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

Ef 16-35mm F/2.8L III
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 Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA

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 EOS 5Ds R.

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)

Eos 5d Mark V
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Canon EOS 5D Mark IV: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA

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)

Ef 16-35mm F/2.8L III
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 Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA

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.

Tamron SP 150-600mm f5-6.3 VC G2 review (improved optics and weather sealing, Camera Labs)

Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2
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Camera Labs reviewed the Tamron SP 150-600mm f5-6.3 VC G2 megazoom. They praise build quality, image stabilisation, auto-focus among others.

From the conclusion:

An improved image quality combined with a good image stabilization, improved sealing, shorter minimum focus distance, and an acceptable size and weight makes Tamron’s new 4x super-telephoto a compelling package. It’s a pity that Tamron didn’t position it as the successor to their A011 model at the same price-point. But it certainly earns a Recommended rating.

Camera Lab’s review compares the Tamron SP 150-600mm f5-6.3 VC G2 with other similar telephoto lenses. Sample images are here, the lab charts are here.

Tamron SP 150-600mm

[via Camera Labs]

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: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA

Sigma 500mm f/4 DG OS HSM Sports Review (no sacrifice in image quality, Photography Blog)

Sigma 500mm
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Sigma 500mm f/4 DG OS HSM Sports: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA

At a glance:

  • EF-Mount Lens/Full-Frame Format
  • Aperture Range: f/4 to 32
  • One SLD and Two FLD Elements
  • Super Multi-Layer Coating
  • Hyper Sonic AF Motor, Manual Override
  • Optical Stabilizer; Drop-In Filter Slot
  • Magensium-Alloy Barrel & Brass Mount
  • Dust- and Splash-Proof Construction
  • Rotatable Tripod Collar with Click Stops
  • Compatible with Sigma Teleconverters

Photography Blog reviewed the Sigma 500mm f/4 DG OS HSM Sports lens, a pro lens selling at $5,999 and still being substantially less expensive than Canon’s counterpart, the EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM.

From the conclusion:

The Sigma 500mm f/4 DG OS HSM Sports lens is a much more affordable alternative to similar lenses from Canon and Nikon without any sacrifice in image quality or performance. […]

The Sigma 500mm f/4 DG OS HSM Sports is tack-sharp at both the centre and edges of the frame when stopped down by one-stop, and it’s also very good even when shooting wide-open. Vignetting is apparent at f/4, but it almost completely disappears by f/8, or it can be easily removed in post-processing. Chromatic aberrations are noticeable only by their absence, and distortion is very well controlled too. Optically, there’s very little to complain about.

Build quality is excellent, with the brass lens mount and sober all-black design adding to the high-quality feel and the dust/splash-proof construction adding some peace of mind, plus there’s a very good carbon fibre lens hood and padded case. Read the review…

Sample pictures are here.