Stories tagged with lens-news

On our recent visit to Japan to attend the CP+ show in Yokohama we were fortunate to be invited to tour Sigma's factory in Aizu. The Aizu factory is where all of Sigma's lenses are manufactured, including the company's impressive new 'Art' line of primes. Click through to take a virtual tour of the factory, in the company of Kazuto Yamaki, Sigma's CEO. 

Three full-frame prime lenses on Sony's lens roadmap officially arrived today which, including the 24-240, brings the total number of FE lenses to eleven. The least expensive of the trio is the 28mm F2 lens, which also supports ultra-wide and fisheye adapters. Next is the long-awaited Zeiss 35mm F1.4 ZA, which is Sony's fastest FE lens to date. Close-up shooters will be interested in the new 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS lens, which uses a Direct Drive SSM mechanism for ultra-precise focusing. More details here.

Another full-frame lens from Sony's roadmap that hit the market today is a consumer-friendly super zoom. This 24-240mm F3.5-6.3 FE lens features optical image stabilization, five aspherical elements and one ED element, and is sealed against dust and moisture. The lens will ship this month for around $1000.

Sony has officially announced four new conversion lenses - two for full-frame and two for APS-C - that can be screwed onto a select group of lenses. On the full-frame side there are ultra-wide and fisheye adapters for the new FE 28mm F2, which drop the focal range to 21mm and 16mm, respectively. The adapters for APS-C lenses - the 20mm F2.8 and 16mm F2.8 specifically - and reduce the focal lengths by 0.75X for the ultra-wide adapter and 0.6X for the fisheye. More details.

Japanese optical manufacturer Kowa has released pricing for the three Micro Four Thirds lenses it first announced a year ago. The trio, Kowa Prominar MFT 12mm f/1.8, Prominar MFT 8.5mm f/2.8 and Prominar MFT 25mm f/1.8 are available now and will come in a choice of black, silver or green finishes. The lenses are all manual focus, and do not feature electrical contacts for communicating aperture or focus distance data to the camera. The company had them on show at the Broadcast Video Expo in London. Read more

Panasonic has announced two new additions to its Micro Four Thirds lens lineup, a 30mm F2.8 macro and 42.5mm F1.7 portrait lens. The company had previously hinted that the 30mm was in the works, and as promised it offers Mega O.I.S stabilization along with 240 fps drive AF. The 42.5mm F1.7 isn't quite as fast (or presumably as expensive) as the existing Leica Nocticron 42.5mm F1.2. Both lenses will be available in May. Read more

Sigma has attached prices to its very recently announced 24mm F1.4 Art lens, as well as the 150-600mm F5-6.3 super telephoto that appeared at Photokina. The full frame 24mm lens, which supports Canon, Nikon, and Sigma mounts, will be available next month at a price of $849. The 150-600mm - also designed for full frame bodies - will be priced at $1089 and will ship next month for Canon and Nikon mounts. Read more

A new macro lens, a miniature standard prime and a teleconverter have been added to the Fujifilm X-Series roadmap, while a previously hinted-at lens has been given a definite focal length range in an announcement from the company’s headquarters. The chart released indicates that a 1.4x teleconverter will be the first of the new products to become available in the second half of this year. Learn more

With the CP+ tradeshow in Japan about to kick off, Sigma has unveiled a 24mm F1.4 DG HSM wide angle prime lens, joining its 'Art' series of premium glass. Designed to cover a full-frame sensor, it will be offered in Canon, Nikon and Sigma mounts with availability and pricing yet to be announced. Read more

Ricoh has just announced a new collapsible standard zoom lens. The HD Pentax-DA 18-50mm F4-5.6 DC WR RE is the world's shortest zoom when its stored position, and is to be sold as a kit with the just-launched Pentax K-S2 DSLR. The lens offers weather-resistant construction for shooting in rain or mist, and uses Pentax's multi-layer HD coatings to reduce flare and improve light transmittance. Read more

Canon's new 11-24mm F4 L wideangle zoom lens has been a long time coming. Canon's widest ever rectilinear zoom by some margin, the new 11-24mm may also challenge Nikon's venerable 14-24mm F2.8 as the tool of choice for landscape, property and architectural photographers. We got our hands on a prototype recently at Canon's US headquarters. Click through for a closer look

