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The Canon 16-35mm F2.8L II has been one of the most popular and sought after lenses in landscape photography thanks in part to its distinct and gorgeous sunstar. That said, the lens did have its fair share of issues. We took the updated version of the lens out for a spin to get a feel for its performance.
See our Canon 16-35mm F2.8L III
sample gallery
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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The EOS M5 is Canon’s current enthusiast-grade mirrorless camera. With a 24.2MP APS-C sensor, Dual Pixel autofocus and a pleasant-to-use interface, the M5 is the most competitive EF-M camera Canon has released.
We’ve put a production EOS M5 through our studio scene so you can see how it compares with its peers. Note that we’ve used a different lens on the M5 compared with the M3; we may re-shoot the scene in the future for the sake of consistency.
View the Canon EOS M5 in our studio scene comparison tool
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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The Canon EOS M5 comes stacked with features many enthuasists look for in a camera: a 24MP sensor with Canon’s Dual Pixel technology, built-in EVF, a tilting touchscreen and 7 fps burst shooting. We’ve been eager to test it ever since its Photokina launch, and have finally gotten our hands on production-ready models. The M5 has gone with us into the kitchen, over the hills and through the snow – and it turns out it can stand up to a little weather. Check out all of our samples via the link below.
See our Canon EOS M5 sample gallery
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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I remember very clearly when the Canon PowerShot G9 X arrived in the DPReview offices. I was a fairly recent hire, and myself and another recent hire took the G9 X and the G5 X out to shoot some samples. As a person who still clings to old full frame DSLRs, I got along with the G5 X much more so than with the G9 X. It had way more controls, a good viewfinder, a brighter zoom lens and a real grip. I really liked that camera (and my first field test was done with one), but never really felt any sort of pull toward its smaller sibling. Until recently.
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| Typical Tuesday. Processed to taste in Adobe Camera Raw. 28mm equiv., ISO 125, 1/500 sec, F4. Photo by Carey Rose |
It was the recent review of the Sony RX100 V which really helped me appreciate the value of having one of these 1″-sensor cameras always in your pocket. I have a lot of respect for folks who can create beautiful and impactful work using a cellphone, but personally, I still like the idea of using a dedicated device. (Of course, this may change in the future – after all, I don’t carry my iPod Classic with me everywhere anymore).
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| When it comes to skinny jeans, this is a mighty big difference. Though this is an RX100 IV, it is identical to the V in terms of width. |
So while the RX100 V was incredibly powerful, I started to wonder whether there was something that could get me close to that level of stills image quality but was even smaller – like, ‘not worry about slipping it into the back pocket of my skinny jeans’ smaller. And then it hit me – the Canon G9 X.
The G9 X is 10mm thinner than the RX100 V (and IV), which doesn’t sound like a ton until you realize that it’s close to a 25% difference. By contrast, my Ricoh GR slides into a pants pocket much easier than the RX100 V, and it splits the difference in width between the two. The Ricoh GR is also within 1mm of width of the original RX100, as well.
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| Macro performance is pretty good – but it’s best to stop down a bit. Processed to taste in Adobe Camera Raw. 28mm equiv., ISO 125, 1/640, F2.8. Photo by Carey Rose |
Most impressive to me? The G9 X is just a couple of milimeters thicker than a PowerShot S95, and that camera’s sensor was pretty tiny in comparison. Technological progress is great.
In any case – when you’re talking about cameras and pockets, every little bit counts.
One thing that has been near-universally covered and largely condemned across the internet is the G9 X’s heavy dependence on its touch interface. There’s only one dial, which is around the lens (and it’s clicked! Thank the maker!), and there’s not even a four-way control pad on the rear. I read time and time again how the interface works out okay, and the screen is of good quality, but that it can be fiddly in menus, playback and for fine adjustment of controls. However, almost everyone missed something incredibly crucial.
