Roger Cicala of Lensrentals noticed that multiple copies of the Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 returned to the warehouse with the same visible crack in an internal element. Why it kept happening was a mystery.
Every Sunday, we bring together a collection of easy reading articles from analytical to how-to to photo-features in no particular order that did not make our regular daily coverage. Enjoy!
Every Sunday, we bring together a collection of easy reading articles from analytical to how-to to photo-features in no particular order that did not make our regular daily coverage. Enjoy!
Every Sunday, we bring together a collection of easy reading articles from analytical to how-to to photo-features in no particular order that did not make our regular daily coverage. Enjoy!
If you have deep pockets and want to venture to the edge of what's possible in ultra-wide lenses, check out the new C-4 Precision Optics 4.9mm f/3.5 Hyper Fisheye. It's the world's widest-ever fisheye lens, so wide that it can see behind itself, and it can now be yours for the low price of $39,000.
Roger Cicala over at LensRentals has been doing extensive MTF tests on lenses to figure out the landscape of optical quality in the camera industry. One of his latest findings may be a surprise to many: the best 35mm lens on the market optically is one made by Tamron.
Weather-sealing in modern camera lenses is great at keeping things like water, sand, and dust from getting inside the (often pricey) gear. But it seems that it may be no match for flies.
Sony's new FE 135mm F1.8 GM lens will hit store shelves next month, but it's already dropping jaws with its sharpness. According to one new test, it may be the sharpest lens of its kind on the market today.
LensRentals founder Roger Cicala is known for disassembling camera gear and sharing his findings on his company blog. Now he has done the opposite: he's sharing how he built (from scratch) a prototype 4.9mm f/3.5 "hyperfisheye" lens, the widest fisheye lens ever made. It's a lens so wide that it can literally see behind itself.
After disassembling a Canon EOS R, Roger Cicala over at LensRentals just did a teardown of the Nikon Z7. What he found was one of the best-built cameras on the market today.
Want to see the internals of Canon's first full-frame mirrorless camera? Roger Cicala over at LensRentals disassembled the new Canon EOS R to look at the design and engineering going on inside.
Roger Cicala—the founder of Lens Rentals and one of the most entertaining and informative voices in the world of optical testing—has some news for you: zoom lenses are never as good as primes, and they vary so much from copy to copy that you should probably never trust a zoom lens review.
Our friend Roger Cicala over at LensRentals recently put the highly-praised Nikon 105mm f/1.4 through its paces, and it seems the world's fastest 105mm lens may also be the world's sharpest f/1.4 lens. MTF charts don't lie.
Want to see the guts of the most anticipated DSLR of the year? You're in luck. Roger Cicala over at LensRentals took the time to tear down, piece-by-piece, a brand new Canon 5D Mark IV so you can take a look inside and ... just maybe ... learn something, too.
Like everybody else, we at LensRentals were pretty excited to get our hands on Canon's new 5DS and 5DS R. There are already a lot of hands-on articles about the cameras that probably have told you more than you need to know to make your purchase decision. Of course, for most of the Canon shooters who read this blog, the purchase decision was just which place you want to buy it from.
I've been blogging about testing and taking apart camera equipment for almost a decade. My company, LensRentals, has many thousand of lenses these days, and they all get used frequently. When you have lots of lenses and they get used frequently, stuff gets inside them.
Most of you know I've been very impressed with Sigma's new Art lenses. Their 35mm f/1.4 Art I still think is the sharpest 35mm prime lens made. The 50mm f/1.4 Art is also superb.
This 'Just the Lenses' article will take advantage of a Trioptics Imagemaster optical bench to compare lenses from different camera mounts with no camera involved. Why is that different? Because all other forms of testing (DxO, Imatest, or even photography) tests the camera-lens combination.
Canon shooters have a bit of 400mm excitement right now. The biggest news, of course, is the release of the 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS II lens, replacing the original version that's had a very long, successful run.
Not quite so much excitement was generated by the release of the 400mm f/4 DO IS II lens. It too replaces a long running lens, but one that has been considered more of a niche lens. (I'll admit, though, it's been one of my favorite niches. I used the 400mm DO a lot over the years.)
OK, I have to admit I really like the 7D Mark II. I didn’t want to because it wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted to see the new Canon chip foundry that would be cranking out high-resolution sensors. But despite wanting to hate the 22-megapixel APS-C camera, after a fairly short exposure to the autofocus system, I have to admit I like it. There’s just something about getting every shot in focus every time that’s appealing to me.
I get an email or text about once a month asking me if I think Canon, Nikon, or some other photo manufacturer will ever make something like a 25-300mm f/2.8 zoom lens. I’m usually gentle with those people, because I realize that a lot of people truly believe that if they want something badly enough, someone could make it for them. Occasionally, someone exhibits the Dunning-Kruger Effect and tells me that they know it’s a plot on the part of the manufacturer’s to make us buy multiple lenses instead of just one that could do everything.
I had another one of those emails a few days ago, so I thought it might be interesting to show everyone what a 25-300mm f/2.8 would (approximately) look like.
We spend a lot of time over at Lensrentals getting dust out of lenses. Dust doesn’t affect an image, except in very rare circumstances, but people want their rental lenses to look nice and clean inside and out, and our inspectors check the inside of every lens with spotlights and send any dusty ones over to the repair department.
Like a lot of photo history buffs, I’ve been quite excited about Lomography’s new iteration of the Petzval lens in …
Well, I have to admit this has been a fun series. I’ve learned a whole lot. That’s what makes this so fun -- I get some results I don’t understand, get some help figuring out what is going on, and before I know it, I’ve learned something that explains other things I haven’t been able to understand.
The first post I made on sensor-stack thickness wallowed deeply in PhotoGeekery. This one is meant to be of practical use so I’ll try to leave the Geek stuff out. We’ll start with the simple facts.
NOTE: This is a Geek Post. If you aren’t into geeky photo measurements, or into adapting lenses from one brand of camera to another, you’ll not be interested.
A year or two ago, I wrote a blog post where I basically showed lenses shot on adapters on other cameras aren’t acceptable for testing. If you run them through Imatest the results aren’t accurate. I suggested that reviewers shouldn’t test lenses on adapters, although obviously adapters are a great way to use interesting lenses to take pictures.
This is a long article, meant to be read at your leisure.
You better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’. -Bob Dylan
Technology changes tend to be of two types: incremental improvements or disruptive innovations. Incremental improvements allow one manufacturer to take market share from another and give fanboys fuel for internet forums. Disruptive innovations may create a million new customers. Or make a million potential customers leave for some new hobby or way of doing things.
Ever since we here at LensRentals first tested a Sony A7R, we were dying to take a look under the hood. Say what you will about Sony as a company, but they create some of the most elegantly-engineered camera bodies we’ve seen. Plus, the A7R is something of a groundbreaking camera, and we wanted to see how they crammed all that stuff into its little body.
Photography companies love catchword marketing. They like catchwords because photographers make assumptions about what those words mean, even though the words really don’t mean anything. So basically, they say nothing, but it makes you believe something.
A while back I wrote a post I humbly called Roger’s Law of New Product Introduction, complete with the graph shown below. The release of the Sony A7R has demonstrated the accuracy of that post as few other releases have.