Canon has added a new ultra-wide zoom to its EF lineup - the EF 11-24mm f/4L USM. The new lens offers the widest angle of view ever provided in a rectilinear full-frame DSLR lens, and uses 16 elements in 11 groups with a total of four aspherical elements for distortion control. Read more

Olympus has announced a revamped, second generation of its 14-150mm F4.0-5.6 zoom. Resistant to dust and moisture, it uses a new ZERO (Zuiko Extra-low Reflection Optical) coating to protect against scratches and minimize flare. Read more

Olympus has revealed plans for an 8mm F1.8 fisheye lens with its 'Pro' designation. The super-wide lens will offer a 16mm equivalent angle on a Micro Four Thirds body. Keeping with the trend in the Pro line, the lens will boast a splash and dustproof design. Read more

Ricoh has announced two new zoom lenses for Pentax K-mount DSLRs, the HD Pentax-D FA * 70-200mm F2.8ED DC AW and HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm F4.5-5.6ED DC AW. Both are designed to cover a full-frame sensor and are built to withstand exposure to dust and moisture. Read more

Sigma has acknowledged a problem that Pentax users are suffering from when the company’s 17-70mm f/2.8-4 DC Macro HSM Contemporary lens is used on Pentax DSLR bodies with in-camera image stabilization activated. To rectify the issue the lens manufacturer has promised a firmware update for the lens, but hasn't yet specified a release date. Read more

Tamron has announced availability and pricing for its much-anticipated 15-30mm F/2.8 stabilized wide angle zoom. Set for availability on January 30th in Canon and Nikon mounts with Sony to follow later, the lens will retail for $1199. Read more

Fujifilm has announced two zoom lenses which will be bundled with the new X-A2. The Fujinon XC16-50mm II F3.5-5.6 offers a 24-76mm equivalent range and has a closer minimum focusing distance than its predecessor. The XC50-230mm II F4.5-6.7 OIS provides a 76-350mm equivalent range on APS-C and improved image stabilization. Read more.

Anhui ChangGeng Optical Technology Company Limited, a new Chinese lens manufacturer, has introduced a 60mm lens under the Venus Optics brand name that it says can deliver 2x magnification macro photography. The f/2.8 manual focus lens is designed to cover both full frame and APS-C sensors for macro work, but will introduce vignetting when used at normal focus distances with the larger format. Read more

Korean lens brand Samyang has released details of a 135mm lens it will bring to market with versions for stills and video photographers. The Samyang 135mm f/2.0 ED UMC stills lens will be accompanied by the Samyang 135mm T2.2 ED UMC VDSLR for cine and videographers. Read more

It's been on Fujifilm's X-series roadmap for a while, but now it's real - the XF 16-55mm F2.8 R LM WR is a 24-83mm equivalent, weather-sealed standard zoom for Fujifilm's high-end X-series interchangeable lens cameras, which offers a fast maximum aperture of F2.8 throughout its zoom range. As CES gets started in Las Vegas, we grabbed a few minutes with the new zoom. Click through for some images

Fujifilm has officially released its XF 16-55mm F2.8 R LM WR lens, which the company teased on last year's lens roadmap. The 16-55mm is equivalent to 24-84mm when mounted on an X-series body and offers an internal focusing system and 'twin linear motor' which Fujifilm says will allow for fast and silent AF. The lens is sealed in fourteen places and has three aspherical and three ED elements and a Nano-GI coating to reduce flare. Read more

Nikon has taken the wraps off of two new versions of existing lenses in its NIKKOR lineup. The AF-S DX NIKKOR 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED VR II and AF-S NIKKOR 300mm f/4E PF ED VR are introduced for CES 2015, underway tomorrow in Las Vegas. Read more

Among all of the excitement around the a7 II, Sony quietly announced a new A-mount lens last week. The 70-300mm F4.5 – F5.6 G SSM II lens for A-mount offers faster AF tracking, a new Nano AR coating, and weatherproofing, and will be available in February for $1150. The company also announced the development of Vario-Sonnar T* 24-70mm F2.8 ZA SSM II and 16-35mm F2.8 ZA SSM II A-mount lenses, which will arrive next Spring with similar improvements. Read more

The much-rumored replacement for Canon's aging EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L has officially arrived. Announced in 1998, the original trombone-style lens is replaced by a traditional rotating zoom design and boasts a number of optical enhancements. It's scheduled for December availability at a price of $2199. Read more

