by Klaus Schroiff, published August 2020 Introduction During recent years, mirrorless lenses suffered from a disease – they got bigger and heavier. In fact, many mirrorless lenses are now more obese than their “former” DSLR counterparts despite all the marketing palaver promising the opposite. Of course, this happened for a reason. As a rule of thumbs in optical design, bigger and more complex is usually better – or it’s at least easier to achieve certain goals.While this was all cool for a while because there were simply too few mirrorless lenses available, most consumers are no longer demanding “any” lens…
Author: Klaus
Introduction Canon wouldn’t be Canon without their extremely fast prime lenses. And why bother with an f/1.4 aperture when you can also develop an f/1.2 lens, right? Meet the Canon RF 85mm f/1.2 USM L. Just from the high-level specs, you may think that it’s a new incarnation of the EF version but it’s actually a brand new design. Besides the “usual” aspherical and UD elements, it also incorporates Canon’s BR (Blue Spectrum Refractive) element for superior chromatic correction. We’ll see the effect of all this goodness later. One of the more unfortunate side effects of choosing f/1.2 over f/1.4…
by Klaus Schroiff, published July 2020 Introduction As of the time of this review, the Micro-Four-Thirds (MFT) world is in a bit of turmoil about the future of Olympus – and some odd YouTubers are questioning whether the system has still a place in the industry at all. It may then be the right time to remind those skeptics – once again – that the system has aspects that no other current system provides. That’s primarily a small package size and low weight. Now you may argue about “equivalency” here but fact remains that the sheer number of compact lenses…
by Klaus Schroiff, published July 2020 Introduction Manufacturers love to explore the extremes because that’s a way of differentiating their offerings from the competition. One end of these extremes is in the ultra-wide segment and the Samyang AF 14mm f/2.8 FE is one of the examples here. As of the time of this review, it’s still the widest autofocus prime lens for Sony FE cameras although there are zoom lenses that go even wider.There is another aspect that is distinguishing it – its price tag of just 500USD/EUR. Of course, this raises the question of what degree of performance you…
Introduction Sony has been pushing full-format E-mount lenses during recent years whereas dedicated APS-C lenses have been neglected. However, there have been two interesting releases in late 2019 at least – the E 16-55mm f/2.8 G and the E 70-350mm f/4.5-6.3 G OSS. In this review, we’ll have a look at the latter. You may argue that the Sony E 70-350mm f/4.5-6.3 G OSS is a bit of an odd addition to the lens lineup. After all, APS-C users can also mount the Sony FE 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G OSS or even the FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS. However, if you don’t plan…
Introduction Sigma seems to have hit a sweet spot with its “DC DN” trinity of fast APS-C/MFT format prime lenses (16mm f/1.4, 30mm f/1.4, 56mm f/1.4). This can’t come as a real surprise because neither Sony E, L-mount nor Canon EOS M are especially blessed with many APS-C format prime lenses. Although to be fair here – Sony/L-mount users can also take advantage of an extensive line of full format lenses albeit these tend to reside in a different price bracket. We reviewed the Sigma 16mm f/1.4 DC DN Contemporary just a few weeks ago so let’s move on to…
Introduction A little while ago, we reviewed the Viltrox AF 85mm f/1.8 and we were impressed by the maturity of the product – despite being a newcomer in this market. But obviously, they didn’t want to stop there and their roadmap shows several lenses for release in 2020. One of them is the Viltrox AF 23mm f/1.4 XF which is now available in Fujifilm X and Sony E mount. It’s a native APS-C format lens equivalent to “35mm” in full-format terms or in other words – a moderate wide-angle lens. Now you may argue that the Fujifilm system doesn’t really require another…
Introduction In our previous review, we discussed the Viltrox AF 23mm f/1.4 XF, a good quality, affordable lens – and it has an in-house cousin, the Viltrox AF 33mm f/1.4 XF. If it wasn’t for the specs printed on the lens barrel, the two would be almost indistinguishable. However, their scope is, of course, different. While the 23mm f/1.4 is a moderate wide-angle prime lens, the 33mm f/1.4 is a standard lens. In terms of speed, it competes against the old Fujinon XF 35mm f/1.4 R although the newer XF 35mm f/2 R WR is certainly also on its radar.…
Introduction Canon has upped the game compared to their DSLR lineup with pretty much every new lens they released for the EOS R system. They added an IS on the RF 24-70mm f/2.8, released an RF 28-70mm f/2 with a speed never seen before and made the RF 70-200mm f/2.8 shorter than any comparable lens in its class. And in the ultra-wide zoom segment? They are now offering the Canon RF 15-35mm f/2.8 USM L IS – a lens that is wider and adds an IS while still avoiding the bulb-like front element that we’ve seen in most other modern…
Introduction There is one type of lens that finds its way into pretty much every press/wedding photographer’s camera bag – a 24-70mm f/2.8 which is why it has an especially well-petted place in all of the full format manufacturers’ lineups. Thanks to its flexible nature, it also finds many friends among enthusiasts although we’d usually argue that it’s a bit over the top for non-professional use really – and that’s not only because these are pricey lenses. More on this later.Given its importance, Canon was quick to release one for R-mount – namely the Canon RF 24-70mm f/2.8 USM L IS,…