At borrowlenses.com they made a short comparison between the Rebel T4i/650D and the Rebel T3i/600D. The comparison is made side by side. Watch and judge for yourself. Btw, the Rebel T3i/600D may be available at reduced price since the T4i is out and shipping. Check the live-ticker below for possible T3i bargains.
Roger Cicala at lensrental.com tested the brand new EF 40mm f/2.8 STM pancake lens (he tested eight copies of the lens.) The impressions are more than positive, and in the title of the post, Roger is asking “how did they do that?“. Imatest MTF 50 was used to test the lens.
My first impression was the build quality was better than I expected. It has a metal mount, not plastic. The aperture blades appear more curved than most of the Canon 7 blade aperture rings, making a more circular opening. The little STM motor is not silent, but it’s pretty quiet.
The (very good) results were consistent over all tested copies, showing that Canon is able to produce such a high quality yet affordable lens in batch. The conclusion of the test says it all:
Overall, though, I’m extremely impressed. I’d be impressed if a lens this size and price was just decent, but this one is excellent. I might as well go ahead and get in trouble with the business manager: if you think you want this lens, just go ahead and buy it. At this price, unless some of the more thorough reviewers find something I missed on this quick overview, you can’t go wrong.
The EF 40mm f/2.8 STM pancake can be bought for $199, and it is in stock at Adorama (click here), B&H (click here) and Amazon US (click here). DigitalRev (click here) also has the pancake in stock. Note: due to high request there may be shipping delays, and the lens may soon be temporary out of stock.
[via dpreview]
World-wide EF 40mm f/2.8 STM availability and price check:
America: B&H Photo, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA
Europe & UK: Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon IT, Canon IT, WEX Photographic, Canon FR, Canon UK, Canon DE
imaging-resource published test shots made with a production Rebel T4i/650D/X6i. The whole ISO range is covered (up to 25.600), RAW files are also available, all samples can be downloaded in original resolution. These are studio test shots, i.e. test shots made in a laboratory setting. Btw, it seems that Canon was really fast to make the Rebel T4i/650D/X6i available: most shops are reporting that they have the camera in stock and ready to ship.
Rebel T4i/650D/X6i price and availability check: Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon IT, Canon IT, WEX Photographic, Canon FR, Canon UK, Canon DE
Chris over at thephoblographer.com just reviewed Tamron’s new zoom lens, the AF 24-70mm f/2.8 SP Di USD VC (click here) for Canon mount. As with the other reviews I featured (here, here, and here) this one too confirms the absolutely positive impression people has with this lens. The review is detailed and comprehensive, and comes with lot of sample images. From the conclusion:
The Tamron 24-70mm f2.8 VC SP USD wins nothing less than my highest recommendations. Sure, it is expensive, but when you really weigh what you’re getting, it is quite worth its weight in gold. You’re getting excellent image stabilization, great build quality […] excellent sharpness, accurate focusing that doesn’t need microadjusting, and versatile color rendition.
Tamron AF 24-70mm f/2.8 SP Di USD VC availability and price check: Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon IT, Canon IT, WEX Photographic, Canon FR, Canon UK, Canon DE
Well known photographer Eric Kim wrote a book about street photography. To download the ebook (PDF and MS Word formats available) click here and scroll down a little bit. From the introduction:
So why did I decide to write this book? Well one quote that I love is from famous hockey player Wayne Gretsky who said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”. In street photography, one of the biggest problems that most aspiring street photographers is getting over their initial fear of taking photos of strangers in public (without permission).
To photograph strangers without their permission is strange. Most societies in the world teach that it is wrong to take a photo of a stranger without their permission. In-fact, we are so socialized against doing this that we are worried what repercussions may happen to us if we do so. We are worried that the photos of others we shoot may become belligerent, yell at us, or even call the police on us. Therefore “normal” people don’t take photographs of strangers without their permission—but who ever said that street photographers were “normal” people?
If I could estimate, I have probably shot over 300,000 street photographs in my last five years in the streets. Out of all of these shots, I have only gotten around 3 really negative responses. The first encounter involves an old man grabbing my arm and asking me what I was doing, the second a man in Downtown LA trying to grab my camera from me, and the third being an old Chinese man karate-chopping me in the back of the neck (from a bike) when I took a photograph of him during the night with my flash. Needles to say I am still alive (and in great health) and haven’t ever gotten punched, stabbed, or killed (yet). Also if you do the math, 3 really negative experiences out of 300,000 is only .001%– which is statistically insignificant. You are probably more likely to get run over by a car, die in a plane crash, or win the lottery.
The cute little pancake by Canon is starting to get reviews. It got f/2.8, it’s light (both in your pocket and on your wallet) and it has very good performance – all for $199. ephotozine got its hands on the EF 40mm f/2.8 STM pancake for a review. Results are pretty good. “Autofocus is very swift and precise“, or “At maximum aperture, sharpness in the centre of the frame is already excellent” and “chromatic aberrations are virtually non-existent, remaining under half a pixel width in size at all apertures” are some of the comments you can read in the review. From the final verdict:
Pros
- Excellent sharpness
- Low distortion
- Compact and lightweight
- Fast focusing
Cons
- No full time manual focus override
- Strong vignetting
- More than double the price of the 50mm f/1.8 (although performance and build probably justify this)
EF 40mm f/2.8 STM availability and price check: Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon IT, Canon IT, WEX Photographic, Canon FR, Canon UK, Canon DE. If these do not have the 40mm pancake, you may be able to pre-order it at Adorama (click here) and B&H (click here).
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