“Who the hell actually buys this thing?” That’s what I’m asking myself as I struggle through my first day shooting Lomography’s Achromat lens. I silently curse the spirit of Charles Chevalier for this new copy…
read moreLens names seldom roll off the tongue. Most sport an alphabet soup of millimeters and f-numbers, and while these tell us most of what we need to know about a lens, this valuable info is…
read moreIn my Leica M2 review, I mentioned a certain lens, a Nikkor-H.C. 5cm f/2 in Leica Thread Mount. The lens sparked a mini-revolt in the comments section, with its detractors crying “Heathen!” at my mounting…
read moreThe Carl Zeiss Contax G Mount Planar 45mm F/2 prime lens is, without bluster, amazing. It’s helped me make some of my favorite images in years. It’s also irritating. Never before have I used such…
read moreEight elements. Eight. The original Zeiss Planars got by with just six, the Planar T* of the 1970s used seven. Minolta, Canon and Nikon all used seven elements in their fifties. Pentax themselves reverted to…
read moreI have a chambray button-down shirt that everyone seems to love. There’s nothing special about it and I bought it at the Bass outlet for less than $10. But every time I wear it out…
read moreWhen it comes to M mount 50mm lenses the choices are plentiful, and quite often the costs are high. Single coat, multi coat, ‘crons, ‘nars – the overwhelming abundance of choice is enough to send…
read morePhotography is a fluid craft. The light, our subjects, and even our interests are always in flux. So it helps when our gear can keep up. And it’s this uncommon versatility (combined with amazing image…
read moreNot long ago, I reviewed the fastest 35mm Nikkor that Nikon has ever made, the 35mm F/1,4. While incredibly luxurious in the hands and a stellar performer in low-light situations, this lens let down in…
read moreFew things in the vintage camera world are as universally reviled as old zoom lenses. They carry a reputation for being bulky, useless in low light, and criminally soft, especially when compared to legacy prime…
read moreToday’s lens review isn’t going to change the way you take photos, and if you’re already shooting a fast fifty don’t expect to be surprised. Today’s lens review, while certainly worth reading (don’t you dare),…
read moreIn the early days of Instagram I had the opportunity to work with some amazing brands using my telephone camera as a primary shooter. During these projects I felt a deep sense of pride knowing…
read moreLilliputian. Svelte. Teensy and weensy, and of course, teensy-weensy. All words I’d never expect to write in a lens review, yet here we all are and I might as well get these silly synonyms for…
read moreToday we’re looking at a super-fast Nikon lens that no one really needs, yet many shooters covet. The Nikkor-N Auto 35mm F/1.4 from 1971 (along with its newer AI and AIs versions) is the fastest…
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