Looks like the Canon 70-200mm might not be as “collectible” as we all previously thought. Perhaps after seeing how the mugs went viral online, for the next two weeks Canon will be including a collectors mug with any purchase in its Canada eStore over $200 CAD. In the promotion they state that the value of the Canon Lens Collectors Travel Mug is $39.99 CAD. If you’re in Canada and were planning on buying gear anyway, now might be a good time.

Thanks for the tip, jersel!

Update: Justin informs us that you can buy the mug directly for $29.99 CAD from Vistek.

The web has been abuzz the past couple days over the collectible L-lens look-alike coffee mugs Canon was passing out at the Olympics. Everyone is asking whether they’ll be available to the general public.

One of our readers, Chris Wilkinson, has sent in photos of the Canon EF Lens Collector Cup he actually purchased from a local camera store in Canada. He tells us,

I saw the photo via Petapixel’s link to PDNPulse, so I emailed the photo to Carsand Mosher in Truro, Nova Scotia. A store I’ve purchased every piece of photo equipment to date, and they know my obsession with Canon branded promotional items. The subject line was “Just one question” the body was “Can you get this:” and the mug photo in the body of the message.

To my delight, The reply was “Yes…and I thought of you when I saw those this past Monday. We ordered some, and we have a sample here fresh in the box. They will sell for $29.99 (cad). A few minutes later, another reply came in that they have two samples on hand. I bought both. One for use, one that will remain wrapped for my collection. They arrived in the black gift wrap complete with the red ribbon, perhaps cleverly imitating the red ring. These samples may have been special, or maybe even an add-on from my camera shop. Either way, I can’t see the regular stock wrapped in black paper and a ribbon.

According to my sales rep, they are taking pre-orders for the mugs now, many colleagues of mine have placed pre-orders for the regular stock when (if?) it arrives.

Wow. If these things actually go on sale to the general public for $29.99 CAD (currently about $29.13 USD) I’m sure there going to sell like hotcakes. Here’s a video Chris uploaded showing his mug:

Yup. It’s obviously real.

PDN Reporting the Opposite

Don’t get your hope up TOO much though. PDNPulse is reporting that the mugs may not be available anytime soon:

Despite rumors that the mugs would be offered as free swag to those attending the WPPI Convention in Las Vegas next week, a Canon spokesperson tells us they were created by Canon Canada solely as a giveaway to photographers at last month’s Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

They also received another photograph of the mug from Josh Weisberg of Microsoft:

24-105mm f4L IS Coffee Cup Giveaway?

DSLR News Shooter is doing a giveaway for a… 24-105 coffee cup? We’re not sure how real this is, but the photographs they have in the post sure look real:

They’re asking that you register on their site with your name and email, and then leave a comment on the post for a chance to win the mug.

How much do you want one of these things? If one of them was being auctioned on eBay, how much would you bid?

If you are upgrading your camera gear, horray for you! That also means you’re probably planning to convert your old camera to cash for new gear or at least to free up room in your camera bag.

Camera bodies are probably the most difficult piece of photo equipment to sell, since new bodies and technology are released very frequently. They lack the longevity of lenses and depreciate over time.

We’ve posted a few previous tips about buying used DSLR gear and buying pro camera gear on a student budget, but now we’ll shift gears to the seller’s standpoint.

1. Think local — really local.

Selling your own camera gear can feel a little like selling an old project car.  It’s easy to become sentimentally attached, and you want to make sure it goes into good hands.

Before posting your gear advertisements anywhere, see if anyone in your immediate social circle is interested in buying. Co-workers or fellow students tend to be a good bet.  When I was working at my college paper, a lot of photo department staff would sell gear to each other, with the comforting reassurance that their equipment would be put to good use. There is also an added level of trust within colleagues, since they already know you and you’ll spend less time having to convince them that what you’re selling is in good condition.

Craigslist, when used with caution, is also a good way to find local buyers. Be wary of scams, though — a lot of falsely interested “buyers” might email you with a strange proposal. I’ve gotten a few generic emails from people interested in “the item,” offer a higher payment via PayPal, and then ask you to ship it to some remote relative in Africa. Yeah, right.

