lensnews

The NiSi 15mm f/4 lens was announced in early January and photographer Ted Forbes got his hands on one to see how the company's first lens performed. In short, it's a promising start for the company that is new to lens design, but it has a few niggling issues to keep in mind even at its low price.

NiSi, a Chinese manufacturer known mostly for making high-quality filters, has announced its first still-camera lens: the 15mm f/4. It features a 112-degree field of view and the promise of edge-to-edge sharpness for multiple mirrorless mounts.

According to a report on Nikkei, Tamron has solicited 200 voluntary retirements from its two factories in the Aomori prefecture in Japan, equal to about 40% of its domestic factory workforce.

Tamron Japan has issued a statement explaining that it will be extending the closure of two key factories through the end of 2020 because "the global market has not yet recovered" from the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and demand is still depressed.

Sigma CEO Kazuto Yamaki has gone ahead and confirmed what many of us believed: the third-party lens maker will be focusing most of its resources on creating "DN" lenses for mirrorless cameras. That includes lenses for full-frame, APS-C and Micro Four Thirds systems.

Sony has just released the brand new FE 20mm f/1.8 G: a lightweight, high-performance, ultra-wide prime lens for full-frame Sony mirrorless cameras that the company has dubbed "the widest full-frame prime lens in E-mount lineup."

After a long, deafening silence, Pentax is finally back on the map. Minutes ago, Ricoh unveiled its first new K-mount lens in some time with the HD Pentax-D FA 70-210mm f/4ED SDM WR: a lightweight do-everything telephoto zoom for Pentax DSLRs.

Hasselblad has just released the ultra-light XCD 4/45P digital medium format lens. Weighing in at just 320g (0.7 lbs) and measuring only 47mm (1.85 in), Hasselblad claims that this 45mm f/4 lens is "the world’s lightest digital medium format autofocus lens on the market today."

Meyer Optik Görlitz is coming back from the dead... again. After an embarrassing and very public fall-from grace in 2018, the lens manufacturer, now owned by OPC Optics, is ready to begin re-releasing lenses that it promises are not just re-branded Chinese knockoffs at astronomic markups.

Earlier today, Samyang/Rokinon unveiled the new AF 14mm f/2.8 RF lens: a wide-angle prime that becomes the first third-party autofocus lens for Canon's full-frame mirrorless RF-Mount.

Tamron has unveiled three much-leaked new prime lenses for full-frame Sony mirrorless cameras. The 20mm f/2.8 Di III OSD M1:2, 24mm f/2.8 Di III OSD M1:2, and 35mm f/2.8 Di III OSD M1:2 are all compact, lightweight wide-angle prime lenses that boast a 1:2 magnification ratio and very close minimum focus distances so that they can be used for every-day shooting and macro photography.

Sigma has officially announced its intention to stop producing lenses for the Pentax K-mount. Due to the dwindling number of Pentax users, says Sigma, the brand will shift focus and resources towards developing lenses for mirrorless cameras.

In addition to the thoroughly leaked Canon 90D and Canon EOS M6 Mark II, the latest rumors indicate that Canon will also officially launch two of the previously-announced "holy trinity" lenses for RF-Mount this week: The RF 15-35mm f/2.8L IS and the 24-70mm f/2.8L IS.

The Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 Di III RXD has only been available for pre-order one week, but already Tamron has had to issue an apology about availability. Apparently demand for the new Sony E-Mount lens has been so high that even those who have already placed an order might have to wait a little while longer to receive their unit—to say nothing of new orders.