Irix now has a filter holder for the 15mm f/2.4

I'm not quite sure why this lens needed its own holder setup. Irix might make some money here, sure, but its just a Lee knockoff. One would imagine that if you got a 95mm WA adaptor ring, a stock Lee 100mm/Foundation setup would work just fine.

And seeing a Lee-like adaptor ring in this new holder design, I have no idea how 15mm FF will be supported with standard 100/150 filters. Lee's manual would imply that 15mm FF + two 2mm filters would all but certainly vignette.

But hey, new system. Have a look.

- A

Attachments

  • Screen Shot 2017-10-20 at 2.23.29 PM.png
    Screen Shot 2017-10-20 at 2.23.29 PM.png
    85.2 KB · Views: 235
Upvote 0

Adobe Unveils the Next Generation of Creative Cloud at MAX 2017

Hey, I just noticed:

Adobe Photoshop CC now offers significantly expanded photography support, major improvements in learning and getting started, and enhanced overall performance.

http://blogs.adobe.com/photoshop/2017/10/get-the-goods-announcing-updates-to-photoshop-cc-dimension-cc-and-more-today.html


Some of the photoshop things sound neat, like:

- improvements to ACR - Color and Luminance Range Masking to darken background and brighten foreground
- better brushes (I guess that's always welcome)
- better select/mask
- curvature pen tool to replace the cruel joke that is currently used to draw paths
- improved image resize
- "much better" PNG compression (useful for commercial, lossless, and web stuff with transparent backgrounds)
- faster file open time
- Microsoft Dial support (we'll see how good it is)
Upvote 0

DIY Carbon fiber hood for Canon 300/2,8L (non is)

ahsanford said:
rfdesigner said:
nicely done!

CF is also great for holding optics such as in a lens, very rigid and low coefficient of thermal expansion, so holds all your optics in perfect alignment much better than metal. Getting used more and more in telescopes.

CF is seemingly everywhere these days -- tripods, aircraft propellers, cell phone cases, medical devices that require radiolucency, etc.

One wonders if Canon would use it to make a super-light (but likely very high end) frame/chassis for a camera body -- have they ever tried this before? It would surely be light and rigid, but one wonders about impact strength, cracking, etc. as well as manufacturability (holes/windows in the chassis create stress risers which CF may not tolerate well) For something you'll handle roughly (minor drops, knocking into things, getting bumped around in your bag in the back of a car/truck, etc.), you generally want something more ductile / higher elongation before break, and (for all its virtues) that is one of CF's weaker suits.

- A

CF can be immensely strong, just look at how much less of a death trap F1 cars became when it was introduced. These days when the cars come together they're either unscathed, or broken. You don't get bent bits like you did years ago.

So long a Canon put enough layers in then it should be bomb proof.
Upvote 0

Review: Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 VC G2 by TDP

Following up to Mr. Carnathan's response, I asked:

"Were most of the misses in the lower light settings in your test, or was it more of the odd miss in any light?"

His answer:

"Unfortunately, I was not able to discern any consistencies with the OOF results. They seemed random to me. It is impossible to do a completely exhaustive test of the lens as there are an unlimited number of circumstances that it could be used in, but I felt reasonably confident with the center AF point performance."

Again: in ideal AF conditions in a controlled test (the best possible AF outcome you will get), the center AF point of this f/2.8 lens randomly misses 5-10% of the time. Take this lens into the real world -- where moving subjects, high contrast lighting, fatigue from longer shooting sessions, higher fps / servo AF use etc. -- and I cannot fathom how that number would improve.

- A
Upvote 0

Ireland - along the Wild Atlantic Way - Part 2

Years ago when I was more serious about photography, I decided not to take a camera with me when I traveled. That way I would do things and see things instead of just taking pictures.

Then in 2000 I took a camera with me to eastern Europe and found I could finally hit a reasonable balance, so I’m back to taking a camera along these days. (OK, Prague was a challenge. I did get carried away with photographing it.) For the most part, while I do take a lot of pictures, photography doesn’t get in my way very often.
Upvote 0

Zeiss Officially Announces the Milvus 1.4/25

wearle said:
infared said:
I wonder how the coma is on this lens. Any reviews that mention coma or astro imaging??..I could only find the ePhotozine Review, which was very positive but did not mention Coma performance as far as I could tell.....

