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Real World Testing of the New Canon 16-35mm f/2.8L III
Last month Roger did his standard series of optical bench tests on the new Canon 16-35mm f/2.8L III. But that doesn’t show you what it looks like in real pictures. I decided to take the new lens and a large selection of comparable lenses from Canon, as well as offerings from Nikon, Sony, and…
How to Create a Photo Booth for an Event
If you’re at all like me, you’re the designated photographer for your family and friends. If there’s a family photo, you take it. At some point on New Year’s Eve, you’ll have 4 or 5 random iPhone in your hands at once, taking the group shot for everyone to post on social media. Have you ever been…
Things to Know When Transitioning to Sony Mirrorless Camera Systems
There is no doubt that Sony has made some massive changes over the last few years in the photography industry. What was once a brand that many laughed at, has now become the leading sensor manufacturer and most exciting camera manufacturer in the digital era. So I wanted to take a moment and give…
An Inside Look at the Rokinon 50mm AF FE Autofocus Lens
I have had a love-hate relationship with Samyang / Rokinon lenses for a long time now. (We carry the Rokinon brand, because the distributor, Elite Brands offers repair services in the U. S.) Rokinon lenses provide good optics at an incredible price. They aren’t ‘built like a tank’ and aren’t going…
Taking Apart the New Nikon 105mm f/1.4E ED AF-S
We recently tested the Nikon 105mm f/1.4E ED AF-S lens and were mightily impressed. Optically it was better than I’d ever expected. We had idly talked about doing a teardown when stock allowed, but we got an unexpected opportunity yesterday: one of our week-old copies had some significant dust in…
Canon 24-105 f/4 IS Mark II MTF Results
I like to start articles by stating my expectations, because, like everyone, my expectations going in color my opinion after seeing the results. Given Canon’s recent series of home-run lens upgrades, I expected the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 IS II would be a superb lens. I was particularly expecting…
What is Color Depth and Why Is It Important for Video?
One of the most common questions I get from video customers is, “What do 10-bit 4:2:2 and 8-bit 4:2:0 actually mean?” The explanation can get pretty technical, so it’s easy to default to the opinion that higher numbers equal better footage. That’s true in a sense, but following that logic leads to…
Lensrentals’ Holiday Hours
Our office is closed on major holidays, as well as on any observed holiday dates that FedEx does not run on, as we cannot ship orders. Therefore, we will be closed on the following days this year: - Thanksgiving, 11/24/16 - Christmas Eve, 12/24/16 - Christmas Day, 12/25/16 - Monday (FedEx holiday),…
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED AF-S VR MTF Tests
Well, we all want to call it the 70-200 VR III, since it replaces the Nikon 70-200 f/2.8G AF-S VR II. But the new lens is officially the 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED AF-S VR. It is most definitely a different lens; it’s 22 elements include one fluorite, one high-refractive, and six ED elements, along with…
Lensrentals.com’s Review of the Nikon KeyMission 360 Camera
2016 has become the year of virtual reality and head-mounted displays. We’ve seen the release of three major VR platforms and countless other phone-based reality virtualizing peripherals, but until recently, tools to produce content for this new form of entertainment have been only within reach of…
Testing NASA Optical Lenses – How We Measure Sharpness and Accuracy
We’ve spent about 5 years developing and repurposing various types of optical testing for use testing photo and video lenses. It’s been a long process with lots of learning (learning is when you find out you’re doing it wrong), and improvements along the way. We’re pretty close to finished; our…
Fun with Field of Focus II: Copy-to-Copy Variation and Lens Testing
I mentioned in our first post in this series that one of the major reasons I was interested in looking at field curvatures was as a means of detecting lenses that are weaker on one side (or perhaps one corner). If you haven’t looked at that post, you really need to before you tackle this one. In…