Last week, Sigma surprised all of us with a very unusual announcement: Sigma Mount Conversion Service. It’s all about offering the owners of the most recent Sigma lenses (the Art, Sport and Contemporary series; currently seven lenses in all) the possibility to swap mounts. You bought a 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM with a Canon mount…
Category: Sigma accessories & lenses
Sigma (upcoming) 120-300mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM
It’s hard to be sure of the details on this new lens from Sigma, since they announced that there is a delay (it will not be available this month – in March 2013). The only useful thing I would like to point to the significant items in the spec list: Dust-proof and splash-proof construction High…
30mm Sigma for Sony NEX
Confirming their participation in the race for more E-mount lenses for the Sony NEX family of cameras, Sigma presented a prototype of the upcoming 30mm f/2.8 E.
Sigma: price for the f/2.8 lenses
Sigma revealed the official prices for the high-end lenses presented yesterday: 120-300mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM: $4700 Macro 150mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM: $1600
New tele-zoom at Sigma
The Sigma APO 120-300mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM will allow Sigma to offer second generation image stabilization (with the ability to reach 4 EV improvements) on a wide aperture tele-zoom lens (f/2.8). Now, this is usually the realm of the very best lenses (the f/2.8 aperture at 300mm is normally associated in our mind…
Three new Sigma lenses
Sigma announces the launch of three new lenses in its EX series (high-end and pro lenses). Sigma 12-24mm f/4-5.6 EX DG HSM II is a new improved version of its widest zoom lens Sigma Macro 105mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM is both stabilized and Macro 1:1 Sigma 50-150mm f/2.8 EX DC APO OS HSM…
Sony opens the NEX lens specification
Sony has announced officially and publicly that they are going to completely share the specifications for NEX series lenses. It will become possible for third-party lens manufacturers to create optical products for the Sony NEX hybrid mirror-less photo cameras. Here is very good news for the Sony customers. But it’s even better when we read…
Sigma lenses: not for the Sony Alpha SLT
Sigma issued a press release to inform users that their Minolta-Sony-compatible lenses may have issues in handling the aperture when used on the newest Sony Alpha SLT (Semi-Transparent Mirror) Alpha 33 and Alpha 55. Be warned.
Photography, so many failures!
photo credit: davidgsteadman When buying a photo camera, we often research in order to decide if this is the best camera, if its features will be goo enough, but will it be robust enough? Will it be useful or necessary to purchase a warranty contract extension? Will it fail very soon? When somebody asks me…
A fish-eye lens at rock-bottom price
When you use an expensive SLR camera you are often tempted to purchase a specialty lens like a ultra-wide angle (fish eye) lens. But, apart from the rare occasions when you really need it, it’s too expensive for you and me. Why not build it yourself? Instructables does the demonstration with a Nikon D90, but…
Focal length and photo lenses
Tamron rewrote its web site. This was the occasion to move the Lens Comparison Tool but it is still useful to compare a 400mm with a 500mm (or a 35mm with a 50mm). But you can also find a similar tool at Olympus (and it takes into account the specificities of 4/3 sensor format, of…
Monster zoom in test
Juza has tested the biggest Sigma tele-zoom lens: Sigma 200-500mm F2.8 EX DG. If it seems to be quite good, it is both horrendously expensive and nearly impossible to lift:
All lens tests are wrong
I recommend reading a nice little post titled “All lens tests are wrong” that concludes that the only good test for a lens is to use it during a full year. Not wrong, but I still recommend to also check my list of web sites with photo lens reviews.
Focal Length Comparison
Thanks to Tamron, it is possible to easily compare photo lenses of different focal length and their effect on the size of an image. Tamron focal length comparison
Comparison of 80-200mm zooms
DPreview has a good comparison of 4 zoom lenses opening at f/2.8 for SLR cameras: Canon 70-200mm F2.8 L IS USM Nikon AF-S VR 70-200mm F2.8 G Sigma 70-200mm 1:2.8 EX DG Apo Macro HSM II Tamron 70-200mm 1:2.8 Di LD (IF) Macro Since they are one of the most coveted segment of the SLR…
Web sites for lens reviews
It is often difficult to group lens reviews in order to compare/evaluate a little more than their mere physical characteristics (focal length, aperture/diaphragm, or even number of individual lenses). But how would you evaluate/review optical quality? When I see the really impressive differences between two lenses, I would be prepared to judge from their price,…