Sigma 50-100mm f/1.8 DC HSM ART Review

Dustin Abbott

May 12th, 2016

Utterly Unique

Sigma has become the company that pushes the envelope of what is viable in maximum aperture lenses. They have put larger maximum apertures than what was historically possible (or at least feasible) in a number of lenses, from zoom lenses (18-35mm f/1.8, 24-35mm f/2 for full frame) to focal lengths (20mm f/1.4). I’ve spent some extended time with each of these lenses (click the links for reviews). Sigma has managed to do this while upholding an incredibly high standard for optical performance, with lenses that have consistently had amazing resolution, great contrast, and strong chromatic aberration control. The fly in the ointment has often been less than desirable autofocus consistency, which in some cases has led to customers sadly returning lenses that they otherwise loved. Can Sigma manage to strike gold by producing a new lens with all of the former strengths but without the latter weaknesses? The new Sigma 50-100mm f/1.8 DC HSM ART once again pushes the envelope by putting a very large maximum aperture (f/1.8) in a zoom lens that covers a number of key focal lengths. Is the 50-100 ART a lens for you? Read on to find out!

If you prefer to watch your reviews, take a look below:

Let’s stop for a moment and consider that focal length. This is a Sigma coded DC lens, which indicates that it is for crop sensor cameras only (APS-C/DX). This makes it a good pairing with Sigma’s previous 18-35mm f/1.8 ART, a lens that set the gold standard for image quality in a crop sensor lens. APS-C/DX tends to get the development leftovers from the first parties like Canon, Nikon, and Sony. Lenses tend to be variable aperture, consumer grade zooms. Sigma did something very rare when they developed a truly premium zoom lens for APS-C with the 18-35mm, and they have done it again now with this even more impressive 50-100mm f/1.8 ART lens. The Nikon crop factor is 1.5x, while the Canon crop factor is 1.6x, so you have to multiply the focal length by the crop factor of the camera to get its equivalent focal range in 35mm/full frame terms. In this case, that would be 75mm/80mm on the wide end to 150/160mm on the long end. So, while this is only a 2x zoom ratio, it covers a number of important focal lengths from 85mm to 100mm to 135mm and beyond.

The applications for these focal lengths are virtually unlimited, from portraits to events to short range sports. Here’s a look at the difference between 50mm and 100mm on a Canon system:

At medium distances like this (75-100 feet), the change in magnification is noticeable. Don’t expect as extreme a difference when the subject is more distant. As with the 18-35mm or 24-35mm (full frame) you need to think of the 50-100 ART less as a traditional zoom and more like having a number of prime lenses in one body. Both the aperture value and the image quality make this true, as few prime lenses at these focal ranges can match the overall image quality of this lens.

Build Quality

From the moment you pull this lens out of the box you will have no doubt that it is a premium lens. The box is essentially just a wrapper for a very large, nicely padded protective case that houses a very large chunk of lens. One thing that the ART series has never been guilty of is being light and compact, but this lens pushes that to a new level (as it does a number of areas). It is very large, and very heavy. Physics demand that you cannot make a lens with such a large maximum aperture over this focal length without creating a very large lens, even when the lens only has to cover a crop sensor image circle. The Sigma is a little shorter that the 7.8”/19.81cm of Canon’s 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II at 6.72”/17.7cm, but weighs the same as its hefty 3.28lb/1490g. The front element of the Sigma is an even larger 82mm (the move from 77mm will be disappointing to some, though Sigma’s 24-35mm f/2 lens had already gone there!).

If you need something light or compact, you might as well stop reading now. Skip seeing the photos that come from something large and heavy like this…(they might make you jealous!) In this video I break down the build and give you the details!

Most 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses (including Sigma’s own) have an image stabilizer, but this lens comes without Sigma’s OS. Its inclusion would have added even more weight and size, so for some users the extra wide aperture is compensation enough. If you are shooting anything that moves you need to have a reasonable shutter speed to stop the action anyway, so perhaps it won’t be missed there. The only place I noted (and missed) not having an image stabilizer is when composing and I noticed more movement in the viewfinder than what I’m accustomed to. 100mm on a crop sensor is a fairly long focal length to hold really steady without a stabilizer.

The lens has a different profile than the 70-200mm lenses. Those lenses tend to have a fairly constant barrel width, while the Sigma tapers from narrower near the lens mount to wider near the front element. Its maximum girth is wider than the 70-200mm lenses, which accounts for it weighing as much despite being a little shorter. This design does result in the lens feeling a little more front heavy than shooting with a 70-200mm lens. Those lenses are a bit more balanced while the 50-100 ART is a bit of a strain to support with only one hand on the grip.

The lens has only one switch – the AF/MF switch, which is nicely raised, easy to find, and definite in use. You probably will not have to often reach for it, however, as the lens features full time manual override. All of the ART series lenses are pretty, and this is no exception. It gives the immediate impression of being almost brutally professional. I use the term “brutally” because of the weight and feel of the lens along with the design; right down to zoom and focus rings that have such deep ridges that they feel less “soft” to the touch when compared to most lenses. This is a “no-nonsense” lens. The lens has the now familiar ART series design language (which is very nice!) with a black on black look that is broken up by some texture variation.

Despite the “brutally professional” look and feel of this lens, Sigma persists in not adding any type of moisture resistance. This lens feels like it should have weather sealing, frankly, as befits the flagship lens for APS-C shooters. The majority of the people that buy this lens will have higher grade camera bodies that tend to include moisture resistance. Some of you may think that moisture/dust resistance is just marketing, but others who live or shoot in difficult weather conditions strongly feel otherwise. I’ve found that the importance that people assign to weather resistance often boils down to the harshness (or lack thereof) of their typical shooting environment.

I continue to admire Sigma’s lens hoods – they are well engineered, have a slightly velvety texture to them, and, in a final nice touch, feature a soft-touch rubberized transition zone where they mount to the lens barrel that has the lens information stamped in them. Very nice.

The 50-100 ART has the silver A (for ART) badge along with a distance window (but no hyperfocal markings). Both the zoom ring (closest to the lens barrel) and the focus ring (wider and further up the barrel) move nicely, though the focus ring is a little stiffer than what I would like (when mounted on a tripod I found it a little tough to focus the lens without moving the barrel to the side by the effort I had to put on the focus ring). That stiffness might loosen up with use.

There is (in my opinion) one unfortunate design flaw here. The lens includes a tripod collar. This is certainly justified by its weight, but unlike most 70-200mm lenses, the tripod collar is not removable. It has a knob that can be loosened to allow the collar to be rotated, and, in a nice touch, it has four set detentes that are easy to find at the 12:00, 3:00, 6:00, and 9:00 positions. The tripod foot itself is quite small, which is fortunate, because…no matter where I seem to put it the foot seems to get in the way of operating the most important ring…the zoom ring. The zoom ring is quite close to the lens mount, and the tripod collar foot seem intent on getting in the way of it. There is only about 2mm of clearance between the foot and the zoom ring, so, if it is in the bottom position, I have to let it sit in my palm while I reach around it to operate the zoom ring. If I rotate it to the top it interferes with where I put my fingers to rotate the ring. The 9:00 position is obviously out of the question. The 3:00 position seems to be the best compromise, but then then the tension knob seems to get in the way at times.

Sigh…I just wish the thing would come off.

I eventually settled on leaving it in the standard 6:00 position and just trying to forget about it. At least there it provides a nice support to set the lens on. The situations where I shoot a lens like this on tripod are almost non existent (your mileage may vary). I prefer to remove a tripod collar and save the weight. The Canon 100-400L II does not have a removable tripod collar either, but it does have a removable foot so that it is never in the way. The implementation of the tripod collar on the 50-100 ART is my least favorite aspect of the design. You adjust, of course, but I can’t count the number of times I’ve been bothered by it in shooting. I’m afraid that adding anything to it (even a tripod quick release plate) is just going making it more in the way!

This is the one thing I’d most change about the lens, because I’ve got little else to complain about! Here are a few more photos of this pretty lens:

Image Quality – Putting the “Art” in ART

You quickly forget the size and bulk of the lens when you see the images that it can produce. This lens is sharp…as in, stunningly sharp. It is clearly designed for maximum performance between f/1.8 and f/2.8, and the image quality doesn’t really sharpen up beyond that.

It doesn’t need to.

The 50-100 ART is incredibly sharp and contrasty at wide apertures. The lens displays very little chromatic aberrations, which further help in making the images look tack sharp. I will not be surprised to hear of the lens setting new resolution records at wide apertures among APS-C lenses when it is chart tested. The sharpness is not just in the center, either, but shows excellent results even out towards the edge of the frame.

A number of viewers/readers knew that I had the similarly excellent Tamron SP 85mm f/1.8 VC lens on hand, and, while that lens is designed for full frame cameras, there is no rule against mounting it on a crop sensor body and comparing the result with the Sigma at 85mm. I shot a controlled test using mirror lockup, manual focus using 10x Live View, and using a 2 second delay to eliminate any vibration through the tripod. I shot comparative series at f/1.8, f/2, f/2.8, and f/4. I found a few surprising things.

First of all, at f/1.8 the Sigma easily bests the Tamron in both the center and corners. The Tamron doesn’t look as strong on a crop as it does on full frame at wide apertures. The Tamron shows a slight bit of line doubling on the numbers engraved on the vintage lenses I was shooting. The Sigma looks sharper and more contrasty everywhere I look in the frame. The Tamron (designed for full frame) has a clear advantage in vignette control on APS-C because of being designed to cover the larger image circle. The Sigma is not bad in this regard, but the crop factor helps the Tamron there.

At f/2 the difference becomes far less noticeable. The Sigma is about the same, but most of the imperfections of the Tamron have disappeared. I would still give a slight edge to the Sigma if pressed.

From f/2.8 on the story changes. The Tamron makes mild improvements at f/2.8 and f/4 (these two results are essentially indistinguishable), but the Sigma actually seems to get a bit worse. The biggest gains for the Tamron and losses for the Sigma are actually in contrast. Intrigued, I went back and compared the f/1.8 result from the Sigma to the f/4 result and found that yes, I definitely favored the f/1.8 result over the f/4 result. At f/4 (shockingly) the Sigma was showing a bit of chromatic aberrations and slightly reduced contrast when compared to the wide open result.

I can’t recall seeing a lens quite like this! The only advantage of the f/4 result was in lower vignette. The Sigma is clearly optimized for shooting at f/1.8 and f/2.

In a side note, the colors from the Sigma skewed a little warmer while the Tamron delivered a more Zeiss-like neutrality. This is a taste thing and is pretty much a moot point for RAW shooters.

This is great news for those of you who love to shoot lenses wide open. You can shoot wide open with this new 50-100 ART and get essentially peak performance from it. Stopping down to f/2 will net you a hair more contrast, but little difference. There were a few times that I found wide open images of some subjects to have a slight bit of “haze” at a pixel level with brighter subjects, but could easily up the local contrast in post to adjust for it. That very minor “flaw”, though might lead to the following…

Image quality is more than sharpness. Essentially all of the ART lenses have been very sharp, but not all of them have had beautiful rendering or drawing. I’ve found a few of them somewhat clinical. No such problem here. This lens puts the “art” in the ART series.

The 50-100 ART is perhaps the best “bokeh maker” among any APS-C lenses that I’ve seen. That big aperture (particularly towards the longer end of the focal length) produces a shallower DOF than most competing lenses can produce. This enables you to produce results more akin to those usually found on full frame (35mm) cameras. The depth of field is more shallow and the separation of the subject from the background more intense.

In my bokeh tests I saw little to discourage me. The bokeh has little activity within the circular highlights and the inner circle of the bokeh circle is not strongly defined. There is a bit of line doubling, but it is faint. The nine bladed aperture results in a roughly circular nonagonal shape when stopped down. I didn’t see color fringing there, either, which all adds up to very nice real world bokeh…and the lens can make a lot of it!

There is a lovely softness to the defocused area, and the lens transitions nicely to defocus. The nice thing about this focal range is that it gives you some flexibility on how much you want the background to disappear. Shooting at the wide end (50mm) and ten feet from your subject produces a depth of field of 15.87 inches. But you can step back twice as far at 100mm and still get a slightly shallower DOF but a completely different look. At fifteen feet and 100mm/f1.8 the depth of field is a tiny 8.89 inches. Using that 100mm focal length for head and shoulders shots is going to make just about any background completely disappear.

Here are a few other portrait oriented shots.

I also liked the way the lens dealt with “ordinary” scenes. Take, for example, this shot of a freshly baked pan of cornbread. This is just on the kitchen counter and using available light, but look how soft the defocused area is in the image. Something simple becomes rather artful!

The bokeh and drawing from the lens is just pretty delightful all around. Here’s a gallery of bokeh-oriented images to demonstrate just what I mean.

As I’ve hinted at already, chromatic aberrations are virtually non-existent. This is one area where so many modern lenses have made huge strides. You don’t have to worry about green or purple fringing disrupting your images. Even the bit that I noticed when the lens was stopped down would be hard to see in most field settings. There is some vignette (stronger on the long end), but nothing extreme.

I shot a brick wall and on the wide end the barrel distortion is extremely mild. A chart tester will produce a percentage, but I doubt it is enough to really affect anyone for field use. The pincushion distortion on the long end is a little stronger, but still quite mild. It is all mild enough that you won’t really notice it in normal use.

In the midst of all of this goodness there is really only one drawback. The lens flares pretty badly. With the sun in the frame there is a pronounced loss of contrast (veiling) and also a lot of green ghosting (a big green blob). The ghosting is more pronounced on the wide end while the veiling is more pronounced at the tele end. Don’t point the lens at the sun unless you have some artistic use for what will happen.

There is a lot to praise and very little to criticize in the image quality department. I can only share so many photos in the actual review, so I recommend that you visit my image gallery here and look at more examples.

Mounted on Full Frame

I’ve never had so many requests from people to test an APS-C/DX lens on a full frame body. While I would never advise buying a crop sensor lens specifically for the purpose of shooting it on a full frame body, the lens will technically mount on a full frame body. At 50mm there is a solid black ring around the edge of the frame that goes beyond “vignette” (the full frame image circle is not being covered), by about 72mm it becomes a heavy vignette that with some irretrievable areas in the corners – you have to crop (image circle still not covered). But at 85mm the vignette is correctible, and there is just a tiny mark in each extreme corner that remains black…but this you could compensate for in post and it won’t be noticed in many environments. At 100mm there is still a heavy vignette, but one that is fully correctable in post though it required my adding the standard profile for the lens plus adding manual values of +70 in Lightroom’s vignette slider along with moving the midpoint to 19.

Here is a video examination of just exactly what happens when you mount the lens on a full frame camera body (in this case a Canon 6D).

I was happy to note that the autofocus remained accurate even on my 6D body. At the 80-100mm mark the images actually look pretty stunning. The lens is incredibly sharp and looks even sharper on a full frame body. If you happen to have both full frame and crop sensor camera bodies I see no reason for the lens to not pull some double duty, though the lens exhibits more pincushion distortion on full frame. Here’s a few more samples from full frame:

Autofocus Examination

It is typically at this point in a Sigma review where I start to lament over autofocus accuracy issues, but it is with great relief that I get to say…this lens focuses very well for me! I had serious issues with the 18-35mm f/1.8 ART, but despite have a more demanding focal length the 50-100 ART has exceeded my expectations. It is not only exceptionally sharp, but it is also a very good focusing lens…right out of the box, on multiple bodies. I’ve used it on three different camera bodies and found that it focused well on all of them. Overall the focus speed is quite good (particularly considering the large elements being moved), though racking through the full range of focus (something you’ll rarely do) is a little more deliberate. Normal (smaller) changes come quickly and very quietly.

I’ve never really complained about the autofocus speed of Sigma lenses, and certainly never about their quietness. But [outside of their ultra telephoto lenses] I’ve spilled a lot of ink lamenting about autofocus accuracy issues that I just couldn’t solve either through traditional AFMA in the camera body or via the Sigma dock. This lens isn’t perfect, but I am confident that I could tweak it enough through the Sigma USB dock (a recommended accessory for this lens if you don’t have one) to make it pretty close. I am really delighted to have such a nice focusing Sigma ART lens in hand, and I have to say that it really alters my ultimate perception of the lens. I personally refuse to own a lens that I can’t rely on to consistently and accurately autofocus. I do a lot of photography work – personal, business, commercial – and I need tools I can rely on. I’m happy to say that if I needed this lens I wouldn’t hesitate to add it to my personal kit.

I also tested the lens in AF Servo mode as there will certainly be those interested in using this lens for shorter range sports (a nice application for it!) The results were encouraging, with the lens effectively keeping up with my son as he ran full tilt towards me. In a few seconds I fired off 27 frames with the Canon 80D set in TV mode to keep a 1/500^th second shutter speed (aperture changed from f/2.8 to f/4 based on the changing lighting). The 50-100 ART had no problem keeping up with the rapid movement and I had almost all nearly perfectly focused frames. A few were not quite tack sharp but still adequate. I see no reason why those wanting to shoot action (and using a body with a good focus system) shouldn’t be happy with this lens. It may not have the overall speed of the 70-200 beasts but is close enough to get the job done. You can see all of those frames in the video review.

I shot an event at my children’s school exclusively with the Sigma and got good focus results. A few misses here and there, but not any kind of pattern that would speak of a true focus issue, and none of the random bad misses I sometimes got with some of the earlier ART lenses. Focus speed was just fine for my purposes, and the images themselves looked very nice. It was in a smallish gym, and I found there were times that 50mm (80mm equivalent on my Canon 80D) wasn’t quite wide enough even if I moved to the back of the gym. I would typically use a two camera solution in that environment anyway. On full frame I’d be using a 24-70mm and 70-200mm f/2.8 zooms, so a person could easily augment the focal range of this lens with the Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 and have a very similar arrangement.

The 50-100 ART would seem like a natural fit for adding a teleconverter to. That wide maximum aperture means even with a 1.4x teleconverter the maximum aperture would still be only f/2.5. I don’t have access to one of the Sigma teleconverters, but I do own the Canon 1.4x III and was able to test it. Unfortunately, the results were not promising. While there is no problem physically mounting the teleconverter (plenty of depth at all focal lengths), the two pieces seem incompatible. Aperture value does not change, but more importantly, the AF just pulses back and forth without settling on focus, rendering it basically unusable. You could manually focus, but that hardly seems worth the effort.

I also have the Kenko DGX Teleplus Pro 300 (Blue Dot), and I was happy to see that the combination works well on the 70D, with the aperture registering correctly and the autofocus working quickly and accurately. I had unfortunately already observed that the 80D was not compatible with the Kenko (at least my version, which is close to four years old). There may be a newer version that might work. Canon pulls this with every new generation of camera, and trying to use it on the 80D just flashes an error code. If history is any indication there there will be a silent update (new version) of the Kenko that will update it to adapt to the changes in the autofocus systems of the new bodies and will once again enable it to work. This is supposition, however, and all I can report is that no teleconverter combination that I own will work on the 80D. Kenko might want to consider putting out a USB dock of their own to apply firmware updates to their teleconverters.

But in its native form the lens really did quite well for me. I can’t tell you how relieved (and happy) I was to find that this lens focuses well. It allows those beautiful optics to shine!

Conclusion

Sigma has done it again. They have built a lens that no one else has the expertise (or at least nerve) to build. The first parties tend to stick with the volume sellers in APS-C – compact, variable aperture zooms that are fairly easy to design and manufacture and that they can sell hundreds of thousands of units of. Sigma won’t sell nearly so many of this large and heavy lens with a big aperture and small zoom range, but what an investment in their image as the company that hasn’t forgotten about the many serious amateur and even professional photographers that happen to like shooting APS-C cameras! This is the kind of lens that will keep some photographers from moving to full frame and might even tempt a few full frame shooters back to APS-C. Sigma tested these waters with the 18-35mm f/1.8 ART, and they must have been sufficiently pleased with the market response to take this even bigger risk. Thanks to Sigma, crop shooters can have a two lens kit that offers a constant f/1.8 aperture from 18mm-100mm (with a largely irrelevant 15mm gap between). Not only that, but both of these lenses are perfectly capable at their maximum aperture at all focal lengths. Neither Canon nor Nikon have made a lens that can hold the candle to these two lenses optically (on APS-C), and that puts Sigma in a unique position.

The Sigma 50-100mm f/1.8 DC HSM ART is an incredible lens. The image quality is seriously impressive, and this lens exhibited none of the focus woes I encountered with the 18-35mm. Not only is the resolution extremely high on the lens, but the overall look of the images it produces is extremely nice. The tradeoff is that you are going to have to deal with a uniquely large and heavy APS-C lens that is also unmatched in the weight department. My most serious gripe is with the poor implementation of the tripod collar, but I suspect that most users will adapt. I could wish for weather sealing or Sigma’s Optical Stabilizer, too, but the ART series has given me no reason to expect that. If your wrists can handle the weight, and your wallet can handle the hit ($1099 in the US), then I can think of no other serious reason why you wouldn’t want to own this lens.

Pros:

Exceptional image quality
Unique wide aperture from 50mm-100mm
Fast, quiet, and reasonably accurate autofocus
Beautiful bokeh and nice rendering
Gives APS-C shooters a full frame “look” due to shallow DOF and sharpness
Optimized to give peak performance wide open
Comes with hood and padded case
Beautifully constructed lens
No other lens like it

Cons:

Uniquely large and heavy (won’t be for everyone)
Design results in a somewhat front-heavy feel
Tripod collar not removable and can interfere with operation
No OS or weathersealing
Flare prone

Thanks to the good people at B&H Photo for providing me the loaner retail copy of this lens for review.
Gear Used:

Canon EOS 80D
Canon EOS 6D DSLR Camera (Body Only)
Sigma 50-100mm f/1.8 DC HSM ART
Adobe Lightroom CC Software for Mac and Windows (Boxed Version)
Adobe Photoshop Creative Cloud 1-Year Subscription
Alien Skin Exposure X (Use Code “dustinabbott” to get 10% anything and everything)

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Tamron SP 85mm f/1.8 Di VC USD Review

Dustin Abbott

May 9th, 2016

The One We’ve Been Waiting For?

Tamron made a splash last year when they announced and then released the 35mm and 45mm f/1.8 VC lenses in their new line of SP (Super Performance) primes. The photography community is programmed to think of prime lenses with a maximum aperture of f/1.8 as budget lenses, but the Tamron SP primes are a whole new breed, combining incredible optics with professional grade, weather sealed build and image stabilizers. Those lenses received first acceptance and then acclaim from reviewers and photographers based on their merit. Tamron’s refreshed 90mm f/2.8 VC in the new SP build has been very positively received as well. But the announcement that really got a lot of us excited was this lens, the Tamron SP 85mm f/1.8 Di VC USD. Is the 85 VC the lens we’ve been looking for?

An 85mm lens is an indispensable tool for any photographer, but particularly for portrait photographers. It is a very flattering focal length and provides a beautiful perspective and the potential of excellent separation of the subject from the background. Canon and Nikon shooters have typically had two choices. One is the f/1.8 variant that is affordable but has a number of optical flaws and a consumer grade build, while the other is an f/1.4 or f/1.2 premium lens that costs four to five times as much. Tamron is targeting the middle ground and the many photographers that want a lens with premium performance without paying a premium price. Sigma has had the only real option there with its EX 85mm f/1.4, but a lot of photographers are overlooking it in hopes that an 85mm f/1.4 ART replacement is soon coming (though no such announcement has been hinted at from Sigma). Can Tamron deliver the lens that everyone is looking for instead?

Want to watch your review? Check out my YouTube video review here:

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First Impressions and Build

At first blush the 85 VC is is very similar in overall form to the Tamron 45mm f/1.8 VC. It has an almost identical length (45mm is 3.6”/91.4mm while the 85mm is 3.59”/91.3mm) and carries the same design language as the other SP primes. A fairly constant width barrel (it doesn’t really flare out at any point save right near the lens mount) with the same, clean satin finish in a lightweight, aluminum body with the platinum colored accent ring near the mount (Tamron calls this “Luminous Gold”). There is a similar wide focus ring with slightly rubberized ribs that moves along nice and easily, though without the exceptionally big focus throw of the 35/45VC primes. The lens has the same two switches (AF/MF and On/Off for the VC) with a premium look and feel along with a distance window (but no hyperfocal markings). Also shared with the other SP primes is the thorough weather sealing, which includes not only a rear gasket near the bayonet mount but also internal seals at key junctures and an expensive fluorine coating on the front element. That coating not only helps with the weather resistance but also makes the front element very easy to clean.

You can see my video breakdown of the build and design of the lens here:

If you look a little closer, though a number of differences are revealed. First of all, the 85 VC is much thicker in girth. The 45 VC is 3.17”/80.4mm around, while the new 85 VC is 3.34”/84.8mm around. This is to accommodate the much larger glass elements that are required for a maximum aperture of f/1.8 at this focal length. As you can see from this picture, for example, there is a LOT more glass visible in the 85 VC.

As an aside, I discovered an advantage for that little extra bit of barrel width around the filter threads. When using a circular polarizer and the hood I found that I had some nice room to reach in and rotate the polarizer without being right up against the wall of the hood. Intentional? I don’t know, but it worked out nicely.

That extra girth (and glass) comes at a weight premium. The 45 VC weighed in at 1.2lb/544g, but the weight jumps on the 85 VC to 1.54lb/700g. This is a significant premium over the Canon 85mm f/1.8 USM and its 425g weight, but the Tamron is not only vastly superior optically but also sports a weathersealed, metal construction and an image stabilization system. (Many will want to know how these lenses compare, and, having owned the Canon for many years, I can safely say that the Tamron exceeds it in every measurable metric including overall look of the images.) The Tamron is slightly shorter and lighter than the Sigma EX 85mm f/1.4 (86.4mm long and 725g in weight), though the Sigma has a larger maximum aperture, obviously. The Tamron has the edge in build, however, and some may consider the inclusion of the image stabilizer more than adequate compensation for the slight loss of maximum aperture. The weight of the Tamron stays below the “onerous” threshold and compared to the Sigma 50-100mm f/1.8 lens I’m also reviewing it feels downright svelte. The stubby size keeps the weight close to the lens mount, so the lens doesn’t feel front heavy at all and balances nicely on the camera.

This lens becomes the first full frame compatible 85mm lens (for DSLRs) to receive an image stabilizer. Despite having a fast aperture already, the VC (Vibration Compensation) is still quite welcome. For one thing it makes a noticeable difference in the viewfinder, which remains rock solid and inspires confidence in composition. The implementation of the VC is very nice and has no jumping at startup and also operates very quietly. Only when I put my ear right next to the barrel can I hear a light whirring inside.

I was actually remarkably impressed by how well the VC works on this lens. In my test sequence without VC I had a perfect result at 1/100^th of a second but could see a difference even at 1/80^th second. Everything beyond that point got steadily worse. With VC on, however, the results were remarkably different. Everything remained perfect down to 1/8^th second and I even achieved some near perfect results down to .3 second. This exceeded my expectations and left me very impressed. As the megapixel count rises in camera bodies the need for image stabilization only increases. Motion blur is much more evident on high MP bodies. Tamron’s inclusion of VC on this lens should be of primary importance to shooters who use such bodies. This shot was captured at .3 of a second, handheld.

Tamron has managed to maintain the 67mm front filter thread shared with the 35mm and 45mm VC lenses, which is a nice touch. The 85 VC has a slightly more complex optical formula and has 13 elements in 9 groups (45 VC has 10 elements in 8 groups). It has an aperture with nine rounded blades that will help keep the aperture circular when stopped down but will also produce nice 18 point sunbursts when stopped down further.

One area where this lens diverges from the other lenses in the Tamron SP prime series is in its close focus/maximum magnification performance. The 35mm f/1.8 VC had an amazing .40x magnification figure (class leading), while the 45mm f/1.8 VC had an also impressive .29x magnification (also class leading). The 85mm f/1.8 VC can technically claim class leading magnification as well, but that is still a far less impressive figure due to the nature of 85mm lenses. It can focus down to 31.5”/80cm which results in a .14x magnification figure. Not great, I know, but other 85mm lenses range from .10x-.13x, with the majority falling around .12x. The tradeoff for losing the incredibly close focusing ability of the other two lenses is that autofocus is a bit snappier (see the section on AF below).

One final area that I will point out a distinction is that the first three lenses in the series very boldly displayed badges on the lens body saying, “Designed in Japan” with smaller badges on the barrel and lens hood stating, “Made in Japan”. The copy of the 85 VC that I’m reviewing has the same “Designed in Japan” text but on the lens barrel says “Made in China” while the hoods says, “Made in the Philippines”. Many camera companies are moving some of their manufacturing to new plants in other countries. That’s understandable, but the Japanese have a particular pride in their manufacturing process that frequently results in a high standard. I only hope that this lens proves to have a similar high standard of build. There is no apparent difference in the build that I can tell, but it will take widespread distribution to determine if more copy variations have been introduced by this change.

As per normal the lens includes a hood (solid rather than petal shaped in this case) but not any kind of case. The hood is larger and deeper than the 45mm’s, so with it in place it is the longer lens of the two. I use an EasyCover 110x190mm lens bag that is a nice fit for some extra protection. This is a great looking lens, and here is a little gallery of other images of it:

Autofocus Tests and Quirks

When I reviewed the 35mm and 45mm SP primes I found that their autofocus skewed towards accuracy over speed. They focused smoothly and accurately, but (particularly the 45mm) slightly on the slower side. I frankly felt that those lenses might actually have benefited from the inclusion of a focus limiter due to their extremely close focus abilities. As I’ve mentioned, the 85 VC lacks the extreme close focus capability of those lenses, so the trade off is a bit faster focus, particularly in the big focus shifts.

An 85mm lens is very demanding on the autofocus system, particularly at large apertures. The depth of field is often very, very thin, and just a bit of focus shift can result in unsatisfactory results. I’ve been delighted to have extremely accurate results during my review period.

The lens has focused very accurately for me (it required minimal microadjustment), but autofocus speed is still not top tier. The lens arrives quickly at the destination, but hesitates for a split second (fine tuning?) before focus lock is signaled. This was true on multiple camera bodies. The process is still quick, but there is a split second of frustration sometimes where it feels like focus should be locked but still isn’t.

But then I discovered something very interesting!

While doing my handholding test I switched off the VC (Vibration Compensation) for a test group without the stabilization. After a few shots from that series I realized that the AF was locking on without the hesitation. I then intentionally began to shoot with it on, then off, then I switched to a different camera body (Canon 80D), and did the same. The results were all similar. The lens’ hesitation before final lock disappears (for the most part) when the VC is turned off…which begs a couple of questions.

Is the hesitation caused intentionally so that the VC has time to fully engage and produce the best result?
Is the hesitation caused unintentionally by the VC engaging and producing some slight movement?

The good news is that if you are in situations where the VC is not needed you may be able to accelerate your AF lock by turning it off.

An early internet report/review stated that the optics of the lens were great…but only with the VC off. This review stated that having the VC engaged negatively impacted the image quality. I’m undecided whether or not this is true. On a few occasions where I compared the images side by side I felt like the image quality was better without the VC enabled, but in other head to head comparisons I couldn’t tell the difference. Still, that combined with the other issue I’ve just detailed leads me to…

My personal conclusion is that I’m happy to have the option. There are some situations where the advantages of using the VC are tremendous, but I think if I get my own copy I’ll simply switch it off in those situations when I don’t need it. That will give a little extra battery life, too. This is a policy that often works well with other lenses, too.

Because Tamron’s Tap-In Console (think Tamron’s version of the Sigma USB dock) has not yet been released, it remains to be seen how much all of this can be “tinkered with” via the console, but there is a possibility that this will allow you to slightly tailor VC behavior to your own shooting style.

I’ve read another reviewer’s report that they encountered focus shift when stopping down the image, but I haven’t been able to recreate that issue myself. I can’t account for what others find, but I’m certainly satisfied with the copy I reviewed in this regard.

I also tested the 85 VC in AF Servo mode on both an 80D (excellent AF system) and the standard 6D body that I was doing most of the review on (mediocre focus system). The results were promising. In AF Servo mode with all points activated on the 6D I was able to accurately track my son running full tilt towards the camera until the final few frames where he was basically too close. There was 24 frames within the acceptable focus zone and 22 of those were essentially perfectly focused. There were two somewhat random misses about ¾ of the way through the series. Most importantly, the focus continually moved in the right direction and the background was increasingly out of focus. I used TV mode so that I could set a good high shutter speed (1/800^th) and that gave me an aperture of f/2.5. You can see some of those burst rate examples in the video review.

I ran a couple of series on the 80D. I used the center group zone (Large) and used TV mode, setting the desired shutter speed at 1/500^th second. That gave me an aperture of f/3.2 (for most shots). These bursts came out to 28 shots (I stopped shooting sooner as the crop factor meant that my son filled the frame faster). One set I shot with VC engaged, the other with it off. One series had a couple of interspersed misses while the other was essentially perfect. The good news here is that the lens did an effective job tracking for me on multiple bodies. Here is but one of those sample images:

I’ve shot a few portrait sessions with the lens during my review period and was extremely satisfied with the focus accuracy in “One Shot” mode. Excellent optics are only as good as the focus, and it’s nice to see that Tamron has both things working together here.

Image Quality

The image quality is pretty close to perfect from this 85 VC. Excellent sharpness across the frame that is consistent in a way that few lenses are…and that’s wide open. Surprisingly there is a noticeable gain in both sharpness and contrast by stopping down the tiny bit to f/2, not to mention a reduction in vignette. The vignette from the lens is noticeable but not excessive. In the extreme corners it will reach a little over two stops and is noticeably better than the Zeiss Milvus 85mm f/1.4 that I recently reviewed in this regard. The vignette is very smooth and linear so may actually produce a desirable effect…particularly for portrait photographers. I used a slim circular polarizer quite a bit without any additional vignette that I could detect.

I find that the RAW images from the 85 VC can handle a lot of sharpening. It’s almost as if they come out slightly flat but with a large latitude for “pumping up” in post. JPEGs, by contrast, are extremely crisp, but that mostly comes down to the camera’s settings. This strikes me as a very good option in a portrait lens, as you can selectively sharpen where you want while leaving other areas (skin, for example) less sharp.

The amount of resolution in a landscape image like this at f/1.8 is truly stunning – it really has to be seen at a pixel level to appreciate it (which you can see in the video review):

Here’s one pixel level sample from the extreme left side of the image – the amount of detail and contrast is very impressive.

Equally positive is the very neutral color rendition of the lens. When comparing it side by side with the Sigma 50-100mm f/1.8 (another impressive lens!) I found the Sigma trended a little warm while the Tamron remained nicely neutral. The color rendition reminds me of a Zeiss lens. This lens makes for an outstanding short telephoto landscape option…and here’s a bit of proof:

The 85 VC employs Tamron’s BBAR and eBAND coatings to reduce chromatic aberrations, flare, and to improve contrast. I’ve been impressed with the lenses using these coatings in those regards for the most part, though the chromatic aberrations in the 45 VC are one of my three least favorite things about it. The 85 VC is a champ when it comes the chromatic aberrations. They basically just aren’t there even in demanding situations, so no complaints there. Contrast is likewise very impressive. Flare resistance is pretty good, though not as exceptional as the 35/45mm cousins. There is a bit of veiling at wide aperture with a slight prismatic effect, though I suspect that many people will find that flare pattern quite artful.

I actually preferred the image with the effect to the one I shot without it. Stopped down that rainbow colored ghost can become either more pronounced or disappear altogether depending on how you position the sun. I’m actually enjoying the ability to produce a little flare without the penalty of strong ghosting effects to spoil the party. This image, for example, reminds me of some of the look from a wonderful vintage prime like the SMC Takumar 50mm f/1.4 – except without all the optical defects!

If you position it right, the 18 pointed sunburst from the 85 VC is really very lovely and definitely something worth working into some of your photos.

This is a prime portrait length, of course, and so one of the key things that I wanted to test is its ability to produce quality portraits. I was delighted with my initial results. Autofocus accuracy is incredibly important for portraits. I focus on the eyes, typically, and so I have very high expectations of there being a great deal of detail there when I zoom into faces. A well-focused portrait gives you tremendous latitude for cropping either for prints or a completely different look. My focus accuracy was excellent, meaning the full resolution of the lens was on fine display…and there is a lot of detail there.

Here’s a crop from this portrait:

Here’s a studio sample at f/2 along with the crop – as much detail as you could ever want!

But sharpness isn’t everything in portraits. Perhaps the most popular portrait lens among portrait photographers is the Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II. The Tamron blows it away in sharpness and contrast, even when the Canon is stopped down to f/1.8. The Canon doesn’t really catch up in absolute contrast and sharpness until f/4, but that’s not really the point. Portrait photographers don’t love the 85L II because it is the sharpest lens on the planet (it’s not). They don’t even buy it because it doesn’t have any other optical flaws (it actually has loads of chromatic aberrations). No, they buy the 85L II because of the look of the images. Call it drawing or rendering. It is special, and so people buy it. Portrait photographers don’t shoot test charts…they photograph people. What matters in a lab isn’t necessarily what matters in the real world.

While I don’t believe that the 85 VC has quite the magical rendering of the 85L II, I do think that portrait photographers will find a lot to love about the lens. The very even sharpness of the lens means that you can compose with the subject pretty much anywhere that you like. There is a nice, smooth transition to defocus that really helps the background to melt away and so that you can focus on the subject.

The 35/45 VC lenses suffer from somewhat busy bokeh highlights. “Bokeh balls” show concentric circles within, often referred to as “bokeh balls”. The overall look of the bokeh is actually very nice, without hard edges, but when there are bright highlights in the frame the “onion” look detracts somewhat. The 85 VC has no such issue. The bokeh highlights are very smooth without any distracting busyness, and the inner line around the circle is also nice and soft, which results in a smooth real world result that, because of the soft edges, means that bokeh is not harsh or distracting. This further helps the usefulness of the 85 VC as a portrait lens. I was really impressed by how well backgrounds melted away when shooting portraits, and the lens has a beautifully soft rendering of those areas that really reminds me of some of my favorite vintage primes. Nothing in the background is distracting or harsh, but the rendering is nicely artful from the lens. That’s something of a rarity in the pursuit for exceptionally sharp lenses in the modern era. Tamron has accomplished the rare feat of having both.

The one area where the Tamron is not going to be able to match lenses with the larger apertures is in the ability to isolate the subject…but is that really as big a deal as you might think? At six feet (head and shoulders height), the depth of field is under 2 inches. At f/1.4 it is right over 1.5 inches while at f/1.2 it drops to a little over 1.3 inches. No big deal there, as even the largest figure is probably more shallow than what is ideal. Far more important, however, is the depth of field when you double that distance of the camera from the subject to 12 feet. At f/1.2 the depth of field is still only 5 ¼ inches – perfect for amazing subject isolation. At f/1.4 it is still only 6.13 inches, and at f/1.8 it rises to a still fairly shallow 7.88 inches. So even at 12 feet the difference between f/1.2 and f/1.8 is 2 ½ inches and 1 ½ inches between f/1.4 and f/1.8. There is a difference here, yes, but perhaps not a big enough one to make a massive difference in the look of your portraits. I found the subject isolation at about 14-15 feet still very good with the Tamron.

The longer focal length dictates that an f/1.4 aperture isn’t as important to achieve subject isolation as it is on a wider focal length.

I love the “look” of some of my favorite vintage lenses, but I’m not crazy about their lack of sharpness or chromatic aberrations. The Tamron 85 VC manages to combine a lot of the charm of those vintage lenses…

…but adds the incredible resolution, low chromatic aberrations, and excellent contrast of a modern lens along with the convenience of autofocus and VC. That makes it a winner in my book! I strongly urge you to visit the Lens Image Gallery for more photos.

Conclusion

A lot of photographers have been jonesing for new Sigma 85mm f/1.4 ART, but there has been no clear indication that such a lens is coming. Sigma’s current 85mm f/1.4 is a very competent lens and already has a fairly hefty price tag, not to mention it was only released about 5 years ago. In the meantime, however, Tamron has jumped into that vacuum with a lens that, frankly, Sigma will be hard pressed to top. A Sigma ART lens would definitely have an f/1.4 aperture and undoubtedly would be very sharp, but if the series standard proves true, it would be unlikely to have either weather sealing or Sigma’s OS (optical stabilizer). I personally see no reason to wait for a hypothetical lens when we have such a great lens here that already undercuts the price of the current Sigma lens by $220 (the Tamron’s US release price is $749). Clearly the lens is not cheap, but when you look at the combination of superior optics and build it seems like a strong value. Plus, it can produce incredibly creamy rendering like this!

Tamron has charted their own prime lens path with this new SP prime series, and it is clear that they have been doing their homework in the development of these lenses. Their decision to produce prime lenses with stabilization but slightly smaller maximum apertures has allowed them to keep the size moderate with these lenses despite resolution figures up there with the very best. Their choice to really invest in serious weather sealing for their lenses helps set them apart from the competition. The release of the Tap-In console will help eliminate one of Sigma’s current edges over Tamron. In the 85mm VC I think they have hit a new high for quality optics in the rendering and look of the images, producing a lens that manages to achieve the rare feat of combining excellent sharpness (this lens competes with the class leading Zeiss Otus and just about holds its own) along with beautiful bokeh rendering. The autofocus accuracy has proven very good and the speed betters the 35/45mm twins but doesn’t quite reach the level of, say, a Canon EF 135mm f/2L. Having an image stabilizer is a nice bonus on a lens like this both in the ability to stabilize the viewfinder but also to give you some flexibility to play with slow shutter speeds (static subjects and/or panning). I’ve loved shooting with the lens, and can’t help but think that one of these is going to make it into my personal kit. The one thing that might give some photographers pause is the maximum aperture of f/1.8 rather than f/1.4, but this is a smaller issue than one might imagine. This is a professional grade lens despite the f/1.8 aperture, and the Tamron SP 85mm f/1.8 Di VC USD should be seriously considered by everyone looking for a quality portrait or short telephoto lens. What’s next, Tamron?

Pros:

Exceptional resolution from f/1.8 on
Very even sharpness across the frame
Great color rendition
Beautiful bokeh, drawing, and overall rendering
Good flare resistance
No discernible chromatic aberrations for field use
Inclusion of the VC system, which works effectively
Beautiful design and build quality
Weather sealing
Quick, accurate autofocus
Class leading six year warranty in North America, 5 years in Europe
Compatibility with the Tap-In Console (not yet released at publication of this review)

Cons:

In some situations the VC is better left off
Smaller maximum aperture than true competitors
First of the SP prime series not made in Japan

Gear Used:

Canon EOS 6D DSLR Camera (Body Only)
Canon EOS 80D
Tamron SP 85mm f/1.8 Di VC USD In Canada (Use code AMPLIS52016DA to get 5% off)
Tamron SP 85mm f/1.8 Di VC USD United States and World
Adobe Lightroom CC Software for Mac and Windows (Boxed Version)
Adobe Photoshop Creative Cloud 1-Year Subscription
Alien Skin Exposure X (Use Code “dustinabbott” to get 10% anything and everything)

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Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Review

Dustin Abbott

May 4th, 2016

Batman’s Lens of Choice?

As soon as I took this lens out of the box I knew that it represented a departure for Canon in more than just its internal focus system. The lens explores a whole new look for Canon’s budget glass, with a black on black finish without the adornment of any contrasting colors (no silver ring). It has more of a matte finish than any lenses from Canon I’ve seen, and even the texture of the lens barrel is a slightly soft touch, minutely powdered texture. There is a faint contrast ring of finish between the zoom and focus rings in an even blacker color but with a shinier finish. If Batman owned a lens, it would be the Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM. It looks like a stealth bomber.

Want to Watch your Review? Click below:

In similar fashion the switches are also stealthy. They are smaller than typical and are lower profile. You definitely won’t be accidentally engaging them, but I see the potential downside that they could also be hard to engage if you were wearing gloves or had thick/blunt fingers. They can be a little hard to find by feel alone. A little lower down there is a zoom lock (it can only be engaged in the fully retracted position), but the lens (out of the box, at least), shows zero inclination towards zoom creep. A zoom lock is always a welcome addition, but I doubt you will be using it very often.

There are no distance markings on the lens much like all of the STM lenses. What the lens does have is a brand new mounting/contact area for use with Canon’s new power zoom accessory (more on this below).

The lens has a nicely compact form for its impressive zoom range, though don’t expect something tiny. It is about 3.78”/96mm long, but the barrel will extend roughly another 2 inches/5cm when zoomed out to 135mm. The zoom action is nice and smooth. The lens weighs in at 1.13lb/515g, so, while not a featherweight, it should be light enough to not be a dealbreaker for the vast majority of photographers. The zoom action is very smooth and there is no play or wobble in the lens barrel.

The lens has a very common 67mm front filter thread, one shared with many other lenses. It has several rounded aperture blades that do a fairly decent job of retaining a circular shape when stopped down.

While the overall build of the lens feels quite good (though obviously not professional grade), it should be noted that the lens makes no concessions towards any kind of weather sealing or moisture resistance and so users should use some caution when shooting in inclement weather. This is one area where the Tamron superzoom lenses (even the cheap Tamron 18-200mm VC that I reviewed) have the upper hand.

Some of the third party lens makers are taking a hit for moving production to facilities in other countries on some of their lenses, but it is worth noting that other than the high end Canon lenses it has been a while since I’ve seen one made in Japan (my EF 35mm f/2 IS was made in Japan). An easy way to tell is that Canon tends to put “Made in Japan” on the bodies of the lenses made in Japan, while they hide the outsourced info in black on black on the rear mount. If you look carefully, you will often see, “Made in Malaysia” or “Made in Taiwan”. This lens is the latter. I don’t say that to be prejudicial towards these countries but rather to level the playing field; it isn’t just third party manufacturers that have been forced to move some of their manufacturing out of Japan. Economic realities often mean that fabrication costs within Japan are too high for these lower margin lenses but doesn’t necessarily mean that quality is lower or that sample variation is higher.

In typical Canon fashion for its consumer level lenses neither a lens hood nor a protective case or pouch is included.

Nano USM – Very Impressive

Equally stealthy is the new Nano USM focus motor. Using the new 80D I just found that focus was just suddenly there. Almost no sound and very little focus time. No sense of elements moving (admittedly the elements aren’t huge in this lens anyway!) but rather an almost complete lack of sensory feedback at all. It just focuses…faster than any STM system I have used but even more quietly. Canon claims that the focus speed on the telephoto end is more than 4x!! faster than the previous generation STM version of the lens, and I don’t doubt it. It is fast, utterly quiet, and without any drama in focus at all. Full time manual focus override is available, and while I can tell that it must be a focus by wire system (once again there isn’t any kind of sensory feel of moving anything) the lag issue that often plagues STM focus isn’t there. While I still prefer the tactile response of a good manual focus lenses’ focus ring, this is definitely an improvement over STM.

The lens is equally impressive in tracking mode. Using Phase Detect (viewfinder) AF, I had no issues with tracking a subject (particularly one moving towards the camera). In one sequence of my son running full tilt towards me I took 47 frames (in around 6 seconds according to the time stamp) I didn’t find any photos really missed. This ought to make some moms and dads very happy when they try to keep up with their kids! The success rate wasn’t quite as high tracking in Live View mode on the new 80D, but frankly I can’t imagine why someone would prefer this over viewfinder AF for tracking action. If you would like to see the whole tracking sequence, watch the video review here.

My first impression says, “STM who?” Methinks that STM may have been just a transition phase to this clearly more advanced technology. I liked Nano USM more and more as I used it.

Image Quality

The flexibility of such a focal range and its 7.5x zoom ratio is extremely desirable. The 28.8-216mm full frame equivalent focal range is one that makes me jealous, and the applications for this focal range are essentially limitless. Here’s a scene at 18mm and then 135mm.

The lens has 16 elements in 12 groups, which is the same as the previous generation STM lens. It is safe to say that if you are familiar with the previous generation lens then you have a pretty good idea of what to expect from this lens.

Unfortunately the lens is not exempt from some chromatic aberrations, with both green and purple fringing showing the respective areas of high contrast. While the lens is too new to have a profile yet in Lightroom/ACR, I did find simply checking Lightroom’s “Remove Chromatic Aberration” box was all that was really needed to nicely clear up the CA in most cases, though some purple fringing persisted in more extreme instances.

