I must say, I saw it coming...
The same occurred when the German optical industry started to face stiff competition from Asahi Pentax, Canon, Nikon and the likes. The ones who in the seventies still spoke of Japanese garbage were quickly taught a lesson...
I guess the same ones are nowadays stupidly speaking of those crappy Chinese cars.
I also keep wondering how many Sony cameras are fitted with Sony lenses. Could it be that Canon got it right and Sony all wrong? Time will tell. Fact is, licensing certainly brings far less profit than selling OEM lenses.
The market is shrinking while competition keeps growing. And tariffs don't help...

Noreaster said:

I thought they were all gone for the year. View attachment 226544

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Darters are still abundant here, as well as pebbles.

tomscott said:

but the issue I have with Canon is that upgrading to the newest lenes is a significant cost increase over the EF line.

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Indeed, the RF lenses are expensive. I still use my 100-400 II, the 70-200 II f/4, the TS-E 24 II, and the 16-35 f/4. I did replace the 24-105 f/4 with the RF version and also bought the 10-20. I bought both lenses on the gray market, though. That saved me almost €1000. For my R8, I did buy the 16mm, 28mm, and 50mm. For now, I'm holding off on replacing my EF lenses. This is also because I prefer an internal zoom lens for both the 16-35 and the 70-200. I hope these will become available in the future.

So the thing is everything is so much more expensive in life atm but the issue I have with Canon is that upgrading to the newest lenes is a significant cost increase over the EF line. Often a lot of these lenses perform similar to the EF lenses they replace. For example the RF 24-70 IS F2.8 actually performs worse than the EF24-70MKII it replaces, sun flare is awful. RF600 is a repackaged EF600MKIII etc etc but they are significantly more expensive. Yet the EF lenses perform incredibly well.

I am not one that wants to use 3rd party lenses but I havent adopted the RF lenses because honestly they are too expensive. I bought the RF24-70 2.8 IS as I use that a lot and the RF35 F2 for video. Instead of replacing the rest of my lenses im using adapting my old ones because in most cases they work better than on my DSLRs.

Im sure im not the only one.

This is why the 45mm 1.2 STM for $599 is an interesting lens. Is this Canon's answer to Viltrox &co killing it with value? Can they do it? The quality expectations have become very high, for both build and IQ.

Del Paso said:

And, if I'm not mistaken, the R8 cannot be fitted with a battery-grip, should you need one.

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There is, 3rd party battery grips are available to RP/R8 as their doors are detachable. Unlike R7&the rest of the RF APS-C bodies. The only downside is you need an external shutter cable in order to make the shutter button works. Other than that it it's still light and provides much batter run-time for the R8.

No birds on that trail today... When I was thinking I will go home empty-handed (just in the last ~10 min.!!!) I saw these. I don't know what kind of Bolete it is, it grows on, and only on that trail (so far what I have seen...), and is not mentioned in any article/book about the Hawaiian mushrooms.
I had (or maybe not!!!) to remove a piece of wood in front of the smaller fruit-body and damage it little bit. On other hand it shows no blueish-brown bruising on that place. The well known for Hawaii Pulveroboletus xylophilus has no net on the stem and is bruising when damaged!

ERHP said:

Just a few from August, sorting through the shots of multiple coveys of CA quail and others visiting the rapidly depleting seep.

One of the pair of surviving juvenile CA Thrashers who consider the seep part of its area.

Only one juvenile Steller's Jay this year.

Juvenile CA Quail male molting slowly.

This trio of juvenile CA Quail were navigating through the boulders.

A CA Quail crossing the 'bridge'. Always find it interesting how the feathers develop.

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These photos need bigger screen (magnification!) to be seen properly! Really great shots.

John Wilde said:

The primary target audience of incremental upgrades is people who don't have the previous model.

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I have the original R6 and I don't feel like I need to update to the new R6 mk III. All being said, I have an R3 too, but the original R6 still doubles as a great second camera.

Great shots, ERHP.

Just a few from August, sorting through the shots of multiple coveys of CA quail and others visiting the rapidly depleting seep.

