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Nikon has just released the NIKKOR Z DX 24mm f/1.7 lens (buy here) as part of its lineup for the DX format Z series for mirrorless. The lens is a fast, bright and compact prime designed for portability.
Built for the DX series of cropped APS-C sensors, the lens has a full frame equivalent of 36mm. This makes it almost parallel with the more usual 35mm focal length that is so popular with street, portrait and landscape photographers.
I love shooting with prime lenses. Something about the simplicity of having to ‘zoom with your feet‘ combined with a lighter weight and usually better value for your wallet makes them an obvious choice for many photographers. I shoot a lot of portraits and generally gravitate towards the 50mm. However, for environmental portraits and even the odd landscape image, I will often reach for the 35mm prime lens. On a full frame camera, it’s a fantastic focal length for street photography.
So I was curious to find out how Canon’s native full frame RF mount 35mm f/1.8 lens stacked up. It has 5 stops of Optical Image Stabilisation and 1:2 macro capabilities. But, at $499, for a prime, it’s not especially cheap. So I was keen to find out how good it could be. I tried it out on my Canon EOS R.
I own a few odd-ball prime lenses that hover around the 50mm-ish lens length, and offer some unique bokeh, making them interesting choices for portrait photography. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the term “bokeh”, its the out of focus area in the image, or rather the quality or look there-of. For many this is very subjective – one person’s AWESOME bokeh is another’s busy, fussy background.
A lot of us fall into two camps when it comes to photography. Nope, I’m not talking about Nikon versus Canon or any such silliness. I’m talking about whether you’re predominantly a zoom lens shooter or a prime lens aficionado. Personally, I love a good prime lens. I don’t know if it’s because I shoot video or because I love to photograph people, but my camera kit seems to be full of mostly prime lenses.
There are many advantages to shooting with prime lenses, yes, even for landscape or travel photography. In this video, photographer James Popsys takes us for a walk in the beautiful Welsh countryside and tells us what he loves best about shooting with primes.
Meyer Optik Görlitz has just released Trioplan 35mm f/2.8 II. The new lens features a recognizable look and bokeh of other company’s lenses, and you can get one in pretty much any mount you want: 11 of them, to be exact.
Russian lens manufacturer Zenit has announced four new manual focus prime lenses. A 60mm f/2.8 macro and 58mm f/1.9 are made for Nikon F and Canon EF, whereas 50mm f/1.5 and 35mm f/2 are made for Sony E-mount cameras.
Meike has just announced a new 50mm f/1.2 lens a fast, yet affordable prime for Canon mirrorless cameras. It retails at only $359, which is around 1/7 of the price of Canon RF 50mm f/1.2. So, let’s dive in and see what you get.
German lens manufacturer Voigtländer has just announced three new fast primes for Sony full-frame mirrorless cameras: 35mm f/1.2 SE, 40mm f/1.2 SE, and 50mm f/1.2 SE. The “SE” stands for “Still Edition,” meaning that they’re aimed particularly at still shooters. The reason for this is clickable aperture, but it also makes them more affordable than the Sony counterparts.
Other than the D6, Nikon also has something to make Z shooters happy today: the company has just announced NIKKOR Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3 VR and NIKKOR Z 20mm f/1.8 S. We’ve been expecting them since January and October last year. The 20mm f/1.8 was even shown off at last year’s CP+. But now they’re both out and ready for you to start shooting with them. So, let’s dive in and see what you can expect.
Fujifilm has just announced two new lenses for its two camera systems. The first is the 16-80mm f/4 R OIS WR, a versatile zoom for Fujifilm’s APS-C X-mount cameras. The second lens is the GF 50mm f/3.5 R LM WR, a compact prime designed for the medium format G-mount GFX system. Let’s check out more details and specs.
Udi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.
Alex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe
Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.
John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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