Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 VC G2 Review (D. Abbott)

Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8
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Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 VC G2 :[shopcountry 45083]

At a glance:

  • Aperture Range: f/2.8 to f/22
  • One XLD Element, Five LD Elements
  • eBAND, BBAR, and Fluorine Coatings
  • Ultrasonic Silent Drive Autofocus Motor
  • VC Image Stabilization
  • Dust and Moisture-Resistant Construction
  • Removable Arca-Compatible Tripod Mount
  • Rounded Nine-Blade Diaphragm

Another interesting lens has gone through the reviewing efforts of photographer Dustin Abbott. He reviewed the new Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 VC G2 (model A025). It appears Tamron hit the mark with this lens.

D. Abbott writes in the conclusion:

There’s a good reason why Tamron has far more buzz over this G2 lens than they did over the previous generation lens. It was a very good lens, but the A025 is basically better in every way than the A009, which, shockingly, includes price (in most markets). In the US, for example, the A009 retailed for $1499 a few months ago, but the A025 (with all of these improvements) actually comes to market at $1299. While that isn’t “cheap” in an absolute sense, when you compare it to the essentially $2000 price tag for the Canon 70-200L II and the nearly $2800 for the Nikon 70-200 FL ED it becomes one of the great bargains of the year. Autofocus accuracy is exceptional, though the slight edge on focus lock speed goes to the Canon. The image quality is improved across the board from the original and is clearly competitive with the first party offerings.

Below you have D. Abbott’s videos with the review. However, a lot of people prefers to go for a written review (I do), so you may want to head over to Dustin Abbott’s review. The videos below are about Image Quality Breakdown, then Focus Breathing, and  finally the full review, which lasts 19 minutes and gives you very good overview but you’ll miss the sample pictures in the written review.

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[no longer live]Hot Deal still live: Canon EOS 5Ds at $2699 from Amazon US (reg. $3499)

canon EOS 5Ds
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Canon EOS 5Ds at a glance:

  • 50.6MP Full-Frame CMOS Sensor
  • Dual DIGIC 6 Image Processors
  • 3.2″ 1.04m-Dot ClearView II LCD Monitor
  • Full HD 1080p Video Recording at 30 fps
  • 61-Point High Density Reticular AF
  • ISO 100-6400; 5 fps Continuous Shooting
  • 150,000-Pixel RGB+IR Metering Sensor
  • User-Selectable Shutter Release Time Lag
  • Anti-Flicker Compensation

UPDATE: it’s over, deal no longer live.

This incredible deal is still live! These may the very last hours you can grab it.

Amazon US has the Canon EOS 5Ds at ridiculous $2,699. Regular price from authorised Canon resellers is $3,499, so this is a killer deal for the EOS 5Ds. The item is sold and shipped by Amazon US. Grab it before it’s gone!

Today’s Gold Box and one day only deals at Amazon US, Amazon DE, Amazon UK, B&H Photo, eBay and Adorama

Canon EF-S 35mm f/2.8 Macro IS STM specifications and image leaked

Canon EF-S 35mm f/2.8 Macro IS STM
The upcoming Canon EF-S 35mm f/2.8 Macro IS STM


Specifications and an image of the Canon EF-S 35mm f/2.8 Macro IS STM lens leaked ahead of the announcement. As supposed by most, the Canon EF-S 35mm f/2.8 Macro IS STM is a macro lens with built-in LED lights.

  • Lens construction: 6 groups 10 pieces (glass mold aspheric lens 1 piece)
  • Number of diaphragm blades: 7 (circular aperture)
  • Minimum shooting distance: 0.13 m (working distance 3 cm)
  • Maximum shooting magnification: 1 time
  • Image stabilization effect: about 4 steps
  • Filter diameter: 49 mm (with lens hood ES-27 installed)
  • Size: 55.8 x 69.2 mm
  • Weight: Approximately 190 g
  • Built-in macro light
  • Hybrid IS
  • Lead screw type STM

We expect Canon to announce the EF-S 35mm f/2.8 Macro IS STM on April 5. Stay tuned…

Canon ef-s 35mm[via Nokishita]

Canon EOS 5D Mark III doing 4K video with Magic Lantern wasn’t an April Joke

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I am sure most of you thought it was a clever April joke when a1ex of Magic Lantern team told the world on Saturday that they have made 4K video working on the EOS 5D Mark III.

Well, it turned out to be a very clever “April joke”, i.e. using the April joke hype to push a ground-breaking advancement of the Magic  Lantern hackers. Because that’s what it is: a ground-breaking advancement. Magic Lantern delivered the proof of concept that it is possible to get 4K video on an EOS 5D Mark III.

However, as cool as it is (it is), it’s a proof of concept, not even a working alpha version. There are many issues to solve before you can get working 4K on the EOS 5D Mark III. The main issue appears to be the fact that the EOS 5D Mark III can write to the memory card with max. 100MB/s, which will not allow for 4K@24fps (at least not more than a few seconds). The other big issue is surely overheating.

And there is also another exciting news. The EOS 5D Mark III may never do professional 4K video, but it may soon do 3K video with 24fps and 14 bit – this should produce a data rate of approx. 90MB/s, doable for the EOS 5D Mark III’s Output pipeline. Well, if these aren’t exciting news.

These are the video modes that can be activated with the latest ML hack:

  • 1920×960 @ 50p (both 1:1 crop and full-frame – 3×3 pixel binning)
  • 1920×800 @ 60p (same as above)
  • 1920×1080 @ 45p and 48p (3×3 binning)
  • 1920×1920 @ 24p (1:1 square crop)
  • 3072×1920 @ 24p (1:1 crop)
  • 3840×1600 @ 24p (1:1 crop)
  • 4096×2560 @ 12.5p (1:1 crop)
  • 4096×1440 @ 25p (1:1 crop)
  • Full-resolution LiveView: 5796×3870 at 7.4 fps (128ms rolling shutter).

A1ex writes:

This is only a very rough proof of concept. It has not been battle-tested and has many quirks. Some of them may be easy to fix, others not so. In particular:

* It feels quite buggy. I’m still hunting the issues one by one, but it’s hard, as Canon’s LiveView implementation is very complex, and our understanding on how it works is still very limited.

* Write speeds are high. For example, 10-bit 4096×2500 at 15 fps requires 180 MB/s. 1080p45 should be a little more manageable at 111 MB/s.

* Canon preview is broken in most modes; you need to use the grayscale preview in the raw recording module.

* High-resolution modes (in particular, full-res LiveView) may cause trouble with memory management. This is very tricky to solve, as we only get 3 full-resolution buffers in LiveView, with restrictions on the order in which they must be freed, and lots of other quirks.

* Since these settings were pushed to limit, the risk of corrupted frames is high. If it happens, decrease the vertical resolution a bit.

* When refreshing LiveView settings, the camera might lock-up (no idea why). Pressing MENU twice appears to fix it.

What do you think? Isn’t this exciting, and incredibly cool? To learn more about the latest Magic Lantern hack, head over to the ML forum or visit the website.