Nikon recently put out this short 3-minute video that offers an interesting glimpse into one of the critical steps of lens making: the production of the optical glass. It steps through the various stages of manufacturing, from combining the raw elements through examining the chunks of glass before they’re polished and perfected.
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Canon broke new ground in its lens-making this year by bringing image stabilization to non-L wide-angle prime lenses (the widest IS prime was previously the 100mm f/2.8 IS L). There are now three: lenses at the stabilized-wide-angle party: a 24mm and 28mm, announced in February, and a 35mm that was announced just last month.
According to new rumors, Canon will continue to spread its IS technology to non-L and non-telephoto primes next year. One that’s on the way is a replacement to the popular 50mm f/1.4.
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Do you ever clean the front element of your lens by fogging it up with your breath and then wiping it off with a cloth? If so, you might want to stop — Nikon says the practice could be damaging to your glass. Apparently human breath contains stuff that isn’t too friendly toward camera lenses.
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Behold: a box set of Nikon prime lenses. This unique kit is a limited-edition item currently being sold by Nikon exclusively in certain European countries (it’s available in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the UK). Inside the Nikon-branded aluminum case are three f/1.8 lenses: the 28mm, 50mm, and 85mm. Oh, and you get the manuals, lens hoods, and soft cases as well.
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Lens hoods and protective cases are nice accessories to have, but they’re generally only bundled with professional L glass when it comes to Canon lenses. Canon USA almost never includes them with lenses that don’t carry that distinctive red ring (or a green ring). Last week, Bryan Carnathan over at The Digital Picture recently noticed that the pre-order pages for the new Canon 35mm f/2 IS over on B&H and Adorama listed a hood and case as part of what’s included. The news surely got many a Canonite wondering, “will bundled hoods and cases be included with non-L lenses now?”
Unfortunately, the answer is no — at least for photographers in the US.
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Many of Canon’s announcements as of late have been for its full frame DSLRs, but the company hasn’t forgotten about all its APS-C customers. It will reportedly be refocusing on its EF-S crop sensor gear at the beginning of next year, with announcements of new lenses and a DSLR.
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Canon UK has released a handful of sample photographs shot using the company’s new image stabilized lenses: the 24-70mm f/4 IS an 35mm f/2 IS.
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The rumors were off but the leak was spot on: today Canon officially announced the not-so-secret 24-70mm f/4 IS and the 35mm f/2 IS, bringing image stabilization to two new focal length ranges.
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Canon’s two soon-to-be-announced lenses were leaked today by Japanese website Digicam info. The first one is, as suspected, the 24-70mm f/4 IS. The second one was more a surprise: it’s not a new 50mm, but a 35mm f/2 IS. Canon is continuing its new trend of building image stabilization into wider-angle lenses — a bit strange for still photographers, but great news for people who record video with their DSLRs.
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Last week we reported on rumors of an upcoming Canon 24-70mm f/4 IS lens. The latest word is that the lens is “coming soon”, and won’t be announced alone. In addition to updating the popular 24-70mm focal range with image stabilization — useful for video recording — Canon may also be planning to announcing a second lens, reportedly an image-stabilized followup to the much-loved Canon 50mm f/1.4.
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