For the G9 at ISO 800, Thomas Niemann (of PTLens fame) has suggested the following settings in ACR Details page: (ACR = Adobe Camera Raw as found in Photoshop CS/Elements and Lightroom)
Sharpening
amount=60
radius = 0.8
detail = 30
masking = 0
Clarity -25
Noise reduction
luminance = 80
colour = 100
Source: Luminous Landscape forums
These settings can be saved as a preset in ACR and Adobe Lightroom
Well there is a fun and fascinating non-tech article on Luminous Landscape of one user's experience comparing the G9 ($500) with a Leica M8 ($5,495)
The camera makes, link to DP Review for an in depth look but you do need to read the user's experienceA paedophile who took pictures of a boy being abused and distributed them round the world has been banned from owning anything capable of taking photographs.
More information on the BBC
An amateur photographer has told how police seized his film as he was out taking snaps in a Hull shopping centre.
Steve Carroll, of Kent, was visiting relatives in Hull in December when he decided to do some "street photography" in the city's Prospect Centre.
Shoppers reported him to the police, who took his film because he seemed to be operating in "a covert manner".
Mr Carroll lodged a complaint against Humberside Police but an investigation concluded its officers acted correctly.
Officers have common law powers of seizure, a force spokeswoman said.
More on BBC
Did you know that in the old days of using film and a rangefinder, street photographers used to set the lens to a set distance (10 feet for example).
Then when there subject got in range i.e. 10 feet they would click the shutter. sharp and in focus (well almost)
So how do you do that on the G9...
Quite easy; pick a spot where the subject will be the same distance, half press the shutter button and let the auto focus 'lock on' Press the MF (manual focus) button while half pressing the shutter down, the focus is now locked to that distance.
Every time you press the shutter half way down you will see the distance scale with the focus set.
To undo: press the MF button again
(note: this dose not work in the full Auto setting
Quick tips for the G9
Follow this guide to unleash the Canon G9 full power with more than 20 tips.
I. Neck strap, cards and batteries...
Don't use the neck strap. Canon provides you with the ultimate "hey-look-at-me-I'm-a-tourist" anti-accessory: the neck strap. Consider using a wrist strap, instead. Attach it to the right (seeing the camera from the back) . You will feel your camera more secure. Bonus tip. Use a wrist strap that may be adjusted so you can safely use the camera without fear of dropping it.
4Gb cards. The 12.1 resolution of the G9 is great, but you will need more space. Use a 4Gb card. Check the writing speed and buy the fastest card you can afford. You'll notice an improvement when shooting, but also when you use a card reader to download your pic's to a computer. If you don't like to put all the eggs on the same basket, buy a couple of 2Gb cards.
Batteries. You'll need all the power you can, specially with the big display on the G9. Buy at least one spare battery; if you plan to travel it won't hurt to have a couple of extra batteries or you'll have to use the tiny optical viewfinder.
Pimp your cam with an adapter
The wide and tele converters are expensive and its usefulness is questionable, at best. But what about the adapter alone? You can Pimp Your Cam with a couple of nice accessories. If you buy the LA-DC58H adapter (or any other compatible adapter for the matter) you can use filters. Using a circular
polarized would be a good move to improve contrast, reduce reflections and your G9 will look extra cool with polarized shades.
If you want a hood for your camera you may buy the LAH-DC20 adapter for the S3/S5 that includes a 58mm hood. Attach it to the G9 with the adapter+polarizer filter and it will match perfectly.
II. Garçon! The Menu, please...
Shortcut button. Having a shortcut button is good indeed, since we rarely use the direct print function. We've found that setting the tele converter is quite useful in the shortcut button. In the Camera Menu, press up the 4 ways dial (this way you won't need to scroll down the whole menu items). The "Set shortcut button..." item will appear right up to the "Save setting...". Bonus tip> Two Custom White Balance settings. The G9 has the unique feature of having two custom white balance settings to save in the shortcut button.
