Roger Cicala
I'm Roger and I am the founder of Lensrentals.com. Hailed as one of the optic nerds here, I enjoy shooting collimated light through 30X microscope objectives in my spare time. When I do take real pictures I like using something different: a Medium format, or Pentax K1, or a Sony RX1R.
Posts by Roger Cicala · page 24 of 39
Overcoming My f / Entekaphobia
### _Entekaphobia – fear of the number 11_ ### Or. . . How I Learned to Appreciate Small Aperture Photography If you read my blog much, you know I’m a resolution fanatic. I test every new lens for resolution. For personal use, I’ll choose the lens with higher resolution over the one with creamy…
Nikon 24-120 f/4 VR Revisited
My view of lenses is often colored by measurements, numbers, taking them apart, and other geeky things. I also take photographs with them. One of the things I’m always interested in is comparing my measurements with actual photographs. When Uwe Steinmueller from The Digital Outback suggested we…
Seeing the Numbers
When someone tells you that something defies description, you can be pretty sure he’s going to have a go at it anyway. – Author Unknown A lot of my posts about lens resolution consist largely of showing the MTF 50 numbers from Imatest or our optical bench. That leads to a lot of questions about…
Roger Buys a Camera System: Finally
OK, I’ve taken a long route, but narrowed things down to a Nikon D800e based system, a Canon full-frame system, or a Pentax K-5 IIs system. All of them met my needs just fine, although the D800e system gave me better image quality and the Pentax a bit less. ## Let’s Begin With: Don’t Do What I Did…
Roger Buys a Camera System: Refining My Choices
In the earlier portions of this process, I have: 1) Gotten a quick idea about the relative importance of lens versus sensor resolution 2) Screened for camera systems that might meet my needs 3) Investigated the rough cost of candidate systems After some preliminary screening I had decided to…
Optical Tune Ups
> _It’s not falling that hurts, it’s the sudden stop at the end._ > > _\-Author Unkown_ Understandably, people are concerned with whether a new lens they buy is functioning properly and optically within specifications. One thing I harp on is that we also need to watch our lenses over time. Bumps,…
Roger Buys a Camera System: So What’s This Going to Cost?
* Lensrentals, 2013 * In my last post I made a preliminary list of systems I was going to consider. Some people are a little surprised I’m considering crop sensor cameras. I’m surprised that they’re surprised. I’ve shot with a micro 4/3 system for months and it certainly met 80% of my needs, so an…
Roger Buys a Camera System: Screening for Candidates
As I mentioned in my last post, I have more time for photography now than I have for the last several years so I’m buying a personal camera system. While I can ‘borrow’ stuff from Lensrentals for a specific shoot I can’t just take a system and keep it at my house permanently. My rule of thumb has…
Roger Buys a Camera System: A 24-70mm System Comparison
Note: I’m going to bore people for a week or two while I decide on a new camera system for myself. To alert those who are going to be bored by posts about “Roger Buys a Camera System”; I’ll put that in the title for the rest of this series. I don’t own an SLR – I go check one out for ‘testing’ when…
Metabones Magic?
A few days ago I learned about the Metabones Speed Booster. For both of you who haven’t heard yet, this is an adapter containing optical elements and electronic controls that allows you to mount Canon EF lenses to Sony NEX cameras (other versions are planned for other lenses and cameras). The quick…
Roger’s Law of New Product Introduction
For several years now, my occupation has been to basically read everything written about new equipment. In order to help everyone save time, and to save the Internet millions of electrons, I have developed a concise method to summarize all such discussions for all newly introduced imaging…
The Most Interesting Photographer Ever Is…
## Twins, Actually. My mind is a bad neighborhood – I shouldn’t be left alone there after dark. So the other night I’m driving home home and there’s a truck in front of one of my neighbor’s houses, for this carpet cleaning service, Stanley Steemer. A truly normal person probably wouldn’t notice. A…