If the OM System M.Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 III seems familiar, that's because we've seen it at least three times before (there was the original lens, a mark II and a mark II "R" before this one).

It's always tempting to overlook a kit lens, but in the case of the OM System M.Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 III that would be a mistake. You see unlike most kit lenses, this one is weather sealed – which is both a breath of fresh air and a case of OM putting its money where its mouth is.

After all, every camera in its lineup boasts weather sealing – including the new and technically entry-level OM System PEN. But what good is a sealed camera if the lens that comes with it isn't sealed as well?

In addition to IPX1 certification, the OM System M.Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 III also boasts a new look and refined operation – eschewing the cumbersome lock switch for an elegant and satisfying twist-and-click mechanism.

Yes, the optical formula is the same – but this lens is a far better performer than most give it credit for. If you're thinking of picking up the latest PEN, or you just want a compact and budget-friendly weatherproof lens to complement an existing OM camera, this deserves your attention.

OM System M.Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 III: Specifications

OM System M.Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 III: Specifications

OM System M.Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 III: Price & availability

The OM System M.Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 III carries a standalone price of $350 / £349 / AU$479. However, it's really designed to be bought with a camera – where it effectively only costs $100 / £100 / AU$300.

If you pick up the lens in a kit with the OM System PEN, it will cost $1,099 / £949 / AU$1,799.

OM also makes another lens with the same focal length and aperture range, but with a non-weather sealed pancake design and a motorized zoom – the OM System M.Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 EZ, which is priced $349 / £329 / AU$429.

OM System M.Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 III: Build & handling

First of all, in case you've ended up here while searching for OM's other 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, this is a very different proposition to the electronic zoom pancake lens!

The OM System M.Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 EZ is a much smaller optic, thanks to its collapsible pancake design, and also boasts a motorized zoom – which can be handy for remote shooting as it enables you to zoom in and out. However, it's not a weather-sealed lens.

This new OM System M.Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 III is a much larger lens, though it still collapses to palm-size when not in operation. It is, as noted, IPX1 certified to dust and splash resistance, but the zoom is not motorized – meaning you have to manually 'telescope' the barrel, upon which the lens extends about an inch.

Unlike older versions of the lens, which had a lock switch that had to be disengaged during the twist-and-deploy motion, the mark III has a more elegant click mechanism that simply locks and unlocks as you turn the barrel.

Generally this lens was a joy to use and shoot with – the only downside is that, because you have to extend it in order to start shooting, I was occasionally a step slow off the mark because I'm used to just turning the camera on and stabbing the shutter. You get used to it, but it still trips me up occasionally!

OM System M.Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 III: Performance

I primarily tested the OM System M.Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 III with the OM System PEN, though I also tried it out with the OM System OM-3 and Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II.

While the form has certainly changed, the function hasn't. This lens has the same optical formula as its previous iterations – and, as I expect our lab results to bear out as soon as we can read OM's latest RAW format, its optical performance is also essentially identical.

I certainly didn't experience any huge difference from the earlier versions I've used in years past – but that's not the end of the world. While most people sleep on kit lenses (and, for some reason, this lens in particular), it's a surprisingly pleasing performer.

It performs best, as you'd might expect, at its widest focal length – and honestly, at 14mm f/4 is has a brilliant amount of bite. Sharpness does drop the longer you go, but this is compensated by the correspondingly ascending apertures. Honestly, I'm happy with the performance of this lens anywhere it lands in its zoom range.

The first sample image below is a great example of what the OM System M.Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 III can do; the details of the dayglo gnome and the hairy leaves at his feet alike are piercingly sharp.

Focusing is impressive in all respects, too. Autofocus is nice and snappy, the ability to focus as close as 0.13m comes in very useful for an everyday lens, and the fact that it supports focus stacking makes it a very versatile performer for anyone looking to get creative.

OM System M.Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 III: Sample images

There are dozens more sample images in my OM System PEN review, but here's a selection of shots I took with the OM System M.Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 III in various conditions and situations, indoors and outdoors, using a variety of settings, filters and profiles.