The heretic advice: leave it in full auto mode. The G9 is a pure Photo Aficionado dream: a highly customizable camera and that's great, but sometimes you need to take a really quick snapshot of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie joining your neighbor's BBQ (well, maybe not, but...) In such a hurry, you turn on the camera, press the shutter button, and just when you want to share with your friends (or sell the photo to your favorite tabloid) such precious memory (well, almost), you find that your mode dial was set on "M" mode and you have nothing. So, the moral is: always leave your camera in the auto mode... Just in case. You can always choose any other mode later.
Custom timer: always too fast or too slow. Although the Image Stabilization is great, sometimes you need to get extra steady with a tripod. It's really annoying to wait 10 seconds for the auto-timer and even the 2 seconds option may seem too long. Set the auto-timer to 1 second. And, on the contrary, if you're posing for the classic family photo, 10 seconds may seem too fast. You may prefer 20 seconds. To set the self-timer use the camera menu, scroll down to "Custom Timer" and press "set". You can set it up to 30 seconds. Bonus tip. If you are photographing a group of people set the "Shots" setting to 3, so you'll have more shots just in case that aunt Emma wasn't in her finest hour.
Safety Manual Focus. Turn on this option, it is great when shooting with manual focus. Once you set your desired focus, the camera will fine-tune the focus automatically providing you the best of both worlds: you chose where to focus, and the camera provides enhanced precision. Press MENU, scroll down and on "Safety MF" choose ON.
Review Info. Set it to "Focus check" in the MENU to check if the scene is clearly focused. It is great when shooting in low light conditions to verify if even with the image stabilizer everything is sharply focused.
Auto ISO shift. We don't recommend using Auto ISO, but if you like it you can choose Auto ISO shift that is an intelligent ISO changer. It won't crank up the ISO unless the scene really needs it. Since any compact camera will suffer at high ISO sensitivities, this is a great option to maintain the noise under control. Use the Camera Menu and set "Auto ISO Shift" to "button". If the camera detects that a higher ISO level may be better for the scene the shortcut button will light up. Press it and the ISO setting will be automatically set in a higher sensitivity.
Custom display. The G9 has an huge LCD screen. The "Custom Display" item on the Camera Menu will let you choose two different sets of information. You may want an uncluttered display and, on the other you may choose the whole enchilada; in this second case we've found that having the shooting info, grid lines and histogram is a very useful setting.
Protect your LCD monitor. The LCD screen is one of the most important tools in your camera, and it's very prone to scratches and even major accidents. A transparent film made for PDAs will do the trick. It's an inexpensive way to protect your monitor and, if torn, you can replace it immediately.
RAW files are better. One of the reasons there is a G9 in the first place is the ability to capture RAW files. Take advantage of the and use them instead of JPGs, unless you need to print directly from the camera or the memory card, in such cases you may want to use the RAW+JPEG setting.
ISO Settings. The G9 handles noise a little better than most compact digicams and using RAW files is a must to clean your image in post production. You can leave your camera in ISO 200 confidently instead of being held a prisoner of ISO80 and ISO100 levels. Use ISO 400 with caution and leave ISO 800 for emergencies. ISO 1600 is just in case you want to photograph Elvis descending from an alien spaceship in the middle of the night.
III. Modes
P Mode. It's like driving a car with Tiptronic: don't touch it and everything works automatically, but you can override it any time. The P mode is the Auto mode on steroids. Want to manual focus without worrying for aperture or shutter speed? Need a little bracketing? The P mode is a great starting point to get creative and for quick shots.
Look ma! I'm on Tv! Do you want to capture a waterfall as a silky dream? Set this mode and use 1/15 sec. shutter speed. Want to freeze the action in Junior's softball game? Set it at 1/500 and up; the camera will choose the aperture automatically.