Looking at the MTF chart, I would be very surprised if "coma" is well corrected beyond 10mm off-axis. The solid and dashed lines begin to separate quickly after 10mm. This is a bad omen if you are hoping for pinpoint stars out to the corners. Besides, Zeiss is not going to come out with a lens that beats their Otus 28mm for $2400. The Otus 28mm MTF shows the separation of the solid and dashed lines beginning around 15mm off-axis which is about where stars begin to show "coma" in starscapes.

Wade

Thanks Wade.... I have a good copy of the SamYang 24mm f/1.4 ($350 used at B&H LOL!) which has very well controlled coma. ...BUT...the rendering of the lens and the colors are not to my liking at all for regular photography....I am not a lens designer or a physicist ...so I am just guessing here....but I am going to guess that what ever goes into designing an incredible lens for general photography must be incompatible with good coma results.
Not sure....I have awesome glass ...but most of it is not good for shooting Astro...I find that I have to buy specialized lenses just for Astro and many times they are less expensive than the best glass for a FF camera.
Upvote 0

Canon Lens Milestones in Annual Production Terms

Attached is a graph which permits some comparison with CIPA numbers, though the dates aren't aligned that way. The graph uses Canon's announced EF lens production milestones to estimate lens shipments per year over the intervening time interval, but those are aligned to announcements instead of years. The 130M announcement just came out. The peak at 70M lenses occurred in late 2011.

For comparison, one can roughly align CIPA numbers with the milestones. So Canon produced roughly 8.4M lenses in 2016 give or take a few, and CIPA reports member shipments of 19M, leaving Canon with a 44% market share in lens shipments (among CIPA members).

In 2011, both 60M and 70M production milestones were reported. Using the higher of the two, 15.15M lenses per year, Canon sold approximately 58% of lenses shipped that year of the 26.27M that CIPA reports.

None of this aligns perfectly with profits, of course, since recent shipments by all makers have included large numbers of more expensive lens products with higher profit margins. And Canon's automation of lens manufacturing may also increase their margins.

I note that Nikon reached a Nikkor 60M lens production milestone in the end of March 2011, 70M in June 2012, and so on up to 100M in July 2016. Attached are the lens production estimates for Nikon as well, though again they are not aligned by date.

Using those milestones and the same methodology, I estimate Nikon produced about 7.94M lenses in 2011 for a 30% market share, while shipping about 5.99M lenses in 2016 for a 31.5% market share.

These estimates are unrefined, but do give us data about how the overall lens market is changing. Lenses sold by other manufacturers (probably chiefly Sony/Zeiss and Sigma in the DSLR domain), are taking a larger market share and taking it mostly from Canon. [This is slightly surprising, since it appears that Nikon may have suffered more in camera body sales than Canon over that same period. However, lens manufacturers appear to be targeting Canon since it has the largest share of DSLR camera production.] Some of this may also reflect increasing market diversification into both mirrorless and (more recently) faux medium format offerings by manufacturers.

Canon and Nikon still account for about 75% of all ILC lenses sold according to this data. This is down from 88% in 2011.

Scott

Attachments

  • Canon Lens Production Rate Per Year Across Milestones.png
    Canon Lens Production Rate Per Year Across Milestones.png
    12.4 KB · Views: 168
  • Nikon Lens Production Rate Per Year Across Milestones.png
    Nikon Lens Production Rate Per Year Across Milestones.png
    5.7 KB · Views: 201

First Look Video: Canon EF 85mm f/1.4L IS USM

Viggo said:
arthurbikemad said:
Sorry S/H - Second Hand.

I want this new 85, even though I not long got the 1.2, I love the 1.2 but I could also love the 1.4 ;D I'd hope for another 35/1.4II, the new 35 is a legend in the making, first shot I took with the new 35 I knew!! And each one after, always has some magic! If the new 85 has "IT" I want it!

Thanks for explaining :)

I use the 35 II for 85% of my shots, in fact, now it’s my ONLY lens, so used for 100%. Combined with my Bron light it’s pretty awesome :D

Agree, if I had to pick just one it would be top of the list.
Upvote 0

Canon U.S.A. Expands Explorers of Light Program with the Addition of Two Esteemed Photographers

