I’m excited enough about today’s lens to throw some quick impressions out ahead of a full review. Laowa is the lens brand for Venus Optics, a relatively new optical company that has made quite a splash in the industry over the past 9 years by creating quality lenses that fill niches that the traditional lens…
Category: Shop Talk
More Film! This time, Medium Format
Last month, I wrote an article about getting back into shooting film. While I have enjoyed the process of shooting film on my 35mm cameras, the output isn’t quite up to my quality standards given what I’ve been used to with digital. As such, I thought more and more about picking up an old, affordable…
Dabbling with Film
I was born in the late 1970s and like many people my age, I grew up with 35mm film as the primary photographic medium for which to capture memories and light. While I didn’t get into photography as a serious hobby until the rise of digital photography in the early 2000s, I shot film for…
Canon RF 70-200mm f/4L IS vs. Canon RF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS
First off: this is not a review. This is a simple test under controlled conditions to evaluate image quality of these two compact L-series telephotos. A full review of the RF 70-200mm f/4L IS can be found here, while my review of the RF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS can be found here. In November, Canon expanded…
First Impressions: Tamron 70-180mm f/2.8 Di III VXD
Tamron has made some waves with their lineup of compact, and lightweight, yet high quality zoom lenses for Sony E-mount, offering excellent performance in a small package at a price point significantly lower than the native Sony options. The final piece of this puzzle is the brand new 70-180mm f/2.8 Di III VXD. This has…
Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 vs Sony/Zeiss 16-35mm f/4
Tamron just released their brand new 17-28mm f/2.8 Di III RXD lens for Sony E-Mount, and it’s a very intriguing offer from Tamron. The lens retails for $899, which is $450 cheaper than the Sony/Zeiss 16-35mm f/4 OSS that is involved in this comparison, and a whopping $1,300 less than the equal aperture (but wider…
The Best Lenses – In My Experience
Last updated 2/14/21 What lens is best? I get asked this all the time, and there’s never really a right answer. “Best for what?” is what I usually reply, as the answer will depend on what the photographer wants to accomplish, what their budget is and what is important to them. Everyone will have a…
Thoughts on the new Nikon Z6 and Z7
A Fourth Major Mirrorless System Nikon is the talk of the town today, with the Nikon Z6 and Nikon Z7 mirrorless full-frame bodies and a few lenses announced. The new Z Mount mirrorless system throws its hat in the ring as the fourth major mirrorless system. “But Jordan,” you say, “Canon has the EF-M system!”…