OM System M.Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 III: Lab tests

We've put the OM System M.Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 III through our battery of lab tests, but we are currently unable to analyze the results (until we can process OM's newest RAW format).

I will update this review as soon as we've completed the lab analysis.

Until then, given that this lens has the same optical formula as the previous iterations, you can expect almost identical performance.

OM System M.Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 III: Early verdict

While I need to wait until we can process our lab tests before I can officially assign a score to this lens, I'm familiar enough with its predecessors (with which it shares the same optical formula) and happy enough with the thousands of frames I've shot to say that the OM System M.Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 III performs well.

In real-world use I'm impressed with its sharpness, particularly wide and wide open at 14mm f/3.5 where it gives satisfying levels of crispness and crunch – dial it down to f/5.6 and you get pretty much all the bite you could possibly want.

However, I don't think sheer sharpness alone is really the metric by which this lens should be judged. It's a lens that costs you $100 / £100 / AU$300 if you buy it with a camera or $350 / £349 / AU$479 when bought on its own – for that price, the fact that it's impressively sharp and weather sealed is pretty dang amazing.

After thousands of shots on multiple camera bodies, I can safely conclude that I would be delighted to use this lens as my daily driver – which is its intended purpose. Yes, when I'm setting out to shoot something intentionally, I'll snap on a dedicated lens – like the M.Zuiko 45mm or 75mm f/1.8 for portraiture.

But as an everyday companion for my everyday carry camera, the the OM System M.Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 III does everything I could possibly ask of it – and does it well. It is the perfect lens to pair with the OM System PEN, but honestly I think it's an even better partner for the slightly chunkier OM-5 family.

The equivalent 28-84mm focal range is perfect for everyday shooting, with enviable close focusing, fast and faithful autofocus, and even support for in-camera focus stacking. If you want a cheap, compact, capable lens that shoots whatever you want, whatever the weather, you just found it.

Anamorphic lenses are well-loved for the cinematic quality of the wider view squeezed onto the frame, oval-shaped bokeh, and iconic horizontal flare – but most anamorphic lenses aren’t made for the social media era that demands vertical videos. But lensmaker Sirui wants to change that with a new trio of cinema lenses that are built to shoot anamorphic in horizontal or vertical positions.

The Sirui Saturn V2 is a trio of three prime lenses at 35mm, 50mm, and 75mm that are purpose-built to support 1.6x anamorphic shooting in both horizontal and vertical orientations. That dual orientation is made possible through a rotating anamorphic mechanism in each lens, so when the camera rotates, the lens can actually rotate too.

Traditional anamorphic lenses are built to fit a wider view onto the image sensor – and that ultra-wide view would need to be heavily cropped to fit in the vertical design for Reels and TikToks.

While most lenses work just fine when turning the camera to vertical, that’s not the case with anamorphic. The de-squeeze isn’t built for vertical shooting and isn't supported on the camera monitor, and the classic horizontal flare would then become vertical.

Sirui’s new trio of lenses – which are built for Sony E, Canon RF, and L-Mount, with Z mount arriving at a later date – use rotating optics in order to create the anamorphic look in the vertical format in-camera.

The Saturn V2 series – which was originally teased last month – isn’t the only anamorphic built for the content creator era. The Balazar Beetle series also supports rotation, and some PL-mount lenses also have a mount that allows them to be turned and re-mounted for vertical shooting.

But the Saturn V2 series arrives in this relatively new rotatable anamorphic category with a trio of bright T/2.9 lenses, a wider 1.6x anamorphic squeeze, along with an all-metal construction.

The lenses' design is built so that all three share the same focus ring position, so cinematographers don’t need to adjust the follow focus rigging when swapping between different focal lengths in the series. All three lenses also use the same 62mm filter size.

The lenses are priced at $599 / £529 each or $1,699 / £1,589 for a three-lens set. Australian pricing has not yet been announced, but that converts to about AU$830 for one lens or AU$2,354 for all three.

The lenses will be available in Sony E, Canon RF, and L-mount at launch, with a Nikon Z version expected to arrive with the second production batch.

