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CP+ 2019: Hands-on with Tokina Opera 16-28mm F2.8 FF

03 Mar

CP+ 2019: Hands-on with Tokina Opera 16-28mm F2.8 FF

The second lens in Tokina’s new ‘Opera’ range is the 16-28mm F2.8 FF for full-frame Nikon and Canon DSLRs. We saw a mockup of this lens in late 2019, but we just got our hands on a working sample at the CP+ show in Yokohama, Japan. Click through for a closer look.

High-quality wideangle zoom

Described by Tokina as ‘next generation, premium full-frame lenses’, the Opera range is designed to deliver optimal results on modern high-resolution Canon and Nikon DSLRs. Optical construction comprises 15 elements in 13 groups, three of which are of aspherical, and three are made of Low Dispersion glass.

Automatic / manual focus switch

A long-standing feature of Tokina lenses is a direct manual/automatic focus switch. To select manual focus, simply pull the entire focus ring towards the camera. This shot also shows off the large focus distance scale, marked in feet and inches.

Fast continuous maximum aperture

As one of two premium Opera lenses in Tokina’s lineup, the 16-28mm F2.8 is an appropriately solid lens, and balances nicely on the Canon EOS 5D Mark III that we tried it on in Yokohama. The zoom and focus rings operate smoothly, with no play, and the overall impression we got was of a very well-constructed lens.

The petal-shaped lens hood is integral to the lens, which unfortunately means that screw-in filters cannot be used.

No rear-mounted filter support

While some wideangle zoom lenses of this type offer support for rear-mounted drop-in filters, unfortunately that’s not an option on the Tokina Opera 16-28mm F2.8, either. While some photographers won’t care, dedicated landscape shooters might find this limiting.

On the plus side, the 16-28mm does feature sealing against dust and moisture incursion. You can just make out the black rubber gasket around the lens mount in this image.

Upgraded AF system

The Tokina Opera 16-28mm F2.8 weighs 940g (~2lb) and measures 89 x 133.5mm. It offers a nine-bladed iris for improved rendering of out-of-focus highlights and an upgraded AF system that is claimed to be both faster and more accurate than the original AT-X 16-28mm F2.8 PRO FX. Although we only had a few minutes with the lens at CP+, automatic focus on a Canon EOS 5D III seemed reasonably fast for a lens of this type, albeit not entirely silent.

The Tokina Opera 16-28mm F2.8 is shipping this month, for a very reasonable $ 699.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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CP+ 2019: Olympus shows super-tele zoom and 2.0 TC under glass

03 Mar

Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 150-400mm 1:4.5 TC1.25x IS PRO

Olympus announced its intent to make a 150-400mm F4.5 zoom back in January. There was a demonstration sample on show at CP+ in Yokohama. The Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 150-400mm 1:4.5 TC1.25x IS PRO has a name that matches its considerable size.

Features (of some sort) galore

The side of the lens shows five switches, which we’d expect to give direct access to AF/MF, IS, focus limiting and two other things. Possibly including the control to engage and disengage the 1.25x teleconveter that’s built in. Bringing the TC into the optical path turns the lens into a 187.5-500mm F5.6. That’s 375-1000mm F11 equivalent, if those numbers aren’t already big enough for you.

Sensibly sized

Considering the range it covers it’s a relatively compact lens. While it’s easy to point out that it’s an F9 or F11 equivalent, it’s worth remembering that there aren’t many 300-800mm/375-1000mm lenses for other formats. If you need that impressive reach in a lens that you can actually pick up, this will be one of the only options.

There’s a predictably large lens hood/bucket to go with it.

Who’s it for?

Olympus says the lens will be available in 2020 and is intended for sport, wildlife and bird photographers.

M.Zuiko Digital 2x Teleconverter MC-20

Also on show was a non-built-in teleconverter: the MC-20, which will be available in Summer 2019. This doubles the focal length of a lens it’s attached to, but at the cost of 2 stops of light. The MC-20 can be used with 150-400mm F4.5 TC1.25x IS PRO as well as the existing M.Zuiko Digital ED 300mm F4.0 IS PRO and M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm F2.8 PRO.

