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Suggestions to Canon
As I mentioned to many of our workshop clients, I planned to contact Canon to offer observations and suggestions to improve their equipment. Well-known nature photographer George Lepp provided me with a contact at Canon during a recent email exchange with him, so I have sent an email to Chuck Westfall at Canon. We think you might be interested in our suggestions and observations, so my letter to Canon follows.
Thanks for reading this email and please feel free to forward it to others. Make sure you read our two new articles on our web site, too.
Best,
John & Barbara Gerlach
Here’s the letter to Canon....
October 26, 2010
Hi Chuck,
George Lepp suggested that I contact you with suggestions for improving the Canon camera system. I have been shooting Canon for 37 years and have been a full-time professional nature photographer for 31 years. In addition, my wife and I have taught more than 50,000 clients over the years how to use their camera equipment more effectively to capture fine images easily and quickly. With so much ongoing and previous teaching experience showing others how to use their Canon camera equipment, we get the chance to see first-hand where they are having trouble with the equipment. We also notice things that could be adjusted or added to the equipment to make it more user friendly.
In this email, I would like to offer some observations and suggestions. I hope you will accept my comments as constructive criticism. I think Canon equipment is terrific, but there is definitely room for improvement. Many problems our clients are having with the equipment should be easily preventable with little cost involved. I also will point out some features that we really like, too!
My wife, Barbara, shoots the Nikon system (sorry about that) while I shoot Canon. We do this because she started with Nikon and I with Canon and we see no need to switch. But, what is more important, we are dedicated nature photography instructors with a huge following. The vast majority (more than 90%) of our clients shoot either Nikon or Canon DSLRs. We knoWeach system well. This means we can answer their specific equipment questions regarding their cameras, lenses, accessories, menu selections, custom functions, and anything to do with flash. This has proven to be a huge selling point for attending our programs.
For the record, I currently use the Canon 5D Mark II and the 7D. I stopped buying the high end Canon cameras for two major reasons. First, they are just too expensive, especially when they lose so much value a year or two after buying them. Secondly, and most important, the vast majority of our amateur clients don’t use them due to the expense and settle on everything from the Rebel to the cameras I use. We feel it is important to use the cameras our clients tend to use most. It makes us better and more effective teachers. Our web site is: www.gerlachnaturephoto.com
We tend to exploit the capabilities of our camera gear with combinations of menu selections and custom functions that help us capture the images we seek. By teaching hundreds of adult students in the field for a week at a time every year, we discover where students are having problems with their gear. We just finished leading a photo tour to Kenya (our 31st one) and two fall color workshops in Michigan. Once again, certain problems came up. Therefore, I would like to share with you some of the problems we and our students are having with Canon camera equipment.
1. Back-button Focusing
Taking autofocus off the shutter button and putting in on the AF-On button, or better yet, the AE Lock button (that button is easier to reach) is easily one of the most useful and precise ways to use autofocus. While we have no problem setting it on all of the Canon cameras we see in our workshops, it is difficult to explain to students how to do it in the articles and books I write.
Let’s take the EOS 5D Mark II for example. This control is set using C.Fn IV -1. It is called the Shutter button/AF-On button. We find very few of our students can figure out what all of this means on their own. It would really be helpful to somehow indicate this is where you can set the camera for back-button focusing--a term I started to use about 15 years ago to describe what it does. Others call it thumb focusing which is also descriptive. When our students realize the power and precision of back-button focusing, they wonder why Canon and Nikon don’t make it easier to understand, easier to set, and emphasize it more. We wonder, too.
I realize the way it is now generates a lot more business and need for us, but it really would be helpful to at least start calling it back-button focusing because that is what they are trying to look up in their camera manual. As I write my third instructional nature photography book--Digital Wildlife Photography, I plan to devote a whole chapter to focusing. I know I will have trouble explaining how to set it on our reader’s cameras because it seems every camera model sets it differently and nobody calls it back-button focusing. Both Canon and Nikon could do better for the sake of their clients.
2. Histogram Display
I hope you won’t take this wrong, but I tend to be honest and sometimes don’t sugar-coat things as much as perhaps I should. Therefore, you should know that we teach getting super exposures by using the histogram. The Canon histogram display is absolutely dreadful. It is way too small (especially for us folks over 50) and it is difficult to see the left and right edges, especially when ambient light conditions are high. Nikon has a much bigger histogram and they outline the edges very nicely. In future Canon cameras, we would like to see a new improved histogram display with a bright yellow border (or some other color that works), so we can find the right edge of it quickly. Currently, I attach a yellow sticker that lines up with the right edge of the histogram to guide me. So enough of that. We need a histogram that is easy to see, especially the important right edge.
Further, when I review the image on the LCD monitor, pushing the Info button scrolls through four different screens of information. How about a fifth screen that shows only a large histogram for the image. That would be incredibly helpful!!!
