Lens News

Back in the day when fixed-focal-length optics reigned supreme, the 35mm lens, along with its wider cousin, the 28mm, was known as the lens a portrait or wedding photographer would use for group or full-length portraits or, especially if it had a fast aperture, the photojournalist would use to grab street candids. Today, with our wide zooms we’re often happy enough with an f/4 maximum aperture and we tend to overlook what faster fixed-focal-length lenses could do to help our photography.

THE GOODS is a new feature in Shutterbug that 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.

What’s normal? Not asking about your weird uncle Walter who puts mayonnaise on his French fries—and his spaghetti. When photography went digital, understanding focal lengths became much more difficult. Let’s unravel a few of the mysteries so that we can make better educated decisions about lenses.

Tamron announced the new SP 85mm F/1.8 Di VC USD (Model F016) lens this morning, which the company is calling “the world’s first fast aperture telephoto lens with VC (Vibration Compensation).” 

Pentax’s parent company, Ricoh Imaging, has been teasing that it would be announcing a new full frame digital SLR for several months now and today that phantom camera was finally unveiled. Ricoh just introduced the long awaited Pentax K-1, which is equipped with a 36.4-megapixel full frame CMOS sensor about the size of a piece of 35mm film.

At least according to the above photograph (supplied by Canon USA, of course) and some anecdotes we heard from photographers who shot the big game, Canon’s lenses appeared to still dominate the sidelines at this past Sunday’s Super Bowl.

Sony launched a new line of premium interchangeable lenses today, which the company has christened with its new G Master brand.