kfuse

It is very interesting to see that the very same day Canon announced new models, the report about company's Labor dispute is also on the one of top news stories.

Recently I got 70-200mmF4LIS from B&H and I found some issue on 200mm side, so I had to returned it. You can find more detail in my other posting "fuzzy focus" on Feb 17.

 

I don't know how many bad samples are out there but I was wondering number of reviews posted on BH site. This is rather popular lens, it is kind of odd to see just 2 very positive reviews there.

Are all your projects managed?

Thank you for all the response! I called B&H photo to ask about this and several their reps confirmed that IS feature is contained completely withing a lens, so there is no control from body whatsoever. So, if IS is not working properly you can rule out camera body as a suspect.

I though about on/off, but the trigger can be shared with auto focus so it might not be proprietary to IS (if so, the IS should be able to turn on/off from camera side). I'm sure distance and lens info is communicated real time via some kind of protocol though. So, if the IS is not working properly, should I suspect faulty camera body as well as the lens it self? OR the camera body has nothing to do with faulty IS?

Is there anything else the Camera body is doing to IS other than supplying power

through the contacts?

It depends on the application as alwasy.

 

70-200mmF2.8IS is probably the best looking and the most heaviest lens among your choice. If you need F2.8 speed, this is the only choice, but you don't want to take it for day hike or travel (just too heavy). And also look out for the bad sample. If you don't need the F2.8 speed, there is a F4 version. This newer F4 version comes with third-generation and much lighter than F2.8 model(and smaller).

 

28-300mmF3.5IS is probably more suited for travel. The most versatile and also the most expensive among your choice. This all in one lens can produce quite good image despite of super wide zoom range. The lens is not as heavy as 70-200mm but it will extend like 100-400IS. Some people don't like the extended look.

 

I don't know who would want DO optics. The DO is used to reduce the length of the lens, so if it's 400mm F4 DO, that would make a lot of sense because 400mmF4DO is a lot shorter and lighter than regular 400mm, but I'm not sure about this 70-300mmDO. I've never heard anything positive on this lens.

The eBay's cheap wireless trigger comes with 1 transmitter and 1 receiver(only $20). If you want to trigger more than 1 flash, you need buy another set for extra receiver (even if you don't need any more transmitter though...). I was bit suspicious about quality, but so far it's been working just fine. It reaches about 150'.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Digital-Radio-Slave-Flash-Trigger-16-Channel-Wireless_W0QQitemZ140084511309QQihZ004QQcategoryZ30086QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

If the link doesn't work just search with "Digital Radio Slave Flash Trigger /16 Channel Wireless".<div></div>

17-40 f4 is as good as any other L glasses covers this range (if you can get good sample). 85mmF1.8 is reputable glass, but I like 100mmF2 better. 50mmF1.4 is OK(again, if you can get good sample), there are many bad ones shows kind of foggy dreamy image at F1.4(I didn't realize until I used my friend's F1.4). If you need 50mm prime and want to save some buck, try 50mmF1.8II(around $70). It looks cheap, but works just as good as f1.4 version.

 

Another choice in this price range would be EF28-70mmF2.8L(not 24-70). You might be able to find good used one on eBay.

 

You can goto PBase camera search to find tons of images taken with those lenses you are looking for.

http://www.pbase.com/cameras

Where did you find that survey? I'm curious to see the data, because 2 Canon lenses I bought recently had some issue.

I did try IS off, and the results were tiny bit better. I suspected IS as well, my assumption was IS is shifting the image at the moment of exposure. If the fuzziness is caused by motion blur, this is the only probable explanation. I take picture for local hockey team, and even at 1/500 you can freeze flying pack.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/type665/357378136/

 

Minimum shutter speed for 200mm lens is around 1/200 (1/300 ~1/400 for APS-C body), and if you are shooting at 1/2500 it is quite rare to get any motion blur at all(unless you are intentionally swinging your camera). You can stop splashing water at this shutter speed.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/type665/356632660/

 

Only reasonable explanations are either misaligned element in the lens is causing double-line-blur like effect, or IS is shifting the image while curtain is open (shifting at much faster speed than you swing your camera). But if any misaligned element is causing the issue turning IS off will not affect the image quality, so it is more likely that the both IS motion and the lens element (possibly IS element itself) are causing the issue.

