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Three anniversaries for 2007

If you need an excuse for a party, there are three anniversaries coming up in 2007.

Canon will be celebrating 70 years of camera production. The Canon story really begins in 1933, when the 'Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory' was set up in Tokyo to develop a 35mm rangefinder camera. The initial prototypes were named 'Kwanon', after the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy. However, in 1937 the name of the company was changed to 'Precision Optical Industry Co. Ltd.' and it is this date that Canon designates as the official founding date. It was around the same time that the 'Kwanon' name was changed to 'Canon'. It was not until 15 September 1947 that the company name became 'Canon Camera Co. Ltd.'

The EOS camera series will be 20 years old. The first model, the EOS 650, was introduced in March 1987. This introduced the EF lens mount and Canon's first true autofocus SLR camera.

And 2007 sees the 25th anniversary of 'Club Canon magazine' which was launched in October 1982 and, after various name changes, became 'EOS magazine' in 1993.

Tracking changes to a digital image

Canon is working with news agency Reuters and software company Adobe to find a method of tracking changes to digital images. Reuters was in the news earlier this year when photos of a bombing in Beirut, supplied to them by a freelance photographer, proved to have been modified after exposure. The companies are seeking a solution which will provide photo editors with an audit trail of any changes to an image after it has been taken.

4.4 million turkeys

Canon UK has unveiled research that shows the true environmental and cost impact of not completely turning off office equipment over the Christmas period. With many offices closing (or with skeleton staff) for up to 10 days this year, Canon research shows that the amount of energy used by office equipment – PCs, printers, photocopiers and fax machines – left on standby is enough to roast an astonishing 4.4m turkeys, which is also enough power to microwave 268m mince pies or more than 350,000 standard Christmas tree lights for 10 days.

In addition, the research shows that almost 19,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions would also be produced by these machines, enough to fill the same number of standard sized (25m) swimming pools. Canon warns that it is not just the environmental damage that businesses should be concerned with as the electricity bill to UK PLC this Xmas could also reach up to £8.66m.

David Smith, Marketing Director, Canon Business Solutions, Canon UK, commented, “It’s clear that some equipment needs to be left on over the Christmas period for security reasons, but these amazing figures show that businesses that don’t turn off their PCs and printers are literally throwing money away as well as damaging the environment over the festive period. We have only looked at office equipment that is left in standby mode so imagine how much higher these figures could be if devices are left completely on.”

Latest firmware updates

Canon has released firmware updates for three of its professional digital cameras (latest version shown in brackets):

EOS-1D Mark II (ver. 1.2.6)
EOS-1D Mark II N (ver. 1.1.2)
EOS-1Ds Mark II (ver. 1.1.6)

The upgrades fix the problem where the camera does not detect the capacity correctly when high-capacity recording media cards are initialised:
a) SDHC cards with capacities exceeding 2GB (e.g., 4GB, 8GB) are now supported.
b) The phenomenon where the camera cannot correctly detect the capacity of CF cards with capacities exceeding 8GB (e.g., 12GB, 16GB) correctly when they are initialised has been corrected.

The firmware updates can be downloaded from the Canon website and installed in the camera by the user. Links to firmware pages are provided at the EOS magazine website (follow the 'News' link on the left side of the Home page and then click the firmware link on the News page)

Free classified adverts

We have extended our free classified advert offer. Until further notice, adverts on our classified site are free of all charges. You can place up to ten adverts at a time, with or without images, at no cost.

Take advantage of this offer to sell your unwanted cameras, lenses and accessories.

EOS Classifieds

In-store demonstrations

Canon has in-store demonstrations at a number of John Lewis stores on Saturday and Sunday 6 and 7 January 2007.

For details or participating stores go to John Lewis in-store demos.

Super sites

Don't forget to visit our three websites:

EOS magazine main site
News and information about EOS cameras and accessories, plus our ever-expanding online shop. You can also subscribe to EOS magazine online, or renew your subscription.

EOS magazine forums
The place to chat to other EOS enthusiasts about everything EOS. There are currently nearly 65,000 posts on the site from over 3800 members.

EOS magazine classified adverts
Buy, sell or exchange camera equipment on our latest site.

EOS-mail newsletters online

Previous issues of EOS-mail are posted on our website. Each new newsletter is added within a day or two of publication. This means that you can delete each e-mail newsletter after reading it, safe in the knowledge that the information is readily available, should you need to refer back to it.

Keep in mind that some of the content may now be out of date.

You can reach the archive from the newsletter link on the home page, or go directly to it at EOS-mail archive

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