2012-11-23

Product News:

• Gloxy TR-985 TTL Flash is out. This is part of some new generation of rebadger models emerging since Photokina. I didn't yet figure out who might be the manufacturer, but as far as I can see it's not Tumax this time.
• Metabones adds AF support to its EF - E mount.
• NISI, a brand owned and produced by Zhuhai ChuanFu Optical Technology, adds a high-quality MC Close-Up Lens for 77mm. Looks like an achromat.

More Database Additions:

• UW Housings was overdue to get an update since a long while now (I actually added that list back in early 2011 and didn't do much to anything about it since). New models were Aquatech DC-5 v3, Aquatica A5D Mk III, Nauticam NA-5DMK-III (all for EOS 5D Mark III), Ikelite housings for 650D and 5D Mark III, Inon X-2 for 60D, Nimar housings for EOS 1100D, 650D, 600D and 5D Mark III (they also started to offer housing versions in non-transparent black), Patima adds housings for the 600D, 650D and 5D Mark III (for the latter an amazing cine package with a depth rating of 300m including the Okii USB Focus controller and Cineroid HD monitor in external housings). Sea&Sea updated their portfolio with housings for the 600D, 650D and 5D Mark III, Sealux added a 7D housing and is currently announcing housings for the EOS 6D and 5D Mark III. SPL added a lot of Splash Series models and Subal announces housings for the EOS 1D X.
• Also added the Equinox housings for the Canon XL and Red ONE, Epic and Scarlet to the listing (available since 2010).
• Found a ceramic coffee mug looking like a Canon lens. Added to the Lens Coffee Mugs (see bottom of the entry).

2012-11-06

Site News:

• Code Revision: All boxed contents on the main pages are now optimized for the smaller screen resolutions of netbooks and other mobile devices (or resized windows ... no horizontal scrolling anymore). This includes General Notes, Footnotes and general comments within the tables as well as all non-table parts (click for examples). Everything down to 1024x768 should work flawlessly with the browser switched to full screen. Resizing the window width works down to 434 pixels. An issue still is the news page, which will follow on January 1st, as well as the menu, which needs at least 600pix in height zoomed out to 90% at full screen for the most important parts to be accessible (Dedicated Lenses > Adapting EF out of screen).

Recent Releases:

• Canon just announced two new lenses - an EF 24-70mm F4.0L IS USM (with 1:1.4 Macro capability) and an EF 35mm F2.0 IS USM. Both are expected to start shipping in December.
• Duclos Lenses added a Zeiss ZF.2 Speed Lens Set to their portfolio (incl. the 3 new F1.4 lenses).

More Database Additions:

• Canon OIS Lens Flashlight
• Promaster FL100 TTL
• Mount Adapters updated (mainly Fotodiox and Quenox)
• Mirrorless Adapters updated (added Canon EF To Sony NEX, Fuji X and MFT Dumb Mounts (dumb, dumber, tilt) and a selective quick 'n dirty mirrorless camera comparison)
• more Samyang rebadges found: ProOptik 14mm F2.8 and 85mm F1.4, and the new Rokinon cine mods (14mm, 24mm and 35mm) started to pop up as well

2012-10-31

Latest Site News:

• I finally ordered a primary domain address and hope this will be the final one (afair it's the 5th address ever since). The old links - canon-eos.bplaced.net and the canon.eos.serveblog.net redirector - will continue to work for some time, but (especially the bplaced link) probably not forever. Update your bookmarks please.

  New Address: Technoclopedia-Canon-EOS.com

• In addition or alternatively to my news feed you can now follow Technoclopedia updates or get in touch with me on Facebook, Diaspora (rather experimental) and Twitter (not sure how I'll deal with the 140 letter limit though).
• There also are some new table columns everywhere in the database, where I added / am about to add links to Amazon.de and Amazon.co.uk. Besides for shopping they can be quite useful at times to acquire some basic information about an item, like pictures, buyers comments and last but not least its good for a glimpse on availability in general and pricing in particular, whether in used or new conditions. And it helps the Technoclopedia of course, if you use these links.

Database Additions:

• Yumyum, delicious camera cakes ... added to the Fun Stuff page.
• Koolertron offers Stereo Speakers in form of a Canon 135mm F2L USM ... added to the Fun Stuff page as well.
• Added some more lens in a cap type pinholes - the Rising Pinhole std. and Wide versions (for EF mount) and Skink's EF dedicated Pinhole Pancakes in Classic and Retro Editions (out since spring of 2012?).
• Found another Samyang rebadger ... Enno von Essen (MeinFoto.to) came up with Ennex. The lenses also seem to be around since spring of 2012. There's at least an 8mm Fisheye, the 650-1300mm F8.0 MZ-5000 and the 500mm F6.3 and 800mm Mirrors.
• Polaroid has joined the Samyang rebadgers as well. So far I could find the 8mm Fisheye, a 500mm F6.3 Mirror and a 900mm F8.0 Mirror (Samyang 8/800).

Jeez, I should enter the fun and order my own badge of N^ERD lenses. Anyone up for the task of becoming an investor? We can have them painted in different colors. How about Metallic Cassis, Banana Rubber and Moss-Green Velvet Editions? Oh, c'mon!

