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Jeff Cable

A real-world test of the new Canon Speedlite EL-1 professional flash

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The Canon Speedlite EL-1 flash was announced late last year, and like many of you, I saw the price tag and thought that I would save some money and keep using my old Canon 600EX-RT flashes. Let’s face it, at $1099 each, these things are not cheap. But about a month ago, I decided to pull the trigger and purchase two of these flashes. Even though I typically use 6 flashes when shooting events, I had a very specific use for these two new flash heads. But that would be getting ahead of myself, so let me tell you a little about these newer flashes.

The first thing I noticed when unpacking the Speedlite EL-1 is that it is noticeably larger than the previous Canon flash heads. I believe that a big part of this is the fan which is integrated inside the Speedlite EL-1. Yes, there is a fan in these to help keep them cool, even when being used heavily.

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Jeff Cable interview talks about real-world EOS R3 use and Canon’s secrecy around new gear releases

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We’ve posted a lot about the Canon EOS R3 over the last few months, even before its official release announcement. We’ve heard a lot about it from Jeff Cable, too, although for some of that, he couldn’t admit that it actually was the Canon EOS R3 he was using at the time. Jeff’s spoken a little about using the EOS R3 since the announcement, too.

Now, though, in an interview with Steve Brazill from Behind The Shot, Jeff really opens up and reflects on what it was like to use the EOS R3 during a high-pressure event like the Olympics, Canon’s secrecy around new gear announcements and how the EXIF data was “leaked” from his images.

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Jeff Cable opens up about shooting the Canon EOS R3 – Is it really any good?

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Digital Photo Pro has posted an interesting interview with photographer Jeff Cable who recently had the opportunity to give the new Canon EOS R3 a good workout during the Tokyo Olympics. There’s been a lot of hype about the camera since it was initially announced, but does it live up to it?

This is why I say that the interview is interesting because while it is an overall positive review, Jeff doesn’t really sugarcoat anything. He talks about what he loves, what he’s not so keen on, how good the Eye Controlled autofocus system is and when it can’t really do what’s demanded.

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Olympics photography workflow: Going through 2000 images to deliver 25 selections asap

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I was joking with someone yesterday about the craziness of the Olympics, and the pressures that we are all under during the Games. We were talking about how the world has different time zones and maybe they should add another just for the Olympics. For the media here, there is absolutely no consistency to our eating and sleeping patterns and time is just different. When a bus is 10 minutes late at home, it usually is no big deal, but here at the Olympics, when you are under deadlines all the time, ten minutes seems like an eternity. And those deadlines can be really daunting.

When I first photographed the Olympics, there really was no such thing as social media and the deadlines were in the hours, not the minutes. I remember being in Beijing and people were saying, take your time getting us images because it is still in the middle of the night back home. But those days are long gone, and we live in a world of immediacy. The team does not want to wait for hours to get my photos, they want them as quick as I can deliver them. And I am not alone in this. The media here are either working for entities that expect images right away, or they are freelance and competing to get their images picked up by the different news outlets around the world, therefore earning them an income.

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Photographing the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic opening ceremony with the Canon EOS R3 (maybe)

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[A little while back, we caught our friend Jeff Cable’s post about him getting the Canon EOS R3. This is very exciting news for anyone who is waiting for a possible Canon R3 announcement in September. Jeff could absolutely not confirm if he even took the camera with him to the Tokyo Olympics, so the title is 100% my educated guess. Anyways, for anybody out there who likes Photography, sports, and the Olympics, Jeff’s blog is a must. This is it from your friendly editor, it is all Jeff from now]

Two nights ago was the long-awaited Opening Ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (and yes, they still call it that even though we are in 2021). In some ways, it was like all the other openings I have done in the past, and in other ways, it was completely different.

The first major difference, of course, was that there were no spectators in the audience. But we were still required to be in our photo positions hours in advance and not allowed to move around the stadium at all. Normally we are packed in to our sections, but this time there was a seat in between each of us. I have to admit, I liked that part since it gave me room to have my equipment spread out around me. I always shoot with two cameras at these events, one with a long zoom (in this case the Canon 200-400mm) and one wide lens (this time I used the new Canon RF 15-35mm) for the firework shots.

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Comparing the Canon R5 and R6 file formats (RAW, CRAW, JPEG, HEIF)

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In my last post, I shot images with both the Canon EOS R5 and Canon EOS R6 to compare the ISO performance of both cameras. As always, this led to a lot of comments, emails, and DMs asking me if I could also compare the different file formats of these cameras. While I still have both these cameras on loan from Canon, I decided that now would be a good time to tests these parameters for all of you (and me too).

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Testing the ISO of Canon EOS R5 and R6 vs 1DX Mark III and 5D Mark IV

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Whenever Canon comes out with new cameras, one of my most important real-world tests is determining how clean the images look at higher ISOs. I am not testing this for scientific reasons, I am doing this test because I shoot in low light quite often and want the highest quality images for my clients. I also thought that you and the rest of the world might be interested in this as well.

Many people get caught up in the number of megapixels that a camera has on its sensor, thinking that the more the better. What people may not know is that the more megapixels they cram onto a sensor, and the closer that those pixels are to each other, the more heat build-up occurs. This increase in heat can ultimately also increase the digital noise (graininess) in our photos.

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My Canon EOS 1D X Mark III real world review

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As many of you know, I have been lucky enough to have a Canon EOS 1DX Mark III in my possession for more than a month now. People have been asking me to review this new top-of-the-line camera, but I really wanted to put it through it’s paces in order to do a fair review.

There are lots of photographers or tech reviewers who write reviews of a new product, basically looking at the spec sheets, or holding it in their hands for a couple of minutes. But in my mind, there is no better way to review a product than to use it as my primary camera for a while and really get to know it in detail.

Now that I have become pretty familiar with the ins and outs of this camera, it is time to share my findings with all of you.

So…on to the testing…

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Memory cards past, present and future – What you need to know about the different card formats

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A couple of months ago, I asked all of you to email me with ideas for future blog posts. One of the suggestions that came up numerous times was the request for me to explain all the different memory card formats.

I guess that my 12 years in the industry, marketing memory cards for Lexar, makes me slightly more knowledgeable than most photographers about this subject. With that in mind, I am writing this blog post to explain the many different memory card formats, including those from the past, current card formats and what might be the card of the future.

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