After Sony showed off its a6300 and trio of new lenses, our staffers were able to grab an a7R II and start shooting. Above we’ve put together a small selection of images taken with Sony’s new 85mm F1.4 GM portrait lens.
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Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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The Sigma 20mm F1.4 DG HSM | A is the newest member of Sigma’s family of ‘Art’ lenses. It’s also the widest member of the Art lens family, and with a maximum aperture of F1.4 Sigma claims that it’s the fastest 20mm lens in the world. We shot this lens on both 5DS R and 7D Mark II bodies, and since we had an EOS mount smart adaptor we even tried it on the Sony A7R II as well.
From what we’ve seen so far, this lens carries on the Art lineup’s tradition of stunning performance for the price, although this lens does have some characteristics that might not be ideal for all. For instance, it shows quite a bit of field curvature towards the brighter apertures when focused at nearer distances, and our rooftop shots show this particular copy performs better on the left side than the right side. As soon as an F-mount version of the Sigma is available, we plan on doing a shootout between this and the Nikon 20mm F1.8. In the meantime, enjoy a collection of images from the world’s widest F1.4 lens.
See our Sigma 20mm F1.4 DG HSM | A lens real-world samples gallery
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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Our Fujifilm X-Pro2 First Impressions just got a significant update. With a production-ready camera in hand, we’ve been able to send it through our studio scene and dynamic range tests, make some judgements about image quality from its new 24MP X-Trans image sensor and put together a fresh sample gallery. Compare the X-Pro2 to its peers and take another look at what Fujifilm’s newest flagship can do.
Read our updated Fujifilm X-Pro2 First Impressions Review
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Winter can be a stark wonderland in the Pacific Northwest, especially east of the Cascade mountain range. Editor Barney Britton spent some time with the new Nikon 24-70 F2.8 ED VR lens amongst the snow-covered rolling hills, waterfalls, forests, and even sunny beaches our beautiful state provides. VR brings a level of hand hold-ability to a popular range of focal lengths that should make it easier to make sharp images with the 36MP Nikon D810.
Before you follow the link below to see how the lens performed in the set of real-world samples we provide here, it’s worth keeping some things in mind. A high-resolution camera demands critical focus: even the slightest misfocus will be easily visible, and small focus errors aren’t uncommon when using DSLRs in the field. Furthermore, on full-frame, even an aperture of F8 has limited depth-of-field, so infinity-focused shots may show a slight decrease in sharpness for objects closer in the foreground. With these caveats in mind, we still found the sharpness of the lens to be somewhat lacking relative to our high hopes.
We’ve only tested one copy of this lens, and it’s always hard to determine if the sample we received is truly a representative sample. We’ll be requesting a second copy to verify that our sample isn’t an outlier, but based upon findings from both DxOMark and Roger Cicala over at LensRentals, the less-than-stellar sharpness results aren’t too surprising.
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While sharpness is generally good, particularly across the field, absolute sharpness in the center doesn’t appear to be better, or even as good as, the original non-VR 24-70mm F2.8 Nikkor. Roger’s results, as well as DxO’s findings, confirm somewhat decreased central sharpness but increased consistency across the frame. Roger suggests this may in part be due to a prioritization of minimal field curvature and astigmatism with absolute sharpness perhaps being the cost. Our samples do appear to confirm a relatively flat field of focus – which will be useful for many applications. Close-up sharpness sometimes suffers, as does sharpness at the long end, while chromatic aberration continues to be an issue much like the original.
That said, overall build appears to be – at least subjectively – improved, and Nikon’s Vibration Reduction (VR) promises to be a boon for photojournalists. Paired with the D810, our experience and preliminary testing indicates VR to be incredibly effective, and we expect it’ll prove indispensable at times, while overall raising the convenience factor of the body and lens combo. For some, this may even make up for the less-than-ideal sharpness which, by the way, we only call out because of the high bar set by recent primes and venerable zooms like the Canon 24-70 F2.8 II (which lacks VR, mind you). In isolation, this new lens is plenty sharp.
But without further ado, have a look at the sample gallery yourself, and let us know what you think in the comments!
