In 2000 I bought my first digital camera, a Sony Mavica. It took images that were 1600 x 1200 pixels and took poor quality video as well as stills. The images were good enough for web publishing in the days when we all had telephone link-ups with their characteristic warble and slow speeds. It lasted until Canon produced their first digital EOS which I bought in the States for a third of the price it was in the UK.
I often enlarge images and love poppies. But this is not enlarged – it came off the camera at 1201 pixels square as your screen presents it
I have used Canon for film so going back to them with digital seemed simple – except of course that none of the kit survived the switch. Four years ago I stepped up to the EOS 5D mk2 which was then a state of the art professional piece of kit, with its 5184 x 3456 pixels images, and I worked with this happily until in February Canon announced their 50 megapixel 5Ds. I was unable to resist a camera that promised Hasselblad quality images in such a familiar package.
This is the original image on the camera 8688 x 5792 pixels
I skipped the 5Dmk3 because I though as an upgrade from the mk2 it didn’t offer enough to justify the cost over its predecessor. Not the case with the 5Ds. The results after just two weeks of use are challenging me to rethink what I am doing with photography. ‘Gobsmacked’ is an overused phrase, but that is how I feel about the results I am getting just pottering around the garden.
This is a 1200 x 1200 pixels section from the centre of the image. Cropped – no colour adjustment or anything else, I like to use the images just as I saw them
With images recorded at 8688 x 5792 pixels the quality is staggering. If I wanted I could print out A1 without any enlargements. But the real stunner is what happens when you look into the images. The ones I show here were taken with a 24mm to 104mm zoom Canon lens that I use as my ‘everyday’ lens. The details it reveals are tempting me into more macro, but I want to add my 600mm telephoto and go back into the bush to really see what this camera will do… (See what I did with the 5dmk2 in the Origin of Unicorns)
Raindrop on rose petals – almost possible to see the photographer, but not quite
For the moment I am gorging myself on the delights of flowers. I found myself enlarging raindrops on roses to see the image of the photographer reflected – something to try again with my macro lens – just for amusement. I recently visited the National Rose Society’s Garden of the Rose and put an album of 38 close-ups on my Facebook page (go to Patrick Goff on Facebook it is a public page). Here are some shots I took today in the back garden, full image and its centre NOT enlarged just shown as it came at 1200 pixels across – a standard screen resolution.
Clarity too
This camera is an image revolution in itself. Thank you Canon – and by the way this post is not sponsored or paid for by Canon, and I paid for the camera with my own money .
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Fuschia