Canon announced a new Canon 70-200L2.8IS lens today. Rumors of this update must have been a hot topic for the last 3-4 years, out lived only by the rumors of the 24-70L2.8IS. While it is not the most useful lens for videographers, it is the central item of most photographers gear list.

This new incarnation benefits from a new IS system for an additional stop of stability (for a total of 4 stops, like the F4IS version), reduces the minimal focus distance by a few inches and improves durability and focus speed. All of this while increasing its weight by about 1% (20mg).

Optical elements have been changed to increase image quality, which is the key point for me. Ever since I saw sample images from the new Nikon 70-200VR2.8, I was jealous and wondering how Canon would react. Of course, no one has seen any sample pics taken with this lens yet so we cant really comment about it. We can only hope they are on par with those from its Nikon nemesis.

Will it be worth an upgrade? I don’t think so but it will surely be a nice acquisition for anyone who does not already own a 70-200IS (either model).

On the minus side, the lens will only be available in April and I guess Canon will take the opportunity to increase the price, as they did with the 24TS-E.

Note: thanks to Scott Bourne at Photofocus for pointing this news out. The press release  is not yet on Canon US /CAN website.

I while ago I came across Syndicate 7D tool but for some obscure reason, it did not catch my attention. Now in this article (twittered by Dan), we have more details about how the software works.

Maybe I am getting a bit ahead of myself here. Lets start from the beginning. What is 4:4:4? 4:4:4 is a video encoding format (like H.264) which preserves much more information, than let say, ProRes 4:2:2. I dont want to rewrite the excellent article on Wikipedia so if you are interested in that technical stuff, go and take a look. The important thing to understand is that being able to get a feed directly from the HDMI output of the camera that has not yet been encoded has a much higher image quality than what you can get from the H.264 file. Read the rest of this entry »

Now that 2009 is over, I would like to know what you, the visitors, would like to see more of next year. More gear reviews? Talk about software? More news? Filming techniques? Should I talk more about photography? Tell me how I can help you!

I already have a few interesting things lined up but I am always open to suggestions. Leave a comment or email me directly: boss at canon5dtips dot com.

Welcome to 2010. The question you should ask yourself now is: what can I do in 2010 that will make me a better videographer than I was in 2009? The answer is probably not a new piece of gear but a behavioral change.

I spoke about this to a few videographers and their suggestions were:

• spend more time working on the score/sound effects.
• spend more time preparing for the shoot (storyboard, script, etc..).
• shoot a narrative story instead of just concept videos.
• participate in every video contest.
• work with an assistant (or even better, a mentor).

In my case, my resolution is to film at least two short story. What are you going to do?

I also have a few resolutions regarding the website and its content. While 2009 was a great year for Canon5dTips, 2010 will be much bigger! I have:

• a few products that have been in the pipeline for (what seems) ever and should be out this year
• a plan to change the site design and content structure to something very cool and stylish
• something I cant even talk about yet

Happy new year!