Canon EF 24-70mm f2.8 L USM II Review By The Phoblographer

Canon EF 24-70mm f2.8 L USM II Review By The Phoblographer
Image credit: The Phoblographer

The Phoblographer posted an interesting review of Canon’s much discussed EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens. A great, sharp lens with no IS (why?) and a rather hefty price tag ($2,299). They had two copies of the lens and found some inconsistencies (one sharper than the other). This is was known (unfortunately). There have been other reviews (Lensrentals and The Digital Picture) that reported variations in optical performance among copies if this lens. That’s a pity, given the price tag. And they clearly recommend the Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 SP VC over the EF 24-70mm f2.8 L USM II. Don’t get it wrong: the EF 24-70mm f2.8 L USM II is a great lens, maybe a must for professional photographers, but the Tamron costs less and still delivers outstanding performance.

If the EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II is in your mind you should have a look at The Phoblographer’s informative review. Sample images are provided. Quoting the verdict:

What’s Awesome: Extremely versatile lens with excellent performance overall for a photographer that needs it versatility.

What’s Not So Awesome: Prime lenses are still sharper, more reliable, and faster to focus. Copies of the lens vary; we tested three different ones. Lack of image stabilization shows that Canon’s corporate philosophy still hasn’t changed and does not realize that sometimes they need to cannibalize their own work to improve.

Verdict: This lens is quite expensive. Tamron’s 24-70mm f2.8 with VC is a better choice for the money.

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

Canon EF 24-70mm f2.8 L USM II Review By The Phoblographer

 

Canon’s 2012 Awards

Canon's press release:

Canon U.S.A. Closes Out 2012 In Award-Winning Fashion

Company Receives Numerous Awards in 2012 Including a Technology & Engineering Emmy® Award

LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., November 15, 2012 – Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, is proud to mark 2012 as another award-winning year. Customers and publications are praising Canon across various product segments for quality, innovation and customer support. The business world has taken note of Canon's dedication to environmental issues and industry-leading practices. This year, Canon was selected as one of Interbrand's 50 Best Global Green Brands 2012 (ranking number 29) while also placing among the top five companies in the computer industry on Fortune magazine's 2012 World's Most Admired Companies list.

Additional key awards and industry recognitions received by Canon include the PCMag.com Readers' Choice Award for Service and Reliability in the digital camera and printer categories for the ninth consecutive year, and for camcorders for the past two years; placement in the Leaders Quadrant of the 2012 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Managed Print Services Worldwide1 report; and for the fourth consecutive year, BenchmarkPortal's2 Center of Excellence certification, demonstrating Canon's dedication to providing comprehensive service and support to customers.

“We are extremely pleased to have received so many awards and industry recognitions from various industry organizations spanning product review, customer service and corporate initiatives,” said Bunji Yano, senior director and general manager, Corporate Communications, Canon U.S.A. “These awards and recognitions exemplify our commitment to not only providing high-quality products and services, but also our dedication to our customers and the environment as well.”

Maintaining status as an industry leader and continuing to earn accolades from the top industry publications continued throughout 2012 across all Canon product lines. As in years past, 2012 was no different for Canon cameras and lenses as honors were earned by entry-level point-and-shoot cameras up to professional DSLR and video cameras.

New for this year, Canon is extremely proud to announce that the Company will receive a 2012 Technology & Engineering Emmy® award in the category “Improvements to Large Format CMOS Imagers for Use in High Definition Broadcast Video Cameras.” The CMOS image sensor debuted in the Cinema EOS system line in November 2011 and has helped bring digital cinema closer to the superb aesthetics associated with 35 mm motion picture film. The Cinema EOS line took home numerous honors including the Digital Video Black Diamond award from Digital Video Magazine and the EOS C500 4K Digital Cinema Camera won the Pick Hit award from Broadcast Engineering.

Canon's input-to-output capabilities were highlighted with awards granted to several cameras. The PowerShot G1 X digital camera won Outside magazine's Gear of the Year award and PCMag.com named the EOS Rebel T3 and T3i to their best digital cameras list. Reviewed.com, a division of USA TODAY, named the EOS-1D X DSLR camera Best Ultra High-End and Best Overall Camera and presented the Best Value System for Video award to the EOS Rebel T4i DSLR camera. Additionally, numerous Canon printers were the recipients of awards throughout 2012 including the PIXMA PRO-1 that won the Gold Award from DP Review and the PIXMA MG6220 that CNET named to their best all-in-one printers list.

Canon's line of scanners, Multifunction Printers (MFP) and Large Format Printers received awards for various products. The imageFORMULA P-215 Personal Document Scanner was the PCMag.com 2012 Editors' Choice and received the title of “best scanner” along with the CanonScan LiDE110 Color Image Scanner. The 2012 Top Products Awards from My Print Resource named 17 imagePROGRAF printers to their list including the imagePROGRAF iPF760, iPF6300S, and the iPF825 MFP, and BERTL named the Canon FAXPHONE L100 to its Best Spring Awards list. Continuing to offer consumers efficient products, the Canon imageCLASS MF5950dw (as tested with its wired interface), MF5960dn, MF8380Cdw (as tested with its wired interface) and imageRUNNER 1750 MFP were all awarded the Summer 2012 Buyers Laboratory “Outstanding Achievement in Energy Efficiency” award.

 

The Blinking Red AF Point Debacle (EOS 5D Mark III in AI Servo Mode)

The Blinking Red AF Point Debacle

This is getting irritating, at least. While Canon released a firmware update for the EOS-1D X, they didn’t for the EOS 5D Mark III. Canon Rumors has new information about this issue. Quoting CR (what they have been told):

They are testing that at the moment but don’t know if it is possible to implement. The former system had a different type of focusing screen and it was easy to handle because it had no reflection in the viewfinder. The new system, with the LCD screen inside the viewfinder is reflecting the red light back and this can affect the light metering system. In the EOS-1D X, the viewfinder box is bigger than in EOS 5D Mark III, which aids in making it possible and workable. In the EOS-1D X they alternate red illumination and metering, and this is why there is the red blinking. With the EOS 5D Mark III, they are testing it but they are not sure if they can make it operate in the same way.

Well, what do you think…?

Canon EOS 5D Mark III price check: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA

 

New Camera Databases (for specs, comparisons, etc)

New Camera Databases

There are new camera databases for you to check, and obviously to use. You may find it useful to learn more about existent cameras and lenses:

Digicamdb.com: Easily find sensor size, pixel pitch and other important sensor characteristics for 3284 digital cameras.
Mirrorlessdb.com: Full specs of all mirrorless cameras and lenses.
Lesnumeriques: A french camera studio image comparison.
Google docs file: Mirrorless Camera Native Lenses

[via mirrorlessrumors]

Remains of the Day