Canon 8-15 f4 L Fisheye Image Samples

November 1, 2023May 20, 2011 by Dan Carr

If you aren’t familiar with this upcoming lens from Canon then check out my previous post with all the details. We still don’t know when this lens is going to become available and Canon is currently tight lipped about how badly production schedules are being affected by the situation in Japan. Last week though, the Canadian camera store Henry’s hosted a show in Toronto and the 8-15 f4 L was on show for all to see. What made it a little different this time is that people were allowed to use them and shoot photos of them to their own …

The Ultimate Wildlife Lens – Canon 200-400 F4 L IS USM EXTENDER 1.4×

October 11, 2023February 7, 2011 by Dan Carr

The full press release for the Canon 200-400 first announcement can be found here. I wanted to touch on a few further thoughts about what is an incredible lens. For years Canon shooters complained about the old school style of the Canon 100-400 f4.5-5.6 L IS. With it’s push pull design many people found that it sucked in dust and there were also large variations in the quality of them. Sometimes you could get a great copy, and if you didn’t mind dealing with the odd zoom design you could make some great images with it. Many wildlife photographers used …

Canon 70-300 f4-5.6 L IS Review (Vs. 70-200 f4 L IS)

October 12, 2023November 17, 2010 by Dan Carr

The Canon 70-300 f4-5.6 L IS was announced in September 2010 and made it to stores at the beginning of November. There already exists two 70-300s in the Canon lineup but neither of them have ever been showered with praise. The previous 70-300 f4.5-5.6 DO IS lens was incredibly small due to its difractive optics design, but image quality suffered and it never sold in large numbers. The 70-300 f4-5.6 IS (non-L) is a more budget oriented lens (approx. $550) and again never really turned any heads. I heard a lot of people cry “Oh my god a variable aperture …

Canon 70-200 f2.8 L IS II review & comparison to 70-200 f4 L IS

October 10, 2023September 3, 2010 by Dan Carr

The 70-200 lens is a staple in most pro photographer’s diet. The photographic possibilities with that focal are wide ranging and Canon has a 70-200 to suit almost everyone’s needs, 4 different versions in fact. The previous image stabilized version was brought out in 2001 and quickly became the new standard for such lenses. In 2010 Canon introduced the new MKII version of the lens featuring an improved 4-stop image stabilization and theoretically improved image quality. How does it stack up to the previous version and how does it compare to the 70-200 f4 L IS ? Read on to …

Canon 100mm f2.8 L Macro Review

July 30, 2025August 5, 2010 by Dan Carr

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 …

Battle of the 300s. 300mm F4 IS Vs. 300mm F2.8 IS

October 10, 2023July 10, 2010 by Dan Carr

This past winter I decided to purchase a 300mm f2.8 L IS. My dream lens. At the time I was using a 300mm f4 L IS to shoot skiing with and whilst I was never disappointed with the quality of the shots from that lens on its own, I wanted to see a little more from it when used with teleconverters. After buying the 2.8 I still had the f4 for a couple of weeks before I sold it on so I took the opportunity to shoot a few tests to compare the two. Details of my testing were as …

Canon 300mm f2.8 L IS + 2x Teleconverter – Real world usage how good is it ?

October 10, 2023July 5, 2010 by Dan Carr

Sometimes I get in the mood to do big technical tests on gear and lenses. I have a few of those in the works right now but for this one I’m going to keep it simple. Teleconverters have a fairly bad reputation and my first foray into their use was with my original 70-200 2.8 L IS. I picked up a 1.4x II thinking that it might be useful for getting me near the 300mm mark on the cheap. Long story short, I tried it a couple of times and then swore never to put a teleconverter anywhere near my …

Snow Photos 101 – Long lens selection

September 12, 2023April 28, 2010 by Dan Carr

So you’ve mastered you wide-angle lenses and medium telephoto zooms like the ubiquitous 70-200. The next step is inevitably looking at longer lenses in the 300mm and up range. Firstly, be prepared for your wallet to take a bit of a hit For the most part, once you start heading north of 200mm the price of lenses can take a bit of a jump for the higher quality ones. I can’t cover every lens option but here’s a few thoughts on some of your options from the main two manufacturers. During my years shooting skiing I have rarely needed a …

Tested my 85mm lens.

July 28, 2025April 8, 2009 by Dan Carr

When I sold my 70-200 2.8L IS to get one of the newer, sharper f4 versions I also picked up a Canon 85mm f1.8 to use for shooting portraits and lifestyle stuff. This week I have been shooting with Kaya Turski , fresh off her win at the European Open and with an x-games medal in her pocket she is finally putting injuries behind her and skiing really well. As well as some skiing stuff, I also wanted to get a few headshots and portraits of her as i’m sure magazines are going to be needing this stuff next winter. …

70-200 f4 L IS – Initial thoghts

July 28, 2025March 30, 2009 by Dan Carr

Those of you who follow this blog will remember that a couple of weeks ago I sold my beloved 70-200 2.8 L IS lens. The lens that has shot the majority of my ski photos for the last few years. I replaced it with it’s smaller and lighter brother the 70-200 f4 L IS. Having spent a couple of weeks using it now I thought I would confirm my initial suspicions. I LOVE this lens. As I sold my old lens I have no way of doing any direct comparisons but if that’s what you want to see then check …

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

July 28, 2025March 19, 2009 by Dan Carr

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. So today I sold it. Wait….what!??! Yep, it’s gone. You see I was thinking about it, when do I ever shoot that thing at 2.8? 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). The few times i did use it at wide’ish apertures where for portrait type stuff and then that was mostly at between 70mm …

Ode to the Sigma 15mm Fisheye lens

October 10, 2023February 10, 2009 by Dan Carr

About 3 years ago when I decided to start taking my shooting seriously, I also decided that I was going to need a fisheye lens. What action sports photographer doesnt have a fisheye right? Being a Canon shooter gave me two options, the Canon 15mm Fisheye or the Sigma 15mm Fisheye. At the time I remember reading something posted on the website Wheels And Wax.com saying that the two were nearly identical in image quality. I had just bought a 70-200 2.8L IS so I though i’d save the money and buy my one and only non-canon lens with the …