takesome1 said:

Bryan's reviews have gotten longer and longer over the years.
To the point they are almost unbearable to read.
Far to much cut and paste and stock comments from previous reviews.
Luckily I have read enough of his reviews to know which parts matter and skim to those areas, but if I were new to this game and trying to read this review I am not sure I would have made it to the end where the buy now link is.

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I like the longer reviews as you just opt in for what you care about.

For instance, astro folks have a review shorthand that's quite efficient:

1) Hit Ctrl-F or Command-F
2) Type in "Coma"
3) Read, weep, seek counseling and move on.

- A

CanonGuy said:

I'm an avid sigma fan (see my previous posts haha). But I'm seriously disappointed with the 135 art pricing to be honest. No way I'm paying that much for a 135 art

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Ya but the manufacturing cost of f/1.8 for this size lens with 13 elements vs 8 elements in the Canon 135 f/2 makes sense as far as the increase in price.

Honestly I was expecting $1799 or something ridiculous...if the f/1.8 version is hint better than Canon I can see people justifying the overall cost over the Canon's.

"It’s nice to see Canon opening up a bit about how they manufacture what we think are consistently the best lenses in the world" - I just made an update below on the best full frame lenses, and the 12 Canon winners out of 35 focal length categories mainly do only slightly outperform their rivals, or are winners because they have no competition like the fisheye zoom. The truth is that in 2017 it is easier than ever to shoot the highest quality with Canon mount cameras, while not using one single Canon branded lens.

Canon 8-15/4 Fisheye
Sigma Art 12-24/4
Canon 16-35/2.8 III
Sony 24-70/2.8 GM
Nikon 70-200/2.8 VR FL
Canon 100-400/4.5-5.6 II IS
Canon 200-400/4 IS +1.4EXT
Sony 24-240/3.5-6.3 (Allround)

Voigtländer 10/5.6
Voigtländer 12/5.6
Sigma Art 14/1.8
Zeiss Batis 18/2.8
Zeiss Milvus 21/2.8
Sigma Art 24/1.4
Zeiss Otus 28/1.4
Canon 35/1.4 II
Zeiss Milvus 50/2 Macro
Zeiss Otus 55/1.4
Canon 65/2.8 Macro 1-5x
Sigma Art 85/1.4
Zeiss Milvus 100/2 Macro
Nikon 105/1.4
Sigma Art 135/1.8
Sigma 180/2.8 OS Macro
Nikon 200/2 VR II
Canon 300/2.8 II IS
Canon 400/2.8 II IS
Canon 500/4 II IS
Canon 600/4 II IS
Nikon 800/5.6 VR FL

Canon 17/4 TS
Nikon 19/4 TS
Canon 24/3.5 TS
Nikon 45/2.8 TS
Nikon 90/2.8 TS

Wow, looks cool, thank you for taking the time to share it!
Quite close and looks great, its now firmly on my to do list

Thank you again,

Stig

You can use FoCal in manual mode as Neuro prefers if it is not compatible.

kphoto99 said:

3kramd5 said:

Maybe he does mean that, but the notion that a Sony exec has such a flawed understanding of his market that he thinks Sony has a monopoly on sensor based phase detect seems preposterous.

"Managing" is a perplexing term... he might be referring to what Sony deems "intelligent sensors," about which there is a vacuum of information.

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The "intelligent sensors" triggered an idea, what if the CPU is part of the sensor. On the back side of the silicon die. This would be an extension of the BSI concept. The CPU could address each half of DP element. You would need an A2D for every pixel and you would have to be able to deal with the heat generated by the CPU, but this would open a world of new possibilities. I wonder how far in the future this will be implemented.

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That's pretty much what I expect it means. It also satisfies the language (the sensor manages AF, as opposed to DIGIC or EXPEED).

iowapipe said:

"The build quality appears military-grade"

I highly doubt there is any MIL-SPEC rating for this lens. I know, I know - it's all about attracting interest and clicks.
It's just a silly thing to write when it's a mostly adults reading the post. Kids on the other hand... I suppose the carbon fiber hood gives the illusion? (checked Sigma's site just to cover my bases: no MIL-SPEC rating)

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Mil-spec / military grade can opener. MIL-SPEC has nothing to do with quality... only the specifications the military requires for an item, which can be sub-par compared to civilian items for the same use. There is no such thing as a MIL-SPEC rating. MIL-SPEC is a document.