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| JPEGs can be pretty nice out of the G9 X, after you’ve taken time to set them up. I’m not so big a fan of them at defaults. Out-of-camera JPEG with custom color settings and noise reduction set to minimum. 54mm equiv., ISO 800, 1/125, F4.5. Photo by Carey Rose |
The G9 X, despite having one less control dial than the RX100 series, is more responsive to set up in actual use. That’s because you can use the zoom toggle, lens control ring and ‘Set’ button to navigate the menus sans-touchscreen. It’s brilliant, fast and once you realize it’s there, easy. There’s another review erroneously stating that you can’t delete an image without using the touchscreen – also wrong. Just hit the ‘Set’ button in playback, hit it again, and use the front ring to confirm deletion. Sweet.
Swipe functions in playback work great, but again, you can use the control ring for that. While you’re shooting, the control ring manipulates the setting that makes the most sense at the time – in aperture-and-shutter priority, it controls those respective values. In Program Auto, it controls exposure compensation. Admittedly, in full manual, it defaults to aperture, which is fine, and though you can add an on-screen soft button to have the ring cycle through other controls, that just means you do have to use the touchscreen to manipulate other values. So it’s not perfect.
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| Obligatory sunstar photo, processed to taste in Adobe Camera Raw. 28mm equiv., ISO 125, 1/400 sec, F9. Photo by Carey Rose |
Okay, well, it sort of is. I mean, it’s a 28-84mm (focal length equivalent) F2.0-4.9 lens, making it slower on the wide end than the first two RX100’s, and on par with them on the long end, but with less reach. But a fun fact – the newest RX100 models with 24-70mm equivalent lenses are slower than this model by the time they’ve zoomed from 24-28mm (they reach F2.5 by 28mm). Of course, if you need 24mm, then this isn’t quite so valuable. I personally find that 28mm is usually wide enough for a walk-around camera, and I actually appreciate the small amount of additional reach (versus a 70mm limit) on the long end more than I expected.
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| I tried getting an angle to keep that tree from poking out of the top of the house, but obviously I failed. Processed to taste in Adobe Camera Raw. 84mm equiv., ISO 125, 1/640 sec, F4.9. Photo by Carey Rose |
Also, I can’t get too upset about this, because I fully expect the ‘slowness’ of the lens is what really makes the G9 X so much thinner than the competition.
The image quality is predictably good. It uses the same (or very similar) sensor as the RX100 III. It has typically good Canon color response, and though the noise reduction in JPEGs is pretty sloppy, once you crank it down to its lowest setting, it’s not too bad.
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| The auto white balance is a bit off here, but the tap-to-focus worked great. Out-of-camera JPEG, 28mm equiv., ISO 320, 1/60 sec, F2. Photo by Carey Rose |
The built-in pop-up flash is slick and handy, and operationally, the camera feels much snappier than any RX100 – except, of course, burst shooting, but that shouldn’t be a surprise (it manages less than 1fps in Raw). Despite it being the second-cheapest 1″-sensor compact out there (the original RX100, still available new, takes that crown), it feels very well-built and if it matters to you, the red-and-silver design accents around the dials add ‘a touch of class.’ There’s even the lovely detail of having a tripod thread in-line with the center of the lens.
This isn’t a class-leading video camera by any stretch of the imagination, but Canon’s 1080/60p video with optical and digital stabilization continues to impress, though the fact that the control ring can’t be de-clicked limits its application somewhat (albeit the touchscreen allows silent manipulation of some controls). But here’s one thing this camera can do that the Sony can’t – accurate and easy touch-to-focus-and-track in video, even with a ‘lowly’ contrast-detect only system.
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| Here’s hoping the sun doesn’t set on the smallest member of Canon’s revamped G-series. Processed and cropped to taste in Adobe Camera Raw. 28mm equiv., ISO 125, 1/125 sec, F4. Photo by Carey Rose |
I continue to be a fan of the G7 X Mark II, and I hope that Canon will bring the improvements seen in that model to the G5 X and G9 X as well. If they can shoehorn 4K video and maybe even better burst performance into those as well, the whole RX100 line will have even more competition – which is never a bad thing.