If you do find a real, local buyer on craigslist, do be careful. Propose to meet in a safe, public place during the day, and bring a friend or two along for added security. Cash is always most reliable, as well. It might be a good idea to meet near your bank, so you can safely stow your cash after you’ve made a sale.

2. Advertise the basics.

You don’t need to go into detail about small wear and tear that you notice, or anything beyond the camera’s model and maybe highlight some important technical specifications like megapixels and frames per second.

It is helpful to post a link with more detailed camera specs, either from the manufacturer’s site or dpreview.com, for the buyer’s convenience.

But the bottom line is to cut to the chase and don’t let your advert be hunkered down by unnecessary details.

Just tell them, it’s a Nikon D200. 10 megapixels. 5 fps. Excellent condition. Body specs here.

The less you tell prospective, but serious buyers, the more they might want to respond to your ad with questions. Once you begin a discussion with them, that’s your chance to answer more detailed questions they might have.

3. Don’t include more than you have to in the box.

Naturally, you’ll need to include a battery, charger, and other accessories that came with the camera body, but avoid including interchangeable accessories that you might use in the future.

Michael mentioned in his gear on a student budget post that he made the mistake of including a high-end B&W filter with a lens he sold, but later realized he still needed it.

Hang on to those memory cards and filters.

4. On the other hand, you’ll have a better chance of selling it if you bundle it with a lens.

Though this is a bit of a contradiction to the previous tip, but buyers will be much more interested in purchasing a used body if it comes with a lens.

You probably will not make as much back on the resell, but if the market is dry and people just aren’t interested, a lens can add a great deal of buyer incentive.

However, whether you need to include a lens or not really depends on what kind of camera body you are selling.

If you are selling a professional body, chances are, your buyers will be pros as well, and are likely to have their own lenses. In this case, there’s no need to include a lens.

If you are selling a lower-end DSLR, like a Nikon D40 or a Canon Rebel, prospective buyers are probably newer to photography, and will likely be looking for a bundle kit.

There’s really no need to K.I.T. with your kit lens, especially if you’re selling the body it came with. Ask yourself: are you really likely to attach that plastic 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 on your brand new D3x? Probably not.

Selling kit lenses alone is pretty pointless as well; brand new, they’re worth less than $150.

Instead, include it with the body you’ve got up for sale, and readjust your price. Be sure to check the street value of your bundle on eBay and craigslist.

5. Include your own photos of your gear on your advertisement.

If you provide photos with your advertisement, people are more likely to click on your posting. Additionally, if those photos are noticeably different from the standard manufacturer’s product shots, they can add to a feeling of authenticity and openness on the seller’s side. Also, when you post attractive product photos, the photos can imply your own skill as a photographer, and can give you more clout as a camera seller.

Conclusion

Understand the buyer’s standpoint when selling. Check out Michael’s posts on buying used DSLR gear and buying pro camera gear on a student budget.  Don’t sell yourself short, but be aware that you may need to make some concessions in order to make your gear marketable.

Finally, if you’ve got any additional tips on selling gear, feel free to share it with us!

Some years ago Canon offered a f/1.0 version of its 50mm L lens. They’ve since stopped manufacturing lenses faster than f/1.2, and US-based company Noktor thinks there’s an opportunity for relatively affordable “hyperprime” lenses.

Today, it announced the Noktor HyperPrime 50mm f/0.95, a manual focus lens designed for Micro Four Thirds cameras. The $750 lens will begin shipping on April 15th, but the company is accepting preorders on their website. In addition to Micro Four Thirds, the company has a poll asking which mount it should design lenses for next.

Here’s a photograph shot with the lens showing its low light performance:

One of the problems with having such a large aperture is that the resulting depth-of-field is so shallow. The lens, being more than a stop faster than an f/1.4 lens, could be very difficult to focus correctly for shots were precision is needed. It was one of the complaints people had against the Canon 50mm f/1.0, though that lens was autofocus.

It’s interesting to see another lens company pop up for a specific type of lens, just like Lensbaby and its creative focus lenses.

P.S.: Various sources are saying the lens is almost identical to the Senko 50mm f/0.95 C-mount CCTV lens.

Nikonians rejoice! Nikon has just announced two new lenses: the AF-S NIKKOR 24mm f/1.4G ED and the AF-S NIKKOR 16-35mm f/4G ED VR.

