Voigtlander APO-Lanthar 90mm f/3.5

I will turn this into a review asap but it's been so long since there has been anything new I just thought I would get some content up.

This lens is the first of the Cosina manufactured versions, a fact that attracted scorn at the time but of course once the truly astonishing APO-Lanthar 125mm f/2.5 SL came along, possibly one of the greatest lenses ever made, nobody questioned Cosina again.

I love this lens, it's not the fastest but not too slow either, it performs beautifully from wide open and has fantastically smooth bokeh. There's just something about the way it renders that I love, it certainly seems to produce a subtle 3d effect a lot of the time.

The build quality is also excellent and the focus ring has just the right amount of damping. This lens can be had for relatively little money so I think it represents something of a bargain.

Bristol Balloon Fiesta 2012

So did I mention I tried two copies of the canon 15-85mm in my seemingly never ending quest for a standard zoom lens that doesn't suck? Well I did and they both sucked, they were both decentered and on different edges of the picture too, maybe I should have tried a third?

I then tried a Sigma 17-50mm OS and guess what? The left side of the image is soft! I GIVE UP!!!!!! it was too short notice to send it back so I had to take it to this years Bristol Balloon fiesta and make do, SOME of the shots were relatively sharp across the frame at f/7.1 but even then it was hit and miss, I really wanted to stick to F/5.6 or ideally F/4 so I could use a CPL and stay to ISO 100 and still get decent shutter speeds because of my ridiculously shaky hands!

What a shame, the lens was good otherwise, it's very similar to my Sigma 18-50mm (which ISN'T decentered but DOES front focus by a huge margin) The build is great, the OS appears to work well, the usual warm Sigma colours are there and the bokeh is great for a zoom lens. Some reviews claim the lens has poor edge sharpness but on the side my lens was working properly I found the edge was very sharp by f/5.6 at the wide end and was pretty sharp wide open at the long end, if only the story was the same at the other side of the picture!

I will have to try getting a replacement or a warranty repair at least once so I will report back with my findings, I'm not holding my breath!

Anyway, here are some photos from the balloon fiesta, taken with a combination of Canon 60D and aforementioned Sigma lens as well as they Sony nex-5n and the Samyang 8mm and Fujian 35mm lenses:

a quickr pickr post

HOW MUCH CANON?? (again)

Well it seems Canon believe we are all rich judging by the price of the new mirrorless camera, at $800 it has to be said it's a little steep for an entry level model. Perhaps more disturbing is the 18-55mm kit lens which will weigh in at $300!

These prices are sure to come down in time but even so Canon seem to be going crazy with their prices recently, the MKII version of the 24-70 and the new 28mm and 24mm primes are more examples of this.

Review: Samyang 8mm F/3.5 Aspherical IF MC Fish Eye

For several years now Samyang have been making some very decent manual focus lenses that boast image quality to rival OEM brands at a fraction of the cost. The lenses obviously lack autofocusing but otherwise have proven to be impressive in terms of image and build quality.
The lenses have been sold under numerous brand names such as Rokinon/Vivitar/Polar/Bower/Opteka/Falcon as well as Samyang.
This review will concentrate on is the Samyang 8mm f/3.5 Aspherical IF MC Fish-eye, I purchased this lens after hearing almost unanimous praise being heaped upon it so the question is does it live up to the hype?


Build quality and finish:

The lens is very well made overall, there's a lot of metal and all surfaces have that nice textured effect which feels more tactile and looks better than plain smooth plastic and paint. The lens has a nice damped focus ring and the aperture ring clicks satisfyingly just like the old days, the lens is very much from the old school when it comes to build quality and that is definitely a plus point. The only niggle I had was that the finish on the edge of the built in lens hood was slightly rough which was at odds with the rest of the lens but overall it looks and feels solid, reliable and dependable.


Image quality:

The image quality is fantastic overall, centre resolution is great from wide open and at f/5.6-f/11 the edges are very sharp too especially for a fisheye lens. The lens gives nice punchy contrasty images with good colour saturation which I have come to expect from Samyang as even their less glamorous 80's lenses always give nice colour as does the 18-28mm zoom from the 90's. Flare resistance is pretty good even with the sun in the frame sometimes and is noticeably better than some of this lenses rivals.
The elements inside the lens appear to be perfectly centred with images showing consistent sharpness across the frame.
The only true weakness of this lens for me is chromatic aberration which can become very noticeable towards the edges of the image however I must say it seems to be very easy to correct with software, Capture One for example does a pretty much perfect job of removing it with just one click which was a great relief as it is the only real law with this lens.
Overall the image quality is impressive and the lens definitely punches above it's weight and even exceeds the quality of some of it's rivals in terms of edge sharpness and flare resistance.

Conclusion?

I think the lens is fantastic, the image quality is superb, especially for a lens of it's type. The build quality and handling are also impressive especially for the price! The only two real drawbacks can be overcome almost completely, firstly the chromatic aberration can be combated very successfully in software and secondly the lack of autofocus is almost a non issue! When the lens is set to f/5.6 or smaller the extremely wide focal length means that hyperfocal focusing will ensure everything from a few feet to infinity is in focus, just set the focus ring to 2m and for most scenes you'll never have to touch it again!
I fully recommend this lens!


This lens was tested on a Canon EOS 60D

First image of the new Canon mirrorless camera and pancake lens!

The first image of Canon's entry into the mirrorless market has been revelaed via the digicame-info website! The camera is named the EOS M and features a new EF-M mount with an APS-C sized sensor. Also shown in the photo is a new 22mm f/2 stm pancake lens!

Update: I see a lot of people are already calling for the public execution of this camera before it is even released! Calm down! This is the very first model and is no doubt intended to have a broad appeal. Obviously it is somewhat simplistic in terms of specs but it is almost inevitable that a more advanced model will be released later on, it looks like a decent enough camera to me, I think it looks neat and minimalist and while it may not be oozing with features you can be sure the image quality will be on a decent level.

My Sony NEX-5N doesn't have a built in viewfinder or a command dial or a built in flash but that doesn't stop it from being one of the best mirrorless cameras on the market and that's thanks in no small part to the astonishingly good image quality.

Only time will tell how good the camera is but knowing Canon it won't be anything less than decent and that lens looks very interesting, take note Sony! There is an official Canon event on monday that could well be the official announcement of this camera and the new system!