Photography Bay

Digital Camera News, Reviews and Tips

Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS 1.4x Hands-On Review

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Canon 200-400mm

Australian photographer Joshua Holko recently had the opportunity to shoot for several days with the upcoming Canon 200-400mm f/4L IS lens. (Recall that we had one of the first hands-on reports of this lens from Jeff Cable using the lens at the 2012 London Olympics.)

Holko put together a brief video review that touches on some of the key aspects of the lens, including the overall image quality compared to lenses like the Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS, its use with the Canon 2x teleconverter and the rumored $11k-$13k price point.

Check out the video below. [Read more…]

 

New Canon 1-Series and 5D X Rumors

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Canon 1 Series

All recent rumors point to 3 key cameras for Canon in 2013 – the 7D Mark II, 70D and Rebel T5i. The latest rumors on the Canon front, however, point to even further out into 2014.

The oft-rumored high-MP Canon DSLR seems to be trending toward a 2014 launch date instead of this year. Rumored sensor sizes are 40MP or better on a full frame chip for the EOS-1 series body.

Additional rumors point to a quicker-turnaround for the 5D Mark III than we saw in the last generation – perhaps as early as 2014. The 5D X  (or whatever the camera would be called) would likely see a marginal kick in specs as compared to the jump in performance we saw from the 5D Mark II to the 5D Mark III.

[via CR]

Canon 5D Mark III and 1D X Firmware Update Will Fix Slow AF with Speedlite AF Assist Beam

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 Canon 5D Mark III

According to a moderator’s posting in Canon USA’s official forums, Canon will be releasing a firmware update for the 5D Mark III and 1D X to correct an issue where the camera’s are slow to focus when used with a Speedlite’s AF Assist Beam.

Hi all, we have an important update on this topic. Thanks again for your feedback on our Forum.

Canon has confirmed that, depending upon the shooting conditions, it may take slightly longer for the EOS 5D Mark III and EOS-1D X digital SLR cameras to acquire focus when using the Speedlite’s AF Assist Beam, compared with that of the EOS 5D Mark II and EOS-1D Mark IV digital SLR cameras using the Speedlite’s AF Assist Beam. We are developing a firmware update to enhance the focusing feature for the EOS 5D Mark III and the EOS-1D X. The schedule for release of this firmware update will be announced shortly.

Of course, we’ll have more details and download links once the official firmware ships.

[via Canon USA]

Canon 1D X Firmware Update Version 1.2.1

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Canon 1D X

Canon has issued a firmware update for the EOS 1D X. Firmware version 1.2.1 incorporates the following improvements and fixes.

  1. The function to disable the Image size selection button has been added.
    * Please see the instruction manual “EOS-1D X Firmware Version 1.2.x Additional Function” (PDF file) included in the downloaded firmware 1.2.1 folder for information on how to intentionally disable this button, after the firmware update 1.2.1 has been installed in the camera.
  2. Fixes a phenomenon in which Err 70 and Err 80 may occur during certain shooting conditions.

You can download the firmware update and get instructions on how to install it here on Canon’s website.

Canon 2013 DSLR, Mirrorless and Lens Roadmap: 7D Mark II, 70D, Rebel T5i and More…?

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Canon 7D Mark II Rumors

Canon Rumors picked up on a juicy tip from a “very reliable source” with regard to Canon’s roadmap for 2013.

The key points?

3 New DSLRs: Two are entry-level and one is mid-level. The likely suspects are a Canon Rebel T5i and 70D filling the entry-level roles and a 7D Mark II (the original 7D is pushing 4 years old now) taking on the mid-level announcement. Some of the more recent rumors have put the 7D Mark II with a 24MP sensor and a February announcement date.

New EOS-M Mirrorless Camera: This has been rumored for quite some time and would almost certainly be an easy guess with a rumor/leak. The question is whether Canon has learned from the mistakes on the current EOS-M model and will deliver a successor that’s worth the effort.

4 New EF Lenses: Unknown which exact ones will debut this year, but the EF 100-400L IS lens is begging for a replacement.