 Your new post is loading...
The Pentax SMC DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL WR is a fairly unusual "kit" lens. Upon skin-deep inspection of its specifications it just delivers the usual focal-length- and aperture-range like its various counterparts beyond the Pentax world. However, it has a major differentiator marked by the "WR" in the lens name - it is "weather resistant" thus sealed against dust and humidity. This is something usually found in pricey professional grade lenses. From a product perspective it makes sense, of course, because it is primarily sold with the Pentax K-5 which is a weather resistant DSLR. This is certainly smarter than Canon's (EOS 7D) or Nikon's (D7000) approach - they have no weather sealed consumer grade lenses despite weather-sealed APS-C DSLRs. The DA 18-55mm AL WR is also sold separately for about 200EUR/250US$ so it is quite a bit more expensive than "usual" for such a lens. There's also a non-WR version, the Pentax SMC DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL II, to supply the budget market.
The Sigma 18-50mm ƒ/2.8 offers a constant wide-aperture solution for APS-C-sized digital SLR cameras, an alternative to variable-aperture kit lenses. The lens has been replaced in Sigma's lineup by the 17-50mm ƒ/2.8 OS.
The Nikkor 24mm f/2.8 is a wide prime that has been around for quite a while. The still current AF-D version of the lens was introduced in 1994, however the basic design goes back to the Ai version, which was brought to market in 1977 already. Just like the optical formular, other properties remained unchanged through the years: it is rather compact and light-weight, and also quite affordable for a relatively fast prime. At the time of this review (May 2011) the lens retails for around 400 EUR/USD.
In this review we will have a look at how the lens performs on our FX test camera, the Nikon D3x.
The Tamron AF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 SP Di VC USD is the latest addition to the market segment of stabilized slow speed consumer grade tele-zoom lenses. It faces rather stiff competition from its direct competitor - the Nikon AF-S 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 VR - which has been immensely successful ever since it was introduced.
On paper the Tamron throws a new optical design with XLD glass ("Extra Low Dispersion"), VC ("Vibration Control", 4 f-stop effectivity) and the new USD ("Ultrasonic Silent Drive") into the fight. Price-wise it is on roughly the same level as the Nikon lens.
In this review we will have a look at how the lens performs on our FX test camera, the Nikon D3x.
If there had been a competition for "Most unlikely new lens", this might have been the winner: the Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.8 G, an updated version of Nikon's entry level normal prime. Until accidently leaked on a Nikon web site, hardly anyone would have expected the long lasting AF-D 50/1.8 to see an update soon. There are many other primes in Nikon's current line up that certainly many consider to have higher priority to be refreshed.
For Nikon, the AF-S 50/1.8 G makes perfect sense, however. Due to their rather low cost, normal lenses are often purchased by many as their first prime and thus sell in rather high volumes (for a prime lens). In addition, especially 50mm lenses are very popular for portraiture on DX cameras, or any other application that benefits from shallow depth of field. Due to the omission of an integrated motor, the AF-D 50/1.8 lacked AF when used with current entry-level Nikon DSLRs, making the lens an unattractive option for a quite large market segment. The 50/1.8 G solves this issue with its AF-S drive.
In this review however we will have a look at the lens' performance in its native scope, as a full frame normal prime. As usual, we'll use the Nikon D3x as test camera for this FX review.
Ever since it was released in 2006 the Nikkor AF-S 70-300 VR has been a tremendous success for Nikon. It combines an attractive tele zoom range with Nikon's second generation image stabilization (VR II) and an affordable price.
In this review we will have a look at how the lens performs on our FX test camera, the Nikon D3x.
When introduced at PMA 2009 the Nikkor AF-S DX 35/1.8 G caused a few raised eyebrows. Many questioned if there was enough demand to justify a dedicated DX normal prime lens. Until then, that market niche had been exclusively owned by a single third party product only (the Sigma EX 30/1.4 HSM) and even today, two years later, there are no other options except the Sigma and the Nikkor.
Nonetheless, the demand for this lens has been quite high, which is likely also due to its rather low price: from the first day the lens was available for below 200,- EUR (in Germany), quite a bit less than what the Sigma costs (which, however, is a bit faster).