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When OM System split from Olympus, the revived camera brand narrowed its focus to cameras built for the outdoors – and the company’s latest lens makes that outdoor push exceptionally clear. The new OM System M.Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 III, on the surface, is just a refreshed kit lens – but it also means that even some of the brand’s cheap optics are coming with weather-sealing now.

Launched alongside the long-awaited OM System PEN on September 09, the 14-42mm is a compact, budget kit lens. But while the lens comes at a $349 / CA$499 price – and even less when part of the PEN kit – the lens carries the same weather-sealed rating as the new camera body.

The new kit lens is IPX1 rated. That’s not as robust as OM System’s IP53 rating across its pricier camera bodies and lenses, but it’s impressive considering the price point. The X in the rating means it wasn’t tested for dust resistance, but the lens is sealed against rain and snow.

Mixed with the OM System PEN launch, there’s an obvious theme here – that even the brand’s most affordable options are beginning to arrive with some level of weather-resistance. The newly announced PEN is rare in its mix of weather-sealing and stabilization for the price point, but of course, the camera needs a sealed lens to go with it – and the M.Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 III is that lens.

The lens continues the brand’s compact, lightweight kit lens design, coming in at 50.5mm / 1.98 inches long when retracted and 125g / 4.4 oz.

Beyond the zoom range, the kit lens aims for versatility by allowing autofocusing as close as .13m / 5.2 inches from the front of the lens. Adding in the Micro Four Thirds crop factor, that creates a magnification of up to .53x in 35mm equivalent.

An affordable kit lens launch like this probably won’t make many Micro Four Thirds shooters immediately rush out to buy one – but a weather-sealed camera without a weather-sealed lens isn’t really rain-resistant at all, so it’s nice to see OM System build an affordable sealed lens to go along with its new sealed camera.

The new kit lens will add $100 / £50 / CA$150 to the body-only price of the OM System PEN, but the new lens will also be sold separately for $350 / £349 / CA$499. Like the new camera, shipping is estimated to begin in late October in the US and late September / early October in Europe.

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Sony has made just about every conventional lens you could ask for at this point, so perhaps it was inevitable that things were going to get a little more niche.

The Sony FE 8-14mm F3.5 Fisheye G is Sony’s first fisheye lens for its full-frame E-mount system, and rather than starting with a straightforward prime, Sony has gone straight for a zoom capable of switching between circular and diagonal fisheye perspectives.

At 8mm, the lens offers a 180-degree field of view with the familiar circular fisheye image, and zoom up to 14mm, and the image gradually expands until it fills the whole frame. It's definitely more flexible than the typical fisheye prime, but it's still a unique perspective and is going to complement rather than replace any of the best Sony lenses already in your bag.

Specifications

Price

The Sony FE 8-14mm F3.5 Fisheye G is set to cost $1,599 / £1,499 / €1,700 at launch.

Calling $1,599 cheap would clearly be stretching things, but I actually think Sony pitching this as part of the G series is a smart move, rather than being transformed into a G Master lens with a corresponding price tag. Fisheyes are maybe a lens that comes out more occasionally for most photographers, so perhaps not worth dedicating a large portion of a lens budget to.

If you do only want to dip a toe in extreme wide-angle, there are plenty of much, much cheaper fisheyes from third-party manufacturers. The Laowa 8-15mm f/2.8 FF Zoom Fisheye lens offers a nearly like-for-like focal length (albeit without autofocus) for around $700, or 7Artisans will sell you a fixed 7.5mm f/2 Fisheye lens for about $150.

Sony’s advantage is that this is considerably more sophisticated than most of those alternatives, particularly thanks to its autofocus, internal zoom, and flexible focal range, but you'll pay for those advancements.

Design & Handling

The first thing that struck me when the Sony 8-14mm arrived was just how impressively small it is. I knew the dimensions beforehand (314g and 82.8mm long), but I was still shocked when I actually pulled it out of the box. Mounted on the Sony A7 V, it looks petite.

