When it comes to publicity and excitement, we are usually talking about lenses such as the Zeiss 24-70mm f/4 OSS or Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM. However, in sheer sales volume, it is quite likely that the low-profile Sony FE 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS is first in line. It is often sold as part of a camera kit with the Sony A7 (II) but you can also buy it separately for around 450 US$/EUR. On eBay you can find white box variants for much less than that. However, even so – is it worth it? Technically the chances should be good…
Author: Klaus
In recent years Sony managed to make a big comeback thanks to their highly successful full-format mirrorless system. Unfortunately they neglected their traditional APS-C user base due to the ramp up efforts on the full format side. Their native APS-C mount lens lineup is slim to say the least and it also doesn’t really shine with many high quality options either. You can, of course, use Sony’s full format lenses on APS-C cameras but the price tags are correspondingly high and this doesn’t really help when it comes to standard zoom lenses. There’s one Sony standard zoom lens that we…
Many users aren’t really seeking for the very best standard zoom lens with its correspondingly high price tag. Instead they are looking for something that is “good enough”, versatile and doesn’t cost you an arm and a leg. “Super”-zoom lenses may appear to fulfill those needs but, to be honest, they are often not all that hot in terms of (consistent) quality. In order to close the gap, Panasonic just came up with an “in-betweener” – the Panasonic Lumix G 12-60mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH Power OIS thus a still reasonable 5x zoom lens. It covers a field-of-view equivalent to about “24-120mm”.…
The Panasonic Lumix G 30mm f/2.8 ASPH Mega OIS macro is the third AF macro lens for the micro-four-thirds system. At 30mm it is currently the widest macro option with a field of view equivalent to “60mm” on full format cameras. Thus it behaves like a moderate tele macro lens. Such lenses are usually not the first choice among enthusiasts because of the minimum working distance is very close to your main subject. Small critters tend to get rather nervous … who wouldn’t at just 2cm or so? A max. aperture of f/2.8 may also be fast by zoom standards…
Following Fujifilm’s strategy Sony started the FE system by releasing mostly high priced lenses first. Regarding their comparatively expensive full-format cameras, this was certainly a sensible approach. However, now that the initial quality rush is over, Sony is beginning to offer more affordable lenses for the rest of us. The Sony FE 50mm f/1.8 is one of them. That being said, Sony lenses have never been really cheap. In this case we are talking about the double price tag of its Canon/Nikon counterparts or about 300US$/EUR. That’s quite a bit considering the fact that the lens has a simple optical…
Sony’s ramp up of their full format E-mount lineup is in rapid progress. This time we’ll have a look at their first macro lens – the Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 G OSS macro. Like most modern macro lenses it is capable of focusing down to an object magnification of 1:1 although it also works perfectly fine as a general purpose tele lens, of course. It is a designated G-series lens. Back in the Minolta days, G stood for “Gold” but you don’t hear/read that anymore. However, Sony is continuing to use the G label for high performance lenses. Besides consumer…
Welcome to our first review based on the Sony A7R II (42 megapixels). Some of you may be surprised why we just don’t continue on the original Sony A7R (36 megapixels). However, as good as it was on paper, the original A7R was a deeply flawed camera. The rather extreme shutter vibrations made it very difficult to achieve reliable results. We’ll re-test all previously covered lenses on the A7R II but for a fresh start, let’s first have a look at the Zeiss Sonnar T* FE 55mm f/1.8 ZA. Just to mention the origin of the “Sonnar” portion in the…
Traditionally a professional zoom lens system is supposed to consist of a gang of three core lenses – an ultra-wide-, standard- and medium-tele lens with a max aperture of f/2.8. Over at Canon and Nikon there have been generations of these lenses already. However, Olympus is the very first mirrorless camera manufacturer that completed such a set. In this review we are going to have a look at the latest edition – the Olympus M.Zuiko 7-14mm f/2.8 PRO. In full format terms we are talking about a “14-28mm” lens here. Typical applications include landscape and architecture photography with a special…
At the time Olympus started the “classic” Four-Thirds system, they focused on professional grade lenses. However, this didn’t work out for a couple of reasons mostly on the camera side (although I was thrilled by the E-1). After moving to Micro-Four-Thirds, both Olympus as well as Panasonic stayed short of this segment for quite some time and preferred to concentrate on amateur products. While this strategy succeeded in terms of market share, it also represented a problem. The amateur segment is a low margin game. However, now that a healthy customer base has been established, it seems as if the…
The Sony’s strategy regarding thei APS-C format E-mount system (formerly NEX) may appear to be a bit odd but it’s nonetheless successful. Sony released about as many APS-C format cameras as corresponding lenses. Cameras are more attractive to talk about so the corresponding media coverage translated into visibility and a very decent market share – also because the cameras are really nice actually. However, the lens lineup … well … compared to other systems it just doesn’t cut it honestly speaking. There are or at least were very few lenses targeting enthusiasts. With the rise of Sony’s full format E…