Yongnuo is known for dirt cheap lenses, and they have just added another one to their line. The company has released a new 50mm f/1.8 II lens. It’s almost as cheap as the old model, but with some improvements.
5 best 50mm lenses for under $100
A 50mm lens is probably the first lens most of us bought after we got the camera. They are generally affordable, especially if you go for a f/1.8. But if you’re on a really tight budget, or just want to satisfy your gear acquisition syndrome without guilt: Kai Wong has a video for you.
In this video, he suggests five great 50mm lenses that cost well under $100. So if you’re looking for your first or for another 50mm lens, check out Kai’s suggestions.
This cheap lens makes square bokeh thanks to its aperture
Why only have round bokeh, when you can get it all sorts of shapes? You can achieve shaped bokeh by cutting a shape in black paper and placing it on the lens. Or if you’re too lazy or not really precise, you can even buy premade shapes. But what if I told you there’s a way to achieve square bokeh with nothing but a lens? Mathieu Stern presents you with a cheap lens that has a square aperture, so it creates super-interesting square bokeh.
How to create bokeh explosion with one simple modification
If you enjoy experimenting with bokeh shapes, I’ve found a perfect tutorial for you. Mathieu Stern is known for his solutions which are so simple that they are ingenious. In under a minute, he’ll teach you how to create spectacular “bokeh explosion” with a simple modification of the lens.
Shooting with a 50+ year old Russian lens on a Sony A7RII
The Helios 44-2 is one of my favourite old lenses. This, along with the Jupiter-9 are my two most used manual focus lenses for stills and video. The Helios 44 line started in 1958. Its initial design is a copy of the Carl Zeiss Biotar 58mm f/2, and was produced by KMZ for the M42 mount. Since that first version, it’s been through several iterations as technology has advanced.
In this video from Manny Ortiz, we see the Helios 44-2 58mm f/2 lens in action on a Sony A7RII. When you see the looks that can be achieved by this lens it’s easy to see why this quickly becomes a favourite of all who own one. The fact that they can be picked up for as low as $10 just makes it one that should be in everybody’s bag.
A simple trick to help you adapt any lens to your camera
Photographer Mathieu Stern tests out a lot of weird lenses. From modern CCTV to 135 year old large format lenses, nothing is too large a challenge. Many modern lenses have adapters available for all kinds of camera system. Not so much with older or more obscure lenses. So, how does he fit all these to his modern DSLRs?
In this video, Mathieu’s going to let you in on one of his tricks. This helps him figure out how he can build his own adapters for these lenses. It’s an interesting technique, and once you understand the principle, making a solution is simple.
Seven secrets to buying cheap lenses online
Over the last few years, cheap lenses have become a big thing, and it’s driven the prices of a number of old cheap lenses right back up to where they used to be when new.
This video from Mathieu Stern of the Weird Lens Challenge presents us with his top seven tips to buying cheap lenses online. Some of them just make good sense, while others are not so obvious.
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