I was there too
Yesterday the Tour of Ireland rode (quickly) through Blarney village, but the main group was proceeded by these three cyclists by almost 4 minutes. Good thing too, good practice for when the rest sped through in front of us at breakneck speed!
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 40D |
| Focal length | 28mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/100s |
The Tour of Ireland bicycle race passed through Blarney on it’s way to Cork City this afternoon. There was a sprint to the finish line in front of the local Catholic church before the cyclists made their way down the dual carriageway to Cork and up Patrick’s Hill, twice!
I was there ready to shoot the participants, but I was overwhelmed by their speed. It only took the main group about 11 seconds to come around the corner at one end of Blarney and disappear through the other end. I’m kicking myself I shot in Programme mode when I should have been in Aperture Priority mode, but I did get a few nice panning shots that froze the rider while the background blurred into smudges and streaks of colour.
The Canon 40D performed admirably. ISO was set to 100 because it was a bright day, AI Servo focus to track the riders and keep them in focus, and high speed continuous shooting mode which delivered 6.5fps. It was all over so quickly I barely had time to take a breath. I shot around 230 images while waiting and during the short time the racers were in Blarney. I knew I’d go a little mad with the shutter button, so I preselected Jpeg mode rather than my usual RAW mode.
Here’s a transcript of the commentary during the race. This bit, while serious, made me smile:
13.10: The race leader has been to see the race doctor, who reports a very unusual injury. He had a thorn embedded in his tongue – presumably from an overhanging branch, or perhaps even some dried fruit he ate – which was removed by the doctor. The thorn, not his tongue.
Hope you like the gallery, hopefully some of these shots will be posted here in single posts during the week!
| Aperture | ƒ/7.1 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 40D |
| Focal length | 106mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/200s |
The toilets in the Cork International Airport Hotel are a pretty amazing sight to behold. Here’s the gent’s loo. The lighting changes constantly. I took a few shots within seconds of each other and they were all different. Luckily it wasn’t in use when I wandered in ..
This is the first shot I’ve posted from the Canon 40D. Unfortunately it’s quite noisy as it was shot hand held at ISO 1000, but the noise really only became noticeable after I applied the Lomo plugin to it. Love this camera. This photo and others taken at the hotel are also in this post. I used my 580EX flash for most of the people shots, but one or two were in available light with the ISO pumped up.
| Aperture | ƒ/3.5 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 40D |
| Focal length | 10mm |
| ISO | 1000 |
| Shutter speed | 1/15s |
Yes, yes, boo hoo, oh woe is me, my Canon 40D arrived on the day the new Canon 50D was announced. If only I had waited, my photos would be so much better with the Canon 50D.
Yeah right. I’ve already stated before that the equipment behind the camera is the most important part of image making. Sure, the camera does matter, but DSLRs are getting to the stage PCs got to a few years ago. Upgrading doesn’t significantly change the game. I’ll upgrade again in maybe 3 years. No rush.
The Canon 50D looks sweet though. 15MP sensor, better ISO, better LCD. Nice upgrade. Roland has linked to a few of the sites previewing or discussing the Canon 50D. The Rob Galbraith page is probably the most readable, but the DPReview preview has a neat comparison table to compare the Canon 50D with the Canon 40D.
DIGIC 4 processor Canon’s next-generation, 14-bit DIGIC 4 processor see its debut in the 50D, and it offers both more functionality and about 30% faster processing speed than the DIGIC III processor in the 40D….
The two cameras’ dimensions, body style and control positions are also the same (though the 50D is fractionally lighter). In a nutshell, the 50D appears to be a 40D with a higher-resolution sensor, revamped image processing, faster CompactFlash write speeds, HDMI video out and a crisp new rear LCD.
On Saturday I took my Canon 20D into a camera shop here in Cork and asked how much they’d give for it as a trade in against a Canon 40D.
After a few minutes I found out the disappointing answer. €300. Depreciation is a bitch isn’t it? The Canon 40D body is €1200 here. I need to start saving.
In other camera news, the M/AF switch on my wide angle Sigma lens fell off! I noticed it gone this afternoon and can’t find the switch anywhere. Hopefully it won’t be too expensive to replace.
