Discuss our review of the Sigma 50-100mm f/1.8 DC Art here.

With the rapid introduction of new models and some definite improvements in Canon capabilities, we have the same old discussions about how much better Nikon/Sony are regards ISO, dynamic range and how the D8xx AF is as competent anything Canon can produce and a host of other parameters.

So, taking the adage that 'the proof of the pudding is in the eating', why are high-profile events dominated by Canon? As far as I can tell it is pretty much the same in wildlife. A working pro will use gear that delivers the goods and will not change simply because DPR/DxO tell them how superior one system is over the other. And the advertising for Nikon is far more high-profile than anything I remember Canon for.
So why do people think Canon does dominate in this way if all the technical guff says otherwise?

20 years ago it was Nikon who ruled the roost and Canon seemed to take over the mantle with the advent of digital. So possible reasons I can see with varying degrees of cynicism are:
(1) a professional in any area of life is a conservative beast who is reluctant to change a system that works and that inertia, combined with the historic reputation of Canon, means they are to some extent living off past glories and their market exceeds what the systems are capable of
(2) Nikon is great in the lab but in the 'real world' those differences are actually less important (maybe even insignificant) than the reviewers would have us believe
(3) the Canon pro service is so far in advance of what other manufacturers offer that the profile that you see on TV is skewed by things that don't matter to the non-pro.
(4) Canon may lack technically but it is the complete package: from body functionality to lenses to after-sales care to accessories that attract people even if in practice they won't avail themselves of any of that
(5) maybe basing my view on televised events (often sports etc) is itself misleading

They must be doing something right.

Hello all,
sorry to bring up an old topic but I couldn't find an answer.
I'm taking the 6D and 70-200f/2.8L II to the Indy 500 this weekend. I'm thinking about renting a 1.4 III extender to get a little closer. I remember reading that some cameras with lenses will not be able to autofocus. I read some blogs but all I really see are guesses and "a friend said" I don't know why people answer if they don't actually have an answer but they feel they must.

Any real world experience with this combo? I don't know if an extra 80mm is really worth it afterall. And I read the 2.0 really stops down and not worth it.
thanks

Did anybody hear something about (on other sites) rumored price increases in the next days? Was this just fake, o is this increase imminent?

Apparently the D5 review is up at DXO... but it's not.

This is the link: http://www.dxomark.com/Reviews/Nikon-D5-sensor-review-A-worthy-successor

But it's a dead end.

Here it is in my newsreader, so I suppose it will be reposted shortly, FYI.

- A

My latest set of Lee Hard ND Grads are dust magnets. They arrived coated in dust, which was removed using a combination of a rocket blower, luke warm water and a Lee filter cloth, but i've since noticed that they are attracting dust far easier than my other filters (Lee and B+W) when in use or being cleaned. This is particularly noticeable when using the rocket blower, which just relocates the majority of the dust from one side of the filter to the other (unless shielded).

Lee produce a 60ml Anti-Static cleaning solution, is this my best option or is there another method or better product on the market that helps to reduce dust build-up on resin filters ?

I upgraded to a 1DX mark II from a 7D mark II and this is my experience from the upgrade.

I previously had 2 7D Mark II's and now have upgraded my main camera to a 1DX mark II. I still have 1 7D Mark II as my second body. My primary lens on the 1DX2 is the 70-200 2.8 II and secondary lens (on the 7D2 the 16-35 f4 IS). I primarily shoot cycling photos.

I have to say the AF performance is hands down better than the 7D2. I have a higher keeper rate and the images are noticeably better. A no brainer since we are comparing full frame to crop. I never really used AF zone or AF full on the 7D2 because the AF would slow down noticeably. Not the case with the 1DX2.

I usually use AF 9pt expansion but in certain situations I will use AF zone or AF full with ITR (face recognition) and I notice no noticeable difference in AF performance. It does everything I want with no performance hit and a higher keeper rate than the 7D2.

The extra 14 fps is certainly noticeable especially since you don't see a slowdown when you are using expanded AF points with AF point switching.