I would rather use step-up ring to put bit wider filter (probably 80mm 83mm). Thin filters are OK, but you can't stack any more filters on top of it.

Suppose you need to cover the area about the size of Hockey arena, you can put several 2400ws flashes on each corner and trigger them with PocketWizard from wherever you are shooting from. BUT, this will certainly break the bank, so I have to come up with more realistic solution.

<br> <br>

issues are<br>

*slow lens<br>

*bad lighting<br>

*fast moving subject<br>

<br>

brighter sides are<br>

*30D can shoot at ISO 3200 (then apply neat image in Photoshop)<br>

*you already have 580EX<br>

<br>

Here is what I would do.<br>

<br>

1. Buy a wireless slave trigger from the eBay (around $30)<br>

<br>

2. Put some diffuser or Omni Bounce on 580EX to make it look like regular light source.<br>

<br>

3. Attach the 580EX to tree branch high above.<br>

<br>

4. Set 30D to ISO1600 or 3200, and do the couple of test shots with manual mode to find the best setting ( shutter speed controls the ambient light, and aperture controls the flash intensity).<br>

<br>

5. then shoot<br>

<br>

<br>

580EX is GN 190', so if you are shooting at ISO1600~3200, it can cover literally 190' (will be reduced if you put diffuser on your flash)<br>

<br>

the other important thing to remember is the focus area. 30D probably has only 1 cross sensor , so it is good idea to use center focus area when focusing in bad lighting condition.<br>

<br>

Also, don't forget to change the white balance to Flash or even warmer. Or put amber gel on 580EX.<br>

<br>

<br>

This is just an idea though....<br>

Thanks Dan for the detailed advice. It didn't pass the test #2, I can't get clear image even with focus bracketing, I took 16 shots with slightly different focus setting. The test clearly shows peak focus and even at the peak the image has some fuzziness. It is very prominent at 200mm side, and 70mm side it is visible but not as prominent as 200mm side. And the fuzziness gets worsen as the focus distance gets near the infinity mark.

 

I also found another problem, the tripod detection occasionally fail.

 

I'm not a tester, I should be spending more time for shooting rather than testing lenses. Does anyone know the site like this in the US?

http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/index.html

They don't take request from outside the EU. :-(

 

I'll probably return this lens on Monday for refund and instead of getting another one from BH, just go to the local camera store and do the test on the lens that I'm getting before I commit to buy a particular sample.

I usually test on all 3 bodies I have, but just in case I borrowed Xti from my friend. The results are the same, 200mm side has issue. I also did focus bracketing to see how the fuzziness will change, and found that the double line show even at the critical focus. It seems like put another layer on top of existing image with 10% opacity(with fuzziness). The other thing I noticed was that the image quality is bit better with IS off even at 1/400. 70mm side is OK (I can get good result even at 1/5 with IS handheld). All reviews and even Canon's MTF show excellent result on this lens especially on 200mm side, so I certainly expect the resolution to be better than $100 sigma on my Nikon.

The picture above is wrong picture<div></div>

Thanks for the quick response!

 

The images posted is RAW and center crop. It looks like double-line-blur(nisen-bokeh) usually happen in the blurred background due to overcorrected spherical aberration, I don't know why it is showing at the area of critical focus though. The hand blur usually show sharp core in the streak(not fuzzy like this). And also, the quality should get worse at F16.

 

The first I though about the camera calibration (I had mid range focus issue with my 5D and couldn't get sharp focus at range between the last number on the distance indicator to infinity, so I had to send it back to Canon), but if that was the issue then all my lens should show the same problem. 35mmF1.4, 50mmF1.4 and 135mmF2 work just fine.

