Search Results for: 7artisans

A Guide to Third-Party Chinese Lens Brands

Lenses are big business: while we have seen the value of camera shipments nose-dive year-on-year, lens value has slowly increased and is now equal to about a third of the camera market. It's for this reason that third-party manufacturers have increased their stake in this market and particularly at the low-cost end where Chinese manufacturers proliferate. Who are these companies and what does their appearance presage in terms of the camera market as a whole?

Laowa Argus 25mm Review

Laowa Argus 25mm f/0.95 APO Review: Excellent Lens with a Caveat

Venus Optics has introduced yet another unique lens to the market: the Laowa Argus 25mm f/0.95 APO for Micro Four Thirds. As a long-time user of the Micro Four Thirds system, I jumped at the opportunity to test drive this lens after I heard “0.95” and “APO” in the same sentence.

Lenses facing upwards on a table

Which Lenses Hold Their Value Better, Zooms or Primes?

Let's take a look at some of the data with regard to the latest trends in camera gear buying, trading, and selling. Specifically, we'll take a look at what lenses hold on to their value better: primes or zooms.

The Most Expensive Camera Lenses You Can Buy Right Now

Whether you are a working professional or a weekend hobbyist, the thrill of using truly exquisite gear is unmatched. We all work with what we have while salivating over what we cannot, and no matter how old we get, fancy toys never lose their luster. Do we need them? Probably not. Will we ever purchase them? Not likely. Will we spend hours staring at them? You bet. Nothing is as intoxicating to a photographer as good, outrageously expensive glass.

Ep. 347: Lots of Lenses and Nonsense – and more



Episode 347 of the PetaPixel Photography Podcast.
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Featured: Photographer, Ron Hautau

What Leica-M Gear Sells The Fastest?

Previously, we explored topics like which Micro Four Thirds system held up better over time, which line of Sony's full-frame mirrorless cameras is most popular, or which DSLR system held more of its value. This month, let's look at which Leica M-mount film gear is the fastest-moving off the shelves.

Laowa Argus 33mm f/0.95 CF APO Review: So. Much. Bokeh.

Venus Optics' Laowa lenses have been growing in both notoriety and popularity over the last few years thanks to their nearly constant stream of new and interesting optics for a wide variety of mounts. The company's latest is backed by the high-quality promise of its new Argus line: the Laowa Argus 33mm f/0.95 CF APO for APS-C systems.

If Sharpness Truly Mattered, Cartier-Bresson Would Be a Joke

While teaching a recent workshop, I joked that street photography was the only genre where people would buy $3,000 worth of cameras and lenses and then deliberately use them to make out of focus, grainy, imperfect images. This led to a pretty interesting discussion about the merits to imperfection.

Justifying the Noctilux and Its Place in My Workflow

I have gone through the gear of almost every major brand during my early photography journey, buying my way through cameras and lenses until I arrived at my current setup, which has remained more or less the same for my entire professional career. Despite settling on a brand known for its high price point, I have been comfortable with all of my camera and lens choices except one, which is what I’ll be discussing here.

Experiments in Antique USSR Film

Want to hear a communist joke? Well, they are only really funny if everyone gets them, but if you still want to hear it, then Soviet: A worker standing in a liquor line says: “I have had enough, save my place, I am going to shoot Gorbachev.” Two hours later he returns to claim his place in line. His friends ask, “Did you get him?” “No, the line there was even longer than the line here.”