published news
Nikon 17-35mm f/2.8D ED-IF AF-S Zoom Nikkor Lens
Nikon 17-35mm f/2.8D ED-IF AF-S Zoom Nikkor Lens
posted by abcnoonoi 1 day 7 hours 12 minutes ago
Nikon 17-35mm f/2.8D ED-IF AF-S Zoom Nikkor Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras (Electronics) Of the auto-focus Nikkor lenses, I've owned the 20/2.8D, 24/2.8D, and 35-70/2.8D. My current lenses are the AF80-200/2.8D (2-ring version), and the AFS17-35/2.8D. That's all is needed for my general photography. Any distortion can be easily created in Photoshop CS. The AFS17-35/2.8D is the sharpest lens of all the manual and auto-focus Nikkor lenses I have owned/used. Since purchasing this lens almost 3 years ago, it has become the standard lens on my Nikon F5. I travel with the AFS17-35/2.8D and (in my opinion) it's natural companion the AF80-200/2.8D. Both zoom lenses are ranked number 1 and 2 in sharpness respectively. The lens, mounted on an F5, was dropped 3.5 feet in a thinly cushioned bag onto a concrete walkway. The back of the F5 took the impact. According to Nikon Canada, the lens survived but the F5 needed a new $400+ autofocus assembly. .
Read more...Sigma 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC Lens
Sigma 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC Lens
posted by abcnoonoi 1 day 7 hours 15 minutes ago
Sigma 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras (Electronics) 3 stars because of: 1) soft corners at 18mm (f3.5) 2) vignetting at 18mm (f3.5) 3) lens creep (self extension of lens barrel while walking) if not retracted/lock at 18mm This lens has the most useful range one can possibly have. It has become my only lens for short travelling trip when I don't want hassel of changing lens. I took only this lens with my Canon XT to Amsterdam (5days) without missing my other lenses at all. Here are some photos taken with this lens in my website: http://www.theteh /html/london_street_.html http://www.theteh /html/croatia.html http://www.theteh /html/index1.html For this price range (other than the Tamron 18-200) there is no other lenses that can compete! .
Read more...Olympus Zuiko 12-60mm f/2.8-4.0 Digital ED SWD Lens
Olympus Zuiko 12-60mm f/2.8-4.0 Digital ED SWD Lens
posted by abcnoonoi 1 day 7 hours 18 minutes ago
Olympus Zuiko 12-60mm f/2.8-4.0 Digital ED SWD Lens for Olympus Digital SLR Cameras (Electronics) Okay, apologies, a slight exaggeration... It is simply the best general zoom on this planet! :) Enough to make users of other brands with bigger market share give envious looks across their shoulder to see what the fuss is all about. Olympus' expertise in optics shines through with this lens and has been commended from all corners from professionals to users to reviewers -- and rightly so. I have had this lens for over 3 months now and it is probably more popular on my E-420 than with the 25mm Pancake! If I don't need extreme portability, then this lens takes priority for good reasons. Colour capture is stunning, detail is sharp, chromatic aberration is almost non-existent, AF speed is nippy and the 12mm to 60mm (24mm to 120mm) range is extremely useful. My favourite is using it at wide-angle but this lens is consistently great at all ranges. Macro shooting is great as well with nice bokeh at tele' end. For negatives -- and I am nit-picking here -- there is slight complex distortion at 12mm but nothing that concerns me too much (and I shoot mostly in wide), it is a bit weighty on my E-420 to make it front heavy which might concern some people if they have a smaller body, but I quite like it like this, and, lastly, I cannot shoot with pop-up flash, but I tend to avoid using flash as much as possible as I like having natural light in my photos. All in all, whether you are a current Olympus user or not, it is definitely recommended for all who are interested in an `all purpose lens', who are passionate about photography and value `it's the glass' philosophy that some people swear by. My photography has certainly come leaps and bounds from using `quality glass' and, in this Zuiko, it has certainly marked a standard that others still have to reach. Happy lens hunting. See comments for more info. .
