Latest News In Photography, 06/09/08

PENTAX ANNOUNCES THE 17-70mm f/4 AL [IF] SDM LENS

GOLDEN, CO. (June 3, 2008)…PENTAX Imaging Company has introduced the smc PENTAX DA 17-70mm f/4 AL [IF] SDM lens designed for exclusive use with PENTAX digital SLR cameras. This standard lens with extra zoom offers outstanding, well-balanced handling, and covers the most frequently used focal lengths between wide-angle and telephoto making it ideal for a variety of shots including scenery, snapshot and portraiture.

Previously shown in February at PMA 2008, this lens features a 4.1X zoom ratio covering wide-angle to moderate-telephoto ranges, and covers a focal-length range from 26mm wide angle to 107mm telephoto in the 35mm format. When mounted on a compatible* DSLR camera body, the PENTAX-original SDM system driven by a built-in supersonic motor, offers exceptionally smooth, quiet autofocus. Full press release found here.


EPSON RELEASES THE R2880 INKJET PRINTER

The R2880 is Epson's latest inkjet printer that is geared towards professional and fine-art photographers. This 13" printer uses the eight-color, pigment-based Ultrachome K3 with Vivid Magenta ink set to produce a wider color gamut for producing brilliant reds, blues and purples. The R2880 also uses Epson's Radiance technology to ensure smoother color transitions as well as an Advanced Black and White Photo Mode for precision reproduction of mono prints.

It can handle a wide variety of photo paper sizes from 4x6 to 13x19 as well as art boards as thick as 1.3". Epson also added a feature that lets you print directly to a CD or DVD for professional looking portfolio discs. Read more here.


OLYMPUS RUNS U.S. OPEN SWEEPSTAKES

CENTER VALLEY, Pa., May 14, 2008 – Olympus, sponsor of the US Open and the Olympus US Open Series, announces today its second annual national sweepstakes that will send five winners and their guests on the trip of a lifetime to the 2008 US Open Tennis Championships in Flushing Meadows, New York.

Winners will receive a weekend getaway August 29-31, 2008, which will include hotel, airfare, spending money and two tickets to the Grand Slam tennis tournament. They will also be granted exclusive access to locations normally limited to professional photographers where they can capture the on-court and behind-the-scenes drama.

Registration is open to all Olympus shooters until July 18, 2008 and can be found here.


CANON RELEASES THE NEW SELPHY CP760 AND CP770 PRINTERS

LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., May 13, 2008 – Canon U.S.A. Inc., a leader in digital imaging, announces two new additions to its line of compact photo printers: the radical SELPHY CP770 and the exciting ultra-compact CP760 Photo Printers. These sensibly sized photo printers tout a fresh, unique design which simplifies printing for all users and makes it easier to print photos instantly, almost anywhere. Read more here.

Tip for DSLR Beginners: Get a 50mm Lens

"I'm upgrading to a digital SLR. What camera model and lens should I get?" We get asked this often, and our reply is always the same. It matters little what DSLR you have, so long as you've got great lenses. And when you're starting out, there's really no need to shell out thousands of dollars on lens (unless you have money that you simply must get rid of). We always, always recommend the 50mm. Some of the world's best photographers have made careers for themselves with the 50mm.


A BIT OF HISTORY

If you bought a 35mm camera during the 70s or 80s then chances are, it came with a 50mm lens. Even Leica rangefinders were bundled with 50mm lenses. The reason for this is that the 50mm perspective approximates that of the human eye, which is also the reason it is called a "normal" lens. Below is a photo of our Canon AE-1 with its 50mm FD f/1.4 lens (taken with our $20 light box and macro studio).

As time went by, the 50mm was replaced with consumer model zoom lenses like the 18-55mm as the starter optic for 35mm cameras and eventually the DSLR. This shift was a marketing strategy employed by camera manufacturers to entice more people into buying their camera. Their selling point was that zoom lenses made taking photos easier since you can change your focal length without moving from your spot. Little did beginners know that image quality was the real price they were paying for the convenience of not walking a few steps to recompose their shot.


THE 50mm TODAY

There is renewed interest in the 50mm lens mainly due to the its price and its speed. With the price of around $80.00, the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II is one of the cheapest lens available in the market today followed by Nikon's 50mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor for about $100.00. You can see that f/1.8 is the maximum aperture of these entry level lenses. It only gets better from here, you can get variants of these lenses at f/1.4 and f/1.2. Canon even makes a 50mm lens at f/1.0 which is the fastest interchangeable lens today. Most pros also say that the 50mm is the sharpest lens ever made because it has been around so long that lens manufacturers have already perfected the process of producing them.

