Canon and Nikon produce the best JPGs straight out of the box, Sony is crap and Fuji disappoints

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The never-Canon-friendly folks at The Camera Store TV did a non-scientific test to establish which brand produces the best JPG images out of the box, i.e. coming from the camera with no editing. On all cameras the standard setting (factory defaults) for JPG was used. The compared the Pentax K7D, Olympus Pen F, Nikon D500, Canon EOS 80D, Panasonic G85, iPhone 7+, and Fujifilm X-T2.

It’s obviously a test based on subjective perception, with no claims to be objective. However, it confirmed what I was thinking since long: Nikon and Canon have the best JPG engines, Sony one of the worst, and Fuji’s color rendition in JPG is over hyped and not that good (despite the sensor), especially not in landscape pictures. The Camera Store confirmed this. According to these guys, Nikon shoots the best JPGs out of the box, closely followed by Canon. I still think Canon is better than Nikon, especially when it comes to skin tones.

You see that having a camera with “wow-factor” specs is not enough. To build a good camera you have to take in account many factors. Nikon and Canon have more experience and know-how than all the others. That’s it.

Overall Results:

  1. Nikon
  2. Canon
  3. Panasonic
  4. Fujifilm
  5. Olympus
  6. Sony
  7. Pentax
  8. iPhone

Enjoy the video!

[via The Camera Store TV]

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III review (photozone)

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 Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III: [shopcountry 40054]

At a glance:

  • EF-Mount Lens/Full-Frame Format
  • Aperture Range: f/2.8 to 22
  • Three Aspherical & Two UD Elements
  • Subwavelength & Air Sphere Coatings
  • Ring-Type Ultrasonic Motor AF System
  • Internal Focus; Full-Time MF Override
  • Fluorine Coating on Exposed Elements
  • Dust- and Water-Resistant Construction
  • Rounded 9-Blade Diaphragm

Specialized lens testing site photozone posted their analysis of the new Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III, a highly regarded professional lens that comes at $2,199. The EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III was tested on a Canon [shoplink 27766]EOS 5Ds R[/shoplink].

From the conclusion:

The Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 USM L III is, of course, an improvement over its predecessors. If you stop down a bit you can achieve edge-to-edge sharp images at all focal lengths even on a 50 megapixel camera. That’s quite an achievement! The image corners are a bit soft at f2/8 and the extreme ends of the zoom range though. However, in real life that’s rarely a showstopper. If you are using a camera with a more moderate pixel count, you don’t really need to worry because the lens is plenty sharp enough in this case. Lateral CAs are generally very well controlled. A substantial weakness is the amount of vignetting at the wide end though. When designing a lens you have to balance the different optical aberrations and Canon obviously decided to favour sharpness over vignetting this time. Read the review…

The review comes with MFT and distortion charts, images samples and plenty of information about this lens.

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV long term review (Dustin Abbott)

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Canon EOS 5D Mark IV: [shopcountry 40051]

At a glance:

  • 30.4MP Full-Frame CMOS Sensor
  • DIGIC 6+ Image Processor
  • 3.2″ 1.62m-Dot Touchscreen LCD Monitor
  • DCI 4K Video at 30 fps; 8.8MP Still Grab
  • 61-Point High Density Reticular AF
  • Native ISO 32000, Expanded to ISO 102400
  • Dual Pixel RAW; AF Area Select Button
  • Dual Pixel CMOS AF and Movie Servo AF
  • 7 fps Shooting; CF & SD Card Slots
  • Built-In GPS and Wi-Fi with NFC

After having shared various bits of his work-in-progress review of the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, photographer and reviewer Dustin Abbott posted the final review.

As I said many times before, this kind of reviews are the ones I like most. As much as lab tests might say about a sensor (mostly) and a camera, it’s the point of view of the photographer in the field that gets all my interest.

In his exhaustive review, Dustin Abbott discusses also the criticism the EOS 5D Mark IV got, mainly on the video front where its features have been called “2012-like”. I let this interesting part of the review to your reading pleasure. As usual, Dustin’s reviews come double served, as video review and written review. The video is below, the full review with sample images and a lot of interesting considerations about Canon’s new full-frame DSLR is here.