When Olympus announced the high-end OM-D E-M1, it promised that it would be making a wideangle zoom and super-telephoto prime in its matching 'PRO' line of lenses. The M.Zuiko Digital ED 7-14mm 1:2.8 PRO shares many design features with the current 12-40mm 1:2.8 PRO, while the M.Zuiko Digital ED 300mm 1:4 PRO offers a 600mm equivalent angle of view. We got our hands on some pre-production samples at this year's Photo Plus Expo in New York. Click through for pictures

Ricoh has announced the HD Pentax-DA 16-85mm F3.5-5.6 ED DC WR standard zoom. Covering an equivalent range of 24.5mm to 130mm, this lens uses Pentax's HD coating to cut down on flare and ghosting and offers a weather-resistant construction. It will be available in November for $749.95/£599.99. Read more

Chinese lens designer and manufacturer Shenyang ZhongYi Optical and Electrical Company has launched a new 42.5mm f/1.2 lens that is capable of covering an APS-C imaging sensor. Priced $359, and available initially in the Micro Four Thirds mount, the Mitakon 42.5mm f/1.2 appears to be aimed squarely at competing with Panasonic’s Leica DG Nocticron 42.5mm f/1.2 for its Lumix G bodies. Read more

Canon has taken the wraps off its new 50-1000mm CN20x 50 IAS H E1/P1 cinema lens, expanding its cine-servo offerings with what the maker says is the first-ever lens boasting a combined 20x magnification, integrated 1.5x extender, and a removable servo drive. The lens is targeted specifically at nature and sports television productions, as evidenced by its far from enthusiast-friendly $78K price-tag. Click through for more details

We were so busy playing with new Leica cameras and giant telephoto lenses at Photokina that we totally missed Sony's announcement of four upcoming full-frame E-mount lenses. Four FE lenses are coming in the first quarter of 2015, including three primes and one zoom. Sony didn't reveal too much, but you'll still get the idea by reading this

Leica has announced a complete replacement of its Summarit-M range with a family of F2.4 lenses. As before the Summarit-M range will comprise 35mm, 50mm, 75mm and 90mm focal lengths. The 35mm will be the first Summarit to include an aspheric lens element. The 75mm and 90mm will be available this month, with the other two following in October. All four lenses will be available in a choice of black or anodized silver finish.

Zeiss has announced its a Distagon T* 35mm F1.4 ZM lens for Leica M-mount bodies. The company describes the lens as being for professional reportage photography and points out that the wide maximum aperture 'ensures the photographer is independent from the ISO limitations of his camera.' The 35mm F1.4 ZM will be available in black or silver for a recommended price of €1679.84 or $2290 exc taxes.

Sony has announced the Vario-Tessar T* FE 16-35mm F4 ZA OSS for its E-mount interchangeable lens cameras, as well as the HVL-F32M flash and XLR-K2M XLR audio adaptor kit. The 16-35mm is the fifth full-frame zoom for Sony's Alpha 7 series. Read more

In addition to its compact camera and EOS 7D Mark II launch at Photokina, Canon unveils three new lenses. The EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II USM, EF 24-105mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM and EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM announced today target different types of photographers.

Topping off its Photokina 2014 announcements, Panasonic announces two lenses designed to fit the dimensions and style of its GM-series cameras. The Lumix G Vario 35-100mm F4.0-5.6 ASPH Mega O.I.S. is a truly compact telephoto zoom covering a range equivalent to 70-200mm. Also announced is the 14mm F2.5 II ASPH, a version of an existing lens but with revised graphics (equivalent to 28mm). Read more

Panasonic has announced it is developing a 30mm f/2.8 Macro lens for the Micro Four Thirds system. The lens will be compatible with the latest generation 240 frame-per-second autofocus and will include image stabilization. No further details of specification, price or time-scale have yet been provided.

Samsung adds another 'S' series lens to its premium lineup, the NX 50-150mm F2.8 OIS. It's weather-sealed to resist dust and splashes, and covers a range equivalent to 77-231mm on Samsung's APS-C NX cameras. With 20 elements in 13 groups, it offers built-in stabilization and an i-Function button as part of Samsung's user interface. Read more

Olympus has announced the M.Zuiko ED 40-150mm F2.8 Pro lens. Built to withstand the elements, this dust, splash and freezeproof telephoto zoom covers a range equivalent to 80-300mm. Also announced is a 1.4x teleconverter, which when used with the 40-150mm boosts the equivalent telephoto reach to 420mm. Read more