One important note to remember, if you are using a DSLR with a cropped sensor then the 50mm lens' focal length will change. For those using a 40D, Digital Rebel series, D40 or a D80 which uses an APS-C sensor with a crop factor of 1.6x then a 50mm lens will effectively become an 80mm lens. If you want to have the same perspective as those using a full frame sensor then you can purchase a 28mm or 35mm lens which is close enough to a full frame 50mm.


A DEFINITE GO-TO LENS

We have other lenses, but we find that our 50mm 1.8 is still our go-to lens. It's plastic and it doesn't look like much, but it's fantastic for portraits (it doesn't enlarge subjects' noses the way wide angle lenses do), but it's still wide enough to be handy when we're out walking. The 1.8 offers a gorgeous bokeh, and faster shutter speeds. The images are clean and sharp. And the best thing about it is that it's cheap, and works splendidly with available light.


Related Reading:
Lens 101
Tips on How to Take Better Portraits
How to Create Bokeh in Your Photos

In other news, there's a new poll up on the sidebar. As always, we'd love it if you could participate. We'll share all the poll results with you guys next week. Have a great weekend!

Canon EFS 55-250mm Lens Review

We first heard of this lens during one of our visits to our local Canon shop. We were just browsing through their list of lenses when we found the EFS 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS. We were surprised that it cost just under $300 considering its maximum focal length and the fact that it had Image Stabilization. We immediately pre-ordered it and they said that it was going to be delivered by mid-October. For some reason, we got ours nearing the end of December. Was it worth the wait?

Once you open the box, the only thing you will get is the lens unit and the manual. The lens hood (ET-60) is sold separately unlike the other more expensive Canon lenses.

The EFS 55-250mm is the lightest and most compact in its class. Its weighs 340g which is just 15g heavier than Lisa's EF 28-105 II USM. The lens feels really solid considering the build is mostly plastic. The focus ring has a smooth feel to it unlike the zoom ring that feels a little tight. This, however, can be a good thing since the lens does not suffer from zoom creep, meaning the zoom does not extend on its own when you point the camera down like other heavier telephoto lenses.

Canon claims that their Image Stabilization technology allows you to shoot up to four stops than what would usually be recommended to avoid shake. I can definitely tell you that this is true as seen by the photos below which were taken with very slow shutter speeds.

Taken at 78mm, f/5.6, 1/15

Taken at 171mm, f/5.6, 1/8

The image quality is excellent throughout the entire focal range. We have yet to encounter any barreling or chromatic aberration since we started using it. By rule of thumb, lenses are at their best when used near the midpoint of its focal length. With that being said, this is an excellent lens for people who love taking portraits since the recommended focal lengths for portrait use of 80-110mm is where the lens is at its best.

The only thing we noticed is that you will get some vignetting when shooting near its maximum length in low light. The lens is also constructed with a fully circular aperture that produces better bokeh effects. More on this here.

Taken at 250mm, f/20, 1/320
Taken at 250mm, f/20, 1/320

Since the lens does not have USM, its auto-focus motor does take a while to lock on in low light. This can be negated if the lens is paired with a fast focusing camera like the EOS 40D. The motor is also noticeably quieter than other non-USM lenses we own. We actually noticed the sound of the Image Stabilization more that the focusing mechanism.

So was it worth the three months of waiting? Yes it was. This is one of those times that you will actually get more than your money's worth. The lens doesn't disappoint, and it certainly won't be leaving my camera anytime soon.

For a more technical, in-depth review, go here.

Related Posts:
Lens 101
How to Clean Your Lens
How to Protect Your Lens

How To Clean Your Lens

No matter how careful you are, sooner or later, your lens will get dirty. The first time you contemplate cleaning your lens can be very daunting as we found out a few days ago. Hopefully this guide can help you with the different options you have in getting your lens back to its pristine condition.

Blowers

Tour first line of attack should always be air. It's the least invasive of all your cleaning options since no contact is made with your glass. There are several blowers available in the market today that are specifically designed for camera lenses such as Giotto's Rocket Blower. These are designed with air valves that prevent dust from getting into the air chamber so that the air it blows out is clean. If you ask me though, anything that can blow out non-pressurized air is good enough to get dust off your glass such as an empty water spray as long as you aim the lens downward when you blow air onto it.

