Advice wanted for trip to upstate New York.

Hi, I will be taking the family for vacation to up-state New York during the first two weeks of August. I wouldn't really consider myself a landscape photographer and never having been to the area before I was looking for a bit of advice as to good spots for taking photos. I do realise that later in the year may be the more spectacular for the Fall foliage colours but this is the family holiday time!! As we are staying with my sister I can make time to go off and take photos without my wife and kids feeling left out
First question!! We will be travelling to Niagra falls, I was mainly wondering are there any insights by CR members that have visited? The cave of the winds sounds like it could be a fantastic photo op but do you have any recommendations for taking such photos? Same for the maid of the mist? I have a 5D3 and 4, 16-35f4, 24-70ii or should I just buy a waterproof compact for these shots? I would prefer the IQ of my own equipment...
Second question I have googled upon googled areas around the finger lakes (we are staying near to Syracuse with my sister) but personal recommendations by CR members for particular areas would be welcome. as I said before I don't really do landscapes but a bit of inspiration in a foreign (to me!!) country might help!!
Lastly New York city, as I said I have used Google and I sort of know where to look eg statue of Liberty, Ground zero memorial, but are there any restrictions I should be aware of? are any days quieter than others (weekdays vs weekend) I was also planning a quick visit to either B&H or Adorama but Saturdays seem to be out for both of them (yes I understand the religion thing). How much is sales tax in NYC google seems to give me different answers between 4 and 8.75% as I might save a few euros on the 70-200 I plan to buy at some point!!
So really what I am asking for is CR members insights into any and all of these areas bearing in mind that it is a family holiday, but that making time for photography is certainly an option.
My equipment is 5D4, 5D3, 60d. lenses 16-35f4, 24-70 f2.8ii, 100-400mk2, 100L 135L (I wasn't really planning on bringing the primes).

