Sigma 14mm F/1.8 DG HSM Art review by Marc Alhadeff

Marc Alhadeff posted the review of the new Sigma 14mm F/1.8 DG HSM Art lens:

The Sigma 14mm F1.8 DG HSM Art (1600 euros) is an excellent lens optically for a wide angle with the fastest aperture available for that focal length.
Centre sharpness is excellent , and corners are already good wide open and become progressively excellent
The Sigma 14mm F1.8 is certainly the best 14mm available in the market in term of sharpness , bokeh and color rendition, and it low coma makes it suited for astrophotography
The F1.8 allows for some unique effect of background blur for a wide angle that has no equivalent
The only issue is the capricious Autofocus and the price tag (1600 euros), one of the most expensive of the Art line

 

 

 

First review of the new Voigtlander Color Skopar 21mm f/3.5 E-mount by Fred Miranda

The new Voigtlander Color Skopar 21mm f/3.5 E-mount lens is in Stock at Amazon US (Click here).

Fred Miranda (Click here) is the first person testing the Voigtlander Color Skopar 21mm f/3.5 E-mount

Pros
Compact and light lens, ideal for hiking
Solid all-metal construction with tight manufacturing tolerance
Excellent resolution at all distances including MFD
Voigtlander signature color and contrast
Very good flare performance
Great coma performance wide open
Low distortion
10-blade straight aperture allows well-defined sunstars starting at f/4
Very low chromatic aberrations
Reasonably priced compared to the competition

Cons
Mounting and un-mounting is troublesome since the only non-rotating lens’ surface is very thin
Mid-zone not as great as center and corners at wide apertures. (f/3.5-5.6)
Pronounced vignetting that never truly goes away
Slight lower contrast/resolution compared to its main competitor (Loxia 21/2.8)

Dynamic range test: Both the Canon EOS-R and Nikon Z cameras fall behind the Sonys

Photonstophotos measured the Dynamic Range of the Canon EOS-R and Nikon Z cameras. Overall none of the competitor can match the performance of the Sony A7rIII or Sony A7III. Also keep in mind the Canon and Nikon cameras are the newest cameras meaning that the gap is expected to increase once Sony announces the new models.

Of course Dynamic range alone is not the measure for the overall quality of a camera. But at least from a pure IQ point of view Sony is definitely the leader.

Ray Larose hands-on test of the new Zeiss ZX1

Ray Larose is one of the very few people who had the chance to shoot with the new Zeiss ZX1 (specs here).

Holding it in the hand is like nothing else. When I first grabbed it, it reminded me (slightly) of the X1D and much nicer than the Sony RX1R II I had.

The rear screen is incredible. A bright (even in bright sunlight) 4.3” OLED touchscreen with intuitive menus. Being able to take a shot, swipe of a thumb to add my own custom preset in Lightroom CC, then exporting it to social media – with nothing more than a click – was an amazing and exciting experience. And having all this stored on an internal 512 GB SSD drive – just wow.

The slight curve to the body is a dream and fits the hand really well. Raw photos are a dream (even in beta) – a feel that’s really approaching medium format for me.

I feel this one has a touch more character than the RX1R II version. I see it have a smoother bokeh and a nice edge to edge sharpness. As you know, the RX1R II has slight distortion in the edges, something I didn’t see on the ZX1.

Ray cannot dislcose more yet but I can’t wait to see some real work shot with it.

Zeiss Batis 40mm f/2 CF Review at ePhotozine: “has the sparkle that gives that emotional element”

ePhotozine posted their full Zeiss Batis 40mm f/2 CF Review:

Quality, lack of compromise and elegance of design. These are the things that characterise the new lens, one which I have found very exciting to use. It also does not fall into the trap of being clinically sharp without having that indefinable character. It manages to be crisp and clean in terms of its images, but they also have the sparkle that gives that emotional element. Sometimes this is referred to as “pixie dust”, the magical extra ingredient that makes great lenses.

Thus the new Zeiss Batis 40mm f/2 CF lens justifies its price tag and it has that extra quality that makes it an Editor’s Choice.

The new Zeiss Batis lens is available for preorder at Adorama and BHphoto.