Lens News

Here’s a helpful video for any photographer out there who suffers from GAS, aka “Gear Acquisition Syndrome.” In the below clip, photographer Michael Andrew, aka Michael the Maven, tries to answer that eternal question photographers face: how many lenses is too many?

Are there three essential lenses that every serious photographer should have in his or her kit bag? Photographer Peter McKinnon thinks so and in the below video he discusses what he calls “the holy trinity of lenses.”

Kenko Tokina announced last night that it will be releasing the Tokina atx-m 85mm f/1.8 FE lens for full-frame Sony E-mount mirrorless cameras, such as the A7R IV and A7 III cameras.

Laowa’s newly introduced 100mm macro lens offers 2:1 reproduction ratio and a fast f/2.8 aperture. The specifications for this manual focus lens are impressive—but does it deliver, and does it deserve its $449 price tag? We put a sample (in Nikon mount) through the paces and made a couple interesting discoveries.

We’ve been featuring the highly educational photography videos of Filmmaker IQ this past month and here’s another fascinating clip to kick off 2016. Titled “The Properties of Camera Lenses,” the video is narrated, once again, by John P. Hess, and gives you the scoop on everything you ever wanted to know about how lenses work.

Photokina 2016  may have ended, but we have a couple more interesting lens introductions to share with you: Leica’s 50mm f/1.4 Summilux SL ASPH, and the Lensbaby Twist60 announced earlier in the U.S.

Beauty is as beauty does. A Leica M with a 50mm APO Summicron attached is the iconic archetype of modern digital cameras with retro design. Using it is a prodigious experience comparable to, let’s say, playing a concert Steinway grand piano, or maybe setting the hands on a Patek Philippe timepiece. I’m only guessing here, ‘cause I’ve done neither. But I did use a Leica M and 50mm APO Summicron for a week. Did they perform? Read on…