Review: Voigtländer Color Skopar 28/2.8 SL II

For anyone who might interested in this lens, I found this:

http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ja&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fdc.watch.impress.co.jp%2Fdocs%2Freview%2Flens_review%2F20120524_534810.html

Google translation is kinda weird, but the pictures speak by themselves. Looks like it fares very well on the hungry D800's sensor, and the bokeh is very smooth.

For those of you not familiar with the brand, as far as I know these lenses are now manufactured by Cosina in Japan, who also manufactures Zeiss lenses. The difference is that Voigtländer lenses are designed and manufactured in-house by Cosina, whereas the Zeiss are manufactured according to Zeiss design and QC specifications. In practical terms, you can expect the same level of build quality.

To my understanding, as a consequence of the very small size it lacks a floating element, so IQ in close focus tends to deteriorate.

For the price though - half the Zeiss 28/2 - I'm almost sold. It's available in Canon and Nikon mount, both of them chipped and with AV coupling.

Are Primes really better for portraits?

Alrik89 said:
Got a question concerning the last picture:

why is nearly the complete hat out of focus, although parts of it are in the same area as the sharp face. I'm talking about the sliver brooch look alike thing and the dark violett parts around it.

To answer YOUR question: The eyes seem to be sharp, as i said above: the rest of the pictures looks strange

Don't look at the hat..the purpose was to showcase the eyes and the rather "blur" look of it..it's not the sharpness i would like from a prime lens.
This hat was made blur in post production..as with the entire photo..except the eyes…
I was trying to make everyting else OOF so that i can emphasize on the eyes but because on it's oww, they eyes weren't sharp IMO..it doesn't stand out at all

Here's what my friend took and his photo did not have ANY sharpening involved and yet his eyes are so much sharper and he was using a 24-70 lens.

269008_427581710611788_1865501652_n.jpg
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7DII feature requests...

I believe everyone agrees with the low noise/higher light sensitivity bit. Two cards will be great, too. I am sure Pros don't care about the Wifi and GPS, but I don't mind it.
I am low on technical knowhow here- but would lower noise and higher sensitivity depend MORE on the sensor or on the processor? (Please note the MORE- I am aware that both affect the output)
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Lensrentals.com - great blog entry - statistcs on repairs, failures and support

Interesting on the CF pins and that it's a large cause of failure on a few other cameras as well. I've always been a bit sus on the robustness of CF when plugged and unplugged all the time and you only need a bit of grit to find its way into the female connector on the card to end up bending a pin.

I've often wondered if people who use 10 small cards and frequently swap might be better off just having a backup body and large card in both. Only a guess but I doubt if cameras do a full end-to-end verify so I wonder if say an address line was bent and you were only ever looking at the last preview, which I assume is in a buffer, if you could be merily swapping cards and have corrupt data on all of them. I suppose it comes down to the electrical versus physical reliability of the cards.
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Rockwell on the 24-70v2, "holy cow, it's awesome."

Marsu42 said:
Jotho said:
As far as I remember Rockwell says 5D3 is the worlds best DSLR actually.

He updated his first review after some time, the first version was haunted by poor knowledge of the camera because he didn't bother to read the manual and came to wrong conclusions as far as I remember.
Ah OK. I didn't read that one. Thanks for correcting me.
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how to test a lens in the shop!

Its easy. You ask "what is your return policy, if I find that this lens is not up to my expectations".

Other than that... what can you really do, beyond rudimentary examination?

Does it rattle? Is it clean? Is it full of dust? Are the controls smooth? Are the switches positive? Does it focus without making undue grunts and groans? Does it zoom? Check rattle at both ends and middle of zoom range.

Then go home, and check it for focus accuracy, centering, etc.

I've never gotten a "bad lens" yet from Canon, but have had one go back for focus adjustment - thats not bad, just adjustment. My 300/4 is out a little, but well within the correction range of the camera. Thats it. Lets see... 18 Canon EF lenses, one needing correction (50/1.4), and one I can now correct in the camera. I suspect I'd have not sent the 50 back to CUSA if camera correction was available at the time.

Chances are very great your lens will be just as it should be.
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Rebel T4i vs 5D Mark III - $850 vs $3499 - Is it really worth 4 times the price?