In this review we will have a look at how the lens performs on our current DX test camera, the Nikon D7000.
Surfing the internet doesn't give an easy indication of when the Sigma 24mm ƒ/1.8 lens was introduced, but its styling suggests that it isn't one of Sigma's recent designs. That said, it competes with much more expensive lenses from Canon and Nikon, as well as being available in Sigma, Sony, Pentax, and even Four-Thirds mounts.
The lens was designed to fit 35mm film or a full-frame sensor, and will provide an equivalent field of view of approximately 35mm when used on an APS-C-sized sensor. The Nikon version of the lens does not have a built-in motor, so it won't autofocus on consumer bodies such as the D3100 or D5100.
The Sigma 24mm ƒ/1.8 EX DG Aspherical Macro ships with a petal-shaped lens hood, accepts 77mm filters, and is available now for approximately $550...
On paper a 85mm prime is just a short tele lens, but for many photographers it's first of all a classic head and shoulder portrait lens. In almost any system these lenses are available in two forms: moderately fast (usually f/1.8) and, for that extra kick and of course also extra temptation, ultra fast (f/1.4 or even faster).
In the latter segment the market has seen some interesting additions and newcomers from third party manufacturers like Zeiss, Sigma and even Samyang in the recent years. Among those, Nikon's own offering, the AF-D 85/1.4, began to look a little outdated.
This has changed now with the Nikkor AF-S 85mm f/1.4 G. It's one of the new ultra fast Nikkor primes, a product line that saw a significant refresh by Nikon in 2010. The new lens finally features an AF-S drive as well as Nikon's Nano Crystal Coat, a special glass coating that helps to reduce ghosting and flare in backlight conditions.
In this review, we'll have a look at how the lens performs on our FX test camera, the Nikon D3x.
Tokina is the smallest of the 3 more widely-known third-party manufacturers. They offer a couple of fairly unexciting products but they're playing among the very best in one specific segment - ultra-wide angle lenses. Their APS-C format AF 12-24mm f/4 AT-X Pro DX and AF 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X Pro DX received top scores here in the zone but till recently they didn't offer a full format equivalent.
However, they obviously felt confident the full frame market is now large enough for ultra wide third party offerings and released the Tokina AF 16-28mm f/2.8 AT-X Pro FX. As the name indicates, the lens is designed for full format (FX) DSLRs. This is a bold move by Tokina since at least Nikon users already have several high end ultra wide Nikkors available to choose from.
Prise-wise the Tokina is, of course, competitive - it's roughly half the price of Nikon's highly regarded AF-S 14-24/2.8. The somewhat narrow zoom range (compared to the AF-S 17-35 and AF-S 16-35 VR) may be a bit disturbing for some but the truth is that this allows a higher performance ... at least on paper ... and most users will not need a longer setting than 28mm because this focal length is often already covered by standard zoom lenses.
In the leadup to Photokina 2010, Nikon announced (among other things) a new wide-angle prime - the 35mm ƒ/1.4G. The new lens isn't a replacement for the 35mm ƒ/2, which (at the time of writing) has not been discontinued, but rather complements it as a larger, more exotic optic.
The lens was designed to fill the FX sensor (or 35mm film) frame, unlike its DX cousin, the 35mm ƒ/1.8. When mounted on a DX body, the 35mm ƒ/1.4 provides an equivalent field of view of 52mm.
The lens takes 62mm filters, ships with the petal-shaped HB-59 hood, and is currently available for approximately $1,800...
For whatever reason the manufacturers are only offering few "affordable" tele prime lenses today. The Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 USM L is the last of its species (slow speed 400mm) that it marketed today - there used to be a Pentax FA* 400mm f/5.6 and a Minolta AF 400mm f/4.5 APO but these are history already. Seems as if the zoom lenses in this range killed the prime market. The Canon lens survived without changes since 1993. It earned a mixed reputation in the 90s because of a rather mediocre test report in an US magazine. However, it showed no major issues in our old APS-C format test so let's have a look how it performs within its native full format scope.