I received an email yesterday from Bibble Labs. They’ve updated their very popular raw converter to support the Canon 40D. Could they be the first to market with that support? I don’t know, but the new version is free for existing users and it’s a simple upgrade.
Go try out the time limited trial version if you’re itching to play with your new camera’s RAW files!
Here’s the change log for this release:
Added support for Canon 40D, including sRaw and Tethering.
Added support for Pentax K100D Super
Added support for Fujifilm FinePix E550
Changed Chroma-sub sampling to 1:1 for jpegs > 85 quality
Fixed memory leak causing crash when working with many Olympus files.
Fixed issue with window position not being remembered when it was stretched across two monitors
Fixed issue with images from repaired Canon 350D not being recognized
Fixed issue with trailing white space in a rename string causing a warning dialog to appear
Tweaked Oly 410/510 color profile and default tone curve. (Be sure to purge your cache and reset custom WB’s)
Added extra verification before the original is deleted in Copy queues
Added Lens: Zuiko Digital 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6
Added Lens: PENTAX 70mm 2,4 Objectiv
Added Lens: Tamron 18-250mm F/3.5-6.3 AF Di-II LD
Roland has posted a fairly exhaustive Canon 40D review on his blog. It made the front page of WordPress.com which is where I found it. Must resist temptation …
Amazon have it in stock. Still a bit pricey but maybe after my accountant does her thing with my finances I’ll know if I can afford it!
The Canon 40D is expected in early September, and I know I said I wasn’t tempted but pictures speak a thousand words, and video shout loudest of all.
Video quality isn’t the best, and it’s a little dark, but it’s the first demonstration of the new camera! (via)
So, it appears that the Canon 40D is on it’s way with an expected release date in early September if the rumours are to be believed. This post about the 40D sent me to gizmodo who quote the non-Canon site, canon-eos-40d.com, when they list the rumoured specs of the Canon 40D. They haven’t changed much since the last time I blogged about these rumours.
There’s nothing there that would tempt me to upgrade. When buying a new camera, I’ll either “downgrade” to a Canon 400D, or consider a new Canon 5D. I’d choose the 400D because all my lenses will work fine with it, and it’s really not that much different in capabilities to my 20D. If I went down the route of using the Canon 5D, I’d have to replace several lenses. Only my Canon 50mm f/1.8 and Canon 75-300mm will work properly with the new full size sensor.
All of that presumes I have the spare cash to replace an almost perfectly working 20D and that I can justify the upgrade. I don’t, and I can’t. Oh well.
Even Amazon have leaked details of the Canon 40D according to DPS! Those specs look more and more likely as time goes by. Could Canon be leaking this stuff?
Should I add a “Rumour Mill” category? The Digital Photography Show reports that a Canon 40D may be on the way. Digital Photography Blog posted links to Canon’s website, but those pages have changed to Canon 400D pages! Speculation about features includes the following:
We’re hearing a lot of different rumors and guesses about the Canon EOS 40D specifications.
Among common guesses include that it will have anti-dust features, DIGI III and either a 10.2 or a 12 megapixel sensor.
I would love if the new camera had anti-shake features built into the camera but that will never happen. Canon charge a huge premium for their Image Stabilizer lenses. Why kill off a cash cow?
Will the Canon 40D be as revolutionary as the 20D? Sounds like upgrade time…
This is a bit of a let down to be honest. The new 30D looks nothing like the leaked photo I found a while back. There are a couple of new features, most notably the bigger LCD screen, spot metering and a much bigger buffer but I don’t see any point in upgrading from my 20D. I was looking forward to seeing the ADAMS MODE button but alas, it’s probably not going to see the light of day for some time yet.
The really good news is that it’s the same price as the 20D which should force the price of existing 20D bodies down. Look for discounts at your favourite online retailer. If you see it at a bargain price, buy it! (via and every other photography news site)
On a related note, I weighed my Canon 20D and Sigma 18-200 lens. It’s a monster 1.25kg (or almost 3lbs)! No wonder I hurt my back last year. Carrying that amount of weight around one’s neck is a sure fire way of getting to know your physiotherapist better!
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