Photozone Test Additions:

• Canon EF-S 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 IS STM
• Canon EF 20mm F2.8 USM (full frame test)
• Canon EF 28mm F2.8 USM IS (APS-C)
• ... browse the Canon Listing

2012-10-18

Time for another news posting. I was constantly adding content since the last one. Here you go:

• added GPS units and advanced USB remote controllers (follow focus etc.) to the 3rd Party Accessories listing
• added DxO Marks for Canon Digital SLR Cameras (color depth, dynamic range and high image quality max. ISO)
• added DxO Labs test references for various lenses (Canon (45), Samyang (3), Sigma (27), Tamron (10), Tokina (4) and Zeiss (9))
  → appreciated side effect: you can not only browse their test results, but can also see, which lenses and cameras are supported by the latest DxO Mark version
• added Rokinon 24mm F1.4
• updated Coffee Mugs info, added EF 100mm F2.8L IS Macro and 24-70mm F2.8L USM cups and added Canon EOS USB miniatures
• added Vivitar MF 35mm F1.4 AS UMC EOS (Samyang rebadge ofc.)

SLRgear Test Additions:

• Canon EF Extender 1.4x II
• Canon EF Extender 2.0x II
• Canon EF Extender 1.4x III
• Canon EF Extender 2.0x III
  + all 4 in comparison

2012-10-05

Man, I did some spell-checking. Reminded me of why one should do spell-checking more frequently. Sorry to all the english visitors being native speakers, who stumbled about crap here and there in the past. Though I promise, it will happen again.

Picture Additions:

• I didn't add pictures for ages, but still did spend time on collecting ever since. That said, I didn't do anything else than adding pictures for like the past 3 days ... . Special thanks to GrainLab.com, LensTests.com and Waldemar Belter in that respect for providing that many!

Equipment Additions:

• I'm slowly adding the Photokina input (not going to list details here, see the last few news submissions), which isn't too urgent, since most of it were future announcements and some of the stuff isn't even announced on the websites yet. Otherwise there wasn't much news in the meantime. Everyone seems to wait for the big PhotoPlus news. PhotoPlus is another big trade show in the US (NYC), where at least Canon is expected to add some more news about cameras and lenses. We'll see. The show will start on October 24.
  

   

• added Ed Mika nFD-EOS Adapter Kit
• added Kiwi EOS adapters
• added Walimex FW950 Speedlite

Test Additions:

• LensTests:
• added all there was


• Photozone:
• Canon EF 24-70mm F2.8L II USM - 5D Mark II test
• Canon EF 28mm F1.8 USM - 50D and 5D Mark II tests
• Canon EF 28mm F2.8 IS USM - 5D Mark II test
• Canon EF 40mm F2.8 STM - 50D and 5D Mark II tests
• Samyang 14mm F2.8 ED AS IF UMC EOS - 5D Mark II test
• Sigma AF 105mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro - 50D and 5D Mark II tests
• Tamron AF 24-70mm F2.8 SP Di VC USD - 5D Mark II test


• SLR Gear:
• Canon EF 8-15mm F4.0L USM Fisheye
• Canon EF-S 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 IS II
• Canon EF-S 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 IS STM
• Canon EF 24mm F2.8 IS USM
• Canon EF 28mm F2.8 IS USM
• Canon EF 40mm F2.8 STM
• Canon EF 70-300mm F4.0-5.6L IS USM
• Canon EF 300mm F2.8L IS II USM
• Canon EF 400mm F2.8L IS II USM
• Canon EF 600mm F4.0L IS II USM
• Sigma AF 105mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro
• Sigma AF 150mm F2.8 EX DG APO OS HSM Macro
• Tamron AF 18-270mm F3.5-6.3 Di-II LD VC PZD Macro
• Tamron AF 60mm F2.0 SP Di-II Macro
• Tamron AF 70-300mm F4.0-5.6 SP Di VC USD


• Photodo: I'm no longer adding Photodo links. It's impossible to figure out what's new there (speaking of quality reviews based on and including MTF data) without having to browse every single file they have uploaded on their servers. Furthermore, they constantly change their design and internal architecture. Simply not worth the work to stay up to date with them. There are enough other quality reviewers around, who do not make life that difficult.

2012-09-24

Photokina Live Report (Part III)

Spent another 2 days at the Photokina. On Saturday I had the pleasure to meet Gil from LensTests.com, which indeed was an awesome and inspiring event. I also found a few more things to add here:

New Aftermarket Findings Part III:

• Phottix will introduce a series of dedicated system flashes called Mitros (announced for end of 2012). They are further about to release new Ares radio flash triggers.
• Rikon presented some individually branded new product series. One of them is Meyin, which includes some basic radio flash triggers (VF-901 and VF-902), a second one is Dazzne, which includes the more advanced Kody radio triggers and a TTL dedicated flash gun.
• Tapac (the guys coming out with that mythic Elicar 300-600mm lens) are finally done with development and are looking for distributors. Can't be that. Mechanically the lens left a good first impression. Optically I won't say anything about it. I didn't really test shoot it. But the targeted price isn't anything cheap so I'd assume the optical qualities to be good.

2012-09-21

Photokina Live Report (Part II)

Alright, did area 4, 5 and 9 today and am thus done with the equipment part. This year's Photokina indeed offers many surprises. There came a lot of announcements shortly ahead, that some people made think like 'Hey ... why visit the convention? I already know about everything new there!' Let me tell you: You don't.

