Lens Reviews

Making a lens sharp and acceptably free of aberrations is hard. Very hard. Making a lens that can be both tack-sharp and intentionally soft, pleasantly unsharp and able to exploit the native beauty of certain optical aberrations is even harder. Then there’s Lensbaby.

Have you heard about Sigma’s lineup of fast, affordable f/1.4 prime lenses for Canon M, Sony E and Micro Four Thirds cameras? The set includes the 16mm f/1.4, 30mm f/1.4 and 56mm f/1.4. Here’s a specifications review that features images by world renowned photographer and Sigma Ambassador Jim Koepnick.

I’m a film dinosaur—about 40% of the pictures I shoot are made on black-and white film, and my favorite analog cameras range in age from 50-100 years. For the remaining 60%, I shoot digitally, sometimes with a vintage lens attached to help capture a "retro" look.

With more and more photographers considering switching from DSLRs to mirrorless cameras, one of the biggest factors in the decision-making process is lens choice. Are the new lenses designed for mirrorless cameras better than their DSLR-centric counterparts?

It's not what most photographers would consider essential glass, but in mid-2017, when I heard it was available, I knew the 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5 fisheye Nikkor was a lens I'd like a lot. What I didn't realize was how much "a lot" was going to be. It turned out that I liked to have it with me whenever I was photographing.

It's another one of those age-old questions for photographers: what's better for photographing wildlife, zoom lenses or prime lenses? In the below video, photographers Tony and Chelsea Northrup put both zooms and primes to the test while weighing the pros and cons of each.