One of the pair of surviving juvenile CA Thrashers who consider the seep part of its area.


Only one juvenile Steller's Jay this year.


Juvenile CA Quail male molting slowly.


This trio of juvenile CA Quail were navigating through the boulders.


A CA Quail crossing the 'bridge'. Always find it interesting how the feathers develop.

Very nice series, Noreaster. I especially like the last one.

Very pretty in the middle of these rocks.

Bob Howland said:

Wouldn't Canon have to disclose the RF implementation to Sigma for Sigma to make fully compatible APS-C lenses?

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To some extent for sure. Canon may just take Sigma's existing lens and then provide back to them a profile correction and firmware.
Alternatively, Canon may license access to SW for them to test with draconian damages claims if they expose/leak or implement into non-agreed lenses.
Canon may also provide an encryption key per lens to be able to work with Canon bodies unless used with manual AF etc.
I imagine that they could be quite innovative to protect their protocols and others on the forum could better thoughts on options.

Slightly better than stepping on a Lego

I thought they were all gone for the year.

Male and female yellow rumped warblers (I think)

Both prettied up (Topaz Photo) images obtained with R5II and 200-800 @ 800; ISO 4K and 5K; 1/250s





Learning from this forum and a bit elsewhere, I think I've figured out the following:

What I originally knew as Topaz Photo (and its perpetual license) was renamed (awhile ago?) as Topaz Photo AI.

I presume the perpetual license for the AI version will remain perpetual (for Photo AI) but not be included in any future updates.

What is now 'Topaz Photo' is supposedly new-and-better, and using the new Topaz Photo will require a subscription.

With my current Topaz Photo one-year 'membership' (which was due for renewal next month), I have now been granted access to the new Topaz Photo (presumably until my renewal date...at which time I will have to decide whether I want to subscribe to the new Topaz Photo).

PLEASE IF I HAVE THIS WRONG DO NOT HESITATE TO POST

It appears that the subscription rate for the new Topaz Photo is $199 per year.

As posted here in this thread, that is a steep, steep price. Too steep.

On the other hand...

...I have found the product very, very useful at times...in fact, almost indispensable for certain tasks. And it can be kind of fun to use!

Apparently currently paid-up users will be offered some sort of discount; I will need to see the amount of that discount, and will think long-and-hard about the subscribing/renewing possibilities; I stuck with a legacy non-subscription Photoshop for well over a decade...(well, I'm almost embarrassed to say how long).

=====

Earlier in this thread, I was encouraged to 'put my camera away' after the Golden Hour in that nothing good happens with images obtained with so little light.

I'm sure that is (sort of) right...but part of why I read this forum is to see how people get the most out of their gear (especially hand-held) and their software, so that I can do the same.

At that time of day I'm usually outside grilling...looking out for (and occasionally imaging) backyard birds gives me something to do...while I'm burning dinner.

So I will continue shooting in the early evening, which, sadly, gets earlier and earlier this time of year...(and then the shock of Standard Time arrives).

AlanF said:

Where did you take it? It's a Sympetrum darwinianum, commonly known as the Darwin’s darter

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I photographed it in the "Kurobe Gorge", near Toyama. It's one of the deepest gorges in Japan. We accessed it by train, ready to hike a bit, which, unfortunately, couldn't be done. There had been an earthquake some time before, so it would have been dangerous to walk in that very steep gorge.
I took my revenge on the dragonfly!

Mekos said:

So: 34.2mp, €2900, the same LCD mechanism... More pixels, more money, same LCD mechanism, not much above my R6II... I'll keep it till a "new" R6IV.

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The primary target audience of incremental upgrades is people who don't have the previous model.

ISv said:

These are from today (another hot for the season day at ~31C and with the humidity, despite of the strong winds, it feels even worst!). Still without DxO PL...

View attachment 226532View attachment 226533View attachment 226534View attachment 226535

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What’s the name of the gray and black bird? Also, fantastic photos

It's because it's written トンボ on it. Or, Made in Japan.