Long ago, (Kodak DCS 760, even the 14n), there was a dialogue between photographers and tech people inside Kodak. We got all sorts of wonderful things to happen with Firmware and Software. Is there such a magical place regarding the 1DsMkIII? If so, where?
Times change. Once upon a time I could pick up the phone and talk to Bill Gates and directly to the software engineers at MS. Assembly language was king and we prided ourselves on small tight code. Maybe if we spoke Japanese we could sneak in a call to Canon but they have put too many layers between the field and the engineers.
Closest thing we have is Chuck Westfall who does his best but is still a long ways away from the seat of power.
Chuck has been known to make a thing or two happen.
I recall when we were asking for a full frame sensor in a small body, and voila, the 5D was born. Or when we were asking for better focusing in the D30/D60/10D/20D/30D...
Ask and you never know what you may receive.
Paul, you and I are birds of a feather. Will we ever forget that the "CALL" instruction in the 8080 is hex CD plus the 16 bit address?
Long ago, (Kodak DCS 760, even the 14n), there was a dialogue between photographers and tech people inside Kodak.
I started on this forum in the Galbraith days well before the 760 for exactly the reasons you describe. It was Kodak's unofficial official support venue. Several Kodak engineers, designers, developers regularly participated with exceptionally (for Kodak) candid comments. After enough of my rants and suggestions here, Kodak put me on their beta testing team for software/firmware.
I too am in the Canon camp now. It's not... and unfortunately... probably never will be the same as far as dialog with the company goes. Not bad, just not the same. That's a shame. I think the main reason I still hang out here from time to time is the fact that I miss what we had in that Kodak forum... and keep thinking that some miracle will happen and at least a small part of that atmosphere will reappear.
I don't go back as far as you guys, so I never had that experience. My opinion is that our connection with Chuck on this forum is hard to beat for timeliness and effectiveness. Compare that with approachability to other large foreign corporations, (or domestic ones for that matter), and I think you'll find you'll have to search long and hard to find a similar connection.
I realize you're not complaining, just bemoaning the "way it used to be." I'm an old guy. I can understand and appreciate that. I do it all the time.
__________________ Dennis
White Balance so easy, even our 5 year old can do it.- Melissa Strickland
OK, so HEY CHUCK! I am a new Canon user, spent a lot of money dumping Nikon, love the 1DsMarkIII and Canon (except for the ridiculous product naming practices).
The giant lcd on the back of my camera is great but the choices of how to view are not. I think a single yellow line indicating the histogram superimposed over a large preview would be more useful than the tiny preview with 1 or 3 tiny histograms alongside. That way, I could glance down at the composition and exposure while continuing to pay attention to the subject.
And, hey Paul, how come you didn't tell Bill and the folks at MS to get a clue? Now we're stuck with a lot of Windows Obfuscation System crap clogging up the works!
How to commune with the Canon gods 
Linear Mode
