Canon and Sony News for Dec 2010

Canon Extender 1.4x & 2x ISO 12233 samples crops have been added to the Canon EF 200mm f/2.0L IS USM Lens Review. The Extender III samples are the two longest focal lengths available for this lens on the Canon EOS-1Ds III. The first link is to a mouseover comparison between the 1.4x II and 1.4x III.

Notice that the 1.4x III has less barrel distortion than the 1.4x II. This makes the center-of-the-frame details slightly smaller in a comparison. This difference will be most noticeable in the top crop shown in the ISO 12233 chart tool.

Noticeable in the bottom crop is the reduced CA (Chromatic Aberration) in the 1.4x Extender III.

The Extender 2x III is slightly sharper than the Extender 2x II, but the Extender 1.4x III is not significantly different than the Extender 1.4x II in this regard.

Standardized test results have once again been added to the Zeiss 100mm f/2.0 Makro-Planar T* ZE Lens Review page.

Standardized test results have once again been added to the Zeiss 50mm f/2.0 Makro-Planar T* ZE Lens Review page.

May your Christmas be a special one!

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L IS USM Lens
Take the current Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM Lens and add a 4-stop image stabilizer. Of course I'll take any optical improvements possible as well. In addition to giving us an awesome lens, Canon would give those of us trying to decide between and help others decide between the 24-70 L and 24-105 L huge time savings. I asked for this lens a long time ago - and will keep asking until I get it or something better. :)

Canon EF 16-50mm f/5.6L IS USM Lens
Landscape photography is extremely popular - how about a landscape-specific lens? Landscape photography often requires deep depth of field - which often translates to narrow apertures and wide angles of view. I'll give up the wide apertures (if I need to) for lighter weight and any other benefits I can have in place of them. IS will let me shoot handheld in many situations - even in strong winds with a circular polarizer in place. I of course need razor sharp images right into the full frame sensor corners, no distortion, no flare, no CA and no vignetting (even with a standard CP filter installed).

Canon EF 500mm f/5.6L IS USM Lens
I would like to see a great bird and wildlife photography lens that is both smaller and much more affordable than the current supertelephoto lenses but am not willing to accept less than perfection in the image quality attributes. The gap between the 400mm f/5.6L lenses and the big guns leaves a gap for such a lens. Make it 5/8 the dimensions of the 800 f/5.6 and 1/8 the cost. I know - I'm dreaming about that last part.

Canon EOS-1Ds IV Digital SLR
Based on the past EOS 1Ds release schedule, the 1Ds IV is now overdue. While the current 1Ds III remains my favorite camera, I am ready for the latest DSLR features (horizon level, better LCD, HD video ...) to be added to it. Increase the resolution and frame rate too.

Canon Digital Photo Professional (DPP) Improvements
DPP makes getting great image quality easy, but this application could be so much better. With so many million Canon EOS DSLRs in circulation, improving DPP would benefit a huge customer base - which can only be a good thing for Canon.

New Canon Lens Cap Design
How hard would it be to give us a center- AND side-pinch Canon lens cap like all of the other lens manufacturers? Better yet, leap frog this design with something even better. Just make sure the lenses sit flat when placed on their installed lens cap.

Canon Lens Hoods for All
I want the proper lens hood to come with all Canon lenses I purchase - not just L lenses.

Increased Canon Lens Warranty Period
Canon USA's 1 yr lens warranty appears stingy next to those of Sigma USA and Tamron USA. Canon makes great quality gear - the warranty should reflect this. Most repairs are needed early in the life of a product anyway.

Michael Tapes Design has announced the LensAlign MkII (press release).

Nikon has posted D7000 Firmware v1.0.1.

"This service provides software for upgrading D7000 A firmware to Ver. 1.01 and B firmware to Ver. 1.01. This software allows for simultaneous update of both A and B firmware to the latest version."

Modifications enabled with this firmware upgrade:

"Bright spots were sometimes noticeable with live view mode or movie recording of especially dark scenes or subjects. Occurrence of this issue has been reduced".

Lowepro has introduced the CompuDay Photo Series (press release) consisting of a backpack and a messenger bag.

