Equipment - tools of the trade: August 2005 Archives

Someone's written a small depth of field calculator for Mac OS X dashboard widgets. I'm not sure how useful it is to pop open your PowerBook before you want to take a photo -- that's what the DOF lines on your lens focusing ring are for -- and the PalmOS ones are much handier if you need more detailed info, but I guess some people might be interested: DOFC - Depth of Field Calculator - Dashboard - Calculate & Convert: ""

About DOFC - Depth of Field Calculator
DOFC is a handy calculator for the depth of field, near focus, far focus and hyperfocal distance, no matter what camera you’ve got. It’s the perfect companion for the Apple PowerBook or iBook you probably carry to store and touch-up your digital images. DOFC will hopefully make a welcome addition to your shooting set-up, whether you shoot for soft Bokeh in portraits or ultimate sharpness in panoramic images.

The 5D specs were posted on this site previously and appear to be accurate, except for the price which is estimated at US$3299. That's ground breaking for a full-frame camera. I'll be pre-ordering one as soon as I can. What's really great is that the 5D's focusing screens can be replaced, this was a major bugaboo for me with the 20D/10D since I like to have have grid focusing screens for alignment and composition.

The EOS 1D Mark IIN has the same 8.2 megapixel sensor as its predecessor, which was designed for photojournalists who needed fast frame rates more than they needed megapixels or full-frame sensors. The main difference is the larger LCD panel on the back and a larger and faster buffer performance. It'll be listed at US$3999.

I was browsing Costco's website when I came across this mini-dehumidifier (Royal Sovereign Silver Mini Dehumidifier $29.99 Item # 908759) that seems like it would be perfect for camera cabinets. I'm now living by the ocean and the humidity is quite high. I'm going to give this a go and report on how it works. See my previous blog entry on keeping cameras and lenses fungus free.

Some members of the Leica Reflex list found that their manual focus Leica-R lenses were having slight exposure problems when mounted (with an adapter) on their Canon EOS 20D cameras. This was a problem that hadn't shown up in previous EOS digital or film cameras. Bob Palmieri on the list asked Chuck Westfall of Canon USA, who quickly responded with the cause and solution to the issue: