Sigma 500mm F4 OS Sport Review

The realm of super-telephotos has been nearly exclusively the domain of the first party lens makers like Canon and Nikon. At the sidelines of most major sporting events you will see a lot of “great whites” (Canons) and a few…

Zeiss Otus 100mm F1.4 Image Gallery

The Otus series is the pinnacle of engineering on the full frame (35mm) space, and I’ve had the opportunity to spend time with each of the previous three releases (1.4/55mm, 1.4/85mm, and 1.4/28mm).  Zeiss in venturing a little further into…

Tamron SP 35mm F1.4 (F045) Image Gallery

Tamron has pulled out the stops for its 40th anniversary of their SP brand (Super Performance).  The Tamron SP 35mm F1.4 Di USD (F045) is (according to them), the finest optical instrument that they have made.  It certainly is a…

Samyang AF 45mm F1.8 FE Review

It feels like Samyang AF has finally arrived…at least on the Sony FE platform!  For decades Samyang was limited to producing manual focus only lenses, but a few years back they started to try their hands at the more complicated…

Zeiss Batis 85mm F1.8 Review

I recently completed a six-way comparison of all the currently available autofocusing lenses for Sony’s full frame mirrorless (FE) platform. These lenses cover a wide range of price points, from $379 (all prices USD) for the Viltrox AF 85mm F1.8,…

Tamron 17-28mm F2.8 RXD (A046) Review

Tamron released their new 28-78mm F2.8 RXD lens for Sony full frame mirrorless (FE) last year to great fanfare, as it provided a legitimate alternative to the very large and very expensive Sony 24-70mm F2.8 G Master lens.  The 28-75…

Sigma 500mm F4 Sport Image Gallery

While I’ve done a wide variety of reviews along the way, I’ve rarely taken on the challenge of reviewing super-teles from any brand.  That kind of lens isn’t really a part of my personal workflow, and I feel that the…

Sony FE 85mm F1.4 GM Review

I recently completed a six-way comparison of all the currently available autofocusing lenses for Sony’s full frame mirrorless (FE) platform. These lenses cover a wide range of price points, from $379 (all prices USD) for the Viltrox AF 85mm F1.8,…

Sony FE 85mm F1.8 Review

I recently completed a six-way comparison of all the currently available autofocusing lenses for Sony’s full frame mirrorless (FE) platform. These lenses cover a wide range of price points, from $379 (all prices USD) for the Viltrox AF 85mm F1.8,…

Godox AD200 Pro Review

Godox has developed a strong following for their lighting products due to a winning combination of good engineering, reliable performance, and reasonable pricing.  That trend continues to the Godox AD200 Pro Flash unit.  While Godox styles this a “pocket flash”,…

Samyang AF 45mm F1.8 Image Gallery

Samyang has previously released a couple of very compact autofocusing prime lenses for Sony, though with only moderately wide maximum apertures of F2.8.  People loved the size of the lenses, but the autofocus systems were not always quite there.  Fast…

Tamron 17-28mm F2.8 RXD (A046) Image Gallery

Tamron released their new 28-78mm F2.8 RXD lens for Sony full frame mirrorless (FE) last year to great fanfare, as it provided a legitimate alternative to the very large and very expensive Sony 24-70mm F2.8 G Master lens.  The 28-75…

Tamron 35-150mm F2.8-4 VC OSD (A043) Review

When Tamron announced the 17-35mm F2.8-4 OSD last year, I was initially nonplussed. I was surprised to see them releasing a lens without VC (which has become a mainstay on Tamron lenses), a lens with a less sophisticated autofocus system,…

Sony FE 85mm F1.4 GM Image Gallery

One of my main projects for 2019 was a plan to pit all the current autofocus 85mm options on the full frame Sony E-mount platform head to head.  I’ve done something similar for 50mm options (and, to a lesser extent,…

Aurora Aperture PowerND-MC Filters Review

Last year I reviewed a clever rear filter solution for certain lenses that don’t take traditional filters from the company Aurora Aperture.  But Aurora Aperture has cranked up the creativity level and designed a new filter solution that, when you…