Photo Review Reviews section

Canon EF 800mm f/5.6L IS USM Lens

9 Rating

A fast 800mm prime telephoto lens that will provide high performance for sports and wildlife photographers.Canon’s EF 800mm f/5.6L IS USM lens is a ‘big gun’ in many ways. Weighing 4.5 kilograms and almost half a metre long with its lens hood attached, it’s a challenge to shoot with. However, it also has a maximum aperture of f/5.6, which is outstanding for a lens with such a long focal length. Not unexpectedly, it’s priced accordingly at just under $17,000 and comes in a specially-designed, lockable lens case with a contoured interior and Velcro tie-down.

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM Lens

9 Rating

A fast, high-performance, professional-quality zoom lens for sports, events and portrait photographers.Improving on the popular EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM lens, Canon’s new EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM comes with a next-generation image stabiliser that claims up to four f-stops of shutter speed advantage at all focal length settings. Designed for professional photographers and serious photo enthusiasts who require robust construction and excellent imaging performance, the new lens also provides a shorter minimum focusing distance and better dust- and moisture-proof sealing.

Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM Lens

8.5 Rating

Canon’s fastest, highest quality, professional grade 50mm prime lens.Roughly two-and-a-half years ago Canon replaced the legendary EF 50mm f/1.0L USM with the EF 50mm f/1.2L USM. While its predecessor was the fastest (and one of the most expensive) mass-production lens ever made, by sacrificing two thirds of a stop, Canon was able to reduce the price of the lens significantly, although the 50mm f/1.2L USM remains very expensive for a standard prime lens.

Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM Lens

9 Rating

A professional-standard 24mm prime lens with the latest lens technologies.Replacing Canon’s popular EF 24mm f/1.4L USM, which has been on the market since 1997, the new EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM prime lens has been completely redesigned to match the company’s latest DSLR camera bodies. Although the basic specifications are essentially unchanged, the new model has a more complex structure.

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM Lens

The EF 17-40mm f/4L USM lens is a member of a suite of Canon zoom lenses that retain a constant f4 maximum aperture throughout the zoom range. Designed for use on 35mm SLR cameras, this ultra-wide zoom is ideal for capturing dramatic landscape shots and taking portraits of large groups of people. It will also prove useful for shooting in cramped interiors. [ia]

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM Lens

9 Rating

A high-quality macro lens with specially-designed image stabilisation plus dust- and moisture-resistant sealing.Back in July 2009, Canon announced a new ‘hybrid’ image stabilisation system designed for macro photography. Able to compensate for both the standard angular movement and the small shifts in the angle at which the lens is pointed during hand-held shooting. Announced less than two months later, the EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM is the first lens to use this new system.

Camera Armor

Impact protection for DSLR cameras.Camera Armor (note the American spelling) is a close fitting stay-on glove that is designed to protect SLR cameras against impact shock. Available in Black or Smoke, it consists of separate, shock-absorbing, flexible silicone camera and lens housings, a polycarbonate LCD shield and a lens cap tether. Separate designs are made for different brands and models to ensure photographers have access to all camera controls as well as battery and card compartments and interface ports. Most popular DSLRs are covered.

ThinkTank Photo Airport Antidote V. 2.0

8.5 Rating

A capacious backpack for serious photographers who frequently travel by air.ThinkTank Photo is a new brand name in the Australian market with products that are designed by photographers for photographers. The company’s design philosophy focuses on ‘speed’ and ‘accessibility’, helping photographers to ‘be ready’ when a photo opportunity presents itself. Three of the company’s designers are photographers (the fourth is a former Lowepro designer), while the ‘design board’, which provides direction and product testing, consists of 11 photographer/photojournalist members, selected from leading US publications.

ATP ProMax II CompactFlash Card and USB 2.0 Reader

A fast CF card that is designed to support cameras with the new UDMA interface.ATP Electronics Taiwan has recently introduced a number of memory card products to the Australian market, offering high data transfer speeds and support for the new UDMA (Ultra Direct Memory Access), which is beginning to be offered in an increasing number of digital still cameras and camcorders. UDMA supports faster data transmission through double transition clocking, in which data can be transmitted on both the rising and falling edges of the interface clock (unlike earlier systems which only sent data on the rising edge).