HTML:
<em>Company Welcomes Barbara Davidson and Terrell Lloyd into its Revered Program</em></p>
<p><strong>MELVILLE, N.Y., October 18, 2017</strong> – Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, is proud to announce the addition of photographers Barbara Davidson and Terrell Lloyd to its renowned Explorers of Light program. These new members add to the already impressive ranks of Canon’s program, expanding its wide range of talented professionals that impact imaging culture and influence the way their audiences see the world. Both Barbara Davidson and Terrell Lloyd will be on hand at the Canon Booth (#121) at PhotoPlus Expo 2017, October 26-28 at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City. In addition, Barbara will be a member of a keynote panel at the Expo on Thursday, Oct 26 and will be presenting at the Canon booth on both Thursday, October 26 and Saturday, October 28th. At the Canon booth, she will share her work and experience of shooting with the EOS M5 camera as well as capturing emotional images of conflicts and tragedies. For a full schedule of PhotoPlus Expo events in the Canon booth, please visit <a href="https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/explore/photoplus-2017" target="blank"><b>usa.canon.com/photoplus2017</b></a>.</p>
<p>Barbara Davidson is a three-time Pulitzer Prize™ and Emmy-award™ winning photojournalist best known for her work on victims of gang abuse in Los Angeles. As a long-time photographer at the <em>Los Angeles Times</em>, Barbara spent much of the past decade photographing women and children trapped in a culture of poverty and guns. “I am excited to be a part of this great program and look forward to sharing my years of experience with Canon users all over the world,” said Davidson.</p>

<p>Terrell Lloyd is known for his experience shooting professional and college sports. He is currently employed by the San Francisco 49ers as their full-time lead team photographer and managing all of the organization’s photography services. Over the past 25 years, Lloyd has diversified his business by photographing a multitude of events. “Being an Explorer of Light gives me the opportunity to help educate and inspire the next generation of image creators,” said Lloyd.</p>
<p>“Canon’s Explorer of Light program has enabled us to connect with and showcase the works of many amazing professional photographers and we are so pleased to welcome Barbara Davidson and Terrell Lloyd into this exclusive family,” said Yuichi Ishizuka, president and COO, Canon U.S.A., Inc. “It’s a privilege to have our Explorers of Light share their photographic passions and technical expertise with eager audiences of photo professionals, hobbyists, and enthusiasts to further inspire them to reach their creative potential.”</p>
<p>Since the creation of the program in 1995, Canon’s Explorers of Light have been leaders in their respective fields, and have garnered awards and accolades for their work. These individuals work with Canon extensively as representatives, ambassadors, educators, and role models for aspiring creative artists. They participate in workshops, seminars, gallery showings and personal appearances throughout the United States.</p>
<p>For more information about the Explorers of Light program, visit: <a href="https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/explore/explorers-of-light" target="blank"><b>usa.canon.com/canonexplorersoflight</b></a>.</p>
<span id="pty_trigger"></span>

Ireland - along the Wild Atlantic Way - Part 1

MrFotoFool said:
I have enjoyed your other travel photo essays and I also enjoyed this one. I skipped over the photo tips and in my opinion they are more distracting than helpful. However beginners may get something out of them so feel free to ignore my opinion.

Thank you!

Some people fell like the tips add something to the article, others don't. I marked them so they can be easily ignored if you don't need/want them.
Upvote 0

Lens choices for landscapes - too much choice!!

slclick said:
Every lens is a landscape lens.

This....I've used a 1000mm for a few landscapes. So there is no specific "landscape" lens. Just a bunch of lenses that cover various angled of view, ranging from very wide to very long. Choose lenses that cover the focal range that you need, over lapping where necessary and also cover the apertures that you may suit too. In that list I would add a stable tripod with no centre column and a Arca Swiss head plate and matching L bracket for your camera(s). In fact I would say that the latter is probably the most important item.
Upvote 0

Sigma to Announce New Lens Ahead of the PDN PhotoPlus Expo Which Begins on October 26, 2017

SecureGSM said:
yep, Sigma Art AF consistency on 6D is nearly spot on. I moved on to 5D III and subsequently to 5D IV and that's when the fan began ;)
If you intended to keep shooting with your 6D forever, then you may be just found the sweet spot.
short term vs mid to long term approach.
I am going to shoot with 5D IV for next 4 years at least and not looking to upgrade my Canon L-trinity of lenses. they are that good. Canon 16-35 F2.8 iii L is crazy sharp at 35 mm. it is so sharp it is ridiculous.
I decided to sell Sigma Art lenses while I can and am doing this with a very minor discounting if at all. Mid to long term I am better of with Canon lenses.


jd7 said:
.... I am pretty happy with the AF on my 35 Art, 50 Art and 85 EX on my 6D, and I am not too worried about in camera JPGs, so I will persist with the Sigma lenses on a Canon body.
I use 85/1.4Art, 50/1.4Art and 24/1.4Art on two 5div bodies. 85 and 50 perform excellently, the 24 has more problems, especially for midrange objects. With DPAF, of course, I can work around that.
Upvote 0

Theory: there won't be a Sony A9s or A9r

One of the bigger problems with Sony, is that they have too many cameras, and not enough lenses.

