Laforet's Nocturne film available today (u)

(Note: This article has been updated. Working links to the video are in the Update paragraphs.)

Once again, Vincent Laforet has sprung a fantastic video on us created with a new Canon 1080p still camera. Last year's Reverie was done with the 5DMkII. This year, Nocturne was shot with the brand new 1D Mark IV.

But get this: Nocturne was shot at night (as was Reverie), but Nocturne uses only ambient lighting from the streets of Los Angeles. No strobes, no studio lights, just streetlamps and car headlights. At ISO 6400! The lack of noise is impressive.

Nocturne can also be seen here, though it may be a little slower to load.

UPDATE Oct 21: Now, in a bizarre turn of events, Canon Japan has asked Laforet to take down the video. Laforet complied, citing "professional courtesy." But of course, this is the Internet, and the video can still be seen on YouTube.

Why would Canon Japan want to remove high-quality, viral, and free advertising for their flagship still camera? Photography Business News & Forum has some thoughts.

Fake Chuck Westfall has sounded off about it as well.

I've known torture and I've known pain...

...and it has nothing to do with a film with Michael Caine.

My beloved Canon 5DII and it's usual companion, the 24-105 took a quick bath in a Norwegian lake on Monday. So far, the lens seems to have recovered electronically, but there are dried water spots on the second element from the front. I took it in to my favorite camera shop, Penn Camera, for an estimate. If it's fixable, I'll be without it for 4-6 weeks and be out probably $400. Bummer.

The camera seems to be salvagable. I had it sitting on the heated bathroom floor in the Bergen hotel room for 3 days, and it partially worked, but it wouldn't take a picture. The mirror would freeze at about the 2/3 point when the shutter was pressed, and the rear display indicated "Err 20".

At least the fog in the rear and top displays went away. I noticed that it wouldn't hold the date and time settings, so when I got home I looked through the instruction book and was reminded that the camera has a little coin battery, a CR1616, in addition to the rechargeable battery. I took this out (which requires a fine Phillips screwdriver to access) and tested the battery with my voltmeter: 0.38 volts it said. The battery is rated at 3.0 V.

Having had experience with dead/dying mobo computer batteries in Mac desktops, I figured that the weak battery might be causing the camera to malfunction. Off to search for a CR1616, and found one at Walgreens for $4. With nothing to lose, I put the new coin battery in, and voila!, it seems to be working fine now. As I use it, I will post further reports.