Lenses

Canon Lenses

Cleaning Your Lenses

Submitted by Syv Ritch on 9. February 2012 - 6:29

Anybody that knows what she is talking about in the business of photography will tell you that the lenses are more important than the cameras.

  • Cameras become obsolete after 5 years. Do you remember the Canon 20D or the Nikon D40? They were great cameras, then…
  • Lenses last for decades and function day-in day-out. Some camera companies have what everybody in their “right mind” would call a barely OK cameras (there are other words too) but have such fantastic lenses that they get away with it and charge much more than full price until some competition shows up.

Bad Lens Reviews

Submitted by Syv Ritch on 7. February 2012 - 7:00

I was reading the February 2012 issue of a magazine for professional photographers. They had some lens write-ups. I'd like to quote some portions:

  • Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM: “since it's an L lens, you know that it offers top-of-the-line optics with eight elements…”
  • Canon 500mm f/4L IS II USM: “Though formally announced last February, … no estimated delivery date but this monster of a lens will certainly be an impressive upgrade…”

Lens Acronyms

Submitted by Syv Ritch on 27. January 2012 - 6:21

I was talking to Marg who, proudly, showed me that she just discovered that her lens was also a macro. It's one of these, wide angle to extra tele, all in one lens (no name mentioned). The “macro” is not a macro mode, I would call it a close-up mode and that's not even that close. Then I looked at her lens… so many acronyms

Canon

Superwoman Photographer

Submitted by Syv Ritch on 18. January 2012 - 6:46

This woman photographer is amazing! She must be from the planet Krypton.

Amazing Woman PhotographerThis woman photographer is amazing! She must be from the planet Krypton. She's an older person and carries a 1DMk4 with a 500mm f/4. She makes her photos *HAND-HELD*. That's 17Lbs/8Kg at the end of the extended arm. That day, the light was not the greatest, low contrast and very cloudy. Either she's super-woman or she uses ISO 12800 or more. Just holding such a big and heavy rig at the end of the arm is hard enough for me. That's why I use a tripod or at least my monopod, usually set at 2½ feet tall. I wear a knee pad and I kneel down, like Tim Tebow but I was doing it long before he started to play football, so I'm closer to the ground.The way she holds the lens from the tripod collar, she can't even tuck her arm underneath.snowy-owls-20111231-0867.jpg — ©2011 Syv Ritch -- foto-biz.com: http://www.foto-biz.com/usageterms

This woman photographer is amazing! She must be from the planet Krypton   click on image for gallery

And the Winner of the Biggest Telephoto is

Submitted by Syv Ritch on 10. January 2012 - 8:35

You are not seeing much of the guy, but I'm talking about the guy in the middle and the small tube. He's sandwiched between a Sony with a Minolta 600 behind him and a Canon 500 in front. It's not a Canon, Nikon or a …

The winner of the tele photo wars The guy in the middle, between the Canon 500 and the Minolta 600, with the small narrow white tube, has a 1200mm!It's a digiscope. A 1200mm on a micro-4/3rd format. This gives him a whopping 2400mm lens, and it's very light, under 4lbs. snowy-owls-20111225-0388.jpg — ©2011 Syv Ritch -- foto-biz.com: http://www.foto-biz.com/usageterms

Canon: Micro-Adjustements, How Often?

Submitted by Syv Ritch on 14. December 2011 - 6:00

Many people will micro-adjust their lenses as soon as they buy/receive their new lenses. But… How often should readjust the micro-adjustments?

Canon 7D Micro Adjust Screen

Canon 7D C.Fn III - 5: Micro Adjust Screen

Lately, I noticed that many of my photos were slightly out of focus. Either it's an operator problem, aka me, or the camera.

Problems with my Sigma 120-400

Submitted by Syv Ritch on 8. December 2011 - 6:26

I bought the Sigma 120-400 OS HSM f/4-5.6 a little bit more than a year ago. Why did I buy it?

  1. It was cheap, very cheap. I paid half, exactly half, of the price of the Canon 100-400L zoom.
  2. I was and am still waiting for the “new” Canon 100-400L zoom that is supposed to be coming soon, real soon according to the 3 years old rumors.

I was happy with it. It took me about 6 month to learn to use it. What 6 month? Am I a retard or is it that difficult. Actually it is, it's not just pointing the lens.

