More Canon Powershot G15 Reviews

More PowerShot G15 (price & specs) reviews, both detailed and exhaustive, and with lots of sample pictures. Photographyblog writes:

The new Canon PowerShot G15 is the most well-balanced G-series camera to date. It may not offer the admittedly more versatile articulating screen of its predecessor, the G12, or the DSLR-like image quality of its big brother, the G1 X, but the combination of greater portability, faster lens, higher-resolution screen and smaller size is a winning one.

Cameralabs says:

[…] the G15 still has plenty to offer. Its bright f1.8-2.8 lens combined with excellent optical image stabilisation not only provides it with great low light performance, the 1cm close focus distance at the wide angle setting together with it’s ability to focus reasonably close when zoomed in, makes it possible to achieve a fairly shallow depth of field on macros and portraits, something that’s often proved elusive on small sensor cameras. The abundance of physical controls will continue to endear it to enthusiasts and while dropping the articulated screen may not meet with universal approval, for me, the more compact lightweight form that results is well worth the sacrifice.

More Canon Powershot G15 Reviews

Canon PowerShot G15 price check: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA

 

Street Photography And Telephoto Lenses: A Challenge That Works

The milk carton golfer. 90mm – Image credit: Napier Lopez

Very interesting post by Napier Lopez on PetaPixel about street photography, and about telephoto lenses used for this purpose. The focal lengths that are normally recommended (and used) for street photography are roughly between 28mm and 50mm. And there is a good reason for that: focal lengths of 35-50mm are more or less equivalent to the perspective humans have, i.e. they correspond to the angle of view of our eyes. That’s why a 50mm lens is called “normal”; according to Wikipedianormal lens is a lens that reproduces a field of view that generally looks “natural” to a human observer under normal viewing conditions. Everyone who is into street photography (I am) has his own recipe on that matter, and telephoto lenses may appear to be not the best choice for street photography. Indeed, they are a powerful tool for that purpose, yet not necessarily easy to use. I am often using telephoto lenses when I am out to shot on the streets, mainly to shot candids.

The post, in the authors words, tries to “challenge the most basic tenet most serious street photographers will tell you: that you need a wide-ish or normal lens in order to do the genre properly, and that you need to get close“. The article tackles the following points in regard to street photography and telephoto lenses:

  • Shooting candid: with a telephoto lens you can take pictures without getting noticed
  • The artistic element you may add to your pics due to the background flattening effect of telephoto lenses
  • Z-Axis and perspective. This one is very interesting (check the picture above) Quoting Lopez:
    • People generally think of telephoto lenses as capturing less space than a wide angle lens for a given framing, but this isn’t totally true. If you’re framing your subject similarly, the compositional space you lose on the 2D plane, you can essentially regain on the Z axis. Meaning, since you have to stand further from your subject for equivalent framing, you get more space in between the camera and your subject to work with, space that so often goes unused. Although photography is a 2 dimensional medium (usually), that doesn’t mean the option to express yourself through the third dimension isn’t there. It just takes a little more work.
  • You are not loosing the intimacy and the human element just by using a telephoto lens

An article that’s absolutely worth to be read, even if street photography is not among your main interests. You can follow Napier Lopez on 500px.

[via PetaPixel]

Canon PowerShot G15 vs G12 vs S110 Comparison (and some reviews)

Canon PowerShot G15 vs G12 vs S110 Comparison
Image credit: Ron Martinsen

Ron Martinsen compares three Canon Powershot cameras: PowerShot G15 ($499) vs Powershot G12 ($379) vs PowerShot S110 ($449). The last one features built-in WiFi. Some excerpts from Martinsen’s review:

  • Functionality-wise [he] found the G12 and G15 to be mostly the same with the biggest feature difference being the Full HD (1920×1080) support added to the G15 and the max ISO jumping from 3200 to 12,800
  • The big WOW feature of the s110 has to be its touch screen which really helps it to overcome its lack of buttons.
  • The addition of integrated Wi-Fi support on s110 was pretty exciting when I first started to review it. Once setup […] it became even more obvious how this is so much more than Eye-Fi. What you end up with is a device on your network that you can pair with your phone, printer, computer and more for an integrated wireless experience

From the conclusion:

[…] For starters, the s110 is much improved over the s95 that I reviewed back when the G12 came out. The touch screen helps it to overcome some of my past gripes, and the Wi-Fi support plus big rear display really up its value beyond just being compact. As a result, I feel a lot more comfortable recommending the s110 as a nice pocketable point and shoot.

The G15 on the other hand has made good progress getting smaller, but I honestly think it’s lost some of the things that made the G12 so great in the process. While it is smaller and lighter, I still don’t think people will consider it any more pocketable (and truth be told if you can fit a G15 in your pocket, you most likely can a G12 too – both fit in my back jeans pocket). It’s also disappointing to not see some of the s110’s features on the G15 which make it feel a bit dated by comparison.

There are also sample pics shot which each camera. More links for you to check:

  • Photographyblog has another batch of PowerShot G15 sample shots (studio shots inclusive) to check.
  • c|net has a PowerShot S110 review, they write: Nice photo quality, improved autofocus performance, and a very compact design make the Canon PowerShot S110 a solid option if you’re looking for something between a point-and-shoot and an enthusiast compact.