Microsoft Announces Surface Pro 5

HTML:
<em>Surface responds to global demand with expanded portfolio and new markets and brings the creative power of the new Surface Pen to the world’s most powerful productivity suite: Microsoft Office</em></p>
<p><strong>SHANGHAI — May 23, 2017</strong><b> — </b>Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday unveiled the new Surface Pro, the next generation of the iconic product line and the most versatile laptop on the planet. The new Surface Pro delivers the most performance and battery life in a laptop that is this thin, light and quiet. Surface took the category it created and pushed it a step further by bringing up to 13.5 hours of battery life,1 making it more than 2.5 times faster than Surface Pro 3, and providing unmatched versatility and mobility in a new, lighter, more refined design. Surface Pro is not only a powerhouse laptop, but also a mobile creative studio with a vibrant 12.3” PixelSense™ touch display that supports the new Surface Pen,2 the fastest pen ever, and Surface Dial2 both on- and off-screen. Twice as accurate as the previous version and enhanced by our PixelSense Accelerator custom silicon, the new Surface Pen and new Surface Pro together set the industry standard for faster, more fluid writing and drawing, and now Surface Pen supports tilt3 for more natural shading. Inking in applications across Windows 10 and Microsoft Office 365,2 including the new Microsoft Whiteboard app, will unlock ways for people to use digital ink to be more creative, collaborative and productive.</p>
<p><!--more--></p>
<p>“With Surface Pro we created a new category and challenged the status quo of the laptop,” said Panos Panay, corporate vice president, Microsoft Devices. “With every release since we have continued to push boundaries — redefining the ultimate laptop with Surface Book and making the classic laptop feel fresh again with Surface Laptop. With the introduction of the new Surface Pro we are once again advancing the category by delivering the versatility of a powerhouse laptop and a mobile creative studio in one thin, lightweight device.”</p>
<p><strong>The most versatile laptop</strong></p>
<p>The new Surface Pro has been redesigned from the inside out to give people more performance and 50 percent more battery life than the Surface Pro 4. Everything has been streamlined and refined — from softer, rounded edges to cameras built to fade into the bezel. At just 8.5mm thin and starting at 1.69 pounds4 the new Surface Pro is lighter than the bag it will be carried in, and packs the power of a 7th generation Intel® Core™ processor into a new fanless,5 whisper-quiet design.</p>
<p>The new Surface Pro Signature Type Cover delivers a high-quality scissor mechanism and 1.3 mm of key travel for faster and more accurate typing. A full-size glass trackpad with five-finger multi-touch capabilities allows for ultimate precision, and the entire keyboard is wrapped in soft yet durable Alcantara® material, creating a comfortable palm rest and beautiful aesthetic.</p>
<p>The new Surface Pro will also be available with LTE Advanced later this year to provide even greater mobility to let people work, collaborate and create from anywhere.</p>
<p><strong>A mobile creative studio</strong></p>
<p>The Surface Pro takes the immersive experience of creating on Surface Studio and brings it to life in a highly portable form factor. With a new hinge that adjusts to 165 degrees, people can now put Surface Pro into Studio Mode, creating the optimal position to write or sketch. The high-resolution 12.3” PixelSense™ Display is engineered to work with the new Surface Pen, the fastest digital pen ever, to deliver an amazing inking experience. When used with the new Surface Pro, the new Surface Pen is twice as responsive as the previous version with 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity for increased accuracy and responsiveness. New tilt functionality detects the angle of the Surface Pen to enable more natural shading. The Surface Dial also works on-screen with the new Surface Pro, unlocking a set of unique experiences pioneered by Surface Studio. Placing Dial on the screen brings up app-specific digital tools, allowing people to quickly access shortcuts and move seamlessly through their workflow.</p>
<p>Starting at $799 USD, the new Surface Pro allows people to customize their experiences with an array of colorful options for the new Surface Pro Signature Type Cover, the new Surface Pen and the Microsoft Surface Arc Mouse.2 Each comes in rich tone-on-tone colors to match your personal style: Platinum, Burgundy and Cobalt Blue.</p>
<p>The new Surface Pro will launch on June 15, 2017, in 25 markets including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States. Preorder for the new Surface Pro and Surface Pro Signature Type Cover begins later today in select markets at Microsoft Store, microsoft.com, BestBuy.com and JD.com where available. The new Surface Pen will be available in the coming weeks.</p>
<p>Microsoft Store is also offering custom device fittings to help people find the Surface that’s right for them. Knowledgeable associates are committed to helping people match their needs to the right Surface, then set it up and assist with customization, including the applications people use every day like Office.2</p>
<p><strong>Inking comes to life in Microsoft Office 365 and the new Microsoft Whiteboard</strong></p>
<p>With the new Surface Pro and Surface Pen, digital inking comes to life for artists and inspires creativity worldwide. But people use pens not just to sketch or paint, but also to be productive — write and share comments in documents, notes in notebooks, and sketches on whiteboards. We are making the creative power of the new Surface Pen available in the world’s most powerful productivity suite: Microsoft Office.</p>
<p>New inking features in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint include a customizable gallery of your favorite pens, pencils and highlighters that roam with you as a personalized setting across Office apps and devices, along with support for tilt and shading with the new Surface Pen. These capabilities will begin to release to Office 365 subscribers in June, including the more than 100 million monthly active commercial users and 26 million consumer subscribers.</p>
<p>Additional inking experiences will continue to roll out in the future, including the new Microsoft Whiteboard app, which offers a limitless canvas for creativity and collaboration with simultaneous inking between multiple people across the world. With Microsoft Whiteboard, people will be able to collaborate on ideas and projects across an expanded set of ink-enabled Windows 10 devices later this year, with exclusive capabilities for Office 365 subscribers.</p>
<p><strong>Surface Studio comes to new markets</strong></p>
<p>Surface Studio, first introduced in October 2016, is a new class of device built to transform from a workstation into a powerful digital canvas, unlocking a more natural and immersive way to create on the thinnest LCD monitor ever built.6 Surface Studio will launch in Austria, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Surface Studio will be available for preorder starting today at microsoft.com and select third-party retailers, and will begin shipping in these markets on June 15, 2017.</p>
<p>Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) is the leading platform and productivity company for the mobile-first, cloud-first world, and its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.</p>
<ol>
<li>Up to 13.5 hours for video playback. Testing conducted by Microsoft in April 2017 using preproduction Intel Core i5, 256GB, 8 GB RAM device.Testing consisted of full battery discharge during video playback. All settings were default except: Wi-Fi was associated with a network and Auto-Brightness disabled. Battery life varies significantly with settings, usage and other factors.</li>
<li>Sold separately</li>
<li>Surface Pen tilt functionality is currently available with the new Surface Pro.</li>
<li>Core m3 version</li>
<li>Core m3 and Core i5 versions</li>
<li>Average cross-section thickness across entire display

