Tag Archives: mm

Deals and Sales, Equipment

Special Price on the Canon EFS 55-250 Telephoto Zoom at B&H

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I just heard from site-sponsor B&H Photo that there is currently a substantial price reduction on the Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS II Lens that amounts to about 40% off, if my estimate is correct. The lens normally sells for $255, but right now it is available for only $149. New owners of Canon cropped sensor DSLRs who want to expand their long lens shooting beyond what they can do with the EFS 18-55 IS kit lens, will find that this lens can extend their range considerably. If you have been thinking about this lens, this is a really great price!

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Equipment, Reviews

In Praise of the Canon 24-105mm f/4 L IS

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(Note: Though Canon no longer sells this lens, it is still around and may be a useful lens for photographers using DSLRs.)

Sometimes it seems like the Canon 24-105mm f/4L IS lens doesn’t get the respect it deserves. It probably doesn’t help that it is often described as a “kit lens” because Canon bundles it with some of their full frame DSLRs. Having a maximum aperture of only f/4, it lacks the f/2.8 aperture found on some of  the other Canon L zooms. It uses a “telescoping” zoom design that extends the front element when the focal length changes, and some mistakenly associate this design with lower quality lenses. It certainly doesn’t have the panache of the high-end, large-aperture primes, with their big  f/1.4 or f/1.2 maximum apertures, nor of the big and impressive f/2.8 L zooms, nor the exotic and equally expensive tilt/shift lenses——nor does it have their correspondingly large selling price. Continue reading In Praise of the Canon 24-105mm f/4 L IS →

Deals and Sales, Equipment

Special Discount on Canon 16-35mm f/2.8L II at B&H

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“We interrupt our regular broadcast to bring you this special message.” ;-)

I just heard that site sponsor B&H has added its own additional “instant rebate” to Canon’s price reduction on the the 16-35mm f/2.8L II, a very fine lens for those who do low-light ultra-wide photography. When the $170 Canon “instant rebate” is combined with the $50 B&H “instant rebate,” the price of the lens is reduced by $220! If you have been saving up for this lens, this sounds like a great opportunity to me!

You may already be aware of a current Canon “instant rebate” promotion that has reduced prices on a very wide range of Canon lenses and Speedlites, including some very desirable equipment. The range of included products and the size of the discounts are both unusual.

Commentary

Resisting Temptation: Canon 5D2

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I shoot with a Canon 5D. It is a really fine camera for my purposes, and after a couple of years of fairly substantial usage it is still working quite well.

Canon recently introduced the 5D2, which appears to be a very fine upgrade to the 5D line in pretty much every important way that we could expect in a camera sold at this price point: 21 MP sensor, a high quality video mode, dust reduction features, bigger and better monitor, and so on.

I’ll almost certainly get one… in due time. I resolved to not be an early adopter of the new camera, for several reasons. Early adopters typically pay list price of more for their cameras. To the extent that some glitches are not always discovered in pre-release testing, it is not uncommon for the first production run to have a few “issues.” And, most important, my current camera works really, really well. The 5D2 could, indeed, be “better” in some ways, but not so much better that I must rush out and replace it immediately.

But now that the 5D2 seems to be reaching the retailers in larger numbers, I’m starting to see interesting deals. For example I saw a couple for $2700 that included immediate availability and free shipping. I saw another legitimate price that was even lower. There have been a couple of deals on the 5D2 bundled with the EF 24-105mm f/4 L. (Those won’t appeal to me since I already own that lens.)

Note to self: Be strong, Dan. :-)

If  you are ready to buy your 5D2, you can purchase this product from B&H Photo via this link and help support this web site – thanks!