New Aftermarket Findings Part II:

• Chengdu Weizheng Digital Technology shows a new dedicated Speedlite series labeled Voking. Models include the V-580 (wireless TTL master / slave), VK-550 wireless TTL slave (manual mode only otherwise) and a VK-100 Macro Ring Lite.
• Dynaphos is showing Godox Thinklite rebadges, one TTL dedicated model will be released during the next few weeks.
• Godox is about to add the Cells and Cells II radio trigger transceivers (the II offers synch speeds up to 1/8000s).
• Lensbaby introduced the Spark, an entry level model compatible with the optic swap system. It will come with double coated glass by default and otherwise offers more or less what the original Lensbaby did.
• King Kandy Digital Technology Development (what a name!!) announces the dedicated Speedlites KD-600, KD-520 and KD-500, and 3 radio trigger sets including one named KR201 (their most advanced model featuring synch speeds up to 1/8000s).
• PiXeL is going to update the King to version II.
• Schneider-Kreuznach offered one of the bigger surprises. They presented prototypes of a new DSLR lens series (including a 35mm F1.4 Xenon, a 50mm F1.4 Xenon and a 85mm F2.4 Makro-Symmar), a new 28mm F4.5 PC-TS Super-Angulon and prototypes of a new HD-SLR series of Video Xenons (including a 25mm T2.1, a 50mm T2.1 and a 75mm T2.1). All of those will be available for C/EF and are announced to start shipping in summer of 2013.
• Sigma just announced and shows 3 new lenses: a 35mm F1.4 DG HSM, a 17-70mm F2.8-4.0 OS and a 120-300mm F2.8 DG OS HSM.
• Tokina shows a 12-28mm F4.0 AT-X Pro DX (labeled AT-X Pro SD IF FX on lens) and a 70-200mm F4.0 AT-X Pro FX VCM-S (labeled AT-X Pro SD IF DX on lens). The VCM-S stands for Tokina Vibration Control Mechanism - Supersonic (yes, silent drive). Both lenses are supposed to hit the market in spring of 2013.
• Triopo adds Speedlites TR-985C, EX-860C, TR-970C, TR-120N (coming soon for Canon). They further show the compatible TR-980 I (feat. multi-strobe and master function) and TR-980II C (feat. silent mode and FP mode).
• Trongasonic Electronics is about to add the Voeloon wireless TTL master / slave Speedlight V600 to the flash crowd, further a compatible V200 wireless TTL slave (manual mode only otherwise), the pair of 331EX and 330EX wireless TTL master / slave units with video LED and the dedicated models V300 and V500.
• Viltrox adds a JY-680C.

Well, that's most of the news now. I'll go visit again tomorrow, but just to see some of the photo exhibitions and watch some of the shows. Since this blog is about Canon related hardware it's rather unlikely, that I'll post another report for it. One thing is for sure: the DSLR world is facing a promising year when it comes to equipment releases.

2012-09-20

Photokina Live Report (Part I)

Thanks to the Photokina staff I'm a lucky owner of a press ticket. So I took the ride to Cologne. A friend of mine lives here and I can stay with her for the couple of days. She had already told me in advance, Cologne is full of the biggest German photo convention at the moment. Nothing else would matter. I entered the town by car coming from the north. Until then it had just been a relaxed ride with some good music right into the blue - with all the announcements ahead I wasn't quite sure whether this years Photokina would be a surprise and something to remember for a while, like two years ago, when I visited the first time and got loads of input for the site. But by entering the town I immediately had this feeling ... a feeling like a child with the excitement about doing something great and stupid, something as ridiculous as a nerdy thing can get. I'm in the right place :D. The first thing I recognized of the Photokina was the long array of Nikon banners along the road in Deutz (the part of Cologne hosting the convention center for Photokina). Dafuq did I just read? NIKON - I AM PHOTOKINA. Epic. I'm not going to join the Nikon bashing crowd here. Nikon is great, but that is just too much of an overstatement for my taste, too much to be ignored :P.

But it reminds me of my struggles with the newly announced EOS 6D. The 6D is discussed in a very controversial way. Most people are not satisfied with it at all. There are always some to criticize whatever new product gets along and I usually stay out of it ... either a product is suitable for me or it's not (but for others), it's basically as simple as that. But not this time. Canon targets the consumer market, owners of APS-C cameras who wish for a bigger sensor size and still own full frame glass from the old days. Well, some of the critics suspect this group of photographers to be inexistent. Most APS-C owners will have invested in a decent set of APS-C glass, which is not compatible with the 6D, so they say. There is a good point to it. However, let me follow my own bulk of ideas here. By looking at Canon EOS model naming history for years one shall be used to counting backwards, when it comes to hierarchy at the pro level cameras: EOS 5 < EOS 3 < EOS 1. With the digital cameras it became complicated, at least for me. It goes like 7D, 1D, 6D, 5D, 1Ds, 1D X, since I always preferred full frame over crop. The problem here? First I'm still not used to counting backwards. Second, I can't regret the feeling, there will not be a 5D Mark IV. The 6D looks promising, if you imagine what a 6D Mark II will be like - exactly what a 5D Mark IV should be, except for the memory type. It will make a 5D series - positioned as we know it - kinda dispensable. There seemingly isn't much difference between the 6D and the 5D Mark II otherwise. The only pity there is, is the task to get GPS working on the 5D II (you'll need the WFT unit and the GPS unit, which isn't worth the money, nor extra size and weight, if all you want is geotagging). I wish someone would come up with a firmware hack to solve this. Eye-Fi offers the Pro X2 (as well as upgrade options for the 2 older cards) featuring geotagging, but it's based on WiFi positioning technology rather than GPS or radio. That means it won't work outside of cities providing a decent hotspot network and even there won't serve at 100% accuracy. The core point is, a 5D Mark II with added direct GPS capability will be half the price of a new 6D. How? Most people are only argumenting about the actual marketing portfolio, totally ignoring the possibilities and pricing offered by the used market. For owners of a crop camera a used 5D Mark II is way full frame and pro enough, and being a professional series model it's built to last a while, thus a good deal even in used condition. And at least currently it's still available in some stocks and even cheaper new. That being my 2 cents there. I probably should note, that I'm a 5D Mark II owner unable to remember any location I ever shot a picture at, thus geotagging would be great. But as it looks, I'm not going to switch from 5D II to the 6D, if it's going to offer this kind of kinda crippled feature set (compared to other current EOS models and in relation to its announced price tag) just to show enough difference to the 5D Mark III. Technically the 6D itself (provided the specs will stay like currently promoted) is understatement at its best (looking at the limitations of its HDR mode for example) and just looks like a marketing strategy to enhance income. Or is it really just an attempt at the smallest full frame DSLR possible? But hey, probably it's an overdose of Canon Rumors articles and DPreview comments speaking here :P. Canon will know best, and hopefully they aren't deciding just for the money. We'll all see, what the 6D is optically capable of in a few weeks, so stay tuned.