Even several years ago lenses with 10-15x zoom multiple were those products I wouldn’t recommend to anybody. Often shoddily made devices (with the exception of the Canon L-series lens), they provided images of average or weak quality. The situation has changed significantly lately, though, and two factors contributed to that change. Firstly a lot of Far East factories came into existence so the price of glass and elements of special kind (low-dispersion, aspherical) decreased considerably and they could be used even in cheaper lenses. Secondly, the increase of the computing power of contemporary processors has made the design of complex optical constructions with a wide range of focal lengths much easier.
Small wonder in last 2-4 years we saw several quite well-made 18-200 mm constructions launched on the market. The producers didn’t stop at that – in fact they moved one or even two steps ahead. The record belongs here to the Tamron 18-270 mm with the 15x zoom multiple, which fared quite well in our tests. Sigma didn’t go so far and it offers the 18-200 mm OS lens, tested by us long time ago, and the 18-250 mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS HSM model, launched in January 2009, which avoided our test procedures for quite a long time. Finally it found its way to our editorial office and we checked its performance in practice
|
The introduction of in-body stabilization in competing cameras has put Canon and Nikon under pressure to offer affordable stabilized options in the entry level market segment. Both companies stick to in-lens stabilization, but both managed to scale down their VR and IS system so they can offer optically stabilized kit lenses at very affordable prices.
The Nikkor 18-55 VR is a designated DX lens. The field-of-view is equivalent to 27-82.5mm so, while it may not be a speed daemon, it covers a quite attractive range.
In this review we will have a look at how the lens performs on our current DX test camera, the Nikon D7000.
A cheap standard lens is, by and large, a compulsory position in every reputable system. It was this way long time ago, when every analogue 35-mm camera owner could also buy a 50 mm lens with an aperture ranging from f/1.7 to f/2.0 and they didn’t have to pay an arm and a leg for it.
It seemed only too natural that, with wider and wider accessibility of reflex cameras featuring APS-C/DX class sensors, optical companies would offer standard 30-35 mm lenses as well, right? Wrong. Only Sigma decided to accept the challenge – they have been offering a 1.4/30 device for some years now. The problem is that the lens is not cheap at all and not always available for every beginning amateur of photography. In 2009 something started to change, though. That year Nikon presented the Nikkor AF-S DX 35 mm f/1.8 G which price didn’t exceed 1000 PLN. In 2010 Pentax and Sony joined the ranks of companies which offered cheap standard lenses for smaller sensors. Pentax didn’t impress us because it produced a relatively slow f/2.4 device. Sony followed the path of Nikon and showed a 1.8/35 model which we have the greatest pleasure to feature in this review.
If there is a lens that a full frame system is not complete without, it is the 50mm f/1.8 prime. These lenses usually feature a rather simple optical design, which makes them quite affordable, compact and light-weight, but at the same time bitingly sharp, at least stopped down.
The Nikkor AF 50mm/1.8 D is a typical representative of the species regarding price, size and weight. So let's find out if it meets the expectations in terms of sharpness, too. As usual, we'll use the Nikon D3x for this FX review.
When thinking about affordable stabilized tele zooms for F-mount, the most popular options are Nikon's own offering, the Nikkor 70-300 VR, as well as the new Tamron 70-300 VC. However, there's another competitor in this segment that is often overlooked: the Sigma AF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 OS.
The basic specifications of the lens are similar to the main competition. However it is considerably cheaper and as a bonus also the smallest and lightest lens in this segment.
In this review we will have a look at how the lens performs on our FX test camera, the Nikon D3x.
At the beginning of 2011, along with launches of new reflex cameras, a new kit lens was shown as well - we think here about the EF-S 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II model, equipped with optical image stabilization, which is supposed to accompany the simplest reflex camera in the Canon line-up so the 1100D.
The Sigma AF 120-300mm f/2.8 APO EX HSM DG OS is a quite unique lens. It is the only full format zoom lens with a max. focal length of 300mm combined with a large aperture of f/2.8. Even more unusual is the pricing though - 300m f/2.8 prime lenses are extremely expensive often in excess of 5000EUR/6000US$. The Sigma costs "merely" half than that and is as such within reach of (some) normal mortals. It is also not much more expensive than the shorter Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 USM L IS II which represents the benchmark in the class of fast tele zoom lenses. Regarding its longer focal length the Sigma is more suitable for sports/action photography rather than portraits. Combined with the Sigma APO converters it can be extended to either a 168-420mm f/4 (1.4x) or a 240-600mm f/5.6 (2x).
