Roger Cicala
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Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 II Resolution Tests
Here it is, only 6 months after announcement! The Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L II has finally arrived. I’d love to say something like: “Never have so many forums contained so many threads containing such strong opinions from people who’ve never touched a lens.” But that would be silly. It happens just…
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The Effect of a Decentered Lens on Autofocus
As some of you know, I’ve been testing a large number of Nikon cameras and lenses as part of the Autofocus Reality series. (Nikon full frame results will be up in a day or so.) I noticed an abnormality in one copy of a lens we were testing that some of you might find interesting. We were using 28mm…
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Tamron 24-70 f/2.8 VC Issue
First and foremost, this is just a point of information – something worth knowing about if you own this lens or are considering buying it. The Tamron 24-70 f/2.8 VC is an excellent lens, but as with so many new products, early adopters are always serving the role of beta testers. I wouldn’t be…
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Canon Illumination Correction and Third-Party Lenses
I while back I put out a notice that the Sigma 150mm and 180mm OS Macros had an issue if you shot JPGs on a Canon 5D Mk III and left peripheral illumination correction on. The camera auto-corrected for vignetting that wasn’t there, leaving an interesting pattern with a dark center and lightened…
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MM MM Good?
The first Leica M Monochrome (I think everyone is calling it the Leica M-M; at least everyone around here) showed up today. Lensrentals became a tiny reflection of most online forum discussions regarding the camera, with half the employees saying, “Why would anyone want that?” and the other half…
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Mirrorless, Mirrorless on the Wall . . . . Part II
## And Now Some Meaningless Speculation These are simply my observations and speculations. I have absolutely no real information about any manufacturer’s plans. If I did I would have to sign a nondisclosure agreement and couldn’t write this stuff. But I like to speculate. It’s sort of like playing…
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Mirrorless, Mirrorless on the Wall . . . Part I
Today’s post is one of those exercises in randomness that I just have to do every so often. I’ve been working with mirrorless cameras lately. That led to several people reminding me that two years ago I predicted mirrorless cameras would largely replace entry-level SLRs. After careful evaluation I…
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My Search for the Perfect Micro 4/3 Zoom . . .
has no limits. I mentioned not too long ago that when considering mirrorless cameras, I made my judgements largely based on native lenses. I do enjoy slapping an M-mount lens in front of my mirrorless camera once in a while, don’t get me wrong. But I don’t consider putting a large legacy zoom on an…
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Sigma OS Macros on 5DIII / 1Dx Issue
We probably should have figured this out more quickly, but when a brand new Sigma 180mm f/2.8 OS gave us this picture shot on a Canon 5D Mk III, we simply wondered, “what’s wrong with the lens?”. *Sigma 180 OS on 5DIII jpg* Then we tested several others copies of the lens… and they all did it. Then…
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The Bad Photography Marketing Awards for 2012
There’s an old saying among lawyers, in many variations, but all are similar to this: “_If you have the facts, pound home the facts. If you have the law, pound home the law. If you have neither, pound on the table.”_ For photography, I would assume it would go something like this: _“If you have the…
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A Tilted Element Demonstration
One thing we preach here a lot is that just because a dropped lens looks fine on the outside doesn’t mean it is fine. The other thing we preach a lot is that a tiny difference in the centering, tilt or placement of a single element can have a dramatic effect on image quality. Aaron made a great…
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Autofocus Reality Part 3B: Canon Cameras
Some days it’s good to be a geeky gear-head. This is one of them because a) I finished testing autofocus on all of the Canon camera bodies we had, b) I actually found out some interesting stuff, and c) I got worked up about camera marketers while doing it, so I have my next post in the works…