I have to admit one more thing. You can't really blame Nikon for claiming all of Photokina. Nikon has created an interesting presentation, not as huge as Canon or Leica, but still more entertaining than Canon (their photo display tower is really nice). And on the stairs up to their show you can also read stuff like I AM LOL, so wtf :D.

I'm not going to provide the usual Photokina allround report here. There are excellent sources who do so, first of all DPreview, Photoscala offers a series of visual Impressions. I'll do what I always do, mainly concentrate on the aftermarket related to Canon EOS. And there are tons of news there. Here is a short round-up, I'll add tech details to the listings during the next few days / weeks.

First a word about Canon. Generally a very interesting show, not much entertainment, but a lot of equipment to play around with. I gave the EOS M a try. It's slow, really tiny (not just "small") and thus pretty unhandy. It doesn't have much in common with EOS except for the mount and the full set of manual / half automatic modes. Not my cup. The second thing I recognized as something more special was a small presentation called Anti-Counterfeit Initiative. It's actually one of this year's Photokina topics. Canon posted a service info in spring of 2012 about counterfeit batteries found on some markets, so they contribute their very own share. Sadly it's not very informative. The exhibited products are all genuine, except for two counterfeit printer ink packages. I can only guess, that this is due to Photokina restrictions, which actually forbid any exhibition of counterfeits. An interesting point was, that besides batteries also a 24-105mm coffee cup, a 77mm Protect filter and a generic FD/EOS Adapter was on display. Not sure, what especially the latter two are to imply. At least the coffee mugs are known to be counterfeits, or at least unlicensed production. The only licensed samples were given away by Canon at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010 to a selection of journalists.

New Aftermarket Findings Part I:

• A company called Allacax is showing radio triggers named Arrow 8000 feat. High Speed Synch. They further offer the Lumox 520 (no HSS, but with 200m double the range) and the NewT transceivers (TTL pass-through, HSS, a range of up to 120m and compatible with the other 2 models).
• Bosma is another company I never heard of before. They are showing a pair of 500mm M42 mount mirror lenses with F6.3 and F8.0 apertures.
• Bower is showing some new stuff including rebadges of 3 of Samyang's cine lenses, namely the 8mm T3.8 Fish-Eye CS EOS, the 24mm T1.5 ED AS IF UMC EOS and the 35mm T1.5 AS UMC EOS. They will officially include them into their catalogs next week (that's what they said). On show also is a rebadge of the standard 24mm F1.4 ED AS IF UMC. The 2012 catalog further adds the SFD450 Illuminator flash.
• Brilliant adds some new radio triggers, the Clarity, the Reality and Reality S, and the DTS 500 CN speedlite.
• BS Kinetics is showing an underwater housing for the Canon EOS 5D Mark III. Further housings for the 5D Mark II, 7D, 60D and 600D are available (5D models in stock in a few weeks). More models on request as usual.
• Emoblitz adds D728V (built-in modeling light / video LED), D728 std. model (without the video LED), D35, Di338Wi (radio based wireless TTL).
• Foto Maerz is showing an EOS 1D Mark IV EVO mod with some exclusive paint (green army camouflage pattern). The EVO mods are PL54 mount modifications done by Denz-Deniz and according to their leaflet also available for the EOS 7D and EOS 5D Mark III. The Maerz paint finishes are available for basically all EOS models in different styles (incl. a hot pink camouflage pattern, but not limited to camouflage only patterns after all). Maerz also shows a prototype of a Canon EOS 5D Mark II underwater housing named Hydra (for some reason it feels like a déjà vu - didn't they show this one in 2010 as well?).
• Kang Hui Photo shows some RF-801 / 802 radio triggers.
• Metz 52AF-1C Digital with touch screen is out.
• More Underwater housings: Nauticam presents the NA-5DMK-III.
• Polaroid shows some new TTL Studio Series flashguns, that at least I wasn't familiar with yet (to be honest, I didn't check their website for a while, maybe new stuff or old news to you). New models are the PL150DC and PL160DC.
• Roxsen has another Samyang rebadge on show (Pixco 8mm Fisheye) and announce a Canon EF to EOS M adapter ("coming soon").
• The Samyang booth is great. They have all the currently selling lenses there to play around with (including the new cine series), and if you ever wanted to see a set of completely golden lenses, your time has come. They are exhibiting one set produced back in 1983 (produced to celebrate the first millionth lens). The lately announced 10mm and shift lenses are on display only. The 10mm will come with FLE focus mechanism, therefore no IF in the name.
• ShenHao gets us some more view camera adapters with the 2x3", SDE-H, SDE-M and SDE-MU 4x5" models.
• Sunblitz adds the Di 990 AFC and Di 990 VL flashguns.
• Sunlite has the S1300 TTL on show.
• Tonta Electro Optical updates its Lens2Scope portfolio with 7mm Wide models (vs. 10mm of the original models).
• Voigtländer VC Meter II (silver or black ed.) - probably nothing new, but an interesting tool I will add to the aftermarket camera accessories list.
• Yashica adds some Canon dedicated TTL flashguns (rebadges) with the YS7000 (with video LED), YS8000, YS9000 and YS9100 (their catalog also names the YS3000 from the same series feat. "fully automatic TTL", but not specifying whether Canon is supported or not).

