I always wonder when I see dye based ink that is supposed to last for 300 years! What happens if a drop of water or coffee falls on it? Can it be wiped away or blotted up without smearing the ink? My 3880 with pigment based ink is reasonably resistant to a drop of water, but not great.

Laser is the only type of print I've seen that does not smear. I've made lots of laser printed photobooks with my Xerox Phaser and after 10 years, they are still bright and have no smears. They are not really photo quality, but close enough and I give them away to the high school actors for $5 which is a small fraction of the cost to print and bind 34-40 pages.

MickDK said:

Using the A7R2 with a grip - both the EF 24-70mm F2.8L II and EF 70-200mm F2.8L II handles just fine. I'd love to see native versions though (me FE 55mm F1.8 focuses *very* fast!).

Dylan: +1 for a FE 135 F2

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I have been using the 70-200II and tamron 24-70 VC on the a7r2 without a grip and it is fine. I might not want to operate all day that way on a regular basis. But I feel like there is a lot of exaggeration about how bad the ergo is. How many of us in here are actually shooting regularly all day with a large tele? Sure, some of us might have to do that here and there. But it is not that serious for many of of us and should not be a generalization that gets thrown around so quickly to be used as a huge negative for trying out a mirrorless body.

For reference, I am only a serious hobbyist/enthusiast but shoot with a variety of rigs almost everyday. The 70-200 only gets pulled out about once or twice a week for a few hours here and there. Hasn't been an issue for me yet.

Please "gojuu" f1.4L IS USM

Canon Rumors said:

<p>A very solid source let us know that the EOS-1D X Mark II will be in our hands no later than April 2016, but that Canon has yet to finalize an announcement date. So there’s no need to worry that this is going to be a Photokina 2016 product.</p>

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If the availability is almost certain for April, this means that pretty much they have final specifications (and not like some people suggest still trying different options), is that so Craig?
Also what would be your estimation for an announcement date, if it will be available in April, not based on sources but just your thoughts
Thanks

Ah. If the gear is going to "think" it should voice its concerns, "Where is my preflash, sir, please?"

THANK YOU for the explanation.

This is my fault because I hadn't ever tested this use case and tried it on a shoot. Yes, the manual (a single sheet with controls very simply labeled) could have called this out but hey, that's why we get paid the big bucks.

I bought some 580EX2's just to have speedlights equipped with the PC connection -- so I could use them my preferred way: little manual location strobes for when the Einstein kit isn't appropriate. Since Canon didn't want to provide the 580EX2 with a built-in I'll always take a bunch of little ones of my own.

Again, much thanks.

Don Haines said:

jrista said:

Don Haines said:

takesome1 said:

Probably more interst than obsession.

Shooting off the LCDis not a bad thing. I think of many reasons it could be a benefit in the future.

IMO mirrors are a holdover from the non-digital days. It's a dinosaur that hasn't meet it's time yet.
We might be fans of the conventional view finder and mirror because were set in our way. But change will eventually come and it will be at a slow pace.

It will be a while. Problems will have to be solved like overheating, AF efficiency and speed and other. Plus once it arrives they will have to convert the masses who love dinosaurs.

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+1
Canon moves slowly. Some interpret that as resistant to change, others as "make sure it works before you sell it"... Once the bugs are out and the overall performance of mirror less exceeds mirrored cameras, you can expect the switch....

I expect that one day, the 5D? and 1D? will be released as mirror less....

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This is a bit of a misnomer. Canon cannot directly benefit from other companies such as Sony "working out the bugs" and then suddenly switch without having any problems. The things that currently limit mirrorless cameras and the things companies that sell mirrorless cameras are fixing and resolving are the same things Canon is going to have to deal with if and when they finally decide to take the plunge. However, because they have delayed, they aren't going to be ahead of the curve...they will be behind it.

Unless Canon is cranking away on some unknown technology in a box somewhere, hiding it from the world, not even filing any patents on it, it seems doubtful Canon will just race out the gate on a mirrorless winner that trounces all the competition. DPAF is their SOLE mirrorless-benefitting technology at the moment (one which they hardly even use for mirrorless...or have they even used it at all??)...and there are several companies (Sony does NOT appear to be one of them) out there now working on the same thing (and some of the patents filed over the last year seem technologically superior to Canon's approach.) Canon will not hold this theoretically superior technological advantage with DPAF for long, especially if they refuse to implement it broadly in the cameras that can best benefit from it.

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And yet they have the EOS-M, proof that they are working on Mirrorless......

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Proof that they are piddling half-heartedly with mirrorless, at best, and that really has nothing to do with solving key technological issues to make mirrorless head-to-head competitive against top of the line DSLRs. If Canon was serious about Mirrorless, they would take it, and their biggest mirrorless competitor, head on and deliver a highly compelling product. They have been through generations now, and it still hasn't gained a foothold in what is potentially one of the largest markets for it.

