Canon TS-E 50mm f/2.8L MACRO sample photos (Photography Blog)

The Canon TS-E 50mm f/2.8L (for RF mount)
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Canon TS-E 50mm f/2.8L Macro: [shopcountry 47501]

At a glance:

  • EF-Mount Lens/Full-Frame Format
  • Aperture Range: f/2.8 to f/32
  • Two Ultra-Low Dispersion Elements
  • One Aspherical Element
  • Air Sphere and Subwavelength Coatings
  • Maximum Tilt: +/- 8.5°
  • Maximum Shift: +/- 12mm
  • Minimum Focusing Distance: 10.6″
  • Maximum Magnification: 0.5x

Photography Blog posted a set of sample images shot with the Canon TS-E 50mm f/2.8L Macro (on an EOS 6D Mark II). Original files (JPG and raw) are available for download and for your pixel peeping pleasure.

Yongnuo announces YN 14mm f/2.8 lens for Canon mount

YN 14mm f/2.8
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Yongnuo YN 14mm f/2.8 at a glance:

  • Focal Length 14mm
  • Lens Structure 9 groups 12pcs
  • Diaphragm Leaves 7pcs
  • Minimum Aperture 22
  • Minimum Focus Distance Approx 0.2m
  • Maximum Amplification Factor Approx 0.15x
  • Drive System DC Motor
  • Maximum Diameter and Length Approx Φ86×105mm
  • Weigh tApprox 780g

Chinese manufacturer Yongnuo announced a ultra-wide angle lens for Canon mount, the YN 14mm f/2.8. The YN 14mm f/2.8 looks very similar to Canon’s 14mm lenses. Interesting detail: the Yongnuo YN 14mm f/2.8 has a USB port for firmware updates. Although the new Yongnuo lens looks similar to Canon’s 14mm f/2.8 II lens it’s not a clone. As for the time of writing neither the price nor the shipping date are known.

From Yongnuo:

A Professional Lens of Capturing Grand View

YONGNUO Ultra-wide Angle Prime Lens YN14mm F2.8

114° Ultra-wide Angle

The diagonal angle of view is about 114°. For YN14mm F2.8 helps to collect the vast landscape and giant structures, it’s easier to show a grand and solemn atmosphere.

High-precision,Ultra-low Dispersion and Aspherical Lens
It carries two high-precision aspherical glass lenses, one of which adopts ultra-low dispersion lens, which effectively compensates various optical aberration,  minimizes chromatic aberrations, and provides excellent sharpness and color correction.

Precision-machined Abnormal Dispersion Lens

YN14mm 2.8 adopts 1pcs of abnormal dispersion lens, which helps to better control the dispersion problem from super-wide angle and large aperture, and, helps to improve second order spectrum.

Glass Optical Lens, Multilayer Coating

It adopts glass optical lens and multilayer coating technology to effectively increase light transmittance and minimize backlight ghost image and glare.

Firmware Upgrade

YN14mm F2.8 is equipped with USB port. The users can download the latest firmware from the official YONGNUO website and update the lens to keep the best compatibility and performance.

F2.8 Large Aperture

With F2.8 bright and large aperture, background blurred, subject highlighted.

Focus Modes: Auto Focus (AF) and Manual Focus (MF)

YN14mm F2.8 supports auto focus and manual focus. The focus mode can be selected according to practical requirement.

7 pieces of Aperture Blades

YN14mm F2.8 has 7 pieces of aperture blades, which helps to take picture of circular defocused spots and helps to reduce the aperture and take picture of 14-star effect.

Durable Metal Mount

YN14mm F2.8 adopts chrome-plated and high-accuracy metal mount. It’s wearable, corrosion-resistant, and highly consistent with the camera.

Focus Distance Indicator

YN14mm F2.8 is equipped with focus distance indicator. It’s convenient for you to judge the distance and the depth of field.

Gold-plating Technology

The metal contacts adopts gold-plating technology,which brings the advantages of excellent signal transduction ,perfect image quality and new performance breakthroughs.