3. Histogram Display Lines
Since I use the histogram to guide my exposures, I was curious to find out what dynamic range is covered by the entire display. I also noticed the vertical lines dividing up the display. I did a simple test. I photographed a clean white sheet of paper in even natural light. As expected, I got a narrow spike of data since nearly all of the tones were the same. I adjusted the exposure until the spike was on the far left edge of the histogram. Then I added light until the spike of data was on the far right edge. It took six stops of additional light to do this. That means moving the data from one vertical line to the next takes 1.2 stops of light. For ease of use, I have rounded this off to 1 stop of light. Is it possible to make the histogram, so each vertical line shows exactly a one stop change?
4. Manual Exposure Mode
For all macro and landscape photography, we greatly prefer using manual exposure. Since we shoot on tripods and don’t have our face up to the viewfinder when we shoot, the problem of light passing through the viewfinder and causing underexposure isn’t the problem that it is when using an auto-exposure mode. Manual exposure solves that problem right away. There are a number of other reasons we don’t like autoexposure for landscapes, macro, and most of our wildlife photography, but that is a whole chapter of it’s own. I will spare you the grim details just now. Here’s one thing we would like to see with manual exposure, though. Once we have determined our exposure manually, we would like a way to lock the exposure combination we have set. Then we could quickly change the shutter speed or aperture and the camera could change the other one for us. We know the camera does this in automatic, but then we have to deal with all of the shortfalls that autoexposure entails such as changing background reflectances. It would be helpful to have a button on the camera to lock the manual exposure combination and then unlock it with a second push of the button.
5. Exposure Level Increments
As you know, HDR is hot right now and I think it will continue to be popular for years to come. As described in our recent book, Digital Landscape Photography, the photographer shoots a series of images of a scene high in contrast and varies the exposure by changing the shutter speed in at least one, but no more than two stop increments, assuming manual exposure of course. Therefore, why does my Canon 5D Mark II and 7D only offer 1/3 and 1/2 stop exposure increments? Shooting sets of HDR images would be so much easier if I could set the exposure increment for 1, 1.3, 1.7, or 2 stops. It would be most helpful to offer a custom function for exposure increments that let the user precisely set whatever increment amount they desire. Surely this would be easy to offer in future cameras or perhaps in a new software version upgrade.
6. Bracketing Sequence
C.Fn 1-5
This custom function offers only two choices, neither of which is the one I really want. The default setting is 0,-,+ and the other choice is -,0,+. We commonly shoot HDR sets for wildlife images that have high contrast. A mature bald eagle with its white head and dark body feathers is one example. We live near West Yellowstone and lead photographers into the park on snowmobiles most of the winter. A bison standing in pure white snow is another scene with inherently high contrast. When the animals aren’t moving and the camera is firmly mounted on a tripod, it is possible to shoot a series of images that bracket the exposure widely, so they can be merged together with HDR software to capture detail in the darkest and lightest portions of the image.
Here’s what I want my Canon cameras to offer. First, I want a choice of only two exposures in the bracket and not be locked into three. Indeed, the camera should let the user set how many exposures should make up the bracketing series such as a range of 2 to 10 exposures. Also, let us decide the bracketing sequence we want. I want the first exposure to be the 0 and the second to be +. I would manually set the camera to properly expose the highlights. I want the second exposure to be two stops brighter to capture more detail with less noise in the dark portions of the animal. I have no use for the minus choice at all in this case. I want to do it in two images because there is less chance the animal might move between the two exposures as opposed to three exposures.
7. Safety Shift Custom Function
We find that virtually none of our Canon clients have any idea what this does. It needs to be stressed more. We do realize that most of the people who use autoexposure tend to use the dreadful Av option, so it won’t help them in most cases because there are so many shutter speeds to match up with, but, still it is important. We tend to promote shutter priority for wildlife photography when automatic exposure makes sense. In this case, having this CF activated is highly suggested.
8. We need a Floating ISO
It would be incredibly helpful to offer another choice on all of your cameras. I would like to have the option of having the ISO change when the camera and lens combination can’t maintain the exposure due to changing light. I have tried using Auto ISO, but it tends to keep the lens wide open. It would be helpful to set the preferred shutter speed and aperture and then have the ISO fluctuate to maintain the exposure in some cases.
9. The Default Exposure Dials Turn in the Wrong Direction
We primarily use manual exposure. Therefore, with the camera using the default settings, to add light and move the histogram data to the right, you have to turn the main dial or quick control dial to the left which is counterintuitive. Therefore, we suggest to our students to set the CF to reverse the dial direction. They love it! Also, Canon calls this CF “Dial Direction during Tv/Av.” Since manual isn’t mentioned in the description, most students think it won’t work with manual exposure. I think it is more logical to make the dials coincide with how the histogram works. Turning the dials to the right (from behind the camera) in manual adds light and moves the histogram data to the right and vice-versa. Leave a custom function for this for those who prefer to be counterintuitive.
