50 mm video

Ack! My camera (shooting the video), my lens (at east one of them) and a polarizing filter which I already have. No excuses!

Continued experimentation with 50 mm

Still trying to learn how to use this lens effectively. With the capability to very narrowly set where the focus will be the "story" of the photo must be thought through before shooting. A few examples below, click each image to see details:


OK photo! A bit too blurry in the foreground perhaps and the composition is so-so


Focus is where I wanted it to be, eye slides from left to right, vertical spoons "pop", texture of table cloth nice


Poor photo, key elements in foreground out of focus without any good reason.


Same here! Need to work those f-stops better!

Custom firmwares for Canon cameras

After some random browsing on photo-related sites I started to see references to a "new" phenomenon called Magic Lantern for Canon cameras. Apparently some clever hobbyist have reverse-engineered the firmware found in most major Canon models (5D, 550D, etc.) and built extensions on top of the standard functionality. The following is list of new stuff relevant to both shooting video and photos:

• Bit rate control (QScale parameter) for the H.264 encoder


• Zebra stripes for overexposed / underexposed areas


• Spotmeter, histogram


• Cropmarks (16:9, Cinemascope, Fisheye)


• Intervalometer (classic or HDR)


• Trap Focus: camera takes a picture when something comes in focus


• Remote release with either the LCD face sensor or audio trigger


• Rack focus


• Stack focus (Live View only)


• Lens data computation


• Onscreen audio meters


• Manual audio gain, selectable input source, disable AGC and digital filters


• Display time remaining during video recording


• Debug functions (display CMOS temperature, screenshot, logging)


• Fine tuning for ISO and shutter speeds; also ISO 25600


• Kelvin white balance


• Clean LiveView display without any overlays (selectable)


• On-demand auto tuning for ISO, shutter & kelvin white balance


• Quick access to some useful settings like HTP, ALO and contrast

Below a visual example of a really neat feature, focus assist:

Introduction video to Magic Lantern (a bit long)
Vimeo group for Magic Lantern here

This project is apparently built on the Canon Hack Development Kit where they have added some really interesting capabilities to the Point-and-Shoot range. I have an old Ixus 750 that I'm thinking of upgrading - shooting RAW-files seems really neat :) Primary added features:

• Professional control - RAW files, bracketing, full manual control over exposure, Zebra-Mode, Live histogram, Grids, etc.


• Motion detection - Trigger exposure in response to motion, fast enough to catch lightning.


• USB remote - Simple DIY remote allows you to control your camera remotely.


• Scripting - Control CHDK and camera features using ubasic and Lua scripts. Enables time lapse, motion detection, advanced bracketing, and much more.

Mountain ranges

Two things about the movie below:
(1) whoa.
(2) I want to go hiking in/near mountains again with my camera gear! And soon! That scenery is just amazing.

Early summer

Those light-green hues are just amazing, but it takes some fiddling on the back-end to make them "pop" as they do in reality. Apparently the camera still thinks its winter...

More video

Still trying to sort out how to drive a video workflow. Below, two videos from the same event but with very different styles. Both shot with Canon 7Ds, at the Holi festival in Spanish Fork, Utah.