Canon 40D, Nikon D300

In a short window of 4 days 4 new mid-professional range cameras were released, 2 by Canon, the mid-range 40D and the pro-range 1Ds Mark III on 20th August 2007 and 2 by Nikon, the mid-range D300 and the pro-range D3 on the 23rd August 2007. For more information there is always dpreview.com but here are some of my initial thoughts about the cameras.

Canon 40D versus Nikon D300

Megapixels: In terms of megapixels, 10mp for the 40D and 12mp for the D300 translate to a insignificant difference in resolution between the two, so no one will ever lose sleep over the pixel count.

Frames per second: The interesting comes at fps, where the 40D scores insignificantly higher at 6.5fps than the D300 at 6fps without the battery grip. However, with the battery grip added, the D300 can perform at 8fps which is considered yesteryear’s benchmark for a professional action camera. Considering that both the 40D and the D300 are only mid-range cameras, such high fps can really serve the needs of many, for example the sports amateur.

Autofocus: The D300 has 51 focus point with 11 being cross types while the 40D only have 9 focus point albeit all being cross type. This, in theory, should mean that the D300 has a faster and more accurate autofocus system and gives the D300 an advantage over the 40D in action shots. The positive thing about both cameras is the inclusion of cross types (and many of them too) which (in theory again) should translate to a more efficient autofocus system.

LCD Monitor: The D300 has a stunning 3.0inch which has 922000 pixels packed into it, which gives a resolution of almost 1mp. Constrast that to the 40D which only has an aboe average 3.0inch LCD with 230000 pixels. The D300 thus should give us a more detailed view of the photos even after much magnification.

Liveview Implementation: While the 40D adopts the flip-the-mirror-up-then-autofocus-and-metering-then-flip-it-down approach, the D300 uses a constrast detection mode which is typical of how the average digital compact work. The later approach should provide for less shutter lag (if well implemented) than the 40D’s liveview, though its worth noting that liveview is always slower than using the good old optical viewfinder.

Viewfinder: The D300 has a 0.94x magnification but with a frame coverage of 100%, compared to the 40D which have a slightly better 0.95x magnification but with only 0.95x coverage. The D300 should give a bigger view and finally we are seeing 100% frame coverage instead of having to worry about the small thin perimeter which is not captured by the viewfinder.

Others: Sensor cleaning and also weather-proofing is another feature of both cameras. While older generations of Canon cameras with sensor cleaning (e.g. Canon 400D) did not have a reputation for being extremely effective, we would have to wait for reviews to see if the sensor cleaning in the 40D (and of course the D300) is effective or not. Weather proofing is a “important” feature too, since can be considered a distinguishable feature (arguable though) that seperates mid/pro-range from entry-level cameras.

Price: The 40D is competitively priced at only USD1299 while the D300 is a lot more at USD1799. Whether the USD500 is justifiable for the advantages the D300 have over the 40D might be debatable, but most people who shoot Canon would probabaly go for the 40D while the Nikon shooters would probabaly go for the D300.

Mathematics Puzzles

People seem to like mathematics related puzzles a whole lot. There are so many mathematics puzzles on the market, of which we all know about the craze over sudoku. There are books on sudoku, handphones with sudokus buiilt into it (e.g. Nokia N73), sudoku competitions (we had one in school last year…) and even television programmes that are sudoku based (you send in a sms indicating the number and the position where you put the number and what you do appears on national TV; score are tabulated for each user and the weekly winner apparently gets something).

Now is there going to be more? Theres is a very interesting NYTimes article telling us about 3 more puzzles.

Title: Inside Japan’s Puzzle Palace

Date: 21 March 2007

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/business/worldbusiness/21sudoku.html?th&emc=th

Dont forget to go try out the 3 new puzzles at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/business/20070321_SUDOKU_GRAPHIC.html

Kakuro: I tried it. More difficult to undertand than sudoku. A bit more challenging to begin with. (Or it might just be me). This does not look like a worthy succesor of sudoku though.

Masyu: It looks so familiar. Reminds me of those mathematics olympaid puzzles I used to do in Primary school. Difficult to gain popularity as you need to memorise the rules about turning or not (may seem complex at start but with a bit of patience, you will get the rules). This is also rather challenging at the start (since you need to memorise rules).

Nurikabe: Looks like minesweepers to you? This was my first impression. I think that this has more potential than the other 2. It is simple to begin and the rules are quite direct. Makes me wonder if there are more than 1 solution for this type of games…

Verdict: Sudoku suceeded. Crossword succeded. Reason: Simple rules. People who play such games dont do it for money, they do it for fun! A simple game can be really fun . And how do you know whether a game is simple or not? You can try teaching someone; if it is easy to teach and explain the rules, it is very likely that the game is simple enough. Of course, other factors weign in too, for example, the level of difficultly, the possibilities of repetition, etc. But simplicity in the rules is important as it decides whether people even bother to play the game or not.