That's it for today from areas 2 and 3. Hall 4, 5 and 9 are being checked and reported about during the next 2 days.

2012-09-17

More Photokina announcements:

• Canon is introducing the EOS 6D, together with the BG-E13. DPreview already got a hands-on preview and a rather complete list of specs. Shipping date is TBA.
• Samyang is showing a prototype 10mm F2.8 ED AS UMC CS EOS. Shipping date is announced for end of 2012 / spring of 2013.

2012-09-14

Latest announcements:

• Tamron announced two new lenses - a 70-200mm F2.8 SP Di VC USD and a 90mm F2.8 SP Di Macro 1:1 VC USD. Technical specs are completely published (incl. weight), but a shipping date is TBA for both.

More additions:

• Yay! Found another rebadge of those manual 12mm F8.0 fisheye lenses once made by Sigma - a Cosinon. It's the big type, currently selling on Ebay.

2012-09-08

Photokina announcements:

• Samyang will show their first tilt-shift lens, the highly awaited T-S 24mm 1:3.5 ED AS UMC. They are "about to release" it, no exact dates are promised.
• Tapac today announced to present a new production sample of their Elicar 300-600mm F4.1-5.7 V-HQ IF ED. They sent some info material that I will just share here, since they yet don't have a working website themselfs. Get the brochure here. Read the email here.
• Zeiss is going to show prototypes of a ZE/ZF series 55mm F1.4 Distagon (announced to start shipping in the second half of 2013) as well as design studies of AF wide, standard and macro lenses for mirrorless systems (announced for mid 2013, but they didn't include mount information yet, so it might or might not include Canon EOS M).
• Zeiss further announced to show a new ZE/ZF series 135mm F2.0 T* Apo Sonnar ready to ship in December 2012.
• More new Zeiss lenses, the CZ.2 28-80mm T2.9 and the CP.2 25mm T2.1 Distagon T*, are currently being shown at the IBC (and will therefore be most likely seen at Photokina as well). The CP.2 is announced for October 2012, the CZ.2 is planned for the second quarter of 2013.

More announcements:

• LockCircle just revealed plans to release a PrimeCircle XE edition based on Zeiss ZE lenses featuring electronic aperture control ("coming soon").

More news:

• A guy named c2thew has published a DIY video about how to declick a Rokinon 35mm F1.4 (on YouTube).

2012-08-31

Something personal to announce today:

2012-08-29

Some more Canon Cine system announcements:

• Canon EOS C100 and C500 are coming in October/November.
• Canon CN-E 14mm T3.1 and 135mm T2.2 are being developed to start shipping during the first half of 2013.


• added Elinchrome Skyport Speed series
• updated Online Documentation Index

2012-08-25

I finally had to clean up my Outlook folders and came across a bunch of emails regarding the Technoclopedia, that I had stored for backup and reference purposes. I put a selection together for the website to keep them available. Have a look under About EOStec > Support Stories. It's quite worth it. I'll keep adding stuff there, check back.

I also added a new list for a very selection of aftermarket camera accessories: SLR Cameras > Accessories > 3rd Party Selection. Starting off with Sensor Triggered Remote Shutter Releases including systems by AEO Photo, FlagHead / Sabre Switch, Mumford, Patchmaster, Stepping Stone and Ubertronix.

• Phottix' Atlas II is out and shipping.
• YongNuo announced a YN568EX Speedlite with full E-TTL support, incl. wireless TTL slave and HSS. They also started to ship the RF-622C.
• DPreview has published the review for the Canon EOS 650D.
• found a Tokura 4034 AF as well as specs for the PF 30X ... it's a Sunpak clone for sure
• added columns for shutter release time lag to Canon EOS bodies' lists as well as a column for trigger ports to the flashgun lists and several refining columns to the wireless triggers list

2012-08-23

For the Europeans, September will be the month of equipment exhibitions this year. There will be the IBC in Amsterdam taking place from 7th to 11th as well as Photokina in Cologne from 17th to 23th. While Photokina concentrates on photography and photo production equipment and material, the IBC is THE european exhibition for film production and broadcasting. Still, Photokina emphasizes the development of HD-SLRs and their wide perception and use and dedicates one of the events - the shoot movie park - to the topic. I'm lucky enough to have a ticket for Photokina. The IBC offers free tickets until tomorrow, so I just did a little comparison of exhibitors (HD-SLR related) to help decide whether to do the 5 hours trip or not. Here's the result:

Hmm. Well, my list might look idiotic to someone familiar with the business (companies like Conurus of course won't go to Europe to exhibit their hand full of products by paying a booth fee of 4100€ and more plus flight etc.). But I'm still disappointed. I'd at least have hoped to see companies like Redrock, Birger or UniQoptics at one of the exhibitions. Guess I'll limit my focus to Photokina this year. IBC will take place next year as well. Maybe more companies covering HD-SLR equipment will attend.

2012-08-22

• mostly done adding stuff
• some more script / code revisions
• Canon EOS 1 C full specs found and added
• updated Online Documentation Index

2012-08-16

For some reason the old javascript popup I used for the print pages and add logs stopped working for most browsers (IE, Opera, Firefox), only Chrome would still pop them up like expected. Replaced the script, so things should work again.

• Digital Bolex announced the D16 back at NAB 2012 to be released in August / September ... added, since Canon EF is announced as mount option.
• Hähnel is supposed to add the Viper radio triggers as announced for June earlier this year with the release of the Tuff TTLs. Not yet featured on their website.


