Handheld at night: Canon's EF-S 15-85mm IS Zoom

Canon EOS 7D - EF-S15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM - ISO 1600 - 1/6 sec at f / 4.0 - handheld

Gallery: Granville Island Night

When I tell people what a great lens Canon's EF-S 15-85mm "kit" zoom is (introduced along with the EOS-7D in 2009), I often times get some pretty skeptical looks. After all, while Canon makes many superb 'L' lenses, they don't necessarily have a reputation for high quality kit lenses. Well people... take my word for it, the 15-85mm zoom rocks! The above gallery contains all images taken with this lens the other evening, all handheld and most are wide-open at f/3.5.  I did some perspective correction on several shots in Adobe Lightroom v3.3RC to square up the buildings when I wasn't quite shooting level and please note that LR v3 now does do some automatic distortion corrections for many lenses too, although even without correction it really is not bad. I have included 2000 pixel images as well so you can better see how sharp this lens can be. Images were shot raw with my EOS-7D, all at ISO 1600 and at shutter speeds ranging from a very long 0.4 seconds, to an 1/8 of a second with a handful being slightly higher. EXIF data shows below each enlarged image, so you can see the camera settings.

Rebates, more rebates and promos!

Starting November 1st, there are tons of rebates available when buying gear from Beau Photo! Not only are there a whole slew of new Canon rebates on DSLRs, lenses and flashes, but for the first time in quite some time, there are also Nikon lens rebates! Add to this some great new Hasselblad promos and you've got plenty of stuff to consider, especially if needing to start your (generous!) Christmas shopping early for a loved one.

Lastly, there are also some Lexar specials running through until November 7th.  Of interest might be instant rebates on the following pro cards...

• Lexar Pro UDMA 8GB 400x CF - $14.00
• Lexar Pro UDMA 16GB 400x CF - $23.50
• Lexar Pro 16GB 133x SDHC - $26.00

Nov. 2010: Hasselblad Year-End Promos

Hasselblad has announced some aggressive promotions, starting November 1st and running through to December 31st. Call me for current CDN pricing if you are interested in one of the H4D or lens offers!

15% off Lens Promotion:
Endusers may purchase an HC(D) lens or HTS1.5 tilt-shift adapter at a 15% discount.

H4D-40 Lens Bundle
Enduser may purchase an H4D-40 with a HC(D) lens of their choice for a
promotional price of $19,995 US.

H4D-50 Free Lens
Enduser may purchase an H4D-50 for $28,995 US and receive a
FREE HC(D) lens of their choice.

Note: Promotions do not include the new HC-II lenses. Choice of HC-50 and HC-120 are subject to availability while supplies last.

November 2010: Nikon Lens Rebates

Nikon Lens Rebates: Nov 1st to Jan 6th!



Nikon has announced some generous lens rebates on some of their best selling lenses! These are instant rebates we give to you directly, so you don't have to mail anything in...

• AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8 - $100
• AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8 - $100
• AF-S NIKKOR VRII 70-200mm f/2.8G - $100
• AF-S NIKKOR 16-35mm f/4G VR - $75
• AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G VR - $75
• AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G VR - $75
• AF-S NIKKOR 300mm f/4 IF ED - $75
• AF-S Micro NIKKOR 60mm f/2.8 - $50
• AF-S Micro NIKKOR 105mm f/2.8 VR II - $50

Nov. 2010: Canon Rebates

November 2010 Rebates

For November, Canon has continued on with numerous lens rebates and has added flash and DSLR rebates as well. Remember, these are instant rebates which means we do the work to get the money from Canon so you don't have to.  These rebates are taken off right when you buy the items, so instant savings for you!  I have not included some rebates on this page as they are more to do with consumer products and P&S cameras and we do not stock those at Beau, although we can order them in if desired.  If a P&S is what you are after, you can call us for more details on those rebates.

Click the read-more link below for the long list of pro-oriented rebates...

Zacuto! We finally have Z-Finders in stock...

Get 'em while they're hot!

Finally, after months of waiting, we have the Z-Finders in stock, both the 2.5x and the 3x versions. We have filled our backorders and have stock on hand...

Wide! Sigma 8-16mm F4.5-5.6 DC HSM Lens

Gallery: Sigma 8-16mm F4.5-5.6 Lens Test Images

I recently had a few minutes to quickly shoot with a very interesting new Sigma lens, the ultra-wide 8-16mm zoom. This lens is only for APS-C crop digital cameras and on my EOS-7D, which shot the test photos in the gallery, it equates to a (rounded off) 13-26mm zoom, in 35mm full-frame equivalent terms. Very very wide indeed!

Pre-Photokina: Nikon Announcements

Nikon has announced a variety of interesting new FX format (full-frame) lenses, starting with a big, beautiful new 85mm lens, the Nikkor AF-S 85mm f/1.4G (Nikon details).  While the old AF 85mm f/1.4D was (and still is!) certainly a very good lens optically, it seems to frequently require an in-body AF adjustment to focus accurately with different cameras when shooting at near wide-open f-stops.  Initial reports indicate that the new AF-S version is more accurate across differing bodies and, on top of that, it also boasts Nikon's excellent Nano-Crystal lens coatings for excellent contrast and resistance to flare in challenging lighting conditions. The price will be a bit higher than the old 85mm, coming in at $1779, but not too bad when compared to the competition.

Pre-Photokina: Canon Announcements

Canon has announced a slew of cameras, lenses and one DSLR in advance of the Photokina trade show as follows...

Canon EOS-60D  ($1149 - Canon Press Release)

In a nutshell, the 60D is an 18MP DSLR that is a combination of features found in the 7D and 5D Mark II, in a less expensive and more consumer oriented plastic body.  I would look at the 60D as more of a “Pro Rebel”, so maybe that will give you an idea where Canon is going with it and, like the Rebel series, it also takes SD and SDHC cards, not CompactFlash. However it will also support the upcoming larger and faster SDXC standard.  It does look as though the EOS-7D is indeed the “true” successor to the 20D/30D/40D/50D series.  The 60D has also lost the wonderful “focus point joystick” that all the previous cameras in the series had, and now relies on a more awkwardly positioned and conventional “D-pad” controller that happens to be inside the rear control wheel.  Until I have a chance to handle a 60D, I won't know how good (or bad) this arrangement really is, but to me it definitely seems to be a step backward from an ergonomic standpoint.

Special: Digital FOCI 8" Album ($149.95)

We have a clearance sale on some 8" Portable Digital Photo Albums from Digital FOCI.  Regular price was $269 and the clearance price is $149.95! While supplies last only...

Armed with a high-res 800x600 pixel LCD and bound in a soft leatherette, the Digital Album also sports 4GB of internal flash memory as well as slots for CompactFlash, SD/SDHC/MMC, xD, Memory Stick and MS Pro cards, so you can download or view images to it from pretty much any camera and it makes a perfect presentation tool for those times you don't want to lug around a full-blown laptop.  Not only does it support standard JPEG, BMP, GIF and TIFF files, it will also open RAW images from a wide selection of digital SLRs.