (total pixels: approximately 10.5 million)
• Recording pixels: 3888 x 2592
• Sensor type: CMOS sensor, with primary R-G-B filtration
• Sensor size: 22.2 x 14.8 millimeters
• Pixel size: 5.7 microns square
• Lens focal length factor: 1.6x
• Sensor dust removal: EOS Integrated Cleaning System; active removal of dust by vibrating front low-pass filter; automatic removal of dust spots, in Canon Digital Photo Professional software (v. 3.1 or higher)
• Maximum frames per second: 6.5 frames per second (fps) at full resolution
• Maximum number of frames / burst: JPEG: 75; RAW: 17
• Shutter speeds: 30 seconds to 1/8000, plus Bulb (1/3 or 1/2-step increments)
• Flash sync speed: Up to 1/250, with EX-series Speedlites
• Anticipated shutter durability: 100,000 exposures, based on Canon test methods
• Computer interface: USB 2.0 (Hi-speed)
• Image recording storage media: CompactFlash (CF) cards (type I or II, including Microdrives)
• Card compatibility: “FAT32″ compatible–OK for cards over 2GB
• Image format options: JPEG (choice of “Fine” or “Normal” compression); RAW (Canon .CR2 RAW file format); RAW + JPEG (any JPEG file size available; JPEG file written as separate file)
• Analog to digital conversion: 14 bits per channel (16,382 separate tones from brightest to darkest, for each channel)
• Resolution options: “Large”–3888 x 2592 (approximately 10.1 million pixels); “Medium”–2816 x 1880 (approximately 5.3 million pixels); “Small”–1936 x 1288 (approximately 2.5 million pixels)
• File numbering: sRGB color space: IMG_0001.JPG or IMG_0001.CR2; Adobe 1998 RGB color space: first character is always underscore (_)
• Folders: Automatically created for image storage; new folder can be user-created with “Manual Reset” function; folders cannot be freely selected on memory card by the photographer
• Highlight tone priority: Expands tonal range of bright highlights by about one stop; ISO range limited to 200 to 1600; activated by C.Fn II-3-1
• Data verification: “Original Image Data” can be appended to each image via Custom Function IV-6-1; requires optional Canon Original Data Security Kit OSK-E3 to check authenticity
• Live View viewing options: Camera’s LCD monitor; computer monitor, via USB; computer monitor, via wireless transmitter WFT-E3A
• Manual focus: Viewed on LCD monitor, with option to magnify focus area 5x or 10x
• Autofocus: Possible–C.Fn III-6-1 active, press AF On button; mirror drops down temporarily while AF On button is pressed, allowing AF to function
• Silent mode Live View shoot: Mode 1: First shutter curtain remains open; shooting up to 6.5 fps possible; Mode 2: Quieter option; 2nd shutter curtain doesn’t close until user’s finger is taken off shutter button
• Accessory wireless transmitter: Canon WFT-E3A (optional, dedicated wireless transmitter)
• Attachment to camera: Attaches to base of camera; totally integrated with EOS 40D’s design
• Wireless transfer methods: 802.11b or 802.11g; link speed: approximately 11 megabits/second (802.11b) or 54 megabits/second (802.11g)
• Connection method: Infrastructure or Ad Hoc (802.11g functions in Ad Hoc mode)
• Maximum wireless distance: Approximately 490 feet (150 meters), if “receiver” has its own antenna (depends on environment)
• Wireless channels: 11 (in North American market)
• Ethernet (wired) transfer: Yes; Ethernet 100Base-TX (maximum distance approximately 1,000 feet); link speed: approximately 100 megabits/second
• Transfer options: 1. FTP mode (images sent to folder on host computer); 2. PTP mode (remote control of camera possible from computer); 3. HTTP mode (view camera’s files using web browser; remote firing of camera possible)
• Security options: Encryption: WEP or TKIP/AES; authentication: open system, WPA-PSK, or WPA2-PSK