• added special purpose Schneider-Kreuznach 2.2/50 and 2.8/100 Xenon-Emeralds (EF mount)
• added Cinematics cine lens mods
• added PrimeCircle XT cine lens mods
• added UniQoptics Razor 7D Series of cine lenses
• EOShd.com posted a review of the Metabones EF - E Mount Mark II.
• Found a preview for the Blackmagic Cinema Camera at Creative Cow Magazine.

2012-08-11

Updates!!!!! I'm more or less done with moving my home. Before I start adding the older content (marked red as long as not added) here are the more recent news:

• Canon finally introduced their own mirrorless camera with the EOS M. With it they announced 2 dedicated EF-M mount lenses - a 22mm F2.0 STM pancake and a 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 IS STM zoom, an extra Speedlite 90EX, at least mainly targeting users of the EOS M, as well as an EF to EOS M Adapter to mount existing EF and EF-S lenses.
• Canon has published a service info about EOS 650D camera bodies produced within the period of 2012-05-31 to 2012-06-15. The rubber grips of those cameras might turn white due to superelevated use of vulcanization accelerator during production. Some costumers might show allergic reactions. Also, some of the early European 650Ds might identify as Kiss X6i in the EXIFs (concerns some within SN range of x3xxxxxxxxxx). Canon offers free replacement service.
• Canon just published another service info about the lately released EF 40mm pancake, which shows an abnormal sensitivity to physically applied pressure resulting in a malfunction of its focus.


• Nissin has published a press release about deleted or altered serial numbers on some of their flashes (sounds like gray or black market samples). They state void of warranty for every unit, that does not show the original engraved serial number. The altered units show signs of paint-over or tampering with black plastic tape with fake serial numbers printed on.


• Aputure just introduced their Magnum 68TL flash.
• CononMark is coming up with a quad flash design called iQ (features 4 high power modeling LEDs and 4 flash heads), ready for radio triggering (some of their triggers added as well).
• Cosina has introduced a Voigtländer 28mm F2.8 SLII Color Skopar.
• Kipon has announced the development of electronic EF adapters for Sony NEX and Micro 4/3.
• Metabones will update the EF - E Mount with a screw-on Arca Swiss type tripod mount, improved anti-reflection shielding and a power saving mode. Announced to be available in August.
• Rokinon 35mm T1.5 V-DSLR spotted at B&H
• Samyang just unveiled 3 more V-DSLR lenses coming in August and September, including the 14mm T3.1 ED AS IF UMC, 24mm T1.5 ED AS IF UMC and 35mm T1.5 AS UMC.
• Sigma just launched an updated AF 18-250mm F3.5-6.3 DC Macro OS HSM.
• Sky Wise Mold came up with the MeiKe MK-580 Speedlite.
• Walimex is coming out with most of Samyang's new VDSLR lenses including an additional 8mm T3.8 CS II (with removable lens hood), the 24mm T1.5 and the 35mm T1.5.
• Wansen just came up with RF-602 radio triggers adding some improvements like AF assist beam to the original YongNuo models.
• YongNuo is about to launch the new YN-622 E-TTL radio triggers.

• found a sample of Sigma's 55mm F2.8 XQ Macro ... added to the list

2012-05-22

News & Updates:

• I'm currently in the process of starting in a new job, moving to a new address etc. which doesn't allow me to spend much time on the Technoclopedia at the moment (if at all). Luckily, there aren't much news either. So during the next weeks I'll just post links of important stuff here and add the content, when I'm finished with moving house etc.
• Blackmagic Design presented a new 2.5K Cinema Camera with EF bayonet at NAB 2012
• Zeiss have announced a 70-200mm T2.9 T* CZ.2 and 3 more high-speed fixed focal lengths (CP.2 Super Speed) to be launched in the 3rd and 4th quarter of 2012
• Schneider Kreuznach is going to launch the Cine Xenar III series in July
• Triad have launched their PL-C300RS EF to PL mount converter for the EOS C300
• Hähnel adds the Tuff TTL radio triggers
• on the to-do list for some time already: Ed Mika FD to EF adapters
• on the to-do list since ages: Redrock Micro M2 Encore
• Gil De Sousa has started a series of detailed lens tests, the site is available in german and english
• german camera repair service M. R. Wiese Fototechnik is offering professional EOS 5D series mirror modification to adapt Leica and Zeiss Contax wide angle and fisheye lenses
• 2012-06-11 Updates:
• Canon has announced the EOS 650D to be available in late June
• Canon also introduced a new EF-S lens, the 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 IS STM, and a pancake type EF 40mm F2.8 STM (note the STM at the end, short for Stepper Motor, a silent full-time manual AF drive optimized for continuous AF during movie mode without causing noise recorded by a microphone plugged to and mounted on the camera (yet not clear whether based on Micro- or Ring-USM, discussions on the net are furious and based on guess))
• DPreview also posted a review for the EOS 5D Mark III
• Rokinon rebadge of Samyang's 8mm T3.8 V-DSLR spotted at B&H
• RadioPopper's JrX finally available in Europe
  More Lighting Rumor News: Commlite ComTrig 'ultra speed' flash triggers, Quantum announced CoPilot QF91C, Canon Speedlite 600EX tested with Pixel King, Aputure introduced the Trigmaster II 2.4G, Hähnel adds the Viper flash triggers, Radioflash about to release Digi 8 TTL triggers, Fottga Lumox 520 flash triggers, Yongnuo introduced a new infrared slave offering off-camera only TTL functions - the Speedlite EX600 (announcement), DSLRkit RC-08 radio remotes, Caler MF-100 non-TTL Quantum Qflash clones, Pirates, ye be warned!!!, Sekonic announces RT-32CTL PocketWizard ControlTL module, Aokatec TTL triggers, Viltrox JY-2410 transceivers
• FlagHead introduced the TriggerSmart, a remote shutter release triggered by sensors for sound, light intensity, movement or by an infrared beam

