Lens Reviews

It’s now widely appreciated that many great old lenses of the analog era can capture images that have that elusive quality known as character. Writers of the early 20th    century tried to express these qualities by describing them as “rounded” “luminous” or “plastic” rendition, but later writers and scientists dismissed such terms as imprecise and speculative, turning to resolution and later MTF testing to quantify lens performance parameters.

Yes, we’re posting our annual favorite cameras and lenses awards of 2018 with only a day left in January 2019, but that just means determining the best photo gear for last year was harder than usual. And it was, especially with the raft of exciting new full frame mirrorless cameras that hit the market in the second half of last year.

Sigma’s new 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports zoom lens delivers in a big way. Among all lenses that reach 600mm it has the greatest zoom range at 10X. This potent professional tool has a few surprise features, too.

Travel photographer Pierre T. Lambert has been traveling the world for the past year so, naturally, he needs to keep his gear choices minimal to not get weighed down. In terms of lenses, he’s narrowed it down to two main choices: the Sony 16-35mm f/2.8 G Master lens and the Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 G Master lens.

There is nothing more invigorating for a zealous photographer than putting a brand new lens on a familiar, reliable DSLR body. The world looks different through a new lens, and the tableau of photo opportunities hits the reset button, refreshing all of the possibilities. My experience with Tamron’s new Tamron 70-210mm F/4 Di VC USD tele zoom brought this realization into focus, no pun intended.

What do you get when you compare three classic prime lenses: the Canon 85mm F/1.2, 85mm F/1.4, and F/1.8? Photographer David Flores found out when he recently put the Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM, Canon EF 85mm f/1.4L IS USM, and Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM lenses through their paces in a portrait shootout on New York City’s Coney Island.

The classic definition of macro photography is that the image projected onto the digital sensor (or film plane) should be the same size as the subject. With a 1:1 ratio, a DSLR with a full-frame chip should be able to produce life-size magnification and focus on an area as small as 24x36mm.