There are two downsides, though they are outweighed by the better performance. 1 is the fact that the AF points are more centered in the frame. But in all honesty, the AF spread in the crop vs full frame is the same, you just have extra space outside of the AF zone. 2nd is the extra reach. I sometimes miss the extra reach the crop sensor gives you. I was usually fine with the 320mm the 7D2 gave me with me 70-200 but it may be a matter of retraining my mind with the full frame sensor. I wouldn't mind having a 300 or 400 2.8 but that is an extra $8-10000 i'll need to invest.

But the image quality, high ISO performance and all around better AF performance outweighs the two downsides I noticed with the 7D2. Also there are ergonomic differences that make the 1DX2 better. The body feels a lot more solid and the vertical thumb stick is in a better position where I can reach the main dial without much effort. Another advantage is getting to image review is much faster on the 1DX2.

Is it worth the price? If you have the glass and want to step up to the next level, yes. But starting new, you can buy 2 7D2's, a 70-200 2.8 II and 16-35 f4 IS for the same price as just the 1DX2 body.

I see this a lot..... someone takes a picture of a bird, plant, reptile, whatever, and then takes out their cell phone, takes a picture of the camera display, and posts it to a field naturalist site to ask for help identifying the subject.

A tightly coupled app on the phone (or tablet) that allows one to easily grab the image from the camera, process it, and send it out is a feature that many would enjoy.....

Some months ago on another post, I was discussing the battery life of the 1DX and how many images I can get in a single charge during dance recital weekend. The key is that all your shots come in close succession. Obviously the longer interval between each shot, the fewer total shots you'll get on that single charge.

This weekend I had the new 1DX II from the guys at LensRentals and TWO of the new batteries.

And For those who wonder what you can rip on a single battery charge, I give you this! Did it yesterday over the course of about 6 hours of dance recitals. Lens attached was the 70-200 f2.8 IS Mk II in AI Servo AF with tracking cases 4 and 6. Recitals were at 3pm and 7pm and about 2.5 to 3 hours each. I disengaged the battery between shows (about a 1 hour break).

That 9% remaining would have probably gotten me another 1000 frames or so.

For the second time in my life, I'm quitting sports photography for good. I've quit before, so I can certainly quit again.

Anyways, I'm selling both 1Dx's, my 300 f/2.8L I IS, and 400 f/2.8L I IS and purchasing a 5Ds and a 300 f/2.8L II IS. My goal is to keep the 24-70 f/2.8L II and 70-200 f/2.8L II IS and build my lens arsenal to fully enjoy the 5Ds's sensor. I might pick up a 5D4 when it's released depending on specs. I'd also like to add maybe the 16-35 f/2.8L III, and work on a 600 later (as funds become available).

Anyways, just letting all my friends on here know that I'm leaving the sports world and I look forward to enjoying shooting everything else and actually enjoy photography vs. a job. I'm looking forward to "shooting with" all the future fellow 5Ds/R owners!

Sigma's better 150-600 lens on the 5DS R:
http://www.photozone.de/canon_eos_ff/977-sigma150600f563sports?start=1

Recall that last week they ran the same test on the Tamron 150-600:
http://www.photozone.de/canon_eos_ff/976-tamron150600f563vc?start=1

An interesting disclaimer is made before resolution is reported:

"Some may be surprised by the relatively moderate performance figures below. Please note that two effects are coming together here. First of all - the "common" peak performance on the EOS 5Ds R, out test camera, is reached around f/4. The Tamron lens is slower than that thus diffraction effects are already decreasing the resolution potential at all aperture settings. On top of that comes the fact that we are talking about a super tele lens here. Remember that this is a chart-based MTF system and the longer the focal length, the longer the distance between camera and chart. Beyond 300mm air diffusion is starting to have an impact and as you can conclude, it's correspondingly more pronounced the more you zoom out. Please keep that in mind here."

(I either missed this completely last week with the Tamron review or it was added after the fact. I'm aware MTF testing needs to be modified with longer lenses, but for those who know this better than I, is this an appropriate statement?)