2012-04-17

News & Updates:

• Canon is pushing the cinemania once more. They announced a new EOS 1D C(inema) for October (the curious 4k DSLR announced last year to be in development) and an EOS C500 to be in development, as well as the upcoming of more lenses for CN-E mount, namely a 15.5-47mm T2.8L and a 30-105mm T2.8L. No launch dates published yet for the latter ones, prototypes of the lenses were presented at NAB 2012.
• Canon received some of the recent 2012 TIPA awards. Among the awarded products are the EOS 5D Mark III, EOS 1D X and EOS C300 as well as the EF 8-15mm F4.0L USM Fisheye.

2012-04-11

News & Updates:

• Canon has published a press release back in January about counterfeit Canon batteries, ac adapters and a battery charger selling in various online auctions.
  The counterfeits are not specifically reported to actually cause problems (the CIPA does in a rather speculative way and without referring to Canon duplicates in detail), but still are of course not genuine Canon products featuring the expected quality you'd pay them for. The following counterfeits are confirmed and pictured so far:
• rechargeable batteries: BP-511, LP-E5, LP-E6, LP-E8, NB-4L, NB-5L, NB-7L
• compact power adapters: CA-590, CA-590E
• battery charger: CB-2LX

• added some bits about Canon DVK-E1, -E2 and OSK-E3
• added Sunpak auto 120J TTL parabolic reflector flash, auto 444D, auto 622 Pro Super and some more Sunpak flash accessories

• updated Online Documentation Index

2012-04-09

News & Updates:

• Canon recently announced to launch the EOS 60Da.
• Zeiss has announced 2 new Compact Primes for end of the year - the CP.2 15mm T2.9 and the CP.2 135mm T2.1 - without publishing major specs yet.

• restructured the menu (moved EF to MFT lens adapters into Dedicated Lenses)
• new list for electronically controlled EF mounts, including Birger, Conurus/Metabones, MTF Effect and Wicked Circuits
• new list for Tilt/Shift adapters, including Arax, Free Eye, Kipon, Mirex and Zörk

• updated the section about S.K.Grimes View Camera adapters (see Mount Conversions > View Cameras)
• added Kipon series, MTF B4 - EF, S.K.Grimes Stock Holga and Barrel Lens to Canon EOS adapters (see Adapting Lenses > Mount Adapters)
• added Ewa Marine U-BXP and U-BXP100
• added Unomat flash models 320AF, C35AF and C36AF

2012-03-30

News & Updates:

• Printable pages are now available for all AF lenses.

• added Zunow 5D-PL mount adapter
• updated Online Documentation Index
• updated link pages

2012-03-20

News & Updates:

• New Site Feature: Printable pages with specs and picture (if available) for each body or lens. Enjoy!
  - available for Cosina, Phoenix, Promaster, Quantaray, Sigma, Soligor and misc 3rd party lens listings, more to come

• Carl Zeiss have announced the launch of a new 15mm F2.8 Distagon T* ZE for May 2012
• 3rd Party Cine Lenses got their very own listing now, starting with the Hartblei Super-Rotator cine versions, Zeiss Compact Primes and Lightweight Zoom, the Samyang V-DSLR lens, Schneider-Kreuznach Cine-Xenar II series and some 3rd party cine-mods by Century Optics, Duclos, RPlens and Technical Farm.
• Century Precision 1000mm F5.6 Tele Athenar is confirmed and added. Check out Adaptable Tele Lenses for details. One great story of a recovery of such a lens linked there. A must read!! Performance test included.
• added Hartblei Super-Rotator Digital series (now including the 45mm F3.5 TS-PC for 35mm formats)
• added Promaster 28-70mm F3.5-4.5 MC and 1.4x Digital Teleconverter
• updated the Quantaray lens list with lots of details, especially including rebadge info, added AF 18-50mm F3.5-5.6 QD
• updated list of Achromatic Diopters
• updated Online Documentation Index

• Making Not Taking Lens Reviews added:
• 8-Lens Macro Shoot-Out covering
  • Nikon 55mm F3.5 and 105mm F4.0 Micro-Nikkors
  • Kiron 105mm F2.8 Macro
  • Lester A. Dine 105mm F2.8 Macro
  • Vivitar 90mm F2.5 Series 1, 90mm F2.5 MC Ø62 and 105mm F2.5 Series 1 Macros
  • Tokina 100mm F2.8 Macro AT-X D PRO
• KMZ 16mm F2.8 Zenitar-M Fisheye
• Spiratone 18mm F3.5 Ultra Wideangle Pluracoat Ø72
• Tamron 180mm F2.5 SP LD [IF]
• Tamron 200-500mm F5.6 SP
• Tamron 400mm F4.0 SP LD [IF]
• Tokina 17mm F3.5 AT-X 17 AF Aspherical
• Tokina 17mm F3.5 AT-X 17 AF PRO Aspherical

2012-03-07

More Additions & Updates:

• Samyang announced to finally start shipping the awaited 8mm T3.8 Fish-Eye VDSLR in March. They also gave word about working on a 24mm Tilt-Shift lens to be released in summer 2012.
• The Samyang 24mm F1.4 ED AS IF UMC EOS is now available from Walimex. They are also announcing the 8mm T3.8 VDSLR to be available soon.
• The 4 older Samyang fixed focal lenses are now available in a bundle from Walimex called Pro Set All Star, packed in an Outdoor Case.
• added Hartblei HCam B1i and B1v versions
• 16:9 Nikon G EOS adapter versions updated
• updated Online Documentation Index