Combined with the forthcoming zoom and its internal teleconverter, we believe you’d get a 375-1000mm F11 lens (equivalent to a 750-2000mm F22 lens on full frame). Though the combination seems rather specialist.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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CP+ 2019: Panasonic shows 10-25mm F1.7 mockup

03 Mar

Panasonic Leica Vario-Summilux 10-25mm F1.7

Panasonic announced that it would be building a 10-25mm F1.7 zoom back at Photokina in later 2018 and has a mockup on show at CP+ in Yokohama. The red box on the label says ‘Development Announcement’ in Japanese. If nothing else, it’s a striking way to confirm the company’s commitment to the Micro Four Thirds system as a high-end format.

Scarce details

Very little additional information has been given, but the mockup shows it will have a dedicated aperture ring like the Panasonic Leica 15mm F1.7 prime. The mockup also makes clear just how much larger it’s going to be than the 12-60mm F2.8-4.0.

Five primes in a tube

Panasonic seems committed to its ‘five primes in one lens’ concept, by marking the 10, 12, 14, 18 and 25mm focal lengths on the zoom ring, representing 20, 24, 28, 35 and 50mm equivalent focal lengths that are popular choices for prime lenses. This shouldn’t be taken to mean the lens will only offer these focal lengths, though.

For video, as well as stills

While the ‘five primes’ idea is a great way of appealing to photographers, we suspect plenty of videographers will also be interested in the idea of a lens that gives them a wide-angle to normal field of view with a constant F1.7 aperture, meaning no need to change lenses (or change any rigging built around the camera), between shots. Sadly there are still no details of either price or availability.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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CP+ 2019: Hands-on with the Sigma MC-21 SA / EF to L-mount adapter

03 Mar

Hands-on with the Sigma MC-21

One of the items on display at the Sigma booth at this year’s CP+ show in Yokohama was the newly-announced MC-21 adapter that allows Sigma lenses to be used on L mount cameras. There are two versions of the adapter: one that accepts Sigma SA-mount lenses and another that takes Sigma’s EF-mount lenses.

Here’ we’ve got an SA-mount version of Sigma’s 50mm F1.4 Art adapted to a Panasonic S1.

Adds compatibility for 29 Global Vision lenses

The company says both the SA- and EF-to-L adapters can be used with 29 existing Sigma lenses, including 23 full-frame lenses taken from the Global Vision range. These lenses span the Sport, Contemporary and Art series. It features a built-in tripod mount, but don’t be fooled by the pair of allen bolts on this example: we’re told this won’t be removable.

Single-AF only, for now

The MC-21 only allows AF-S mode to be used at present. This is likely to be a result of the existing SA and EF mount lenses being primarily designed for being focused by phase detection, whereas all the current L-mount bodies use variants of contrast-detection AF, which may lead to slower, less reliable performance.

Won’t need firmware updates for future lenses

The inside of the adapter features a black flocking fabric to prevent internal reflections occurring within the adapter tube. An LED on the side of the adapter shows whether the attached lens is compatible and whether it needs a firmware update. Sigma says the MC-21 comes pre-loaded with the data needed for the 29 listed lenses supported at launch but that future lenses will contain the necessary data, so the MC-21’s firmware won’t need updating to support future lenses.

SA and EF mount support

Sigma had the MC-21 on show with representative models from its L-mount Alliance partners: Leica and Panasonic. Although there are references to it around the booth, there’s no sign of even a prototype of the full-frame Foveon camera Sigma has said it will make.

As usual, Sigma makes no claims when it comes to Canon’s EF-mount lenses, but they generally work well with its MC-11 EF-to-E-mount adapter.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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CP+ 2019: Ricoh GR III shown with firmware 1.0, Theta goes 1″

03 Mar

GR III dominates the Ricoh booth

Ricoh formally launched the GR III earlier this week, so it’s no surprise that its presence dominates the company’s stand at CP+. The units on display are running firmware 1.0 and we’re told we’ll be able to get our hands on one in the next few days to go shooting with.

Familiar controls

Many of the camera’s features will immediately be familiar to users of previous GR models. The ADJ lever controls exposure compensation or brings up a customizable menu of core camera functions. Several of the camera’s buttons can also be re-assigned, including a dedicated Fn button, the left and right presses of the four-way controller and the movie/Wi-Fi button on the side (which can control a second function in response to a long press). And, of course, there’s the ‘Full Press Snap’ focus option that leaves the camera pre-focused to your chosen distance, to maximize responsiveness. The improved speed of being able to position the AF point that the touchscreen brings may not wholly outweigh the loss of the rocker that’s featured on the back of GR cameras up until now for experienced users.