A Family of Genius

If I am a researcher, I probably would be interested in finding out how much intelligence is affected by genes. Heres one interesting family of geniuses. Heres one news article by the NYTimes about some genius called Terence Tao:

Title: Journeys to the Distant Fields of Prime

Date: 13 march 2007

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/13/science/13prof.html?ref=science.

There is a link in the article to the 8 questions that was asked by an expert “on the education of mathematically gifted children” which led Terence Tao to be identified as a genius. Maybe give this 8 questions to your 8 year old kid and see whether they can answer:D
http://www.nytimes.com/ref/science/20070313_PROF_GRAPHIC.html.

To be honest, I wouldnt have solved any of those at the age of 8. I was only at primary 2, learning how to multipy and use the abacus.

Amazing statistics from wikipedia :
1) Youngest participant at the International Mathemetics Olympaid at 10 and youngest winner of gold at age of 13. Ok, where was I in mathematics when I was 10 years old. lets see, I was in primary 4 and I dont really remember anything now, maybe models? How about 13 years old? I was Secondary 1, and didnt even qualify for the training team for the Singapore Mathematics Olmpaid.

2) Got his master’s degree at the age of 17. Right now at the age of 17 I am typing a post about him getting his master’s degree.

3) Got his Ph.D at the age of 20. I can myself either still in the military (doing National Service of course) or studying in an university (I hope).

Information from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence_Tao.

Back to the article, the part in the NYTimes article which talks about to transmit data using prime numbers, and then developing a complex decoding machine, gives me something to think about when I am bored.

And if you look through the article, his 2 other brothers are also geniuses. One of them is musically talented, having the ability to ” play back on the piano a musical piece — even one played by an entire orchestra — after hearing it just once”; the other is a Google engineer which has 3 degrees in economics, mathemtics and computer science.

Maybe his parents where geniuses too, just hidden and undiscovered… ….

Canon EOS-1D Mark III

Introduction

Canon has released their new Canon EOS-1D Mark III. The 1D family has always been reputable for its high frame per second (fps) speed and also using the very special APS-H sensor giving a 1.3x Field Of View (FOV) crop. The camera is what I regard as a big step forward and might increase Canon’s share of the high fps professional market if Nikon, the only other main competitor in this price range, fails to respond.

Improvements

1. Sensor: 10mp APS-H CMOS sensor giving FOV 1.3x. The previous generation, the 1D Mark II, has already an impressive megapixel count of 8mp. This is not be a significant step up in resolution, but something worth noting. Hopefully, it uses a similar technology as the Canon 400D which apparently was able to achieve a higher pitch density while keeping noise in control.

2. FPS. While 8fps of the 1D Mark II N (8mp) was impressive, it was matched by competition, including the Nikon D2Hs (4mp) and Nikon D2Xs (12mp, but can achieve 8fps only at 6.8mp, FOV2.0x crop mode), all achieving 8fps. The 1D Mark III beats all competition, including its predecessor the 1D Mark II N, in fps, achieving a record high of 10fps. This is particularly significant since it not only beats competition with a high fps but at the same time achieving a higher megapixel count. This lays more strain on the processor and buffer, which has to handle more data per second then previous generations.

3. “Dual core” like Digic III processing. Canon has reached the dual core age by using 2 Digic III processors in the 1D Mark III. I believe this is important in allowing the 1D Mark III to achieve 10fps at 10mp. By simple calculations: 10 X 10 = 100mp/s, we can see that the 1D Mark III is able to handle 100mp worth of data per second. When we compare this to the 1D Mark IIN, its predecessor, which can only do 8fps at 8mp, 8 X 8 = 64mp/s. This is a 56.25% increase in data per second! Image processing at 14 bits may be useful for post-processing, but we have to wait for reviews to see its significance.

4. Inclusion of the EOS Integrated Cleaning System. First introduced in the 400D, I believe this is a useful function for all cameras. While there are no formal tests (not that I have heard of) to determine how effective the cleaning system is, by theory it should work to a certain extent (though the extent is unknown). If effective, this will add value to the already whether sealed camera body.

5. 3.0 inch LCD. The 1D Mark III is physically huge camera when you see how “small” the 3.0 inch LCD looks on the 1D Mark III. This should be well liked as it allows users to check focus more easily.

6. Live View mode. This is a bit of a surprise, and I am not sure whether this function will be regarded highly. Live view mode first appeared on the Olympus E-330 in 26 January 2006 for DSLR (if you do not consider the Sony R1, released in 8th September 2005 as a DSLR). While both the E-330 and R1 are not considered to be a professional grade camera, this feature has made its way into the 1D Mark III. This, combined with the large 3.0 ich LCD, may prove to be an interesting feature. I prefer not to comment on whether this feature is useful or not, leaving that question to professionals to decide.

7. New 19 cross-type sensor. Not being an expert on auto focus sensors, I am not able to give a fair comment on this new addition. However, I guess that it might be faster and more accurate. Let’s wait for users and reviewers to comment instead.

