News
Complete Coverage Of The 2010 NYC Canon Expo
By Matt J. Weiss, September 3, 2010 @ 01:41 PM (EST)
I just came back from the 2010 NYC Canon Expo. The invitation only event is held every 5 years by Canon, and is meant to show off pretty much everything Canon offers now and is striving to offer in the future. Canon took over the entire Javitz Convention Center to display their wide breadth of products and concepts.
I rolled into the show with my Nikon D90 to a chorus of boos and pretty much everyone had some sort of lame heckle for me. I carried on though, and, even as a Nikon user, I must say I was blown away. Below are the highlights:
I rolled into the show with my Nikon D90 to a chorus of boos and pretty much everyone had some sort of lame heckle for me. I carried on though, and, even as a Nikon user, I must say I was blown away. Below are the highlights:
The 4K Multipurpose Camera Concept
The biggest surprise and the most jaw-dropping camera on display at Expo was the 4K multipurpose concept camera. Although the floor rep couldn't stress enough that this was just a concept unlikely to ever be fully manifested, it was a really classy camera that shot some amazingly sharp images.
Canon's 4K multipurpose concept camera
The concept camera was shooting 4K-resolution video from an 8MP 2/3" CMOS sensor. Yes, you read correctly, the model on display was actively shooting 4k video, four times the resolution of 1080p, and from a 2/3" sensor at that.
Who wants one?
The 4k camera looked a lot like a jumbo DSLR with HD flip up LCD viewfinder on the top and fixed 20x zoom lens. It's obviously a bare bones model, but the image looked final product sharp. It was a downright emotional experience to look at the camera and the images it produced, while being told it will never come to existence. I guess Canon was trying to show other companies what it is capable of, and they did so in a big way.
Lens on the 4k Camera
The crowd was invited to demonstrate shooting the 4K camera...
And could watch 4K footage in a dedicated theater
The XF105
I went over to check out the soon to be released XF105 and was really impressed. It's super small and has some serious specs. It records MPEG-2 4:2:2 50mbps video and has a built in feature to make setting up two models for 3-D shooting easy. It felt really good in my hands, as it's very light. I, of course, went over to check out the 3-D rig, which was streaming a live feed to a 3D theater where you could watch the footage. Very fun!
The display XF105. There was always a crowd next to it.
An anxious customer couldn't wait till it's release to play with the XF105
So small!
XF105 3D rig from the back
The XF105 3D rig from the front
Attendees could watch the live streaming 3-D feed from the XF105's
The EOS 60D and S95 with WP-DC38 Housing
Over in the still photography area, Canon's two latest announcements were being proudly displayed. The not-yet-released EOS 60D was there to be played with. The build of the camera feels really solid, and the flip out screen is a really nice feature for shooting video, however, I doubt we will be able to use it underwater anytime soon. Other than that, the 60D wasn't that exciting, as there was nothing too new about it, just a mishmash of 7D and 550D features.
The 60D
Flip out screen on the 60D
I also needed to check out the S95 and WP-DC38 housing. Unfortunately, very little has changed from the S90 to the S95 to warrant buying a whole new camera and housing. If you have held out on buying the S90 to get the S95 you will be rewarded with slightly better low light performance, a tracking auto focus mode, HDR shooting mode, after shot white balance correction, and the biggie - 720p HD video. The WP-DC38 could not look more similar to the WP-DC35.
The S95 in the WP-DC38 housing
The EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye USM lens
Tucked away in the corner was the new 8-15mm fisheye zoom from Canon. I think this is going to be a really popular underwater lens, and I guess Canon does too since their test video was shoot almost entirely underwater. The footage looked fantastic, as fisheye zooms couldn’t be better suited for underwater use (See Tokina 10-17). On a full frame camera, which Canon had the display lens mounted on, the lens can capture 180-degree circular images at its widest setting. This seemed to be what all the hype was over, but it’s not a feature to be overused. What will be really special about the lens is that it can be used on both full frame and cropped sensors (Do not see Tokina 10-17mm) and how wide the field of view is even when not shooting full circular images.
The 8-15mm Fisheye Zoom
The Future Room
The Future Room was my favorite part of the show. A long hallway lead into circular rooms where images where 360 degree images were being projected. The exhibit rooms had all white walls with white carpeting and the reps wore latex gloves. I felt like I was in the Minority Report.
Hallway to the future room!
One futuristic product that caught my eye was the world's first Single-Shot Multi-Band Camera. The camera realizes color distinction beyond the capability of the our eyes through color filters that are mounted on the CMOS sensor. This gives the camera the ability to record more than your standard RGB colors.
As announced in the last few days, Canon has created a pair of sensors that sound like hyperboles - an 120MP CMOS sensor, and a 300mm CMOS sensor. Both were on display. The 120MP sensor was shown with an ultra high-resolution panorama camera that was used to shoot images for a long touch screen display.
An 120MP CMOS sensor (!) show with ultra high-resolution panorama camera
The large 300mm sensor was wild to see, and it was being used to demonstrate the low light capabilities of such a large sensor. Don't expect to see either in anything for sale anytime soon.
The mack-daddy sensor! This beast comes in at almost 8"x8" inches. Shown next to a full frame sensor.
Wrap-Up
I got to give it up to Canon; they put on an amazing expo. The size of the show reminded me that consumer cameras are just a part of this mega-companies full line of products. Being such a big company means they can throw tons of R&D money into some of their smaller lines to come up with really innovative, impressive products. The future is strong for Canon!
RELATED ARTICLES
LATEST EQUIPMENT
Be the first to add a comment to this article.
You must be logged in to comment.
Sponsor
Newsletter
Travel with us
Featured Photographer
Chuck Davis
Expert Photographer
For over thirty years, Chuck Davis has worked professionally as a specialist in underwater photography in worldwide locations, including the Alaskan Arctic, Greenland and Antarctica. His motion picture credits include work on...
Sponsors