New lens, new autofocus

The GR III adds phase detection autofocus but, interestingly, still appears to use a unit focus design, where the entire lens is moved back and forth as the camera focuses. This helps maximize image quality, as the lenses maintain their relationships to one another, but slows down the process, since it means moving more mass. The addition of phase-detection autofocus helps with this, since it means the lens can be driven straight to the desired location, but the autofocus of these firmware v1.0 cameras wasn’t especially speedy.

Innovation and legacy

Ricoh was keen to show that, while the GR III is a relatively major update to the series, it understands that it needs to fit into a series that goes back over twenty years. It’s an important reminder that, even relatively recently, the GR series attracted a dedicated audience even when they were built around relatively modest 1/1.7″ sensors. Anyone who enjoyed one of the GR Digital models is likely to be impressed with what the GR III offers. And we’re looking forward to getting a closer look at the final JPEGs soon.

Ricoh Theta goes 1″

The Theta VR camera has been something of a success for Ricoh and it’s been progressively iterating on the design for a number of years. Back at Photokina 2016 they told us one of the big challenges they faced was trying to cope with the heat generated by 4K capture without having to change the popular form-factor of the device. The Theta Z1 shows how far things have come since then. The Theta Z1 is not only capable of 4K video capture but does so from a pair of 1″-type sensors.

Ricoh Theta Z1 with DNG Raw

The Theta Z1 is a little taller and a little thicker than previous models but they’re relatively minor changes, considering how much larger the sensors its using are. Bear in mind that the Theta’s 360° capability is formed by having two of these chips mounted back-to-back, it’s not surprising that the Z1 had to get a little (~6mm) thicker. Despite this slight extra separation, its lenses are able to give an overlapping view to form a 360° view. And, unlike previous versions, the Z1 can shoot DNG Raw stills.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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CP+ 2019: Voigtländer unveils new manual focus lenses for Sony E-mount and Leica M

02 Mar

CP+ 2019: Voigtländer shows new lenses for Sony E-mount

We’re at the CP+ show in Yokohama, Japan, where Cosina is letting customers get their hands on three fast manual-focus primes for Sony E-mount and Leica M, respectively. We took a closer look.

Nokton 50mm F1.2 Aspherical

First up is the Nokton 50mm F1.2 Aspherical for E-mount. Although this is a metal-bodies, classically-styles manual focus prime, optical construction is thoroughly modern, comprising eight elements in six groups, including two aspheres.

Nokton 50mm F1.2 Aspherical

Considering the fast maximum aperture of F1.2, the Nokton is very compact, and fairly light at 434 g. Voigtländer claims that this is thanks to the use of aspherics, which allow for high-resolution imaging wide-open without the need for more, or larger elements.

Nokton 50mm F1.2 Aspherical

The Nokton 50mm F1.2 features a 12-bladed manual aperture, and a 58mm filter ring. Electrical contacts on the mount allow for focal length and aperture information to be transmitted to compatible E-mount cameras. Minimum focus distance is 0.45m (about 18 inches).

Nokton 21mm F1.4 Aspherical

The Nokton 21mm F1.4 for Sony E-mount handles like a slightly larger version of the 50mm, and operates in exactly the same way. Manual focus and aperture rings allow for direct manual control, and the overall quality of build and finish is as high as we would expect from a premium Voigtländer lens. All three of these new lenses, in fact, are lovely to hold and use.

Nokton 21mm F1.4 Aspherical

Optical construction comprises 13 elements in 11 groups, with at least one aspherical element (Cosina is being a little vague, for now, on the exact optical formulation). Like the Nokton 50mm, there are 12 aperture blades, and electrical contacts communicate focal length and aperture to the camera.

Nokton 21mm F1.4 Aspherical

The Nokton 21mm F1.4 is a fairly large lens, with a 62mm filter thread. For video use, the aperture dial can be ‘de-clicked’ for smooth stepless control. Minimum focus is 0.25m (about 10 inches).

Nokton ‘Vintage’ 75mm F1.5 Aspherical

The Nokton 75mm F1.5 Aspherical is a fast short telephoto prime lens for Leica M-mount. Preferred by some rangefinder photographers over 80mm+ lenses for portraiture, 75mm is meaningfully longer than 50mm, while not quite long enough that the framelines in an optical viewfinder end up too small for accurate composition.

Nokton ‘Vintage’ 75mm F1.5 Aspherical

Intended to recall the classic rangefinder lenses of the mid 20th Century, the Nokton 75mm might look like an antique, but its optical makeup is entirely modern. Optical construction comprises seven elements in six groups, including one aspherical element. According to Voigtländer, this should ensure good sharpness and resolution even at the lens’ widest aperture of F1.5.

