Last week (June 29) Canon announced preparations to release new firmware in the beginning of August 2012 for the Canon EOS 7D digital SLR.

The functional improvements are as follow:

1. Improves maximum burst during continuous shooting;
   1. JPEG Large/Fine: About 130 bursts
   2. RAW: About 25
   3. RAW+JPEG Large/Fine: About 17 bursts
2. Supports a new accessory, GPS Receiver GP-E2;
3. Adds a maximum ISO Auto setting function;
4. Adds an in-camera RAW processing function;
5. Adds a Quick Control function during playback;
6. Adds a rating function;
7. Adds a JPEG image resizing function;
8. Adds a sound recording level manual adjustment function;
9. Adds a file name setting function;
10. Adds a time zone setting function;
11. Faster scrolling of magnified images;

While this improvements where long awaited, and considering the guys at Magic Lantern where in a stall concerning hacking the 7D, I can’t stop thinking about the timing for this upgrade. Having just released the 650 D and 5D Mark III, targeting different market segments, I would expect a 7D Mark II announcement before Christmas. This firmware upgrade will probably postpone the new 7D for a while and keep actual owners happy with their beloved camera.

Lets wait until August to see how this improvements work in real live.

Blackmagic design, a company known for its capture cards and other post production video technology, has announced its new product that promises to revolutionize and democratize film production, at least for the low budget amateurs like me.

The Blackmagic cinema camera is a little box with a Canon EF (or ZE) mount with 2,5 k resolution (2592 x 2192) from a slightly smaller than APS-C sensor, 13 stops of dynamic range, built-in SSD recorder, 5” LCD touch screen, bundled with DaVinci Resolve 9.0 software ($1.600 value), thunderbolt port. Well, it seems its aimed at Mac users because the USB 2.0 port is only used for software updates. It would have been nice to have a USB 3.0 port instead, with data connectivity, to give us the best of both worlds. Apart from that it seems to be an impressive piece of equipment that will change the way cinema is done. With a price tag of $2,995 or 2.337,00 €, it gives the not so wealthy/resourceful people an easier access to technology otherwise forbidden. And you can use your precious Canon lenses.

It will be on the market (at least in the American one) next July.

You can click here for a full list of specs.

Canon announced (on 28th March 2012) that the ground-breaking EOS C300, the first model from the new Cinema EOS System, has met the standards the BBC requires from cameras tested to the EBU recommendation EBU R118. The approval allows both internal and external BBC production teams to use the EOS C300 for the production of a variety of programmes to be broadcast on the BBC’s range of HD channels. The EOS C300 is the third professional camcorder from Canon to be approved by the BBC since the start of 2011, joining the XF305 and XF300 Full HD camcorders, which were approved for use in January last year.