Brushes and Cloth

If you can't get the dust out with a blower then you can try using brushes. This is where you will definitely need to get one specifically made for lenses to avoid leaving scratch marks.

If you're dealing with something more than dust such as fingerprints or smudges then you will need to resort to cleaning cloths such as Pec*Pads. Cleaning cloths for lenses are usually made out of microfiber which are lint free and designed not to leave marks on your glass. However, before wiping your lens with a cleaning cloth, you will first need to get all the dust out by first using either a blower or a brush. Dust can leave marks or scratch the coating on your lens if its rubbed in hard enough.


Cleaning Solutions

If the smudge is still there after attempting to remove it with a cleaning cloth then you will need to use a cleaning solution. The best one that we can find that most pros use is the Eclipse Cleaning Solution. This fluid is specially formulated for lenses and is fast drying and residue-free. If you can't find this particular brand then make sure the one you get will not damage the coating on your lens.

Personally, I would choose not to use any cleaning fluids on any of my lenses. I'm always worried that the fluid might seep in between the glass the the front mount of the lens and get inside the barrel itself. I would rather bring the lens to a service center if a cleaning cloth can't get the dirt out.

We're giving a special shout out for the Nikon Lens Pen Cleaning System . We just recently received the Canon EFS 55-250mm lens (which we will be reviewing in the next few articles) and we were taking it out for a spin when Lisa accidentally touched the glass and left a fingerprint on it. My beautiful wife's graceful hands' fingertips are surprisingly oily. The smudge looked really bad and we were already thinking of bringing it in for servicing when we came across the Nikon Lens Pen on Amazon.com.

The pen itself has a retractable brush on one end and a felt tip on the other. We first started with the brush to remove all the dust on the glass and then started working on the fingerprint with the felt tip. Amazingly, we were able to completely remove the smudge after three passes. We definitely recommend this product as it is both cheap and compact. Our only beef with it though is they should have made a cap for the brush side. But taking into consideration the user reviews on different websites, this seems like the best lens pen option.


Needless to say, we've already gone through all our lenses and they're all brand spanking new clean.

Some Additional Notes on Lens Care

• Prevention is always the best way to care for your lens. Always leave the dust cap on when storing your camera or use a UV filter or lens hood.
• Avoid using cotton swabs to clean your lens since these can leave cotton fibers when you sweep it across the glass.
• If you get your fingerprint on your lens, immediately remove it from the camera body. The heat from the camera can literally cook the oils in the print and make it near impossible to remove.
• If you have a big collection of lenses, try using each one at least once every two weeks since believe it or not, it can grow fungus from non-use even if it's stored in a dry box. Fungus is one of the few things that can literally kill your lens.

Related Posts:
Lens 101
How to Protect Your Lens

Lens 101

Lenses can be categorized in two ways: whether it's focal length is fixed or changeable and its focal length measurement.

Fixed vs. Changeable Focal Length
Let's say you are taking a picture of a group. How you take their picture is totally dependent on what type of lens your camera has. Prime lenses have a fixed focal length which means that you cannot change your field of view. If you want to to fill the frame with your friends then you have to physically move closer to them. The zoom lenses' focal length, on the other hand, can be changed. You can just stay put and zoom into your subject.

Focal Length Measurements
Lenses can also be categorized as either wide angle, standard or telephoto with regards to their focal length measurement in millimeters.

Wide Angle Lens
Any lens less than 28mm is considered a wide angle lens. These types of lenses are popular with landscape photographers since it allows them to take pictures that show more of the scene.


Standard Lens
Lenses whose focal length is between 28mm to 80mm are considered standard lenses. These are usually the ones that are bundled with new cameras or what are called kit lenses.


Telephoto Lens
These are the bigger lenses whose focal length is more than 80mm. These lenses are usually used by wild life and sports photographers, whose works do not allow them to get physically close to their subject.



All the three categories above can either be a prime or a zoom lens. For example, a lens that is fixed at 50mm is called a standard prime lens, a lens that is marked as 80-200mm is called a telephoto zoom since you are able to change the focal length between 80 to 200mm.

