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.
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.
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.
More Photokina related news from Zeiss. The new Apo Sonnar T* 2/135 Lens will be presented at Photokina 2012. Available also for Canon mounts, the price will be around $2000/€1600.
Click here to see Zeiss lenses for Canon DSLRs on Amazon, and click here to see what's on offer on eBay US, and here for eBay Germany
, and here for eBay UK
, eBay IT
, eBay Canada
, eBay France
Apo Sonnar T* 2/135 technical data:
| Focal length | 135mm |
| Aperture range | f/2 -22 |
| Number of lens elements/groups | 11/8 |
| Focusing range | 0.80m (2.62ft) – infinity |
| Angular field** (diag./horiz./vert.) |
18.7°/ 15.6°/ 10.5° |
| Coverage at close range** | 145 x 96 mm (close-up) |
| Image ratio at close range | 1 : 4 (close-up) |
| Filter thread | M 77 x 0,75 |
| Length with caps | 128mm (ZF.2) 130mm (ZE) |
| Diameter | 84mm |
| Weight | 920g (ZF.2) 930g (ZE) |
OBERKOCHEN/Germany, 07.09.2012.
Carl Zeiss is presenting the new Apo Sonnar T* 2/135 during photokina in Cologne – Carl Zeiss' longest medium telephoto lens in the range of high-quality SLR lenses. With the Apo Sonnar T* 2/135, the company is substantially extending the creative possibilities available in the medium tele range. Photographers and HD video cinemato- graphers now have a total of thirteen SLR lenses to choose, with focal lengths of 15 to 135 milli- meters. Carl Zeiss will exhibit at photokina in Cologne, the world’s leading trade fair for imaging technology, from September 18-23 at stand B011 in hall 2.1.
The Apo Sonnar T* 2/135 is the ideal lens for capturing detailed images from long distances, such as the skyline at sunset, a leopard in the zoo, or a pop star on a faraway stage. The new lens offers outstanding clarity of detail, high contrast and high resolution at any aperture. This mix of attributes makes it the perfect choice for portraits in advertising, fashion and lifestyle, as well as for landscape and reportage photography.
After putting the lens through its paces in New York, Magnum photographer Christopher Anderson was clearly impressed: “I am delighted with the performance of this new lens. It is rela- tively compact for a telephoto lens. Its image resolution and quality are outstanding, and there is a touch of magic in the way the light is refracted by the lens elements. I took some amazing photos, including some in poor light conditions.”
The Apo Sonnar T* 2/135 can capture subjects up to a scale of 1:4. It has been built based on Carl Zeiss's proven “floating elements” design. A special variable arrangement of the lens elements delivers excellent images over the entire focusing range, from 0.8 meters to infinity. The compact telephoto lens features eleven elements in eight groups. Because this lens is an apochromat, chromatic abberations (axial chromatic abbera- tions) are corrected with elements of special glass materials with anomalous partial disper- sion. The chromatic aberrations are therefore significantly below the defined limits. Bright-dark transitions in the image, and especially highlights, are reproduced almost completely free of color artifacts.
As with all other SLR lenses in the ZE and ZF.2 series, the Carl Zeiss T* anti-reflective coating as well as the sophisticated treatment of the ele- ments’ edges with a deep-black special lacquer make the Apo Sonnar T* 2/135 resistant to reflec- tions and stray light. Another advantage for the user is the large rotation angle of 268°, which enables ultra-precise focusing.
The Apo Sonnar T* 2/135 is equipped with an all-metal barrel, which enables long-lasting use with high-quality results. It will be available with F bayonet (ZF.2) and with EF bayonet (ZE)..
The lens will begin shipping in December 2012 at a recommended retail price of approximately €1.600 or US$2.000 (excluding VAT)*.
DigitalRev has the new EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM in stock (click here). Price depending by your check-out location.
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