Av and depth of field control. The G9 as any other compact camera captures most scenes with a wide depth of field sharply focused, even at high apertures such as f/2.8. The effect is not as dramatic as with a dSLR but you may choose a high aperture for blurring the background a little or you can use smaller apertures for sharper images. The Av mode is the way to go; just don't expect miracles.
M mode. You are in full command of your cameras capabilities: fear not. The G9 is pretty accurate regarding exposure setting, so just follow the "analog like" indicator of exposure and check your live histogram to have the desired look for your scene.
Not one but two custom modes. Not everyone uses the C mode, and it's a shame. You can save all your settings such as ISO, shutter speed, aperture and you can even save the zoom or manual focus settings. The G9 has two Custom Settings spaces to save your presets. Just adjust your camera to your taste and then choose the list item in the Camera Menu "Save settings..." The next time you want to recall that setting just turn your dial mode to "C1" or "C2".
IV. The FUNC.SET button is magical!
Flash. If you want more natural looking flash photos, then you may reduce a little the flash power. From the FUNC.SET menu choose +/- (Flash) and reduce it. If you want a fill flash when shooting at noon, you may pump up the flash power a little.
Evaluative metering.Most of the time the evaluative metering is the best way to go, yet if you are shooting a contrasty scene the "Spot metering" option is better.
ND Filter. The neutral density filter is pretty good if you want to use slow shutter speeds with high light scenes. If you want the get some motion blur at noon with direct sunlight, chose "ND filter on"
My Colours. If you are using JPG, there is a very useful setting buried in the FUNC.SET button, select "custom colour". When you see the "My Colours Off" option press the left button on the 4-way selector, then press "DISPLAY" (odd, isn't it?) and you'll find the El Dorado: contrast, sharpness, saturation and even red, green, blue and skin tone to be adjusted at your pleasure. These settings are so good that it should be illegal to give them for free (just kidding!) :
- Leica style setting: Contrast +2, Sharpness+2
- Sharp and saturated: Sharpness+2, Saturation +1
- Portraits in gardens: sometimes the foliage gets too much attention, set Green-1
- Landscapes: You may want more saturated skies and foliage: Green+1, Blue+1 (you can even set Blue+2 if the scene is too contrasty).IV. Derge's Tips
Benjamin Derge shares these extra tips with us (check his photostream >>here)
Auto-White Balance is sometimes wrong. Let the camera know if you're out on a sunny day. Your greens will be greener. If you're taking pictures indoors, set the white balance to tungsten. If all else fails, use the custom white balance by pointing the camera at something white and pressing the Menu button.
Shoot the moon. If you'd like a picture of the moon, set the light metering to Spot and keep your subject between the white bars. You may need to underexpose the picture by a few steps to get full detail. Spot metering also works when you're trying to capture a silhouette. Keep the white bars on the light source behind the subject.
You can use the G9 as an audio recorder. And it has a pretty good mic, too. You can get to the audio recorder in the play mode pressing the "MIC/ASTERISK" button top right. Then start recording with the FUNC./SET You can use a wind filter in the PLAY MENU in "Audio..."
You can upload your own sound effects to the Camera. Link the camera with your computer, then select the 'Set to Camera' tab in CameraWindow and click on 'Set My Camera'. You'll be able to upload (and download) sound clips and menu pictures, which you can select between later when you're using the camera.
Digital Lo-Fi
A basic guide for Low Fidelity PhotographyCameras are more sophisticated every day: better sensors, improved auto-white balance systems, optical image stabilizers... the list goes on an on. What's the reason for such improvements? To obtain the best possible image quality. But, what happens when some guys with a brilliant idea discover that cheap toy-cameras with awful plastic lenses and light leaks may produce incredibly beautiful photos? The result is a fever for Low-Fidelity Photography.
What's Lo-Fi?
