Introduction It took us a little way (as always), but it is finally here – the review of the first Canon RF that came into our lab, the Canon RF 50mm f/1.2 USM L. Unless you lived behind the moon for the last few months, you probably know that Canon released its first full-frame mirrorless system at the Photokina 2018 (trade show). Now Canon wouldn’t be Canon if they didn’t have something for showing off, and besides a monster of a zoom lens (RF 28-70mm f/2), they decided to go for something they are known best for – an ultra-high…
Author: Klaus
by Klaus Schroiff, published July 2018 Introduction Every mature system is offering the holy trinity of zoom lenses – thus a relatively fast ultra-wide-, standard- and tele-zoom lens. The only exception to the rule is Panasonic … they got two of them – one native Panasonic set (7-14mm f/4, 12-35mm f/2.8, 35-100mm f/2.8) and one Leica branded set (8-18mm f/2.8-4, 12-60mm f/2.8-4, 50-200mm f/2.8-4). You may notice that the Leica variant has a slightly different flavour regarding the variable aperture and the focal length range here. Unless you are religious about having a constantaperture, the Leica lenses appear to be…
One of the core components of a professional grade system is a fast medium tele-zoom lens – such as theSony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS. Combined with the other recently released lenses and cameras,Sony can finally and truly compete with CaNikon in the high-class segment. Needless to say but that comesliterally at a price – in this case, 2600EUR/USD. This is quite a bit more expensive than the comparableCanon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 USM L IS II but actually a little cheaper than the Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED.Yes, lens prices have inflated quite a bit lately … The Sony…
by Klaus Schroiff, published April 2018 Introduction If you want to play a role in the professional (full format) market you have to offer a variety of lenses and at the center of such a system, there’s the holy trinity of f/2.8 zoom lenses – a 16-35mm f/2.8, 24-70mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/2.8. That’s all old news in the DSLR league but as of the time of this review, Sony provides the only mirrorless system that fulfils this requirement. A while back we reviewed the Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM – a quite impressive lens even on a high-resolution camera.…
Sony users can choose between a wide variety of different lens options nowadays, but selecting a standard zoom lens has been somewhat tricky so far.Sure, there’s the mighty Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM, but price-wise, it’s beyond the reach of most users. The Zeiss FE 24-70mm f/4 OSS is a good shot on paper, but it really fails to deliver. And the Sony FE 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS kit zoom lens … well …So the thing is – there’s an urgent need for something good and reasonably affordable in their standard zoom lens lineup, and maybe the new Sony FE 24-105mm…
Sony mirrorless camera users are quite blessed with a variety of medium tele prime choices. There are no less than 4 different Sony/Zeiss 85mm lenses plus the Sony 90mm f/2.8 macro and, of course, the Sony 100mm f/2.8 STF (and a bunch of exotics). Among the 85mm gang, there’s the Zeiss Batis 85mm f/1.8 which we’ll discuss in the scope of this review. It is a so-called “Sonnar” design which relates to fast Zeiss lenses. That being said, the Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM is faster still but therefore also bigger and quite a bit more expensive … although the Zeiss…
by Klaus Schroiff, published December 2017 Introduction Recently, we reviewed the Zeiss Batis 85mm f/1.8 – as it turned out, it’s quite an awesome lens. However, the Zeiss lens isn’t alone in its quest – it has a couple of Sony mates. There’s the insanely expensive 85mm f/1.4 GM and a more mainstream option, which we’ll discuss here – the Sony FE 85mm f/1.8. Some readers may not be too excited about it but as you will see later on it has its merits. Technically, an 85mm f/1.8 is a sweet spot in lens design. It is neither fast nor…
It seems as if the Zeiss-Sony relationship has cooled off a little lately- probably because both want to harvest the premium segment. Zeiss appears to gravitate towards their own Zeiss Batis lens lineup now whereas Sony is focusing on Sony G and GM lenses. However, a while ago, the Sony / Zeiss Distagon T* FE 35mm f/1.4 ZA was one of the first high-speed, pro-grade lenses released for Sony’s full format mirrorless system. As you may have guessed already, such a lens isn’t cheap at around 1500USD/EUR. However, and this may come as a shock to some, it is a…
by Klaus Schroiff, published September 2017 Introduction The Sony FE system is quite blessed by many lens options these days. While the third-party gang hasn’t really started supporting the system, both Sony and its close ally Zeiss have been very busy beefing up the system lately. These days you also have several lenses to choose from in the ultra-wide segment. The latest and most extreme one is the Sony FE 12-24mm f/4 G. Being a G-class lens it is primarily targeting the semi-pro or “prosumer” market and it also means that you have to have fairly deep pockets regarding its…
by Klaus Schroiff, published August 2017 Introduction After having reviewed several hundred of lenses, there aren’t too many new lenses that make me truly excited to be honest. However, the Sony FE 100mm f/2.8 STF GM OSS is surely one of them. The high-level specs aren’t all that hot as you may notice – a 100mm f/2.8 is nothing to write home about after all. However, that’s the less interesting aspect here. The real story is described by the “STF” portion in the lens name. STF stands for “Smooth Trans Focus”. STF lenses feature an apodization (APD) element – a…