Standardized test results have been added to the Zeiss 35mm f/2.0 Distagon T* ZE Lens Review page.

B&H is taking preorders for the Canon Extender EF 1.4x III and Canon Extender EF 2x III.

(thanks Ted)

By popular request, ISO 12233 resolution chart samples for the Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di VC Lens have been added to the site.

While I hope to get a full review of this lens (along with many others) on the site at some point, the ISO chart results tell us a lot about the image quality of a lens. And in this case, the Tamron 70-300 performs very impressively well for it's price point. Corners degrade as the focal length increases and 300mm performance is not so great, but again, this image-stabilized lens is currently selling for less than $400.00 delivered after rebate at B&H.

However, I need to add a possible warning that these results do not tell the complete story in this case. I had to spend a more-than-usual amount of time focus testing this lens - just to confirm what I was seeing. And my initial (still early) determination is that my Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di VC Lens is very inconsistent in the focus accuracy department. Life is good when it gets focus right, but a sharp lens does not deliver sharp subjects if not focused accurately.

 
I am also getting a lot of requests for a Sigma 85mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM Lens Review. To bring you at least the standardized results from the Sigma 85, I have to date, purchased and returned two of these lenses. The first was consistently front focusing. The second was focusing so inconsistently that I wished for the first one back. Roger at LensRentals.com is having the same problems - he has even posted a warning on his Sigma 85mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM Lens rental page.

Third party lens focus accuracy problems have consumed far more of my time than I care to remember. I'll probably get over it enough to order the third copy of this lens after Christmas. Stay tuned.

 
B&H has just announced free overnight shipping on Canon and Nikon cameras. You can have one in time to use Christmas morning. B&H also notes that today is the last day for standard shipping for delivery in time for Christmas.

The Adobe Photoshop 12.0.3 update fixes a number of high priority bugs including tool tips on Windows XP, painting performance and type-related issues. This update is recommended for all Windows users.

The most significant fixes in the Photoshop 12.0.3 update include the following:

Windows XP tool tip font issue introduced by 12.0.2
A number of potential security vulnerabilities have been addressed
Top type and font crashers found in the field have been addressed
A number of performance issues have been addressed
Crash opening 3D layers has been addressed
Color Engine crash has been resolved
Intermittent file format issues addressed
Shift scrolling bug fixed
Sharpen crasher fixed
Marching ants not seen at certain zoom levels fixed
Metadata focus distance issue addressed
File info bug addressed for Orphea Studio jpg's
TWAIN crashers fixed
Brush cursor bug fixed
Histogram progress bar issue fixed
Droplet issues addressed

Apple Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update 3.5 adds RAW image compatibility for the following cameras to Aperture 3 and iPhoto '11:

Canon PowerShot G12
Leica D-Lux 5
Leica V-Lux 2
Nikon D7000
Nikon COOLPIX P7000
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF2
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2

Canon USA has posted Digital Photo Professional 3.9.3 Updater for Windows

Changes for Digital Photo Professional 3.9.3 Updater for Windows:

1. Fixes a problem in which Digital Photo Professional shuts down abnormally when viewing the shooting information of specific images (*).

It also fixes a problem in Digital Photo Professional that errors occur and prevent the process of converting and saving specific RAW images from being completed.

*: Images taken with the EOS-1D Mark IV for which either C.Fn I-16 AE Microadjustment or C.Fn I-17 FE Microadjustment is set to "Enable" and if AE Microadjustment or FE Microadjustment has a negative value.

2. Fixes a problem in Digital Photo Professional 3.9.1/3.9.2 in which "0" cannot be input if the numerical keypad in the tool palette of Edit Window and Edit Image Window is not used.

There are services that will deliver an RSS news feed to you via email.

FeedMyInbox and BlogTrottr are two such services with free variants of their offerings. By default, FeedMyInbox delivers one email per day and BlogTrottr delivers an email for each post. Both worked fine in my testing. Signing up and unsubscribing is very easy with both services.

