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Dear Readers,

this is to let you know why CanonWatch has been offline for some time yesterday. The hacker group Anonymous attacked godaddy.com (our domain registrar), putting down millions of websites. CanonWatch was among these sites. Hope everything is over now.

On the Canon home page you can learn about the company’s logo. How it was born, how it looked in the past, which “intermediate” logos were used before the actual logo.

In 1933, when Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory was established, the name given to cameras manufactured on a trial basis at the time was Kwanon. This title reflected the benevolence of Kwanon, the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy, and embodied the Company’s vision of creating the best cameras in the world. The logo included the word with an image of “Kwanon with 1,000 Arms” and flames.

1934		The engraved Kwanon logo was used on cameras trial-manufactured by the Company (but not actually released in the market).
1935		The Canon logo is registered as a trademark. Prominent features were already inherent in the refinement process.
1953		Unification of the logo. The image was further refined to achieve an overall balance.
1956		The current logo was the culmination of painstaking and meticulous design efforts.

And then…

A designer specializing in advertising created the original Canon logo in 1935. The “C” was unique in that its top end curved inward, ending in a sharp point. This style of typeface did not then exist in Europe or North America. The Canon name and logo were created to reflect the Company’s global perspectives, which it adopted right from the beginning of its history.

Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory underwent several name changes before the adoption of Canon Camera Co., Inc., in 1947. This change was significant in that Canon brand and company names were unified for the first time in its history. Several versions of the logo were also used, until a unified version was created in 1953. After further refinements, the logo used today was perfected in 1955. It has remained unchanged for nearly half a century.

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B&H will start to ship Canons new EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM by tomorrow! Click here to check price ($2,300), specs and to order the lens.

• Large f/2.8 Aperture Through Zoom Range
• UD Lenses Minimize Chromatic Aberrations
• Reduced Spherical Aberrations
• Highly Resistant to Dust and Water
• 9-Blade Diaphragm For Beautiful Bokeh
• Lens Coatings Minimizes Ghosting
• Fluorine Coating Reduces Fingerprints
• Zoom Lock Lever For Safe Transporting

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Update: I got a similar rumor: Canon should announce a “not entry-level or amateur” DSLR “with a big sensor” in the upcoming week. No mention of the name “6D” nor if it is full frame or not. We can only wait to see.

That’s what a rumour reported by CR is suggesting. The murmured specs:

• 22mp (Same sensor as 5D2)
• 4.5 fps
• Touchscreen
• Same AF system as 7D
• Lower build quality than the 5D Mark III

I am somewhat puzzled by the “same sensor as 5D2″ part. It sounds weird to me that Canon will release a new DSLR with a 3 years old sensor.

There is still a Canon Lens and Speelite Rebate going on, and now B&H added another crazy sale. DSLR and lens bundles can make you safe up to $350 (click here)!! Expires September 29th. The deal applies to the EOS 5D Mark II (!), EOS 7D, EOS 60D, Rebel T4i/650D, Rebel T3i/600D and Rebel T3. Good chance to get a Canon DSLR.

The Phoblographer just published its review of the Rebel T4i (named EOS 650D in Europe). The review is detailed and well-reasoned, as usual. You may be surprised to learn that the Auto-Focus on the T4i/650D can easily outperform the AF of the EOS 5D Mark II (well, in certain situation):

For a wide majority of shooting situations, the Canon T4i’s phase detection focusing is extremely quick; when not in Live View Mode [...] My general way of using cameras no matter what the make or model is to manually select a single focusing point when shooting. However, when the user enables all focusing points to be used, you’ll end up having little to no problem in terms of both speed and accuracy. In fact, the Canon T4i’s focusing is better than my Canon 5D Mk II’s. Now don’t take this the wrong way; they are two totally different cameras. However, it is a testament to show just how far the technology has come: an entry level Rebel can outdo a 5D Mk II in terms of focusing. That’s pretty crazy when you think about it.

Many sample images at different ISO settings are provided (btw, the T4i/650D has a rather good high ISO performance). All in all a review that’s worth to be read. From the conclusion:

The Canon T4i is a wonderful entry level camera with loads and loads of lenses available to the system. The image quality is excellent, it is easy to use, and it has a rather decent video mode. The menus can be a bit complex, but overall there really is absolutely no real problem with this camera despite what seems to be modest upgrades from its predecessor.

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