Does your lens has more letters after its name than a retired rocket scientist. What do all these lens markings mean? You can refer to a lens simply by the name of the manufacturer, the focal length, and its maximum aperture – a Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6, say, or Canon 50mm f/1.4. But as lenses have often evolved from decades of development, they usually have a line of additional letters after their names, stamped on the barrel or printed on the boxes.
Some lens markings are about manufacturer branding – defining a more recent range, or a lens that’s built to higher standards than another. Others are to do with the optics themselves, and to highlight specific technologies used in the lens construction. In the jargon-busting guide below, we’ll translate these lens markings for you.
Winners in the Youth and Open categories of the Sony World Photography Awards 2012 have been announced.
The World Photography Organisation announced the winners this morning who will be formally announced at the annual Sony World Photography Awards ceremony and gala dinner on 26 April at the Hilton Hotel in London’s Park Lane.
The Open Competition of the Sony World Photography Awards 2012 is for anyone with an interest in photography and photographers are judged on a single image. The winners in this category are… you’ll have to click to find out!
A spokesperson for Sony UK has said that the newly released Nikon D800, which features a 36 million pixel full-frame sensor, isn’t a competitor for its own Sony Alpha 900, and that the D800 ‘pushes the boundaries.’
Introduced in February, the Nikon D800 is the world’s highest resolution full-frame camera, and sees Nikon firmly targeting studio and medium format photographers.
Sony has unveiled a new camera to sit in its line up of translucent mirror technology range of cameras, the a57 which offers 12fps shooting, full HD video capture and new creative options.
According to Sony, the Alpha 57 has been priced to appeal to a wide range of DSLR users, sharing many of the premium features found on the enthusiast level a65 – though the price has not been announced.
The a57 features a 16.1 million pixel Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor, which is teamed with the latest generation BIONZ image processing engine which has been designed for low noise stills and full HD video.
Sony will eschew traditional DSLRs and concentrate on developing its DSLT cameras, the company has revealed.
Speaking to our sister website TechRadar, Paul Genge from Sony UK said, “We have no SLRs in our line-up today, and our intention is to develop the SLT technology and make that a real stand-out in the market.”
He also reiterated that Sony’s president made a statement during the IFA consumer electronics show that the company is going to be looking at full frame as the next introduction for for its SLT line of cameras.
The World Photography Organisation has revealed its shortlist for the 2012 Sony World Photography Awards.
Billed by organisers as the “global photographic event of the year,” the Sony World Photography Awards 2012 competition has recorded more than 112,000 entries from 171 countries, with the shortlisted images depicting a range of stories of extraordinary lives from around the world.
Experienced photographers will love the NEX-7′s quick access to manual controls and customisable function buttons, as well as the rich, detailed images provided by the Exmor CMOS sensor. Read our full review…
This new Single-Lens Translucent camera from Sony promises a quick and accurate AF system, 12fps continuous shooting, and superb build and image quality. Our experts put it through its paces…
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A major bonus of fast lenses is that they allow you to use faster shutter speeds in low light, fending off the problems of both camera shake and motion blur, the latter of which can’t be fixe
