When it comes to the (literal) nuts and bolts of cameras and lenses, Roger Cicala at Lens Rentals is the man to ask. This week he’s been busy disassembling Sony’s flagship mirrorless camera, the Alpha 7R. We’re in the middle of our review right now, and we must admit – some of the pictures of his detailed tear-down make us wince. But we can’t… look… away. Click through for an edited selection of images from the whole gory process.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Roger Cicala of LensRentals has revealed the winners of his ‘First Annual Photogeek Geek Photo Contest’. What was originally intended as a light-hearted joke ended up receiving over 400 entries from at least 20 countries, and the impressive quality of the entries caused a real headache for the judges. After a lot of deliberation, Rishi Sanyal won ‘Best in Show’ for his remarkable ‘MacroSetUp’ series. Click through to see the extraordinarily geeky winning images, and a link to the full contest gallery.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Lensrentals’ Roger Cicala continues his recent run of fine satirical form with his latest blog post – a series of cynical definitions for widely-used photography terms. We’re almost tempted to use it to replace our glossary, as it should be considered recommended reading before commenting on any photography or ‘gear’ forum. It’s certainly going to make us think carefully about the terminology we use in future reviews.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Lensrentals’ Roger Cicala has beaten us to testing the Nikon D610 for oil and dust accumulation – concluding its ‘certainly no worse than other cameras.’ Cicala has had an initial look at 25 D610s and a further look after the first ten of them came back from being rented-out, making him uniquely well-placed to comment on the phenomenon. Click through for a link to his article.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Roger Cicala of LensRentals is man after our own hearts, never happier than when tinkering with lenses and writing about what he finds, however obscure it may turn out to be. And in celebration of this, he’s launched what we’d like to think of as the ultimate photo competition: The First Annual Photogeek Geek Photo Contest. Full of entertaining categories, and with at least one hugely desirable prize on offer, it’s open for entries until November 15th. It’s Roger’s competiton so we’re not going to reveal too much here; head over to LensRentals and have a look. If nothing else, it should make you laugh.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Can cheap filters damage your expensive lenses? LensRentals’ Roger Cicala decided to look into the possibility, after seeing a number of lenses returned with odd circular scratches on the front element. His investigations provide a cautionary tale against skimping on buying a new protective filter after buying an expensive lens. Click through for a link to his full article.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Mount adapters are incredibly useful for their ability to make lenses from one manufacturer usable with camera bodies from another. But do they have any impact on image quality? LensRentals’ Roger Cicala, not one to take manufacturer’s claims at face value, investigated. Knowing that slight mis-alignments between a lens and even its native mount can cause softness in images, the added complexity with a lens adapter in the mix seemed likely to cause more problems. His findings are indeed interesting.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Now that he has his own copies of the new Zeiss Touit lenses, Roger Cicala of Lensrentals decided to crack into the Planar 32mm F1.8 lens and see if the renowned build quality of Zeiss optics was compromised to make the lenses more affordable. His primary concerns were about the Touit’s polymer construction and its use of a DC motor.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Roger Cicala of Lensrentals has published a blog post in which he gives his first impressions of the new Carl Zeiss 32mm F1.8 ‘Touit’ lens, in Sony E-mount. Unlike Roger’s normal approach, where he exhaustively tests multiple samples of the same lens, he was only able to look at a single example of the 32mm F1.8 on the Sony NEX-7. Click through for some details of his findings, and a link to the full article at the lensrentals blog.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
LensRentals’ Roger Cicala has published an interesting comparison of the Zeiss ZE 135mm F2 APO-Sonnar and the Canon 135mm F/2L lens, with both optics mounted on a Canon EOS 5D Mark II. While you’d expect nothing less than excellent results from the Zeiss optic, just what advantages can the heavier and much more expensive lens offer compared to Canon’s well-regarded prime lens? Click through to read Cicala’s findings.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)