That was quick. Pre-orders are now available for the new super-duper Canon FF camera, the EOS 5D Mark III, barely hours after being announced yesterday. In Malaysia, the 5D Mark III can be pre-ordered from online retailer Shashinki, but with a deposit of RM1,000.

The much-awaited Canon EOS 5D Mark III

Pre-orders are also available at B&H at the price of US$3,499 (body only) or US$4,299 (with the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L Lens).

I won’t repeat all the technical data of the Mark III or offer any opinion. A good place to find such resource is at 1001NoisyCamera which has compiled comprehensive links about the Mark III in the WWW.

One of the best compact cameras for shooting macro photographs has been the Canon G cameras. It’s ability to zoom while in super macro mode allows the camera to put the subject in sharp focus and provide a nice background blur. In fact, this blog was inspired by the Canon PowerShot G6, a 2004 camera which I still use today as a carry everywhere camera for macro photography.

Spider in super macro mode with the old Canon PowerShot G6

To demonstrate the prowess of the G6 as a macro shooters, I recently took it to our backyard and shoot some spiders, ants and foliage with it. The photo above was taken with the G6 without the help of any macro converters.

Ant by Canon G6 (cropped)

Leaves

The latest G, however, seems to have lost its macro capabilities. According to Trusted Reviews which has tested the camera, the G1X poor close focusing distance will be a concern. It says:

Canon claims the minimum focus distance as 20cm when the camera is being used in Macro mode although we measured it as closer to 23cm. Taking the camera out of Macro, minimum focus distance jumps to around 35cm, and that’s at its 28mm widest! Zoom in a bit and you’re soon looking at around 1.5meters minimum distance, and just under two metres at 112mm. The upshot of all this is that it’s hard to recommend the G1 X as a serious tool for dedicated Macro enthusiasts. [Source: Trusted Reviews]

The only consolation would be the G1X’s large sensor, allowing some room for cropping. But then, it won’t be the same as shooting at close range. I guess, this is a trade-off for the large sensor.

Spider at sunset with the G6 (cropped)

Here is a feature comparison between the newly announced Pentax K-01 and Fujifilm X-Pro1. I’ve tried my best to ensure the accuracy of this table but if there is an error or a feature you think should be included in this table, let me know in the comment section. One of the things that is missing is whether the film simulation on the X-Pro1 can be used when shooting video. Cheers!

Pentax K-10 vs Fujifilm X-Pro1

Ugly? This was and still is the word used by some commentators to describe the new Pentax camera, the K-01. I won’t say it’s ugly though. Neither do I want to say it’s pretty. It’s Pentax. It’s just that. First thing first, it’s a K-mount camera, meaning all existing K-mount lenses are compatible with it. Which is a good thing, because users are not forced to buy into a new system altogether.

Pentax K-01 Black

Also announced together with the K-01 is a super thin lens — thinner than the thinnest Pancake — which is also compatible with all Pentax modern DSLRs. The hotshoe on the K-01 is also compatible with all Pentax flashguns, or designed-for-Pentax third party flashes, such as the Metz Mecablitz, I presume.

Slim... smc PENTAX-DA 40mm F2.8 XS Lens

Here are the key features of the K-01: Priced at US$749 (body only) or US$899 with the thin kit, durable machined aluminum frame in black, white, or yellow exterior; compatible all PENTAX K-mount lenses spanning decades, 16 megapixel APS-C sized CMOS image sensor with multiple aspect ratios, 3-inch LCD with 920,000 dots, full HD 1080p video capture at 30 FPS with h.264 compression (60 FPS at 720p), sensor-shift PENTAX Shake and Dust Reduction system which is compatible with every mounted PENTAX lens, 6 FPS burst mode, ISO 100-25600, focus peaking mode for fast and accurate manual focusing for critical focus applications. It also the first mirrorless to provide a native support of DSLR lenses.

Here are the things I hope to see but didn’t: an EVF, a full frame sensor, a tilt-swivel LCD screen, weather-sealing.

With the new Prime M processor, the K-01 sensor is said to be able to top the image quality of Pentax K-5, arguably one of the best-performing APS-C cameras, even in today’s standard.