Read more...Sigma AF 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS
Sigma AF 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS
posted by abcnoonoi 1 day 7 hours 20 minutes ago
Sigma AF 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS (Optical Stabilizer) Zoom Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras (Electronics) Loved this lens when it worked... however now, only one year later, this lens doesn't work! Short circuits new Nikon D90 camera and won't AF on D50. I can't afford to be buying a new $500 lens on a yearly basis - I'm extremely disappointed in Sigma's longevity. Sigma AF 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS (Optical Stabilizer) Zoom Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras (Electronics) I buy many products based upon reviews from other users. That is also the case with this lens. I bought my Nikon D40 about 3 months ago (after 10 years of using point and shoots, including my treasured Canon S2is super zoom), with the kit 18-55mm lens, pl
Read more...Tamron AF 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD IF Macro Lens
Tamron AF 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD IF Macro Lens
posted by abcnoonoi 1 day 7 hours 24 minutes ago
Tamron AF 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD IF Macro Lens with Built in Motor for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras (Electronics) I recently bought this lens hoping to save some money by not getting the Nikon 70-200. I returned it the next day due to several factors. I'll keep this brief and just make a list of positives and negatives. Positives: 1. Stopped down to F8 this thing was RAZOR sharp. 2. Handling was good. 3. Not terribly heavy. 4. Zoom and focus rings fairly smooth. Negatives: 1. Nowhere near sharp wide open. Almost unusable. 2. Slow focusing, especially in moderate to low light. 3. Inaccurate focusing in low light. 4. Noisy when focusing. Didn't really bother me, but it may bother some. Anyway. If you are shooting static subjects and stop the lens down it is really nice. Otherwise, you get what you pay for. Don't even thing about using this for indoor sports. .
Read more...Pentax SMC DA* Series 50-135mm f/2.8 ED IF SDM Telephoto Zoom Lens
Pentax SMC DA* Series 50-135mm f/2.8 ED IF SDM Telephoto Zoom Lens
posted by abcnoonoi 1 day 7 hours 27 minutes ago
Pentax SMC DA* Series 50-135mm f/2.8 ED IF SDM Telephoto Zoom Lens for Pentax and Digital SLR Cameras (Electronics) First the good: This is an impressive lens in both feel and looks. There's no mistaking that this is professional glass. For portraits and non-flash situations like stage performances, I wanted a lens that was top-notch in sharpness and overall image quality. According to the specs and the various reviews, this lens delivers...and that's why I bought it. Now the bad: I got a bad copy. When you point your camera at the intended subject and press the shutter, you expect the autofocus system to nail the focus, at least the vast majority of the time, especially with an expensive lens like this. Even a basic point-and-shoot is pretty reliable in that regard. However, not so with the DA* 50-135 copy I received. The majority of my shots are slightly off-focus, enough to not only cancel out the superior sharpness qualities of this lens, but to also ruin what would othewise be an excellent shot. This problem occurs in all types of shooting situations and camera/lens settings. What is more disappointing than having my one faulty lens is finding out that there are others who are experiencing similar problems with their DA* lenses. What I do know is that when I use any other Pentax or Tamron lenses on my K10, everything works fine (yes, I've upgraded the firmware to enable the SDM). In the few times that the focus is spot-on, I can say that the resulting image is quite impressive indeed. For this amount of money, my tolerance to getting a bad sample is a bit less than if this had been a consumer-grade lens at half the price. I really, really want this lens to work for me the way it's supossed to because I'm a big Pentax advocate and like their recent products and direction in the D-SLR market. So I'm returing mine for another and keeping my fingers crossed. I'll update this review once I get the new copy and can then hopefully report on the superior performance capabilities of the lens. Update (2/13/08): I was told by Amazon that they couldn't send me a replacement because of a supplier problem, so I'll be getting a refund. After further research into the professional Pentax DA* lens series and seeing a pattern of issues, it's probably best to skip it for now. I'm putting my money on the new Tamron 70-200 f2.8 due out in March. There aren't too many high-end lens options for Pentax D-SLR owners, so there's a lot of anxious folks out there waiting for the first reviews of the new Tamron to come through with hopes that it will deliver the same high level of image quality as a properly working DA* 50-135. Update (3/2/08): So I find out from Tamron that they don't know when the 70-200 f2.8 lens will be released for the Pentax mount - possibly summer. Since I can't wait that long due to upcoming shooting events, I decided