Again, there are 12 aperture blades, which ensures near-circular apertures across the range of F1.5-16. At wide and medium apertures, this should result in the all-important pleasant circular highlight bokeh beloved of portrait photographers. As we’d expect for a lens designed for rangefinder cameras, minimum focus is a fairly unremarkable 0.7m, which represents the minimum focus coupling distance for a Leica M-series camera.

Pricing and availability for all three new lenses has yet to be confirmed, but we’ll bring you more details as they become available.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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CP+ 2019: Hands-on with Tamron’s trio of full-frame lenses

02 Mar

Introduction

Tamron has its three newly-announced full frame lenses on show at CP+ in Yokohama. It’s a slight odd setup, though. You can look at the lenses in a glass cabinet or you can handle rather more rudimentary samples, with no marking on their switches and their names stick on with labelling tape. Thankfully we were able to convince Tamron to let us photograph the more complete versions.

Tamron SP 35mm F1.4 Di USD

The SP 35mm F1.4 Di USD [Model F045] is the company’s latest fast prime for Canon and Nikon DSLRs. It’s designed for full frame and arrives as a higher-end alternative to its stabilized 35mm F1.8 VC. It uses a conventional ring-type USD (ultrasonic drive) focus motor.

Tamron SP 35mm F1.4 Di USD

The SP 35mm F1.4 is fairly long lens but isn’t excessively wide. The company promises you get the image quality to justify the size. Tamron suggests it’s suitable for ‘nearly every photographic genre, including photojournalism, landscape, sports, street life, wedding groups and family snapshots,’ which is a pretty wide range.

Among the best 35s

Despite its fairly modest proportions (by modern standards, at least), Tamron seems bullish about the SP 35mm’s performance, saying it should by the best of its type. We were certainly impressed by how smooth and solid everything felt, when we handled it. Not a bad way to mark the 40th anniversary of the SP series.

Tamron 35-150mm F2.8-4 Di VC OSD

The Tamron 35-150mm F2.8-4 Di VC OSD [Model A043] is an interesting and somewhat unfamiliar concept: a full-frame lens extending from slightly wide-angle to moderate telepoto focal lengths, while retaining a semi-fast maximum aperture. Tamron describes it as a ‘Portrait Zoom.’

35-150mm F2.8-4: a ‘portrait zoom’

It’s about half the size of a 70-200mm F2.8, and still shorter even when extended, which should make it easy both to carry and to handle. Interestingly, the company says all its functions will remain available when adapted to a mirrorless camera. The sample we saw is fairly early, so we haven’t been able to get a sense for the speed or sound of the ‘Optimized Silent Drive’ micromotor.

35-150mm F2.8-4: handy for APS-C?

Although Tamron doesn’t mention its use on APS-C cameras, we reckon the 52.5-225mm equivalent range it would offer on a Nikon APS-C DSLR, long with the F4.2-6 equiv maximum aperture could be fairly interesting for a range of shooting situations. It wouldn’t offer especially shallow depth-of-field, but might make a temptingly portable midway point between a variable-aperture 55-200mm and the significantly higher cost of a 70-200mm lens, depending on how Tamron prices it.

Tamron 17-28mm F2.8 Di III RXD

The final lens we got to see what Tamron’s wide-angle F2.8 zoom for Sony’s E-mount cameras. The 17-28mm F2.8 Di III RXD is a full-frame zoom that makes a lot of sense alongside the relatively small 28-75mm F/2.8 Di III RXD that’s one of our favorite lenses for FE-mount Sonys.

Tamron 17-28mm F2.8 – a compact wide-angle

The Model A046 is based around the same ‘Rapid eXtra-silent stepping Drive’ focus motor used in the 28-75mm, so should be both quick and quiet. The lens itself is a touch shorter than its normal zoom counterpart but otherwise resembles it pretty closely. The biggest difference is that, unlike the 28-75mm, the 17-28mm F2.8 doesn’t extend when you zoom.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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CP+ 2019: Ricoh shows PENTAX-DA* 11-18mm F2.8 ED DC AW

02 Mar

Hands-on with PENTAX-DA* 11-18mm F2.8 ED DC AW

Alongside the GR III, Ricoh is using the CP+ show in Yokohama Japan to give its customers a first look at a new high-performance wideangle lens for APS-C. The PENTAX-DA* 11-18mm F2.8 ED DC AW was announced way back in the Fall of 2017 and was supposed to ship the following summer, but it was delayed. We’re at CP+, where we took a closer look.