 

100% crop of the same area shown above taken with 135mm F2 @f5.6, 1/800

http://www.flickr.com/photos/type665/393433518/

 

I wish I could send my lens for testing.

http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/index.html

 

I know I usually buy items from BH and I never had any problem with other products.<div></div>

About 2 weeks ago, I bought EF300mm F4 IS from BHphoto. I tested and found that

the lens has some problems (very fuzzy at F4), so I returned the lens for refund

and got EF70-200F4 IS. It arrived yesterday but again it has same issue. It is

acceptable at 70mm side, but unusable at 200mm F4 and needed to stop down to F16

to get OK result (this lens should produce excellent result on 200mm side even

with aperture wide open). I'm thinking about returning this lens again.

 

This is not the first time I had this type of issue, I had same issue when I

bought 50mmF1.4 and 70-200mmF2.8IS. And also this is not just me but many of my

friends(it is very common among 70-200mmF2.8IS, but even with 85mmF1.2) The only

canon lens I have that I didn't have to send back was EF135mmF2. This certainly

makes me wonder how many sub-standard lenses out there. It seems the lenses

with IS are more likely to have QC problem.

 

Is there any good way to avoid this type of issue?<div></div>

After trying several different setting on LRb4, I found a setting solve the issue. As I mentioned above, I deleted all the items from LR library and re-imported everything, but this time set the File Handling option to "Render Standard Previews" instead of "Use Embedded and Sidecar Previews." After that, everything works fine.

Thank you for the answers.

 

Here are the several things I didn't mention on the previous post, I have about 28g photos on Lightroom library and my Macbook has 2GB of RAM.

 

I will probably wait for LR b5. In a meantime, I'll probably using PhotoMechanic or CaptureOne for browsing and deleting reject photos.

 

LR is fine when the Library has just few shoots.

I just got the new Macbook pro Core2Duo 2.33Gh, and I was expecting the

Lightroom to run smoothly. BUT! it is still very slow. I know it's still in

the Beta phase and a lot of optimization needs to be done before the release,

but it seems the latest version is even slower than the previous version.

Again, I know it is beta, but I've been using it for sometime and many rating

and quick edit information is in the program, so I don't want to switch to

another program for that reason, so here is the questions...

 

1. Is there any way to speed up current Bete Lightroom? (reduce the number of

photos in the library, certain editing tool cause slowdown etc...)

 

2. Is current version of Lightroom designed for Intel chips?

 

 

And also, if I have to switch the application...

 

1. How fast is the Apple's Aperture on Macbook pro?

 

2. Is there any other program similar to Lightroom or Aperture which works

better on Macbook pro? (Photo Mechanic is fast but can't edit photos like other

programs, and I don't like the interface of the SilkyPix, also I don't like the

Capture One for the same reason even though the program is super fast on the

Intel Macs.)

 

any suggestions?

I sent the lens for repair on last Monday, so I'll post waht was wrong when I get it back from Nikon.

I'm also in the market for mid-range telephoto Lens, so I've been thinking the exact same thing. 80-200mm, 70-200mmVR, 180mm, 85mmF1.4.

 

I usually go to "www.pbase.com/cameras" to compare photos (you can search by camera, lense, brand etc...), then go to "http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/index.html" to check the MTF/distortion (not all lenases are tested though). I'm not sure how accurate these sites are, but can be used as a guide.

My 18-200mmVR lense makes 4 clicking nose when I turn the camera's power on

(same noise you hear when VR is engaged), and after that VR seems not working at

all. Does anyone know anything about this symptom?

This is just followup.

 

I called Nikon to ask about what is causing the shock and I got answer from them saying that

I need to send D200 and 50mmF1.4 back to Nikon to determine what is causing the issue,

but I didn't want to send D200 just for this test so I asked if buying brand new 50mm F1.2

likely to solve the problem, however since then Nikon is not answering my question...

 

Last week, I got 55mm f1.2 from eBay. I tried this lense on D200 and worked just fine!