Reviewing lenses like this can be somewhat difficult for me as my sense of what qualifies as good resolution in a lens like this is skewed by being able to use all of the best new gear…including a number of recent lenses that have set the bar ever higher in their respective fields. A consumer grade zoom lens is not going to be able to compete with those lenses. The STM version of the lens (the second of Canon’s three lenses in this focal length for the EF-S mount) made a nice evolutionary step forward in optical performance from the first generation. This lens is pretty similar to the previous generation lens. It compares favorably with other superzoom lenses and almost matches my favorite EF-S zoom – the EF-S 15-85mm IS USM. The lens fairly handily betters the image quality at comparable settings from the Tamron 16-300 VC lens that I reviewed a year or so ago and should be seriously considered for those looking for a travel lens, particularly when purchased in a kit.

The lens performance is quite strong in the center of the frame and even into the mid-frame, though corner performance is softer and far less contrasty. Stopping down helps some, but don’t expect the extreme corners to ever be exceptional.

The EF-S 24mm f/2.8 pancake lens turns in a stronger extreme corner performance than this lens does even stopped down to f/8. Images from the EF-S 18-135mm look nice and detailed at standard viewing sizes but much less impressive at a pixel level.

When used on the longer end the lens is capable of making backgrounds nicely disappear and the bokeh is fairly decent. The bokeh itself is not exceptional, but neither is it terrible. There is some activity with bokeh highlight circles, but no concentric circles (onion bokeh). The inner line of the circles is somewhat pronounced, with translates into some harder edges in defocused regions than what is optimal. Still, on the long end of the zoom range you are able to throw backgrounds out of focus quite nicely, particularly if you get fairly close to your subject.

The lens exhibits fairly strong barrel distortion on the wide end (the center bulges out), while there is some pincushion distortion on the long end, though it seems a little less extreme. This is rarely a strength for this type of lens. It should be noted that you can enable distortion correction in the camera body for some newer cameras, which will help those of you that shoot JPEGs.

The lens does vignette (particularly on the wide end), but at 18mm f/3.5 (worst case scenario) the vignette doesn’t quite reach two stops in the most extreme corners, so we’ll call this a mild vignette.

When pointed at the sun the lens does veil somewhat and will produce a few ghosting effects. Stopping down seems to help with this, though the ghost effects (blobs of color) that remain tend to be more defined. The lens produces surprisingly nice sunstars when stopped down.

The lens has a minimum focus distance of 15.4”/39cm and at 135mm turns out an impressive (and highly useful) .28x maximum magnification.

Most of these optical flaws are part and parcel for zoom lenses with big focal ranges, and none of this particular lens “sins” are extreme. It performs as one might expect and is capable of producing nice images that will satisfy most of its customers. Check out the image gallery here to see many more samples!

New Tricks

While we’ve already discussed the new Nano USM technology, it is worth repeating again. The focus speed is a LOT faster than the STM version of the lens. Canon states that is about 2.5x faster on the wide end and as much as 4.3x on the long end. This is very impressive, and so is the actual focus performance of the lens. It is both fast and accurate and I look forward to Canon implementing this focus system in other lenses moving ahead.

The speed and quality of the Nano USM AF system are put to the test by the burst rate of the new 80D. I found that when using traditional viewfinder AF in AF Servo mode that tracking results are quite excellent, particularly when the subject is moving roughly towards the camera. Side to side tracking is more complex and has more variables.

While the focus by wire system will never be my favorite for manual focusing (I like to manually focus at times, so this matters to me), it is somewhat less annoying than STM.

I was interested in seeing how the lens would react when used via adapter on the Canon EOS M3 that I happen to own. How would Nano USM translate to the mirrorless body? All of the native mount EF-M lenses from Canon have utilized STM. The snappy focus translated very well, and, while the lens didn’t focus as quickly on the M3 as a DLSR (no lens does!) it did focus quickly and accurately. I found it interesting (and unusual) that the lens actually focused more quickly on the long end than it did the wide. Usually it is the other way around. On a practical level, while the EF-S 18-135mm is larger than optimal for the lightweight M3 body, the low overall weight of the lens made it a reasonable fit there and certainly of some use if you happened to also own one of the M series bodies. As of yet there is no comparable lens from Canon, though Tamron does make a very nice 18-200mm lens in an EF-M mount that I review here. Here’s a nice shot from this combination:

The lens not only has an extremely effective image stabilizer, but also touts a new dynamic IS setting specifically for video production. This showed its worth by producing amazingly steady handheld moving pan shots. Not quite Glidecam stuff, but better than what I’ve seen from handheld video. You can see a brief clip from it in the video review.

The stabilizer for still works perfectly. It comes on and off without anything noticeably happening and operates so quietly that I can barely hear the inner workings with my ear pressed right up to the barrel. Canon claims four stops of compensation. I was able to easily nail this shot at 1/6^th shutter speed at 135mm (216mm FF equivalent). Very impressive.

The other new trick for the EF-S 18-135mm is compatibility with Canon’s new PZ-E1 power zoom accessory. This attaches the lens and enables silent electronic zoom control both physically and remotely via the Canon app. The power zoom also gives you options for setting the zoom speed, enabling much greater flexibility for video capture and making the lens operate very similarly to a camcorder lens. It will be interesting to see which lenses in the future are also designed for use with this accessory. While it may be a niche item that doesn’t appeal to everyone, it does certainly give some additional (potential) functionality for owners of the lens.

This lens is available in a kit with the new Canon EOS 80D, but, interestingly, there is no discount for buying it that way (for now). When that changes (and it surely will), expect this lens to become an excellent value when purchased in kit with a camera body. Right now it retails for $599.00, which is a $50 premium over the previous generation STM version. Anyone that has used both lenses would probably happily pay that premium, as the new focus system is a vast improvement and really makes the lens a pleasure to use. Its new focus is fast enough to compare with lenses costing much, much more. Canon has a new edge. I would have liked to see more of a step forward in the optical performance (this is really just a lateral move), but the image quality is “good enough” for most people and can certainly produce some nice images.

Conclusion

There is a lot to like about Canon’s newest lens. I’m blown away by the new focus system and feel like it represents a better, more effective focus system than any of Canon’s consumer grade lenses have received before. It is almost eerily fast and silent, and has proven quiet effective in both tracking and stills focus performance. This is going to help a lot of people keep up with their active children or grandchildren. I feel that Nano USM represents a quantum leap forward for an AF system that is equally effective in both stills and video shooting. I only wish that the image quality had taken a similar leap forward. It feels like it could be better, though it is good enough to meet the needs of many shooters and is competitive with similar lenses. This is a great travel lens, though I might wish that the great looking new lens body included some attempt at weather resistance. This may seem like quibbling, but I have reviewed several competing lenses from Tamron that do include moisture resistance.

Canon also persists in not including a lens hood. Old news, I know, but I’m so accustomed to everyone else including one that this seems remarkably petty in a lens that costs essentially $600. Tamron’s 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC lens costs $199 and includes one. Such is the reality of Canon’s consumer grade lenses, but all of this aside I do feel that the Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM is a lens that is going to make a lot of people happy, and the new Nano USM technology is extremely exciting. I look forward to its implementation in other new lenses in the future. The Canon EF-S 18-135mm USM is well worth considering if you are looking for a travel lens or a single lens solution. Who knows – you and Batman may travel with the same lens…

Pros:

Nano USM is the real deal – a vast improvement over STM while retaining its strengths
Excellent image stabilizer performance
Dynamic IS mode does seem to help video stability
Nice new design language
Good tracking performance means the lens is a great fit for those wanting to capture family moments
Very strong maximum magnification figure
Compatibility with the new Power Zoom accessory.

Cons:

Image quality hasn’t improved over previous generation
No lens hood
No weather sealing makes it less appealing for travel
Many alternatives are cheaper or have a larger focal range

Gear Used:

Canon EOS 80D
Canon EOS M3 Mirrorless Body
Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Lens
Adobe Lightroom CC Software for Mac and Windows (Boxed Version)
Adobe Photoshop Creative Cloud 1-Year Subscription
Alien Skin Exposure X (Use Code “dustinabbott” to get 10% anything and everything)

Purchasing your gear through B&H and these links helps fund this website and keeps the articles coming. Thank you for your support.

Great News! I can now offer a 5% discount on all purchases at Amplis Foto, Canada’s Leading Photographic Supplier. Please enter discount code: AMPLIS52016DA in your cart. It is good for everything in your cart, and is stackable with other coupons, too! It will take 5% off your entire order! Proceeds go towards keeping this site going and providing you with new reviews!

Check me out on:

DISCLAIMER: This article and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Image Gallery

Dustin Abbott

May 4th, 2016

Multi-Purpose and High Speed

Canon has released a new lens to be sold in kit with the brand new Canon 80D that is packing a number of new tricks up its nearly matte black sleeves. The Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM features a new Nano USM focus system that blows away anything we’ve seen from Canon in their consumer zooms before. It really is impressive. The image quality is largely the same as the previous generation, but it is good enough to satisfy most users of the lens. Below I will share a gallery of images from the lens and some of the lens itself. You can read my full review here or watch the video review below:

Images of the Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

Images by the Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

Gear Used:

Canon EOS 80D
Canon EOS M3 Mirrorless Body
Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Lens
Adobe Lightroom CC Software for Mac and Windows (Boxed Version)
Adobe Photoshop Creative Cloud 1-Year Subscription
Alien Skin Exposure X (Use Code “dustinabbott” to get 10% anything and everything)

Purchasing your gear through B&H and these links helps fund this website and keeps the articles coming. Thank you for your support.

Great News! I can now offer a 5% discount on all purchases at Amplis Foto, Canada’s Leading Photographic Supplier. Please enter discount code: AMPLIS52016DA in your cart. It is good for everything in your cart, and is stackable with other coupons, too! It will take 5% off your entire order! Proceeds go towards keeping this site going and providing you with new reviews!

Check me out on:

DISCLAIMER: This article and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM Lens Review

Dustin Abbott

April 28th, 2016

More Like This, Please!