Of course you can buy a Holga camera an start taking low fidelity photos. Although the idea is very nice, there are some disadvantages: first, the Holga is a medium format camera, meaning that you can't use 35mm films but medium format films, second, you'll need a trip to a professional laboratory (the average laboratory won't handle medium format film); third, it is a film camera, so you will need to return from the lab to see the results. Since many photographers prefer the digital approach a new question arises: "how can you achieve Lo-Fi look in the digital realm"? To answer that question the net is flooded with this Lo-Fi trend: from forums to photo sharing sites (and now even PhotoAficionado.com) there is a quest to obtain this images that are both magical and beautiful.
There are many ways to achieve the Lo-Fi look, and this article is to give you some ideas to shoot some gorgeous lo-fi photos. But before that, there is an important question that needs an answer: Why are this images beautiful? How can a cheap plastic camera produce such results?
If you have visited PhotoAficionado.com you already know our Physics expert Dr. Otto A. Fishonado. Let us introduce to you doctor's brother, Arthur. Art is a bohemian, bongo extraordinaire (unemployed, obviously) and visual arts expert. Meet Mr. Arthur A. Fishonado, or simply "Art".
Those Austrian guys...
"I want to tell you some facts about Lo-Fi to answer most of the questions to understand this trend. Everything began with some guys at Austria that realized the magic of Lomo, some cheap plastic soviet-made cameras. They created a concept they called Lomography that "emphasizes casual, snapshot photography. Characteristics such as over-saturated colors, off-kilter exposure, blurring, "happy accidents," and alternative film processing are often considered part of the "Lomographic Technique."*
The "Lomography" concept was pretty successful. Some critics raised an eyebrow and said that the "Lomography" concept was a cheap trick to make money. Well, maybe it was a trick, but not a cheap one since these guys made a lot of money. We prefer to use the term "lo-fi-" from Low-Fidelity instead of Lomography because in theory a Lomography should only be a photograph made with a Lomo brand camera, and it is possible to have this distinctive look with other legendary plastic-toy-cheap-cameras such as the Holga or the Diana and even with digital cameras. So we call it "Lo-Fi".
Art A. Fishonado. Bongo extraordinaire; the black sheep of the Fishonado family. His brother, the scientist Dr. Otto A. Fishonado is particularly ashamed of this eccentric character.
But the rage of the critics is right about bad photos: a bad photo is a bad photo anywhere, even if it was done with a professional camera and with a breath-taking lens. If it has poor framing, if it is vulgar in any sense, it will be a bad photo.
The second criticism is that Lo-Fi is nothing new, but good old expressionism.
In case you were asleep in your Visual Arts class at high-school (as you did in the Physics class -hey! what class did you actually attend?), let's remember a little about Realism and Expressionism.
Realism vs. Expressionism
In Realism, the artist is concerned to depict or describe accurately and objectively the subject at hand. Before the camera arrived, painters tried to copy reality with their paintings. That was solved when the photographic camera arrived. But even before the arrival of photography, some painters such as El Greco rejected traditional ideas of beauty or harmony and use distortion, exaggeration, and other non naturalistic devices in order to emphasize and express the inner world of emotion. Painters such as Edvard Munch insisted on the primacy of the artist's feelings and mood, often incorporating violence and the grotesque.
Jean August Dominique Ingres was a french neo-classical painter. He painted the Princess De Broglie portrait in 1853; it is a good example of painting in a realist way. There were some hyper-realist painters that created a technique called tromp d'oeil (cheat the eye) to recreated a subject exactly as it is.
On the other hand there is Expressionism. At the right you can see the famous painting "The Scream" by Edvard Munch (1893).
The Ingres' painting is a copy of the reality: the fabric, light, the princess' skin... It looks just like the subject (even more, it is -in fact- an idealization of reality).
Princesse Joséphine-Eléonore-Marie-Pauline de Galard de Brassac de Béarn, by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1853)
The Scream by Edvard Munch (1893)But Munch's subject didn't have a beautiful skin or an impressive technique to copy the exact likeness of the subject's clothes: "The Scream" is focused on the texture that transmits a message of desperation and despair.