These little can openers worked great in the field for c-rations, but their construction, while military grade, is far inferior to what was available on the civilian market.

Jack Douglas said:

GMCPhotographics said:

Jack Douglas said:

Click said:

GMCPhotographics said:

Here's a winter detail shot. It's about the size of a 50p coin:

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I really like this shot. Nicely done.

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Very cool - is it right side up? What is it?

Jack

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It's a giant snow flake about 1" across, attached to a stick.

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I'll believe you but I've never seen a snowflake that size ... I don't think!

Jack

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I haven't seen one that size before or since...it was huge...hence the photograph!

pwp said:

I have always had https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere installed as a Firefox add-on

-pw

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I had previously considered installing it, but it had a really poor rating on the firefox site that I decided to just disable the warnings. They even popped up a warning when logging into my NAS.

Mt Spokane Photography said:

I downloaded it, but there is nothing as simple as a .exe file for windows, I'll wait for someone to create one. I think the tools are there, but I have no clue as to how to use them.

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There is: https://github.com/google/guetzli/releases/download/v1.0/guetzli_windows_x86-64.exe - needs only two parameters: input and output file.
But the first photo I've tried to convert and the result:
produced bigger and less contrast/sharp image (consuming lots of CPU the long time [about 2 minutes]) than 95% qulity jpeg from http://www.faststone.org/FSViewerDetail.htm
File sizes (Source 729x1080pixels, 24bit png 2 366 945B):
FSV-95 jpg│ 174 516B
FSV-89 jpg│ 103 234B
guetzli jpg│ 207 239B

YuengLinger said:

Most of the gear I own is in the "big seller" category: lenses and bodies familiar to many CR members, reviewed by popular and generally reputable review sites and individuals.

However, I recently picked up a Sigma 180mm f/2.8 APO OS. The lens was rarely reviewed; despite popping up quite a bit in Google, most of the "reviews" are rehashes of the original press release. By coincidence, just in the past day or two a new thread was started about this lens, the first discussion of it in years on CR. The OP was asking for those with personal experience for a comparison between the Sigma and the Canon 180mm f/3.5.

What surprises me, now that I have a piece of gear relatively few people buy, try, or know anything about, is how much completely wrong info is so quickly passed around. Ok, I'm naïve. But the number of posts with fragments of poorly remembered bits of reviews or rumors or just complete BS is incredible.

So, I'm asking other CR members to talk about HOW DO YOU SEPARATE FACT FROM FANTASY (aka BS) when making gear purchasing decisions? Many of us are now living in areas hundreds of miles from the nearest camera shop.

Thanks!

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The Sigma 180 has many stellar reviews on Fred Miranda's site. There are as many reviews combined on Amazon for the different available mounts (but one must watch for "fake reviews" on Amazon now).

I'd guess that this lens/focal length is "fairly uncommon" compared to the 135mm and smaller lenses, so fewer sales.

The only thing one can do is due diligence and scour the internet for reviews across many forums... and make an educated guess.

Being able to return the item is a big plus.

....my, what a surprise....

Diko said:

Mirrorless, will increase by numbers. However this particular article is quite general and not specific.

Indeed the stress will be on industrial equipment (generally as all vendors are following the trend).

Let us also not forget that the 250 APS-C was officially stated as a part of technology for surveillance cameras.

I was also hoping Neuro would be more nerding on the medical part, but obviously was too busy on joking on my mistakes ;-) Thanks for pointing it out though.

Is there any Canon equipment that you, guys use?

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After all the camera thefts, I decided to purchase some surveillance cameras. Since Canon owns Axis, I checked there as well as the Canon branded ip cameras. Their customers are pretty obviously government agencies and rich corporations, out of my class.