Fortunately, Sony hasn't achieved that by stripping everything useful from the barrel. This has the usual reassuring G-series build quality with dust and moisture resistance. Alongside the zoom ring, there is an aperture ring that can be de-clicked for video, a manual focus ring, a zoom lock switch, a customizable button and a focus-mode switch.

The lens also uses an internal zoom, which is particularly welcome for videographers, as nothing changes externally as you move between 8mm and 14mm, which makes balancing the lens on a gimbal considerably easier.

My only irritation with the design is the lens hood. At 8mm (up until around 11mm), it has to be removed entirely because otherwise it would encroach on the circular image. That is understandable because, well, physics, but repeatedly taking the hood on and off becomes a little frustrating. You could leave it off permanently, but I would be reluctant to, as that large curved front element looks extremely vulnerable without anything protecting it.

That bulbous front element also rules out conventional screw-in filters, so Sony has included a rear filter holder instead. I’m glad it is there, although anyone already invested heavily in conventional circular filters may find themselves having to buy a few more accessories.

Performance

A fisheye lens is always a unique one to review, as it really comes down a lot to how much you like the fisheye look. Fisheyes also can't really be so easily judged by the same metrics as other lenses – distortion is basically the entire point.

At 8mm, the Sony produces the full circular fisheye effect, surrounded by the characteristic black border around the image area. As you zoom through the range, the image circle expands until it fills the frame, hitting the corners at around 13-14mm. Basically, there is still an obvious fisheye look through most of the zoom range, although the effect becomes progressively less dramatic toward the long end.

Optically, I was pleasantly surprised. Sharpness in the center is very good, but what impressed me most was how well detail holds together toward the edges. Given how aggressively the lens is bending the scene, I expected considerably more of a drop-off.

At 8mm, zooming right into images reveals slightly less crisp detail than I saw at 14mm around the edges, especially wide open, but in real-world viewing I don't think most people would notice. Fringing and chromatic aberration are also remarkably well controlled for something this wide, although there is a telltale blue ring around the outside of the circle, but this can be tackled in post if you don't like the look.

One thing to note: at 14mm, the lens is a diagonal fisheye by design. This lens does not have the flat rendering of a conventional rectilinear 14mm prime. So there is still noticeable distortion toward the corners. Lightroom can pull some of this back, although not completely.

Autofocus is excellent. It feels every bit as quick and reliable as any other recent Sony G lens I have used, and it had no issue tracking human subjects in my testing. Sony also says it can keep up with 120fps stills shooting and 240p video autofocus on compatible cameras.

The 0.15m minimum focusing distance also lets you get extremely close. Whether you actually want an extreme fisheye close-up is another question entirely, but if it works for you creatively, then it's possible.

My only minor disappointment is when it comes to video. While I can't fault the autofocus speed or the image quality, video cropping does spoil the perfect circular fisheye look.

Slow to embrace open gate, most Sony cameras use a 16:9 crop for video, which cuts off the edges of the image circle at 8mm – and that's without any electronic image stabilization on.

If you do need Sony's Active or Dynamic Active stabilization – for example, shooting sports like skateboarding, which this lens is perfect for – then it cuts into the circular image much further. You still get a unique look, but I wish I could preserve that perfect circular image.

Note: If you are looking for our usual lab testing results, unfortunately, we are unable to test fisheye lenses, as it's impossible to frame our testing chart with a 180º field of view!

Verdict

Sony's first-party full-frame lineup has been sorely missing a fisheye, but it has finally delivered one, and I think it was worth the wait. The Sony FE 8-14mm f/3.5 Fisheye G is surprisingly small, reassuringly well built, quick to focus, and optically much better than I expected from such an extreme design.

The real advantage, though, is the zoom. Being able to move from a circular fisheye at 8mm to a full-frame perspective at 14mm gives it considerably more creative flexibility than a fixed fisheye prime. I found that made it much easier to experiment with different compositions, and it was just a lot of fun to shoot with.

Although there is no getting around the fact that this remains a niche optic. At $1,599, it is a significant investment for something many photographers may only pull out occasionally, and there are far cheaper ways to experiment with fisheye photography. But I am glad Sony resisted the temptation to turn this into an even more expensive G Master.