I’ve lamented Canon’s lack of support for their mirrorless EF-M mount, but the truth of the matter is their crop sensor EF-S mount has received an equal amount of disdain. Until the launch of this lens there was only one EF-S prime lens; the EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro lens (an excellent lens, by the way). There is still only one zoom lens without a variable aperture (the EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS), but that lens is frankly a bit embarrassed optically by the Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 ART lens. The release of the EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM is thus very welcome. Who wouldn’t want an affordable, sharp prime with great maximum magnification, an awesome form factor, and a nicely affordable price?

Want to watch your review? Click on the video below:

I’ve owned the EF 40mm f/2.8 STM lens since its release, and while I don’t use it often, I’m in no rush to part with it because it is generally excellent and so nicely compact! Canon’s first full frame pancake lens was and is a true winner, and performs great double duty on either Canon’s crop sensor (APS-C) bodies along with the mirrorless EOS M systems. The EF-S 24mm is, in essence, a repackaging of that lens specifically for crop sensor cameras but with a few nice little upgrades.

Because I typically think in full frame focal lengths, I think of 24mm as being a fairly wide angle of view. But this isn’t a full frame lens; it is for crop sensors, so you must multiply that 24mm by the Canon APS-C crop factor of 1.6x, resulting in an effective focal length of 38.4mm, or very similar to the angle of view of the 40mm STM on a full frame camera. Don’t think of this lens as a wide angle lens but rather one that provides a nice, slightly wider “normal” field of view.

Build Quality and Handling:

When the 40mm STM “pancake” was released I praised the build quality for feeling a cut above other budget lenses like, say, the 50mm f/1.8 II. While still largely engineered plastics around a metal core, the lens felt reasonably dense and well engineered. That lens has proven durable over the past four years (???) and has served me well. The 24 STM seems similarly well constructed and feels a bit less “plasticky” than the since updated 50mm f/1.8 STM.

The lens is nicely compact and scarcely takes up more room than your camera mount cap. Its diameter is nearly three times its length as the lens itself is less than an inch long (.9”/22.8mm long). By contrast it is 2.69”/68.2mm around. The weight of the EF-S 24mm is equally feathery at only 4.41oz/125g. These pancake lenses really redefine the portability of DSLRs and [almost] turn them into compact cameras. The compact nature of the lens also makes it a natural fit for the Canon EOS M3 mirrorless body via the EF adapter, and even with the adapter the EF-S 24mm seems like a native mount lens. We’ll examine its functionality in that application in this review.

The lens has an optical formula comprised of 6 elements in five groups. It has a reasonably common (and also small/affordable 52mm filter size). The aperture iris has seven rounded blades that do a pretty fair job of keeping the aperture round as the lens is stepped down (none of that old 50mm f/1.8 hexagon nonsense!).

The lens barrel is very small, so Canon has kept things simple. There is an AF ON/OFF switch and the focus ring…that’s it (and there was barely room for that!). The focus ring is small, as expected, and like most STM lenses has relatively little resistance (or feel when manually focusing, for that matter). This is not an STM strength.

What is a strength for the EF-S 24mm is its ability to focus down very closely and provide an excellent maximum magnification figure. It can focus down to only 6.3”/160mm and has a maximum magnification of .27x, a figure that puts it among the top non-macro lenses in Canon’s staple. This handily beats the 40 STM and its .18x magnification and nearly reaches the level of the class leading Tamron 45mm f/1.8 VC’s .29x. This is an extremely useful feature and further extends the functionality of the lens as a general purpose, stay-on-the-camera option.

This close focus ability also allows the lens to shine in producing bokeh. I noted that the lens has a very nice transition to defocus though without that extreme creaminess and drawing that the higher end lenses produce. Still, if you get close to your subject you will be able to produce a nice amount of bokeh…on a budget!

Autofocus Observations

The 24 STM utilizes Canon’s “stepping motor” (STM) focus motor. The EF 40mm STM lens pioneered this new (at the time) approach to autofocus. While speed is always a factor with autofocus motors, STM technology is more about the way focus is achieved. Specifically, “stepping” technology is about smoothness in focus, and smooth transitions from one focus point to another. Its major application is in video capture when AF Servo focus can be used to achieve smooth video focus without hunting or pulsing. A lens with STM used with, say, the new 80D (or a number of other APS-C bodies with Video AF Servo functionality) will even do smooth, natural “focus pulls” where extreme focus changes are made from a foreground to a background subject or vice-versa. STM motors also tend to be quieter, particularly when compared to the older micro-motors used in many of Canon’s lower end (non USM) lenses.

The lens focuses quickly and accurately. I was happy with the focus speed in either viewfinder AF or via DPAF on the Canon 80D body that was my primary review camera. It seemed to me that this was one of the speedier implementations of STM that I have used.

Image Quality

With such a compact lens one might be tempted to think that optical excellence is out of the question, but I quickly discovered this was not the case. Finally, we have a Canon branded crop sensor lens that can compete optically with the Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 ART (the Sigma still has a bit of an optical edge, but doesn’t focus as consistently as this lens). The lens is sharp across the frame and has nice contrast. Stopping down increases contrast and resolution a bit (particularly in the extreme edges of the frame), but you can mostly use stopping down to apertures like f/5.6 or f/8 for the purpose of extending the depth of field rather than out of a need to increase sharpness. A bit of post processing helps make images really sparkle out of this lens. The only sharper EF-S mount lens from Canon that I’m aware of is the excellent EF-S 60mm f/2.8 1:1 Macro USM lens. Here are a couple of wide open images with a crop to give you a sense of performance in the center and somewhat off center of the frame.

I was reviewing the new EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM lens at the same time with its new Nano-USM focus system. While I LOVE the focus system of this lens, it optically cannot compete with the little EF-S 24mm prime.

Chromatic aberrations are well controlled with the lens. I saw a hint of green fringing in a few situations, but so low as to be essentially negligible for field use. This wide open crop from bare branches against a bright sky are a perfect storm for CA, but as you can see there is little to see here.

The lens does have a bit of barrel distortion that is easily corrected (but exceeds that of the 40mm STM). The only real objectionable image quality issue is a fairly strong vignette at f/2.8 that tops 2 stops in the extreme corners. Stopping down to f/4 virtually eliminates the issue for field use, though. Here is a before/after with the standard Adobe Profile applied.

Flare resistance is good but not exceptional. Wide open there is a bit of a greenish ghosting close to the light source.

By f/5.6 this has disappeared but at f/11 there is a bit of a prism effect around the light source – not enough to be an issue, however. For most situations you won’t be adversely affected by shooting into the sun. The seven bladed aperture produces a decent if not exceptional sunburst when stopped down to f/11.

The lens is capable of producing quite a bit of bokeh when close to the subject due to the close focus ability. The bokeh quality itself is not superb. The inner line of bokeh higlights is quite pronounced, meaning that there are more hard edges than what I would like in the out of focus regions and less “cream”. There is also some busyness within the circle as well as some green fringing.

In some situations the bokeh can be a bit busy for my tastes, and it is here that the lens shows its budget nature. The image below is a case in point.

At the same time I recognize that bokeh is a highly subjective metric, and some of you may prefer a little more “activity” in the defocused region. I have some shots where I’m very pleased with the bokeh, so I think it may be a matter of learning the lens and shooting to its strengths. Here is a little gallery of “bokeh” images.

The lens has a 7 bladed rounded aperture, and retains a circular shape when stopped down fairly well.

I am pleased with the color rendition and contrast. Neither is Zeiss level, but the box for a Zeiss lens seems to cost as much as this lens!

The lens also works very well as a video option. I actually purchased it specifically for a kit I was building for my responsibilities within my religious organization. We needed some video capture equipment, and I chose the EF-S 24mm to use on Canon 80D and 70D bodies for that purpose. I recently shot a whole video segment for a review/demonstration of some cycling lights with the EF-S 24mm and found it an excellent tool. You can see that video here:

The lens tracks well, has nice color rendition and even good bokeh on closer shots, and when using the 80D at 1080P/60 I was able to get very nice focus pulls by simply clicking the screen and allowing the camera/lens to do the focus pulls and then slowing them down even further in post to have really excellent results. The high sharpness at f/2.8 proved an asset, and the high magnification is exceptionally useful when wanting to shoot close, detailed shots. When used in conjunction with DPAF or similar video tracking in my EOS M3 the EF-S 24mm is a highly useful tool for a videographer. I don’t find STM focus as beneficial when manually focusing (performing linear, accurate manual focus transitions is difficult due to the ‘focus by wire’ system), but the excellent AF tracking and focus (particularly on the 80D) renders that moot part.

I mentioned the M3, and it worth mentioning that the EF-S 24mm is a fantastic option for the M series of cameras via the adapter. Many non-native mount lenses aren’t great fits on Canon’s mirrorless bodies. The need for the adapter extends the length of all lenses, making many lenses even more prone towards being front heavy and killing the balance. The EF-S 24mm joins the EF 40mm f/2.8 STM and 50mm f/1.8 STM lenses as being perhaps the most natural non-EF-M lenses to use on the system. Due to the STM focus system and light, compact nature of these lenses they perform much like native mount lenses in both size and operation. The EF-S 24mm provides an excellent “normal” angle of view on the M3, and the focus is quick and accurate via the EF adapter. The very short length of the EF-S 24mm allows the resulting lens/body combination to be small and light, fulfilling the mandate of the system (at least for me). This only extends the value of this lens, much like it has the value of the 40mm STM to me. That lens has seen more duty on my M bodies than it has on my DSLRs in recent years. Here’s a little gallery of images taken on the M3 with the lens.

In Conclusion

There were two things that initially kept me from acquiring and/or reviewing this lens. First is the fact that I don’t shoot crop cameras all that often. When I do, it tends to be more with a small, mirrorless body that I’ve chosen for its compact size. I’ve owned the excellent EF-M 22mm f/2 STM for years and so I didn’t really need this lens. The advent of doing more and more video on crop sensor bodies like the 70D/80D is really what led me to the lens. Using it has convinced me of its value, which would be even higher if I didn’t already have a large kit of lenses and camera bodies.

