What do you do when you shoot in the harsh wind? Well, photographer Mathieu Stern learned it the hard way that he should add weight to the tripod when it’s windy. Although he has quite a collection of cheap vintage lenses, the wind managed to tip over the tripod with his camera and an $800 Sony E 10-18mm f/4 lens. Since he was shooting the video at that moment, he accidentally captured the unfortunate event, too.
Oprema Jena revives Biotar 58mm f/2.0 lens with 17 aperture blades
After successfully funding a Kickstarter campaign for the resurrection of Biotar 75mm f/1.5, Oprema Jena is bringing back its “little brother,” Biotar 58mm f/2.0. The lens features unique bokeh, and it’s very sharp even at wide aperture. However, one of its most interesting features is certainly the record number of 17 aperture blades.
Review: The Laowa 15mm f/2 FE lens delivers fine results at a fair price
A few weeks ago Laowa sent me a copy of their first lens dedicated to Sony’s full frame e-mount system, the 15mm f/2. This lens is meant for landscape & astrophotographers who want to capture as much of the beautiful night sky as possible; which means wide and fast.
Last year I was able to get a copy of their 12mm f/2.8 for Canon and used it on my Sony A7Rii with a Metabones adaptor. I was quite surprised how much I enjoyed the lens. A lot of what was great about that lens can be translated over to this one as well. First, let’s talk about the physical design and characteristics.
Yongnuo soon releases budget 40mm f/2.8 and 100mm f/2 lenses for Nikon
Last year, Yongnuo launched a budget 100mm f/2 lens for Canon mount. There was a word then that Nikon version would come soon – and it seems the time for that has finally come. Not only they will soon present us with the 100mm f/2 lens for Nikon, but they’ll also introduce a pancake 40mm f/2.8. Both lenses will be for Nikon F-mount, aimed primarily at full frame cameras.
Photographer shoots portraits with a lens made of a single water droplet
Ads annoy most of us, but when they’re well-made and creative, they can even be fun to watch. Spa Nederland (mineral water company) has one of those brilliant ads – it shows shooting portraits with a lens made from a water droplet.
Photographer Robin de Puy used only a droplet, a glass plate and electricity to create a lens made of water, and it was even possible to focus it. She shot some portraits, and this little experiment turned out to give impressive results.
Meyer Optik Gorlitz launches a modern version of Lydith 30mm f/3.5 lens
Meyer-Optik-Gorlitz has decided to bring a historic Lydith 30mm f/3.5 lens back to life. They’ve launched a Kickstarter campaign trying to raise funds for the rebirth of the lens originally released in 1964. More than 50 years later, they plan to remake the lens with all its qualities, but also with some additional improvements.
Samyang releases full frame 35mm f/2.8 FE lens for Sony that competes with Zeiss at half the price
Samyang have added another lens to their slowly growing autofocus lineup. They’ve announced a new 35mm f/2.8 FE lens for full frame Sony mirrorless cameras. And, on paper, it looks like it might be able to compete with the Zeiss 35mm f/2.8, but at well under half the price.
Adding to the 14mm f/2.8 FE and 50mm f/1.4 FE, this brings the Samyang autofocus range up to three lenses. Samyang’s range of manual focus lenses has been rather impressive. So, it’s not much of a surprise that they seem to be putting the effort into their autofocus lenses. They’re playing it smart, too. Slowly building up the autofocus lineup, rather than trying to rush a complete range out of the door all at once.
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.
Panasonic introduces new wide zoom lens: Leica DG Vario-Elmarit 8-18mm f/2.8-4.0
A new lens for the micro four-thirds system is coming from Panasonic. They have officially announced Leica DG Vario-Elmarit 8-18mm f/2.8-4.0, a wide zoom lens developed in collaboration with Leica.
The lens has a series of low dispersion and aspherical elements for sharp and clear photos. It also provides controlled fringing and aberrations. In addition, it’s durable, with splash-, dust- and freeze-proof features.
This website helps you compare lenses based on sample photos from Flickr
After the website that helps you chose the best lens for you, here’s another interesting lens-related tool. It’s named Lens vs. Lens and it helps you when you can’t decide between two (or more) lenses. It compares the photos taken with different lenses, at various focal lengths and apertures. So, if you’re indecisive, it can be a helpful tool to have all the sample photos in one place for comparison. I believe it has both good and bad sides, and I’m curious to hear what you think.
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