Canon Announces the EOS 60D

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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 …

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

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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 point that allows many more people to take advantage of it.  A focal range of 70-300 is quite large and makes this a very versatile lens.  Ideal for people who want to perhaps travel with only a couple of lenses.  If the image quality is good enough then I can see travel photographers using this alongside a 24-70mm lens.  On a full frame camera that really would be all that you would need.  This will also make a great lens for the DSLR video shooting crowd.  Particularly those who already have some nice wide aperture primes less than 70mm, and need a long reach zoom for the odd occasion.  Using the engineering plastic that was seen on the 100mm f2.8 L IS Macro lens Canon have kept the weight of the lens down too ( just a touch over 1kg).  It doesn’t quite compete against the 28-300 range of the new FX Nikon lens announced last week in terms of focal range, but its still an interesting product that I hope to be trying out as soon as they hit the shelves.  To keep things lightweight for my backcountry skiing photos I use the 70-200 f4 L IS but I would definitely like to compare this new 70-300 with that.  The extra 100mm range would be very nice!

The lens retails for $1599.

Buy from B&H photo HERE

Buy from Amazon HERE

Buy from Adorama HERE

More info after the jump!

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Canon Announces revised 1.4x and 2x Teleconverters

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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 their TCs last year so it would be great to see something similar. One thing that has me curious though, the previous TCs were designed to work with the older big white lenses and these designed for the newer.  So will the new ones work as well on the new lenses as the old ? We will have to wait and find out!

They are expected to ship in December for $500 each.  B&H will keep you informed when all of these new items become available for purchase

Full Press Release:

London, 26th August 2010 – Canon today unveils two lens extenders designed for its L-series range of new super-telephoto lenses. Designed for photojournalists, nature and sports photographers who need to get close to distant and challenging subjects, the Extender EF 1.4x III and Extender EF 2x III increase the focal length of a lens by a factor of 1.4x and 2x respectively while still delivering superb image quality. To ensure the best possible image quality in all shooting conditions, they also combine enhanced environmental protection, redesigned optics and improved data communication between lens and camera.

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

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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 at one end, zooming to a 15mm fish at the other end. In between these extremities lies points in the focal length that will provide a full 180 degrees of view on both 1.6 and 1.3 crop cameras and of course at the 15mm end, the same view on a full frame camera as is currently available with the 15mm prime lens. Additionally, going wider than a horizontal 180 view will produce a circular fisheye type image that vignettes in the corners but provides a full circular view. Something which no Canon lens has ever done before. This is a niche look to images, but it can be fun and Sigma has been making lenses that do this for sometime with some success. Cleverly then Canon has, with this lens, answered a lot of requests. Nikon users have long had the brilliant little 10mm fish for their crop cameras and now Canon users have something of their own. In the past few years the Tokina 10-17 had proved to be very popular amongst many people that I know as the only way to get a full 180 degree fisheye view on a 1.3 crop 1 series camera so presumably Canon wanted to address this too.

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Sony goes back to the future with their new SLR technology

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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.

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Zoom H1 Audio Recorder now shipping!

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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

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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 …

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Comments on Nikon annoucements + Canon updates point and shoot cameras

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4048_nikkor_85_previewIts 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.   I’ll run through them really quickly below with main features and then I have a few comments below that.  All the products are already available for pre-order via B&H and Amazon using the links I have provided.

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Canon 100mm f2.8 L Macro Review

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100601_1830_dancarrCanon 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? 

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Introducing the F-Stop Loka backpack

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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 …

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DVD Cover – Poorboyz REVOLVER

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Poorboyz Productions just dropped the trailer for their new movie REVOLVER. Along with the trailer they also released the DVD box art and I’m happy to say that the main image on the front of the box is one of my shots from my trip to Alaska this past spring time. The skier is Tim Durtchi and the photo was taken near Haines while we were up there with the awesome crew from Alaska Heliskiing. Tim skied a few turns down the face in the background and then launched a huge rodeo 720 off the wind-lip deep down into that …

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10 luxuries for the traveling photographer

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Last week I posted 10 essentials for the traveling photographer. This week we are moving up the scale a bit to check out some things that you don’t necessarily need, but would be awesome to have if you have everything else on the previous list! 1. G-Tech Hard Drives In the essentials list I put hard drives and recommended the LaCie Rugged drives. If you are going to take a step up though then you have to check out the G-Raid Mini from G-Tech. This tiny enclosure houses 2 hard drives that can be configured in any Raid configuration meaning …

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