For photographers, filmmakers, and content creators who genuinely want/need these extreme perspectives, the FE 8-14mm f/3.5 Fisheye G is a compact and impressively polished addition to Sony's lineup.

Alternatives

Sony’s early push into full-frame mirrorless means the E-Mount lens family has a wealth of different options, but one category has remained suspiciously absent until now: A fisheye. The Sony FE 8-14mm f/3.5 Fisheye G is the first Sony-branded fisheye for the mirrorless E-Mount system.

Announced on September 8, the Sony 8-14mm brings the ultra-wide distortion the lens type is known for into the E-Mount system with a bit of control. At 8mm, the lens shoots the classic round fisheye image on a black border, but at 14mm, the zoom becomes a rectilinear fisheye that fills the frame yet still has that extreme curved barrel distortion.

The lens can also shoot two different looks – equidistant or equisolid. Under the default distortion compensation-off settings, the lens is more “equidistant,” with a more even image distribution and less enlargement at the center. The lens creates an ”equisolid” look where the center looks larger, and the edges look more compressed with distortion compensation set to auto. (Shooting in RAW, the distortion settings can be adjusted after the shot with Sony Imaging Edge Desktop.)

The E-Mount system has a small handful of third-party fisheye options, but the lenses that mix a circular and rectilinear look in one using zoom are manual-focus-only options like the Laowa 8-15mm f/2.8 FF Zoom Fisheye.

That’s not the case with Sony’s first mirrorless fisheye, which uses two autofocus motors that Sony says are capable of keeping up with cameras with 120fps autofocus readouts.

The lens can focus as close as .15m / 5.91 inches from the front of the lens, creating some .22x closeup opportunities mixed with unusual fisheye distortion.

The Sony 8-14mm Fisheye is unusually narrow and compact, considering the optics needed for an ultra-wide view tend to create bulky lenses. But Sony’s streamlined design for the new fisheye is very much on purpose.

Besides the 314g weight making the lens easier to carry around – and smaller and lighter than the Laowa fisheye zoom – the lens is unusually narrow. That’s in part because Sony built the lens to also work with the Venus extension system to create a 3D VR setup with two lenses side-by-side.

For video, a 16:9 aspect ratio will crop the top and bottom of circular images, but cameras with 3:2 Open Gate can preserve the full circle.

The lens’ design also includes a focus lock switch for shooting astrophotography, as well as a zoom lock switch and seals for dust and moisture resistance.

I was able to shoot a few photos on the new Sony 8-14mm Fisheye mounted on the A7 V. Fisheye lenses create a bit of a quirky look that doesn’t work for every genre, but I found shooting with Sony’s fisheye to be far more fun than I expected.

Images are sharp and colorful, but mixed with the highly exaggerated perspectives of a fisheye. The only problem that I ran into is that the hood does need to be removed for shooting at 8mm – that and, as someone who doesn’t normally shoot with a fisheye, I had to constantly check the edges and make sure I didn’t accidentally get my own feet inside the ultra-wide 180-degree perspective.

The Sony FE 8-14mm f/3.5 Fisheye G will begin shipping in early October, with an expected list price of about $1,599 / £1,499 / CA$1,999.

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It’s been a slow year for Nikon. I’ve been champing at the bit for a big release, and while I’ll have to settle for a development announcement, it doesn’t come much bigger than this. Nikon has just announced the development of not one, but nine Z Cinema lenses. The news comes almost a year after the launch of the ‘Big N’s’ first cinema camera, the Nikon ZR, making this a huge step forward for the legendary Japanese manufacturer’s video ambitions.

What we know about Nikon’s cine lenses

Only one of the nine lenses has been confirmed thus far: the Z Cinema 50mm T1.9 VV. However, Nikon has confirmed that the entire range will feature the same T-stop and “highly precise” autofocusing mechanisms.

The eagle-eyed will notice the ‘VV’ designation at the end of the lens series’ name. This is because each lens in the series will have an image circle that can accommodate RED’s large-format V-Raptor [X] VV sensor, measuring 40.96 x 21.60mm.