Well now we have a new player in the mix. 6D vs. 5DM3. I shoot events, families and models mostly. I currently own the T4i and get amazing results and paid pretty well. I have an eye for the job, I have done well in LR4 and I have really good L glass. I know I can improve with time and with a FF, but I am now wondering with FF will be best for me. I'd hate to get the 6D and regret not grabbing the 5D3. I wish they did a little more with the 6D, but it is what it is. The wifi on the 6D sounds great, but they didn't impress me with the rest of the specs. Well, I take that back, the low light focusing would probably be nice when shooting the school plays that don't allow flash.
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Show your Battle Scars! - Show your shutter counts!

I do fashion and glamour photography.
I do at least 45 girls a month.
Averaging 400-500 Photos per girl...
That's 270,000 per year.
The 1D X has a life of 400K.
So I should be replacing the shutter in about 2 years.
My old 1D IV had 270,000 on it after 2 years of use. I had Canon replace the shutter for only $250 at a CPS Gold discounted price.
Not bad for basically getting a brand new camera.
Don't be afraid to shoot. :D
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Watch those CF pins on your 5D3

dilbert said:
Mt Spokane Photography said:
The pin / socket arrangement on CF cards violates rule 101 of connector design.
Sockets go on the power side, pins on the non powered side.
It was designed by a total klutz.

That is total rubbish.
Having spent 30 plus years desiging pin and socket interfaces for electronic equipment, including being a member of International design standards orginations, I can say that the industry experts and manufacturers agree with me. Problem is thats its too late to do anything about it, so manufacturers do the best they can to design a camera so that the cards and pins can be aligned without scooping. Even so, I've had DSLR's with bent pins. Its not frequent, but very expensive to repair if you can't straighten it.
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Canon EOS 6D Official Specs

This may have already been mentioned in some of the threads, but this camera does not have a touch screen. I checked canon.com, DPReview and several other sites. This is the only spec sheet I have ever seen mention touch screen. Also, for those upset with it being on the camera (even though it isn't). What was you problem with it? I have the T4i and actually find it useful. It's slow to shoot from the screen, but at times easier to quickly track and shoot someone's face. It's faster then constantly switching your focusing points, the way I did it on the T2i. I am looking to sell my T4i for the 5DM3, and the only reason I liked the 6D was for the wifi and touch screen, but that is not longer an issue, as it has no touch screen. The only other thing I like is that it focuses in low light, as I do a lot of event photography and I often find the rebels struggle in this area due to lower ISO and terrible low light focusing abilities.
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Canon 1DX VS 1DMKIV Auto Servo

Secretariat said:
I know that the AF system of the Canon 1DX is so much better than the that of the 1D MKIV in One Shot mode.How about in Auto Servo,how do the Canon 1DX and 1D MKIV compare to each other,especially in low light shooting?
Thanks.

Just use one of the central dual cross types and then set it to 4-pt expansion and you'll see a huge difference, especially in low light, either under stadium lights or indoor gym light.
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Tamron 24-70 Focus Accuracy

dirtcastle said:
That's great to hear. Seems like focus is what often separates great lenses from would-be lenses (something which seems to afflict a disproportionate number of Sigma and Tamron lenses).

That said, it seems reasonable to expect that a recently released $1300 lens would have good AF, right??
Very true. Never the less... That doesn't mean it's GOING to have it. This test gives me a little more confidence that with more money, Tamron can make a much better AF system.
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Canon Announces Three PowerShots, The G15, S110 & SX50

Re: Canon Announces Three PowerShots, The G15, S110 & SX50

Albi86 said:
Etienne said:
I had high hopes for the G15, and I waited to see what it would be like.

But just ordered a Samsung EX2F. Amazing looking cam. I would have rather stayed with Canon, but articulated screen, built-in wifi, built like a tank, fast perf, 24mm f/1.4 lens, optical + digital IS, and so much more with the Samsung. Samsung is going all out and Canon is holding back.

I still love my 5DII and L lenses but I sincerely hope Canon gets back to the spirit of trying to blow the competition out of the water like they did with the advent of the 5D series, instead of holding back and letting the others catch, and sometimes surpass them.

It's a quite interesting camera indeed, but looking at available image samples I didn't... fall in love.

I think the RX100 has an edge in IQ, though the EX2F has some interesting functionality.

Canon unfortunately keeps up its incremental upgrade policy. They are one step behind and fail to impress, especially if you consider the price tag.

Yeah, some of the sample images are not that impressive, but I've seen that with initial images from a lot of new cameras that turn out to be quite capable. So, I took a chance and I'm quite interested to get my hands on this little guy. I am not expecting it to compete with my 5DII. At the very least it will be very portable, convenient, and highly functional. That should allow me to get shots that I would otherwise miss.
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