Canon and Sony News for May 2017 (Page 6)

Image quality results have been added to the Sigma 135mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art Lens Review.

You are going to like this one. Here are some comparisons to get you started:

Sigma 135mm f/1.8 Art Lens compared to the Canon EF 135mm f/2L Lens
Sigma 135mm f/1.8 Art Lens compared to the Zeiss Milvus 135mm f/2 Lens
Sigma 135mm f/1.8 Art Lens compared to the Samyang 135mm f/2 UMC Lens

The Sigma 135mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art Lens is in stock at B&H | Amazon | Adorama.

From Nikon:

Changes from “C” Firmware Version 1.01 to 1.02:

Fixed the following issues:

• The camera would stop responding if the multi selector was pressed right with Add items > CUSTOM SETTING MENU > c Timers/AE lock selected in MY MENU.
• The shutter would sometimes not be released in response to live view touch shutter controls if autofocus was used with an SB-800 flash unit attached.
• Optimal exposure would sometimes not be achieved in photographs taken during live view with lenses that support both autofocus and electronic aperture control (type E lenses).
• If image review was enabled during viewfinder photography, the camera would sometimes display shooting information in place of the most recent picture when the user removed their eye from the viewfinder after shooting.
• The camera would sometimes fail to store the option selected for a Autofocus > a3 Built-in AF-assist illuminator in the CUSTOM SETTING MENU after the mode dial was rotated to another setting.

Note: Once this firmware is installed, the Windows edition of Camera Control Pro 2 versions 2.22.0 and earlier will no longer be able to detect the camera. Upgrade to version 2.23.0 or later.

Download: Nikon D5500 Firmware v.1.02

From Canon UK:

Firmware Version 1.0.1 incorporates the following fixes:

• Corrects a phenomenon in which, when the playback grid is set to "6x4", and a vertical image is displayed, or a horizontal image is rotated to be displayed vertically, the grid does not display correctly.
• In languages other than Japanese, the phrase "no. of shots" has been corrected to "value" in the "Time-lapse movie settings > Interval/Shots" setting screen.

Firmware Version 1.0.1 is for cameras with firmware up to Version 1.0.0. If the camera's firmware is already Version 1.0.1, it is not necessary to update the firmware.

Download: Canon EOS M5 Firmware v1.0.1

With a feature set tailor-made for general purpose use, it's no wonder that there are several Canon-mount 24-105mm lenses available for your consideration. But with so many options available, it can be confusing when trying to determine which 24-105mm zoom lens is the best choice for your particular needs. And considering that most of these lenses share a majority of significant specifications, including focal length range (FLR), max aperture (except for one), and built-in stabilization, it's easy to see why singling out the right lens could be a challenging endeavor.

With that in mind, let's dig into the differences between these very popular lenses to see which one might make the best addition to your kit.

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II USM Lens

Announced in August 2016, the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II USM is the newest lens in this comparison. As such, you may expect this lens to outperform the rest of the pack in just about every measureable way, having benefitted from the latest and greatest technological advancements. However, this lens' superiority is not so clear-cut.

From a sharpness perspective, the 24-105L IS II is very similar to its predecessor, a lens that was released 11 years prior to version II's introduction.

While that may sound a bit disappointing, keep in mind that the 24-104L IS USM was no slouch when it came to sharpness and version II brought forth other advancements – leading to reduced vignetting, distortion and flare – which adds up to an overall better image quality. IQ aside, version II also benefitted from build quality and design refinements as well as an upgraded Image Stabilization system capable of 4-stops of compensation (compared to version I's 3-stops). The 24-105L IS II is weather sealed, making it a great option for those who intend on photographing in inclement weather.

In other words, the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II USM may not be significantly better than its predecessor, but with all things considered, it is indeed better. And considering that it debuted sporting an only slightly higher price than its predecessor, this lens provides an excellent standard (from performance and value standpoints) by which all other lenses in this category can be compared.

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM Lens

Released in 2005, the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM was the default full frame kit lens for more than a decade. As such, there are likely more 24-105Ls in the marketplace than any other L-series lens. Its versatility, reasonable price (especially if purchased via a white box sale) and solid performance made this an ideal general purpose lens for many photographers.