This is a clever move. Accommodating both formats opens up the possibility of cross-compatibility between Nikon and RED products. Presumably, this would mean that if you’re shooting with a V-Raptor [X] Z Mount, you’ll be able to pick up a Nikon ZR as a second body and share the same lenses without having to worry about vignetting.

Nikon ZR is getting open gate?

And that’s not all; the news comes alongside the announcement that Nikon is developing firmware update 2.00 for the Nikon ZR, and is also developing future firmware in a bid to convert the camera to open-gate recording.

Nikon has only released two lenses this year and no cameras, while also announcing the development of the Nikon Z 120-300mm f/2.8 TC VR S. And while I’d still love to see a big camera release before the year is out, this latest development announcement is proof that Nikon’s got plenty in the works. Roll on 2027!

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Retro is a much-bandied-about term in photography nowadays – but it isn't that often we see something that actually looks like it has been beamed from another era entirely. The latest lens from SG-Image is different. With its metal body, the AF 35mm f/1.4 prime for APS-C mirrorless cameras looks like something that has come the 1950s, with a crenellated focusing control that makes it look like something you'd find in an antique store.

But despite its looks, this is actually an autofocus lens - and has a wide maximum aperture of f/1.4. We have read from reports from Asia, that will be first be available for Fujifilm X-mount mirrorless cameras – taking their already-retro aesthetic to a whole new level of vintage nostalgia.

According to a report on Technetbooks, the lens uses an optical design with seven elements in six groups. There will also be a choice of three different colors – 3 silver, black, and a two-tone black-and-silver design. The lens has a closest focusing distance of 0.35m and takes a 52mm filter.

The lens retails for 649 yuan in China – which translates to around $98 / £72 / AU$135. A bundle version that comes with a metal lens hood will sell for 699 yuan (around $105 /£78 / AU$145).

Available initially in Fujifilm X mount, Sony E and Nikon Z options are expected to follow.

Most people don't realize this, but Sigma has never made an 85mm f/1.2 lens. The fastest it has ever gone is f/1.4 – until now. After teasing its development back at CP+ 2026 in February, the Sigma 85mm f/1.2 DG Art is finally here – and it's every bit as beautiful as I'd hoped.

This focal length and aperture combination produces, for my money, the best lens for portraits. And with Canon and Nikon having set incredible standards, Sigma had a lot to live up to. But, boy oh boy, did it live up to them.

The first thing that hit me when I took the Sigma 85mm f/1.2 DG Art out of its box is how small it is. For reference, the Canon RF 85mm f/1.2L weighs 1,195g and is over 117mm long – while the Nikon Z 85mm f/1.2 S tips the scales at 1,160g and is even longer at over 141mm.

The Sigma? It's a mere 950g and 120mm – making it the world's smallest and lightest 85mm f/1.2 (with autofocus). Seriously, seeing it next to my Canon is like a before-and-after commercial for Mounjaro.

So, it's small and light – but that's far from all that the Sigma 85mm f/1.2 DG Art has going for it. I don't usually put much stock into press release noise, but Sigma brags that, "In addition to two SLD glass elements, glass with high anomalous dispersion is used to suppress the axial chromatic aberration inherent to large-aperture lenses to the utmost limit."

Well, in our own tests for this lens, our lab manager concluded that, "Control over both axial and lateral chromatic aberrations is pretty epic at all aperture settings", adding that, "Center sharpness is spectacular in the f/2 to f/11 sector of the aperture range and holds up really well even at the widest aperture".

That's what 17 elements, 12 groups and 13 aperture blades from Sigma will get you, I suppose, powered by dual High-response Linear Actuator motors for fast and accurate autofocus.

"I feel that the Sigma 85mm f/1.2 DG Art comes as close to portrait perfection as any lens in its class," said my colleague Matthew in his Sigma 85mm f/1.2 DG Art review.

"That makes it a really top-class lens, combining its essential 85mm focal length with a highly desirable and super-fast f/1.2 aperture. It’s an aspirational, heady mix but one that’s more attainable than with Canon and Nikon equivalent lenses, in terms of purchase price."

