Introduction As of the time of this review, Samyang has been the only third-party manufacturer offering AF lenses in Canon RF mount – namely the Samyang (Rokinon) AF 14mm f/2.8 RF & AF 85mm f/1/4 RF … but their status is unclear. Canon R-mount is a closed ecosystem with Canon obviously not willing to issue mount/protocol licenses. But it seems as if there’s even more to it. Samyang appears to have reverse-engineered the protocol but, at least according to messages on social media, they are about to stop manufacturing AF lenses for R-mount (because Canon threatened them?). The future of…
Author: Klaus
by Klaus Schroiff, published August 2021 Introduction Following our review of the Tamron 35mm f/2.8 Di III OSD M1:2, let’s go a little wider with the Tamron 24mm f/2.8 Di III OSD M1:2 – thus a moderate ultra-wide angle lens with typical applications such as street photography or landscapes. Other than its optical design and name, it is basically indistinguishable from its two in-house cousins (with the third one being the 20mm f/2.8). And at least regarding its pricing that’s a good thing. At around 250 USD/EUR, it is among the most affordable prime lenses on the market.For this amount…
by Klaus Schroiff, published August 2021 Introduction In our last part of our Tamron prime lens review mini-series, we’ll have a look at the Tamron 20mm f/2.8 Di III OSD M1:2 – probably the most interesting of the triple. It sits outside the coverage of standard zoom lenses and for photographers on a budget it can be a first step into the true ultra-wide segment. This doesn’t mean that there is much of a physical difference compared to its more moderate cousins (24mm f/2.8 and 35mm f/2.8). As mentioned already in the previous review, you’ll be hard-pressed to distinguish between…
by Klaus Schroiff, published August 2021 Introduction Driven by their recent flood of AF lenses, Samyang has been rushing into the mainstream of third-party lens manufacturers. One of their first AF lenses was the AF 85mm f/1.4 EF back in mid-2018 but with the tide turning towards mirrorless cameras, they released the Samyang AF 85mm f/1.4 FE one year later. While you may guess that the latter is just a mount-adapted version, it is in fact a completely new design. Relative to the specs, the pricing is pretty hot at around 550USD/EUR. Compare this to OEM lenses with similar on-paper…
Introduction With full format mirrorless cameras replacing APS-C format, it is inevitable to see a rise in offerings of entry-level lenses. As so often, market leader Sony was the first with a full-format “kit zoom” lens (Sony FE 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS) for mirrorless cameras. However, alongside the release of the EOS RP, Canon finally countered this with its own Canon RF 24-105mm f/4-7.1 STM IS. At the time of the announcement, the lens was greeted with some skepticism due to its very slow max aperture of f/7.1 at 105mm. And yes, it’s a bit debatable whether having the slowest lenses…
by Klaus Schroiff, published July 2021 Introduction It seems that comparatively slow-speed “budget” prime lenses are all the rage these days. A few years ago, Samyang was probably the one starting the segment with a number of affordable (semi-)pancake lenses. This was followed by Sigma with a more premium approach. In late 2019, Tamron entered the scene with three identical-looking primes – a 20mm f/2.8, 24mm f/2.8, and a 35mm f/2.8. Traditionally, Tamron is more of a mid-tier player but the gang of 3 is clearly budget-oriented. We’ll review them all in the next few weeks and let’s start with…
Introduction Sony’s APS-C system has been a 2nd class citizen during the last few years. New native APS-C format lenses are rare, and the lineup is rather limited compared to e.g. Fuji.To be fair – Sony users can always use full-format E-mount lenses anyway so the situation isn’t really dire. However, even when ignoring the potentially higher costs, full-format lenses aren’t feasible when it comes to standard zoom lenses. E-mount has not been without options in this respect, albeit a high-quality lens was not provided until late 2019 – namely the Sony E 16-55mm f/2.8 G. In terms of specs,…
by Klaus Schroiff, published June 2021 Introduction There is an almost mad amount of 35mm full format lenses available in Sony E-mount. As of the time of this review, we can count no less than 13x 35mm lenses with an AF motor, 15x when including 40mm variants plus several more with manual focusing only. Makes you wonder whether there’s a different one for every buyer? Jokes aside, it just shows that the lens class is obviously popular enough to sustain such a variety. Of course, Sony has a bunch of these lenses in their lineup as well. One of them…
Introduction There is always a lens that is the bottom feeder in the lineup and within the range of prime lenses. This is usually a nifty-fifty. In R-mount, we are talking about the Canon RF 50mm f/1.8 STM which is, by far, the most affordable prime lens offered by Canon at least. It can be yours for as little as $200USD/230EUR.The build quality of this tiny lens is good but it’s obvious that it doesn’t target professional users. There is no weather-sealing and an inner lens tube extends when focusing towards closer distances. The tube retracts automatically when switching off…
Introduction By now we know that Canon can produce superb L-class lenses but the photographic world isn’t just about high-end R-mount gear and it’s good that they’ve finally started to release some gear for the rest of us. One of the early examples is the Canon RF 85mm f/2 STM IS macro. Obviously, it’s a medium-tele prime lens but with a little twist this time. Traditionally such lenses are slightly faster at f/1.8 but Canon decided to sacrifice a little bit of speed for macro capabilities. Regarding its max object magnification, it’s not a true macro lens but this middle…