The new 16-35mm is huge news for full frame Nikon users, as it is the widest FX-format focal range with VR at 16mm. 16mm without a crop factor is pretty darn wide — that’s a wide angle view of 107°!

Nikon’s 24mm is also nothing to overlook for FX and DX users. It joins Nikons array of prime lenses, but boasts the widest aperture in a wide angle lens.

Photographer Bob Krist had one of the first hands-on shooting with both lenses, and he’s got some photos with the 24mm f/1.4G ED on his site.

Both of the new lenses utilize Nikon’s Silent Wave Motor (so none of that angry-robot whirring like the f/1.8 nifty 50), a Nano Crystal Coat to reduce internal “ghosting” and flaring, and ED glass. (Confused by all the numbers and letters? Here’s a helpful article: Lens names explained.)

But of course, all this fantastic gear comes at a pretty price. Nikon will release the 16-35mm f/4 later this month, with an estimated price of $1259.95. The 24mm f/1.4 will be available late March 2010 for around $2199.95.

Even if you’re not planning on dropping bills on the new lenses, keep an eye out for quality lens resells. The 24mm f/1.4 will likely effectively replace the comparatively cheap but trusty Nikon 24mm f/2.8, and it’s likely that there will be more DX lenses available on the resell market.

Update: This giveaway is now over. We’ve randomly selected a winner and posted the announcement here. Thanks for participating!

Hello friends. Ready for another giveaway? Here it is: We’re giving away a Tamron AF18-270mm F/3.5-6.3 Di-II VC LD Aspherical IF Macro, a lens Wikipedia classifies as a “superzoom“. This lens has a list price on Amazon of $1,333.95, and a “street” price of $629.

This lens goes from very wide (18mm) to very telephoto (250mm), giving it the largest ratio (15x) for DSLR cameras on the market today and making it very useful as a walkaround lens.

This lens is available for crop factor cameras only. If the winner has a full frame camera, we can substitute the lens for the Tamron AF28-300mm (same list price). You can choose either the Canon or the Nikon version of this lens.

To enter, all you need to do is:

Link us to the favorite photo you’ve taken

There are two ways to enter, and doing both methods will give you 2 entries in the contest, and thus double the chance the win!

1. Leave your response as a comment (on this PetaPixel.com post, not Facebook)
2. Tweet your response, and include the following link to this post anywhere in the tweet: http://j.mp/pptamron

   As long as the link appears in the post, you’ll be automatically entered in the contest.

This contest will end next Wednesday on February 3rd, 2010. We’ll randomly pick a winner using random.org and post an announcement. Good luck, and we look forward to seeing all your favorite photographs!

A big thanks to our sponsor Tamron, who is providing the lens for this giveaway!

Based on patents recently filed with the United States Patent Office, Canon seems to be working on technologies that could have a huge impact on how you photograph.

Since these are simply patent applications, there’s no guarantee the technology will find its way into cameras anytime soon. However, it’s interesting to see what the camera corps are working on and what we might expect sometime further down the road:

Viewfinder LCD

One of the developments is the introduction of a small LCD screen in the viewfinder, separate from the live, optical view. In the images from the patent application shown above, you can see the LCD view above the traditional optical view and information bar on the right.

This means you can keep your camera pressed to your face while shooting, reviewing prior images on the in-viewfinder LCD rather than the LCD on the back of the body. If you constantly pull the camera away from your face to review what you just shot, this feature might give you an extra boost in productivity.

Sensor-based Stabilization

Another interesting thing found by Photography Bay in the patent application for the in-viewfinder LCD is the mention of an in-camera image stabilization feature.

This is interesting to note due to the fact that Canon and Nikon have long advocated image stabilization and vibration reduction built into lenses rather than camera bodies, even while other DSLR-makers (i.e. Sony) have offered stabilization built into bodies via sensor shift technologies.

Will we see Canon and/or Nikon introducing sensor shift stabilization soon? This would be a big deal, since it would instantly improve the performance of non-IS/VR lenses.

Your Thoughts?

You can learn more by reading the patents yourself here: 20100003025 and 20100002109.

What do you think of these two features? Do you want them included in Canon/Nikon bodies, or would cameras be better off without them?

(via Photography Bay)