As mentioned above, the original 24-105L competes quite well from a sharpness perspective in regards to its predecessor. However, it does show more vignetting, distortion and flare compared to the same lens. Of course the 24-105L features a more classic design, but a more significant difference between it and its predecessor, as noted, is its 3-stop IS system compared to version II's upgraded 4-stop IS system. Like its successor, the 24-105L is also weather sealed (though a front filter is required for optimal sealing).

With version II becoming more widely available, though, you can expect the original version of the lens to be phased out in the not-so-distant future. This lens represents an excellent deal – especially when white box and grey market versions are considered – while it remains available.

Sigma 24-105mm f/4 DG OS HSM Art Lens

Announced in 2013, the 24-105 Art lens became Sigma's first stabilized full-format general purpose zoom lens. With a sleek design, high build quality, good image quality and a reasonable price, the 24-105 Art epitomizes the hallmarks of Sigma's Global Vision series of lenses.

With major features like focal length range, maximum aperture and built-in stabilization similar to the Canon L-series lenses, the Sigma represents an excellent value relative to its peers.

Compared to the 24-105 L II, the Sigma is slightly heavier, similar in size and lower priced. The Sigma has a higher MM (0.30x vs 0.24) to its advantage.

In the image quality comparison between the Art-series lens and the 24-105L II, we see the Sigma turning in slightly sharper results at the wide end, the two being very similar over most of the focal length range and the Canon taking the advantage at the long end. At 24mm, the Sigma has less CA and slightly more barrel distortion. The Sigma has slightly more vignetting at 24mm and modestly more at the long end. The Sigma is slightly more prone to flare.

We were pleased to find the Sigma 24-105 Art's AF performance to be quite good (often an issue with third-party lenses). It's not as fast as the Canon L-series lenses, but AF accuracy proved to be – for the most part – reliable in One Shot and AI Servo mode.

One drawback of the Sigma 24-105 Art – a lack of weather sealing – means that those photographers intending on photographing in adverse weather conditions may be better served by one of the Canon L-series options.

Canon EF 24-105mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM Lens

The Canon EF 24-105mm IS STM lens was announced in 2014 and, being a full-frame compatible lens with STM, foreshadowed the introduction Dual Pixel AF in Canon's future full-frame camera lineup (although it would be another 16 months before the EOS-1D X Mark II was announced).

Without the Luxury branding of a red ring around the end of the lens, it would be reasonable to expect the 24-105 IS STM to feature a lower build quality, inferior image quality and a lower price. In this case, however, only two out of three expectations would come to turn out to be definitively accurate.

The 24-105 IS STM indeed features a lower build quality and a lower price tag compared to its red-ringed counterparts, but... it performs competitively in regards to sharpness, vignetting, distortion and flare. Depending on which focal length and aperture you choose in the comparison between the 24-105 IS STM and 24-105L IS II, either could be slightly better than the other. As such, image quality alone should not be considered a primary differentiating factor.

Comparing the lenses further, the STM has less CA at 24mm and has slightly less pincushion distortion at mid and long focal lengths compared to the 24-105L IS II. The L lens has a wider aperture over the 42-105mm range, but the STM has a 1/3 stop advantage for a few mms (24-27mm) and has a higher MM (0.30x vs 0.24). The 24-105 IS STM is not a weather sealed lens and does not have a focus distance window.

Now would be a good time to address the elephant in the room – the 24-105 IS STM's variable max aperture with a 1-stop narrower max aperture (from 67-105mm) compared to the rest of the lenses mentioned above. This means that you'll need twice as much light using the same ISO and shutter speed with the 24-105 IS STM compared to using one of the f/4 max aperture lenses above (or to put it another way, you'll need a shutter speed twice as long or a 1-stop higher ISO to achieve the same exposure). The 1-stop narrower aperture can be especially detrimental if photographing in dimly-lit conditions.

On the plus side, the 24-105 IS STM includes Canon's stepping motor-driven AF system which allows for smooth and nearly silent autofocusing in video mode, a valuable feature for DSLR filmmakers.