Sony has unveiled another full-frame compatible lens for its E-mount, the FE PZ 28-135mm F4 G OSS. With an emphasis on its capabilities in video production, it offers three separate control rings for zoom, focus and aperture. The lens is dust and moisture-resistant and uses a Super Sonic Wave Motor for fast and quiet autofocus and iris control. Read more

Tamron has announced the development of its new SP 15-30mm f/2.8 DI VC USD ultra-wide zoom lens. This full-frame lens is the first in its class to offer image stabilization according to Tamron. The lens has an ultrasonic focusing motor, 'eBAND' and fluorine coatings, and a 9-blade diaphragm. The lens will be available for Canon, Nikon, and Sony mounts and will be displayed at Photokina next week. 

Sigma has announced a new superzoom lens for APS-C format DSLRs. The 18-300mm F/3.5-6.3 DC Macro OS HSM takes its place in the company's 'Contemporary' linep, offering a focal range equivalent to 27-450mm. The new lens will be available next month for $579 in Sigma, Nikon, Canon Pentax and Sony mounts - the latter two will not feature OS optical image stabilization. Read more 

Sigma has announced a pair of new telezoom lenses. Both described as the '150-600mm F/5-6.3 DG OS HSM' one carries Sigma's 'Contemporary' branding and one is positioned in its 'Sport' lineup. The sports version is dust and splash-proof, while both lenses boast new versions of Sigma's optical image stabilization system. Under the hood though, their construction is significantly different. Read more 

Nikon has launched the AF-S Nikkor 20mm f/1.8G ED for FX and DX format Nikon cameras. It updates the existing AF Nikkor 20mm f/2.8, which lacked an internal focus motor for use with entry-level Nikon DSLRs. Using 13 elements in 11 groups, it features a Nano Crystal Coat and offers a minimum focus distance of 0.2m. The AF-S Nikkor 20mm f/1.8G ED will be available in September for $799.95. Read more

Fujifilm has announced its second weather-resistant X-series zoom lens, the Fujinon XF 50-140mm F2.8 R LM OIS WR. Designed to accompany the water- and dust-resistant Fujifilm X-T1, the lens offers an equivalent 76-213mm range on Fuji's X-series interchangeable lens cameras - essentially equivalent to a popular 70-200mm telephoto zoom on full frame. Read more

Gearing up for Photokina, Fujifilm has announced the XF 56mm F1.2 R APD - APD standing for apodization. The lens is a variant of the existing XF56mm F1.2 R, utilizing the same underlying design of 11 elements in 8 groups but it adds an apodization filter. Essentially a radial gradient filter, it aims to produce better-looking highlights and more pleasant bokeh. Read more

Zeiss has announced a new fast mid-telephoto prime to join last year's widely acclaimed 1.4/55 lens in the Otus range. Due out in the middle of this month in Canon EF (ZE) and Nikon F (ZF.2) mounts, the new Zeiss Otus 1.4/85 is a manual focus lens claimed to offer exceptional performance even when used wide open on full frame cameras. Read more

Ahead of a Photokina launch, Hong-Kong based SLR Magic has announced the HyperPrime Cine 10mm T2.1 lens for Micro Four Thirds and SLR Magic 77 ND 0.4-ND 1.8 filter. The manual focus lens offers a 20mm equivalent angle on a Micro Four Thirds body, and is designed to a videographer's taste with a stepless aperture ring. It will be available at the end of October for $799. Read more

Canon US has confirmed multiple price drops across its range of lenses, including several L-series models. According to Canon the price reductions are in honor of reaching a milestone - the production of 100 million EF lenses. Price drops range from a modest $40 up to $1000 off the original retail price, depending on the lens. Read more 

German optical manufacturer Zeiss has announced a new range of lenses called Loxia, designed for full frame cameras using the Sony E mount – essentially the Sony Alpha 7 series at the moment. The Loxia 2/35 and Loxia 2/50 are based on the company's existing 35mm f/2 Biogon and 50mm f/2 Planar lenses from the ZM range. Read more

German camera brand Leica is set to launch a new portrait lens for its professional S system that features a super-fast maximum aperture of F2. The Summicron-S 100mm F2 ASPH will sit between the company’s existing Summarit-S 70mm F2.5 ASPH and the APO-Macro-Summarit-S 120mm F2.5, both of which are also popular choices for portrait photographers using the S cameras. Click through for more details.