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Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM
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Review Date: Feb 8, 2013
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Extreme sharp, superb bokeh, fast AF, outstanding value
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Cons:
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None
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An outstanding gem in the Canon lens-lineup. Extreme sharp even wide open, wonderful bokeh to kill for, fast autofocus all at an great price. Great on both APS-C and full-frame. Good MFD.
I'm adding an EF 70-200mm F2.8L IS II to my lens setup because I need the shorter focal range and IS when shooting indoors in low light, but it is much more heavy. The 135 F2.0L is way more stealthy when you need the for candid street shooting.
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Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM
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Review Date: Feb 1, 2013
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Very sharp, outstanding corner performance at 24 mm for a zoom. High micro-contrast and very fast autofocus.
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Cons:
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Price?
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Really just a fantastic zoom. Very sharp from f/2.8 and corner performance at 24 mm is prime quality at f/8. Maybe a tad less sharp at 70 mm, but it still passes the test of rendering eyelashes plenty sharp. Very high micro-contrast gives some beautiful images. Distortion is moderate and should not be an issue unless you're doing architecture. Autofocus is very fast and spot on.
I'm upgrading from a 24-105mm f/4L IS and doesn't miss the IS, but then I knew I would prefer f/2.8 over IS before I bought it. Highly recommended, if you can afford the high price.
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Canon EOS 1D X
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Review Date: Sep 3, 2012
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Outstanding AF, excellent metering system, superb High ISO, great handling
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Cons:
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Shadow recovery for some
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Most importantly this camera is just such a joy to use. The AF is very fast and accurate to the point where you don’t have to second guess it in order for it to deliver. The metering is really excellent even in difficult circumstances so you seldom have to dial in any exposure compensation, albeit it seems very keen to protect highlights from blowing out. The mirror black out time is really short and adds to the overall feeling of having an extreme responsive camera. Handling and ergonomics is also top notch in my book.
Image Quality is also worthy of a flagship. I have only shoot raw-files, and they are sharp, detailed and smooth at the same time. High ISO is really superb as the grain is easy to get rid of in Lightroom without sacrificing detail. Highlight recovery in the raw-files are also excellent. The only con is that shadow recovery isn’t quite up to the Nikon D800, but definitely still useable in most situation.
It shows the Canon put a lot of effort into this camera in order to bounce back against the Nikon D3S (and D4). EOS-1D X is a home run for years to come.
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Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM
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Review Date: May 19, 2005
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 7
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Pros:
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Excellent IS, unobtrusive size (and color), fast Auto Focus
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Cons:
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Soft, even a tad soft closed down, inconsistent results
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Like others I really wanted to be happy with this lens because with its unobtrusive size and color, zoom range and IS, it would be the perfect travel lens. But in end I returned it and got a 135 f/2L instead.
I my copy was soft wide open on the long end but more importantly didn't always got truely sharp closed down to f/8. I would say that my real problem with this lens was the inconsistent results: Sometimes I got sharp enough results, but other times the photos was too soft and lacked micro constrast/detail. White highlights also seems to bloom and obscure detail in areas with a lot of white.
Would I recommend it to others? I voted yes, because other lenses simply cannot provide all of its features, BUT it is important to test it yourself in order to decide whether the image quality is good enough.
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