• USB “host” capability: Plug compatible USB devices into WFT-E2A, for use with the EOS 40D; GPS devices (write GPS time, coordinates, and altitude info into each file’s EXIF info); external hard drive (connect compact external USB hard drive, and write files directly from camera to the hard drive as if it’s an additional memory card)
• LCD monitor: 3.0-inch (diagonal) TFT color; approximately 100% coverage; approximately 230,000 pixels on monitor; approximately 140 degrees viewing angle
• LCD monitor brightness: Adjustable in 7 levels (via Menu)
• Video-out: Yes (to standard TV monitor); NTSC or PAL, selectable on Menu
• Number of AF points: Nine, all cross-type AF points
• Center AF point: Unique hybrid cross-type AF point; world’s first high-precision AF point with both horizontal and vertical high-precision; additional standard precision, cross-type sensors for lenses from f2.8 to f5.6
• AF point selection: 1. Manual AF point selection via 9-way multi-controller on back of camera; 2. automatic AF point selection
• AF activation: Shutter button, or new AF On button at back of camera
• AF modes: One-Shot AF (for stationary subjects); AI Servo AF (for tracking moving subjects); AI Focus AF (auto selection of One-Shot or AI Servo AF)
• AF sensor: Entirely new Canon CMOS AF sensor
• AF sensitivity range: EV -0.5 to 18 (at 73 degrees F / 23 degrees C, ISO 100)
• Shutter speeds: 30 seconds to 1/8000 second, plus Bulb (1/3 or 1/2-step increments); x-sync at 1/250
• ISO range: 100 to 1600, in 1/3-step or full-stop increments; ISO can be expanded to 3200 via C.Fn I-3-1
• Auto ISO: Can be set in any exposure mode, including P, Tv, Av, and M; ISO usually based at 400; typical auto range is 100 to 800, depending on conditions; manual exposure mode: auto ISO fixed at 400
• Exposure modes: Manual, Aperture-priority (Av), Shutter-priority (Tv), Program AE
• Full-auto modes: Green Zone, Portrait, Landscape, Close-up, Action, Night Portrait, Flash Off
• Metering: 35-zone metering sensor; Evaluative metering (linked to all AF points); Center-weighted metering; Partial metering; Spot metering at center of picture (approximately 3.5% of picture area)
• Metering range: EV 0 to 20 (all patterns, at normal temperatures)
• Exposure compensation: Possible in P, Tv, Av, and A-DEP exposure modes; +/- up to two stops, in 1/2 or 1/3-stop increments (via Quick Control Dial)
• Autoexposure bracketing: Possible in P, Tv, Av, M, and A-DEP exposure modes; +/- up to two stops, in 1/2 or 1/3-stop increments
• Compatible flashes: All Canon EX-series Speedlites, including new Speedlite 580EX II
• Camera menu sets flash: Yes (580EX II only, as of August 2007)
• E-TTL II flash metering: Flash metering not linked to active AF point; distance from compatible EF lenses now used; entire metering area can be averaged using Custom Function 14-1
• Modeling flash: 1-second burst of flash possible at 70Hz when depth-of-field preview button is pressed (580EX/EX II, 550EX, 420EX, MR-14EX, MT-24EX, and Speedlite transmitter only)
• Wireless E-TTL: Fully compatible, including ratio setting over six-stop range
• Flash exposure compensation: Up to +/- 2 stops can be set on camera body (can also be set on compatible Speedlites)
• Built-in flash: Covers lenses as wide as 17mm (27mm equivalent); Guide Number 43 (feet)/13 (meters), ISO 100
• Viewfinder focus screen: New interchangeable “Ef” series focusing screens; standard screen: Ef-A–precision matte screen very similar to EOS 30D; optional Ef-D screen–precision matte with grid lines; optional Ef-S screen–Super precision matte (superior manual focusing with fast lenses, f1.8 to f2.8)
• Viewfinder display: Similar to EOS 30D; new: ISO is always displayed; new: B/W shooting mode icon; new: maximum burst available now two digits
• Dioptric adjustment: User-set from -3.0 to +1.0 (range can be extended using optional Canon dioptric Lens E, plus rubber frame Eb)
• Mirror lock-up: Possible via Custom Function III-6-1
• Eyepiece shutter: None (cover is provided on included strap)
