• Canon EOS RP Advanced User Guide (English)
• Canon EOS R Advanced User Guide (English)
• Canon EOS RP Guide d’utilisation avancée (Français)
• Canon EOS R Guide d’utilisation avancée (Français)
• Canon EOS RP Guía para usuarios avanzados (pdf) (Español)
• Canon EOS R Guía para usuarios avanzados (pdf) (Español)

With these, you should no longer hesitate if you did not know whether one of these cameras was the right one for you.

• User manual of the Canon EOS 90D in English
• Manuel utilisateur du Canon EOS 90D en français
• Le maximum avec le 90D (Amazon)
• Canon EOS 90D: Guía para usuarios avanzados (pdf)

Now, you are ready to purchase the newest and brightest Canon APS-C DSLR, the replacement of the Canon EOS 80D and the Canon EOS 7D Mk II. Go and shoot pictures!

1. Petapixel’s A Field Test of the $12,400 Nikon 180-400mm f/4 TC1.4
2. And the even better Shooting polar bears with the $12,000 Nikon 180-400mm F4E TC1.4 FL ED VR

Such a beast of lens is not for everybody, but you can’t beat reading real-world testing.

Firmware v1.1.0 new features/changes:

1. Supports WiFi adapter W-E1.
2. Adds a setting to enable or disable automatic storage of the lens, if it is extended out when a gear-driven STM lens is attached, and the power switch is turned to OFF.

Download the latest Canon EOS 7D Mark II firmware.

• Pentax K-1, Operating Manual (English)
• Pentax K-1, Manual de Instrucciones
• Mode d’emploi du Pentax K-1 en français

Have fun reading these Pentax K-1 documents.

• User’s Manual English (for customers in Europe)
• User’s Manual English (for customers in the Americas)
• User’s Manual English (for customers in Asia, Oceania, the Middle East, and Africa)
• Benutzerhandbuch (Deutsch)
• Руководство пользователя (Русский)
• Manuel d’utilisation Français (pour les clients en Europe)
• Manuel d’utilisation Français (pour les clients en Amérique)
• Manual del usuario Español (para los clientes en América)
• Manual del usuario Español (para los clientes en Europa)
• Manual do Utilizador Português (para clientes na África)
• Manual do Utilizador Português (para clientes na Europa)

Read it well with your Nikon D500.

• User’s Manual English (for customers in Europe)
• User’s Manual English (for customers in the Americas)
• User’s Manual English (for customers in Asia, Oceania, the Middle East, and Africa)
• Manuel d’utilisation Français (pour les clients en Asie et en Afrique)
• Manuel d’utilisation Français (pour les clients en Amérique)
• Manuel d’utilisation Français (pour les clients en Europe)
• Manual del usuario Español (para los clientes en América)
• Manual del usuario Español (para los clientes en Europa)
• Benutzerhandbuch (Deutsch)
• Руководство пользователя (Русский)
• Manual do Utilizador Português (para clientes na África)
• Manual do Utilizador Português (para clientes na Europa)

• International User manual for Sony A77II
• Sony A77II brochure in English
• Sony A77II User Manual in English

I hesitated quite some time and, while I was waiting for its arrival, I admit I was somewhat frigthened that buying it may have been the biggest mistake of my photographer’s career. I am no longer frightened and I offer to share why using it was so positive.

Out of its price, it appears frighteningly heavy. I would not say this is a light lens (3.8kg, no less!) but it is astonishingly well balanced; Most probably because it has a large optical group in the back, near the camera body. I was coming from my habits with a Minolta 400mm f/4.5 (of -only- 1.8kg) which I learned to handle without a pod (to track fliying birds). With the help of the image stabilization (active in the viewfinder), I could shoot vultures and storks filling the frame at 400mm and smaller, faster birds (European rollers) in a wider frame. Just remember that you need some space around or the head of your neighbours will not appreciate your ample moves. And those who met me face-to-face understand that I am not really an athlete!

The zooming ring falls right in your hand and is ideally fluid with a nice run (not too short, not too long for my taste: A big 90° angle to go from 200mm to 400mm). The advantage of the integrated multiplier is resolutely recognizable. I thought that it could be a pleasant addition with a limited use. This is much more than that: The combination of the focal range and the multiplier teaches you to easily move from one range to the other. I quickly built a reflex of re-centering the focal range when reaching 400mm (one push of a finger on the multiplier lever and a small ring turn and I’m back at 400mm but in the middle of the available 280-560mm range; and back).