At any rate, comparing the two lenses just from a resolution perspective:

150mm @ f/5 --> Sigma clearly better
150mm @ f/8 --> Tamron largely closes the gap as you'd expect

600mm --> Sigma better, stopping the Tamron down doesn't close the gap.

- A

When I replied to the rumor about a new Canon EF 70-300 f/4-5.6 IS USM from over a year ago, I got a pop-up message saying that the last reply was over 45 days ago and something about starting a new thread. Being new in the forum, I did not want to do that at first but because there has been no reply to my (too) elaborate text, I have drawn the conclusion that apparently the proposed new thread is the way to go.

At present my tele-zoom is the Canon 55-250 IS STM. It is nice for travel, being so light and compact. But the image quality is not superb, it was enough for what I wanted when I bought it. However, recently I have developed interest in bird and airplane photography, and then my 55-250 IS STM falls short. The AF is pretty fast, but the image quality is not enough.So I have been looking around for a (Canon) lens with better image quality and a bit more reach.

I have considered several lenses and concluded the following.
- Canon EF 70-300 L: optically fine, but (very) slow AF. Usefull for travel (apparently much better image quality than my 55-250), but unusable for faster subjects.
- Canon EF 70-300 non-L: optically mediocre (and worse than 55-250 STM), AF slower than the 55-250 STM. Although much more expensive, test results show the image quality is worse than my 55-250.
- Canon EF 100-400 II: optically great and very fast AF. This new lens is the ideal lens for what I want ........... but that price tag.
- A Canon EF 200-600 seems to be on the way, but probably 600 mm is too long for me. And no doubt the price tag will be around that of the 100-400 II (despite posts about a lower price that I regard as wishfull thinking).

In short: I need a tele zoom of around 70-300 mm with better image quality than the present Canon 70-300 non-L and with better AF-speed than the present Canon 70-300 non-L. But the prices of the L-series are a bit extreme for me, because I do not need lenses with a build quality that even allows them to be used as a hammer.

If the 70-300 non-L was more modern, that would probably meet my needs. And I happen to know the needs of many other Canon owners. The image quality of the present 70-300 non-L is mediocre. Considering it is an EF-lens it could even be called 'bad'. And its AF is slow, even for photography around the house. Moving family, animals and children are quickly too much for this lens. This is not strange, because this lens is over 10 years on the market, which means its optical and mechanical design is based on technology even older than that. Perhaps the strange thing is that Canon has not replaced it with an up-to-date version.

On February 3, 2015 a rumor about a new non-L, non-DO 70-300 f/4.0-5.6 appeared in the article "New 50mm & 70-300mm Coming Soon? [CR2]". And on May 12, 2015 article "Canon EF 70-300 f/4-5.6 IS Update Information [CR2]" detailed this a bit further: "that the new EF 70-300 IS will have a new USM motor as well as “some feature that one of Canon’s competitors have announced recently”. What that “feature” is, we’re not sure. The source goes on to say that the lens, whenever it comes to market, is a very good upgrade to the current version.".

Reading this, with the new Canon EF-S 18-135/3.5-5.6 IS USM that came out with the Canon 80D in mind, I think it makes sense to assume that the "new USM motor" is the nano-USM from this EF-S 18-135. The text "a very good upgrade to the current version" seems to indicate a much improved image quality over the present 70-300 non-L. If this rumor were true, this could indicate a zoom lens that is wanted by many of Canon's existing clients that I know.

But so far, and we are a year further now, no such lens has appeared. And even worse, there has been no news about it since over a year. This is starting to make me a bit oncomfortable.

I have been willing to wait for a Canon-lens like mentioned in this rumor, but recently I started wondering if I am waiting in vain...... And I have read that there apparently are several excellent third party lenses available.

