Laowa (Venus Optics) has never been a conventional lens maker. Early Chinese lens designers typically made their reputation by offering up cheaper clones of existing lenses. They chose the most conventional lens designs as those are the easiest to reproduce. …
Check me out on: My Patreon | Sign Up for My Newsletter | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Flickr | 500px | Google+ | Never let it be said that Chinese lens maker Venus Optics is afraid to take a…
The Venus Optics Laowa 10-18mm F4.5-5.6 Ultra-Wide Zoom is an extreme instrument, though it may look all small and innocent. This is a full frame zoom lens designed for Sony FE that covers an incredible 130 degree field of view,…
Check me out on: Patreon: | Google+: | Facebook: | Twitter: | Flickr: | 500px: | Sign Up for My Newsletter : Sony’s catalog of lenses for their full frame mirrorless E-mount has continued to grow, but there are still some missing pieces in the inventory. One of…
Sigma has faced a bit of an uphill battle with the FE versions of their ART series if the anecdotal feedback I have received is a valid indicator of the market. Size matters, and the ART series lenses were already…
Check me out on: Google+: | Facebook: | Twitter: | Flickr: | 500px: | Sign Up for My Newsletter : Edward and Emily approached me about doing a portrait/engagement session, and, because I have a good relationship with them (and because…
Sigma 24mm F1.4 ART FE Image Gallery The Sigma 24mm f DG HSM | ART was, I believe, the only ART series lens that I missed reviewing when it was initially released. In the past few months Sigma has been…
Sigma’s first macro lens in the ART series has flown somewhat under the radar, overshadowed by the more flamboyant lens announcements (Sigma 14-24mm f ART, 105mm f) along with the announcement of the Sony FE retrofit of the ART series. …
Danica and Alessandro chose the incredible Stonefields Estate outside of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada as the venue for their wedding. This was pretty much a photographer’s dream for a number of reasons. First of all, everything was self-contained on the estate. …
The new lensmaker Irix came onto the scene a couple of years ago with the announcement of a beautifully designed 15mm prime lens available in two different build/trim levels. This has become Irix’s unique approach to marketing their lenses, offering…
Sigma may just be the bravest camera/lens maker in the market today. When they initially launched their new Global Vision (which spawned the ART series as one of the three branches of lens design), they began to tackle the established…
The new lensmaker Irix came onto the scene a couple of years ago with the announcement of a beautifully designed 15mm prime lens. I was intrigued, but was involved in other projects at the time and so the lens went…
Sigma’s announcement of the Sigma 105mm f DG HSM ART was intriguing to a lot of photographers because of the extreme nature of the focal length and aperture. Sigma has carved out a niche for itself by offering with a…
Sigma’s first macro lens in the ART series has flown somewhat under the radar, overshadowed by the more flamboyant lens announcements (Sigma 14-24mm f ART, 105mm f) along with the announcement of the Sony FE retrofit of the ART series. …
See the autofocus section for some fresh observations from October 2018 after firmware update 2.0. In the past two years the “third party” lensmakers have really been taking it to the “first party” lensmakers (Canon and Nikon). Both Tamron and…
Sony chose the WPPI Conference in February, 2018 to drop the bombshell that we now know as the Sony a73 (ILCE-7M3). I call it a bombshell in that while many camera makers hold back a lot of key features on…
A focal range not recently tackled by third party lenses is covered by Tamron’s newest lens – the Tamron 70-210mm f/4 Di VC USD. A maximum aperture of f/4 at this focal length allows photographers to get high quality results…
In the 12 months Sigma has released two ART series lenses with very similar focal lengths but different purposes. Last year Sigma released the 12-24mm f/4 ART lens, which I reviewed here. This year Sigma followed up with the Sigma 14-24mm…