10. When Is the Canon 200-400/4.0 IS L Lens coming out?????
Every Canon wildlife photographer I know wants this lens. We all lust after the Nikon 200-400 and my wife (the Nikon user) needles me endlessly about Canon not having it. Do us all a favor, we need that lens!!! Currently, we consider the Nikon 200-400/4.0 lens the best wildlife lens for shooting from land-rovers in Kenya and for hummingbirds (our speciality) that has ever been made. It is past time for Canon to come out with it. I am sure George Lepp will agree with me on this, too. I have even thought about getting a Nikon camera just so I could use this fabulous lens. I do realize Canon has the 100-400 zoom, but I am not a big fan of it. I really don’t like push-pull zooms, since using them on bean bags tends to make them change focal lengths without my permission far too often. Plus, the f/5.6 lens speed when zoomed out is just too slow for my needs. I really want the 200-400/4.0 and I am willing to pay for it. So are thousands of other serious photographers. Many Canon shooters would be thrilled if this lens were available.
11. ST-E2
I am thrilled my Canon 7D has built-in wireless flash and the new 60D has it as well. Canon has been incredibly late on this as Nikon has had this capability for some time now. I hope all future cameras will have built-in wireless, too. In our hummingbird photo workshops, we at times use the Canon ST-E2 to fire Canon flashes wirelessly. The problem is the battery. The 2CR5 is expensive and difficult to get at times, especially in Ecuador when we used them all up. (We finally used a 580-II flash in Ecuador to control our flashes wirelessly) A new ST-E2 that uses rechargeable AA batteries would be a blessing. Of course, if all future Canon cameras offer built-in wireless flash control, the need for the ST-E2 will go away eventually.
12. Canon 430 II and 580 II Flashes
We would prefer a PC terminal on the 430 II flash, so we can more easily wire them together in our hummingbird photo workshops we teach in British Columbia. Currently, we have to use a PC to hot shoe adapter, so non-Canon users can use the Canon flashes for the hummers. I am happy to report that the Canon 580 II flash is a superb device for photographing hummingbirds--probably the best made! I would love to switch over entirely to all Canon flashes for the hummingbird workshops, but the expense is too great. I would need 25 Canon 580 II flashes to do it.
13. Provide a Detailed On-line Color Manual
We and our clients all think camera manuals could be made to be far more useful. They need to be larger and use bigger type (so we folks over 40 can read them), explain why you would use a certain setting or custom function, and use color images to show what can be done.
We are fully aware that would be costly and make packaging more difficult with a larger manual. Therefore, why not continue to keep what is provided, but offer a detailed full color manual, perhaps with video too, on a DVD or on the web. I am sure you could get professional Canon photographers from the travel, portrait, nature, sports, and other fields to contribute to it. I would certainly be happy to offer images and suggestions free of charge. I just want better products for my clients and I. It would be helpful to list each custom function, for example, and have photographers tell how they use that function and it’s choices to capture their images. If such a place already exists on the web, please let me know.
14. Spot AF is Terrific
I do want you to know that the Spot AF on the Canon 7D is incredibly helpful. W hen photographing lions peering through the grass in Kenya, I was able to find a hole in the grass and get the Spot AF to focus on the face of the lion, using back-button focusing. Then I let up on the button, recompose, and shoot perfectly focused images.
15. Need more AF Points that also detect both Vertical and Horizontal Lines. When using the 7D in Kenya, I found that I often need an AF point outside of the circle of them that is
provided. I could really use AF points that cover the entire image. Frequently, when panning with moving animals, I wanted to select an AF point that coincides with the animal’s head, but none did. Expanding the AF points would help considerably.
16. Noise vs Megapixels
It is far more useful to be able to shoot at higher ISO values, than to have more Megapixels. 14 MP is plenty for my needs. I realize that when more photodiodes are crammed into the imaging sensor, they have to be smaller, so you have a poorer signal-to-noise ratio. I am most pleased to see the noise problems being addressed and reduced, but would like to see even more improvement. Being able to shoot in dimmer light or being able to use faster shutter speeds in dim light for wildlife action by using higher ISOs is enormously beneficial. I know there are technical limitations, but having ISO 1600 produce the image quality of ISO 100 would be a dream come true.
17. Double or Multiple Exposures
Some of our Canon clients are switching to Nikon, so they can shoot multiple in-camera exposures. Many new artistic techniques require being able to shoot multiple exposures. Canon cameras need to offer multiple exposure capability, too.
