Canon EOS1d X - Short review

Hey,

something different for a change (for all the tech heads) this time with a small review of the new Canon flagship the EOS1d X that will be available from March 2012.
First impression, in terms of looks its pretty much the same as the 1d IV however with a number of new buttons. So now they have a direct button for live view as well as a button to check if camera is level (same as in the 7d and the 60d). Also the zoom function changed a bit, now requires to press the review button, then the zoom and then you can zoom in/out by turning the wheel, this is a bit of a change from the previous models incl. the 5dii and below and creates a bit of confusing at the beginning. Also a new addition, the joystick if used in the portrait mode, making it easier to use.

Now to the actual changes...
The EOS1d X is now a full frame camera compared to the 1d IV, so you loose the extra zoom if needed but gain the extra wide angle on the other side. However with 18megapixels you are able to crop in if needed. The speed of 12frames/sec in RAW is amazing and can be increased to 14 frames/sec if shot in JPG, so perfect for anyone who needs speed such as in wildlife and sports.
Furthermore, the increase in ISO is amazing and lets you shoot with very high ISO with very limited noise, I tried shooting at 51,200 ISO and the noise was very much acceptable and similar to what the 1d IV has in 12,400.
Another great feature are the 61 focus points spread evenly across which enables you to focus on various points, compared to the 5d II which has 9 focus points.
So for anyone who shoots in dark environment and/ or needs a fast shutter speed its an amazing camera. Even though the weight is a bit less than the IV it is still a heavy camera if you are running around a lot with it.

All in all from the little testing I was able to do, a great camera for any professional who focuses on either wildlife or sport and who needs a fast camera, high quality and the ability to shoot in a dark environment or fast shutter speed with a low aperture.

Moritz

A weekend in Stockholm

Hey,

after a busy week I went with a group of 9 others to Stockholm where Cafe Opera hosted Amika London and I went to take photos which will be published on Amika London Facebook
After a great night at Cafe Opera and a great set of DJ Remy Kersten we had half a day to walk around Stockholm and do a bit of sightseeing... I thought it would be a great opportunity to take some shots of the city. Even if the shots might not show the typical sights in Stockholm I really liked them.
The first 2 shots I took while we were walking down the streets and I really liked the shadows and the contrasts.
The shot of the kid looking through the fence at the construction was a real quick snapshot and I was happy that the setting was good as I had only a split second to shoot... I liked the exitement of the kid looking at the truck.
The shot of the roof tops I really liked as it was a dark sky (darkened even more in Lightroom)  and it made the houses shine in the sunlight. Another snapshot was the arriving tram with the sun behind it, the old tram and the feel of the picture only worked in black and white in my opinion. 

Let me know your thoughts.
Have a great week everyone

Moritz

Running shoot

Hi,

Yesterday was another sunny day in London and I was lucky enough to have a location shoot. This time it was with sport and fitness model Dave. We wanted some edgy running shots as well some shots on the start blocks. I wanted to use my 3 point light set up for the shots to create the rim lights to create the look I wanted for the shots. To get the images as dark as possible to show the sky (where visible) I shot most the time on f14-18 and a shutter of 200-250 which was needed for the moving shots to avoid motion blur.
Light set up changed between the shoots, however often lights next to him as well as in front of him.

When working on the shots in Lightroom I really liked the black and white with strong contrast as they have a bit of a surreal look. Also liked the rim light on him that nearly was in line with the track lines. Besides colour and contrast editing I changed curves, exposure and a few other setting to get the feel I wanted for those shots.

Have a great week and hope to see some comments.

Moritz

Beach shoot in Brighton

Hi,

Just before the winter in the UK hit us, I managed to do one last swimwear shoot in Brighton on the beach. We got out of London quite late so we pretty much had only one hour to shoot and sunset was getting closer and closer however the colours of the sunset worked well even though didn't create the warm sunny day look I had originally in mind for this.
Diana, the model on this shoot came with a number of outfits so we had to work fast to get the most of the last available light. As the sky turned real colourful, I really wanted to use that as the backdrop so I exposed on the sky and used a single flash to light up Diana and make her stand out against the backdrop.

The shots below were all shot between f9-f11 to have a nice depth of field and 1/200sec shutter to avoid any motion blur as well as to get the sky dark enough as I was shooting against the sun.

As usual, the shots have only been edited in Lightroom, mainly changes in exposure, curves, saturation and contrast.

Looking forward to hear your thoughts

Moritz

Ballet shoot in the sun

Yesterday I did a shoot with ballet dancer Sarah.
The idea was to combine the movement and flexibilty of ballet with the still standing metal statues around her. Weather was really on our side with nearly 29 degrees which was better than most of the summer here in London.
First we shot her just doing her moves and then we took a long red silk fabric to play with. The red was a strong contrast to the blue sky and worked well.
I used only one single flash to soften the shaddows a bit as the sun was quite bright, however I loved the shaddows on here as well as on the floor.
After we done a number of shots with the statues we moved to some stairs. Here I wanted a very plain backdrop that made her stand out. Again the blue sky and red silk worked well.

For postproduction I used Lightroom, so the images are edited but not retouched. Main thing was colour editing as well as exposure, curves and contrast. On the black and white shots I wanted to have a real dark sky giving nearly an infra red effect which I love.

Feel free to comment on the pictures or if you have any other question feel free to ask

Moritz