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Author Topic: shallow DOF limits of current MF systems  (Read 32539 times)

eronald

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shallow DOF limits of current MF systems
« Reply #60 on: December 28, 2006, 07:24:58 pm »

Your scepticism is well founded as Canon hasn't released an updated 200/1.8 while Nikon released a spectacular lens in the same class. But I see no reason to retract my statement. I was told there was a replacement - what happened to it is anybody's guess. BTW, I own a 200/1.8. Nice lens.

Edmund


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That seem very unusual: discontinuing a product several years before a replacement is ready. Can you reveal your source for that belief? Forgive my skepticism, but a lot of people confidently but incorrectly predicted the imminent arrival of a replacement back when the 200/1.8 was discontinued: hopes got transformed into claims of fact back then, as often happens.
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BJL

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shallow DOF limits of current MF systems
« Reply #61 on: January 01, 2007, 01:04:50 pm »

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... Canon hasn't released an updated 200/1.8 while Nikon released a spectacular lens in the same class. But I see no reason to retract my statement. I was told there was a replacement - what happened to it is anybody's guess.
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We can only wait and see what actually happens this year: one side of me favors offering high end f/2 telephoto primes at up to the longest focal length at which this is economically viable. (And Nikon once had a 300/2: [a href=\"http://www.cameraquest.com/nf3002.htm)]http://www.cameraquest.com/nf3002.htm)[/url] This is based on a guess that about f/2 is the fastest that a long telephoto lens can be with acceptable control of aberrations and such, and the idea that extra lens speed allows the use of higher sensor resolution (roughly, smaller photo-sites) under a given combination of lighting speed needs, giving more telephoto reach with a given focal length. Even if that sometimes involves significant cropping, or changing to a smaller format body for long telephoto work.

The only signs of such pushing at telephoto lens speed limits lately are the lens speed Nikon 200/2 and Olympus 150/2, and maybe one could count the recent fast zooms from Olympus, 35-100/2 and 90-250/2.8.


In one sense, the Nikon 200/2 is not in the same class as the as the Canon 200/1.8 when used on current Canon high end bodies, as the Nikon can be used with higher resolution sensors: 5.5 microns compared to 7.2 to 8.2 microns. The high end Nikon lens-body combinations give higher angular resolution of subject detail, comparable to about 260mm on a 1DsMkII or 300mm on a 5D or 1DMkII. That puts Nikon's offering in a different market position for now, more like that of a Canon 300/2.8, which is I believe a far better seller than the Canon 200/1.8 was.

This changes if a 200mm is used with the new 400D, but a real increase in demand for a Canon 200mm faster than f/2.8 will probably not occur unless and until Canon offers a high end model with pixel spacing comparable to 5.5 microns. Maybe something like a 16MP model in the "1D" format, to replace the 1DMkII?
« Last Edit: January 01, 2007, 01:09:22 pm by BJL »
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eronald

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shallow DOF limits of current MF systems
« Reply #62 on: January 01, 2007, 01:46:16 pm »

BJL,

I don't know if you ever held a Canon 200/1.8.  If you had you'd know why the sales are so slow, and you wouldn't dream of mounting it on a Rebel

By the way, this lens has an interesting fault, the bayonet lock disengages somehow, and the lens disengages spontaneously. I've had mine do that, and people on RG complained too. It seems to be the only Canon lens to do that, luckily.

Edmund

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We can only wait and see what actually happens this year: one side of me favors offering high end f/2 telephoto primes at up to the longest focal length at which this is economically viable. (And Nikon once had a 300/2:

That puts Nikon's offering in a different market position for now, more like that of a Canon 300/2.8, which is I believe a far better seller than the Canon 200/1.8 was.

This changes if a 200mm is used with the new 400D, but a real increase in demand for a Canon 200mm faster than f/2.8 will probably not occur unless and until Canon offers a high end model with pixel spacing comparable to 5.5 microns. Maybe something like a 16MP model in the "1D" format, to replace the 1DMkII?
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