Lens Reviews

When I first heard about a 35mm focal length macro lens my mouth began to water. The $229 price tag was an immediate inducement, as were the compactness and lightweight of this glass. What threw me, though, was the focal length. Because this was in the new Four Thirds System for an Olympus digital SLR (the EVOLT E-300 was used for this test), focal length doubled to 70mm. A 70mm...

I’ve shot thousands of pictures with hundreds of great lenses over the past 40+ years, but these seven have a special place in my heart. That’s because they capture beautiful images that have “the look”—an elusive quality that may be a combination of excellent detail and sharpness plus a natural roundness in their rendition. It’s not bokeh exactly—that refers to smooth transitions and shape retention in the out-of-focus areas of the image—although these lenses all have gorgeous bokeh as well. 

Mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras have become increasingly popular among enthusiasts and pros because they provide a DSLR-like shooting experience in a lighter, more compact form factor, along with robust feature sets and significant technical advantages. The top models deliver pro-caliber performance and hi-res/high-magnification EVFs with incredibly rapid refresh rates that display the image captured by the sensor in real time.

Created chiefly for the high-end Nikon D300 and D3, the new 24mm PC (Perspective Control) lens from Nikon can also be used on other Nikon D-SLR cameras, such as the relatively new D60 on which I tested it, albeit with some loss of full automation and functionality. Being a manual focus lens it can also mount on most Nikon film SLRs as well; being a PC lens it is unique in both...

The reality is you can make portraits using any lens but most photographers will tell you the ideal portrait lens has a focal length in the range of 85-135mm. The first dedicated portrait lens was the 150mm f/3.3 Petzval developed in 1840, which had a 30-degree angle of view and was considerably faster than lenses of the period. It was so legendary that Lomography recently produced a new version for Canon EF- and Nikon F-mount cameras that costs $599.

Micro Four Thirds mirrorless camera systems promised us lenses that are more compact but fully featured. That promise has finally been fulfilled—and it took Tamron, the master of the All-in-One Zoom, to make it happen.

Olympus just introduced a 90mm f/3.5 macro lens, and Shutterbug had a chance to give it a full workout on the new Olympus OM-1 mirrorless marvel prior to launch. Here is our evaluation and a few sample photos captured by this camera/lens combo.