The materials used to build it are pleasant and re-assuring to handle (the sun visor is quite rigid even if clearly plastic-made). The case which -at launch time- have temporarily appeared as maybe a separate option was included. If it protects the lens well, removing it from the shipment would have reduced the price by nearly 600€ (at this level of price, every little thing could help) and moving this jewel around in so recognizable a Canon case would call for robbery. Who would be ready to put this case on the conveyor belt of an airport check-in counter? Seriously!

Speaking of image quality,I should let more competent people count lines, measure fringes, peep pixels and describe the technologies deployed by Canon. I can only say that all you se in the viewfinder looks great (f/4) but I would tell a little tale that I can share with you. Back from Kenya with plenty of photos (my finger is a bit heavy and the 70D continuous shooting is quite fast, even when I shoot completely immobile subjects). While reviewing the images, I tried to compare AF results of a leopard lying on the ground by merely zomming as much as possible on the eye of the animal and by checking the precision of the vein lines and iris colors.

Of course, this cannot stop you having fun shooting pictures (the leopard below really winked at me (you can see it by moving your mouse over the image – if you click, you will see his nice eye).

All in all, no regret. The Canon 200-400mm f/4 ext 1.4 is a sumptuous piece of optical photographic glass.

Of course, I must profusely thank Xtian for his considerable help.

• A6000 User manual
• Manuel utilisateur Sony Alpha 6000 : indisponible pour le moment

Take advantage of this availability to discover all of its features.

And you can also check DPreview’s hands-on review of the Sony Alpha A6000.

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• Nikon D4s user manual (English)
• Manuel utilisateur Nikon D4s (français)
• Nikon D4s Manual del usuario (español)
• D4s network guide (English)
• D4s Guía de red (español)

According to SonyAlhaRumors (the web site which collects the more rumors, if not the most critical), there are several clear items:

• There will be a successor to the Sony Alpha 77
• It will be named A77-II
• It will have ultra-fast autofocus
• It will come in May 2014

Let’s step back a little and review these:

• Existence: The question was really open, but it appears that Sony is not ready to leave the DSLR market yet, even without a real Reflex chamber, or even if featuring an EVF.
• Name: Don’t listen too much to things that can easily change in the offices of Sony Marketing Department (even if time starts runnig short for a last-minute change).
• The A77 was impressive for its speed. Sony marketing must have pushed this advantage and the A77-II will have an improved-again A6000 autofocus system (already the fastest on the market), an EVF with a slightly improved lag (maybe), maybe-improved continuous shooting (here, to go over 10 fps, you need to pay for special mechanics, and the cost may not be OK for the A77-II price range).
• Date: There is always some fuzzy difference between announcement and availibility dates, but May 2014 launch is possible, depending on the credibility of the sources…

Don’t look for more technical details. For the last years, Sony succeeded in managing its “leaks”. Obviously, in most case, it’s not information theft, but “organized leaks” handled within a self-promotion campaign exploiting the Internet and some Internet web sites. If Sony did not let anything go, either they prepare a thunderous announcement, or they have to wait for after Summer…

Sony does not go into great details, but says that they are working on a correction for the issue (I would not like to be one of the engineers tasked with this). In the mean time, the owners would better be using soemthing to mask this part of the camera: gaffer tape, a large elastic rubber band, or elastic hair ties (as shown on BTC).

If Canon Imaging is still growing thanks to a strongly depreciated Yen (given by Mr. Abe), the total number of shipped parts is dropping (-21% from 2013). And the compact cameras are going through the floor (-28%). Interchangeable Lens Digital Cameras are a fuzzy category (including DSLR and others), but the results are relatively good with (only) a 7% loss in shipped quantities.

Based upon this, it’s no surprise that Canon may be re-considering the importance of staying in the entry market where the competition comes from Chinese-designed and -produced cameras at bargain basement prices and from smartphones as expensive as many cameras but available at all time in our pockets. There was no such official information, but it’s heard through the grapevine that the decision may laready have been taken to move out of the entry-level point-and-shoot cameras to concentrate on more high-end products.