Please do not reproduce any of these images on a website or any newsletter / magazine without prior permission (see our copyright page). We make the originals available for private users to download to their own machines for personal examination or printing (in conjunction with this review), we do so in good faith, please don’t abuse it.
Unless otherwise noted images taken with no particular settings at full resolution. Because our review images are now hosted on the ‘galleries’ section of dpreview.com, you can enjoy all of the new galleries functionality when browsing these samples.
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Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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A new patent suggests Canon’s engineers might be working on a curved sensor design to reduce vignetting. Japanese blog Egami reports on a patent that was released on the 24th of November and describes an image sensor design with a flat central portion, where light fall-off from the lens is not much of an issue, and curved edges, where fall-off is generally more noticeable. This approach, rather than using a sensor that’s totally curved, would avoid making the whole unit much thicker.
Such a sensor design could potentially be applied in mirrorless camera models where, due to short flange-back distances, vignetting is generally more of a problem than on conventional DSLRs. Software processing can correct for the effect but only to a certain degree, so it would not be a surprise that manufacturers are looking for hardware solutions.
As with all patents, it’s impossible to know if the technology will ever make it into a production model but it’s good to know manufacturers are looking at innovative ways of improving image quality.
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Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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Canon is on a roll with its updated Mark II lenses and scoring bullseyes with pretty much every shot. New versions of key focal lengths are being rolled out across the range, with fully revised optics and mechanical construction. Most are class leading, often setting new standards in one area or another, and the Canon EF 35mm F1.4L USM MkII is no exception – it is sharp, very, very sharp!
The MkII model launched last year replaces the elderly MkI of 1998. That lens was originally designed for film SLRs, but it won many digital hearts, including some on the DPReview team and several articles have already been published, looking back at the old lens and forward to the MkII with sample galleries, user reports and comparisons.
One thing missing from those articles though, is the close scrutiny of DxO Mark’s lab tests, with full analysis of MTF (Modulation Transfer Function) sharpness performance, and other important aspects of image quality that can only be properly assessed under controlled conditions. So now we’re putting that right, and the resolution of this lens on a 51 megapixel Canon 5DS R is something to behold. The new Canon 35mm F1.4 MkII shares headline specifications with the MkI, and most key features are the same or similar. It’s all-change under the skin though, with more of everything in the quest for quality, including a significant increase in size, weight and cost.
Canon has paid close attention to the optical redesign and the mechanical construction, and both raise the bar. No stone has been left unturned, and just about the only thing that stays the same as the MkI is the 72mm filter size, and the minimum focusing distance is also very similar at 28cm (11in).
There is no image stabilization, with that option already very effectively covered by the Canon 35mm F2 IS USM. Purists will welcome the decision to concentrate on sheer optical quality, and it helps to keep complexity and the burgeoning weight in check.
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| 35mm focal length delivers a 63° field of view on full frame cameras, measured conventionally across the diagonal, from corner to corner. Image corrected for lateral CA, distortion and vignetting in Lightroom, at default sharpening. Canon 5DS R (51mp), 1/2500 sec, F4, ISO 100, mirror lock-up. |
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| On APS-C format, the 35mm focal length’s field of view is narrowed to 42° (56mm equivalent). This is a digital simulation, cropped 1.6x (20mp) from the full frame image above. Shire Hall, Cambridge, UK. |
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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Canon has introduced an update for its EOS 5D Mark IV DSLR that corrects a color issue when using flash, and improves the camera’s performance when the company’s new tele-converters are in use.
Firmware version 1.0.3 fixes an issue that created different color temperatures in flash output according to the metering mode in use at the time, and makes communication between camera and lens more reliable with the EF1.4x III and EF2x III tele-converters. The company says an additional fix corrects the way the level gauge is displayed when the camera is held in portrait orientation with the grip below the lens.
