Lens News

Serious photography can be seriously expensive, especially for those who update their cameras often and insist on carrying a bag loaded with premium glass. But here’s a secret for photographers on a budget: For the same money (or less), you can often achieve far better results with a high-quality vintage lens, than by “saving money” on a modern mid-level or kit lens.

Today’s computer-designed lenses are a joy to use and typically deliver high resolution and great sharpness, contrast, and color rendition. But modern premium glass isn’t always needed to make beautiful images, as you can see in the quick video below.

This morning Fujifilm introduced the latest in their line of ultra-compact mirrorless cameras, the 24.3MP X-E3 with a companion XF 80mm f/2.8 R LM OIS WR macro lens. Also unveiled was a GF 45mm f/2.8 R WR wide-angle lens for the company’s GFX mirrorless medium format camera. 

We often turn to Weird Lens Guru Mathieu Stern for interesting tips on bargain vintage lenses that that can be adapted for use with today’s modern mirrorless digital cameras. Best yet, you can often pick up some awesome glass for chump change and the adapters are very inexpensive.

The Lensbaby Twist 60 is a very modern rendition of a 175-year-old optical design, and true to the designer, Joseph Petzval. But does it satisfy our creative expectations when used in the field?

Have you ever noticed a yellow tint to the glass in a vintage lens? That may be because certain lenses in the 60s and 70s used a Thorium coating that yellows over time. Thorium has a high refractive index that improves light transmission, but it also turns out to be slightly radioactive.