Canon released a new firmware update for the 1D X this morning that gives the DSLR cross-type autofocus when using certain telephoto and extender combos that have a max aperture of f/8. The announcement page includes a list of lens/extender combinations that are now compatible.
The first lens listed in the 1.4x Extender column is the “Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM.” Problem is, that’s not a lens that exists… Read more…
YouTube user uyt384 does tests on old camera lenses, but not in the way you’d expect. Instead of testing the build or image quality, he uses a Geiger counter to see how much radiation is being emitted by each one. Read more…
When the Sony A99 SLT was announced last month, photographers gawked at the camera’s 102-point focal plane phase-detection system that compliments its traditional 19-point AF system. If you’ve been drooling over the idea of using 121 separate focus points, here’s some bad news: the feature may not be compatible with your Sony lens.
The Phoblographer reports that only 6 lenses will be able to take advantage of the new system when the camera is launched later his month. Read more…
Japanese camera blog Egami found an interesting just-published patent by Epson that was first filed last year. The goal of the technology appears to be to make older vintage lenses more useable on newer cameras. Basically, it seems that the company wants to add a small camera/mirror/lens component to the front of camera that’s designed to track the settings on old manual lenses. The photos in the patent show what appears to be Epson R-D1 cameras enhanced with special arms that are dedicated to spying on the lens’ settings. Read more…
A Leica camera from 1923 became the world’s most expensive camera earlier this year when it was auctioned for a staggering $2.79 million. The world’s most expensive lens has a similar price tag… and is also a Leica. Read more…
Think pancake lenses are flat? In the future, camera manufacturers might be able to replace those bulky glass elements inside lenses with lens elements that are thinner than a piece of paper. The lenses would not only be third-dimension-free, they would also be distortion-free. Read more…
It seems like ever few weeks Canon announces another 10 million lenses produced. Soon, that might not be too big of an exaggeration. The company announced today that it produced its 80-millionth EF lens back on August 3rd, 2012. In case you’re wondering, that particular lens was an EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM. The bar graph above shows the growth in the number of EF lenses in the world. Read more…
Back in 2010, we shared a video showing Canon’s 1200mm lens — a giant piece of glass that has been called “The Mother of All Telephotos”. If you thought that focal length was long, check out Nikon’s 1200-1700mm f/5.6-8P lens. Nikon launched a prototype of the lens in 1990 for newspaper photographers covering baseball in Japan. The sample photos above show the lens’ ridiculous reach. A standard 50mm FoV can be seen on the left, while the right photo shows what the same scene looks like at 1700mm.
Thinking about recording video with your Canon DSLR? stillmotion put together this short video with 5 lens recommendations based on their video production experiences over the years. One recommendation is the 24-105mm f/4 IS “kit” lens that comes bundled with higher-end Canon DSLRs. This lens allows you to have image stabilization at the wide end (24mm), perfect for tight spots in which you can’t bring bulkier stabilization systems.
A few weeks back an amazing Nikkor 6mm fisheye lens resurfaced for sale in London for an eye-popping $160,000. The lens was quickly snatched up by a camera collector. For those of you who missed out on buying the lens but would still like to see how 160 grand worth of fish-eye performs in real life, the folks who were selling it at Grays of Westminster put together a video just for you.