Here are the news feed URLs you need if subscribing to these services:

All News: www.the-digital-picture.com/News-RSS.aspx
Canon News Only: www.the-digital-picture.com/Canon-News-RSS.aspx
Nikon News Only: www.the-digital-picture.com/Nikon-News-RSS.aspx

Standardized test results have been added to the Zeiss 28mm f/2.0 Distagon T* ZE Lens Review page.

From Think Tank Photo:

When getting the shot requires extreme body movements, there are few sensations more annoying than having your gear slapping against your chest. To solve this problem, we have released the Backpack Connection Kit.

This accessory strap kit is designed to keep the body and lens stored in your Digital Holster stationary and snug against the torso. Carrying a Digital Holster V2.0 chest-mounted allows rapid access to the DSLR inside it while protecting the camera from dust and damage. The straps of the specially designed Backpack Connection Kit keep the Holster bag and DSLR from sagging or shifting weight during continuous movement.

In the Backpack Connection Kit video, Kurt Rogers explains how to attach the Think Tank Photo Backpack Connection Kit to a backpack, in order to carry a Digital Holster V2.0 bag on the backpack harness. The Backpack Connection Kit attaches to any Think Tank Photo backpack and the Digital Holster V2.0 series of camera bags.

Firmware Update Version 1.0.8 is now available for the Canon EOS 60D.

Firmware version 1.0.8 incorporates the following fix:

Fixes a phenomenon in which captured images may become overexposed when using the camera's built-in flash or an external Speedlite in combination with the lenses listed below:

a) EF300/4 L IS USM
b) EF28-135/3.5-5.6 IS USM
c) EF75-300/4-5.6 IS USM
d) EF100-400/4.5-5.6 L IS USM

Sample pictures have been added to the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X Pro DX Lens Review.

DxO Labs is pleased to announce the immediate availability of DxO Optics Pro v6.5.2 for Mac and Windows that adds RAW support in both its Standard and Elite editions for the Pentax K-5, the Sony NEX-5 and NEX-3.

Further, 50 new DxO Optics Modules are now available to DxO Optics Pro users, covering numerous Canon, Nikon, Pentax and Sony cameras.

You can download a fully-functional trial version for free: Free trial version.

Read the release note

Standardized test results have been added to the Zeiss 18mm f/3.5 Distagon T* ZE Lens Review page.

Zeiss Lens Test Update: I will be adding results for the rest of the Zeiss ZE lenses to the site over the next few days. I have changed out some test equipment and the flaring shown in the initial test of this group of lenses is far reduced. The actual cause of which I remain uncertain.

Your hard drive is going to fail. It is not a question of "if" it will fail, but "when" it is going to happen. If your drive failed right now, what would you lose?

This topic is especially hot to me as I'm dealing with a partially failed SSD drive right now (bad block). While this problem has cost me a LOT of time this week (my most precious resource), I have not lost any data or files.

I talk briefly about my backup strategy on my Digital Workflow page. There are many good ways to store copies of your data (including some online services), but the device I use most (and the device that saved me this time) is the Western Digital 1TB My Passport Essential SE Portable USB 2.0 Hard Drive (B&H).

I have 10 of these in my current backup rotation (along with many additional small capacity drives). They are very small (easy to take off site) and have given me no problems to date. The autorun software is a pain, but there are fixes available for this. I just turned off autorun.

This is the second primary drive failure I have experienced in less than two years. Backup what you care about!

Apple Aperture 3.1.1 is now available. This update addresses overall stability and performance issues, and also includes specific fixes that:

1. address compatibility with the iLife Media Browser

2. improve reliability when upgrading existing Aperture libraries

3. address issues with publishing photos to MobileMe, Facebook and Flickr

The update is recommended for all users of Aperture 3.

For detailed information on this update, please visit this website: support.apple.com/kb/TS2518

Adobe® Photoshop® Elements 9.0.1 update is now available for download.

The Adobe Photoshop Elements 9.0.1 update will install a patch on top of Adobe Photoshop Elements 9. It provides a fix to the Spot Healing Brush when used in Content Aware mode. This update is only applicable to Photoshop Elements 9 running on a Windows OS.

Press Release: Tamron 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD Lens