With "The Scream" Munch didn't want to depict reality in an objective approach, but rather the subjective emotions and responses that objects and events arouse in him. He accomplishes his aim through distortion, exaggeration, primitivism, and fantasy and through the vivid, jarring, violent, or dynamic application of formal elements.** Nazis forbid expressionism; they branded the work of almost all Expressionists as degenerate and forbade them to exhibit or publish and eventually even to work. Many Expressionists went into exile in the US and other countries.
Now, back to photography: if you are a coin collector and you need your collection to be photographed, you won't allow the photographer to use violent, primitive or exaggerate techniques; the size, color and design must look exactly as the subject. But think in this: what if you want to photograph a coin to show the degradation of society because of money? What if you want to show how much you hate materialism and a symbol of it such as a coin? Then you may want to use violent, primitive or exaggerate techniques. On the other hand, you don't need to be angry with money or a coin; you may just use the little coin as a subject seen with a different eye and you may want to emphasize the color, shape, etcetera.
An expressionist painting or photograph may be beautiful because it is organic, full of feelings and movement. Realistic images are nice, but tedious for some people. And that's why the Lo-Fi techniques are so appealing to a wide audience. The Ingres' painting may be beautiful but it also a little boring, yet the Munch's painting communicates many messages and you can see it over and over and over. Wich one is better? Realism or expressionism? In art there is no such thing as good or wrong.
It is like a font: you may have Comic Sans and it is not better than Edwardian. But maybe you won't choose Comic Sans for a presidential campaign or Edwardian for a Kindergarten.So, there's no such thing as a good or bad font, it all depends on the function of each font."
That's it for Art A. Fishonado. Thanks, pal!
Digital Lo-Fi
Maybe you don't want to be an Expressionist photographer and also very probably these photos above do not seek to communicate an emotion. You may like the Lo-Fi look just because it changes everyday subject in extraordinary forms, lights and shadows. These photos were taken with a G9, a S5 IS and a SD 800 IS cameras, not with a Lomo, Diana or Holga cameras, yet these shots have all the classic lo-fi look: vignetting, strong contrast, very vivid colors. Although many photographers try to achieve the Lo-Fi look with PhotoShop, we tried a different approach.
Choosing the camera
We used three different cameras for this article: a Canon G9 and a Canon S5 because both are fully manual cameras. We chose the Canon SD800 IS because our camera has an optical defect and images tend to be softer. Our new SD870 IS overcomes such problem but, hey! Lo-Fi is not about perfect optics! So we chose the SD800.
Using filters
Here you can buy the filters we used in this article. Check also our Lo-Fi Department at the PhotoAficionado Store.
To achieve this look we used a set of filters for a Holga camera. They are cheap in every sense, both in price and quality and that's exactly what we needed.
The set of filters that we employed has blue, orange, green and red plastic filters. There is a yellow filter with a round transparent hole in the center. The set has transparent prism-like split-image lenses that are great to achieve the multi-image look and, finally, we used a Tunnel Vision adapter for an ultra-wide angle look.
If you want to save forty bucks, instead of the filters, you may also try a cellophane for candy wrapping as a filter or any other way to filter light and to achieve a texture, although you won't have the split-images.
These filters distort the image and the optical quality is subpar: just what we were looking for.
It's not the most scientific approach but it works: just hold with your left hand a couple of color filters plus a split-image lens and put it on the front of the camera. The Tunnel Vision adapter works great in a smaller lens such as the one on the SD800.
The G9 with split image lens set and an orange filter.
The S5IS with perforated split-image lens set and filters.
Ultra compact cameras are great to use the Tunnel Vision adapter.
This filters work well with compact cameras but not that well with dSLRs.
The advantage of using filters instead of just PhotoShop is that the final look is way better since the original image has true analogic defects and variations. But you can also use PhotoShop in post production.
Setting the camera
Putting a filter between the lens and the subject is just half of the trick. Since new cameras have so many ways to correct the image it is just exactly the opposite of what we need.
