Thursday’s Lens Rain: Nikon, Lomography, and Lensbaby

So if you were getting tired of the 4K parade that’s been so prevalent at the NAB show this week, here’s a post that’ll be worth looking into. Thursday was a big day for lens announcements, with three main entries into the competition.

Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3G ED VR Lens

 

I’ll start with the big guy’s announcement first: the Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3G ED VR Lens.

This lens has a 35mm equivalent focal length range of 27-450mm, which gives it its “all-in-one” aspect to the zoom by covering wide-angle shots and telephoto perspectives. It is not as solid (or expensive, or heavy) as the three 2.8 lenses you’d have to replace it with going for better optics, but it can be a nice all around lens if you are willing to settle a bit on the optics. Like all of Nikon all-around latest lenses, it has a VR (vibration reduction) mechanism, which should add stability of about 2-3 stops. It looks like Nikon added the VR and took a bit of light on the tele end, replacing the older Nikkor DX 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6G.

You can grab Nikon’s latest addition, designed for DX-format DSLRs, through a pre-order here for $900.

Lensbaby’s 5.8mm f/3.5 Circular Fisheye

Moving onto Lensbaby’s 5.8mm f/3.5 Circular Fisheye, we get to have some options for Canonistas as well: This lens is available for both Canon EF and Nikon F mounts, and it’ll take full-circle shots with a 185 degree angle of view. fisheye focal length is set at 5.8mm. See the photo at the beginning of the post for a sample. The aperture range going from f/3.5 to f/22, and a close minimum focusing distance of 1/4″. It’s pretty much your basic high-quality fisheye lens, honestly. You’ll get a great depth of field with it and make some great perspective shots, but don’t expect too much out of lower light.

Taking into account everything about this lens, it’s price is great for what you’ll get. This one can be pre-ordered for $300, with a Canon mount and a Nikon mount.

Lomography’s Russar+

 

The last lens on the list is from Lomography. A camera dedicated at heart to analog film. As such it bought out the Lomography Petzval and now continues the line of recreating older lenses with the New Russar+. The lens will come in two flavors: M mount for Leica and L39 for which should have adapters for just about every other camera out there (both in eahc package via an adapter).

The Original Russar MR-2 was a lens patented in 1946, and it’s what contributed to the foundations that all wide-angle lenses today are designed on. This addition (the Russar+ L39/M) is meant to be a “rebirth” of that lens, and it’s pretty exciting to hear about. Basing itself off of the 1946 original, the Russar+ will be a 20mm wide-angle lens with a maximum aperture of f/5.6. This is one lens I can’t exactly give a prediction on. It’s the one I’m looking most forward to because of how far out there it is.

This lens can be pre-ordered  here for $650 and is expected to ship in July. Trippy video in 3,2,1…

What do you guys think of the additions? Personally, I’ve always been a Canon user, so I really don’t have options here besides going with Lensbaby on this for a fisheye.