It is rare that I refer to a lens as a “must own”, but I see no reason for a person that shoots crop sensor bodies (Rebel Series, xxxD, xxD, or 7D/7DII) to not own this lens. This is perhaps even truer if you own Canon’s diminutive SL1 body. The Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM has it all. Extremely compact size, a fairly large maximum aperture of f/2.8, great sharpness at all aperture values, fast focus, and a great, highly useful maximum magnification value of .27x. The bokeh is pretty nice (if a bit busy in some situations), distortion and chromatic aberrations fairly well controlled, and even the flare resistance is quite good. There is some vignette wide open, but this can be easily compensated for either in the camera body or in post. And at $149 in the US, the highly reasonable price removes the only barrier that might cause me to hesitate to recommend the lens. It will only work on crop sensor (APS-C) cameras, but the fact that it can perform excellent double duty on one of Canon’s EOS M bodies only extends its value. The field of view of this lens is on the wider end of “normal”, which means that it is an extremely versatile focal length that functions well as a general purpose lens. This is the kind of lens that Canon needs to produce more of…but I’ll be thankful for this one for now.

Pros:

Extremely compact lens
High sharpness even wide open
Quick, accurate autofocus
Smooth video AF focus via STM
Good contrast and color rendition
Chromatic aberrations well controlled
Great maximum magnification value
Very reasonable price

Cons:

Fairly strong vignette at f/2.8
Some ghosting in the bright sun
Bokeh can be a little busy in some situations

Gear Used:

Canon EOS 80D
Canon EOS M3 Mirrorless Body
EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM Lens
Adobe Lightroom CC Software for Mac and Windows (Boxed Version)
Adobe Photoshop Creative Cloud 1-Year Subscription
Alien Skin Exposure X (Use Code “dustinabbott” to get 10% anything and everything)

Purchasing your gear through B&H and these links helps fund this website and keeps the articles coming. Thank you for your support.

Great News! I can now offer a 5% discount on all purchases at Amplis Foto, Canada’s Leading Photographic Supplier. Please enter discount code: AMPLIS52016DA in your cart. It is good for everything in your cart, and is stackable with other coupons, too! It will take 5% off your entire order! Proceeds go towards keeping this site going and providing you with new reviews!

Check me out on:

DISCLAIMER: This article and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM Image Gallery

Dustin Abbott

April 26th, 2016

Small but Deadly

Canon’s little EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM is an incredible little weapon for your APS-C (crop sensor) arsenal. It is less than inch long but is one of Canon’s sharpest EF-S lenses (second only to the excellent EF-S 60mm f/2.8 1:1 Macro lens). Highly portable, fast and accurately focusing, and with a reasonable price tag. This lens is pretty much a no-brainer if you are a Canon crop sensor shooter. Here are some images of and from the lens, with my review linkage to follow soon!

Images of the Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM Lens

Images taken with the Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM Lens

Gear Used:

Canon EOS 80D
EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM Lens
Adobe Lightroom CC Software for Mac and Windows (Boxed Version)
Adobe Photoshop Creative Cloud 1-Year Subscription
Alien Skin Exposure X (Use Code “dustinabbott” to get 10% anything and everything)

Purchasing your gear through B&H and these links helps fund this website and keeps the articles coming. Thank you for your support.

Great News! I can now offer a 5% discount on all purchases at Amplis Foto, Canada’s Leading Photographic Supplier. Please enter discount code: AMPLIS52016DA in your cart. It is good for everything in your cart, and is stackable with other coupons, too! It will take 5% off your entire order! Proceeds go towards keeping this site going and providing you with new reviews!

Check me out on:

DISCLAIMER: This article and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Sigma 50-100mm f/1.8 DC HSM ART Image Gallery

Dustin Abbott

April 25th, 2016

Sigma’s New Heavy Hitter

Sigma has made a reputation for itself by pushing the envelope in large aperture lens design. I reviewed the Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 ART a little over a year ago, and, while I had a few quirks with the autofocus, the image quality was exceptional – unmatched by any other APS-C lens. Sigma has just released a new APS-C Goliath: the new Sigma 50-100mm f/1.8 DC HSM ART. This is a big lens in every sense of the word, and if it proves as good as expected, will probably sell a lot of copies for Sigma simply because there isn’t anything to match it. At nearly $1100, this is the most expensive lens in the ART series, but is a relative bargain compared to the full frame 70-200mm f/2.8 variants. I’ll be reviewing the lens primarily on the new Canon EOS 80D body, a perfect match for this high-tech lens. Stay tuned for my findings along the way!

Images of the Sigma 50-100mm f/1.8 ART

Images by the Sigma 50-100mm f/1.8 ART

Out with the Old...In With the New (Sigma 50-100 f/1.8 ART)

Gear Used:

Canon EOS 80D
Sigma 50-100mm f/1.8 DC HSM ART
Adobe Lightroom CC Software for Mac and Windows (Boxed Version)
Adobe Photoshop Creative Cloud 1-Year Subscription
Alien Skin Exposure X (Use Code “dustinabbott” to get 10% anything and everything)

Purchasing your gear through B&H and these links helps fund this website and keeps the articles coming. Thank you for your support.

Great News! I can now offer a 5% discount on all purchases at Amplis Foto, Canada’s Leading Photographic Supplier. Please enter discount code: AMPLIS52016DA in your cart. It is good for everything in your cart, and is stackable with other coupons, too! It will take 5% off your entire order! Proceeds go towards keeping this site going and providing you with new reviews!

DISCLAIMER: This article and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Night Pro Vision 120F + 120R Rechargeable Cycle Lights

Dustin Abbott

April 23rd, 2016

Night Pro Vision Line 120F and 120R Rechargeable LED Headlights/Taillights

This is the time of year when I pull out my bike and start getting out on the road. While I don’t know if I could be labelled an “avid cyclist”, it is certainly a sport that I enjoy and do fairly frequently. Much like photography, cycling is a very gear oriented sport – from the cycle itself (complete with custom tires, derailleurs, bars, brakes, grips, seats/saddles, trip computers, pedals, and on and on) to the helmet, shoes, gloves, clothes, and much more. You can spend a LOT of money on cycling.

One important addition is if you are cycling in poor light is both headlights (to help you see) and taillights (to help others see you!). In this video I review an inexpensive set of rechargeable LED headlights (Night Pro Vision Line 120F Headlights) and taillights (Night Pro Vision 120R Taillights). Check out this fun, interactive video to see if they are for you.

The great news is that you can win a set for yourself by entering the giveaway below. It runs through the 16th of May. There are a variety of ways that you can put in entries…so, “good luck!”.

Night Pro Vision Giveaway

Equipment Used for Shooting:
Canon EOS 80D
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1078007-REG/gopro_chdhy_401_hero4_silver_edition_adventure.html/BI/19614/KBID/12112/kw/GOH4AS/DFF/d10-v2-t1-xGOH4AS
EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM Lens
EF 50mm f/1.8 STM Lens
Adobe Lightroom CC Software for Mac and Windows (Boxed Version)
Adobe Photoshop Creative Cloud 1-Year Subscription
Alien Skin Exposure X (Use Code “dustinabbott” to get 10% anything and everything)

Purchasing your gear through B&H and these links helps fund this website and keeps the articles coming. Thank you for your support.

Great News! I can now offer a 5% discount on all purchases at Amplis Foto, Canada’s Leading Photographic Supplier. Please enter discount code: AMPLIS52016DA in your cart. It is good for everything in your cart, and is stackable with other coupons, too! It will take 5% off your entire order! Proceeds go towards keeping this site going and providing you with new reviews!

Check me out on:

DISCLAIMER: This article and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Sigma 50-100mm f/1.8 DC HSM ART Review

Dustin Abbott

May 12th, 2016

Utterly Unique

Build Quality

Image Quality – Putting the “Art” in ART

Mounted on Full Frame

Autofocus Examination

Conclusion

Pros:

Cons:

Related Articles at DustinAbbott.net

Tamron SP 85mm f/1.8 Di VC USD Review

Dustin Abbott

May 9th, 2016

#displayed_gallery_6d9619c5567d4b08daa75d0bad9e0c78 .image-wrapper { margin-bottom: 5px; }

The One We’ve Been Waiting For?

First Impressions and Build

Autofocus Tests and Quirks

Image Quality

Conclusion

Pros:

Cons:

Related Articles at DustinAbbott.net

Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Review

Dustin Abbott

May 4th, 2016

#displayed_gallery_6d68d4d751a3b68201f9e9e189c7049d .image-wrapper { margin-bottom: 5px; }

Batman’s Lens of Choice?

Nano USM – Very Impressive

Image Quality

New Tricks

Conclusion

Pros:

Cons:

Related Articles at DustinAbbott.net

Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Image Gallery

Dustin Abbott

May 4th, 2016

Multi-Purpose and High Speed

Images of the Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

Images by the Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

Related Articles at DustinAbbott.net

Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM Lens Review

Dustin Abbott

April 28th, 2016

#displayed_gallery_23c8db49f2233123afea770b7f9bf7c5 .image-wrapper { margin-bottom: 5px; }

More Like This, Please!

Build Quality and Handling:

Autofocus Observations

Image Quality

In Conclusion

Pros:

Cons:

Related Articles at DustinAbbott.net

Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM Image Gallery

Dustin Abbott

April 26th, 2016

Small but Deadly

Images of the Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM Lens

Images taken with the Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM Lens

Related Articles at DustinAbbott.net

Sigma 50-100mm f/1.8 DC HSM ART Image Gallery

Dustin Abbott

April 25th, 2016

Sigma’s New Heavy Hitter

Images of the Sigma 50-100mm f/1.8 ART

Images by the Sigma 50-100mm f/1.8 ART

Related Articles at DustinAbbott.net

Night Pro Vision 120F + 120R Rechargeable Cycle Lights

Dustin Abbott

April 23rd, 2016

Night Pro Vision Line 120F and 120R Rechargeable LED Headlights/Taillights

Related Articles at DustinAbbott.net

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