to take another chance with the DA* 50-135 from my local Calumet store. I was able to first test the lens for both focus and centering accuracy. It seemed to work fine - sold! After a number of test shots over the following days, I quickly was able to see that this is indeed a "Five Star" professonal lens. I had recently picked up the Tamron 28-75 f2.8, which is exceptionally sharp for a consumer lens, and did a number of comparison shots with the DA* 50-135. What I found was that the Pentax lens was unquestionably sharper across all apertures, but the weakest at f2.8 (although not that bad at all) with some sharpness falloff at the boarders. The SDM feature is certainly far quieter than the camera's screw-drive motor and very pleasing to have, but I'm not convinced it's any quicker. Image quality from what I've seen so far is excellent. Although the lens body is constructed of plastic, it looks and feels solid and of exceptional quality; a real joy to handle. Now if I could update my rating of this lens, I'd change it to four stars but not five - only because of the number of bad copies released. For a high-end lens, quality control should be better. So far, I'm very pleased with the performance of this professional lens. Update (3/9/08): Well, after a week of continued testing of this lens, what I've discovered is that this lens, too, now has a focus "problem." While subjects seemed to be sharp most of the time initially, I found that more and more shots were slightly off more often. I then did a number of Point of Focus / Depth of Field tests by shooting a finely marked yardstick from above at about a 45 degree angle about five feet away. With the camera on center spot AF, I selected a point on the ruler and took a number of shots at various apertures and focal lengths. What should occur is that if your Depth of Field is say four inches in length(the area that's sharply focused), your Point of Focus should be about in the middle or just forward of that point. What I found with my second copy of the DA* 50-135 is that the Depth of Focus starts just about at the Point of Focus and goes back.
Read more...Nikon 85mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor Lens
Nikon 85mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor Lens
posted by abcnoonoi 1 day 7 hours 29 minutes ago
Nikon 85mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras (Electronics) This is a solid performer on any Nikon, although the old-school screw-drive AF system will render it less useful on less compatible models. The depth of field is so narrow at f/1.8, that users will have hard time nailing sharp focus on moving objects if they're limited to manual focus mode (as you would on a D60 or D5000 for instance). On my D90, this lens is awesome -- razor sharp with professional-looking bokeh. I never liked the built-in flash using my other lens (16-85mm Nikon), but I find that shots taken with my 85mm look totally different -- the bokeh is so rich that the harsh background shadows otherwise captured with lesser lenses just disappear in the blur. Even with functional AF on my D90, accurate focus tracking can be tricky on moving subjects. I suspect that if this lens was updated to AF-S, it might focus a tad quicker (and not drain my battery so fast). But overall, this is a great lens for the price. Flawless optical quality. .
Read more...Canon EF 100mm f/2 USM Telephoto Lens
Canon EF 100mm f/2 USM Telephoto Lens
posted by abcnoonoi 1 day 7 hours 32 minutes ago
Canon EF 100mm f/2 USM Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras (Electronics) I use this lens on my 7D for indoor youth basketball. Many of the gyms where these games are played are lit like dungeons, and I need every stop I can get. This lens allows me to obtain 1/400 shutter speeds or better and still keep the ISO below 3200. It lets in twice as much light as a more expensive f/2.8 zoom, which effectively allows twice the sharpness for moving subjects, or half the noise. The focal length is very useful for courtside shots from half-court or the corners. It's a bit long for shots from right under the rim, but a bit further away it allows for wonderful head-and-shoulders action close-ups. I also use the 50mm f/1.4, but the 100mm f/2.0 has become my go-to lens. Even in low light, autofocus is fast, accurate, and silent. It tends to render indoor colors more warmly than other primes (50mm f/1.4, 28mm f/1.8), so you may or may not want to adjust your white balance accordingly as you switch lenses. Sharpness wide open is fine for my purposes. For indoor action, sharpness is primarily a function of shutter speed, and even at 1/400 the effect of more subject movement at slower shutter speeds far outweighs any possible benefit from stopping down. Also, action is in the center of the frame, and at f/2.0 the corners/background is out of focus anyway so sharpness there is irrelevent. In practice, for the shooting I do, this lens is very sharp wide open. Build quality is very solid. Shortly after purchase, I dropped this lens about 2 feet onto a driveway and it suffered no evident ill effects. If you are looking for a lens to stop indoor action, at a reasonable price, this is your lens! .
Read more...