Canon has put the bare bones minimal effort possible into their mirrorless offerings so far (which, I guess, is their M.O. really.) That isn't going to get them over the technological hurdles very fast, and it will leave their mirrorless offerings trailing both the competition, and their own DSLR options, for a long time. Canon's SOLE compelling mirrorless technology is DPAF, and I don't think it's been put in an actual mirrorless camera yet! By the time they finally get around to doing that, someone else will have the same kind of technology, and will likely already have it in a commercial product.

I'm sure Canon will do fine whenever they get around to doing anything (how could they not, with the kind if undying fanbase they have?), but they nor their products deliver much to excite me these days. It's just endless small evolutions on previous technology, and the one thing I really want still hasn't been delivered. But, that's just me, apparently. I'm biding my time for a 5D IV...it'll be the only Canon camera I buy for years once it comes out, assuming I don't find something else capable of driving my 600mm lens at full speed before it finally gets here.

leoyuho said:

fantastic review as always. Thanks

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You're welcome!

Plainsman said:

With a ground breaking sharp lens like this one it surprises me that Canon have not offered at least a 1.4X TC precisely tuned to the DO II optics e.g. as Nikon has done with its special 1.25XTC for its latest 800/5.6.

Yes of course it would be expensive but this lens I am sure has the potential of giving a very sharp 560/5.6 for perhaps 25% extra price.

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i don't think a special tc just for the lens is needed. it's fantastic with the existing 1.4xiii.

Don Haines said:

StudentOfLight said:

jasny said:

StudentOfLight said:

jasny said:

dilbert said:

jasny said:

sigh said:

I think people are forgetting one of the main benefits of Canon not using Sony sensors, especially for videographers, namely DPAF. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I understood sensors had to be manufactured in a certain way for DPAF to work. Sony sensors aren't manufactured with this feature and can't be unless Canon licence their patents to them. This is never going to happen.

Personally I'd be against Canon using a third party sensor, like the Sony, if it meant losing DPAF.

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DPAF is more than 2 years on the market, but we still even don't know if Canon plans to use it on FF sensors at all...

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The C100, C300 and C300 MkII have DPAF.

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Those are low Mpix Super-35 sensors for video, not high Mpix FF sensors for stills...

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IIRC, STM is a complimentary technology to DPAF. So why did Canon start making full frame STM lenses like the 24-105 IS STM?

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And 40/2.8 is either STM for FF. And available almost for 3 years... And still no DPAF FF...

BTW: I use my STM lenses without DPAF and I'm quite happy with them

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Canon doesn't release full frame bodies every couple of months. The 6D was probably too late in it's development to include DPAF. Since then, the only new full frame is the 5Ds/R line, which Canon decided was not gonna be video oriented (no headphone-jack, no clean HDMI-out)

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Agreed!

We are talking about LONG development cycles on Camera bodies.... The 5D4 project probably started before the 5D3 was released....

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I wonder what the real turn around time is for Canon to go from concept to production models shipping? Probably differs depending on how drastic the new model deviates from the previous model, such as the 5D3 vs 5Ds.

DLD said:

rfdesigner said:

DLD said:

I am currently using Canon (came from Nikon) the digital picture is far off on a lot of Nikon lenses... their results favor Canon heavily... so I don't think they are any better than dxo mark in regard to favoring brands..

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interesting, when you say "far off on a lot of Nikon Lenses" do you mean the reviews or are you talking about the "lens image quality" tool?

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The lens image comparisons.

Photozone.de has the most accurate results I have found... however there's limited testing done there as far as lens flare and other issues like contrast which can also improve lens performance... But given how biased or even doctored thedigitalpicture seems to me I take anything they say with a grain of salt... Those image comparisons are just not what I'm seeing, or reading elsewhere...

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The magenta hue in the blacks is due to longitudinal Chromatic Aberration. Which is also identified in the photozone review:


I believe that with resolution testing the methodology is to focus bracket and choose the sharpest image. Now pixel peeping at that photozone shot. It looks like with 3 increments of backfocus you actually produce marginally sharper detail than if there is no LoCA. Maybe this is why TDP chose the purplish shot as the highest resolving one out of the set of bracketed shots.

Also, with field curvature you if you don't see it in the centre of frame then you will definitely see it in the corners. From the TDP crops the corners look very good with no LoCA. In real world shooting however, with 3D subjects, the LoCA will affect your wide-open, shallow-depth-of-field shots whether you like it or not.

What I gather from the TDP crops (http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/ISO-12233-Sample-Crops.aspx?Lens=106&Camera=453&Sample=0&FLI=0&API=0&LensComp=791&CameraComp=0&FLIComp=0&APIComp=0) is that the resolution of fine-detail on the Nikkor 85mm looks very good from centre to corner and it thoroughly trounces the Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 in mid-frame and the corners when shooting wide open. Do you have another example that shows TDP's "bias" towards Canon?

