dSLR Dad

Canon USA’s current summer Instant Rebate program is quickly coming to an end.  For those dSLR Dads looking to pick up a new lens or flash in time for your next vacation, now is your time to save a little. The best part, no annoying mail-in forms to forget about, everything is taken off the price at your retailer of choice.  Canon’s current promotion will end on Saturday, July 11, 2009.

The following Canon Lenses are eligible:

• EF 200mm f/2L IS USM
• EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM
• EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM
• EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM
• EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM
• EF 50mm f / 1.2L USM
• EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM
• EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM
• EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS USM
• EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM
• EF 17-40mm f/4L USM
• EF-S 17-85MM f4-5.6 IS USM
• EF 70-200mm f/4L USM
• EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
• EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM
• EF 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 USM
• EF 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 II USM
• EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

The following Canon Speedlite’s are available:

• Speedlite 580EX II
• Speedlite 430EX II
• Speedlite 220EX
• Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX
• Macro Ring Lite MR-14EX

You can find all of the above at Amazon, Adorama, and B & Photo. As always, any time a dSLR Dad clicks over to these fine retailers, it also helps keep this site going, so thank you.

Popular Photography Magazine as published their review of the Canon EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 Image Stabilized (IS) Zoom Lens:

In the past two years, the 11X IS superzoom has become the ideal general-purpose lens — certainly for shooters whose cameras don’t have on-board shake reduction. This Canon fits the mold. Very light and compact, it’s a gracious and adaptable traveling companion. Impressively sharp, it’s also an obvious choice for handheld low-light pictures, including event and theater work. Its real fortes, however, are close-up macro subjects, distant wildlife, and almost everything in between. Sports? Go for it!

You can read the entire review at PopPhoto.com.  You can also find more reviews at the dSLR Dad Canon EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens Resource Page.  Of particular note, for those of you who may be interested in this lens, there is a $50 instant rebate on this lens through January 17, 2009.

Well, I guess you could say better late than never.  Canon has finally filled one of the largest holes in their consumer lens lineup.  The Canon EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 Image Stabilized (IS) Zoom Lens offers dSLR Dads an option for an everyday, ‘walk-around’ vacation lens.  What is somewhat perplexing, is that this is built upon Canon’s entry-level EF-S lens platform.  This means that Canon will be speaking highly of ‘value’ when it describing the features of this lens.  Value, in this case, both for the consumer and Canon’s business case.  The highlights of this lens include: (more…)

Canon USA also announced today that the new EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-55.6 IS zoom lens and EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS zoom lenses are now available.

The following is an excerpt from the Canon USA Press Release: (more…)

Canon announced their new EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS lens back on August 20, 2007 along with new EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens (Amazon, B&H Photo). It is not yet shipping, but Klaus Schroiff over at PhotoZone.de has already picked up a sample for review.<

Technically the Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS is a tiny lens with a great performance potential. The resolution is very good across the range. Chromatic aberrations are basically a non-issue. The level of distortions remain moderate. The most obvious flaw is, unsurprisingly, vignetting at large apertures. The build quality is fine for a lens in this class and it is one step up from the EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS that we’ve seen here recently. Regarding the target market you may surely forgive the plastic mount. The AF (micro-) motor is pretty fast and silent. So’s everything cool here ? Well, the AF accuracy didn’t really convince in the field – specifically at the wide-end of the zoom range – but to be fair this is much better on an EOS 40D (e.g.) with its improved AF capabilities. I had some trouble with the image stabilizer in the field but according to early reader feedback this impression seems to be an exception to the rule. If so the EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS has certainly the potential to be another hot seller.

You can read the full review here.

Just in time for the holidays, Canon has once again started up it’s semi-annual rebate program. From now until January 13, 2008, you can grab rebates on the following products: (more…)