It’s the weekend coming up and I’m sure everyone has one thing on their mind – to Get the Hell Away… Away from the hustle and bustle of traffic and the maze of bureaucracy and hypocrisy… and go far enough away to not have to deal with any of it… well, at least for the weekend.

Enter – The All New Mahindra Scorpio Getaway, the perfect vehicle to get you out there… away from it ALL (actually it’s not really new – it was released on Indian roads about a year ago) but anyhow… Well in advance I knew after having worked in the field for many years, this was the vehicle that would have to be a substitute for my dream vehicle – The Toyota Hi-Lux 4WD.

Well, this, is Mahindra’s answer to the Toyota Hi-lux. It’s got all the bells and whistles, but more importantly it’s inside engine capability and it’s outside appearance and performance fall only a long tad short of the Hi-lux. In attention to small detail and user usability the Hi-lux of course maintains higher ground and I wish Mahindra would pay more attention to the little things, rather than focus on thoughtless improvements like the irritating audio system, which reminds you every time you switch off and on the vehicle, “please wear your seat belt for a safe drive” Took me forever to figure out how to shut that off, because in the field you are always starting and stopping, and it’s not the nicest thing to be hearing when you are in the midst of an otherwise quiet jungle.

Whoever named the Getaway must’ve been a Lenny Kravitz fan and probably drew some inspiration from the song – Fly away

I wish that I could fly,
into the sky, so very high.
Just like a drangonfly.
I’d fly above the trees,
over the seas, in all degrees.
To anywhere I please.
Oh,

I want to get away.
I wanna fly away. (yeah, yeah, yeah)
I want to get away.

I would work up a full report, on the vehicle, but for now, this will have to suffice… More about it later.

The video was edited by Chinmay Rane, who is the newest member on board the Felis team. Well done Chinmay!

Here’s a quickly edited piece of both stills and video produced with the 5Dmark2 on a recent trip to North-eastern India. I was mainly there to do still photography, but every now and then I was tempted to use the HD 1080P video feature on the camera, and slowly I’m being absorbed by it! here’s a link to the video on YouTube
Be sure to download the HD version of this, so you can see it at much better resolution than the normal one…

It’s a super feature to have on the camera – the ability to shoot at 1080P. The picture quality is awesome, but the inability to control exposure and shutterspeed and shoot the way you want to shoot IS a problem and probably the biggest reason why people won’t immediately switch to shooting footage with this camera. Also, it only shoots at 30fps, which is fine for NTSC but not a very friendly format for PAL countries. I suppose if you are just shooting for the internet, then it’s fantastic – you have a range of creative lens options and you can use them in ways you could only dream of with a conventional camcorder…

Pros:

I like the way the Image Stabilizer on the lens works even in video mode. I was using not so sturdy legs and inspite of that and the 500MM IS, the video results were amazingly still, and it’s only because of the IS feature – otherwise most of the video would have been shaky cam.

The Mic – Not bad at all!! surprisingly the quality of the Mic and the sound recording straight from the camera is pretty impressive! I can’t wait to rig the camera up with a real microphone and see how it performs. Need to order this quick. The sound of the Swamp partridge at the end of the video is sound recorded straight off the camera – no modifications.

Cons:

Well, for one, the camera was supposed to be more weather-proof and all that, but there’s dust all over the inside of the LCD display panel on the top right of the camera. I first thought that it was only a bad camera, but i’ve noticed that both my cameras have a layer of dust all through the display. It’s irritating because none of my previous cameras have ever shown dust in the display! and they weren’t even weather-proof!!

It may be coming in from the ‘holes’ made to accommodate the mic and the speaker – I can’t think of anything else… any other canon 5Dmark2 users with the same problems?

DO NOT BUY second party batteries. I bought a second party LPE6 battery for this camera, and although the battery seems to work on the camera, it will not charge on the Charger! I can’t remember the name of the company, but i recommend simply using the canon battery pack for now.

That’s all folks!

Have to head off to the island now, but thought i’d post this video before heading out!

Cheers,

Sandesh

Gadget review – As seen in Timeout magazine – January
Canon 5D Mark II
By Sandesh Kadur

When I was first asked to write about this camera, I couldn’t wait to get started, I knew I’d have a lot to say but also knew I’d be too excited to know where to begin. There’s just so much to talk about -  21.1 Mega-pixel full-frame sensor, live-view, 1080p Movie mode, self-cleaning sensor, broad ISO range… but then I heard it can’t be more than 300 words!

After waiting for nearly three months, I picked up my 5D Mark II from Singapore; being on the wait-list in the US was quite futile. The first order of business: charge the batteries and read the instruction manual. The manual you would anticipate would be much larger, but surprisingly, it isn’t, though it’s very clear, and clinically goes through the functions and set-ups in a simple and user-friendly manner. The first thing I did in the menu was to enable “movie mode” in the live-view set-up. This was the single most awaited feature on this digital SLR, and something that pushed the camera head and shoulders above its competitors. To me, being both a still photographer and a high definition cameraperson, this feature – allowing an already super still camera to have the capacity to shoot top-notch HD video at 1920×1080 pixels was beyond amazing.

I took the camera out and photographed a friend’s wedding at St Patrick’s church [on Residency Road]. Straight out of the box, the camera’s exposure and colours were perfect. The white-balance, both indoors and outdoors, was spot on – no need to be modifying much in post. I was using a 90mm Canon tilt-shift lens, so I wasn’t able to test the auto-focus, but using manual focus, the images even under fairly low-light conditions were razor sharp.

Soon after, I headed to Opus to have a drink with my new baby, and that’s where I put the 1080 progressive frame movie mode to the test. The movie mode operates through the live-view on the brilliant 3-inch LCD screen. Press “set”, and you’re filming in high-definition! With the right lenses and right light, this camera can produce incredibly beautiful and arresting moving images. You have very little control in terms of exposure and aperture control in movie mode, making the use of filters essential. A bit cumbersome, but the resulting images will be well-worth the trouble.
In the end i realized that I don’t really need 300 words to describe this camera, I just need one – Fabulous!

OK, i’ve got to admit this report was to have been posted over a month ago, how time flies…. Anywho, i’ve had a fantastic time with the camera in the North-east and will be posting a video file showing you what the ‘video’ HD camera can do…