Lens Reviews

Tamron just announced the 18-300mm (27-450mm equivalent) zoom for Sony and Fujifilm cameras. It’s Tamron’s first lens in Fujifilm X-mount and their 15^th for Sony mirrorless (counting both full-frame and APS-C camera models). Measuring less than 5 inches long, focusing closer than 6 inches and selling for $699, there’s a lot to like. Here’s our hands-on review of the 18-300mm in Sony mount complete with several sample images.

My 35mm f/2.8 Tokina AT-X M35 PRO DX Macro was discontinued in 2010, but I’ve always liked it because it’s small, it focuses quickly and it’s extremely sharp. It’s for Nikon cameras with APS-C size sensors and was a constant companion for my now-retired 12-megapixel Nikon D90. So I decided to see how it performed on my full-frame Nikon Df. Man, did I get a surprise!

Three big reasons to buy a Tamron 20mm f/2.8 Di III OSD M1:2 for Sony full frame mirrorless cameras. First, it’s an ultra-wideangle capable of sweeping wide shots that are sharp edge-to-edge and span 94°. Second, it’s a 1:2 Macro lens (one-half life-size) that focuses as close as 4.3 inches. Third, this 2.5-inch lens costs just $249.

It’s easy to make a pinhole camera. Making a good pinhole camera, on the other hand, is damn hard. And it’s even harder to make a pinhole lens for a digital camera. But wouldn’t it be fun to create the intriguing effects only a pinhole aperture can produce?

Lensbaby, legendary manufacturer of creative effects lenses, has invented the Lensbaby Obscura, a digital camera lens that accurately and precisely produces the same amazing results of not one but three different pinhole mechanisms.

Tamron just released their new 150-500mm f/5-6.7 zoom and we received one of the first samples for review. Where would you take such a lens? We went to the NJ Audubon Center, a Somerset Patriots baseball game (they’re the NY Yankees’ Double-A minor league farm team), a nearby nature preserve and the patch of bee-attractant flowers in my back yard. Here’s our review and lots of pictures from these four venues.

The Canon RF 50mm F/1.2L USM lens retails for about $2200 while the RF 50mm F/1.8 STM lens sells for just $200. So, what's the difference between these two 50mm lenses aside from about $2K? A lot, according to Jay P Morgan of the Slanted Lens who pits the two optics against each other in a head-to-head shootout in the video below.