Read more at https://news.microsoft.com/2017/05/23/announcing-new-surface-pro/#LBciu7FrQ6SpYXHM.99</li>
</ol>
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Patents, Patents & More Patents from Canon

HTML:
<p>Forum regular <a href="http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?topic=32660.msg665389;topicseen">rrcphoto</a> has done some dirty work and found a bunch of Canon USA patents you may be interested in. Since the demise of Egami, these have been harder to come by.</p>
<p><strong>Stacked sensor patents</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="bbc_link" href="http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?docid=09659872" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?docid=09659872</a></li>
<li><a class="bbc_link" href="http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=09654715" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=09654715</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Stacked sensor patents for mobile phone use:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="bbc_link" href="http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=09635291" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=09635291</a></li>
<li><a class="bbc_link" href="http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=09621830" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=09621830</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Microlens patent, likely for mirrorless cameras.</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="bbc_link" href="http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=09601534" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=09601534</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>An SLT patent?</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="bbc_link" href="http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=09599879" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=09599879</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Continuous liveview in EVF</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="bbc_link" href="http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=09369633" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=09369633</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Linear USM patent.</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="bbc_link" href="http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=09660556" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=09660556</a></li>
</ul>
<p>If you speak patentese and can better explain what these are, please sound off in the forum.</p>
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Some new canon patents..

Here's a bunch of US patents for your reading enjoyment.

This one I found interesting, this is a stacked sensor patent. Seems canon is marching ahead to it's own drum and working on this as well:

http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?docid=09659872

another stacked sensor patent:

http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=09654715


this one is kind of interesting. patent for image sensor and mobile telephones.

http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=09635291

here's another stacked sensor patent, this one for cell phones.

http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=09621830

mirrorless (probably) microlens patent

http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=09601534

Canon SLT patent? o.O

http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=09599879

continuous liveview in EVF?

http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=09369633


Linear USM patent. This is probably what is in the 70-300 USM II

http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=09660556


Enjoy!

Voigtländer Ultron 40mm f/2 SL-II Review | Dustin

Hi everyone - for a change of pace from all the huge primes everyone seems to be making I thought I would spend some time with the little Voigtländer 40mm f/2 pancake lens, though they seem to becoming harder to source here in North America. I used it on a 5D Mark IV, 6D, 80D, and a Sony a7R II, and found some interesting conclusions. You can follow up on the reportage here:

Test Review: http://bit.ly/UltronDA
Final Video Review: http://bit.ly/UltronF2
Image Gallery: http://bit.ly/Ultron40Gallery

It is pretty much a tiny Zeiss lens, and provides a different kind of optical performance when compared with the cheaper Canon 40mm STM.

Cost for CPS to inspect impact damage

I want to send my 5D mklll, 70-200 2.8, and 580 ll speedlight to CPS for inspection and evaluation after the strap slipped off my shoulder and the gear fell on carpet covered floor.

The gear does not look damaged. If my cover letter includes the words "impact" and "fell on the floor" will that trigger higher service fees ? Should I just request they inspect for good working order ?

Canon EOS Rebel SL2 Coming in September [CR2]

HTML:
<p>We <a href="http://www.canonrumors.com/canon-eos-rebel-sl2-confirmed-in-2017-cr3/">reported back in February</a> that we’ll be seeing an EOS Rebel SL2 some time in 2017. We’re now being told to expect the camera to come in September of this year.</p>
<p>The new king of small DSLRs will apparently be slightly smaller and a bit lighter than the EOS Rebel SL1, which at the time of its launch was the smallest DSLR in the world.</p>
<p>We’re also told to expect a specifications list that is relatively similar to the Canon EOS 77D.</p>
<p>The next DSLR to be announced by Canon will be the EOS 6D Mark II some time in July.</p>
<p><em>More to come…</em></p>
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Lens choice for arches national park

I am planning to be at the arches national park this June. I don't hike much and so planning to take the minimum of equipment. I don't have a light kit and so have some hard decisions to do on the lens choices.

