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Samyang’s new lower-budget AF 135mm f/1.8 FE is only $999 (less than Sony, Zeiss or even Sigma)

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Samyang has announced their newest autofocus lens, the Samyang AF 135mm f/1.8 FE for full-frame Sony E mount cameras. This essentially replaces the Samyang MF 135mm f/2.0 ED UMC for many Sony shooters who are sick of manual focus and represents a significantly less expensive option than the Sony FE 135mm f/1.8 G Master, the Zeiss 135mm f/2.8 Batis lenses and even the Sigma 135mm f/1.8 Art.

The new lens, Samyang says, was released to provide an autofocus evolution of its manual focus f/2.0 predecessor, launched in 2015. It expands Samyang’s AF f/1.8 lineup, adding to the 24mm, 35mm, 45mm and 75mm f/1.8 autofocus lenses, allowing you to quickly switch between a range of focal lengths with the same bright wide aperture.

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Irix starts to bridge the focal length gaps with new Irix Cine 21mm T1.5 lens

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Irix have been producing some pretty outstanding lenses over the last few years for what they cost, bringing us 11mm T4.3, 15mm T2.6, 30mm T1.5, 45mm T1.5 and 150mm T3.0 macro (or f/4, f/2.4, f/1.4, f/1.4 and f/2.8 respectively for their photography alternatives). But there are a few noticeable gaps in that focal length lineup. Jumping from 15mm to 30mm is a pretty big leap.

Well, today, Irix has announced the new Irix Cine 21mm T1.5 to help bridge that gap a little. This full-frame lens offers the same level of quality and construction you’ve come to expect from the other lenses in the Irix lineup and Irix says that it’s built to offer the kind of detail and sharpness that something like 8K resolution video requires.

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Viltrox announces ultra-wide 13mm f/1.4 autofocus lens for Fuji X priced at $469

The third-party autofocus lens collection for Fuji is just exploding now that they’ve opened up their protocols. The latest to be added to this list is an ultra-wide and super bright lens from Viltrox. It’s the Viltrox 13mm f/1.4 autofocus lens and it offers a field of view equivalent to about 20mm on a full-frame system. At f/1.4, though, for an APS-C lens this wide, that’s extremely fast, which should make it ideal for things like interiors, weddings and events.

While the lens has been announced, it’s not expected to start shipping until February. And with a $469 price tag, it’s slightly cheaper and a stop faster than the recently released Samyang 12mm f/2.0 AF as well as wider and less than half the price of Fuji’s own XF 16mm f/1.4 R WR. I can see this lens becoming very popular if it stands up to scrutiny once it gets into users hands.

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ZY Optics calls its new Mitakon Speedmaster 90mm f/1.5 a “budget alternative” to the Leica Summilux-M

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Zhongyi Optics has announced their new Mitakon Speedmaster 90mm f/1.5 lens. They’re billing it as “a budget alternative to the legendary Leica Summilux-M“. And at $599, yeah, it certainly sounds like a bit of a bargain compared to the $14,000 Leica lens. They look pretty similar in outward appearance, although it doesn’t appear to be a straight-up copy, containing 9 elements vs the Leica’s 8.

The new lens is available in Canon RF, Sony FE, Nikon Z and Leica M mounts (no Leica L), with the latter being adaptable to other mounts. Offering “buttery bokeh” (their words), thanks to its f/1.5 aperture and rounded 9-blade aperture, it seems particularly well suited to its portrait photography target audience.

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Laowa’s new 85mm f/5.6 2x Ultra Macro APO boasts to be the world’s smallest 2x full-frame macro lens

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Venus Optics has just announced their new Laowa 85mm f/5.6 2x Ultra Macro APO lens for full-frame mirrorless cameras. They claim that it’s the world’s lightest 2x macro lens for full-frame cameras. Measuring only 53 x 81mm and weighing in at a mere 269g for the Sony E mount version, that might indeed be the case.