Size and Weight

As is evident by the image atop this post, the Canon 24-105L IS II is the longest lens in this comparison, the Sigma 24-105 Art is the widest and the 24-105 IS STM is the shortest. Indiscernible by the picture, the Sigma Art lens is also the heaviest.

While there are minor differences, as reiterated throughout this comparison, image quality is not likely a determining factor when deciding among these lenses. As such, other factors – such as max aperture, image stabilization performance, weather sealing and price – become more prominent factors.

With all things considered, most will find the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II USM to be the best fit for their needs as long as the budget stretches to its (very reasonable) price tag. If the budget is limited, the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM and Sigma 24-105mm f/4 DG HSM Art remain very solid options, with the Canon lens being our preference thanks to its weather sealed design. On the other hand, if DSLR filmmaking is a high priority, the Canon EF 24-105mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM will likely be the best choice, forgoing the f/4 constant maximum aperture in favor of a smooth and quiet AF system.

Just posted: Venus Optics Laowa 12mm f/2.8 Zero-D Lens Review.

This is a great little option to keep in the bag.

Get the Venus Optics Laowa 12mm f/2.8 Zero-D Lens at B&H | Amazon | Adorama. Note that this lens has been difficult to keep in stock. Simply place your order to reserve your place in line.

Are you signed up for the site's email newsletter? If so, you are entered in the (international) prize drawing to win my favorite backpack, the MindShift Gear BackLight 26L (Charcoal), courtesy of MindShift Gear!

Not signed up? That problem is easy to fix. And if you do so before tomorrow, you'll have a chance to win. Just put your email address in the site's newsletter signup form, found near the top right of any page on the site, and then press the enter key or click on the submit button. If reading this post from a page on the site (vs. in a newsreader or social feed), the form provided below should work for you.

Please Note: our mailing list utilizes a double opt-in method for ensuring that the newsletter is only sent to those who want to receive it. Clicking the verification link in the welcome email is required to complete the signup process and become eligible for the drawing.

Don't worry about our emails filling your inbox – we send newsletters only infrequently.

Don't want to wait for the drawing? The MindShift Gear BackLight 26L is in stock at MindShift Gear | B&H | Amazon | Adorama.

The Details
Nothing complicated here. We have one backpack to give away and someone is going to get it. Approximately on, but no earlier than, Tuesday morning, May 9th, 2017, a random number will be computer-generated and correlated to the then-current newsletter signup list. The winner will be notified via email and will have 1 week to acknowledge the win and provide a shipping address (international). Upon receiving the delivery address, MindShift Gear will send this awesome backpack to the winner. If no reply is received from the first winner, new winners will be chosen using the same process until a successful delivery can be made.

Image quality, vignetting, flare and distortion test results along with specs, measurements and standard product images have been added to the Venus Optics Laowa 12mm f/2.8 Zero-D Lens Review page.

I think that you will like what you see. Here are a pair of comparisons you might be interested in:

Laowa 12mm f/2.8 compared to Canon 11-24mm f/4L Lens
Laowa 12mm f/2.8 compared to Sigma 12-24mm f/4 Art Lens

The Venus Optics Laowa 12mm f/2.8 Zero-D Lens is in stock at B&H | Amazon | Adorama.

RAID is the acronym for Redundant Array of Independent Disks. A RAID 1, RAID 5 or RAID 6 disk array, using two or more disk drives storing enough redundant information to permit continued operation through at least a single drive failure and subsequent rebuilding of a replacement drive, is a great image file and video storage option and I highly recommend implementing it. But, a RAID array featuring mirrored drives (RAID 1) or a parity drive (RAID 5) is not, alone, enough protection. Here are some reasons why:

1. RAID does not protect from inadvertent file deletion or other issues including undetected/accidental drag and drop. In a RAID system, all copies of data are immediately treated the same, with the redundant file and/or parity information being updated at the same time as the primary drive information. You will likely find yourself needing to retrieve a copy of a file from a backup more frequently than you will have the drive failures that RAID strategies protect against.
2. RAID does not protect from malicious viruses.
3. RAID does not protect from fire or other disasters.
4. RAID does not protect from theft or other intentional destruction.
5. RAID does not protect from data corruption. I have a long IT background and have multiple times lost servers due to RAID array corruption. While this should not happen, one of Bryan's Laws of Photography comes into play here: "If it can, it will."
6. RAID does not always protect from a second drive failure prior to recovery from an initial drive failure. While the odds of two drives failing within a short period of time may be low, drives in a RAID array are often aging at the same rate and influenced by the same factors including power and heat issues. A friend just lost 3 of 5 drives in a name brand RAID array due to a firmware/software issue.

