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Sigma complete their Classic cine lens line-up with the FF 65mm T2.5

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Most of us are familiar with the name Sigma. Their photographic and video line lenses have become synonymous with affordable yet high-quality optics. But you may be less familiar with their Classic Prime line of lenses. DIYP talk to Sigma’s Jan-Willem Verschuuren to find out more.

In fact, Sigma has just launched the FF 65mm T2.5 cinema lens as part of the Classic Art Prime line lens range and the FF 65mm T1.5 Classic Prime Line. Jan-Willem explains that there has been a lot of demand for the 65mm lens because there was a large gap between the 50mm and the 85mm that were available previously. Finally, the set is complete.

5 Tips for Stunning Lens Flares

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A lens flare occurs when light reflects off the surface of a lens or other bright object and strikes the camera sensor. Lens flares typically happen when the camera is pointed towards a bright light source, such as the sun or a camera flash. When captured unintentionally, a lens flare can cause unwanted distractions and reduce contrast over the affected area of the image. However, when used creatively and with intent, lens flares can create a dreamy, romantic, and aesthetically pleasing effect in an image and add interest to an otherwise bland photo. In this article, we’ll give you 6 tips for lens flare photography to use on your next photoshoot.

Don’t try this at home: TikToker encourages people to destroy their lenses with rocks

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There are some very daft suggestions and tutorials on TikTok. As I discovered when I tried a few of the photography hacks, there are several that it goes without saying that you just shouldn’t try. This one might take the cake though. After watching a video of a ‘hack’ where a photographer appears to deliberately scratch his lens with a rock to create a ‘cool effect’, one viewer actually copied it and fully destroyed her camera lens.

Photographer and TikToker Illumitatiana posted a video of her using a rock to scratch the front of her Canon 50mm f/1.8 in response to a viral video made by Andres Videography where he appeared to do the same to his lens.

Fuji launches 18-120mm f/4 and 150-600mm f/5.6-8 zoom lenses to pair with new X-H2S

Fuji X-H2 camera was announced yesterday right after some specs had leaked. And if you’re thinking of buying it but don’t have lenses, Fuji thought of it too.

Along with the camera, Fujifilm has announced two new APS-C zoom lenses: XF 18-120mm f/4 R LM PZ WR and XF 150-600mm f/5.6-8 R LM OIS WR. The first can cover all of your shooting needs, especially if you’re a beginner or a hobbyist, and the second one lets you get really close to your subject and it’s ideal for wildlife and sports. Let’s see what Fuji has to offer with these two new lenses.

How to shoot a clean and simple coloured fill portrait in the studio

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Sometimes you just want a clean and quick setup to start a shoot off the right way. Sure, you may have a ton of creative ideas in store for later on in the day, but they may be new ideas you’ve never tried before or they may be more experimental. If that’s the case, I always find it smart to start a shoot with a tried and true setup that’s not too tricky to do, quick to set up and provides great shots each and every time.

That way, the team knows that whatever happens from here on out with the more experimental work, we’ve already bagged some killer images and everybody is positive about the setups to come.

Watch: The best and worst ways to clean your camera sensor

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When I first started shooting DSLRs back in 2002 there were really only two options for cleaning my sensor. Either I had to box everything up, ship it to Nikon, pay like a $80 fee (plus shipping both ways) and in three or four weeks I’d get my camera back with a maybe clean sensor or I had to learn to do it myself. Back then, we didn’t have the array of sensor cleaning tools available today, either. Oh no, we used a sawn-off Wendy’s knife with Pec-Pads and Eclipse fluid!

Now, we have far more options available to us when it comes to cleaning our sensors. But for many photographers, cleaning one’s own sensor can still feel pretty intimidating if you’ve never done it before. So, in this video, Chris Niccolls at DPReview TV shows us several ways to clean our sensors and a few methods we most definitely absolutely shouldn’t be using to clean our sensors!

Can a $500 lens possibly perform as well as a $26,000 lens? Let’s find out

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Seems like a perfectly idiotic question right? I mean, how could a $500 lens possibly be as good as a $26,000 lens? And who drops that kind of money on a lens anyway? Filmmakers, that’s who! This interesting video from Film Riot compares a $500 35mm Rokinon lens with a 32mm Arri Zeiss Master Prime lens that costs mega-bucks.

The video compares various shots taken in a studio setting and outside, and although it’s not done scientifically, the results are certainly interesting. So how do they stack up against each other?

Does This Budget Friendly Telephoto Lens Deliver Quality Results?

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Since late November, I’ve been shooting with a new Tamron 100-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di VC USD lens. I bought this lens to replace my Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens (the old version with the push-pull zoom) I’ve been using for wildlife photography since 2012.

I’ve loved my Canon ever since the day I unboxed it. This lens has everything I wanted, long reach, fast autofocus, reasonably lightweight, and since I bought it after the Mark II version came out the price was much more affordable. I’ve taken thousands of images with this lens and it served me well over the years. Any images shot with this lens I wasn’t happy with certainly were not the fault of the lens. I planned to keep using this lens for as long as possible as I was completely satisfied with my investment.

This new technology makes f/1.4 lenses at almost zero cost

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Researchers at Technion Israel Institute of Technology have developed a new way of making lenses with a curable liquid polymer that allows for faster prototyping of new and custom optics. It’s designed primarily for applications such as corrective lenses, augmented and virtual reality, medical imaging and astronomy, but could potentially become a new manufacturing method (or at least allow faster development) of photographic lenses.

According to a press release, the researchers began to develop the new method after realising that there were around 2.5 billion people around the planet who don’t have access to corrective eyewear. Their goal was to create “a simple method for fabricating high-quality optical components that does not rely on mechanical processing or complex and expensive infrastructure”.

This guy designed and 3D printed a mount to use Canon EF lenses on his Gameboy Camera and the results are awesome

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Well, we’ve seen a few experiments with the Gameboy camera over the years, but this one is pretty wild. YouTuber, car nut and 3D printing fanatic Conorsev has developed and printed an adapter that lets him mount Canon EF mount lenses to his Nintendo Gameboy Camera and it produces images far greater than the Gameboy ever deserved. While it might be a pretty crazy idea, it makes for some particularly intriguing and very unique photographs.

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