The lens is coming to a number of mirrorless mounts, including Canon EF, Sony E, Nikon Z and Leica M – but not Leica L (Update: Scroll down to the bottom). It offers an 85mm focal length with a minimum focus distance of 16.3cm for a fairly decent working distance and the APO design, Laowa says, helps you shoot them with minimal chromatic aberration.

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Samyang announces “Xeen Meister” line of T1.3 full-frame cine lenses and a 50mm T2.3 2x Anamorphic

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Samyang has today announced a new set of Xeen Meister cine lenses. The new collection is kicking off with three lenses at 35mm, 50mm and 85mm focal lengths, all with a maximum transmission of T1.3. Oh yes, these are some WIDE aperture lenses! As well as the three new T1.3 primes, there’s also a new Xeen Anamorphic 50mm T2.3 2x.

The Xeen name has been around for a while in the Samyang lineup, but Xeen Meister is the name Samyang is giving to their most premium of cine lenses. What is very new, though, is the anamorphic lens. Rumours have been around for a while now that Samyang was working on an anamorphic lens, but it’s taken a while to bring it to fruition. Well, now, Samyang’s first anamorphic lens, the Xeen Anamorphic 50mm T2.3 2x, is official.

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Yongnuo expands its full-frame Sony E mount prime lineup with the YN 50mm F1.8S DF DSM

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Yongnuo has announced its third full-frame lens in their Sony E-Mount prime lineup. The new Yongnuo YN 50mm F1.8S DF DSM expands the range to three, adding to the YN 35mm f2S DF DSM and the YN 85mm f1.8S DF DSM.

As with the other two, this is a relatively low budget lens with a price estimated to be around $300-350 when it hits the US. Of course, being made by a brand like Yongnuo, we kind of expect it to be fairly low budget. That being said, it does look like YN’s actually making their own lenses now and not simply copying Canon’s and sticking other mounts on them.

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Panasonic adds the new Lumix S 35mm F1.8 to its L mount f/1.8 prime lineup

Panasonic has announced its new Lumix S 35mm F1.8 (S-S35) lens for L mount bodies, which includes Panasonic’s own S series cameras, as well as L mount bodies from Leica and Sigma’s fp and fp L cameras. It’s the fourth lens in Panasonic’s Lumix f/1.8 primes range, adding to the 24mm, 50mm and 85mm lenses in the lineup.

It comes with a dust, splash and freeze-resistant design and Panasonic says that it’s an ideal lens for both photos and video in terms of both noise and focus performance. It also provides smooth aperture changes for when you need to shoot video in shutter priority.

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The ZY Optics Lens Turbo 2 is a 0.72x speed booster for M42, EF and F mount lenses on Nikon Z bodies

ZY Optics has announced its new Zhongyi Lens Turbo II. It’s a 0.72x speed booster for Nikon Z mount APS-C cameras. There are three versions available that let you use full-frame M42, Canon EF and Nikon F mount lenses on the new system with a wider field of view than you’d otherwise get on an APS-C body. It also gives you an extra stop of light and brings back some of that shallow depth of field.

It’s not an autofocus adapter, like the Nikon FTZ and this is reflected in the price, but it does mean that when you’re shooting video, you’ll get to use some of those classic lenses that people have been using with their other cameras for years.

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The first OM System lens has now officially been announced – M.Zuiko 20mm f/1.4 Pro

After a bit of an early leak, OM Digital Solutions has now officially announced its first item with the new OM System branding. It’s the OM System M.Zuiko Digital ED 20mm F1.4 Pro for Micro Four Thirds, offering a field of view equivalent to that of a 40mm lens on a full-frame body. While announced today, the lens doesn’t officially release until December 10th.

It has what OMDS describes as “beautifully bleeding blur” (at least, that’s what it translates to), which is an odd phrase given that the lens primarily seems to be targeted towards landscape and travel, although portraits do get a little mention. And now we get to see that video in full which, despite the name change, is still on the “Olympus” YouTube channel.

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