White Balance
The in-camera auto white balance is a pain on the neck for Lo-Fi photo, because the camera will compensate the color of the filter. To achieve a Lo-Fi look you'll have to change the white balance settings. Choose a different white balance setting depending on the kind of look and the particular filter that you intend to use. Shooting RAW with G9 helps. E.g. if you are using a yellow filter, set the white balance to "Cloudy", if you use a blue filter set it to "Tungsten".
No image stabilization
Well, we always say that it is great to have IS technology, but this time you'll have to turn it off. We don't want perfectly sharp images, so the camera shake will provide an extra sense of movement.
It's great to have high ISO sensitivities
We always say that compact cameras are awful at high ISO numbers, and it is true in the realistic realm, but with Lo-Fi you can crank up the ISO sensitivity and take advantage of the grainy luminance noise. At ISO 1600 you'll have a lot of grain, and you may want to use something less extreme but already distorted, such as ISO 800.
Exposure compensation
Having manual control is great for this kind of shooting. Lo-Fi images may be under or over exposed and it is an essential part of the look. You can control exposure in a full manual camera. Check our article on using the manual mode >> here. If you are using a fully automatic camera such as the SD800, then you should change with exposure compensation. It is better to under expose because once you over expose the details are lost forever, and under exposing is better because there is more information retained. You can always change the exposure on post production.
Framing and designing
We are right in the middle of the road. You have your super filters in one hand, the camera on the other and everything is ready to begin the Low Fidelity Safari. And now, what?
As we said at the beginning, a bad photo is a bad photo anywhere. You must pay extra attention to your Lo-Fi photos because they may end being bad photos badly exposed and awfully looking. What should you look for?
-Strong contrast. It looks great in Lo-Fi, look for silhouettes in back light conditions.
- A clear point of interest. Although those Austrian guys will tell you that leave everything to surprise don't do it. Yes, feel free to experiment, but also try to have a clear point of interest in your frame and don't hesitate to use basic framing techniques such as the rule of thirds.
- Over exposure. Lo-Fi photos may be over exposed or with light leaks. If you have a defective A650 IS that has a light leak don't take your camera to Canon, instead make it a Lo-Fi device ;-)
- Nothing is ordinary. Look around and check the local scene. Even your feet may be a good subject.
- Bold shapes. If the image has a lot of noise and it is under exposed, a simple and bold shape will be more efficient than a crowded scene.
- Dynamic compositions. If you use a split-image lens try to make dynamic composition with diagonals. Check our feature >>Night at the Museum to learn many different ways to frame your photos.
- Experiment! Try different combinations of filter and lenses, some will work great, some won't. It depends on you.
Post production
Everything is Lo-Fi in our set of photos. Now, it's time to enhance our images a little. You can use any image editing software. We used LightZone and LightRoom. Change the following settings:
-White balance. Decide what color will be dominant at the photo and choose a white balance setting to enhance it.-Noise. It's OK to have luminance noise, but chroma noise looks bad even in Lo-Fi photos. Unless you want to use image's chromatic noise creatively, try to eliminate chroma noise. Leave luminance noise untouched.
-Saturation. Most Lo-Fi photos will look even more lo-fi if you crank up a bit the color. You can go extreme, but also images tend to lose their original look, so experiment and check what suits you best.
-Contrast. Lo-Fi cameras tend to produce highly contrasted images. Change curves and go really low on blacks and really high on highlights
-Vignetting. This setting will provide you with darker corners, a signature of Lo-Fi cameras. Don't be shy with this slider.
-Too much of anything is too much. You can be extreme with the sliders, but we prefer to go easy on them. A little touch in post production is spicy; too much post production and your images will look fake and plasticky. If you want a fake and plasticky look don't be shy with those sliders then.
And... violá!
Check out our >> Lo-Fi gallery. Check the cameras we used and also try to figure out how we achieved each particular look.
