Canon and Sony News for Jan 2006

 Sunday, January 1, 2006

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Canon has introduced two new focusing screen sets for their 1D *, 1Ds * and 5D camera bodies. Photographers interested in square or 4x5/8x10 final output may have interest in these new screens.

Monday, January 30, 2006

Sigma UK has a sense of humor! Read this humorous Sigma UK Press Release.

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Amazon.com is having an electronics sale through January 30th. Find the item you want in the reviews (here), then click on one of the Amazon links to find the sale price. Note: Amazon requires many of the lenses to be added to your shopping cart to reveal the price. You can simply remove the item if you do not wish to buy it.

In other news, I have received my Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM Lens back from Canon service. Canon replaced the lens with a new model (the box has the now-famous blue dot on it). The rays-of-light flare issue is gone and the lens works excellently.

Friday, January 20, 2006

Canon has announced that it has produced the company's 30-millionth EF Lens.

TOKYO, January 19, 2006 — Canon Inc. today announced the achievement of a new lens-production milestone as production of the company's EF lenses passed the 30-million mark.

Production of interchangeable EF lenses for Canon EOS-series AF (autofocus) SLR cameras began in 1987 at the company's Utsunomiya Plant. Canon produced its 10-millionth EF lens in August 1995, its 20-millionth in February 2001 and, a mere five years later, has now reached the 30-million plateau. This achievement reflects users' high level of satisfaction with the performance and quality realized by EF lenses, as well as the service offered through Canon's marketing operations.

Canon's proprietary EF (electro-focus) lens, which combines a large-diameter fully electronic lens mount and an internal autofocus motor, was born in 1987. In November of the same year, Canon introduced the industry's first*1 Ultrasonic Motor (USM)-powered lens: the EF 300mm f/2.8L USM. In September 1989, the EF 50mm f/1.0L USM, featuring the world's largest aperture*1 of f/1.0, was launched and in September 1995 the EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM, equipped with the world's first*1 Image Stabilizer to correct for the effect of camera shake, made its debut. Further, in December 2001, Canon delivered the world's first super telephoto lens incorporating a diffractive optical element for camera lenses*1: the EF 400mm F4 DO IS USM. Canon's EF lens lineup, through the introduction of the latest innovative technologies, has consistently been recognized as the state of the art in the industry.

In conjunction with the launch in September 2003 of the highly acclaimed EOS Kiss Digital SLR camera, which has achieved outstanding success worldwide with sales to date surpassing 1.2 million units, Canon expanded its EF lens lineup with the introduction of the EF-S series of lenses, optimized for use with digital SLR cameras that incorporate APS-C size (22.2 x 14.8 mm) image sensors.

Canon's current EF lens lineup comprises 60*2 models, the most comprehensive selection*3 in the industry. Canon EF lenses span the gamut from ultra-wide 14mm to super-telephoto 600mm lenses and include standard and super-telephoto zoom models, large-aperture lenses, and TS-E lenses, which are equipped with a special tilt-shift mechanism that permits the manipulation of image perspective and distortion. Canon EF lenses have garnered high praise from a wide user base, from professional and advanced amateur photographers to novice photo enthusiasts, and earned Canon top share of the interchangeable lens market.

Also, as EF lenses are ideally suited for use with Canon's EOS D-series of digital SLR cameras in addition to its 35mm film SLR cameras, the company aims to continue developing the lineup as the core of the EOS system.

Canon, through continual innovations in every area of production technology, including optical design and electronics, will continue its efforts to deliver attractive products in response to user needs, opening up new directions in the future of photographic expression.

*1. For 35mm AF SLR cameras
*2. Including EF-S lenses and two EF lens extenders
*3. As of January 17, 2006.

There are a lot of Canon EF lenses floating around this planet!

Van Niekirk has a very nice by-example guide to using hot shoe flashes.

Adobe has released Camera Raw 3.3.

Thursday, January 19, 2006

While I typically present Canon-specific news on this page, there have been a couple of big industry announcements made recently that I feel may be of interest to Canon users as well.

First, Konica-Minolta has announced that it is withdrawing from the camera and photo business.

Also, Nikon has declared film dead - for them at least. Nikon has announced that it plans to discontinue most of its film cameras.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Canon Europe CPS has posted Issue 15.

Monday, January 9, 2006

Canon USA's web site has some relatively new and interesting links - one is titled "Getting the most out of your Macro Lens", another is titled "Using IS Lenses for Better Results". Finds the links on the bottom right of the linked page.

Friday, January 6, 2006

As I've said before, the current Canon rebates can make for some excellent deals. I don't expect to see lens deals this good until at least next fall (if they offer the triple rebates again). That said, the current rebates expire in a little over one week - January 15th. If you have been indecisive about buying one of these items, now is the time to act.

While the site seems quiet (few significant updates), a great deal of work is going on behind the scenes. I hope to bring you an even more useful site in the coming year. Stay tuned.

On a more frustrating note ... As I indicated before, I am acquiring many third party lenses (primarily Sigma) for review. The frustrating part is that I have had to return 4 lenses for focusing problems so far - two Sigma 70-200mm F/2.8 EX DG HSM Lenses, a Sigma 50-500mm F/4-6.3 EX DG HSM Lens and a Sigma 15-30mm F/3.5-4.5 EX DG Lens. I will only have 10 Sigma lenses by the time the replacements show up - this is not a good experience to date. Canon is not immune to this problem, but out of nearly 70 Canon lenses I've owned, only four have needed repairs including the recalled Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM Lens. The purpose of this note - just venting. :)

Happy New Year!

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Posted to: Canon News   
Post Date: 1/1/2006 12:00:00 AM ET   Posted By: Bryan
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