In the conclusion he writes:

The Canon EOS 5D Mark IV is a bit of paradox. It is simultaneously one of the best cameras Canon has ever created along with being one of its most divisive ones. Whereas the 5D Mark III was universally accepted as an excellent choice for both professional and amateurs alike, things have changed. It is my opinion that the 5D Mark IV is a better camera in every measure than the 5D Mark III, but is that enough for the 2016 market that it is released into? It has better autofocus performance (including vastly improved performance with teleconverters), better resolution, better dynamic range, better high ISO performance, and faster shooting and buffer performance. And, despite all of the drama surrounding the video performance, it is actually a better video camera than the 5D Mark III. It has more shooting options, a better sensor to work with, time lapse movie mode, a useful HDR video mode, and most importantly, it has DPAF video servo focus and that great touchscreen. While the 4K support is unquestionably flawed, the reality is that it does serve some purpose, the footage looks great, and the image grab from 4K video is actually useful.

 

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III video-review (Dustin Abbott)

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 Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III: [shopcountry 40054]

At a glance:

  • EF-Mount Lens/Full-Frame Format
  • Aperture Range: f/2.8 to 22
  • Three Aspherical & Two UD Elements
  • Subwavelength & Air Sphere Coatings
  • Ring-Type Ultrasonic Motor AF System
  • Internal Focus; Full-Time MF Override
  • Fluorine Coating on Exposed Elements
  • Dust- and Water-Resistant Construction
  • Rounded 9-Blade Diaphragm

Photographer Dustin Abbott posted the first part of his full review of the new Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III lens. A highly regarded, professional lens that comes at a price, $2,199.

An gallery with sample images can be found here.

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV review (a game changer, Richard Bernabe)

eos 5d mark iv
Shot with EOS 5D Mark IV. Image © Richard Bernabe, used with permission

At a glance:

  • 30.4MP Full-Frame CMOS Sensor
  • DIGIC 6+ Image Processor
  • 3.2″ 1.62m-Dot Touchscreen LCD Monitor
  • DCI 4K Video at 30 fps; 8.8MP Still Grab
  • 61-Point High Density Reticular AF
  • Native ISO 32000, Expanded to ISO 102400
  • Dual Pixel RAW; AF Area Select Button
  • Dual Pixel CMOS AF and Movie Servo AF
  • 7 fps Shooting; CF & SD Card Slots
  • Built-In GPS and Wi-Fi with NFC

Renowned nature, wildlife, and travel photographer Richard Bernabe posted his impression about the new Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. Another positive review for the latest addition to Canon’s winning EOS 5D series.

About the dynamic range:

High-contrast sunrise and sunset situations often needed only only single exposure in order to capture the full range of tones in the scene.

About high ISO:

Properly exposed files were perfectly acceptable at 3200 ISO and even 6400.

About the AF system:

The autofocus system on the Canon 5D Mark IV is very accurate and locks onto any bit of available contrast, even in low light.

From the conclusion:

The Canon 5D Mark IV is a game changer for me. The improvements are exactly what I had hoped for – better dynamic range and high ISO performance – among many others. The results I was able to see with my own eyes this past week have me super excited about my travel schedule for 2017 and the prospect of taking this camera along with me. I suspect the Canon 5D Mark IV will be my landscape, nature, and travel workhorse DSLR for at least the next two or three years.

I recommend you read the review, since it is not based on lab settings but on the impression and the experience of a professional photographer. Moreover, the sample pictures are beautiful.

You can follow Richard Bernabe on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

eos 5d mark iv

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV: [shopcountry 40051]

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Video Quality and Features Review

eos 5d mark iv
The new Canon EOS 5D Mark IV

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV: [shopcountry 40051]

At a glance:

  • 30.4MP Full-Frame CMOS Sensor
  • DIGIC 6+ Image Processor
  • 3.2″ 1.62m-Dot Touchscreen LCD Monitor
  • DCI 4K Video at 30 fps; 8.8MP Still Grab
  • 61-Point High Density Reticular AF
  • Native ISO 32000, Expanded to ISO 102400
  • Dual Pixel RAW; AF Area Select Button
  • Dual Pixel CMOS AF and Movie Servo AF
  • 7 fps Shooting; CF & SD Card Slots
  • Built-In GPS and Wi-Fi with NFC

In this video reviewer and photographer Dustin Abbott takes a nuanced look at the various video features and the strengths/weaknesses of the video side of the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV.

Images and sample pictures shot whit the EOS 5D Mark IV are here.