What do I think about it? It would make sense and it would be very consistent with the overall marketing strategy of the big brands (starting with Canon, Nikon and Sony) which are trying to elevate the performance of their products (bigger, more expensive, more pro DSLR; sometimes, going all out for the retro-fashion like with the Nikon Df; bigger sensors with the Full Frame sensors on every camera including the smallest ones). One possibility would still be for Canon to sub-contract these difficult entry-level products to Chinese designers with only a Canon label on top of them (to keep a fake market presence).

It seems that the wide availability of the Nikon D610 (and its improved shutter mechanism able to reduce dust/pollution levels to normal) makes Nikon able to extend the replacement of faulty shutter mechanisms in all D600.

Customers just have to ask. This is right in the US, but it is not clear if this is applicable in other regions.

Update: This service is now offered by Nikon France (and all other Nikon subsidiaries too).
Details on Nikon Europe.

Here are a few links to on-line copies of the Nikon D4 manuals:

• English version of the Nikon D4 User’s Manual (from Nikon USA)
• Version française du manuel d’utilisation du Nikon D4 (chez Nikon Canada)
• Version española del Manual del usuario – Nikon D4 (de Nikon USA)

Happy reading.

You bought a 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM with a Canon mount but you wanted to move on and take advantage of the newest Nikon DSLR? Well, OK. you just have to send back the lens to Sigma to have it refitted at the Sigma USA service center into a Nikon-mount version of the same lens. No need to sell all your lenses on eBay when switching brands.

Prices: between $80/100€ (for a DN lens for hybrid cameras) and $250/325€ (for a 120-300mm f/2,8 “Sport”). [source DPreview].

This is a true world-wide premiere but the surprise is less in the technology than in the announcement process: Nothing filtered out on any Internet web site until the very last hours. Nevertheless, it certainly took more than a year for Sigma to organize this conversion service and to present the seven first lenses covered by it.

Here, I find to refreshing lessons:

1. Even a company like Sigma which is not considered as paranoid can perfectly hide such a ground-breaking strategy, including when the actual products which it is based upon are on the shelves already (the first lenses have been announced without uncovering one of their most significant features in the interest of preserving the surprise expected from the conversion service announcement itself). Kudos to Sigma!
2. This aptitude to master the communication for a photo equipment manufacturer leads me to openly ask the question of the operation of those Internet web sites that make all their business out of publishing (actively and continuously) rumors on the web. Where are their informations coming from? Comparable experience from other industry sectors (i.e. automobile) shows that there are two sources: On the one hand, small-time attention-seekers basing their “leaks” on probable or predictable informations (intelligent analysis easily leads to reliable but unoriginal data) ; On the other hand, brands and manufacturers embed these web sites into their marketing strategies and distill data according to plans and schedules they define.

We keep reading these rumor sites. The newspapers also submit themselves to the tyranny of more or less organized leaks. But we must remember that despite the continuous efforts to appear independent, professional and objective, the information there is either unfounded or mostly directed by the brands (rumor? disinformation? leaks? No! Marketing).

Everything has already been told and written (you’ll find below a list of announcement papers in other blogs), except the price: A whooping 11769 US Dollar! Even a little higher than what was expected.

The first lenses will be available at the end of May, but Canon sources confirm that the quantity will be very limited at first.

• PetaPixel
• PhotoCritic
• Canon rumors
• DPreview

And the case is 649 US dollars more…

Since then, the rumors extended beyond reason. The lens was seen several times in the hands of various photographers (in particular, during some sports events around the world). But it seems that Canon evidenced a serious issue last Summer, significantly delaying the launch. It’s impossible to know what it was, but the reality is that the lens exists and that it’s not available yet.

Despite a formidable price (forecast to be further than 11000 US dollars, or more than 10000 euros), it attracted the interest of many people because it exhibits an extraordinary set of features (extraordinary, even in the world of mega-zooms):

1. A 200-400mm zoom lens with a f/4 aperture, or a diaphragm very wide open without reaching the ridiculous price and weight of a f/2.8 aperture.
2. This combination has already been visible in the Nikon lens line for several year in the guise of the AF-S Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED VR which is already in its second generation (mainly for an upgrade of the optical image stabilization).
3. Its wide aperture allows to use a focal multiplier; but this kind of tool is often unpleasant to handle. The new Canon integrates a 1.4x multiplier in an internal mechanism that appears like a sort of side bulbous bump. The multiplier, thus, becomes always available at the minuscule cost of pushing a lever with a finger to bring it into the optical path. Nothing could be simpler!

