Discuss our review of the Canon EF 24mm f/2.8 STM here.

Here is the video with sample images: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUav9R_sWVw

A few nights ago I got a call to shoot a corporate event in Central London. Unfortunately my Canon 5D Mark III had been sent to Canon for servicing a few days earlier and my backup camera was in a different city.

A friend of mine from Canon was kind enough to lend me a new Canon 80D, which I was more than happy to test. I had watched some reviews on YouTube and read some comments on forums, and everyone seemed to come to the same conclusion that the new technology Canon is using to build sensors is proving to be very effective.

As a long time full-frame shooter (my last crop-sensor camera was a Canon 600D) I was a bit nervous about how the 80D was going to perform at high iso. The event took place indoors and wasn't very well lit. I mounted a Canon Speedlight 430EX II and bounced light off ceilings and walls, and shot the whole event at ISO 2000 and 3200.

First off, I'd like to talk about the handling. The camera is a good size and the grip is big enough not to be uncomfortable for someone with big hands like mine. The buttons are well positioned, except for the depth-of-field preview button which is almost impossible to press without looking for it. I normally set that to switch from One Shot to AI Servo in the Custom Controls menu.

Build quality overall is good, but the grip doesn't feel as solid as I'd expect from a £1000 camera. Also, anytime I picked up the camera it would produce a few creaking sounds. But I would still trust the 80D not to fall apart. However, the 1D, 5D and 7D series are in a totally different league.

Focusing was very accurate and the focusing points are well spread out in the frame. I didn't really get to play around with the Dual Pixel AF in live view very much, but from what I could see it performed extremely well. The camera was grabbing focus in low light even better than the 5D Mark III, although it wasn't as fast.

Image quality overall is very good for a camera of this type. At ISO 2000 and especially 3200 there is quite a lot of noise in the image, but the grain is very fine and is easily removed in post. Dynamic range at those ISOs is virtually non existent, you must get your exposure right in camera as there is hardly any detail you can recover from the shadows. Highlights, however, recover very nicely. The metering system in the camera is also impressive. I find with the 5D Mark 3 I often have to apply some exposure compensation not to get under exposed images. The 80D if anything tends to over expose just a bit.

So, is the Canon 80D a good camera? Absolutely. But is it worth £1000? Maybe not.

With that kind of money you can almost buy a Canon 6D, which although is much older and isn't built all that much better, it does have a full frame sensor, and image quality is significantly better at high iso. You could also find a second hand Canon 5D Mark II, if you want that rugged build quality and weather sealing.

If you're a videographer, though, there is no doubt that the Canon 80D is a fantastic videocamera, as well as a very good stills shooter. I still think, however, that you'd be better off waiting for the price to go down a bit, or if you can't wait then look for a Canon 70D. But if you have the money and want the latest Dual Pixel AF system, as well as better dynamic range, high iso capabilities and that 1080p at 60fps, the Canon 80D is for you.

One thing I don't understand about Canon new product release is why there's such a long duration between an announcement and actual stock availability in store. If a product is available in June, why not just announce in June? Wouldn't you think from a business perspective that when an announcement is made, there's press coverage and there's a lot of enthusiasm going on, and thus sales would be strong right around announcement?

I was tempted to buy the efm 28mm. But I figured there's nothing to gain from pre-ordering. Now my enthusiasm died. I am going to wait for review and wait for price drop.

https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2016/06/13/galaxy-seeking-robots-test-run/

It looks they're using a EF50/1.4 and a much older EF35-80mm f/4-5.6

Berkeley Lab doesn't look to much worried about IQ.

Just it looks they use cheaper Kenko extenders as well...

http://shop.usa.canon.com/shop/en/catalog/306913?WT.mc_id=C126149

Must... stay... strong. Must resist.

- A

Hello everyone,
I have a question for all the Canon 24-70 2.8 II Lens Owners.
How satisfied are you with the build quality and how often is your Lens in repair?

I bought my 24-70 II directly on it's releaseday and since then it did a fine Job till one and a half year ago.
Since then I have to send the Lens to CPS nearly every Quarter.
The Lens get's a hard time finding the focus and there is a massive fall of from the sharpnes trough the edges of the images.

The Guys at CPS told me that it's a problem with the collars holding the Lenselements in place and there is not much I can do except to don't use a trolley (yes, I hate backpacks and bags) for transport since the vibration does harm to the collars and less traveling by plane and car for the same reason which is a kind of stupid since I have to get to the jobs somehow.

Has someone in this forum encountered the same problem and if so what is your solution?

