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 8 of 39
Why We’re Going to Start Testing Cinema Lenses. And Why We Haven’t Before.
Here we go again. This isn’t my first time pissing off the status quo; I’ve been doing it for years. We spent the last few years developing better metrology (lens testing) for photography lenses. The reason was relatively simple; photography cameras with higher resolutions began to see flaws that…
Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM Art Sharpness Tests
Sigma has been on an incredible run these last 5 years, releasing one amazingly sharp lens after another. They’ve made lenses no one has ever tried before and not only succeeded, they made them amazingly good on the first try. Their quality control has become as good as anyone’s, better than most.…
Sharpness Tests of the Sigma 14mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art
We’ve had a number of fun, new lenses to test this summer and one I was pretty eager to get to was the Sigma 14mm f/1.8 Art, for a couple of reasons. First of all, it’s a 14mm lens that has a wider aperture than f/2.8, and that’s certainly interesting. Second, it’s a new Sigma Art prime lens, and…
Experiments For Ultra High Resolution Camera Sensors
GEEK ALERT!! Let’s be absolutely clear; this is not a useful article in regards to your technique. It won’t help your photography or videography become better. It won’t help you choose equipment any time in the next couple of years. It won’t provide any fodder for your next Forum War. It’s just a…
Sharpness Tests of the Sony FE 85mm f/1.8
Sony released the Sony FE 85mm f/1.8 lens a while ago, and while it’s the kind of lens I generally love, we just now got enough time freed up to test it and present the results. As with most brands, and 85mm f/1.8 lens gives a lot of the advantages of a fast prime while saving a lot of money over…
Sony FE 12-24mm f/4 G MTF Tests
*Lensrentals.com, 2017* I usually don’t do any prerelease testing. Mostly that’s because manufacturers will send one prerelease copy to a reviewer. If you tell them you won’t test less than ten copies they look at you like, well, I don’t know what they look at you like because I only communicate by…
My Not Quite Complete Protective Filter Article
Well, I’ve written (with some misgivings because it has a tendency to create rioting in the streets) several articles about protective filters. Articles that say sometimes you shouldn’t use protective filters, and others that say sometimes you do need to use protective filters, and most recently,…
Yet Another Post About My Issues With UV Filters
Yes, I’m sick of filter articles, too. But I come today not to educate you, but to mock others. Because yes, people continue to try to save a few bucks by putting a cheap filter in front of their $1,000 lens. And also because they buy what they think are good filters off of Fleabay or some used…
Sigma 135mm f/1.8 Art MTF Charts (and a Look Behind the Curtain)
I know there are a lot of people who want to see what the MTF charts on the new Sigma 135mm DG HSM f/1.8 Art lens look like. We just did our initial screening test on ten copies, so I’ll show you what we found, and give you some comparisons to some other 135mm lenses. This also presented a good…
MTF Lens Tests of the New Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 SP Di VC USD G2
There’s been a bit of rumbling lately about the new Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 G2 zoom. Not just because it is a frontrunner in the _2017 Most Initials in the Name Award_, but because a lot of people are saying it’s really quite good. The previous Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 was a good lens, but since they…
A Quick Look at the New Zeiss Batis 135mm f/2.8 MTF Charts
Announced from Zeiss today was the new Zeiss Batis 135mm f/2.8. You guys know I don’t like putting out MTF charts on less than 10-copy averages, but we had a chance to grab a Zeiss Batis 135mm f/2.8 prototype lens for a couple of days, so I tested it. And since we certainly aren’t going to get our…
Roger’s Random Photography Marketing Generator
Somedays I get bored with testing. Somedays I have to read new product release blurbs and get nauseous. And somedays I find something funny on the internet. All three of these happened the other day, which led to me randomly corresponding with Seb Pearce about my thoughts that today’s photography…