Nikon AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm F2.8 ED VR Real-World Samples Gallery
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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| Olympus M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 300mm F4 IS Pro on the Olympus OM?D E?M1. You will love it, but birds will be less than pleased. Photo by Jordan Stead. |
Olympus just squeezed a 600mm equivalent field of view into a 2.8-pound lens, complete with image stabilization, weatherproofing and an impressive close focusing distance. Meet the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 300mm F4 IS PRO.
This compact, 2.8 pound supertelephoto is splashproof, freezeproof and dustproof, and is the first Olympus interchangeable lens with a built-in image stabilization mechanism. When paired with the Olympus OM-D E-M1 (firmware version 4.0) or E-M5 Mark II (firmware version 2.0), the 300mm’s in-body and in-lens image stabilization work together to produce image stabilization performance that Olympus claims is equivalent to up to six stops of compensation.
We got the chance to shoot with it recently, and we’ve prepared a gallery of sample images.
Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 300mm F4 IS Pro real-world sample gallery
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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The holiday season is upon us, which means it’s the season for all manner of Christmas spectacle, including the hoard of revelers all dressed as Old Saint Nick who recently took over the streets of downtown Seattle.
The festivities provided an excellent opportunity to get out and shoot, which is exactly what we did with the Sony Cyber-shot RX1R II. Check out our updated sample gallery to see what this pocketable full-frame compact camera can do.
See our updated Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX1R II real-world sample gallery
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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You might remember us getting our hands on the Mitakon Speedmaster 135mm F1.4 at the Photo Plus Expo back in October. We handled the lens and wrote up some quick impressions at the show, but we were lucky enough to be given one of the prototype lenses to take home to Seattle with us.
Our sample is an engineering prototype of the E-mount version of this beastly lens, and we’ve spent the past few weeks gathering samples both in our studio and out and about around Seattle, to give you an idea of what it can do.
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The 135mm F1.4 is a massive piece of glass, and in its E-mount flavor, absolutely dwarfs Sony’s a7 bodies. With a 105mm thread, fully manual operation and a weight of over six pounds (about 2.7kg), it can be rather intimidating, and is near impossible to use hand-held. With the proper support in place though it isn’t difficult to use at all, and can reward patient use with dramatic, unique results.
When viewing our samples, it’s worth bearing a couple of things in mind. Firstly, this lens is one-of-a-kind. Almost literally. So it has no direct competitors that we can shoot alongside. Also note what we said earlier – we were using an engineering prototype that was not cosmetically final, and may not be completely representative, optically, of the finished shipping lenses when they become available (although it’s likely to at least be extremely close)
With that in mind, take a look, and enjoy with us this truly unique hunk of metal and glass. Let us know what you think in the comments!
Take a look at our Mitakon Speedmaster 135mm F1.4 Pre-production Sample Gallery
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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Fall in Seattle means two things – the return of cold drizzle and University of Washington Husky football. Veteran sports shooter and DPR staffer Jordan Stead recently took advantage of a sunny afternoon game to do a little more testing of the Canon 35mm F1.4L II USM. We’ve updated our initial sample gallery with a few more images that capture the unique energy of Husky Stadium as two rivals collided in the Apple Cup.
See our updated Canon EF 35mm F1.4L II USM gallery
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Fujifilm’s XF 35mm F2 strikes an appealing balance between size, cost and durability. It’s sealed against moisture and dust, making it a great candidate for use with the weather-resistant X-T1, and at $ 399 is a fairly affordable ‘normal’ prime for Fuji’s X-system. The Pacific Northwest is just the place to test weather-resistant gear, though thankfully we’ve had enough unseasonably dry and sunny days to put together a real-world sample gallery with the 35mm F2. Read more
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Canon’s new EF 35mm F1.4L USM II lens has some pretty big shoes to fill. Its older brother, now on the market for 17 years, has become both a benchmark and a staple of many a pro Canon shooter’s kit. We’ve had the Mark II version for a few days, and we’ve spent that time shooting some environmental portraits, landscapes and lots more in between. Read more
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)