Lens News

One of the great things about photokina is that you find a lot of “straws in the wind”: not necessarily major introductions from major manufacturers, but intriguing indicators of which way the wind is blowing.

Today we’re bringing you the latest installment of a very popular Lightroom Masterclass series from the PHLOG Photography YouTube channel. Each episode covers the basics of a single, important task for photographers of all skills levels.

Lomo introduced the retro-style but new Lomo LC-A Minitar-1 Art Lens this morning. This unique lens features the original optics from the Lomo LC-A and is compatible with many analogue and digital cameras.

We all know nature and wildlife photographers need long focal length lenses but they’re not the only ones who need a longer-than-normal lens. While the only wildlife I have photographed are the mule deer who treat my backyard like it’s their backyard, I’ve photographed a racing car from time to time and that’s when a telephoto or long zoom lens comes to the rescue.

My first macro lens was the popular Nikon 60mm Micro-Nikkor. Good move, I thought, as the 60mm focal length could double as an all-purpose lens for a variety of assignments. Trouble is, when I started to get into more and more 1:1 (life-size) work, I only had 21/2" of working space between the front of the lens and my subject. The 105mm was next, sharp as a tack but again...

Canon has two innovative lenses that incorporate built-in LED “Macro Lites” on either side of the front element, the EF-M 28mm f/3.5 Macro IS STM for M-Series mirrorless cameras, and the EF-S 35mm Macro IS STM for Canon DSLRs. In the video below, you’ll see what you can accomplish by using these lenses instead of a conventional on-camera flash.

Would you like to try your hand at close-up photography but can’t afford an expensive macro lens? Well consider this: An affordable set of extension tubes will turn just about any lens you own into a close-focusing macro lens.