• Color space: Standard sRGB or Adobe 1998 RGB (separate setting on Menu)
• White Balance: Auto; Pre-set (Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Flash); color temperature (set by user from 2500K to 10,000K in 100K increments); custom (shoot white object or 18% gray card, base WB on that neutral object)
• White Balance correction: Fine-tuning of overall color, in any white balance mode; amber-blue correction, in 9 steps; magenta-green correction, in 9 steps; set on graph on LCD monitor, using 9-way controller; both types of correction can be combined
• White Balance bracketing: Three separate files written with a single click of the shutter; can be varied in the amber-blue direction, or the magenta-green direction; can be adjusted up to +/- 15 mireds (equivalent to 3 steps on the 9-step adjust scale); can be combined with standard auto exposure bracketing (9 files written to CF card)
• Picture style: Extensive range of settings for user to tailor color, contrast, sharpness, etc. to their preference; same characteristics as previous EOS SLRs with Picture Style control
• Black and white recording: Set via monochrome setting within Picture Styles menu
• Computer connection: USB 2.0 Hi-speed, via small “B”-type USB connection
• Remote control: N3-type push-in terminal (same as EOS 20D, EOS-1D Mark II, etc.)
• Video-out: Single-pin mini-jack
• Direct Printing compatibility: PictBridge printing to compatible Canon and other brand printers
• Compatible images: JPEG, RAW, or sRAW, if they comply with DCF protocol
• Preview effects on camera’s LCD: Printing effects can be previewed (includes brightness, levels, contrast, color saturation, color tone, and color balance–face brightener and red-eye correction cannot be viewed)
• Connection to printer: Via USB cable included with camera
• DPOF image marking: Compatible; images can be “tagged” while reviewing on LCD monitor
• Battery: BP-511A, BP-511, or BP-512 (rechargeable lithium-ion, same as EOS 30D) (BP-511/BP-512: 1100mAh; BP-511A: 1390mAh)
• Shooting capacity: Approximately 1100 shots (at 68 degrees F / 20 degrees C); approximately 800 shots (at 32 degrees F / 0 degrees C)
• Charger unit: Canon CB-5L or CG-580 (also can be charged with compact power adapter CA-PS400)
• AC adapter: AC adapter kit ACK-E2 (optional; consists of adapter AC-E2, and “dummy battery” DR-400)
• Battery grip (optional): Battery grip BG-E2N or BG-E2
• Date/time back-up battery: CR2016 lithium battery–coin-type; user-replaceable (estimated life 5 years)
• Body exterior material: Magnesium alloy top, front, and rear covers
• Chassis material: Polycarbonate and stainless steel
• Lens mount: EF lens mount; metal; compatible lenses: all Canon lenses for EOS cameras
• Compatible with EF-S lenses: Yes
• Custom functions: 24 custom functions, in four distinct categories; 9 entirely new custom functions
• Operating temperature range: 32 degrees to 104 degrees F, at 85% or lower humidity (0 degrees to 40 degrees C)
• Dimensions (W x H x D): 5.7 x 4.2 x 2.9 inches (145.5 x 108 x 73.5 millimeters), very slightly larger than EOS 30D
• Weight (without battery or CF card): 26.1 ounces (740 grams), approximately 1.4 ounces (40 grams) heavier than EOS 30D

Canon has finally admitted it’s existence and posted content to their website. A press release is included as well, viewable here: Press Release Linked at the end of this post is a PDF compiled shortly before the images were added to the main page, as well as links to the now released-info page. Some of the more exciting features include the 10.1 Megapixel count, use of the Digic III sensor, a 3″ LCD screen, Live View, and a bunch more, including my favorite: the wireless transmission feature previously only available in much more expensive bodies! Our blog may soon have images posted much more regularly! Quite exciting stuff in camera land!

PDF File of Data and Images

Canon’s 40D Page