Photography News Issue 34

Photography News | Issue 34 | absolutephoto.com

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Review

Canon We hear from product marketing manager, Daniel Benjamin, and Canon ambassador Danny Green, to find out more about Canon’s lens range and the technologies involved in their build Lens special

Words by Jemma Dodd

What lens technology are you most proud of? We were the first company to use optical image stabilisers in our consumer lenses, which I feel was a real game changer. This allowed more shooting situations and flexibility. We now have Hybrid Image Stabilisation (IS) systems that work in different axis’ to compensate for different types of movement. We also recently announced the EF-S 18-135mm lens with Nano USM Technology, which means it’s smooth, fast, quiet and an ideal lens for those shooting video on their DSLR, something which is becoming increasingly popular. different from other brands? All of our lenses are made to our own designs and by machines that we build in-house. This allows us to have full control right the way through the process from concept, design and prototype to the final manufacturing. We are always looking at ways to improve image quality and have developed coatings What makes Canon lenses

Over the last 12 months Canon has received ten awards just for its lenses, these awards include the Photography News Gear of the Year awards in which our readers voted the EF 24-70mm f/2.8LII USM as the best standard zoom lens and the EF 35mm f/1.4L II USM won the award for best prime standard lens. We caught upwithDaniel Benjamin, Canon’s productmarketingmanager to find out a little more about the Canon’s lenses. Can you tell us which lenses in the Canon range are most popular? One of our lenses that has been consistently popular is the EF 50mm f/1.8. This lens is a really good starting lens for fast aperture photography. You can be very creative with this lens using control of depth-of-field and as it’s a fixed lens it makes you think about your composition differently. The EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM has also been popular since it launched, offering photographers a versatile wide-angle lens at a competitive price, perfect for travelling.

What can we expect next? We are always looking at ways of improving technology to give people the best shooting experience possible. There are advances in lens design and coatings all the time, not to mention improvements in lens motors and image stabilisers. What type of lenses are Canon users calling out for, and could their needs be met? We have well over 90 EF lenses in our range and this is growing every year. Customers are always pushing us to bring out faster, lighter lenses with increased zoom ranges. I feel portability is one of the most important factors at themoment, but without sacrificing image quality. Lenses have to be able to get the best out of the camera sensors, so image quality is always our top priority.

to combat flare and diffraction (light bending round the edge of anobject). One of the most interesting coatings is the Subwavelength Coating, this has a variable thickness that stops light bouncing off the coating and causing diffraction, something that is very important on wide-angles. The most recent lens you launched was the EF-M 28mm f/3.5 Macro IS STM with built-in Macro Lite, what sort of reaction from Canon users did this lens get? It’s still early days for this lens as it hasn’t been widely reviewed yet, although the feedback so far is very positive. It’s the first mirrorless super macro lens with a built-in light, which really does make a difference when shooting macro. It’s a great way to get started in macro photography, but let’s not forget that it can be used for other types of photography as well.

All of our lenses are made to our own designs and by machines that we build in-house. This allows us to have full control right the way through the process...

canon.co.uk

Featured lens

EF-S 18-135mmf/3.5-5.6 IS USM£449 Canon’s EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM lens offers a wide focal

range, making it great for a variety of subjects. It features Nano USM technology, which provides a fast and smooth autofocus and also has an optical image stabiliser to counteract for camera shake with up to a four- stop benefit.

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