A Little Bit Of Everything

Canon EOS M In Stock Update (for USA)

Canon EOS M In Stock Update

Canon’s mirrorless camera, the Canon EOS M, is slowly starting to ship in the US. Amazon US has the kit with the EF-M 22mm f/2 STM lens in stock and ready to ship for $799 (click here).

Adorama has a bundle with the EF-M 22mm f/2 STM, a Kingston 32GB Class 4 SDHC Memory Card and a Lowepro Dublin 30 Camera Pouch in stock and ready to ship for $812.37 (click here).

If you are based in Europe or in Asia you may want to check DigitalRev’s Canon EOS M offers, the price is an absolute bargain compared to European online shops.

My Canon EOS M arrived a few days ago. Stay tuned for an upcoming review.

Canon EOS M In Stock Update

 

More Fun With Canon’s 50mm f/1L USM Lens

I featured the rare Canon 50mm f/1L lens in the past. Now, photographer Jim Goldstein has more to tell and show about this lens.

As of late I’ve been having fun with the 50mm focal length and I’ve been going out of my way to experiment with it. In the process I’ve rediscovered making use of much shallower depth of field in my images. […] Breaking out of my deep depth of field rut I’ve become increasingly fascinated with learning about the varying qualities of bokeh and it’s led me to purchase a rather rare lens, the Canon EF 50mm f/1.0L USM. I have to admit this particular lens has two qualities that piqued my interest: 1. The extreme bokeh created by the ultra-shallow depth of field it is subject to and 2. It’s ability to gather more light for faster shutter speeds in low light situations (ideal for night photography).

There are plenty of sample pics to study. The lens is rather difficult to find. If you’re able to find one be prepared to pay $3000 or more.

More Fun With Canon's 50mm f/1L USM Lens

 

Zeiss Distagon T* 21mm f/2.8 ZE Hands-On

Zeiss Distagon T* 21mm f/2.8 ZE Hands-On

Zeiss Distagon T* 21mm f/2.8 ZE hands-on at The Phoblographer. This lens is a superlative wide-angle prime with outstanding optical properties. As The Phoblographer states: «for when Canon’s L series isn’t good enough», and «the lens is made extremely well with fit and finish being absolutely fantastic. The build seriously puts Canon’s L series to shame».

Please have a look to the review if this lens is in your thoughts. Sample images are provided. From the conclusion:

There is an extremely luxurious feel to this lens and the quality of the shots is fantastic. You can use it for a lot of things: architecture, landscapes, creative portraits and wherever you’d like a nice, large field of view. Just make sure you’re using this on a full frame camera, or else you end up with a more pedestrian 28mm or 35mm focal length (depending on your crop factor). Zeiss lenses will cost you but we are talking the difference between driving a Toyota or a BMW here

Tech specs (see also Zeiss’ site):

  • Focal length 21 mm
  • Aperture range f/2.8 – f/22
  • Focusing range 0.22 m – ∞
  • Number of elements/groups 16/13
  • Angular field, diag./horiz./vert. 90°/81°/59°
  • Coverage at close range 18 x 12 cm
  • Filter thread M 82 x 0.75
  • Dimensions (with caps) ø 87 mm, length 110-112 mm
  • Weight 600g – 720g

The Zeiss Distagon T* 21mm f/2.8 ZE costs $1843 and can be ordered at the following shops: Amazon | B&H | Adorama

Zeiss Distagon T* 21mm f/2.8 ZE Hands-On

 

Advantages Of A Pancake Lens (Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM)

 

 

Intersting article by professional photographer Andrew Gibson at picturecorrect about advantages of pancake lenses in general, and of Canon's supersharp EF 40mm f/2.8 STM in particular. The pancake is tested for various photograhic settings, i.e. landscape, portrait and so on. Close up/macro photography is also contemplated. Moreover, EF 40mm f/2.8 is lightweighted, not too espensive ($199), and has excellent optical properties. From the conclusion:

Landscape photography aside, the Canon 40mm pancake lens hasn’t disappointed. It’s light, well-built, the autofocus works well and it has excellent image quality. Furthermore it’s one of Canon’s cheapest lenses and probably the best value for money out of the entire Canon range.

Technical specifications of the Canon 40mm f/2.8 STM:

  • Continuous Autofocus for Video With Rebel T4i/EOS M
  • Bright f/2.8 Aperture
  • Lightweight 4.6 oz Lens
  • Unobtrusive–Less Than 1″ Long
  • Aspherical Element–High Image Quality
  • Optimized Coatings Reduce Ghost & Flare
  • Exceptional Color Balance
  • 7-Blade Diaphragm for Beautiful Bokeh
  • Close Focusing to 11.81″
  • 64mm Equivalent If Used on APS-C Camera

Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM price check: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA

Adobe Lightroom 4.3 And Camera Raw 7.3 Release Candidates Available

Adobe made the release candidates for Lightroom 4.3 (download) and Camera Raw 7.3 (download) available for download. Support for the following Canon cameras have been added:

In addition, Camera Raw 7.3 now also supports the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens

The following bugs have been corrected in Lightroom 4.3:

The following bugs that were part the Lightroom 4 releases have been corrected. The team appreciates the very detailed feedback the community has provided on Lightroom 4 and we’re excited to correct a number of issues experienced by our customers. These issues have been FIXED:

Unable to upload a large panorama to Adobe Revel via the Revel Publish Plugin

Unable to add a second photo to a page layout in a Book. This only occurred when the “Show Unused Photos” filter is selected in the filmstrip.

A photo can be flagged as both a “Pick” and “Reject” at the same time when using the Toolbar to apply flags

Using multiple fonts within the same text cell inside a Book can sometimes cause Lightroom to crash

Exposure becomes the active adjustment slider in the Basic panel (within Develop) when moving from image to image

Customers using Photoshop Elements 11 were unable to upgrade their catalogs in Lightroom 4

Custom Cell padding options in the Book Module reset in between Lightroom sessions

1080p video files shot on iPhone 4S flicker on replay

Leaving the Book Module after using multiple text colors in the same text cell can sometimes cause the book to be lost.