Archive for February, 2011

Canon EOS Rebel T3i in Stock (B&H)

B&H has informed me that the T3i is in stock and ready to ship.

Buy a T3i from B&H w/18-55 II for $899

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EF-S 18-200 f/3.5-5.6 IS Service Advisory

This is probably what I was being told when an 18-200 II was mentioned.

So for the 8 people that own this lens (Sorry Canon), you can get it fixed for free.

22 February 2011

To: Users of the EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS interchangeable lens for Digital SLR Cameras

Thank you for using Canon products.

We have discovered that some EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens products may have screws that come loose inside the lens and which may interfere with zoom operation of the lens. We would like to convey the details and our service policy.

We offer our sincerest apologies to customers who have been inconvenienced by this phenomenon. Canon always strives to provide the highest quality products to our customers and we spare no effort in our quality management to make sure our customers can use our products with confidence. We hope our efforts will earn your understanding.

Phenomenon
There are cases in which the zoom barrel gets stuck and stops moving during zoom operation.

Affected Product
Digital SLR camera interchangeable lens “EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS” Serial Numbers 450ｘｘｘｘｘｘｘ to 631ｘｘｘｘｘｘｘ

User Support
The products with this phenomenon will be inspected and repaired free-of-charge. If you own one of the affected products, please contact our customer service hotline. We appreciate your patience, and we offer our sincerest apologies to the customers using these products who have been inconvenienced by this issue. Our free repair service will start on 22 February 2011.

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Canon Officially Acknowledges Lens ID Issue

We’ve reported previously that certain Tamron lenses do not work fully with the Canon EOS 7D. The outer crosstype AF points do not work properly. It was discovered that Tamron used Lens ID’s that Canon no longer supported.

Canon made official what we already knew.

The following cameras are affected.

• EOS 7D
• EOS 60D
• EOS 50D
• EOS 40D

The following Canon lenses are affected

• EF 35-80 mm 1:4-5,6
• EF 35-80 mm 1:4-5,6 II
• EF 35-80 mm 1:4-5,6 III
• EF 35-80 mm 1:4-5,6 USM
• EF 35-105 mm 1:4-5,6
• EF 35-105 mm 1:4-5,6 USM
• EF 80-200 mm 1:4,5-5,6 II
• EF 80-200 mm 1:4,5-5,6 USM

The following Tamron lenses are affected

• 17-50 f/2.8 VC
• 60 f/2 Macro
• 70-200 f/2.8
• 10-24 f/3.5-4.5

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Cool Tamron Patent

I know, I said “cool” and Tamron in the same sentence. It’s true though.

Want to IS/VC your lenses? Just add this converter!

• Applications from Tamron
• Patent Publication No. 2001-33692, 2001-33693, 2001-116994
• Actuator and a shake correction
• Power the camera from the supply, or battery use
• With ON-OFF switch

Google Translated Link

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Bodies and Lenses [CR1]

Announcements
A few people have told me there will be nothing on March 1 as far as DSLR’s go. April is going to be the announcement month. They were told the same thing at NL via Thom Hogan.

18-200 II
A suggestion of a redo of the 18-200 already. This time with USM. Big grain of salt here, though I don’t think Canon’s version of this lens sells as well as Nikons.

5D Mark III
More people saying to expect a 5D Mark III before a 1Ds Mark IV.

No EVIL
“No new system camera” in 2011. I’m going to assume a mirrorless solution is what was being talked about.

580EX II Faulty by Design?

Why do you blow up so much 580EX II?
There has been a lot of people writing in over the years about their 580EX II’s constantly failing. People became more vocal around the time the PocketWizard FlexTT5 and MiniTT1 launched.  Below is preliminary research done by PocketWizard on the 580EX II and the problems it has.

Background
Since the launch of its PocketWizard MiniTT1 and FlexTT5 models in early 2009, LPA Design (A.K.A.PocketWizard) has been receiving periodic calls and reports from customers who are using their Canon 580EX II flashes with the PocketWizard ControlTL radios and expressing concern that perhaps their flash may have been damaged by using a PocketWizard radio trigger with it. As of the time of this report (Jan, 2011), there are about 120‐140 PocketWizard customers who have reported having one or more 580EX II flashes damaged with common symptoms over the past 18+ months.

Read the full PDF (Very technical)

Flickr Discussion

Visit PocketWizard

Assertively Speak to Canon

thanks Rui

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Something Coming March 1?

March 1?
A suggestion that a DSLR may be announced on March 1 came our way today. No word on what model they may be talking about.

I have yet to see any sort of invite, and I don’t really feel any hype building.

1Ds Mark IV
More 1Ds4 not until 2012 emails this week. Nothing new to report there.

NL posted a few days ago about a 32mp 1Ds4 being pulled in 2010, and a 40mp version on the way. We’ve heard 40+mp for a while now.

5D Mark III
5D Mark III announcement rumors are all over the place. Anytime from spring 2011 to mid fall 2011.

As I wrote earlier, nothing feels imminent.

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Canon USA Lens Rebates?

Save more!
News of additional lens rebates for February 20 until March 19.

• EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS II $200
• EF 16-35 f/2.8L II $120
• EF 70-300 f/4-5.6L IS $100
• EF 24-70 f/2.8L $100
• EF 100 f/2.8L IS Macro $100

Double Rebates if purchased with select bodies. 60D, 7D, 5D II, 1D IV, 1Ds III.

thanks james

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*WINNERS* Giveaway! LensRentals.com

Contest over
Thanks for all the entries!

We have winners!
1st Prize: Patrick
Runner-up: Kyle
Runner-up: Donald

The above 3 were the first to select the winning combination.

The final CR Guy rank of Canon lenses.

1. 200 f/2L IS
2. 24 f/1.4L II
3. 800 f/5.6L IS
4. 10-22 f/3.5-4.5
5. 85 f/1.2L II

*HINT UPDATE*

One lens seems to be fumbling everyone up. There’s been a few hundred entries and only one that was close!

So here’s the hint. I’ll fill in the blank on the #5 ranked lens.

1)

2)

3)

4)

5) 85 f/1.2L II

Fill in the other 4! You can enter more than once.

*UPDATE*
Hmmm, harder than I thought. No one is even getting close. At 11AM EST, I will post a hint.

The fine folks at LensRentals.com want to give you money towards a rental.

• 1st Prize: $150 Gift Certificate
• Runner-up #1: $50 Gift Certificate
• Runner-up #2: $50 Gift Certificate

How to win
Simple, I have strong opinions about Canon lenses. Some I love, some I don’t. Below are my 5 favorite lenses in a random order. Rank them 1 through 5 to match my preference.

• 85 f/1.2L II
• 200 f/2L IS
• 800 f/5.6L IS
• 10-22 f/3.5-4.5
• 24 f/1.4L II

The first 3 correct answers will win!

This giveaway is only open to Americans.

About LensRentals.com
They rent everything imaginable from Canon. I also rent some Leica stuff from them from time to time. Everything about LensRentals.com is great. Check them out.

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Photographer Profile: Drew “Rukes” Ressler

Our 3rd photographer profile has been completed.

Drew “Rukes” Ressler took the time to talk with us about his photography and his business. Business looks to be pretty good for him.

As I mention in the interview, I was intrigued by Drew because he seems to have created a thriving business in a new and/or underserved genre of photography.

Check out the CR interview.

Check out Drew’s Site: www.rukes.com

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