Has anyone seen this?
How reliable is this article and can we expect this lens this year?

http://www.lens-rumors.com/canon-ef-200-600mm-f4-5-5-6-is-usm-now-in-testing-to-be-announced-in-late-2016/

My magazine had me with the Los Angeles Angels for a team profile and only a few photographers were there from different press services to keep the shoot intimate. During a break two of us were using 1DXMKII's, One had a new D5 and the other a 645Z and we sat together while everyone changed.

Both of us using the 1DXMKII's were having similar problems with focus and having to pull our LP-E19's. We both laughed as we thought it was us, until we compared notes and our experience with the 1DX.

We both have soft or OOF SHOTS where we were clearly spot on in AISERVO with easy shots in ZONE and SINGLE POINT EXPANDED.

During batting shots where we caught the balls coming off the bats we both had to pull our LP-E19's and our 1DX MK II's were completely frozen. I had a 1DX as a backup and Henry went to a 5DIII.

The odds of both of us having the same issues or defects with the 1DXMKII can't be random. My magazine has in-house techs but the 1DXMKII is new and they are getting in touch with Canon. We should all keep a close eye on focus and freezing issues especially if you shoot in situations where you must not miss frames.

Hi guys,

I upgraded from 5d Mark III to 5Ds R. I want to ask if somebody found how to change KELVIN value in Live View for white balance. In 5dsR there is not values of Kelvin in Live View display.

Hi all. I guess this is a question for EF 600 owners. I own the latest 500 prime and have done for about three years. I used it with a MK4 and the mk3 extender. I wont bore you as you all know its a top of the line performer. I travel around the UK and fly of to Europe on occasion. Since I moved over to full frame a few years ago with the 1DX I notice that the image quality is outstanding but even with the extender I came up short a lot and I am using the 7D2 a lot more. I guess the species I photograph isn't large animals its birds, small mammels, seals, a lot distance stuff. In short with wildlife you do need a lot of reach. I get 700mm with the extender 800mm with the 7D2 and nearly 1200mm 7D2 and extender. As I want to use the 1DX as much as possible my thoughts have moved to the 600. Yes its only 100mm but with the extender its up to 840mm a usefull jump.

Now im not rich, I work hard and save as much as I can to fund my hobby (crap clothes, cheap car, etc) and was wondering, for those lucky enough to have a 600, how do they handle, is the weight a big factor,the angle of view, is that extra reach over a 500 that noticeable and above all, can you get it in an overhead flight bag like my think tank.

I do like my 7D2 but it isn't an x and I really do want to use the X more. Oh, I don't like to crop to much.

Thanks to anyone who can help as I don't want to invest my savings and regret it.

Mick

Please share your experiences. I like the lens a lot (and just ordered it), but there are situations where a little more magnification would be useful. Specifically, I have a Canon 1.4X Extender, but neglected to try it when I rented the lens. Does the extender fit without an extension tube?

Zeidora, I'll bet you've tried this...

Thanks,
John

When I bought the 1DXII, I was a happy customer, with an understanding that a CFast card and a card reader would follow the package. But it did not.

After calling back to the store, asking for the missing delivery, I was informed that I had to contact Canon for that. After some searching, I found a link to the Campaign site, where I had to fill in a bunch of information they already have, including having to scan the receipt from the store. And lucky me, I got a link to the full terms for the campaign, which was several pages long (!)

Having done that, I expected to have a swift confirmation that the card and reader was on its way, but no, that´s not what happened. I got a reply that my application would be processed and that I within 2 days (!) would receive a message if it was approved or not (!!!) (How could it not be approved???)

Not after 2 days, but after 15 (!) days, did I receive an email, with Dear Eldar bla. bla. we are happy to confirm that your application has been approved bla. bla. bla. we will TRY to send your GIFT within the next 28 (!) days.

Today is June 10th, 41 days after I sent in the application and I finally received a message from the local post office that a package was ready to be picked up. However, the GIFT was not a GIFT. It had a price. I have to pay NOK 239,- (USD30) to get it (!)

Just to make my day perfect, the local post office was unable to find the package, so I still don´t have it.

So; Instead of making this a swift and positive process, where I could get the card and reader with the camera on purchase, I have waited 41 days (and God knows when/if the post office find the package ...). I had to spend more time than I liked, scanning receipts, searching for web-sites, filling in forms etc. Canon has sent several emails, with lots of Dear and Thank you in them, they had to organise a special shipment and instead of receiving a GIFT, they sent me an invoice.

