Lens Reviews

In the late 1980s Canon introduced a 135mm f/2.8 autofocus lens that featured selectable softfocus. In addition to delivering dreamy out-of-focus images on demand, it’s also tack-sharp and extrapolates up to the equivalent of a 216mm f/2.8 when used on a crop-frame Canon.

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.

The Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM and Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 Di III RXD lenses share a similar focal length, and both can be used with Sony's full frame mirrorless E-mount cameras. But they differ dramatically in price.

It’s Macro SmackDown! If the cost were the same, which Olympus macro lens would you buy for your Micro Four Thirds mirrorless camera, the 60mm f/2.8 or the 30mm f/3.5? We shot with both and came to a conclusion that might surprise you.

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.