18. The tilt/shift lenses are tremendously useful for nature photographers. Sadly, most of our clients don’t have any idea how they can benefit from them or use the lenses. I have personally taught many the benefits and how to use them in our field workshops and seminars, but much needs to be done. Canon will sell many more tilt/shift lenses once their merits are more widely known. I would also love to see a 200mm tilt lens that would be useful for flocks of birds swimming on the water or fall color reflected among lily pads. Sometimes, we need more focal length to compose the subjects.
19. Cable Release Problems
The Remote Switch cable release locks up too easily. During nearly every field outing, we have a client or two who suddenly lose control of their camera. If I see a cable release hanging from it, I immediately check the release and typically find it accidentally set in the lock position. The release should be modified to make it more difficult to lock up.
20. Canon 500/4.0 L
This is my workhorse lens for wildlife. However, I use it on a bean bag in Kenya, the autofocus switch keeps getting accidentally turned off and the IS switch magically sets itself to Mode 2. I finally used tape to lock the switches to AF and Mode 1, which is a problem at times when I do want Mode 2 for panning. It would be helpful if a menu selection in the camera could be used to set these controls at times and the switches on the lens are deactivated.
21. The Flash Instruction Manual
I was going to stop at twenty comments, but one more needs to be mentioned. The instruction manual that describes how to use Canon flashes scares our clients. It isn’t friendly to read! (If it is any comfort to you, the Nikon flash manuals are even worse.) You really should have an on-line manual that really describes each of the features, when you would use it, and illustrate it with color images. A well done video would be helpful, too. I can describe high-speed sync, second curtain sync, flash ratios, fill-flash, and so on and very little of it seems to register. And that is sad because flash is such a valuable tool and we use it frequently. We are stressing flash use now in our workshops and are making progress teaching our students how to use fill-flash, main flash, and balanced flash. Plus, we teach multiple flash photography at our annual hummingbird workshops in British Columbia, so we are making headway. Due to our focus on teaching flash in our Michigan field workshops, I can tell you we are responsible for selling a lot of Canon flash equipment-- especially 580 II and the ST-E2 wireless controller. Due to our suggestions, many of our clients buy this equipment and bring it to the workshop so we can show them how to use it. Most of our Canon clients don’t even know it is available until we point it out. If they somehow don’t know, you might tell the “powers” at Canon that it is unhelpful to call a crucial piece of equipment the ST-E2. Simple names that are descriptive, such as “Canon Wireless Flash Controller,” help photographers assimilate the knowledge they need to use it effectively.
We do get a lot of funny things happen when using flash in the field. Most of our clients are using it for the first time, so odd things happen. This past summer in Michigan, three doctors were trying to use their brand new 580 II flashes and ST-E2 controllers. They were behind a few bushes photographing mushrooms growing on a moss covered log. Pretty soon I heard all of them talking with great excitement. Since they were behind the bushes, I ran around to see what the fuss was all about. As they came into view, I saw one doctor peering into the flash tube just as it went off. This group of doctors were trying to figure out why their flashes had gone berserk! I knew what the problem was immediately, but used this situation as a learning opportunity, so called the whole group together. It proved to be an effective way to teach the whole group that when using the wireless ST-E2, any Canon flash set to the same channel as the ST-E2 will fire if it can “see” the signal. Now the group knows about the importance of channel selections when others are using similar equipment close together.
If you wish, I will pass on other observations as I see them in the future. I am happy to test new Canon lenses or cameras, too. I do live just outside Yellowstone National Park near West Yellowstone, so plenty of subject matter is available during all seasons of the year.
I don’t know if Canon is still producing the Canon Photo Safari (we haven’t had television in over 10 years), but if you are, the hummingbird photography using multiple Canon flashes and natural light would make for an interesting program and superb video. The last week of May is the optimum time for the hummers at the Bull River Guest Ranch northeast of Cranbrook, BC.
22. Flash Zooming
Many Canon users now use the models with the small sensor, which means the lenses they are using cover a smaller field of view. It is somewhat like having a longer focal length. This means the photographer is often farther away from the subject than when using a camera with a full-size sensor. The zooming range is 105mm to 24mm. Is it possible to make future flash models that can concentrate the light more by getting up to a zoom setting of 300mm? Presently, many wildlife photographers buy a Fresnel lens kit that mounts to the front of the flash to make the flash reach out there more. It would be nice if the flash could do it all by itself without having to buy and mount the bulky flash extender.
23. Flash Durations at Various Power Settings that include 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64, and 1/128 power
Nearly all of the flash makers such as Sunpak and Nikon typically list this information in the flash manual. I have never been able to get this info for any of the Canon flashes. It is certainly not in any of the manuals. Is it possible to get this info? We do a lot of photography using short flash durations. It would be helpful to know the flash durations of Canon flashes at the different power ratios.
Thanks for listening!
All the best,
John & Barbara Gerlach
www.gerlachnaturephoto.com
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