Canon, Nikon and Sony News for Mar 2012 Report News & Deals  ►

CPN has posted a new article by Syl Arena, talking a closer look at Canon’s New Radio Speedlite Flash System.

From Sigma Corporation of America:
 
Newly designed telephoto zoom lens with Sigma’s own Optical Stabilizer system at street price of $1099
 
Ronkonkoma, NY, March 30, 2012 – Sigma Corporation of America, a leading researcher, developer, manufacturer and service provider of some of the world's most impressive lines of lenses, cameras and flashes, is pleased to announce that its newly upgraded 50-150mm F2.8 APO EX DC OS HSM telephoto lens is now available for the street price of $1,099.
 
The 50-150mm F2.8 APO EX DC OS HSM telephoto lens is the successor to the 50-150mm F2.8 APO EX DC II HSM. The updated lens now features Sigma’s own proprietary Optical Stabilizer (OS) technology, which offers the use of shutter speeds approximately four stops slower than would otherwise be possible. The lens design utilizes an inner-focusing and inner-zooming system that provides convenient handling and this, along with the OS feature, makes it favorable for high-performance, handheld, close-up photography. Additionally, the Hyper Sonic Motor (HSM) ensures quiet and high-speed auto focusing, while allowing full-time manual focus capability.
 
The Sigma 50-150mm F2.8 APO EX DC OS HSM Canon mounts will be available next week, while the Nikon and Sigma mounts are expected to be available by the end of April.
 
“This lens is a great addition to our lineup of telephoto lenses, and will be a fantastic tool for portrait, landscape and nature photography,” said Mark Amir-Hamzeh, president of Sigma Corporation of America. “This is our tenth telephoto lens with Optical Stabilizer technology and provides another option for photographers looking to produce high-quality images.”
 
Six SLD glass elements provide exceptional corrections for all types of aberrations and provide high-quality imagery throughout the zoom range. It also has a rounded, nine-blade diaphragm that creates an attractive blur to the out-of-focus areas of the image.
 
The lens’ Super Multi-Layer Coating reduces flare and ghosting and ensures sharp and high contrast images even at the maximum apertures. The addition of Sigma’s 1.4x EX DG APO and 2x EX DG APO teleconverters produce a 70-210mm F4 autofocus telephoto zoom lens and a 100-300mm F5.6 autofocus telephoto lens, respectively.
 
B&H just started accepting Sigma 50-150mm F2.8 APO EX DC OS HSM Lens preorders.

Are Your Canon PowerShot G1 X RAW images soft? If so, I may know why.
 
G1 X RAW files, when processed by Canon Digital Photo Pro v3.11.10.0 with the "Viewing and savings RAW images" preference to "High quality" (the default), are rendered very soft.
 
This is the same problem I currently have outlined on the Canon EOS 5D Mark III Review page. The G1 X RAW images are being affected by the same software flaw the 5D III images are affected by.
 
Canon has been notified. The workaround is to set the "Viewing and savings RAW images" preference to "High speed". Or use another RAW converter.

In a forum post, Kirk Baker, Senior Software Engineer, has released Photo Mechanic 4.6.9 Beta 1.
 
Version 4.6.9 Features

• Added support for the Exif 2.3 Serial Number tag for newer cameras that actually write this field (i.e. not guaranteed to be there even if camera is writing Exif 2.3).
• Improved support for the Canon EOS 5D Mark III.
• Added support for RAW ORF files from the Olympus E-PL3 and E-PM1.
• Fixed various memory leaks that could eventually cause a memory allocation failure for users editing or ingesting a very large number of photos.
• Fixed an issue when sequentially ingesting cards with filenames that overlap. This can happen when the user sets their camera preference to start filer numbering at 0001 for each card.
• Fixed a problem updating XMP in LZW-compress TIFF files saved by Capture NX2.
• Added a workaround for viewing NEF files processed by Nikon Image Transfer that are not written properly.
• Fixed a problem with adding GPS coordinates to Canon 30D JPEG files.
• The Exif Digitized Date/Time tag is now updated when using the Adjust Capture Times command.
• Ingest now ignores Fuji FFDB.DAT files, Canon Comstate files, and EYEFI folders.
• Lossless JPEG rotation now uses default DPI setting instead of Save As DPI setting.
• Fixed a problem with PM SlideShow playback becoming unresponsive with a large number of files.

Canon has posted EOS 1D Mark IV Firmware v1.1.1. Note: you must select your OS to get the firmware download option.
 