8. ISO 3200 with H:6400. I think Canon didn’t push it up to ISO12800, probably because they want to keep their reputation for having low noise in DSLR for high sensitivity instead of playing with marketing. This is an insult to the Olympus FE-250, which holds the record for the highest ISO sensitivity of ISO10000, which is either called marketing joke or a miracle (lets wait for reviews…). Lets hope noise will be lowered (or at least maintained, since megapixels as gone up from 8p to 10mp) since Canon seemed to be capable of doing so seeing that the 400D has an smaller sensor pitch but controls noise well.

9. Bigger, brighter viewfinder. No specification but this is always something good. Lets wait for users and reviews to comment on whether the difference is significant or not.

10. Increased shutter count by 50% to 300 000. This is hard to test (no one is going to waste time and money to test this). This is of course a welcomed feature, but then, do people exhaust their camera’s shutter life often? Maybe for full time sport professionals, so I will leave this point as such.

11. Warning sound and alarm message on LCD when memory card door is opened instead of wiping clean the buffer and powering down the camera. This is a major complain by certain people especially Mr Phil Askey of dpreview.com. Apparently, he stated that in his most recent Canon DLSR review, the 400D review, that the issue of Canon DSLR powering down and cleaning the buffer along with that, causing valuable image to be lost (reference 2), has been around since Canon started producing their own first DSLR, the D30 (not 30D) (reference 3), in October 2002 (reference 4).

12. Price of USD 3999 (the other prices mentioned later are all street prices I got from dpreview.com and not retail price). This is cheaper from competition, where the Nikon D2Xs costs USD4234 (reference 5) at the point of writing. The D2Xs has 12mp at 5fps, and can achieve 8fps only at 6.8mp in a special mode where the FOV crop becomes 2.0x. The other competitor is the Nikon D2Hs, at a price of USD2987 (reference 6) at the point of writing. However, the D2Hs only has 4mp (versus 10mp of the 1D Mark III), which means that the 1D Mark III can give you possibly significant higher resolution. Last but not least, the 1D Mark II N is a competitor to the new 1D Mark III. At a price of USD3696 (reference 7) at the point of writing, this might not pose a huge threat to professsionals who might be upgrading. New buyers might spend a bit more cash to get the ID Mark III. Of course, USD 3999 for the ID Mark III is the retail price and not the street price and hence might be even closer to the ID Mark II N. However, the prices for the ID Mark II N might fall as soon as the ID Mark III starts delivering.

Conclusion

Looks like Nikon has met a strong competitor in the area of professional cameras requiring high fps (e.g. in sports). Nikon might loses even more potential customers too seeing that the ID Mark III offers many more features than its only D2Xs lower price. Nikon’s D2Hs sales might also be affected seeing that mp gap has widened. Let’s wait and see if Nikon (or any other manufacturer) is able to give a strong response, though I think that this is not likely in the near future as the D2Xs is a relatively new model for Nikon and Nikon having a slow production cycle. It is more likely to think that Canon is going dominate this section fo the market for some years to come. And the competition begins!

Reference
Information from:
1. http://www.dpreview.com/news/0702/07022208canoneos1dmarkiii.asp
2. http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos400d/page5.asp
3. http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canond30/page4.asp
4. http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canond30/
5. http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Nikon/nikon_d2xs.asp
6. http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Nikon/nikon_d2hs.asp
7. http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Canon/canon_eos1dmkiin.asp

(Sorry for not comment on the actual day of announcement/release as I was too busy)

ONE MILLION DOLLARS

1 million dollars is a LOT of money. Even though it is not 1 million USD, but in SGD, it is more than enough for almost anyone. There are few competitions in the world that gives you 1 million dollars, the only one other that I know is “Who wants to be a millionaire”. But then, few ever won that 1 million dollars did they? Now, I shall introduce you to a competition that will GUARENTEE you 1 million dollars (if you win). As long as you get the first prize (+ fulfill some simple criteria), you get 1 million dollars. Are you ready for the million dollar challenge?

Try TechX Challenge:
http://www.dsta.gov.sg/TechXChallenge/index.asp

1 million dollars for designing a single autonomous robot that can do things like walk over areas with obstacles while not banging into them intentionally, climb staircases, take lifts (you need some kind of mechanism to press the buttoms), use a water pistol, aim the water pistol and use the correct amount of force so that you can shoot down a target… …A from now (23rd January, 2007) to August next year (August 2008). Thats about 20 months, for 1 million dollars, it is certainly worth it: thats 50 000 a month!

Recommendations:
1) Dont bother taking part if you are not an enginner (or rather, if your team doesnt have one) [but prove me wrong if you can, that will be quite impressive]
2) Get that physics/robotics boy genius from Taiwan (anyone knows his name)?
3) (For teachers) Form a enginner-turn-teachers team!
4) (For students) Look around and see if any of your friend’s parents are enginners…
5) (For the money seekers) Join ALL the teams… you are join as many teams as you want…

One million dollars… … I wonder who will get it…