Pentax K-01 Silver

Here are some words of the K-01 designer Marc Newson:

A hands-on preview of the K-01:

I’ve been toying — (pun, if there is one, is accidental) — with the idea buying a toy camera for sometime, something like a lomo camera but the thought of buying films, developing them and printing them or investing in a scanner to scan the negative — which will be an expansive affair — have put off the plan.

A digital lomo camera, therefore, would be an ideal solution. So when the Pentax Q came along, I thought that that would be the lomo camera I was looking for. Yes it is, but no, it lacks the randomness of a lomo camera.

Until I came across with what seems to be a true digital lomo camera, by the name of Digital Harinezumi, released by Superheadz. Here’s a photo of the toy a person holding the camera, which is sold at Photojojo for US$185 not inclusive of shipping.

Buy the The Zumi Triple Plus at the Photojojo Store!

Here’s a dreamy macro shot with the camera. It can shoot in macro mode at 3cm, close enough for general macro shooting.

The 3-megapixel CMOS sensor camera — (hmmm… 3MP? but it’s a toy camera, right?) — shoots 640 x 480 video, has a lens of 4.5mm F2.8 and shoots either ISO 100 or ISO 800. The Zumi Triple Plus sold by Photojojo has 10 colour modes.

Buy the The Zumi Triple Plus at the Photojojo Store!

Digital Harinezumi review can be found at JPG magazine. There is an active Harinezumi community over at Flickr. Here’s a video sample of the tiny thing:

Lomography International has introduced two new versions of the La Sardina lomo camera series — the special “Reptilia” edition for the you-know-what-occasion on Feb 14. The Orinoco Ochre is the one in bright orange while the one in blue is called Sapphire Serpent. The reptile motif can be seen from the pattern on the sardine’s “skin.”

Check the new editions at lomography.com. Alternatively, you can check all the other La Sardinaeditions over at Amazon.

Sometimes you just want to buy something because of how it looks. The Minox Gold Plated mini rangfinder-style camera is one such item. It “only” has 5.1 megapixel and is of no rival to other compact cameras in terms of functionality — it has no HD video, for instance — but with this kind of classic magnetism, it makes all these other camera functions something of a “besides-the-point” matter.

Collector's item... Minox DCC 5.1MP

The Minox Gold Plated is priced at US$299.95 over at BH Photovideo. But there is also the black and silver version (below) at US$179.

Minox silver and black edition

Key features: German technology, 5.1MP CMOS Sensor, 9mm F/2.0 Lens (43mm Equivalent), QVGA (320 x 240) Video, 128MB Internal Memory, accepts SD card up to 16GB and Operates on 1 Li-Ion Battery. Here is a gallery of Minox DCC 5.1 sample images.

2-inch LCD

The Minox is also available on Amazon.

We often hear the car analogy is being used to describe a camera — you know, things like the Leica M9 being a Bentley or a Hummer and so on — but I have never come across a camera being used to describe a car.

Not that it’s important. Just thinking. So, what then is the camera equivalent of a Range Rover Evoque? A Fujifilm X-Pro1?

Range Rover Evoque... Image credit: Land Rover UK

Fujifilm X-Pro1... Image Credit: Fujifilm

The new Canon G1 X and Fujifilm X-Pro1 (notice the Xs and the 1s?) are neck-to-neck in popularity, at least going by the number of clicks on dpreview website. Yesterday, they were tied at 11.4 per cent and remained tied most of the time today at 12.7 per cent, occupying the top two spots of dpreview’s popularity table, with the G1 X emerging top on ‘alphabetical advantage!’

A snapshot of dpreview's table as of January 12
(January 11 in the US)

This comes just days after the announcement of the two cameras, which cannot be said to be of the same league. The G1 X is cheaper, at US$800, but promises DSLR-quality images while the X-Pro1, with interchangeable lens, promises versatility, resolution as well as image quality.

It will be interesting to see which one of these two losing the steam first!

For those of you who are curious about the new Fujifilm X-Pro1, here is a series of nine sample images taken with the camera, three of them are macro pictures. The two photographs, here and here, were taken with the FUJINON LENS XF60mmF2.4 R Macro (90mm equivalent in 35mm term). The other one was taken with the FUJINON LENS XF35mmF1.4 R (50mm equivalent).

[Via 1001Noisy, via RiceHigh]