2012-03-06

More Additions & Updates:

• added new Allied Vision surveillance cameras including GX 2750, GX 6600 and Bonitos, also added some bits and pieces about former Prosilica Inc.
• added new Avigilon surveillance cameras, namely 8.0MP-HD-PRO and 29MP-HD-PRO
• added new Lumenera Lm11059 surveillance camera model
• added the Canon EOS 1100 Limited Editions (red, brown and gray)
• updated Online Documentation Index

2012-03-04

News:

• Canon is ready to release the new EOS 5D Mark III at end of March, accessories including WFT-E7, BG-E11 and GP-E2 will follow a month later.
• Together with the EOS 5D III the flash portfolio will be updated: Canon announced the Speedlite 600EX and 600EX-RT (with built-in radio transmitter) as well as a new Speedlite Transmitter ST-E3, also packed with radio transmitter technology in ST-E3-RT, for end of March.
• Canon UK finally announced the availability of the new 500mm and 600mm F4.0 IS USM lenses for May 2012.
• Lensbaby released another gem called Edge 80.
• Nissin announced a new flashgun, the MG8000 Extreme, coming next month. They also announced a new Macroflash MF18 back in December, which is still coming soon though.
• LPA Design is going to release PocketWizard Plus III.
• Ojecoco added H-430 radio triggers.
• Oloong released an updated SP-660 Mark II.
• YongNuo added an updated YN468II Speedlite.

Some More Additions & Updates:

• added the Canon EF-S 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 IS II (released sometime in 2011)
• a japanese company called Technical Farm came up with Canon EF lens modifications last year including the EF 16-35mm F2.8L II USM, EF 24-70mm F2.8L USM and the EF 70-200mm F2.8L IS II USM, adding an additional manual control ring for the iris, thus making these EF lenses ready to use for cinematographic applications missing electronic coupling
• added the RED Epic and Scarlet-X being digital video cameras compatible with Canon EF lenses
• added RED One being a digital video camera, which can mount EF lenses using lens mounts provided by Birger Engineering, Wicked Circuits or P+S Technik
• added KCWtechnica PL to EF mount adapters
• added Redrock Micro LiveLens MFT active micro 4/3 to EF adapter
• added Hot Rod Cameras PL mount modifications for Canon EOS bodies
• added view camera adapter systems including Cambo Ultima 35, Fotodiox, Horseman LD, VCC Pro and TS-Pro, Just Together, Novoflex Universal, Tilt/Shift and Automatic Bellows, Sinar p-slr, S.K. Grimes and Studiotool*Stm STS Model 1
• added MeiKe MK-430 Speedlite
• updated Online Documentation Index

Test Additions:

• Photozone:
• Canon EF 8-15mm F4.0L USM Fisheye
• Carl Zeiss 25mm F2.0 Distagon T* ZE
• Samyang 35mm F1.4 AS UMC EOS
• Sigma AF 12-24mm F4.5-5.6 EX DG Aspherical HSM II
• Sigma AF 150mm F2.8 EX DG APO OS HSM Macro (the 5D Mark II full frame test with and without Canon EF 1.4x + 2x Mark III teleconverters)
• Voigtländer MF 40mm F2.0 Aspherical Ultron SL II
• SLR Gear: nothing new
• Photodo: nothing new

2012-02-21

Alright, that was it about in 2011. I had planned a final update including all the great announcements becoming public in late 2011, but lazy me didn't make it. Well, except for the Zeiss 2/25 it really was only announcements, so there is little time left for new stuff to actually hit the market ;). Talking about Canon EOS equipment we are about to face a very interesting spring in 2012.

• Canon has announced the EOS 1D X, which will replace the 1D Mark IV as well as the 1Ds Mark III. It's announced for March 2012 or later. It requires a new set of accessories like WFT-E6 and a new GPS toy (GP-E1).
• Canon also announced the EOS C300, it's first video camera with an EF bayonet, together with some new lenses specialized for video - the CN-E 14.5-60mm T2.6L S, CN-E 24mm T1.5L F, CN-E 30-300mm T2.95-3.7L S, CN-E 50mm T1.3L F and CN-E 85mm T1.3L F.
• Canon updates its wide lens portfolio with an EF 24-70mm F2.8L II USM (announced for April), an EF 24mm F2.8 IS USM and an EF 28mm F2.8 IS USM (both announced for June).
• Canon has published some details about the upcoming mirrorless system. It will be compatible with EF lenses. Thus I added a mirrorless section. It also includes the lately available Conurus / Metabones adapter for C/EF lenses to mount to Sony NEX cameras.
• Samyang's new 1.4/24 is now available.
• Sigma presented an AF 180mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro at CES, which was reported to start shipping in March. Yet no technical details are known, no official announcement released.
• Tamron announced a 24-70mm F2.8 SP Di VC USD. No release date known as of reporting.
• Tokina announced an 11-16mm F2.8 DX AT-X 116 AF PRO II for July. They are also working to develop a 4/70-200 SD IF FX AT-X Pro with image stabilization, but yet there is no release date nor mount info published to this day.
• Zeiss finally came up with a 25mm F2.0 ZE Distagon T* for C/EF.

More Additions:

• Canon XL series camcorders, compatible to EF lenses thanks to the Canon EF Adapter XL
• Conurus NAM 1 modification (Contax 645 to C/EF adapter)
• Leitax mount conversions for Contax, Leica, Nikon, Olympus and Minolta Rokkors, as well as their Icarex BM to EF adapter

• 2011 News
• 2010 News
• 2009 News and older