lenses » Dan Carr Photography - Photography Product Reviews + Ski, Snowboard and adventure photography tips

Canon Cinema EOS Cine Lenses In Development

Dec 162011

Shortly after the launch of the Canon C300 I interviewed one of Canon’s technical staff about the camera. At the time he mentioned to me that on top of the announced 3 EOS Cine prime lenses there were also two more in development. One wider and one longer. I now have a photo of these two prototype lenses, see below. It’s rare that unannounced lenses are shown so I thought it well worth a mention. No focal length is known at the moment, if I had to guess I would say 100mm or 135mm and 18mm?

On top of these primes, it would seem that there are also two new Cine zooms in development on top of the two that were officially announced announced alongside the C300. The 14-60 and the 30-300 that were announced, are MASSIVE lenses and they don’t really fit the C300 form factor for those who want lightweight rigs. There’s no way they could be handheld or used on Steadicam rigs but here are two NEW Cine zooms that are much much smaller and would seem to target the more portable market. I’d imagine these will be comparable in spec to the Angenieux 16-42 and 30-80 that are so popular in 3d rigs and Steadicam rigs at the moment though potentially one could offer a longer range like a 70-200 which is a popular lens for DSLR shooters.

When will we see these lenses ? Perhaps more info at NAB in the spring of 2012 but given the EF Cine primes that we do know about are not due until next summer I wouldn’t count on seeing any of these new ones on shelves until 2013.

Canon Launches New Range Of EOS Cine Lenses With EF Mount

Canon, Industry News No Responses »

Nov 032011

Alongside the launch of the new EOS C 300 video camera, Canon have also addressed peoples concerns with using regular EF lenses on these cameras for shooting video professionally. EF lenses were not designed with manual focus in mind and they can prove tricky to use when critical focus is necessary.

Those problems have now been addressed though with this new lineup which features a true cine style of long focus throw and detailed lens markings with distances as well as a manual aperture. All resolve to 4K:

Canon Increases Prices On Lenses That Aren't Even Available Yet

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Jul 152011

Somewhat disappointing to report today that Canon has indicated the recommended list prices of all these lenses are to be increased to the following new prices. All the lenses apart from the 800mm are not even out yet. The price of these new Canon super tele lenses is HUGELY increased over the price of the old MKI versions so they’d better be incredible pieces of glass! Whilst this probably indicates we are getting closer to a release date, I was told today that as of yesterday at least, Canon Canada still has absolutely no timeline for the Canon 8-15mm lens. This is also a little disappointing because we were previously told that the already delayed release date was pushed back to the end of July. July’s end is rapidly approaching so you’d think if it was to make that deadline Canon Canada would know something of it by now.

Canon Updates Release Date Info For New Lenses

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May 252011

Canon has released information today on when they now expect the previously announced EF lenses to be released.

Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye USM lens is scheduled to be available in late July 2011
Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens is scheduled to be available in late August 2011
Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens is scheduled to be available in late August 2011
Canon EF 500mm F4L IS II USM lens is scheduled to be available in December 2011
Canon EF 600mm F4L IS II USM lens is also scheduled to be available in December 2011

Canon delays three of its new lenses until March 2011

Canon, Industry News 1 Response »

Nov 012010

Canon has announced today that three of its highly anticipated new lenses have been delayed until March 2011. The 300mm f2.8 L IS II , the 400mm f2.8 L IS II and the 8-15mm f4 L fisheye zoom.

The lenses have been delayed due to changes in the manufacturing process.

I’m personally most disappointed with the fisheye zoom as I plan to purchase that lens immediately and arriving in March it will miss most of my winter work where it would have been very useful.

Canon annouces 60D and 4 new lenses - The wrap up

Canon, Industry News 1 Response »

Aug 262010

Today is a pretty huge day for Canon shooters with the announcement of the new 60D and 4 new lenses as well as new teleconverters and information on even more lenses to come in the future! I have posted detailed information and my thoughts on all these announcements but as there were so many I am doing a summary here for those who just want to bare minimum info. If you want to read the full posts then scroll down or click the links! Whew! Big day and also new traffic record for my website so thanks to all those that logged in to check out these exciting new products.

