Dan Chung´s Blog

Eos 5D's arrived today

My brand new Eos5D's arrived today just in time to take this photo of rehersals for a requiem at St Paul's cathedral.  I'll update my progress with the 5D when I've had more time to evaluate it.   But so far I am so impressed!

Ricoh launch GR Digital

Ricoh have finally launched their digital version of the GR1 range of compacts.  The film version has been a favourite take everywhere camera of many photojournalists for years.  Sadly the specs don't seem that impressive, especially compared to the company's own budget 8 megapixel GX8 compact which I've been using for a few months.  Still the proof will be in the pudding, I'll wait and see what the shutter lag, buffer and low light performance is like.  For now you can see more details in Swedish here

Guardian relaunched

After years of planning, my newspaper The Guardian relaunched today at an estimated cost of £80million.  The new smaller Berliner format is designed with pictures in mind.   I had the opportunity to go with Guardian Editor Alan Rusbridger to see the first copies roll off our brand new presses and I can say the repro quality looks terrific, better than I've ever seen in a newspaper.  There is a also a double page spread photo in the first edtion that looks excellent.  I hope this launch signals a rebirth of great photojournalism usage in newspapers.

Visa pour l'image party pics posted

Visa pour l'image, the annual festival of photojournalism has just taken place in Perpignan, southern France.  It was all attended this year by British photographers.  Here's a few pics of us partying.  Click on the photo to enter the gallery

Newswear available at Snapperstuff.co.uk

My favourite Newswear pouches and Chestvests are now available to European photographers from the Snapperstuff website.  The range has been expanded and some items redesigned.  My personal favourite is the new Body Press Pouch designed to take a single Eos1D or Nikon D2x camera body on its own.  The site also sells Brando's excellent screen protectors which I use on all my Canon digital bodies to protect the LCD screen. 

The site also notes the Fixation in London also now stock Newswear.

London bombing Aftermath pictures

I was in Edinburgh covering the G8 summit when the first bombs went off in London this summer.  I was called back to London to try and illustrate some of the aftermath.  Subsiquently I was sent to Leeds to see the area where the bombers lived and photograph the local muslim community.  The came the second wave of failed bombings and the shooting of an innocent Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes by police. 

I wasn't all together happy about my images from this period, even though I missed the bombings themselves I think I should have made better images.

Niger photos posted

You can view my images of the crisis in Niger by clicking the photo above.  I would like to thank the aid agency Concern for helping us when we were in Niger.  You can read the Guardian article and donate to Concern here

My Live8 photos posted

I've put up a selection of my pictures from Live8 where I was lucky enough to be at the front of the stage.  We were stuck in position for about 8 hours but I think the results were worth it.  Click the picture above to enter the gallery.

End of Jackson trial party pics

I've finally  got around to posting some of the more fun photos from my recent travels.   These are some of our antics at the post Michael Jackson trial party in Pizmo Beach, California. Click on the photo above to enter the gallery.

Hands on with the EOS5D

I've just had a brief hands on with the new Eos5D and WOW! it is the camera I have been waiting for.   Since the launch of the Eos1DS I have been using full frame Canon digital SLR's for everyday assignments, my biggest complaint to date has been that the 1 series cameras are too big and heavy.  Enter the 5D, in answer to many of the demands of working photojournalists we now have a 12.8 million pixel full frame body at about half the price of my current 1DSmk2.  It feels wonderful in the hand, especially without the optional grip.  The build quality seems excellent, more robust feeling than my 20D, with all the controls falling in the right places. The shutter is snappy enough with a claimed 75ms response time (compared to around 55ms on the 1D), and the AF seems almost as fast as a 1Dmk2.  The camera shoots at 3 frames a second which for the way I work is fast enough about 95% of the time, what's more important is the delay between pressing the button and the shot been taken is acceptable and consistant (and I have a 1Dmk2 for sports and action events anyway).  People who insist on 5 or 8 frames a second cameras for news and features must have quickly forgotten that we used to shoot regularly on Canon D2000's (and even FM2's and Leicas before that)  at around 2.5 frames a second and rarely missed the action.  I shot a lot of the Euro 2004 soccer championship on my 1DS at 3 fps.

I've seen sample images taken with the 5D up to 1600 asa and I can say they look almost indistinguishable from my 1DSmk2, which is certainly plenty good enough for magazine and newspaper use. Unfortunately I couldn't get samples to post here but dpreview has some up already. The JPEG images are crisp at default settings and I'm expecting great things of the RAW files once the new processing software comes out. 

Personally I will be adding 2 of these to my bag ASAP.  This is me with what I hope to be carrying in a couple of months, note the shiney new 1Dmk2n also in the shot with the new 430ex flash atop it.