Hands-on with PENTAX-DA* 11-18mm F2.8 ED DC AW

The 11-18mm is a large, pretty heavy and quite costly lens, and if someone had told us it was actually designed for full-frame, we’d have no difficulty in believing them. According to Ricoh, the new lens offers significantly improved image quality compared to the older 12-24mm F4 ED AL.

Designed for outdoor use

Designed for use outdoors, the ‘AW’ in the lengthy model name stands for ‘All-Weather’ – a higher grade of weather-resistance than the more common ‘WR’ rating offered further down Ricoh’s Pentax lens lineup. Like all of the Pentax AW lenses, the 11-18mm F2.8 feels like it could be carried up a mountain in the rain, dropped off the top, dusted off and put back on the camera without sustaining any serious damage (but please don’t try it).

Designed for outdoor use

The distinctive orange ring is a rubber gasket, helping keep dust and moisture from getting into the camera from around the lens mount.

Focus clamp

We’re used to seeing lock/clamp switches on lenses, but it’s unusual to see a focus lock. Since the 11-18mm is intended for use by astrophotographers, for whom precise focusing positioning is essential, especially at wide apertures, Ricoh wanted to make sure that once accurate focus has been achieved, it stays locked.

Moving the clamp switch to ‘on’ disengages the focus clutch, ensuring that even if the focus ring is knocked, the focus position won’t change.

Optical construction

With a focal range equivalent to 16.5-27mm when mounted on an APS-C body, the 11-18mm’s optical construction is comprised of 16 elements, including two aspherical elements, two extra low-dispersion elements and one aspherical extra-low dispersion element. Ricoh claims that its ‘HD’ coating reduces reflections by more than 50% compared to regular coatings, too, which should help increase optical quality even further, by reducing flare and ghosting.

Price and availability

The PENTAX-DA* 11-18mm F2.8 ED DC AW will be available soon, for $ 1399.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Apple announces winners of its 2019 ‘Shot on iPhone’ Challenge

02 Mar

One month ago, Apple launched its 2019 ‘Shot on iPhone Challenge.’ Immediately after the announcement, Apple faced backlash regarding the terms and compensation the for the winners. Within two days of its original announcement Apple changed course saying it would pay licensing fees to winners of its ‘Shot on iPhone Challenge.’

Now, those winners have been announced, with Apple highlighting the top ten photos from the ‘Shot on iPhone’ Challenge. The international panel of judges selected photos captured on various iOS devices ranging from the iPhone 7 to Apple’s most recent flagship, the iPhone Xs Max. The photographers themselves hail from all over the world, including Singapore, Germany, Belarus, Israel and the United States.

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The above gallery showcases photos that will be displayed on select billboards in various cities around the world. Each image in the above gallery includes comments from the judges.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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CP+ 2019: a look at the Pentax 85mm F1.4 and KP Custom

01 Mar

HD Pentax-D FA* 85mm F1.4

Ricoh used the CP+ show in Yokohama to show off a mockup of its forthcoming 85mm F1.4 prime lens. Developed as a “new generation star lens,” the company says it has drastically reviewed internal standard in order to respond to future camera performance improvements.

Perfect for portraits?

The lens, while fairly large, doesn’t appear to have got completely swept up in the trend for being impossibly big and heavy. No further details have been given in terms of spec or release date (even the name is said to be tentative), but if it matches the quality of the recent DFA* 50mm F1.4 SDW AW it’ll be worth the wait.

Pentax KP Factory Custom

Ricoh also has an extensive range of Pentax cameras and lenses on show. Part of this display was devoted to custom versions of the KP DSLR. This goes far beyond the custom color combinations that were made available for earlier Pentax DSLRs. The KP Custom concept includes add-on grips made from a variety of materials, including exotic woods used for traditional steering wheels. There’s also an additional, cosmetic top cover that mounts over the viewfinder prism. Finally, the custom version sees the lens mount coated with ‘DLC,’ a super-hard, ‘diamond-like carbon’ coating developed in conjunction with watchmaker Seiko, that makes mounting lenses smoother.

The KP Custom will initially only be available in Japan but Ricoh said they would consider extending it to other markets if there was sufficient customer interest both at the show and online.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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