50D's Arriving Now!

New Canon EOS 50D's have arrived and are shipping today! If yours is amongst the three you have already been contacted. We are expecting more to arrive through the week.


UPDATED LATE AFTERNOON: Ryan just informed me that Canon has released another 10 bodies due for delivery as soon as tomorrow! This will more than likely leave bodies in stock.

Professional Service Upgrade

Canon has just announced that CPS (Canon Professional Services) will get an upgrade of its own. Canon plans to add two new levels, making it a three tiered program. If you are a Professional who uses Canon products this is a highly recommended program to be involved in. It is also free and will remain free at the base level. The upgraded CPS plans now include different levels of access to repair discounts, service turnaround time and even loaner equipment. You can read more about the new CPS plan at Canon's website.

An Inteview With Scott Tallyn

Back at Photoshop World a couple weeks ago, we crossed paths with the highly respected professional photographer and instructor David Ziser. It wasn't long before David told us that he wanted to feature Tallyn's Data Recovery in an episode of his Digital ProTalk.

Yesterday afternoon David called and did a phone interview with Scott and podcast is already available! Give a listen to David's interview with Scott to hear the latest on hard drive and flash card reliability and failure. Scott's insights and wisdom on the subject may help you avoid what many pros fear most - corrupted cards and hard drive failures. Just tab on the Gcast button to the right of David's post. 

Out With The Old...

Our demo 5D has just been posted to Web Clearance, and even with the advancements coming in the 5D Mark II, that shouldn't take away just how strong the 5D still is. We've taken good care of it and it's in excellent condition, so if you're needing a backup body or $2000+ is out of reach for a full frame sensor, our demo 5D is an excellent deal.

More Canon News & Ideas

One of our Canon Rep's came in this morning to share the official information regarding the Canon EOS 50D and the EOS 5D Mark II.

While he didn't have either of the bodies available for us to see, he did bringus the EF 200 f/2, EF 300 f/2.8 and the 400 f/4 DO to see. The most underrated feature on them is the focus set button, which allows you to establish a focus distance preset, recompose and focus anywhere else and then simply flick a wheel around the front of the barrel and almost instantly return to the preset focus distance. Ideal for sports or event shooting where you have known action to occur at a certain distance (ie first base, the goal line, or front and center on stage) but still need to cover the entire field or venue. The idea was briefly mentioned that they could bring this system to the 70-200 series of lenses.

L to R: Canon Rep Scott Alexander, Ryan, Scott Tallyn, Ted & Craig

Another possible idea for the future we mentioned was to get a battery status indicator into the Speedlites. Used to be that you could listen for the whine of your shoe strobes and hear how much power you have based on how long it took to recycle, but with Canon trying to eliminate the whine, that feedback is gone.

We also discussed whether the 5D Mark II would overtake the current flagship 1Ds Mark III, and while the 5D Mark II will be running the Digic 4 chip and offering the same 21 MP, the 1Ds Mark III still has exclusively the focus system with 19 high-precision cross-type AF points and complete weather sealing (as opposed to just weather resistance).

If you have any questions unanswered about the new Canon bodies, leave us a comment and we'll do what we can to track down an answer for you.

New Listings on Web Clearance

We have two used Canon EOS pro bodies added to our web clearance listings this morning. We are offering both of these with our own 90-day working warranties. These are an excellent opportunity to pick up a pro body for backup use!

1Ds Mark II - Good Condition - Just $3200.00!

1D Mark III - Excellent Condition - Just $3350.00!

In other news, nothing new on the 50D or 5D Mark II fronts to report, but we are taking orders on both of these cameras at (800)433-8685.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II

Canon Announced today the 5D Mark II, the update the the excellent 5D. It will be a 21.1 MP Full Frame. It's gaining the new Digic 4 Processor, EOS Integrated Cleaning System, the 3.0" Clear View LCD (Same as the 50D screen that amazed me at Photoshop World), and a Magnesium alloy build with additional environmental protection.



We will make it available on our web store as soon as we get confirmed pricing from Canon so keep checking back here for that update. If you really want to get the jump and place an order over the phone, give us a call at (800)433-8685 or email craig@tallyns.com.

Canon EOS 50D Update

We just got word from Canon. The planned shipping date for the Canon EOS 50D will be week of September 22nd! We are still taking pre-orders on our webstore, so get your order in to be part of our first shipment!

Pre-Production Canon EOS 50D

As I said last week, I was able to see a pre-production 50D at the Photoshop World show last week. From best I could tell it was physically about the same size as the 40D, which is to be expected. I had it in my hand just quick enough to snap a shot of the rear for comparison.


From the front it looked almost identical to the 40D as well. It wasn't specifically marked 50D - it just had a flat black panel where the silver model number usually goes. The Direct Print button above the rear screen has taken on another role as the direct to Live View button, and the buttons below the rear screen have been reshuffled with the loss of the Jump button and the addition of a Function button.

Another noticeable difference was the silver top dial, as opposed to black, though this may simply be a feature of it's being a pre-production model. We are hoping to see shipment end of October at the latest, hopefully earlier in the month than that. We are already taking 50D preorders on our webstore and we will keep you informed of further news & developments.

And Just a reminder, Photokina begins two weeks from today. Historically, many big announcements come at this show, so if there is still anything new from Canon to be announced, expect it around that time.

Photoshop World - Days 2 & 3

Photoshop World was quite the experience (Vegas is a pretty interesting place too). I was able to sit in on a handful of presentations before and after the Tech Expo on Friday.

- Saw Joe Glyda's class on shooting food for commercial. The big thing to take away... Backlight! Backlight! Backlight (and use reflectors)!

- I heard multiple instructors state variations on 'There isn't a main sun, and a fill sun, and a kicker sun and a background sun. There's only one sun. I only use one light.' Sound advice. I know when I introduce multiple lights, I tend to also be adding multiple problems to fix.

- I also got the opportunity to meet Jim Divitale, who has been shooting and traveling the country teaching photography longer than I have been alive. I quickly came to respect him pretty quickly and looking through his food photography portfolio only confirmed my suspicions. I might just have to try some food photography of myself one of these weekends.

- We also got some heads up on other new products from our vendors coming down the pipeline. Keep checking back her for updates on that when we get firm information!

Photoshop World - Day 1

Yesterday afternoon I got a few moments to get away from our booth and explore the Tech Expo at Photoshop World.

- I met Jean-Francois O'Kane who designed the "Photo Master Target" which we will soon be offering on our web store. It has a number of features that out it ahead of similar concepts in the industry.

- Hoodman will soon be releasing a 3" version of their popular Hood Loupe. It's a must have for outdoor viewing of your camera's rear LCD.

- Finally, I got my hands on a pre-production 50D for about five minutes (It didn't even have '50D' on the front. First impression: The rear screen is amazing. The density of the pixels makes the review images pop. It really is a drastic improvement. I'm going to try and get a few more minutes with it again this afternoon.

I'll have more after Day 2 this afternoon.

Photoshop World 2008

Tomorrow morning Scott Tallyn and I (Craig Fager) will be heading to Las Vegas for the 2008 Photoshop World Conference & Expo. We are teaming up with Booth Photographic to offer their studio stands, camera stands and soft boxes as well as to publicize our Data Recovery Services.

If you'll be there, come see us at Booth #136 during the tech expo. If not, we will be making available on our webstore all of our Fall Trade Show Specials starting this Thursday!

We'll be looking for new products and services to offer while we're there, so keep checking back for posts live from Photoshop World 2008!