I want to take my primes and have 135, 100macro, 85, 50, 35 but I feel that is too heavy especially since I will be taking my 1dx.

I also feel that I want a wide angle for the night skies. My first time and so not really going for tracking kit if you will. Just some basic tries.

I was thinking of cutting down by going with 135, 35 and maybe get a new 17mm tilt shift.
Or Willa 135, 50 nad 35 do the trick?

Is the 77D sensor the same as the 80D sensor or not?

Here's a challenge for the Canon Rumors intelligence apparatus:

Some articles say that the 77D and the 80D use exactly the same sensor. Other articles say the 77D has an "updated" or "brand new" sensor that happens to have the same number of MP as the 80D. I also read one article which claimed the 77D has the same sensor as the T6i/s. I don't think anyone in the DSLR media really knows.

It appears that Canon is being deliberately vague about the sensors in their newest APS-C bodies. Usually they are pretty open about their new sensor designs, such as the back-illuminated sensor in the 80D that was highly praised for increased dynamic range. I suspect they went with a front-illuminated design for the 77D and T7i perhaps because it is cheaper or they had the production capacity for it. Maybe they are thinking that buyers of Rebel-class bodies don't know the difference?

They do prominently state that the Digic 6 to 7 upgrade allows one more stop of usable ISO, but that doesn't mean much to me as a RAW shooter. I'm mostly interested in RAW dynamic range.

Does anyone have a friend at Canon who can clear this up?

I plan to hold off on my planned APS-C purchase until I know what I'm buying.

Useless lenses you fell in love with

Today I banned the lens I loved the most from my gear bag into the vitrine in which I keep this lenses which I'm proud to own but somehow never use.

Do you guys have also such a waiting room for the lens heaven candidate?

The lens I abandoned today is the Sigma 50-100 1.8

I admire Sigma for their boldness to bring out such a lens, I love its build, smooth zooming, bokeh and feel but I have not used this lens on more than 5 occasions while I had planed to bring it on at least 30
So why abandon the fastest tele zoom on the planet which is sharp and can replace at least three of my primes?

There are 3 main reasons:
1 The weight
2 The reach it offers... somehow always not wide enough or to short
3 What it does to other lenses.
4 The lack of OS holds you bound to always using the lens wide open. (I bought it for that purpose but...)

This lens is heavy, long and wide. Usually I carry it in a backpack or in a shoulderbag.
Lying the lens flat is not an option in the shoulder bag, it is usually mounted in the middle of the bag pointing downwards with the Sigma 18-35 1.8 and the CANON 300 4.0L or the 70-300 L flanking it left and right.
Problem 1 the weight is always present when you have these 3 lenses on a shoulder bag.
So more and more often I substitute it with a different lens. If I keep it with me Problem 2 kicks in as well and I start changing lenses multiple times per occasion. I had not recognized that this triggers Problem 3.
The lens has a beautyfull tripod mount which is not removable but way more slim than the Canon versions. But.. it has a killer of a thumbscrew with sharp carvings. Today I wanted to clean the lens, wondered why this knob is so dirty and discovered a multilayer partial coating of the full lens color variety Canon, Tamron and Sigma has to offer. It must have touched and scratched the paint of almost any other lens I joined it in my bag.

So do you guys have a similar situation of wanting to use a lens but never rally doing so?

Older vs Newer production of same lens.

I have been wondering how much difference there is between a modern production run of a lens that's been on the market for a while (eg the 50mm f/1.4) and older production of the same model.

While the optical formula is the same, one thing that has clearly improved in the time is the general production testing methods and I would assume that inter-copy variation between 50mm f/1.4s would be lower with current production runs than with those made back in the 90s.

Has anyone done any real analysis of this? I know that subjectively my new(ish) 50mm f/1.2L seems a lot sharper than an older model I was playing with in the past - but that may simply be wishful thinking.

Tamron SP 45mm f/1.8 AF

I wanted to go back to basics and buy a 50-ish mm lens. As far as I understand the Sigma 50mm Art is not an option because the AF is a real lottery. I'm thinking of the Tamron 45mm SP now, and wondering if anyone had an experience shooting with this lens, especially in terms of AF? How consistent & fast is it? TDP's Bryan C. mentioned he had problems focusing the off-center AF points. I'm not sure if it's just his copy or a common issue. Would love to hear your opinions. Thanks!