Aperture
Another factor to consider when looking at lenses is the aperture. The aperture is basically just the opening that allows light to hit you camera's sensor which, in turn, creates the image. You can compare the aperture to the iris in your eyes. The more open it is, the more light gets in. Now you will not see any aperture value on your lens or camera but instead you will see something called a f-stop. All you need to understand as you begin learning about photography is that the lower the f-stop, the bigger the aperture opening. You can use the picture below to see the relationship between the two.

If you set your aperture at f/2, your camera will be able to capture the image faster than it would if it was at f/8 since more light hits your sensor at f/2. If you want to learn more details about apertures and f-stops then you can go here.


The maximum aperture opening or lowest f-stop is clearly marked on camera lenses. It is the number found after the mark "1:". The reason for this is that not all lenses have the same maximum aperture but all can go to at least f/22 on the other end. Some lenses can only go up to f/3.5 while some can go to f/1.8. The lower the maximum aperture, the faster the lens is (again because it can open wider to let in more light).

It's an ongoing joke that the maximum aperture is stated on the lens because, the lower the f-stop, the more expensive the lens is. On some zoom lenses, you can see two maximum aperture numbers. Let's take the Canon lens 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6. This means that the maximum aperture depends on what you set your focal length to. The first number, in this case 3.5, is the maximum aperture setting at the wide-angle side of the lens i.e. 18mm. The second number, 5.6, is the maximum at it's telephoto side i.e. 55mm. The difference due to the movement of the lenses when you're actually zooming in or out.

Depth of Field
What's useful about understanding even just a little bit about f-stops is that it controls how much of your picture is in focus or the depth of field. For the picture below, an f-stop of f/11 was selected and the light green pencil in the middle was the point of focus. You can see that all the pencils in frame are in focus. This is what is called a deep depth of field.


For the next picture, an f-stop of f/1.8 was selected and the light green pencil was again the point of focus. What you'll notice is that the farther you move away from the point of focus, the less sharp the image becomes. This is called a shallow depth of field.

The lower the f-stop, the more shallow your depth of field is and vice versa. So if you want to take a landscape picture with everything in focus, you will need to select a high f-stop like f/16. If you want to focus on one specific object and throw everything else out of focus then select a low f-stop.

Lens Markings


- Using the picture on the left, you can tell that it is a zoom lens since you can change the focal length between 24-120mm.

- Since the focal length 24-120mm mainly falls within the standard range, this is considered a standard zoom lens.

- The maximum aperture of the lens if it's at 24mm us 3.5.

-The maximum aperture of the lens when it's at 120mm is 5.6.


Related Posts:
How to Protect Your Lens
Sigma Announces 10mm and 4.5mm Fisheye Lenses
The Canon EF-S 55-250mm F/4-5.6 IS

For more on lenses, read this.

Nikon Releases AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR

TOKYO – Nikon Corporation is pleased to announce the introduction of the AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR, a new DX-NIKKOR zoom lens with built-in Silent Wave Motor and Vibration Reduction. This compact, lightweight and affordable 3x zoom NIKKOR lens offers remarkable versatility and covers the essential focal range of 18 to 55mm.

AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR Major Features

• 3x zoom lens covering the most frequently used focal range of 18 to 55mm (picture angle is equivalent to focal length from 27 to 82.5mm in Nikon FX or 35mm format)
• Vibration Reduction enables sharper pictures while shooting at shutter speeds up to three stops slower than would otherwise be possible
• Optical design optimized for use with Nikon digital SLRs for superior performance
• Hybrid aspherical lens element minimizes lens aberration
• High-performance Nikon Super Integrated Coating offers superior color reproduction, while substantially reducing ghosting and flare
• Nikon’s exclusive Silent Wave Motor ensures fast, quiet autofocus operation
• Rounded seven-blade diaphragm opening makes out-of-focus elements appear more natural
• 0.28 m/0.9 ft. closest-focusing distance throughout the entire zoom range
• Accepts 52 mm filter attachments
• Ergonomic lens barrel features rugged construction with a comfortable fit; separate zoom and focus rings provide the accuracy professionals expect

You can read the full press release here. The lens should be available by Decemeber 2007.

Sigma Announces 10mm and 4.5mm Fisheye Lenses

Sigma announces the release of two new Fisheye Lenses. The 4.5mm F2.8 EX DC CIRCULAR FISHEYE HSM and the 10mm F2.8 EX DC FISHEYE HSM lens are both for exclusively designed for digital SLRs with an APS-C size sensor. Both lenses use Sigma's Hyper Sonic Motor (HSM) for fast and quiet focusing and allows full time manual focus override by rotating the focus ring.

