Japan through a Canon

MANILA, Philippines - One curious practice of photographers is planning their schedules around sunsets. It’s a remarkable skill, to scramble to a location’s highest peak, set up equipment and finish in time to witness with eyes and lens what is perhaps the best free show in the universe.

I once tried to ride with the big dogs, unimpressive point-and-shoot in hand, as they attempted to capture the one star closest to earth as it tucked itself into the horizon. What registered on my camera’s modest screen was most underwhelming: an orb of pure light, nay, stark glare, swallowing every other element in the frame.

This was a good seven years back, when digital cameras were only starting to become consumer-friendly and readily available, and none of us were photographers, except for actual photographers. Though the sun sets the same way, the years have brought us quite the selection of cameras that make the simple activity of sun-watching so much more fun — and the resulting photos a lot more pleasing to the eyes.

After the quake

A recent trip to Japan brought me, together with Ronald Jayme of Manila Bulletin and Jason Marges of HWM Magazine, to the Canon factory in Oita, an industrial district known for agricultural and marine products. With Hong Kong and Taiwan IT journalists and our hosts, Canon Hong Kong’s senior director and general manager Vincent Cheung, senior manager Takahiro Itakura, and Ernalou Amechachurra of Canon Philippines, we traveled for three hours through the mountains of Oita Prefecture to the top-secret Canon factory where, in tawdry MTV Cribs speak, “the magic happens” — the magic of making one EOS 60D in 60 seconds.

In utter speechlessness, over 600 staffers manned the two assembly lines that each held 570 units of the camera, building one of Canon’s most sought-after models piece by piece in a dust-free, pillar-less vacuum.

Though everything is automated, the final part of the process subjects the final product to a manual inspection by the staff, which carefully test and every function with droid precision.

The lens manufacturing line seemed just as quiet. From the other side of the glass windows we saw how each lens and circuit board is produced, one crucial, miniscule article at a time.

The hallways of the Oita factory — now back in fighting form after last year’s snowball of disasters — as well as the Canon headquarters that we later had the privilege of visiting in Yokohama, had the smell of a recently unsealed box of a Canon camera. It was a mingling of plastic, metal, stale solder, and anticipation.

Oh, and snow. The smell of newness was exhilarating, especially for those of us who work at the Port (Area), but the excitement of being in a place that appeared centrally sterilized did not even rival the giddiness that we felt when we saw, in the flesh, the new breed of Canon cameras that will no doubt make our sunset-chasing friends want to sell everything they own. Our concerns — subzero temperatures, getting to Shibuya, meeting a ninja — were momentarily put aside.

Cine-Kwanon

The Japanese goddess of mercy ought to be pleased; the brand named after her has come a long way. Canon was first launched as Kwanon, its logo, a seated image of the goddess Kwannon with her multiple hands. The first Kwanon camera prototype from 1934 is displayed in the Canon Museum in the Yokohama headquarters, looking so meek compared to its super Saiyan versions, like the EOS C300. A digital cinema camera especially made for high-resolution motion picture production, this one has just what it takes to make a pro blush. The Canon EOS C300 was a crowd favorite at the CP+ Camera & Photo Imaging Show 2012, which we attended in Yokohama.

This new baby is not a toy. Some hints: 1) Canon unveiled the EOS C300 last November at the Paramount Studios lot; 2) Scorsese (take a drink) was present; 3) the camera has no automatic controls, at all. The advantage of the C300, of course, is the EOS Cinema Lens, which in true Canon tradition delivers good speed, good measure of focal length, sharpness, and high color fidelity.

Handsomer and handsomer

Canon’s three-booth setup at the CP+ 2012 also featured the newest handsome and powerful addition to its G-Series, the Canon PowerShot G1 X, which seemed to appeal to a wide variety of photography enthusiasts — both those who already have DSLRs and those who would like a significant upgrade from their digital cameras. Canon dodges the question: “Will Canon come out with a mirror-less interchangeable lens camera?” with a high-performance compact camera that pretty much sums up the brand’s stance, it appears.

And then there is the EOS 1-DX, Canon’s latest professional DSLR — “the highest premium model positioned at the pinnacle of the digital single lens camera,” said the AVP at the exhibit.

The EOS 1-DX promises to depict high-quality images at any given moment, sans chromatic aberrations typically produced by wide-angle lenses. With it, Canon succeeds at making the autofocus even more similar to the human being’s eyes.

Shooting with an S100

During the five days that we roamed the cities of Fukuoka, Oita and Yokohama, the PowerShot S100 did not fail us once. The device was subjected to snow, the accidental sprinkling of beer, clammy palms... the poor thing even had to endure all of our tourist-y whims, and of course, the mandatory macro food shot.

Not quite unexpectedly, every single photo turned out great. Sharp images, nice colors, hardly any editing necessary, except when my composition skills fail me and I end up breaking some rule that involves fractions.

I review the photos and see one of a Yokohama sunset taken from inside my hotel room. It’s pretty decent, but I don’t think it’s me. It’s the camera.