And a bit later I even started to doubt if Canon will ever market such a lens. The reason for this is that I regularly read that Canon routinely produces lenses with lower specs than customers would like for a give product and sometimes even than the price suggests. I am not in a position to verify such accusations (sometimes it looks like bashing a large company like Canon), but I know it is quite possible that the small army of sales, marketing, PR and managing people give priority to considerations that aim at everything to get the most money from its clients - except the product itself.


I have seen many subjects where it became clear that there are people here that are better aware of Canon's plans and reasons. Perhaps anybody can help me with my question: Is it likely that the rumored EF 70-300 non-L lens will appear shortly, or should I abandon Canon lenses and (for the first time in 3 decades) buy a non-Canon lens?

PS Just to make it clear, I am not one of those people that want Canon to manufacture the perfect zoom lens at almost no cost, just because I would like that.

I wanted to ask the group their thoughts on sharpness with Canon 5DIII. I notice it most strongly with my 24-70mm 2.8 II in low light and at 70 mm. Some with other lenses with low light or contrast. I've tried live view focus that helps some. ISOs aren't maxed out generally above 1000-5600. Lower F stops for the lenses.

Is this just a gear limitation issue or should I be concerned?

Thank you.

Hello,

I've got a 1dx Mark 2 and I'm at the conference in Europe. Trying to connect it with hdmi out to an atem television studio switcher. I'm running 1080i50 on the switcher. I've tried just about everything in the camera settings to get the camera to show up on the switcher. When I plug it into a ninja it shows just fine and says its outputting at 1080i50. Any ideas?

I shoot with both a 5DM3 and a 6D, I am looking for a night photography lens. For night use, I currently use a Canon 16-35 f 2.8L II, a Sigma 24mm art f 1.4, and just bought a Rokinon 14mm f 2.8. I want wider than the 24mm Sigma, I usually shoot the Sigma at f 2.8 t do away with coma. The 16-35 is just not producing clean enough images, soft at the edges and a low resolution look to the images it produces, the Rokinon might be decentered, just cant get it looking sharp or in focus though close. I am considering the 20mm Sigma art f 1.4 and the Tamron 15-30 f 2.8. I was shooting both the Rokinon 14mm and the Sigma 24mm side by side last weekend in Yosemite, ....the Rokinon had fogged up half way through 90 minutes of continuous shooting, and the Sigma never fogged. So that got me concerned about getting either the Tamron or 20mm Sigma. Has anyone noticed excessive fogging middle of the night shooting with any lens having the bulbous type front elements? Coma on the Sigma 24mm I feel to be acceptable when shot at f 2.8, so has anyone owning both the 20mm and 24mm Sigma lenses been able to tell if one has less coma than the other?

Has anyone received a plate for their camera and can you tell me how you like it? I just need a standard bottom plate - not an L.

The RRS one looks quite big - but it does say it fits the mark II
http://www.reallyrightstuff.com/B1DXMkII-Plates

The Kirk looks more like what I'm used to from our other cameras (5D3, 7D2). It doesn't say it fits the IDX2 but there is one review that indicates it fits
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/890640-REG/Kirk_pz_150_Camera_Plate_For_Canon.html

Thanks!

Hi all,

Need the owner of SL1 / 100D to advise whether it's still worth to buy today.

The camera price is very cheap compare to 3 years ago.

Need a light weight body to move around, or M3 with EF adapter is better idea?

Thanks folks.

http://bokeh.digitalrev.com/article/canon-120mp-appears-at-canon-expo

Looks like they've just stuffed it in a 5D3/5DS body unless I'm missing something. Still just a tech demo like the last time it was shown off.

214 MB RAW files, yowza.

- A

Check out these stunning shots
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/20/the-last-of-the-few-stunning-photographs-of-spitfires-in-flight/the-last-of-the-fewnew-book-captures-the-last-spitfires-in-stunn25/

I contacted B&H at 9AM Central time today to check on my order, and they confirmed that they have 1DXII's in stock ready to ship. Hopefully mine will ship by Monday.

So if you are looking to buy, time to move.

Remember they are closed Friday Night-Saturday for Shabat.

Have a great weekend all.

Sek