What are the backup options for a RAID array?

RAID array backup options include:

1. External hard drives including external RAID arrays
2. Network attached storage including network attached storage drives
3. LTO tape drives

B&H has the new Microsoft 13.5" Surface Laptops available for preorder with free expedited shipping (expected availability – June 15).

Image quality, flare and distortion test results along with specs, measurements and standard product images have been added to the Canon EF-M 18-150mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM Lens page.

The focal length range in this compact lens is awesome. The image sharpness is ... well, I'll let you decide.

The evaluation lens came in the Canon EOS M6 retail kit we tested. After consulting with Roger at Lensrentals.com, I'm led to believe that this copy of the 18-150 may be somewhat underperforming at the wide end, but the results from the long end appear normal. While it is hard to argue with the convenience factor of this lens, those looking for ultimate image sharpness will likely not find what they are looking for from any copy of this model.

The Canon EF-M 18-150mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM Lens is in stock at B&H | Amazon | Adorama.

From the Capture One Blog:

Today Phase One released Capture One Pro 10.1 with a bunch of marvelous new features.

The first major update brings new Styles interface to Capture One 10, “before/after” button, improved “delete” concept, read-only PSD support, token watermarking and vectorscope color wheels. Did I miss something? Oh, yes, Fuji compressed RAW support! Now, when you’re intrigued enough to read the whole article, let’s discuss new features of Capture One 10.1 in all the gory details.

New Styles Interface

Styles is an amazing tool to make processing faster and easier. You can save your favorite settings to styles and apply them to any image in one click or use artistic styles to find the best color correction solution for your image.

Previously there was only one issue with Styles – drop-down menu was blocking the image you were working with.

It was absolutely out of Capture One workspace logic and simply inconvenient.

In Capture One 10.1 Styles interface was completely rebuilt, and now all the styles and presets are located in one window. On top of the new tool, you’ll find applied styles list, below it – User & Built-in styles and presets. To navigate through your collections faster, you can expand/collapse each section. All the options like Import, Save, and Stack styles are now available in a standard tool’s menu; the Delete Style option could be found with a right-click on the style. What is also important, Styles tool is now resizeable and relocatable as any other tool in Capture One. If you have dozens of styles, Capture One 10.1 update delivers a huge improvement to your workflow. At the same time, you can continue using the old UI, just add Styles tool to the toolbar, and that would bring back the drop-down menu.

Another interesting feature of the new tool is Style Pack. It allows you to import a set of styles with a sub-folder structure. Simply create a zip-archive with folders with styles and change its extension to .costylepack; then import the pack as a standard style. If you’re looking for professional Capture One styles, take a look at our film styles at CaptureOneStyles.com. Create a “film” color in Capture One using all the power of RAW without any special plugins. There are 12 styles available for free!

“Before/After” button

Phase One always had a particular vision of how the “before/after” feature should work in Capture One. There are “new/clone variant” options, temporary reset for each tool and the good old “reset->undo” to compare the image before and after. With the update, developers added a new feature to Reset tool: hold the Alt key and click Reset icon to see all the adjustments temporarily switched off. In other words, now we have an actual “before/after” button in Capture One! It would be great to have a separate shortcut for this action as well, and I hope we will see it in the future releases.

New Delete Concept

For some reason “deleting” images from catalogs/sessions was one of the most confusing things in Capture One. Depending on different factors (file location, session/catalog mode, etc.) there were many variations of what could happen to your file after deleting it.

Capture One 10.1 update clarifies this issue; now you have three options of deleting the file:

1. Delete

The safest way to delete an image.
If you’re deleting an image from an album, that option would only remove the picture from the album. The same applies to other variants of the image, and only the selected variants would be removed.