CANON I hope you read this and have the courtesy to defend the logic behind this stupid Campaign! I have emailed your customer support also, but I expect it to be a waste of time.

I wonder what type of utterly unintelligent and customer hostile person/organisation could be capable of coming up with a Campaine as utterly stupid as this one. This should have been a positive experience and I should get something in return for being an early adopter, burning my money on your stuff. Now I feel nothing but irritation and an urge to sell every Canon bit I have. And for the record, I have been a Canon customer for +40 years, I am a CPS Platinum member and I could probably buy a decent house for the money I have sent their way.

Whenever I see the word Campaign in connection with the brand Canon, I´ll stay far away!

I don't know my flange distances and mirrorless numbers like you do, but have a look:

http://egami.blog.so-net.ne.jp/2016-06-10

Translated:

Patent Publication No. 2016-102851
Published 2016.6.2
Filing date 2014.11.27
Example
Zoom ratio 1.00
Focal length 31.35
F-number 2.86
Angle of view 34.61
Image height 21.64
Overall length of the lens 85.29
BF 29.99
Patent of Canon
Positive ShiboTadashi
Diffractive optical element (the second group of aperture stop image side)
Correct axial chromatic aberration and lateral chromatic aberration of the near-infrared light
[0001]

The present invention relates to a magnification chromatic aberration correction of the imaging optical system used in a near infrared region from the visible region is suitable especially monitoring optical system.


FF mirrorless lens, or just an EF lens -- what say ye? And this would be a DO lens, ya?

- A

Some time ago DPR added 1DXm2 to their comparison chart.
There 1DXm2 high ISO performance looked slightly better than 1DX.
The only one strange thing was there that 1DXm2 shots were brighter than 1DX shots.
Actually, it was required in LR to move exposure slider about 0.5 stop down for 1DXm2 and raise it about 0.2 stop up for 1DX to make them equal in brightness and the same histogram distributions.
Some people were telling that this is OK and this is just due to difference in analog gain setting in different cameras for different ISOs.

Therefore, when I got my 1DXm2 few days back I did some tests to check different things including high ISO performance.
For 1DXm2 my primary interest was better AF, especially in in dim light conditions and slightly better ISO, which was noticeable in DPR test.
My tests were done in dim light conditions using the same EF70-200 F/2.8L IS USM II lens fixed on the heavy and sturdy tripod. Once test done with first camera then it was detached from the lens and then other one was attached to the same lens on tripod. So all test conditions were identical for both 1DX and 1DXmII.

So first set of tests discovered that for the same ISO settings and same aperture value 1DX and 1DXm2 were using different exposure values, 1DXm2 was doing approximately from 1.3 to 1.67 longer exposure compared to 1DX and this difference was increasing at higher ISOs.

As result I had to do exposure corrections described above for both 1DXm2 and 1Dx to bring shots from them to the same brightness level.
For me this means that 1DXm2 high ISO comparison test presented so far at different sources using the same ISO settings and auto-exposure are not correct source for comparison ISO performance and this would be cheating people around the world. Definitely, with the same ISO settings camera that captured 1.7 more light by its sensor will have less noise in output RAW files.
On the other hand, this simply means that exposure meter on 1DXm2 does better job compared to 1DX and it does not underexpose shots, as it was the case for many Canon cameras including previous 1D series bodies. With 1Dxm2 shot histogram is now about 0.7 stops closer to the right.
But proper High ISO comparison test must be done using the same exposure time and same aperture value for given ISO at both compared cameras and only such test could give proper results.

Therefore, I did another set of test shots, first with 1DX with auto exposure and then for 1DXm2 in manual setting using exactly the same exposure and aperture as for test shots with 1DX.
This ensured that both sensors captured exactly the same amount of light for each ISO .
As result, these sensor ISO performance test shots now could be directly compared.
There were four (4) test shots for each camera - aperture 4.0 for all shots, ISO values 6400, 12800, 25600 and 51200 with shutter speeds 1/10, 1/20, 1/40, 1/80 respectively.
So all test shots had absolutely the same amount of light captured by each camera sensor for each ISO settings.
What I had at the end is something that I was expecting before but could not check that myself until I got my 1Dxm2.