The biggest difference between the two lenses is that the 4.5mm F2.8 EX DC CIRCULAR FISHEYE HSM has a full 180 degree angle of view in all directions making it ideal for Astrophotography and Aurora photography.

The two models will be available by December 2007.

(Thanks to Brian of Epic Edits Weblog for the heads up.)

How to Protect Your Lens

We mentioned in a previous post how lenses have the biggest impact on your image quality. That's why the good ones cost four times more than your camera itself. Here are some tips on how to protect your investment.

Lens Cap
Keep your lens cap on when you store your camera in your bag. Sure, most camera bags now have soft anti-scratch linings but that doesn't mean that dust or sand can't get in there and get stuck between your lens glass and the lining. Ouch.

Lens Hood
Lens hoods are used to eliminate lens flare from your photos when you shoot outdoors in daylight. You'll probably notice though that most pros keep their lens hood on even if they're shooting indoors. This is because the lens hood can act as a barrier between your glass and everything else around you. Even if people bump into your lens while you're walking around, you're assured that your glass is safe.


UV Filter
Some of you might be going, "But it takes a while to attach a lens hood if I use a bag and I might miss a great shot." Well, here's the alternative. You can use a UV Filter as another type of protection for your lens that you can just leave on. UV filters are used to filter out, you guessed it, ultraviolet light.

It really doesn't have a big effect on photos but we're recommending it because it's the cheapest type of filter available in the market and it can shield your glass from physical contact. This is specially useful if you're planning to shoot on the beach where all the sand and salt can play havoc on your lens.

Dear god, don't use your handkerchief!
If you're as obsessive-compulsive as my wife then you probably check your lens every few minutes to see if there's dust on it. Resist the urge to use just anything to wipe it when you do find dirt. The safest thing to use is a micro filament cleaning cloth that is both scratch and lint free.

Portraits: The Other Use of Macro Lenses

We all know that macro lenses are used for close-up work with small subjects. What some do not know is that true macro lenses (those capable of a magnification of 1:1) are also great to use for portraits.

Lens Quality
Macro lenses are designed to be extremely sharp since it is designed to capture the smallest details in your subject. This gives you good tonal gradation which is extremely important if you want to capture high quality portraits.

Wide Apertures
Macro lenses are designed to be very fast. On the average, the widest aperture setting for macro lenses is around f/2.8. This makes it great for throwing the background out of focus and is fast enough to capture crisp images with only natural lighting.

Telephoto Capabilities
The most common focal length you will find for high quality macro lenses are at 100m. This focal length gives you the ability to fill the frame with your subject without crowding them. It also eliminates barrel distortion associated with wide angle lenses.

The only downside with using macro lenses for portraitures is that they are prime lenses. This means that the focal length of the lens is fixed and you have to physically move around if you want to change your composition.

Lisa will be blogging about portraits later on.

~Written by Jeff

Leica To Release New Lenses

German manufacturer Leica has recently announced a release of lenses for their M system. The new line is called Leica Summarit-M, and it consists of prime lenses 35mm, 50mm, 75mm, and 90mm.

These are scheduled for delivery by the end of November 2007. "All Summarit-M lenses are shipped in velour pouches, with metal lens caps for the front and back." (And we are dying to editorialize here after that velour pouch bit, but we shall refrain because this is news.)

Read the full article here.

~Written by Jeff

The Canon EF-S 55-250mm F/4-5.6 IS

The wife has been getting a ridiculous amount of hits on her blog regarding the yet to be released Canon EF-S 55-250mm F/4-5.6 IS lens. We first heard about this from the Canon store we usually buy our stuff from almost a month ago and at that time, the only information they had was the focal length and the minimum aperture setting. Armed with those two measly things, we still went ahead and pre-ordered it.

Why? First of, it has the longest focal length in the EF-S lineup and for the price it was going for it was practically a steal. Second, it's already using Canon's latest 4-stop compensation IS technology which is supposedly four times more effective in compensating for camera shake.

It's been pretty hard to get information on this model specially it's technical specs but I was finally able to get something substantial from Canon's UK website.

You can read the full article here.

You will probably notice that it was supposed to be released last October, but our Canon Dealer still does not have their stocks in. The anticipation is killing us. See our review here.

~Written by Jeff