Firmware Version 1.1.1 incorporates the following change.
 
Optimizes the camera’s exposure accuracy when using EF 24mm f/2.8 IS USM and EF 28mm f/2.8 IS USM lenses, which are scheduled for release in June 2012.
 
If these lenses are used with an EOS-1D Mark IV camera that has not been updated with the new firmware, the image may be overexposed depending on the subject and shooting scene.

As I mentioned recently, I used the Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 L IS II USM Lens with the Canon EF 2x III Extender as a lightweight, handheld bird photography lens in Florida in early March and found the results to be quite impressive.
 
The Canon EF 800mm f/5.6L IS USM Lens served as my primary tripod-mounted birding lens for this trip (the perfect full frame choice), but the 300 L II, along with a 1.4x III and a 2x III filled the handheld and wider focal lengths needs. And did so remarkably well.
 
My initial comment stirred many inquiries about the 300 II + 2x III combination. I'm not a big extender user, but the Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 L IS II USM Lens is so amazingly sharp that the with-extender results are still remarkable. And I had no problems handholding the with-2x-resulting 600mm f/5.6L IS USM Lens.
 
I have uploaded a sample picture from this combination for your review. The Brown Pelican image was captured near sunset at f/8 (f/5.6 results are not as sharp), 1/250 with a handheld Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III in RAW format using the Neutral Picture Style (lower contrast for better histogram). The JPG sample was processed in DPP using the Standard Picture Style, sharpness set to "2" (low) and saturation set to "1".
 
Here is the sample: JPG (11.0 MB) | RAW (26.4 MB)
 
License granted for personal gear-evaluation purposes only.
 
I will add this full size sample picture to the Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 L IS II USM Lens Review for more-permanent reference.
 
B&H has the still-elusive Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 L IS II USM Lens (and Canon EF 400mm f/2.8 L IS II USM Lens) in stock at this moment.

The Canon Speedlite 600EX Flash, without the "-RT", is showing along with the -RT model on Canon UK website (compare).
 
Apparently the 600EX will also be available without the RF feature in some regions. Check your local region to see if you will have access to this model. (thanks Ben)

The Nikon D800 is, amazingly, in stock at Amazon.de.

Canon USA has issued an official response to the 5D III IS noise issue:
 
“We have acknowledged that when using the camera with specific lenses, there is an abnormal noise during IS operation when the shutter button is pressed halfway (or remains pressed halfway), and we are now considering the countermeasures. We will let you know about the countermeasures as soon as they are finalized”
 
The two affected lenses are the Canon EF 200mm f/2.0L IS USM Lens and the Canon EF 800mm f/5.6L IS USM Lens.
 
Note that image quality is not affected by the abnormality. Also note that this noise does not occur during Live View including during video capture.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4.1 Release Candidate is now available for download.
 
New Camera Support

• Canon EOS 5D Mark III

Fixed Issues

• Lightroom 4 did not properly open external applications when using the “Edit In” functionality.
• Point Curve adjustments made in Lightroom 3 have been restored.
• Addressed performance issues in Lightroom 4, particularly when loading GPS track logs, using a secondary monitor, and the controls within the Develop module.
• Ability to update DNG previews and metadata for more than 100 photos has been restored.
• This update allows for improved viewing of subfolders and stacks in folders with a large number of photos.
• It was possible that a layout of a saved book could be lost after quitting Lightroom 4.

The last two posts at Lightroom Journal are worth reading.

The Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT Flash is in stock at Adorama and Amazon.com. (thanks Jacob)

B&H has a pair of used Canon EOS-1D Mark IV bodies in stock for $4,399.95/$4,599.95 for 9/9+ ratings respectively.

Confirmed: The Canon EF 200mm f/2.0L IS USM Lens' image stabilization system makes a modestly-disturbing churning sound when used on the Canon EOS 5D Mark III in AI Servo AF mode. The same sound is made briefly when the shutter release button is released in One Shot AF mode.
 
I do not know if this is a problem or not. IS appears to be working properly and the images created during the strange sound are quite sharp. I'll let Canon know (others may have already done so).

Tom Hogarty, Lightroom Product Manager, has announced in a blog post that an update to Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 is expected to be released as early as this week.
 
Especially good news is that, along with many bug fixes, this update will add support for Canon EOS 5D Mark III RAW files.

B&H has the new Canon PowerShot G1 X Digital Camera in stock.