The Sigma 85mm f/1.2 DG Art review will be available from September 30 for Sony E and L-Mount, with a price tag of $1,599 / £1,299 / AU$2,225 (for reference, that's half the price of Canon and Nikon's offerings!).

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Sigma just dropped one of the best lenses you never knew you needed – and once you know it exists, you may not be able to do without it.

The Sigma 20-60mm f/2.8-4 DG Contemporary is a not-so-standard zoom that delivers prime-level sharpness while minimizing the footprint of full-frame cameras – which means that those small bodies like the Sigma BF, Lumix S9 and Sony A7C II actually stay small.

Yes, the Lumix heads among you may be pointing out that Panasonic already made a lens like this. But while the Panasonic Lumix S 20-60mm f/3.5-5.6 was a very good lens, it's a stop slower – and it's only available for L-Mount, whereas Sigma's lens is also available for Sony E (but not, alas, Canon RF or Nikon Z).

Take a closer look in the launch video:

Topping and tailing the 24-70mm standard zoom lens, Sigma's 20-60mm f/2.8-4 DG Contemporary offers a much more useful ultra-wide starting point of 20mm – which is rapidly becoming the new normal, thanks to smartphones changing the game.

And it's that extra width that makes this such a useful everyday, walkabout, travel and even vlogging lens – ideal for those situations such as indoor photography, taking pictures of church ceilings and presenting pieces to camera where you can never "get far back enough". Focus breathing is well controlled, too, further buttering its bread as a video optic.

Indeed, the bottom-heavy zoom range also makes this a very practical zoom for APS-C shooters, where it offers an eminently practical 35-90mm equivalent focal range, with a minimum focus distance of 158mm at 28mm for versatile close-up shooting.

Positively palm-sized at just 72 x 88mm and weighing a mere 375g, this little lens packs 15 elements in 13 groups – including a trio of aspherical lenses and a trifecta of special low dispersion glass elements.

"I'm really impressed that Sigma has been able to design this lens with its ultra-wide-angle potential, while delivering excellent image quality in a package that's refreshingly compact and lightweight," said my colleague Matthew in his Sigma 20-60mm f/2.8-4 DG Contemporary review.

"Sure, the inner barrel extends at longer zoom settings but that's only natural. And although it has a variable aperture rating, it's faster than is often the case. All in all, I think this Sigma lens is a small wonder, and a bargain at the price."

The Sigma 20-60mm f/2.8-4 DG Contemporary will be available from September 30, priced $849 / £749 / AU$1,179.

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Getting camera gear repaired is always a nerve-wracking process – especially when you're dealing with an unfamiliar company, trusting your valuable equipment with people that you hope are experts who will do a good job.

Thankfully, for users of Zeiss photographic equipment, that process just became a whole lot more relaxed. Zeiss has named KEH Camera the exclusive authorized repair partner for photography equipment in the US and Canada.

This expands KEH's frankly remarkable repertoire for repairs, as the company also boasts manufacturer-approved repair capabilities for both Sony and Sigma – the only such reseller in the entire camera industry.

KEH, in case you didn't know, is North America's leading pre-owned camera equipment specialist. Not only has it carved a reputation for offering expertly-graded gear at great prices, but its ability to service and repair products means that the retailer can live up to its tagline of selling cameras and lenses that are 'better than new'.

"We are honored that Zeiss recognized the quality and scope of our repair capabilities and asked us to serve in this exclusive capacity," said KEH's chairman and CEO, Glenn Kaufman.

"And, we are excited to extend our best-in-class standard of care to all the owners of Zeiss lenses, some of the finest optics in the industry. It’s also a natural extension of what KEH has always stood for: keeping great gear in circulation and out of landfills."

The new partnership will see KEH handle both in- and out-of-warranty repairs, using genuine parts and manufacturer-approved tools and procedures, for both new and legacy Zeiss kit.

"Because treasured optics require specialized care, we are pleased to partner with KEH Camera who has set the bar for lens repair," added Zeiss Photography Americas' senior manager, Tony Wisniewski.

