Canon announces the development of new 500mm and 600mm lenses

Canon has also announced that they will be making updates to the current 500mm and 600 mm lens designs following in the footsteps of the new 300mm and 400mm announced today. Little more information was given except that they will be available next year, and on display at Photokina in October. For me the really big news in these updates is the weight reduction. All the “big whites” already produce incredible images so it would be hard to improve on them in that respect. The 28% reduction in weight of the 400mm 2.8 though is an amazing achievement. If they …

Read more

Canon updates 300mm F2.8 IS and 400mm F2.8 IS

On top of all the other exciting things they released today, Canon has also been busy working on new updates to the big white lenses. This time round the 300mm f2.8 and 400mm f2.8 have seen the update, but we are told that the 500mm and 600mm are also being worked on. Given the already stunning image quality from these lenses I doubt we will see much improvement in that area but regardless, the lenses have received the full array of Canon’s coating technology and the addition of 4-stop IS. On top of this Canon have also worked to get …

Read more

Canon Announces the EOS 60D

Today Canon has upgraded their ever popular XXD line, replacing the 50D with the 60D. The specs indicate that this is a little more of an upgrade than the previous ones in this particular lineup so this is a big announcement for Canon. First off here are the important specs, with particularly interesting ones in bold: ( NB the 60d is now available for pre-order from Amazon.com here) So what are we seeing here then ? Well video was obviously going to be added as that is the norm these days. All the frame rates of the 7d are there …

Read more

Canon announces a new 70-300 4-5.6 L IS

On top of the 60d announcement and the other lens updates Canon has today introduced a second brand new L lens to their lineup alongside the 8-15 f4 L. There exists a non-L 70-300 and also a 70-300 DO lens but this is the first L version of the lens. The non-L lens was a good seller but the DO version was not due to a high price for the diffractive technology and also poor sharpness. The new lens features Canon’s latest 4-stop image stabilization as well as The lens has also been designed to come in at a price …

Read more

Canon Announces revised 1.4x and 2x Teleconverters

Among the other Canon announcements today Canon also released details of upgraded versions of their teleconverters. There isn’t a lot to comment on here as there are no major feature updates. They have been re-styled slightly to fit in with then look of the new super teles, and they also have the magical Canon coating on the elements that reduces flare. Between version 1 and version 2 of the teleconverters there was only a very small improvement so it will be interesting to see if there is a bigger step up to version 3. Nikon made some significant improvements with …

Read more

Canon 8-15mm f4 L – The fisheye zoom lens!

Canon has today announced a brand new lens for their EF lineup, the 8-15 f4 L lens. Of all of the rumors I read in the run up to these announcements I think this is the one lens that nobody was expecting. Until this point, the only Canon fisheye was the 15mm f2.8 but this was an old design that pre-dated digital crop sensors and Canon never released a lens that was wide enough to be a full 180mm fisheye on either of their crop sensor formats. This lens aims to address that problem by providing a circular 8mm fisheye …

Read more

Sony goes back to the future with their new SLR technology

Continuing with the major camera announcements, Sony is now taking their turn in the spotlight with 4 new cameras and a collection of Sony Alpha lenses. But there is something different about the new A33 and A55 cameras that fit into the lower end of Sony’s camera lineup. Normally I would post all the details but in this instance I’m less interested in the overall release and far more interested in some new technology that Sony introduced. Well , half new technology. The standout feature of the A33 and A55 is the so called semi-translucent mirror technology or pellicle mirror. …

Read more

Zoom H1 Audio Recorder now shipping!

The diminutive little H1 audio recorder that I blogged about a while back is finally shipping at B&H photo for just $99! This would work great in conjunction with one of the Redrock Micro Nano rigs I posted about yesterday!

Redrock Micro Nano DSLR rigs

I’m a stills photographer at heart but I really enjoy shooting video too when I can. The problem is though that the Canon DSLRs that I use are not ergonomically designed for video and stability has been an issue since their inception. The video accessory market saw a huge boom in products or “rigs” to help you shoot video with you Canon 5dMKII or 7d. But the problem was that most of them assumed that you only wanted to shoot video. They are large and bulky and often need disassembling into many smaller parts for transportation. Fine if you are …

Read more

Comments on Nikon annoucements + Canon updates point and shoot cameras

Its that time of year again where all the big manufacturers are preparing to serve up all the new goodies they have been working on just in time for the autumn’s major consumer/trade shows. Nikon kicked things off this evening by unveiling the d3100 camera and 4 new lenses. Next up Canon introduced the successor to the S90 point and shoot camera (my personal favorite, never go anywhere without mine), the S95 and rather embarrassingly CNET unveiled details on the Canon G12 although it would seem that they got confused as it was not officially announced by Canon this evening. …

Read more

Canon 100mm f2.8 L Macro Review

Canon launched the brand new 100mm f2.8 L Macro in September 2009. It’s not very often that Canon launches an entirely new lens, most being updates to already existing designs, so this was one that I wanted to check out as soon as I heard about it. There was already a 100mm macro lens but it was not part of the famed Canon L lineup, so what is different in the design of this version to justify inclusion in the L category? The major feature of this lens is the first implementation of Canon’s new Hybrid-IS system. Canon first released …

Read more

Introducing the F-Stop Loka backpack

Regular readers of the blog will know that I use mainly use the F-Stop Satori to carry my gear around. I am also part of the F-Stop Faction team. For some time now the guys at F-Stop have been working on a new pack called the Loka. With input from all the Faction members they have created a new pack that slots into the Mountain Series lineup below the Satori and the Tilopa in sizing. The new pack is now up for pre-order and the first production versions are expected to be delivered in late August. As soon as I …

Read more