How to carry a "Big Rig"

Submitted by Syv Ritch on 13. September 2011 - 14:33

The vast majority of the people (including me) when they need to carry a camera, the big lens and the tripod, they leave them attached to the tripod and carry the whole “shebang” over the shoulder like this:

Photographer in the woodsPhotographer carrying Canon 600mm f/4L in the woodsreifel-20100116-0626.jpg — Copyright © 2009 Syv Ritch: http://www.foto-biz.com/usageterms

Carrying a Canon 1dsMk3 with a 500mm f/4 with the 1.4x converter   click on image for gallery

Waiting for the Birds

Submitted by Syv Ritch on 3. July 2011 - 13:54

Canon 7D with 500mm f/4 and Jobu Gimbal headCanon 7D with 500mm f/4 and Jobu Gimbal headreifel-20110702-9547.jpg — Copyright © 2009 Syv Ritch: http://www.foto-biz.com/usageterms

Waiting for the birds: Canon 7D with 500mm f/4 and Jobu Gimbal head click on image for gallery

Why are most photographers standing up with the tripod at full height? The birds are tall Sandill Cranes with a 2 month old chick. The Sandhill Crane chick is only a foot and ½ tall.

I use a monopod, and most of the times I'm on my knees like for this photo.

Canon: IS — Image Stabilization

Submitted by Syv Ritch on 16. June 2011 - 18:00

From the “you get what you pay for” IS, aka image stabilization. Here's a photo done with a Canon 70-200L IS f/4 at: f/7.1, 1/30, 155mm handheld.

Totos falling asleep

Dog falling asleep. Canon 7D: ISO 800, Canon 70-200L IS f/4, 1/30sec @ 155mm f/7.1 for the depth of field hand held

Wildlife Female Photographer

Submitted by Syv Ritch on 7. May 2011 - 8:04

Lady with Canon 7D & Sigma BigmaShe uses a Canon with a Sigma lens. I'm not to sure, but I think that it's a “BigMa” the 50mm-500mm. There are not too many women photographers. The few that I know of either do weddings or babies. The vast majority of photographers are male. I can only think of 2 “famous” female photographers from before World War II:Imogen Cunningham Dorothea Lange There are many more, but they didn't become “famous”.Then starting around the 60s women started to break into photography, like Diane Arbus, Annie Leibovitch, Joyce Tenneson… The vast, vast majority of the photojournalists, nature photographers, landscape photographers and sport photographers are males. Where are the women? We need them! Why do we the men need them? Because women offer a different point of view, a different expression, a different sensibility…reifel-20110423-3993.jpg — Copyright © 2011 Syv Ritch: http://www.foto-biz.com/usageterms

Wildlife Female Photographer click on image for gallery

This Lens is Soft

Submitted by Syv Ritch on 22. March 2011 - 20:20

Canon Rumors in conjunction with Lens Rentals have written a long article on:

Lens Rental, like their name says, rent lenses for Canon, Nikon… They have a fairly high traffic and a big turnover. People rent the lens for the weekend or a few days… and inevitably, people complain that the lens, they just rented, is a dude.

Canon 7D: On His Way

Submitted by Syv Ritch on 15. March 2011 - 17:25

Photographers trying to catch a Northern Hawk owlPhotographers trying to catch a Northern Hawk owl at Westham Islandreifel-20110103-6908.jpg — Copyright © 2009 Syv Ritch: http://www.foto-biz.com/usageterms

Photographer on his way to photograph a Northern Hawk owl at Westham Island click on image for gallery

He's on his way, carrying a Canon 7D with a 500mm f/4 and a 1.4 Extender attached to a monopod. He gets:

Canon: How Low Can You Go?

Submitted by Syv Ritch on 6. March 2011 - 14:54

People pay thousands for tripods that can go low, very low on the ground. Here's a more affordable alternative.

I was around a small lagoon taking photos of ducks, geese and sandhill cranes. This guy arrives with his Canon 50D and a 300mm f/4 and a 1.4 converter with tape and other stuff stuck to it. He also has a small inflatable Therm-a-rest mattress. Nigel finds a small embankment, pulls the mattress almost to the edge, the camera and lays on it.

People pay thousands for tripods that can go low, very low on the ground. Here's a more affordable alternative. I was around a small lagoon taking photos of ducks, geese and sandhill cranes. This guy arrives with his Canon 50D and a 300mm f/4 and a 1.4 converter with tape and other stuff stuck to it. He also has a small inflatable Therm-a-rest mattress. Nigel finds a small embankment, pulls the mattress almost to the edge, the camera and lays on it. How low Can you go? Canon 50D - 300mm f/4 click on image for gallery At the end on the 300mm lens is a small pouch with duct tape and a rubber band. The pouch contains some foam. It's for Nigel to go even lower and rest the lens on the ground or could also be to notice if the lens is about to go for a swim!

How low Can you go? Canon 50D - 300mm f/4 click on image for gallery

Image Stabilization and Tripods

Submitted by Syv Ritch on 1. February 2011 - 21:55

In the “good old days”, the advice for the Image Stabilization was to turn it off whenever the camera was mounted on a tripod. The gyroscope of the IS would keep on spinning and cause movement.

The new Image Stabilization from Canon, Nikon, or Sigma have significantly improved. The new stabilization system have a much better effectiveness.

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