Lens Reviews

The Schneider Kreuznach 50mm f/2.8 Lens – Or Why I Love To Hate the Kodak Retina Ib
2200 1238 Chris Cushing

In the world of cameras and optics, few companies are as storied as Leica and Zeiss. Founded in 1846, Zeiss is one of the most enduring manufacturers of anything mechanical anywhere in the world. Leitz…

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Are Canon’s Ultra-fast 50mm F/1.2L and 85mm F/1.2L II Worth All That Extra Money?
1967 1106 Jeb Inge

“Significant” is a word I would use to describe the Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM and Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM; in aperture, in weight, in prestige and price. That last metric, price, is…

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Fujifilm’s Fujinon XF 16mm F/1.4R WR is a Low Light Master with Just a Few Flaws – Lens Review
2200 1238 Chris Cushing

Consumer bias is a tricky thing. Once you’ve bought something, you don’t want to admit you’ve made the wrong choice, and just as often you’d like to believe that others have made the wrong choice…

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The Underdog Nikkor-S 50mm F/1.4 F Mount Lens, and Why it’s My Favorite Lens
2200 1238 Josh Solomon

I know what you’re thinking; “Do we really need another 50mm lens review?” I don’t blame you. A quick glance through our archive shows write-ups on fifties from Minolta, Pentax, Canon, a shootout between Zeiss’ two best fifties,…

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Leica’s Worst Summicron 50mm F/2 is one of the Best (and Priciest) Legacy Fifties Around – Summicron V3 Lens Review
2000 1125 Josh Solomon

Longtime readers of the site will know that I’m far from a Leica fanboy. I generally prefer Japanese manufacturers and often champion their products’ value over their pricier, hyper-mythologized German counterparts. Considering my aversion to…

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Jupiter-12 35mm F/2.8 Lens Review – Playing Russian Roulette with a Zeiss Copy
2000 1119 Josh Solomon

There is perhaps no more controversial, polarizing, and confusing subject in vintage photography than Russian lenses. For as many articles and forum threads that lionize the Russian lenses as dirt cheap Zeiss-killers there are just…

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Canon FD 200mm F/2.8 Lens Review – A Case for Legacy Telephoto Primes
2000 1125 Chris Cushing

It’s no surprise that every world-class camera company has each produced at least a few brilliant prime lenses that legacy shooters claw over one another to buy; Minolta has their 55mm f/1.2, Canon the 50mm…

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We Review Lomography’s Daguerreotype Achromat 64mm f/2.9 Art Lens, and It’s a Weird One
2000 1125 Jeb Inge

“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…

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Fujifilm XF 23mm F/2 WR Lens Review – The Fuji X Series’ Best Kit Lens?
2000 1125 Chris Cushing

Lens 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…

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Nikon Nikkor H C 50mm F/2 LTM Lens Review – A Leica Alternative That’s More Than Just a Copy
2200 1238 Josh Solomon

In 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…

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Carl Zeiss 45mm F/2 Planar in Contax G Mount Review – an Almost Perfect Legacy Lens
4000 2250 James Tocchio

The 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…

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Pentax Super Takumar 50mm F/1.4 M42 Mount Lens Review
2000 1125 Chris Cushing

Eight 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…

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Minolta MD Rokkor X 45mm F/2 Lens Review
2000 1125 Jeb Inge

I 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…

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Zeiss 50mm F/1.5 Sonnar versus F/2 Planar – a Film Shooter’s Opinion
2000 1125 Dustin Vaughn-Luma

When 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…

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