As I was suspecting comparison results were not a big surprise for me – my old 1DX has slightly better high ISO performance compared to new 1DXm2.
Here are attached snapshots done by Window snipping tool from LR screen at 100% view - left side is 1DX, right side is 1DXm2. All have the same LR default NR setting, luminous NR sliders set to zero. No exposure corrections – both shot get exactly the same amount of light captured by sensors.
One real surprise for me was that all 1DX shots are perfectly sharp while some 1DXm2 shorts are slightly blurred. For both I was using one-shot AF mode with one center point surrounded by 8 expansion point.
Both were pointing at exactly the same are on the target, as lens on tripod was not moved while changing camera body attached to the lens. Shots was done using remote control and 2sec self-timer. IS was switched OFF.
This was kind of AF precision test in dim light condition.
I did not do yet AFMA for my lens on new 1DXm2 body and it could be result of that, but that would be affecting all test shots for 1DXm2, but some are more or less sharp and some not and all 1DX shots are sharper than 1DXm2 shots.
This is some kind of disappointment for me and I need to investigate that later.

Any idea what happened over at Sigma Rumors?

I love all of the topics that are something like "anything shot with a ____" or other topical categories.

I just clicked on one that had well over 70 pages. I wish there were a way to see the images posted in a gallery format rather than having to click through the pages... only to see the same images over and over because someone quoted them inline to comment on them. I get the limitations, functionality of the forum... just wishful thinking, that's all.

Or... on the other hand... did I overlook a setting somewhere?

For those wildlife shooters who might be wondering what the biggest differences are between the 7DMk2 and the 1DMk4, I have shared my experience with both bodies:
http://www.grantatkinson.com/blog/canon-7d-mark-2-compared-to-canon-1d-mark-4
There are also direct image quality comparisons, as well as discussion of what I found to be the main advantages and disadvantages of each. They are both pretty good wildlife bodies for the money.
Cheers
Grant

I bought a refurb Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 on May 30th from Canon direct store in US, and I've just done the first portrait photoshoot with it today. The result was terrible.

- I bought a brand new copy of that lens before from Bestbuy, but for some reason the lens doesn't stop to lock the focus, so I decided to buy a refurbished one instead of getting it fixed. And the lens from Bestbuy was amazing. The AF was quick and accurate, sharp right at f/1.8. Even when I do manual focus, it still shows the same sharpness at f/1.8

- This refurbished copy was just terrible. Barely can get itself together with 1.8. I did at f/2 and f/2.2 and still missed focus HALF OF THE TIME


- The AF works for my Canon 60d and SL1, but when I put on my t2i, it doesn't work. I have to take it out and put it back every single time I try to use it. Otherwise it won't work. And all other lenses AF like normal on that t2i camera.

- When the lens came, the plastic looks brand new, but the front was dusty. I don't know how Canon gives a thorough check and evaluation on returned lenses without cleaning the front of the lens. There is a mark on the front that I haven't been able to wipe it off yet. I hope it's not a scratch even though I know it won't affect the image quality when I use wide aperture. But again, this lens barely can handle at f/1.8 and miss HALF OF THE TIME at f/2 and f/2.2

My refurbished lens was on sale, could be that people already returned it twice, or maybe refurbished lenses are that quality or I just ended up with a bad copy. Anyway, that's my review. The previous buyer(s) did return it for a good reason. I think I'm done buying refurbished stuff.

Just to verify, the Canon 85mm f/1.8 is a good lens (if you get a good copy). I just happened to buy a crappy refurbished copy from Canon. But this makes me question about how thorough it actually is for Canon's checking and evaluation process ??? ??? ???

Hello, just in had a question for anybody with this gear.

i have the 7d ii and the 2xiii. i am selling my 70-300L to get the 100-400 II. I know the f/8 auto focus limit while using the viewfinder, but what about f/11 in liveview? looked online cant seem to find an answer, I did find this on The Digitial Picture for the 7D ii review:

"The 7D II's sensor-based AF includes benefits over conventional phase-detection AF. First, the AF coverage area encompasses a full 80% of the frame (measured horizontally and vertically) with no limit on a "number" of focus points to select from or include in auto AF. Second, no AF Micro Adjustment calibration is needed because the actual imaging sensor is being used for AF. And, AF can function with camera and lens combinations having an f/11 or wider aperture (vs. f/8 with the 7D II's conventional center AF point) – again, using 80% of the frame."


So if anyone does have any experience with this (does it work/reliability/speed if it does), I would love to hear about it. Also I did see the one thread about the 1.4 and liveview with the 6D, but if there is a thread already started for this subject, just let me know!

Couple of images from my new toy: both cropped in about 50%, both at full reach - 220mm so equivalent to 600 on FF. Hand held. Great little camera but I'm glad i have the EVF on it. I'm thinking that the reviews of this camera where the reviewer didn't have the viewfinder are not doing the camera justice.

Once again I forgot to convert to srgb, done now.