Source: Digital Lo-Fi on PhotoAficonado
Well its a rainy day in Derby, concerns of further floods and all that, but as always there are brighter horizons
January 09, 2008
By Dan Havlik
I don't normally review clothing in my line of work but when nature photographer Kevin Spreekmeester contacted me with news he had helped design a cold weather photographer's jacket for the venerable Canada Goose parka company, I jumped at the chance to try one out.
Though you may not have heard of the name Canada Goose before, you've likely seen this 50-year-old company's jackets at Antarctic research stations or on top of Mount Everest in movies such as National Treasure, The Day After Tomorrow, or Disney's Eight Below. For years Spreekmeester had wondered why photographer's vests weren't offered with sleeves for colder weather and when he approached Canada Goose – one of his clients – about designing a jacket specifically for photographers, they were interested.
A year and several prototypes later, a final version of the "3-in-1" Photographer's Jacket is now available exclusively through Canada Goose's website (www.canada-goose.com). Only 400 of the jackets will be sold annually and, like the original Model-T car, they come in just one color – black.
Mod Style
The jacket's designated a "3-in-1" model because of its modular construction – you can wear just the inner, down-filled lining; just the outer, waterproof shell; or keep the two pieces zipped together for colder weather. Though I was worried that a month-long warm spell in New York City would prevent me from really putting the jacket to the test, an arctic blast of snowy weather arrived just in time. (To prove that Mother Nature is incredibly fickle these days, however, as I post this to PDNonline today, it's warmed up to the 60s here in NYC. Go figure.)
Though the jacket keeps you toasty, it isn't one of those giant, poofy numbers that make you look like the Michelin Man. In fact, I thought I looked rather stylish, especially with the distinctive "Canada Goose Artic Program" patch on front. (Though one woman did come up to me at an ATM and asked, without sarcasm, if I had been "part of an arctic expedition." I told her no but that I had played one on TV.)
Photo Friendly
There are some definite photo-friendly touches on the jacket including reinforced Cordura shoulders with snap-closed epaulettes that keep your camera strap from sliding off. Generously sized, waterproof pockets – two of which are fleece-lined – are everywhere, providing good space for stashing spare lenses, flashes, and other assorted accessories. I was able to fit a 16-35mm f/2.8 lens in one, a Speedlite flash in another, and still have room for two spare batteries in the breast pockets.
For bigger accessories, there are even two bellowed pockets on the rear of the jacket and a large, bag-like compartment that zips shut vertically on front to protect your gear from the weather. (It's a good spot for tucking in an extra camera body.)
The sides of the jacket have zippers if you want to wear an accessory belt underneath – or if you just want to let in some air during warmer weather – while a waterproof hood is stashed inside a zippered pouch on the protective collar behind your neck. If you're out tromping around in the snow but still need to show I.D., you can slide your press badge into a plastic patch on the sleeve. Another nice touch is an interior pocket with a rubberized weatherproof media socket for sliding ear buds through if you want to listen to your iPod.
The only thing I'd like to see on a future version of this jacket is a place to stash your memory cards, maybe in an attached wallet inside one of the pockets. One other small glitch may be more cultural than anything. The zipper tab is on the left side of the jacket which drove me nuts for a couple of weeks while trying it out. According to Kevin, the whole zipper-on-the-left-side vs. zipper-on-the-right-side configuration is a "Canada/US thing" and while it's a small issue, I just couldn’t seem to get used to it. You might have a different experience, however.
The Bottom Line
Though it's designed by a photographer for photographers, this new limited edition jacket from Canada Goose is a great "3-in-1" parka for anyone who spends time in the great outdoors. Order one quick from the Canada Goose website before they all get snapped up.
Pros: A stylish and warm jacket created by a photographer for photographers; "3-in-1" design lets you wear it in a variety of weather conditions; durable, Canada-made craftsmanship
Cons: Could use specialized storage for memory cards; zipper tab is on the left side which might be awkward for U.S. users
Price: $595
Further information: Canada Goose Photographer's Jacket