This last item is clearly the innovation that shocked people into attention and could have a nice future if Canon learns how to handle the small associated mechanism (they do have the needed knowledge, of course).

According to Canon Rumors (which previously distinguished itself with a number of unfounded rumors about this lens and about other Canon products), the official announcement will happen in a few days (15th of May?) with full availability around Fall 2013. Nothing is certain, but if you want some more to feed your impatience, there is an Australian photographer, Joshua Holko, who has been authorized to publish a video review of a few minutes.

Thanks to Luminous Landscape.

Nikon has decided to start renewing some of its sports- or wildlife-oriented long lenses this year (and probably in 2014 too). Starting in January 2013, they offer a monster of a lens, the Nikkor 800mm f/5.6 E FL ED VR.

It’s a monster of price (18,000 USD list price, but slightly better at B&H or Amazon), of weight (4.59 kg or 10.12 lb). But it’s also one of the longest focal you can really find on the market (older 1200mm heavy-weights are out-of-market, in all senses of the word).

The most prominent features are a dream for all photographers (in this category):

• Two ED glass elements (“fluorite” for those more used to Canon language, despite the small differences between these technologies)
• Electro-magnetically-controled diaphragm (like in the PC-E line of lenses)
• Included TC800-1.25E ED extender designed specially to create a 1000mm f/7.1 beast (the first extender ever to include an ED glass element).

• Dust-proof and splash-proof construction
• High image quality close to fixed focal length lens
• Focus limiter button (to speed AF up)

Sigma also disclosed that they want this lens to be the first in a long (and new) line of “sports-oriented” lenses (read: lens line of big focal lengths, and possibly relatively inexpensive… for long lenses).

So, we will have to wait until we can see if these features are accompanied with excellent optical quality (or not) for this Sigma new 120-300mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM lens.

Source: PetaPixel.

PDN found a problem with the Nikon D4 and D800 while testing these. It seems that there are situations where the camera will lock up when the camera is used with either Highlights or histogram display.

Simply disabling these features will avoid this ugly lock-up (even if it is easy to restore normal operation by removal of the battery for a couple of seconds).

Nikon is looking for a correction. Most probably a firmware upgrade.

The only batteries that may be replaced hold the letter E or the letter F in 9th position in their serial number.

EN-EL15 Rechargeable Li-ion Battery Service Advisory (Nikon).

We are not alone. Plenty of people on the web have the same objective and they brought us exactly that: A wealth of comparisons, parallel tests and face-to-face reviews for the newest contenders for the title of “Most attractive enthusiast-targeting photo camera with a Full Frame sensor”.

• Low Light Comparison of the Canon 5D Mark II, 5D Mark III, and Nikon D800 from Joe Marine (via PetaPixel): It’s an impressive show of the Canon video performance (even calling the old 5D MkII in)
• DxOLabs does a number of reviews and comparisons aiming at the sensor quality (D800 & 5D MkIII): does not leave any doubt about the photo ability of the Nikon sensor (or should I say Sony sensor?).



• Nikon D800 vs. D3s and D7000 comparison by Cary Jordan: is obviously impressed by the D800 performance (as an excellent FX camera and as a very good DX/APS-C camera, too.)
• Canon EOS 5D Mk III Vs Nikon D800 at PhotoAnswers: is rather balanced but shows very nice D800 pictures.

• NX-20 at $1100
• NX-210 at $900
• NX-1000 (probably) under $700

All three of them share a 20 MP APS-C sensor, a high sensitivity climbing up to ISO 12800, 1080p/30fps HD video capture, 8fps continuous shooting, a nice 3″ LCD display and a WiFi interface to cooperate with your Android phone.

The NX1000 is most noticeable for its choice of colors (white, black or pink).
The NX210 is still a point’n-shoot in format, while the NX20 tries to hide under a near SLR or bridge camera guise.

However, based on the results of extensive testing this change in exposure value will not noticeably affect the captured image.

This is right: the discrepancy seems to be limited to 1/3 of a diaphragm. This is not much. But the users of a camera designed for experts, enthusiasts and pros may appear more difficult to convince than the wider audience of entry-level cameras.

We’ll see what the final outcome will be. Maybe not a full-fledged scandal (Canon is still OK to check your camera up in After Sales if you feel this is critical), but some bitter comments and a mild irritation…