The Canon EOS 6D Mark II is Casey Neistat’s new vlogging tool, here is why

Canon eos 6d mark ii deal
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Canon EOS 6D Mark II: [shopcountry 46185]

EOS 6D Mark II at a glance:

  • 26.2MP Full-Frame CMOS Sensor
  • DIGIC 7 Image Processor
  • 45-Point All-Cross Type AF System
  • Full HD Video at 60 fps; Electronic IS
  • 3.0″ Vari-Angle Touchscreen LCD
  • Dual Pixel CMOS AF and Movie Servo AF
  • Native ISO 40000, Expanded to ISO 102400
  • 6.5 fps Shooting; Time-Lapse & HDR Movie
  • Built-In GPS, Bluetooth, & Wi-Fi w/ NFC
  • Dust and Water Resistant; SD Card Slot

Video blogger Casey Neistat now uses a Canon EOS 6D Mark II (price & specs)  for his job. He switched from a Panasonic GH5. The reason? Better auto focus with Dual Pixel AF and better depth of field.

[via Fro Knows Photo]

Interview with the developers and engineers behind the Canon EF 85mm f/1.4L IS lens

Canon Ef 85mm f/1.4L
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Canon EF 85mm f/1.4L IS at a glance:

  • EF-Mount Lens/Full-Frame Format
  • Aperture Range: f/1.4 to f/22
  • One GMo Aspherical Element
  • Air Sphere and Fluorine Coatings
  • Ring-Type Ultrasonic Motor AF System
  • Optical Image Stabilization
  • Dust- and Water-Resistant Construction
  • Rounded 9-Blade Diaphragm

As I wrote many times, the Canon EF 85mm f/1.4L IS is the hottest Canon lens of 2017.

Canon Asia’s Snapshot site posted an interview with the engineers and developers who thought, designed and built the Canon EF 85mm f/1.4L IS (price & specs).  The interview comes in two parts, part one is here and part two here. An excerpt from the interview:

When the product planning department requested development of this lens, our development department was initially stumped by the high degree of difficulty in the design. When equipping large aperture lenses with image stabilisation, the arrangement of the focus and image stabilisation groups is an important factor for determining the size and weight of the lens. Lenses with a small f-number (large aperture) characteristically have large diameter glass. The image stabilisation group, which is a part of the optical system, needs to be able to move to compensate for camera shake, which naturally makes the group heavy. An actuating force is also required to drive the group, and this further adds to the lens’ size and weight. Therefore, the development team’s first impression was that it would be almost impossible to develop the reasonably-sized, appealingly-priced 85mm f/1.4 lens with image stabilisation that the product planning department had requested.

Well, they managed to do it. This lens is a masterpiece. Kudos Canon!

More Ef 85mm f/1.4L IS coverage here. The Canon EF 85mm f/1.4L IS is in stock and sells for $1,599 at Amazon US,  Adorama, Canon Store, and B&H Photo.

More Canon EF 85mm f/1.4L IS order/pre-order links (if available in the respective countries):

[shoplist 46811]

Canon starts fully automatized indoor farming with robots, report

canon rumors

Canon is active in various markets, here is another one I didn’t know about: automatized indoor farming.

Nikkei Asian Review reports:

TOKYO — Canon Electronics plans to open an entirely automated vegetable factory in 2019, seeking to lower costs by applying homegrown robotics technology to a burgeoning industry where stable profits remain tough to cultivate.

The Canon unit will convert empty space at a Gunma Prefecture facility into an indoor farm initially dedicated to growing lettuce and other green, leafy vegetables friendly to hydroponics. Robots will handle everything from planting seeds and transplanting seedlings to harvesting and packaging crops for shipment. Details such as annual production scale and sales targets will be settled later.

The company will partner with other businesses for know-how on managing the factory and building sales networks. Canon Electronics is also considering building a second such factory in western Japan.

The unit makes some of the manufacturing machinery on the automated production lines in Canon’s domestic camera business. Its delicate automation technology from that precision machinery will be put to use developing green-thumbed robots for the company’s new factory plan. Read the report…

Is Canon getting ready to jump into the pot revolution that just started in the US? :-) Just kidding, they are going to grow “lettuce and other green, leafy vegetables friendly to hydroponics”. Or what…?

Can’t wait to meet one of Canon’s “green-thumbed robots”.