I had a good play with an A9 yesterday.
The feel of it in my hand was uncomfortable, but the focussing was on par with my M5.
The rear screen is poor. Small and fuzzy.
Sony have a long way to go yet.

IMHO, they can bring out as many whizz-bang cameras as they like, but until they make one that I would be happy to hold in my hand for 10+ hours at a time, they won't get my business.
Upvote 0

Images & Specifications For the Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark III

AvTvM said:
But I still find it equally ridiculous and stupid from Canon to DENY 4k to all those (potential) customers who would LOVE to have it in a camera.
It is only 'stupid' if not putting 4k in affects their sales. I am not talking about the odd one or two who decide the Sony mirrorless video suits them better - they are mere motes of dust in the environment of the global market. I am talking about a shift in notable percentages of sales, the sort of things that make an executive say 'maybe we ought to do something about it'.
It has been explained before on this forum that no company on earth would upgrade 1080p to add 4k and not charge for it. In other words, 4k would add to the price. You have no idea of how much that costs, I have no idea but the conclusion I draw is that Canon defined a price bracket for the camera and put in whatever features it thought it needed to feed the majority market at the target price and they decided to add things other than 4k video.
Canon made that decision, and their success in market position shows they know a thing or two about designing cameras for the mass market. You, on the other hand look on it as incompetence which would make me ask if they are so incompetent how are they so successful. Occam's razor.

AvTvM said:
BUT I think it would be much smarter and better for Canon to offer at least one fully 4k enabled camera body in every segment / at every price level of their product line-up.
Canon obviously have the data to disagree with you. You, on the other hand, have supposition based on zero knowledge of camera design but what 'sounds logical'.
You accuse me of being a paid shill based on nothing other than I disagree with you. I on the other hand ask at what point do the facts make you think that maybe you are wrong. I would like the option of 4k....more accurately I like the idea of having a 4k option even though I shot barely 10 minutes of video in the years since I had video capable cameras. I think 'great' if it is there but I don't care if it isn't and it seems that is pretty much your view as well.
Whether wanting it or not is 'reasonable' is not the question. No company does 'reasonable': they do what is 'profitable'. Canon, Nikon, Sony - they all do. It is just that Sony have to add all the bells and whistles to even get a foothold.
Is Canon behind Sony on 4K technology? My guess is 'yes', but it would seem that although they are trying to solve that, there is no rush to do so, and by 'rush' I mean this ,mythical 2 years in which you claim mirrorless will overtake DSLR sales and make DSLR largely redundant.

Your comment about it being 'reasonable' is somewhat of a softening from your previous pronouncements of Canon's incompetence. So I am not sure if you were trolling or just overstating your case based on frustration and incomprehension.
Upvote 0

walk around lens

Think about how you're actually shooting when you "walk around". If by "walk around" you mean "walking up a mountain trail and shooting huge vistas and wildlife on the way" then sure, you're going to want a lot of range and you're probably going to want at least two lenses. But if by "walk around" you mean "walking around the middle of a town with my family" then you'd most likely be better off with something like a single, light prime lens.

If you really do think you're in that first camp, the big two lenses to pair up are the 16-35 f/4 IS and 70-200 f/4 IS. They have near-identical rendering so you get a consistent look, the gap between 35-70 isn't really all that significant in real world terms, and you've got a lot of range to play with there. They're also both nicely sealed while being just a little bit easier to carry around than the f/2.8 equivalents.
The 17-40 and 70-300 L lenses are a step down in quality but they're cheaper and you get a little more long end. There's also an old 28-300 L which is pretty outdated but not really that different in performance from the 24-105 mk I, so if you wish the 24-105 mk I simply had more long-end range, that's worth looking at. Of course there is the 100-400mm but unless you're seriously into wildlife, that's going to be overkill. (And if you were, the 400mm f/5.6 is a much easier lens to "walk around" with.)

... But those really are all a bit much for "walk around", even for longer and more exploratory trips. If your idea of "walk around" means "I need to capture everything no matter what" then hey, there you go.

