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

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

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.