Jon L

Sweetest sweet potato on earth. Sweet Potato by drjlo1, on Flickr

DZ3C1178 by drjlo1, on Flickr

5D III metering seems to work pretty well. Shot under 2 PM blazing sun. DZ3C1142 by drjlo1, on Flickr

It's good once in awhile to do a reality check. Carrying heavy L glass sure makes you feel good and important, but dang in the center, there really isn't a heck of a lot to comment on difference-wise, even for the $350 35 f/2. This was done on full frame sensor even. However, keep in mind all those above are prime lenses, and I have certainly seen different results for Canon zoom lenses compared to primes. Color rendition also seems quite consistent among Canon primes, whereas I have seen a little different color from other companies' lenses.

After doing some lens microadusting on 5D III, I thought I would do some test shots with Canon's cheapest to most expensive lenses to see if "it's worth it" in real life use. Spot AF with all lenses stopped down 1/3 stop from max aperture. Canon 35mm f/2 DZ3C1116EF35F2 by drjlo1, on Flickr Canon 35mm f/1.4L DZ3C1128EF35F1.4 by drjlo1, on Flickr Canon 50mm f/1.4 DZ3C1119EF50F1.4 by drjlo1, on Flickr Canon 85mm f/1.8 DZ3C1122EF85F1.8 by drjlo1, on Flickr Canon 85mm f/1.2L DZ3C1126EF85F1.2 by drjlo1, on Flickr Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5 MkII to mix things up DZ3C1131TSE24 by drjlo1, on Flickr

Pork Belly. Oohhh, so good. BTW. ISO 6400! on 5DIII Pork Proper by drjlo1, on Flickr

Jeez, finally a good review, what that DigitalRev D800 vs. 5DIII video should have been.

Chasing Bees with 5D III DZ3C0198A by drjlo1, on Flickr

I almost wish Canon would start using Sony sensors like Nikon. Anyways.. DZ3C0694B by drjlo1, on Flickr

DigitalRev 5D III DigitalRev 5D III vs. D800 Speaking as 5D III owner, I must say those D800 shots look fantastically clean and detailed, so crisp with apparent dynamic range to burn (if a bit cool). Still, those 5D III shots and D800 shots look SO completely different in white balance, saturation, exposure, I don't see how one could easily compare..

Trying out the Al Servo AF on 5D III in the Macro torture test. DZ3C0245 by drjlo1, on Flickr

Canon 5D MkIII in the hands of UPS. Heart Sinks. Canon 5D MkIII vs. UPS by drjlo1, on Flickr Then Heart rejoices Canon 5D MkIII by drjlo1, on Flickr

I don't think that article has a "different take" at all. It shows the expected higher resolution of D800 given 36MP onto same FF sensor size. I do congratulate Nikon, as they have genuinely pulled off a revolution with D800 over D700. The differences are stunning, especially how well D800 does over D700 at high ISO! Since Sony makes the sensor, the upcoming Sony A99 full frame 36.9 MP camera holds high promise as well, which is rumored to be priced aggressively. It's a full frame renaissance all of a sudden. I do see the performance peak at f/4-5.6 with quick falloff to f/8 (highest f stop tested), so the expected further drop at f/11-14 due to diffraction is a real phenomenon, mainly for those landscape and macro shooters. For us Canon users (aka stuck with Canon due to vast lens collection) I do think Canon delivered what the customers wanted, i.e. progressive improvements to what's already great yet vastly revamp the problem area (AF). For the vast majority of people for vast majority of uses for most print sizes, the areas where D800 outperforms won't particularly matter, but if you use perfect technique (tripod, mirror lockup, high shutter speed, great lighting, etc) and make huge prints, then D800 or 800e may be God's gift.

Hehe, some of us *like* the SE "distortion," and the KT120 is indeed a promising tube, although I haven't seen much use in SE configuration. Audio Research has been switching to KT120 tubes but in push-pull configuration.

Can't wait to listen to both versions!

He should have used some more up-to-date Nikon lenses than that AF-D lens he had. At any rate, I am pretty impressed how well the 36MP D800 does in high ISO compared to the 12MP D700. Quite impressive, actually, given the pixel pitch. Here's an interesting article on 5D mkiii and D800 and diffraction limitation. http://frontallobbings.blogspot.ca/2012/03/canon-5dmkiii-vs-nikon-d800-megapixel.html

Shooting into the sun with some horizontal tilt. IMG_0467 by drjlo1, on Flickr

Arrived in one piece. By God, this is the best build quality lens I have ever seen, even higher than the Zeiss Distagon 35mm I used to have. Lighted with 42" Reflective Umbrella Softbox with 580EX II. Canon TS-E 24mm MkII by drjlo1, on Flickr

Not mine but too precious not to share. http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=15397833 passion by drjlo2, on Flickr

Yikes, I checked the Amazon link again, and now they are only available from an outfit called Roberts LP for $1469! But right next to it, Ritz is selling the body+ 18-55 lens for $1349

Silver Surfer Swimming Silver Surfer Rising by drjlo1, on Flickr

I just ordered two of the Sandisk Class 10 32 GB cards for $32.99/each shipped. They may not be "Extreme," but other off-brand, slower class 10 cards are fast enough for 1080p video, so I'll try these. http://www.beachcamera.com/shop/product.aspx?sku=SDSDU032GA11

Sony NEX-7 now shipping. Unfortunately, nobody seems to be selling it at the MSRP of $1199. http://www.amazon.com/Sony-NEX-7-Compact-Interchangeable-Camera/dp/B005IHAIEI

Sigh. I know somebody who can get me a Sony employee discount, so I was planning on NEX-7 + Zeiss 24mm as my "travel camera," but the employee discount is not that much at all, and since pre-ordering 5d mkiii, my photographic budget has suddenly shrunken big time. It also sucks that Sony is raising prices on many lenses, including Zeiss E mount in "April," which I just found out, so it's either pre-order NEX-7/Zeiss/more lens now sight-unseen, or just use my Canon crop body + prime as "travel camera."

Anyone else see the Cavalli response to this whole electrostat amp circuit thing? http://www.head-fi.org/t/600386/sr009-wes-bhse-ll-hit-the-mainstream/15