Admit it. You’ve always wanted a 70-200mm f/2.8 zoom lens. For many professional and enthusiastic amateur photographers, it’s the backbone of their lens arsenal. Here’s a great candidate if you’re ready to take the plunge.
Yes, we’re posting our annual favorite cameras and lenses awards of 2018 with only a day left in January 2019, but that just means determining the best photo gear for last year was harder than usual. And it was, especially with the raft of exciting new full frame mirrorless cameras that hit the market in the second half of last year.
Creating photo books on American railroads are a good part of my workload, so telephoto lenses are what I often turn to for my train photography. Extremely heavy and often dangerous, locomotives and rolling stock require a wide berth for safety’s sake. Furthermore, in the wake of the September 11th attacks, security has tightened around railroad property, demanding more distance between the photographer and subject.
Olympus just launched the 20.4MP OM-D E-M1X, the company’s latest pro-level mirrorless camera. Shutterbug got some early hands-on testing time with the camera and this is our review.
Sigma’s new 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports zoom lens delivers in a big way. Among all lenses that reach 600mm it has the greatest zoom range at 10X. This potent professional tool has a few surprise features, too.
Tamron’s new SP 15-30mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2 lens ($1299) continues a trend that many camera and lens manufacturers have embraced in recent years. This new Tamron 15-30mm lens is fast, big, expensive and designed for photographers who expect optical excellence. As part of Tamron’s Di lens series, the SP 15-30mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2 is available for Canon and Nikon full-frame DSLRs and APS-C cameras where it produces a 24-48mm equivalent focal length range.
When Nikon announced the first two models in their new Z Series of full-frame mirrorless cameras, they provided an intriguing choice for both advanced amateurs and pros. The Nikon Z7 features a 45.7MP sensor for those photographers who desire maximum resolution, while the new Z6 is a more nimble, 24.5MP model that Nikon describes as the perfect “all-rounder.”
It’s been a great couple of weeks for mirrorless camera introductions with the debuts of the Nikon Z 7 and Z 6 and the recently announced Canon R. To top things off, we got to spend some hands-on time with yet another new mirrorless camera, the 26MP Fujifilm X-T3, the successor to the X-T2.
While the main body of my work has been with lenses such as the 24mm fixed, wide angles, and mainly my trusty 16-35mm zoom, I have often found myself wanting a long zoom for the scenes that present themselves along the way. It’s not that I am unwilling or just plain lazy to get closer—a long zoom, like the recently released Tamron 100-400mm, simply changes the way I see and helps me explore other visual options.
The specifications are impressive, but can a super-wideangle zoom with a super-fast f/2.8 aperture deliver the results pros and ardent amateurs demand?
All interchangeable lens cameras share common feature sets, with some offering higher sensitivity (ISO range), faster shutter speeds, or enhanced video capabilities. Aimed squarely at photo enthusiasts and advanced photographers who can appreciate and make use of its many creative imaging options, the Panasonic Lumix DC-G9 ($1,697, body only) stands out as a fast performer, with an astonishing framing rate and very fast autofocus acquisition time, plus many features and functions that will appeal to knowledgeable photographers who want to make use of cutting-edge processing and capture capabilities.
So much for “basic,” Sony seems to be saying, the A7 III is a premium model worthy of its pricier full-frame stablemates: the high-resolution A7R III and the speedy A9 mirrorless cameras.
The Canon EOS Rebel SL2 is a small and lightweight entry-level DSLR: 4.82x3.65x2.75 inches in size and weighing in at 16 ounces without the lens (including the battery and memory card). The SL2 features a 24.2MP APS-C CMOS sensor and a vari-angle touchscreen three-inch LCD. It also sports Dual Pixel CMOS AF with phase detection and has a low-pass filter.
The 45.7-megapixel D850 is Nikon’s first DSLR with an FX-format (aka full frame), backside-illuminated CMOS sensor with no low-pass filter, which is designed to shoot high-quality images and video even in low light. The D850 can capture 4K UHD at 24/30 frames per second (fps) that’s output at a full-frame width of 16:9, allowing widescreen 4K clips at a true field of view.