See The Rarest and Largest Auto-Focus Lens Of The World In Action (Canon 1200mm f/5.6L)

This lens is possibly the largest and rarest auto focus lens in the world, it’s the Canon 1200mm f/5.6L USM – the “mother of all telephoto lenses”.

MPB Photographic brought the 1200mm f/5.6L to London and shows us what this lens can do:

[…] how does it perform and just how far can it be pushed? We took the lens to The Mall in London to put it through it paces and to see what Buckingham Palace looks like at 1200mm and beyond.

[via PetaPixel]

Canon 1200mm f/5.6L

Canon EF 16-35 f/2.8L II Review (Night and Landscape Photography)

Nature photographer David Kingham felt the pulse of Canon’s EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM lens (not the new 16-35mm f/4L IS) to see how well the lens suits for night photography and general landscape shooting. The focus is on night photography, David Kingham says:

[…] this lens performs very well at f/4 and okay at f/2.8, as I said earlier, not the best for night, but it is very good. With the Canon 6D I can easily take shots at ISO 12,800 to compensate for this loss of light at f/4.

The lens was tested on a Canon EOS 6D. The review comes with a huge set of sample pictures shot at night, and discusses coma and other artefacts that are typical for night photography. In the conclusion he writes:

 I have to say that I absolutely love this lens, it will never leave my bag. For landscape photography it’s stunning and a joy to use. For night photography it’s okay. […] When I’m backpacking or hiking though, this is the perfect lens that I can use during the day and night when weight is a major consideration. If you hate the idea of carrying around 3 lens for night photography this is the lens for you. […]  There’s always trade-offs when looking for an all-around lens, in this case I think the trade-offs are quite reasonable, I highly recommend this lens.

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM price check: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA [via David Kingham]

Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L IS Review (ephotozine)

EF 16-35mm f/4L IS

ephotozine reviewed Canon’s new ultra-wide EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM zoom lens. The outstanding sharpness, excellent build quality and super-fast auto-focus are among the highlights of the EF 16-35mm f/4L IS. In the conclusion ephotozine writes:

There can be no doubt that from an optical standpoint, this is one of the finest wide angle lenses Canon has produced to date. Images are razor-sharp across the frame from maximum aperture and CA levels are kept well under control.

The slightly wavy distortion pattern, and vignetting that never seem to go away may put some people off this lens, but at least these issues can be corrected by software afterwards. The price will be the bitterest pill to swallow, especially as the f/2.8 lens from Canon is actually less expensive at the moment. The price will probably settle at a more reasonable level as time passes though.

Even with the odd niggle, they probably won’t be enough of an issue to put most prospective buyers off what is currently Canon’s sharpest wide angle lens to date.

Yep, this is a great lens. See also what Lensrental’s R. Cicala, who disassembled the lens, has to say about the EF 16-35mm f/4L IS:

Now that I’ve seen the insides I’m very optimistic that this lens will be less likely to deteriorate optically over time, and will be more easily corrected when it does.

The EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM does not come at a bargain price, it’s $1,199 in the US.
Canon EF 16-35 f/4 IS price check: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA

The Handevision IBELUX 40mm f/0.85 Performs Better Than The Canon EF 50mm f/1.2 (in the center)

Handevision IBELUX 40mm f/0.85

Handevision IBELUX 40mm f/0.85

The folk at Lensrentals felt the pulse of the Handevision IBELUX 40mm f/0.85 lens. They did not test the lens for Canon EOS M mount, never the less I think the results are highly interesting. Says R. Cicala:

Let’s face it, everyone. Right in the center, even at f/0.85, the Ibelux 40mm is as good as, or a bit better than, the Canon 50mm f/1.2. Stopped down to f/1.4 (there’s no f/1.2 click on the Ibelux) it’s clearly better in the center. Away from center, the Canon is clearly better. This is an amazing optical performance, though, and for an f/0.85 lens, simply amazing. In my expectations at the beginning of this article, I never expected this lens to do this well in the center. I didn’t even consider it a possibility.

If you are a lens geek you can’t miss this post. It comes with charts, sample pics and a lot of technical talk.

The Handevision IBELUX 40mm f/0.85 is not a cheap lens, selling at $2,079.99, which is a lot of money for a manually operated lens. The Handevision IBELUX 40mm f/0.85 is available at B&H Photo and Adorama.

[via Lensrentals]

Specs and description after the break.

Click here to open the rest of the article

Looking Inside The Canon EF 16-35 f/4 IS (Lensrentals)

Canon EF 16-35 f/4 IS
Taking apart the EF 16-35 f/4 IS (image courtesy: R. Cicala/Lensrentals)

Lensrental’s Roger Cicala and Aaron Closz took apart Canon’s new EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM to see how (and how well) it is build.

The weather sealing appears to be pretty good (better than usual). The article is long and comes with lots of pictures shot while disassembling the EF 16-35 f/4 IS. R. Cicala writes:

Now that I’ve seen the insides I’m very optimistic that this lens will be less likely to deteriorate optically over time, and will be more easily corrected when it does.

Canon EF 16-35 f/4 IS price check:  [via lensrentals]

Canon EF 16-35 f/4 IS
Image from Canon’s White Paper (note that the aperture is also moving)

Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L IS