Even so, I ended up with almost $1300 for two PTZ IP cameras. Thats almost as much as my cameras are worth

I bought from B&H and have the first one now and am playing at configuring it, I have it setup on my NAS, but have yet to configure a storage volume, its almost ready. I can also view and configure on my TV sets thru my Amazon Fire TV. My Apple TV box does not yet have the active x drivers needed, and probably never will. I might get a android tablet and set it up by the front door, I don't currently have any Android tablets or phones, just the Fire TV.

The things the cameras can do amazes me, facial recognition, tracking, line crossing, persons entering or leaving a area, objects leaving a area, the more expensive model I bought even has a heater to keep fog/frost off the lens. some have a wiper.

Actually, we have had some shady characters around, so my wife wanted some better visibility. We are blocked from seeing my studio, or our 1/4 mile long driveway, but not any more.

The cameras have tiny sensors and inexpensive lenses. Obviously, I'll try to spot birds and wildlife, but in reality, photos will not be as good as a camera phone photo, not even close. The area where most of the deer come up every day is not part of the coverage.

Dylan777 said:

As a friend requested, I was a primary photographer in her family funeral. It was harder than I thought - not IQ or AF - it's more capturing those moments through viewfinder and editing the photos.

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As weird as as it may sound. That is something I really want to do at least once. But generally now when I have your emotional feedback, would prefer the job to be coming from someone distant to me.

Pookie said:

I don't take images like this but a friend of mine in Tahoe does this often and said this was the best advice given in a concise article about this very topic. Might be a good read for you... My buddy also uses the reversed Helios...

http://chaoticmind75.blogspot.ru/2013/08/my-technique-for-snowflakes-shooting.html

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Thanks, I remember coming across that a few years ago, but now is a good time for a refresher.

AlanF said:

http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?topic=32190.msg656055#msg656055

Gang, please stay on target or I'll lock the thread.

- A


It does seem a little anti-communal to lock a thread after a few light-hearted comments

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That thread lasted longer than I would have left it, unlike this one.

Last summer - I posted a couple then but probably not these. I found one of the three dead on the next acreage lot a couple months later - dog maybe?? Unfortunately heavy crops and soft.

Jack

RickSpringfield said:

"Canon EOS 5DS & Canon EOS 5DS R There will be no new high megapixel camera in 2017"

Boooo to that! Was really hoping for a 5DSR with all 5D Mark IV upgrades.

(here's hoping the OP is misinformed!)

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Canon has pretty much never fast tracked a new camera. The 5DS/5DSR are still new, I wouldn't expect a new version until 2019 at the earliest. But if Canon continues to be a creature of habit, I'd say a new 5DS/DSR II will come out in 2020.

YellowJersey said:

I was disappointed by the review. The Batis is so ideal for my application, but the Milvus just doesn't seem to nail the coma as well. Coma's not terrible, but not great either.

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OT, but I can't see any coma in my initial wide open astro shots with the Rokinon 14mm 2.4.

docsmith said:

jd7 said:

slclick said:

I must be the only person on the planet to have a Sigma Art lens that focuses fast and consistently. Talk about copy variation!

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No, I am happy to say you are not alone, as I'm happy with the AF on my Sigma lenses too.

PS I cannot say that for a couple of older Sigma lenses I've owned in the past.

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There are at least 3 of us. I wouldn't hesitate to pick up a Sigma lens that is dock compatible.

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Make that 4. I am glad that Sigma and Tamron have started making dock-reprogrammable lenses. Olympus started doing this over ten years ago..... they used the camera body as the dock..... and updating firmware was easy as could be... Canon! Are you listening?

They make pretty damn ugly slide-decks...

Of little interest in North America, but all the main manufacturers including Canon will be at the NEC in Birmingham from tomorrow until Tuesday next week. The show is larger this year with many different workshops and lectures along with the stands.

Click said:

Nice series, dpc. I really like the 3rd picture.

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Thanks, Click!

For some reason, I still find myself contemplating whether to go for it or not. I think ultimately it's going to come down to image quality and distortion handling at 24mm...thinking whether to consolidate the 24-70 f4 and V1 24-105 to one V2 24-105 that can handle still life (superior IS), shoot buildings (less/fixable distortion mechanics) AND have good enough sharpness for closeups (poor MFD resolving power of 24-70).