Lens News

Samyang has continued its ambitious barrage of summer lens introductions with this morning’s unveiling of the 20mm f/1.8 ED AS UMC lens—a fast, wide-angle for full-frame DSLRs. This comes on the heels of last week’s launch of their SP 35mm f/1.2 AS UMC CS lens for mirrorless cameras.

The Goods spotlights the hottest premium photo gear out there. If you have a product you’d like considered for The Goods, e-mail images and info to editorial@shutterbug.com.

Nikon created quite a buzz Tuesday morning with the introduction of the high-speed AF-S Nikkor f/1.4E ED; a lens they say is the world’s fastest 105mm prime. And now, thanks to some great photographers and the folks at Nikon USA, we can show you the first sample images taken with this new tool for portrait and studio photography.

We all know nature and wildlife photographers need long focal length lenses but they’re not the only ones who need a longer-than-normal lens. While the only wildlife I have photographed are the mule deer who treat my backyard like it’s their backyard, I’ve photographed a racing car from time to time and that’s when a telephoto or long zoom lens comes to the rescue.

Last month we wrote about a patent filed by Canon for a “smaller and lighter” 1000mm f/5.6 DO super telephoto lens. Well, now they’re at it again—this time with a crazy EF 40-800mm f/4.5-5.6 wide-range zoom for full-frame cameras. 

“Date your cameras and marry your lenses,” a Sony staffer professed after I arrived in San Diego last week for the unveiling of two new lenses; the 50mm f/1.4 ZA prime and 70-200mm f/2.8 GM zoom. Our select group of journalists were repeatedly told, “Do not leak this launch.” Considering the leaks of cameras introductions from their competitors this summer, the firm request was understandable and we obliged.

When people asked legendary editor Herbert Keppler why he sometimes wrote about cameras costing more than the average photographer could afford, he told me it was because of the Maserati factor. “Most people,” he said, “can’t afford a Maserati but like reading about them.” And I get that. My personal dream car is a 1961 Maserati 3500 GT, which sells for north of $450,000. Fortunately, medium format cameras, while expensive, cost less than that.