If you’re deleting an image from “folders” (folder on HDD, catalog’s Folders section), “Delete” would move the file to Catalog/Session trash.

Always moves an image to trash.
If your image is located in an album, it would remove the file from the album and move it to Catalog/Session trash. All the image variants would be moved to trash as well.
For files in “folders” it works in the same way.

Always deletes an image from disk.
If your image is located in an album, it would remove the file from the album and delete it from disk, skipping the trash.
Files in “folders” would also be deleted from disk.
This option doesn’t affect image variants – only selected variants would be deleted.

Yes, it’s here – Capture One 10.1 finally supports Fuji Compressed RAW files.

X-trans pipeline re-design

What? Another great news for Fuji photographers? With point one release, Capture One 10 delivers support for LCC, Chromatic Aberration Analysis, and Purple Fringing tools for X-trans type sensors Fuji cameras. OpenCL is now also supported by X-trans files, that would significantly increase overall processing speed.

PSD support (read-only) Well, it cost me a lot of effort not to use a clickbait headline here. “Capture One now supports PSD!”, you know. Sounds awesome. Unfortunately, it’s a read-only PSD support. It’s not half bad, but it lets you to only view and store PSD files in Capture One.

You can edit PSD file in Capture One and re-process it into a new file, but it would flatter PSD layers, what makes it quite meaningless. Anyway, thumbs up, Phase One! Step by step and we’ll see Capture One layers to PSD conversion feature!

Token Watermarking

That’s a really curious idea to implement the token system into the watermarking feature. If you’re not familiar with tokens, here is a short concept: you can take any metadata from your RAW (date, aperture, ISO, keywords, etc.) and use it for naming and processing.

With Capture One 10.1 you can use tokens for watermarking as well. I don’t think that most of the photographers would find it useful, but for editorial purposes that could work pretty well. For example, if you have a group of authors, there is now no need to add specific watermarks for each one of them. Simply add token “Creator” and Capture One would take the name from Creator IPTC field.

Improved Watermark Quality

The quality of text watermarks has been improved in Capture One 10.1 and it’s particularly noticeable on web-preview files.

Vectorscope orientation color wheels

Besides all these features, Capture One 10.1 brings vectorscope orientation color wheels as an additional option to the standard layout. Color wheels layouts could be changed in Color Settings. If you’ve never seen this type of color wheels, you’re probably not working with video. If you do – then Capture One would become now a little bit more convenient and habitual for you. For example, if you have used Tangent panels in other applications and got used to its workflow, now you can use the same layout in Capture One.

Automation with Apple Script

Apple Script integration becomes better with each major Capture One update. Capture One 10.1 version also brings support to some new functions:

• Import
• Keywords
• Batch Rename/Batch Counter
• Current collection
• Next Capture Adjustments (configuration)
• Output counter
• Selections (improved syntax)
• Camera controls
• Stop live view
• Sync folder
• Adjustments clipboard (copy/paste)
• General logging/error message improvements

(By the way, we are looking for an experienced Capture One and Apple Script users for collaboration. Let us know via email captureoneblog@gmail.com.)

OpenCL: UX improvements

OpenCL is the main hardware acceleration technology used in Capture One and for supported graphic cards it gives a significant speed boost. At the same time, OpenCL may lead to some visual issues with specific graphic cards. Capture One 10.1 update makes it much easier to find out how OpenCL works with you machine. At the first run, you will see a message indicating Capture One is analyzing your hardware. You’ll find the result of the test in General> Hardware acceleration settings. In case of any issues there would be a link to a help page as well.

Memory management on Mac

There are some under the hood changes to reduce memory consumption in open Catalogs/Sessions on Mac.

