Pilgrims of ultrawide excellence down the decades have been conjoined to a certain path. In the 1900s, they sought, coveted or made sacrifices for hallowed primes like the Zeiss 15mm and 21mm Distagons. Some prematurely foreswore mirrors to gain access to Contax Biogons, the shady temptations of Leica and Voigtlander rangefinder glass, and the peerless …
It’s hard to find a title for this article. It’s also not immediately obvious why this lens should have risen above its peers. Historically there’s been a distinct pecking order for lens reputation: in first place, any third party lens made by Leica and Zeiss; in second place, native glass – first Canon, then Nikon; …
White Label Chinese 50mm f1.1 v Sigma 50mm f1.4 Art v Canon 50mm f1.2 L To get straight into the test, jump here >. If you’re interested in a digressive preamble, read on. Digressive Preamble In the beginning, fast lenses were needed to gather light to quicken exposure times, freeing photographers to shoot spontaneously – …
Tamron SP 35mm VC f1.8 v Sigma 35mm f1.4 Art DG HSM At maximum aperture, and a focal distance of 10m, the Sigma has distinctly sharper corners, with resolution dropping off rapidly in Zone D, but substantially more vignette. The Tamron has a more gradually tapering performance both in terms of vignette and resolution, but …
Adaptation of lenses for smaller formats, with correspondingly smaller image circles, involves advantages and trade-offs: adapted lenses are typically more varied, plentiful, cheaper, smaller and higher resolving – but inevitable compatibility issues range from trivial to insuperable. The GFX 44x33mm sensor lies between the classic 35mm ‘full-frame’ and 645 medium formats. As well as Fujifilm’s …
Resolution: Unshifted For comparison we here include a capture at f5.6 by the Panasonic Lumix-S 20-60mm kit lens with lens profiling turned on.
Light Handling & Flare There’s more to a lens than resolution, so we’ll come to that last. Light angles are actually a dominant property of the behaviour of shift lenses on both sides of the iris – especially when comparing vintage lenses with period coatings. The Olympus 35mm Shift here tested has been remounted to …
Introduction Legacy medium format lenses have seen a recent uptick in valuation and demand, thanks largely to Fuji’s GFX system.The Pentax 645Z fraternity continues to watch with detached interest the pointless hurly-burly of the camera business while patiently going about its work much in the manner of twenty years hence – and Phase One and …
Here are a few soundbites in response to FAQs unasked: • What’s the best enlarger lens for general taking at sub-1m distance?Of the growing number of lenses thus far tested outstanding results have (unsurprisingly) been recorded by the most expensive lenses. However, several lenses with market values of around £100 have achieved an elite 90%+ …
In the mindset of US and European buyers, Fuji enlarger lenses occupy a tier below the Big Three of Nikon, Rodenstock and Schneider. Fujinar models were replaced by the Fujinon range in the early 1980s and were available as four-element Tessars, designated ES, in focal lengths from 75-135mm and apertures from f4-f4.5; and premium six-element …