Iphone. Am serious.

Which is why in order to have any viable discussion, an agreement on terms and definitions needs to be made.

Different people have different definitions of journalism and reporting.

It is my opinion that any journalist that does not recognize their own bias is not a very good journalist.

I know a guy in Germany who was buying a 7D, they'd just come out. There was a similar promotion going on at the time. He went up to the till to pay for it and the cashier said (paraphrasing) "congratulations, that's free". He told me within about 5 minutes, just to wind me up I suppose

I was hoping to get one too! The two main problems for me with the SL1 are the old sensor and old AF system. I was hoping that the SL2 would be better but alas it looks like that this camera will never make it past being more than a rumour.

Re: New FAA regulation - Lithium batteries not in hold luggage in States

Valvebounce said:

Hi Stu_bert.
I know you asked Mt Spokane this, but on posts I have started I found lock and delete, bottom left of the page, by the jump to subject box. I realise that you possibly want to delete the thread as it is a duplicate, but with the way the search function works (not) it might help to leave it. People have put effort in to the responses and it does link to the other thread.
Just to add something relavent, my batteries have always flown with me in the cabin as there is no way I'd hand my hard earned gear over for the ground staff to throw around, I've watched them out the departure lounge window, though they are possibly no worse than the automatic sorter machines.


Cheers, Graham.

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Hi Graham

Many thanks - never noticed and I kept looking in the bottom right, doh!

Cheers
Stu

@Canonfanboy - I presume it is the "naked" connections which can cause it, hence the advice about protecting theme.

Don Haines said:

neuroanatomist said:

Don Haines said:

Without DXO I would not have known that the plastic 50F1.8 that I paid $50 for (used) is a better lens that the 600F4 that other members of this form paid $12,000 for. Imagine, a better lens for only 1/240th the price......

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Don't be absurd, it's entirely dependent on the use case. For example, consider the MOAI Score, where the 600/4 scores a 17 and the 50/1.8 scores a 3. If you were marooned on an island, with the 600/4 you could use the front element to start a fire each night, the hood as a seat, the lens cap as a bowl, and the barrel to crack open coconuts and fend off inimical wildlife. The 50/1.8 is so light it could not even be used to knock a coconut from a tree.

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I'm lost here..... How do you use a lens element to start a fire at night...... I can see it working in the day when the sun is shining, but by moonlight?

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You have been trying three weeks? That's right, you can't do it at night. So, you can put the front element back and start taking photos again at 600mm.

You may want to consider a 3rd party wireless triggering system and the canon 430EXII. The 430EXII has been replaced by the EXIII recently so I would expect to see a lot of people upgrading and flooding the market with them. I just bought a third one on ebay for $90. I don't use any third party triggering systems, but if you search the forum I'm sure you can find some great recommendations. I use an optical system (ST-E2) and it works fine for my needs.

If you are not brand loyal, then most folks seem to like the Yongou products for cost effective flash.

Thanks!

I took the Tokina 11-20/2.8 ATX on a recent trip and loved it - mounted on a 70D. A bonus is that it also fits full frame from about 16mm up to 20mm, and it's still an f/2.8.

azizjhn said:

Hi Gents

I am assigned to shoot horse jumping event in Jan 2016. I own a 6D & i don’t have a zoom lens (sold long time ago for cash) and I’m confused what to get regarding the camera & the lens

For the Camera should i sell me 6D & get the 5D MK iii (cons: Waiting for replacement) or get a 7D MK ii as a second camera or keep 6D (cons: i don’t trust the autofocus for something like this)

For the lens i am looking for one of these 2 options:

1- EF 70-300 L (Pros: Compact spending for it, Cons: 5.6 maximum aperture not sure if it is good for this event or do i need larger “advice required”)
2- EF 70-200 2.8 ii L (sure it is the best, cons: Large, Expensive)
3- Tamron 70-200 2.8 VC (Pros: cheaper than the Canon, advice required regarding it is autofocus)

Your advice please :-[

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I'd sell the 6D and get the 5D3 or the 7D2, it depends on how close you'll to the action and the 70-200/2.8L II.

"Ignore the lion!"

one of the better lines I've seen here for a while...

1DX is awesome for sports.

>50% of my clicks are sport-shooting at ISO6400.

Don Haines said:

Photography is about the capture of light.... A lens with an 80mm entrance is going to capture 100 times as much light as an 8mm lens..... High quality glass well spaced out will distort less than plastic sandwiched together...

DSLR quality? Yeah..... Right......

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+1, really wish there was a way to report such claims, better than a 5D....

Sorry, I didn't think to check for previous posts on this topic.

Thanks everyone. I will try this tomorrow.