Canon PowerShot G15 price check: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA Canon Powershot G12 price check: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA Canon Powershot S110 price check: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA

[via ronmartblog]

Zeiss Distagon T* 21mm f/2.8 ZE Hands-On

Zeiss Distagon T* 21mm f/2.8 ZE Hands-On

Zeiss Distagon T* 21mm f/2.8 ZE hands-on at The Phoblographer. This lens is a superlative wide-angle prime with outstanding optical properties. As The Phoblographer states: «for when Canon’s L series isn’t good enough», and «the lens is made extremely well with fit and finish being absolutely fantastic. The build seriously puts Canon’s L series to shame».

Please have a look to the review if this lens is in your thoughts. Sample images are provided. From the conclusion:

There is an extremely luxurious feel to this lens and the quality of the shots is fantastic. You can use it for a lot of things: architecture, landscapes, creative portraits and wherever you’d like a nice, large field of view. Just make sure you’re using this on a full frame camera, or else you end up with a more pedestrian 28mm or 35mm focal length (depending on your crop factor). Zeiss lenses will cost you but we are talking the difference between driving a Toyota or a BMW here

Tech specs (see also Zeiss’ site):

  • Focal length 21 mm
  • Aperture range f/2.8 – f/22
  • Focusing range 0.22 m – ∞
  • Number of elements/groups 16/13
  • Angular field, diag./horiz./vert. 90°/81°/59°
  • Coverage at close range 18 x 12 cm
  • Filter thread M 82 x 0.75
  • Dimensions (with caps) ø 87 mm, length 110-112 mm
  • Weight 600g – 720g

The Zeiss Distagon T* 21mm f/2.8 ZE costs $1843 and can be ordered at the following shops: Amazon | B&H | Adorama

Zeiss Distagon T* 21mm f/2.8 ZE Hands-On

 

Advantages Of A Pancake Lens (Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM)

 

 

Intersting article by professional photographer Andrew Gibson at picturecorrect about advantages of pancake lenses in general, and of Canon's supersharp EF 40mm f/2.8 STM in particular. The pancake is tested for various photograhic settings, i.e. landscape, portrait and so on. Close up/macro photography is also contemplated. Moreover, EF 40mm f/2.8 is lightweighted, not too espensive ($199), and has excellent optical properties. From the conclusion:

Landscape photography aside, the Canon 40mm pancake lens hasn’t disappointed. It’s light, well-built, the autofocus works well and it has excellent image quality. Furthermore it’s one of Canon’s cheapest lenses and probably the best value for money out of the entire Canon range.

Technical specifications of the Canon 40mm f/2.8 STM:

  • Continuous Autofocus for Video With Rebel T4i/EOS M
  • Bright f/2.8 Aperture
  • Lightweight 4.6 oz Lens
  • Unobtrusive–Less Than 1″ Long
  • Aspherical Element–High Image Quality
  • Optimized Coatings Reduce Ghost & Flare
  • Exceptional Color Balance
  • 7-Blade Diaphragm for Beautiful Bokeh
  • Close Focusing to 11.81″
  • 64mm Equivalent If Used on APS-C Camera

Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM price check: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L Mark II Sharper Than Mark I, But There Are Variations

Photobucket

When the EF 24-70 f/2.8L Mark II came out earlier this year it started lots of discussions, mainly because of the hefty price tag ($2299). With this price tag, basically same specs and no image stabilization this lens had to be very good. Indeed, this lens has an amazing image quality.

Roger Cicala at Lensrentals com compared the previous iteration of the EF 24-70 f/2.8L to the new one using Imatest to measure the resolution properties of both lens. Well, the EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II sharpness figures are excellent, better than it predecessor. But there was more Roger Cicala wanted to learn. There have been concerns by users that some copies of the EF 24-70mm didn't have the sharpness they were expecting. He compared 70 copies of the EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II to 125 copies of the EF 24-70mm f/2.8 to see if and how much variation there was in the resolution figures. There is, look at the next picture.

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L Mark II Sharper Than Mark I, But There Are Variations

While the Mark II is clearly topping the Mark I, there are huge differences among both batches. Quoting Roger Cicala:

A look at the graph shows a couple of things. Overall, the range of variation of the Mk II lens is about the same as the Mk I version. (And these are recent Mk Is after we learned how to keep the 70mm variation to a minimum. It used to be much greater.)

You can also see that three of the tested Mk II lenses seem to be out-of-sorts. Even with 70 copies, though, it’s hard to be absolutely certain where the ‘acceptable’ cutoff should be by just looking at the graph. […]

The bottom line is that 3 lenses out of the 70 copies were not up to expectations. That is a bit higher than the 2% unacceptable rate we usually see ‘out of the box’.

One other thing demonstrates the difficulty we have with one of the less-than-expected copies; they’re still better than the best of the 24-70 Mk I versions. They just aren’t as much better as they should be.

Ok, so the worst performing of the Mark II is better than the best performing of the Mark I lens, but variation is pronounced. There is more in Cicala's post, for instance the EF 70-200 f/2.8 IS II is compared to the EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II at 70mm. Check it out.

EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II price check: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA

EF 24-70mm f/2.8 price check: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA [lensrentals via petapixel]