Magenta Cast B&W Prints PRO-100 Redux

I pulled my original post on this topic after speaking to Canon and getting more info on the subject.

The problem basically stated is that I see a slight but noticeable magenta cast on my B&W prints made with the Canon PRO-100. Actually it is difficult to see when looking at the print in isolation but is clearly visible when the print from the PRO-100 is put next to one from my Epson 3800 or P-6000. I know... different printers, different drivers, etc.

I had a very good conversation with a tech from Canon and we discussed a number of factors which ended up focusing on the papers I have tried. Canon papers seem to work well but I can't do what I want with Canon papers (4x6 borderless WITH the ability to print on the back - I want to create photo postcards). I have ordered some double-sided Red River Pecos River Gloss Duo for this project which I hope will work. It is just a question of whether I go with the PRO-100 (my preferred printer for this job) or the 3800.

In the meantime, I have tried printing the photos on papers I have on hand such as Epson Premium Glossy and Red River Arctic Polar Satin. Both produce prints with the magenta cast. The tech said Epson papers are notorious for a cast because they are designed specifically for pigment-based inks and Epson printers and the PRO-100 being dye-based has problems printing on Epson papers.

He also said he has never heard of any problems with Red River papers which they (RR) say is optimized for both dye- and pigment-based inks. But I see a cast on my RR APS.

So my questions:

Have any of you with a PRO-100 noticed a cast on your prints - particularly B&W?

Have you found differences in cast based on different papers?

If so, what papers seem to work best (minimized cast) with the Pro-100?

If you made it this far through the ramble, I thank you. Any info would be helpful.

Ed

Has anyone else been shut down?

First, I thought I ran things in my castle. I thought wrong. The Queen informed me today that my lens buying days are over. I thought it rather rude as she did this while looking over my shoulder as I read the rumor thread about the 85L that is soon to be announced.

I've had a good run and got further along in the buying marathon than I ever thought I would. I am, however, already getting the shakes and sweats as the 85L announcement date draws ever closer.

I'd never buy a lens without the reviews and some time passing to see if it is all it is cracked up to be anyway, so will a cooling off period soften her iron fisted ruling?

Has anyone else been shut down? ;) Whatever did you do? The tone was most disturbing.

How do you pack your gear/store it?

I've been preparing my gear for my next work trip and it got me thinking, how do you pack your gear? I'll attach some pictures below but I basically have been switching back and forth between dividing it in small divider bags with each having a setup and just having it all in one XL ICU, one bag carries a 1DX and my 70-200 2.8 is ii, one holds my 1DX mark 2 with a 24-70 2.8 ii and my main bag holds a 5DS, with a 16-35 2.8 iii, a 24mm 1.4 ii prime and a 35mm 1.4 ii prime, having it split up into it's own setups makes it so much easier to pack in my Tilopa and balance it with food, water or a jacket in the bag as well.


And when i'm not using that I usually keep it in my XL fstop ICU.

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Sigma 135mm f/1.8 HSM ART Review | Dustin

Hello again. I've finished up an extensive round of coverage of the Sigma 135mm f/1.8 ART, including direct comparisons with the 85mm f/1.4 ART, the Zeiss Milvus 2/135mm, the Tamron 85mm f/1.8 VC, and the Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 G2.

Here are the bits and pieces:

Video Review: http://bit.ly/135ARTyt
Text Review: http://bit.ly/ART135DA
Image Gallery: http://bit.ly/135ARTgal
Full YouTube Playlist: http://bit.ly/135ARTplaylist

This may be Sigma's most complete ART series lens yet, with a better rendering than others. Microcontrast and color rendition isn't at the Milvus level, but, well, the Sigma has autofocus.

The forum has to be redone, What needs to stay?

Hello Folks

The time has come... Canon Rumors must invest in redoing the theme on the forum for a bunch of reasons. However, I know how adverse to change the world is, and even moreso the frequent users of forums :).

So I have a couple of questions.

1) What of the current design MUST stay? Keep this about features, not about colour and that sort of thing.

2) Is there anything that could be added that isn't currently here?

I'd appreciate any insight you folks may have.



Cheers,
Craig

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