Category: New Items
-
Quick Take on the New Nikon 80-400 AF-S VR
You have to hand it to Nikon. We may wait a long time for the lens improvement we want, but once Nikon announces it, they get it in our hands pretty quickly. Unlike, say, the Canon 200-400 f/4 Unicorn Bigfoot lens. I’ve been screaming for some time that this was the lens in the Nikon lineup most in…
-
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…
-
Canon 24-70 f/4 IS Resolution Tests
A lot of people have been waiting on the release of the Canon 24-70 f/4 IS, deciding which of the new lenses they wanted, or whether they wanted to upgrade at all. So, when the first batch arrived early this morning we were set up and waiting to do some resolution testing. ## The Players The Canon…
-
Another 35mm Lens for Canon
It seems we had barely finished testing the new Sigma 35mm f/1.4 lens when the first shipment of Canon 35mm f/2 IS lenses arrived. I’d describe my feelings as more interested than excited. This finishes (I think) the Canon wide-angle IS consumer-grade lens trilogy. We’d found the previous members,…
-
Quick Resolution Tests on Two New 70-200s
We got stock on two new 70-200mm lenses this week: the Nikon 70-200 f/4 VR and the Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 VC. I would have loved to do some side-by-side comparisons. They’re priced similarly and I expect a lot of Nikon shooters will be choosing between these two since both are quite a bit less…
-
A Quick 6D AF Test
A while back we did a series of articles and found that certain Canon lenses on the newest Canon cameras (5DIII and 1Dx) autofocused more accurately when tested for single shot stills using center point AF only. These combinations acutally had as accurate AF as what we could obtain with Live View.…
-
Sigma 35mm f/1.4 Arrives. Announces New World Order.
OK, I’m beginning to think maybe the Mayans were right. It appears the world is going to transition into something different in 2012. The photography world at least. About 5 years ago, I wrote a blog post explaining that quality control problems and horrid repair service meant we would probably…
-
The Panasonic 35-100 f/2.8 First Impression: The Glass is 87.6% Full
I’ve been waiting for the Panasonic 35-100mm f/2.8 OIS lens since, well, since the Panasonic 12-35 f/2.8 lens came out. Much to my surprise, Tyler had 7 copies sitting on my desk this morning. As usual when something like this arrives I only had a few hours before the packers would start screaming…
-
EOS-M First Impressions
OK, the usual applies. I am not a reviewer. I don’t even play one on TV. There are already some in-depth reviews out on the new EOS-M and more coming daily. But I handle a lot of equipment and test a lot of equipment. When something new comes in I spend a day handling it and testing it. Hopefully…
-
A Little More Sigma 200-500 Fun
SigZilla is gone now. You’ll be able to see it’s work in action if you watch the World Series. I wouldn’t be surprised if you might not catch an image of it. Before it left, though, we were able to (with a great deal of difficulty) get it mounted in the lab and run one basic Imatest series. When it…
-
Quick Look at the Olympus 60mm f/2.8 Macro
Tyler, as Tyler does, handed me three copies of the Olympus 60mm f/2.8 Macro lens this morning. It wasn’t a great day for testing; Wednesdays are always the busiest repair and turnaround day. But I did manage to squeeze in a couple of hours with them. The size surprised me at first. Not that it’s…
-
MM MM Good?
The first Leica M Monochrome (I think everyone is calling it the Leica M-M; at least everyone around here) showed up today. Lensrentals became a tiny reflection of most online forum discussions regarding the camera, with half the employees saying, “Why would anyone want that?” and the other half…