For more information visit the Canon website.
Manufacturer’s release notes
Firmware Version 1.0.3 incorporates the following fixes and improvements:
1. Corrects a phenomenon in which the color of images varies depending on the metering mode selected during flash shooting.
2. Improves the reliability of communication when using the EF1.4X III or EF2X III extender.
3. Corrects the level display when the camera is held in the vertical orientation with the hand grip pointing downward.
4. Improves the reliability of communication via USB cable when using the Lens Data Registration function with EOS Utility 3.
Firmware Version 1.0.3 is for cameras with firmware Version 1.0.2 or earlier. If your camera’s firmware is already Version 1.0.3, it is not necessary to update the firmware.
When updating the firmware of your camera, please review the instructions thoroughly before you update the firmware.
The firmware update takes approximately 4 minutes.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Canon recently announced the new incarnation of its 5D lineup, the Canon 5D Mark IV. I myself have owned the 5D Classic (Mark I), and I currently own the Mark III. Personally, I don’t have any plans to upgrade as I went another way instead, choosing to shift to the Fuji X-series as they are smaller and lighter for traveling. However, I am eyeing the new X-T2!
For those of you considering an upgrade on your Canon camera body, here are some reviews and field tests I found for the 5D Mark IV. Whether you’re going from an APS-C camera up to full frame, or just looking to upgrade from an older 5D model, do your own testing and decide if it’s the right move for you.
This store is in Calgary, AB, Canada – a mere four hours drive from my city. Not the place you’d expect world class camera reviews to come from – but these guys really do some great tests, in real-world situations and they produce some great videos that are totally impartial. If they find a flaw or sticky bit, they will tell you about it. I like that.
Let’s see what they had to say about the Canon 5D Mark IV:
Hmmm, interesting! Watch to the end where Chris sums up his thoughts on the 5D Mark IV they may surprise you. He’s very honest about it.
Toby from PhotoRec TV has some notes for you comparing three different cameras including the 5D Mark IV’s predecessor, and the Sony A7RII full frame camera. He talks about what’s new and improved from the Mark III and how it compares to the Sony.
This is a new introduction by Canon, dual-pixel RAW format. What does that mean? Quoted from Canon’s UK site:
Using the Dual Pixel RAW Optimizer in Digital Photo Professional software, users can make use of the Dual Pixel data recorded with the Dual Pixel RAW image for micro-adjustments of the position of maximum sharpness using the depth information contained within the file.
Is it worth it? Would you use this feature?
Pye has done quite a few articles for us here on dPS, so you may be familiar with him. He took this camera to a wedding shoot and put it to work. He pushed the limits on it in many areas and tested ISO, dynamic range, the new dual-pixel RAW and some of the great new focus features.
So are you considering buying the Canon 5D Mark IV? If so you can price them out here:
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention there have been some reported issues with the 5D Mark IV. So do some research and due diligence if you are thinking about buying this camera.
Have you tried one of these cameras out yet? Give us your thoughts in the comments below.
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The post Review and Field Tests of the new Canon 5D Mark IV – Is it Worth Upgrading? by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.
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A gray edition of the entry-level Rebel T6 has appeared in Canon USA’s online store. The kit includes a gray strap and standard-issue black EF-S 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 IS II lens, and the camera grip features a brown, leather-like finish. Like the black Rebel T6 the gray edition is listed at $ 550, but Canon is currently offering a $ 50 discount on the original kit that isn’t extended to the new version.
Read our Canon EOS Rebel T6 Review
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Polish photographer Miron Bogacki mounted a Canon EOS 5D Mark III to a custom-built octocopter and flew the drone over Northern Poland in the Valley of Drw?ca. We hope that you enjoy the gorgeous video footage he captured as much as we did! To see more of Miron’s work check out his website.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)