The Maritime Museum in Fremantle is an interesting building, apparently shaped like an upturned hull which is half on land, and half on water. The museum is located at the site of the first landfall in Western Australia, which occurred in 1829.

Maritime Museum

Victoria Quay, Fremantle, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 10-22mm @14mm, 1/80 sec, f/5.6, ISO100

This photo was taken during an early morning shoot in Fremantle with some friends and colleagues.
After a disappointing sunrise (too much cloud), we wandered along Victoria Quay for some additional photos, including the one shown above.

My 10 year old son Ashley received a letter in the mail today, indicating he had won first prize in the "Plant and Animal Habitats" category for Years 4 to 7 of Chevron Australia's Focus Environment photography competition.

As can be expected, he was pretty excited about the win, and is looking forward to the presentation ceremony in October.

Here's his winning photo, taken in our back yard with one of my favourite lenses, the Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro lens:

explorative spider

photo by Ashley, aged 10

back yard, Western Australia
Canon EOS 350D, 100mm f/2.8 macro @100mm, 1/125 sec, f/11, ISO200

Update (19 October 2009): We attended a presentation evening on 15 October, where Ashley received a certificate, and a cheque for $200, as well as $1500 for his school.
All the winning photos from the 2009 competition have now been published on Chevron's website, and the winning entries for each of the categories can be seen on these pages:
        People and the Environment
        Nature's Moods
        Plant and Animal Habitats

Last week, I recently spent a couple of days in Adelaide on a brief business trip.
After reading about Bert Stephani's 50/50 project, where he shoots anything and everything for the next 50 days with just a 50mm lens, I decided to travel light, and just took a Canon 50D body and a Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens (I reviewed the 50mm f/1.8 lens here).

Here's a 20 second exposure out the window of my 9th floor hotel room in the middle of the city, taken well after sunset:

view from my hotel window at night

Adelaide, South Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 50mm f/1.8 @50mm, 20 sec, f/8, ISO100

Because I was travelling light, I didn't have a tripod or remote shutter release with me, so I had to make do with what I could find in my hotel room. I balanced the camera on top of a can of Coke from the mini-bar, and used the camera strap underneath the near side of the can to tilt it slightly forward, as shown in the photo below (taken with the camera on my phone).

Last month, I described how you can make a cheap flash clamp for holding a remote flash, using cheap clamps and a 1/4" bolt, available from your local hardware for a few dollars (as per the photo on the right).

However, with the full weight of a flash attached to the end of the clamp handle, particularly if the flash is mounted on top of a wireless trigger, the clamp and flash isn't particularly stable.

To improve the stability of the flash clamp, another 1/4" bolt can be added to the clamp, much closer to the jaws of the clamp.

Mounting a flash on this bolt closer to the clamp jaws provides a more stable solution, as the majority of the weight is now attached to the clamp much closer to the jaws.

If using wireless triggers to trigger the flash, the flash can be attached to the trigger's hot-shoe, and the trigger then attached to this new bolt on the clamp.

Alternatively, the wireless trigger could be attached to the bolt on the end of the clamp handle, and a PC sync cable can then be used to connect the trigger to the flash, as shown in the photo below.

improved version of the cheap flash clamp for holding a remote flash,
with a Canon 580EX II being triggered by a Phottix Tetra wireless flash trigger

Snow-covered trees line the road in this photo, taken in Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada, earlier this year.
You need to view the larger version of the image to better appreciate it (click the image to navigate to a larger version).

winter road

Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada
Canon EOS 50D, 10-22mm @17mm, 1/200 sec, f/7.1, ISO200

Here is another one from an early morning shoot in Fremantle last month. This photo was taken from almost the same angle as this photo, but incorporating the silhouette of my younger son, Nicholas, as well as his reflection in the puddle.

silhouette of Nicholas

Victoria Quay, Fremantle, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 10-22mm @10mm, 1/250 sec, f/5.6, ISO100

After a few months of rumours about the Canon 7D, specifications have been confirmed, and details are now available on on Canon's website. dpreview.com have already published a review of the Canon 7D.

Note that it's not a replacement for the 5D, but the 7D fits into the Canon lineup between the Canon 50D and the 5D.

The 7D is not a full-frame body like the 5D, but has an 18 megapixel APS-C sensor (1.6x crop factor), larger viewfinder, a new AF system with dedicated processor, can shoot at 8 fps, and supports 1080p HD video recording.
Interestingly, it also has an integrated Speedlite transmitter, allowing the 7D's built-in flash to control multiple groups of multiple flashes.

Here's a brief summary of the specifications of the 7D:

• 18 megapixel CMOS sensor (APS-C size)
• dual DIGIC 4 image processors
• ISO 100-6400 (expandable to 12,800)
• 8 fps continuous shooting
• full HD (1920x1080) movie mode with manual exposure control
• large viewfinder with 100% field of view
• new 19 point auto-focus system
• magnesium body
• built-in Speedlite transmitter
• 3 inch rear LCD

It looks like the retail price for the Canon 7D body is going to be around USD$1699 (AUD$2020), and amazon.com have it available for pre-order.

Have a look at dpreview.com's review for more information on the Canon 7D, or the Canon Australia website for full specifications.


Update (September 2009): QualityCamera Sales Australia anticipate that the Canon 7D body price will be around AUD$2399, and they are taking pre-orders.