If you're more in the latter group and you're doing what more people mean by simply "walk around" then your existing 24-105 is basically as good as it gets. You could spend a little money to switch it for the Sigma 24-105, which is a little sharper, but that's really about it in terms of zoom lenses; everything else which has more range is slower and optically worse, and everything which is faster and/or optically better is more limited and also much heavier and bulkier.

If 24mm isn't wide enough for you and 105mm isn't long enough for you, and you did want to keep bulk down to a minimum, I'd say look for a 20mm prime—there are several around—and a 135mm. Then you're missing out the middle, but if the range is what bothers you then I'm guessing the middle focal lengths aren't too important for you anyway. You could add something like the 40mm STM to fill out that middle range without really adding much weight. But swapping between three primes doesn't really fit the idea of a simple "walk around" solution.


I'd highly recommend you consider, if you're not happy with the 24-105, simply swapping for a basic middle prime. The Tamron 45mm VC, for example, is basically the best all-rounder money can buy at the moment; nearly perfectly 'standard' field of view, excessive weather sealing, and stabilisation. You can stitch a panorama when you want a really wide shot, and how often are you really using the long end of your 24-105, let alone wanting something longer, when you're casually shooting? Working with a single prime isn't for everyone, but it's always something to keep in mind; it's way too easy to think you need to have everything covered, so you load up on gear for every specific purpose and then never really get any pictures because taking everything with you is too much hassle. Sometimes simpler is actually more versatile.

Also, another thing to consider is to ditch Canon. Keep it for your 'real' shooting, by all means, but for "walk around" a lot of people are switching to smaller mirrorless systems and getting great results. Fuji, Sony, and Olympus are dominating the "walk around" market right now, for good reason. (Panasonic are in there too, to a much lesser degree.) They've basically taken over street shooting and event shooting is now pretty 50:50 between the people still lugging SLRs around and those who have switched to smaller systems, and that ratio is only shifting more and more in favour of the mirrorless units.
An extra benefit of picking up one of these systems is they're generally a bit cheaper than their SLR equivalents, so if a small combination gets lost, stolen, or broken in your travels it's not such a big deal, and even a fuller kit is cheaper to insure than an equivalent SLR kit.


Have a hard think about what it is you really use, what it is you really need, what you can actually be bothered to carry with you, and the most efficient way to balance that. How often do you find yourself wanting to shoot wider than 24mm and where stitching isn't an option? How often do you find yourself needing to go in more than 105mm and where cropping wouldn't be enough? How much weight and size are you really prepared to put up with? How high of a total equipment value are you prepared to carry?


ahsanford said:
It would appear between all the 18-135 crop, 28-135 / 28-300 FF options that Canon has learned that long standard zooms are easy... providing you don't want wider than 28mm FF. That's apparently where the wheels come off the bus optically.
It's not really to do with the optics taking a dip per se, but more that keeping the optical quality high while going much wider than 28mm/equivalent (with zooms that have a long end; obviously, wide-angle zooms are a whole 'nother story) is very expensive. It all goes back to the days of analogue where 28mm was a much more commonly-wanted focal length, before it got kind of replaced by 24mm toward the end of the 1980s. Every company (and every factory) is geared up to do 28mm (again, we're talking about for standard zooms here) really well, but anything more is a stretch further and further into unknown territory, as far as zooms go. Obviously 24mm has become quite normal, but even then you're mostly seeing 24-xxx zooms only either as premium ranges or with significant compromises.
Same reason every company keeps making 50mm primes and very few make anything closer to 40. Same way we still have rubbish LCDs on the tops of cameras with <3.2" rear screens, and not nice OLEDs and bigger screens like every other device. It's what the factories happened to start out with, so it just kinda sticks, and deviating from that will always cost a premium and stretch the designers' knowledge. If enough companies did it then these things would eventually become totally common and we could have 24-135 or 20-150 or who knows, but no one company wants to be the one to take the hit by being first.
Upvote 0

Canon Patent: Tilt-Shift Lenses With Autofocus and Image Stabilization

I would not expect that patent to be realized any time soon. When developing the latest set of TS-E lenses Canon apparently thought about adding this stuff but did not do it (either too many technical compromises or too expensive).
If it really comes (some time after everybody bought the currently new TS-E lenses) it will likely cost around 5000€.
Upvote 0

Filter

Forum statistics

Threads
37,440
Messages
973,676
Members
24,805
Latest member
track inspector

Gallery statistics

Categories
1
Albums
29
Uploaded media
372
Embedded media
1
Comments
25
Disk usage
1 GB