New Cameras Support

• Sony A9
• Nikon D5600
• Nikon D3400
• Fujifilm X-T20
• Fujifilm X-A10
• Fujifilm XQ2
• Panasonic TZ85/ZS60/TZ80
• Panasonic TZ100/ZS100/TZ101
• Panasonic FZ2000/FZH1
• Panasonic GH5
• Pentax K-70
• Pentax KP

New Lenses Support

• Nikon AF-P DX NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3G ED VR
• Nikon 1 Nikkor VR 6.7-13 mm F/3.5-5.6
• Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 105mm f/1.4E ED
• Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 70–200mm f/2.8E FL ED VR
• Panasonic LUMIX G 25mm f/1.7 ASPH (H-H025)
• Panasonic LUMIX G Fisheye 8mm f/3.5 (H-F008)
• Panasonic LUMIX G MACRO 30mm f/2.8 ASPH. MEGA O.I.S. (H-HS030)
• Panasonic LUMIX G X Vario PZ 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH Power O.I.S. (H-PS14042)
• Panasonic LUMIX G X Vario PZ 45-175mm f/4.0-5.6 ASPH (H-PS45175)
• Panasonic Leica DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm f/2.8 ASPH MEGA O.I.S. (H-ES045)
• Panasonic Lumix G X Vario 35-100mm F2.8
• Sigma 18-300mm F3.5-6.3 DC MACRO OS HSM | C #886
• Sigma 24mm F1.4 DG HSM | A #401
• Sigma 50-100mm F1.8 DC HSM | Art #693
• Sigma 85mm F1.4 DG HSM | A #321
• Sony DT 55-200mm F4-5.6 (SAL55200)
• Sony DT 55-200mm F4-5.6 SAM (SAL55200-2)
• Sony FE 100mm F2.8 STF GM OSS (SEL100STFGM)
• Sony FE 85mm F1.8 (SEL85F18)
• Sony Vario-Tessar T* FE 16–35 mm F4 ZA OSS (SEL1635Z)
• Zeiss Distagon T FE 35 mm F1.4 ZA (SEL35F14Z)
• Tamron SP 15-30mm F/2.8 Di VC USD
• Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD
• Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2
• Voigtländer 10mm/F5.6 Hyper Wide Heliar
• Voigtländer 15mm/F4.5 Super Wide Heliar III
• Zeiss Batis 2.8/135
• Zeiss Loxia 2.4/85
• Zeiss Milvus 2.8/15
• Zeiss Milvus 2.8/18
• Zeiss Milvus 2/135
• Zeiss Otus 1.4/28

What’s next?

With Capture One 10.1 release we can clearly see how subscription based model changed software development. New features are delivered by degrees now, that’s why I’ve written in Capture One 10 review “…we’ll see more new features in Capture One 10.1, 10.2 and 10.3 releases”. No, Phase One, I didn’t violate your NDA, I’m just a prophet.

And my next prediction is… more great features in the 10.2! That’s why if you didn’t switch to Capture One 10 yet, now is the time. You’ll receive a mass of useful tools today and a new batch of them in the next free updates.

B&H carries Phase One Capture One 10.

From the Photoshelter YouTube Channel:

For PhotoShelter's Third Thursdays in April, we brought back one of our most popular topics — "What Do Photo Editors Want From Photographers?" Joining our panel was:

• Jeffrey Furticella, Sports Photo Editor at The New York Times
• Mariah Tyler, Digital Assistant Photo Editor at Travel + Leisure
• Raydene Salinas, Photo Editor at New York Magazine's The Cut

We found out how they discover new talent, how they like (and don't like) to be pitched, and some common mistakes they see photographers making.

From the Canon Digital Learning Center:

By Liza Gershman

Lifestyle photography differs from traditional portrait photography in that it focuses on candid moments, or moments that appear to be candid, rather than traditional posed portraiture in which the subject is looking directly at the camera in a static pose. Lifestyle photography is often seen in advertising and editorial imagery to convey a mood, feeling, and experience. The goal is to capture real, genuine moments, and photograph these moments in a thoughtful way with attention to backgrounds, colors, lighting, and even wardrobe. A major distinction between lifestyle imagery and candid imagery is that candid imagery captures what is preexisting. It is a moment that happens organically, something that is unplanned. Lifestyle photography allows for candid moments, but within the structure of a planned scene.

From the Adorama YouTube Channel:

Mark Wallace shows you how to use inexpensive LED lights to create color and depth to your indoor portraits. This is a technique that can be done by anyone in almost any indoor setting. It's very easy and tons of fun!

Note: You can find similar LED lights here. [Sean]