Today's lens review is the Sigma 28mm f/1.8 EX DG Aspherical Macro prime lens. While just slightly less wide than its 24mm sibling, it does offer similar performance for an economical price :)
The Panasonic Lumix G 14mm f/2.5 ASPH is - besides the the Panasonic Lumix G 20mm f/1.7 ASPH and the Olympus M.Zuiko 17mm f/2.8 Pancake - the third pancake lens available for micro-four-thirds system cameras. In terms of its depth-of-field capabilities it behaves like a f/5.0 on full format (35mm) while the focal length is equivalent to 28mm. With a few words - a small wide-angle lens suited for photojournalism. The lens is either sold as part of a camera kit with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF2 for about 600EUR or separately for about 350EUR.
Recently we have had a look at how the Sigma AF 85mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM performed within its native full format scope (see here), but there are surely also lots of interested Nikon DX users out there who want to get an idea about the quality on the crop format. The lens behaves roughly like a "135mm f/2" lens here in terms of field-of-view and depth-of-field. As such it remains a short tele lens with typical applications such as studio- and portrait photography.
Note: we reused some portions of the corresponding full format article due to obvious similarities in some aspects.
Sigma is entering a market segment which has been traditionally dominated by the genuine manufacturers. In Nikon land we are talking about the well-established but not flawless AF-D 85/1.4 as well as the just recently introduced AF-S 85/1.4. There is also some competition by the Zeiss Planar T* ZF 85mm f/1.4 and the Samyang 85mm f/1.4 - both manual focus lenses and as such not everybody's darling. The Sigma features the same specifications as Nikon's latest offering but is significantly more affordable at just above half the price.
The Sigma AF 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM is a quite uncommon lens. It is Sigma's first-ever large aperture AF 50mm lens which is quite surprising regarding the market significance of the company. However, it seems as if Sigma is aware of the fast prime market potential because they also released the AF 85mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM in Q3/2010.
Unlike other full format 50mm f/1.4 lenses it features a massive front element (77mm filter thread) and it takes advantage of an aspherical element and both aspects are pretty unique design decisions for a 50mm f/1.4 lens. Sigma is obviously quite confident regarding their new baby because they are bold enough to ask a street price beyond the other 50mm f/1.4 AF lenses - around 400€/480US$.
The Canon EF 300mm f/4 USM L IS is a member of Canon's prestigious L-class (Luxury) series. It is, of course, far from being a cheap lens in absolute terms but still much more affordable than its f/2.8 cousin and as such a quite interesting option for those mortals interested in e.g. sports- or wildlife-photography. A couple of years ago we tested the lens on an APS-C DSLR but now that full format DSLRs are within reach of normal mortals it is worth having a look at the performance in its native format.
The Pentax SMC-DA 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 ED AL [IF] WR is one of the kit lens options sold with the Pentax K-5 but it's now also available as a separate option. By today's standards its 7.5x zoom ratio is longer extreme - the Tamron 18-270mm VC PZD has a whopping 15x factor for instance - but it certainly follows a "one-size-fits-all" approach. In full format terms its field-of-view is equivalent to "28-200mm" so it covers everything from moderate moderate wide-angles to fairly long tele settings - combined with a moderate max. aperture. In Europe it sells for just around 600EUR whereas you can pick it up for less than 500US$ in the US ... which makes you wonder about the global pricing policy somehow. In any case it's a comparatively expensive offer - even the now discontinued Pentax SMC-DA 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 was quite a bit cheaper. Consequently our expectation were quite high prior of this test.
|
![Pentax SMC-DA 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 ED AL [IF] WR - Review / Lens Test | Photography Gear News | Scoop.it](https://img.scoop.it/zBX4HOdiK4vipdfruMsYFDl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBVvK0kTmF0xjctABnaLJIm9)