Update 3: Adorama has the 60d up for order now here

Update 2: Amazon has the 60D up for pre-order here

Update: B&H will keep you informed when all of these new items become available for purchase

Canon 60D – Full article here.

Main points of interest: 18MP sensor, 3″ swivel screen, full video functions of the 7d and a nice looking ergonomic re-design.

Available in September for approx. $1099 (new battery grip BG-E9 $270)

Canon EF 70-300 f4-5.6 L IS – Full article here

Main points of interest: Small size (143mm) and weighs in at just a tiny bit over 1KG. 4-stop image stabilization, full weather sealing and minimum focusing distance of 1.2m

Available in October for approx. $1500

Canon EF 8-15 f4 L - Zoom Fisheye – Full article here

Main points of interest: First lens of its kind, circular fisheye on a full frame and ability to be a full frame 180 degree fisheye on all crop factors.

Available in January for approx $1400

Canon EF 300mm f2.8 L IS II - Full article here

Main points of interest: Weight reduced by 8%. New 4-stop IS. power focus mode for smooth focus racking during movie shooting. Multiple feet available for tripod/monopod attachment, built in collar.

Available in December for approx $7000

Canon EF 400mm f2.8 L IS II – Full article here

Main points of interest: Weight reduced by an enormous 28%!! Otherwise mush the same as the 300mm. New 4-stop IS. power focus mode for smooth focus racking during movie shooting. Multiple feet available for tripod/monopod attachment.

Available in December for approx $11,000

Canon 1.4x TC III and 2x TC III – Full article here

Main points of interest: Well not much really… they are designed to pair perfectly with the new big white tele lenses and predictably they apparently offer hugely improved contrast and sharpness.

Available in December for approx. $500 each

Canon EF 500mm f4 L IS II and 600mm F4 L IS II are in development – Full article here

Main point of interest: Sort of a half announcement. Canon confirms the 500 and 600 will see an upgrade next year to include all of the new features of the new 300 and 400. It will be really interesting to see if they can shave off 25% + weight of either of those 2 lenses ! That would be incredible.

Availability sometime next year and price TBA ( but it will be huge!)

Out with the old and in with the........smaller and lighter.

Gear Reviews 4 Responses »

Mar 192009

I think over the last 3 years, about 75% of the photos i have shot have been with the Canon 70-200 2.8 L IS.Â So today I sold it.Â Wait….what!??!Â Yep, it’s gone.Â You see I was thinking about it, when do I ever shoot that thing at 2.8?Â I’m always outside and 2.8 is quite a narrow DOF to hit a moving target with when you are not using auto focus (I don’t like using AF).Â The few times i did use it at wide’ish apertures where for portrait type stuff and then that was mostly at between 70mm and 90mm.Â Any more than 100mm with a aperture of 2.8 and at a distance to get head and shoulder shots of something and you are looking at a very thin DOF again which i tend to find a bit too thin to get all of someones face in focus.Â If i ever did shoot any lifestyle at longer lengths then i was stopping down to at least f6.4 or f7.1 to get every part of the person in focus.Â The shot on the right for example of Charley Ager taken yesterday.Â 200mm on my 2.8 with f6.4 was just enough to get him tack sharp all over and blow the background out nicely to get those backlit snowflakes to show up.

Just over a year ago Canon announced the 70-200 f4 L IS.Â Unbelievably they were tested by many of the leading websites and magazines and found to be even sharper than their f2.8 brother.Â BUT they are half the weight, half the diameter and even an inch shorter.Â For someone like me who is often skiing with a lot of gear on my back, any weight reduction is a blessing and as you may have guessed by now I have purchased one of these 70-200 f4 ISs. It was actually even $300 cheaper than my used f2.8 lens sold for so I have money in my pocket, 750g less weight on my back and an even sharper lens than i had before.Â Actually what I am going to do with the $300 is buy an 85mm 1.8.Â As I mentioned , when i did use my old lens wide open it was in that shorter range so the 85mm 1.8 will give me that option and being a prime not a zoom, will do it with even sharper results and also with a 1-stop advantage allowing me a very narrow DOF if i need it or ability to shoot in even lower light.Â It was sad to see my old 2.8 go, it has been responsible for most of my favorite images and travelled with me faithfully for so long but i think this new combination just makes more sense for me.