"We strive to partner with organizations that provide excellent customer support for our products the world over. Be they new or legacy ZEISS cameras and lenses, we are confident that KEH Camera has the skills necessary to provide value to our loyal optics owners, and we look forward to a long partnership."

You can find more information on the Zeiss partnership, KEH's repair and servicing facilities, and of course shop for camera gear over at the KEH website.

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Zeiss makes some of the best Sony lenses and many of the best cine lenses, as well as the integrated lenses for cameras like the Sony RX1R III and Sony RX10 V.

The long-rumored GoPro mirrorless camera is real, and it’s here – the GoPro Mission 1 Pro ILS blends GoPro’s classic design with a one-inch sensor and a Micro Four Thirds mount. However, while that mount that has hundreds of options, not every Micro Four Thirds lens is compatible with the ILS.

So, when choosing lenses for the GoPro Mission 1 Pro ILS, there are a few key caveats to keep in mind.

First, the ILS doesn’t have electronic contacts – which means it doesn’t support focus-by-wire lenses. In turn, that means that autofocus lenses won’t work with the ILS, even in manual focus mode, which removes popular MFT options like the best Olympus / OM System lenses and Lumix lenses from the list of possibilities.

Secondly, GoPro recommends using an external lens support system for optics over 250g – a compromise that comes with using the smallest yet mirrorless camera. While larger lenses can be used with the ILS, those heavier optics will need a third-party support such as SmallRig's lens support, rods, and base plate.

Finally, creators need to go into the ILS menu and tell the camera which lens is mounted – otherwise, the HyperSmooth stabilization won’t work – so it’s best for creators to choose a lens that comes from GoPro’s official compatibility list.

Another worthy note? GoPro's lens testing for the ILS has focused on lenses 50mm and under, so telephoto lenses may have varied performance.

Those caveats remove a lot of lens options for GoPro’s first mirrorless – but there’s still a long list of manual-focus Micro Four Thirds lenses to choose from. Using a mix of hands-on reviews and GoPro’s confirmed compatibility list, these are the best lenses for the GoPro Mission 1 Pro ILS.

Best lenses for the GoPro Mission 1 Pro ILS: Under 250g

The ILS' crop factor makes getting a wide shot tricky, especially if you don't want the curved barrel distortion of a rectilinear fisheye. But the Lawoa 6mm T/2.1 Zero-D Cine is built to minimize barrel distortion and does a remarkably fantastic job at it.

The optics on this lens are fantastic with minimal barrel distortion, little abberation, and no vignetting.

The other reason that the Laowa 6mm makes an excellent pair with the GoPro ILS? The lens meets that under-250g requirement. The lens is compact, yet it still has a lovely metal construction.

Serious filmmakers will appreciate that this lens is built for cinema, including two geared control rings for focus and aperture that are designed to work with accessories like follow focus.

Read our full Laowa 6mm T2.1 Zero-D review

The Laowa 7.5mm f/2 Compact Dreamer is the lens that I used when testing out the GoPro Mission 1 Pro ILS. The lens is remarkably small and lightweight, but it still feels well-built.

The 7.5mm creates a rectilinear view that's rare to get without distortion. I did spot some noticeable barrel distortion occasionally when the camera moved, and perspective distortion is still apparent, but overall this is a very wide lens that doesn't have an overly obvious fisheye look to it.

What I really loved about this lens, though, was the lens flare. I was able to get colorful rainbows and streaky bursts of light when directing this lens towards the sun.

Read the GoPro Mission 1 Pro ILS review for more sample shots taken with the ILS and the Laowa 7.5mm

The Laowa 4mm f/2.8 Fisheye is one of the widest GoPro-recommended lenses for the ILS. This 4mm will create a 12mm full-frame equivalent with HyperSmooth off.

The Laowa will look a bit different on the Mission 1 Pro ILS than it did in our hands-on testing, however. The crop factor on the ILS will cut off most of the circular fisheye look. The ILS has a 1.5x crop factor to get to a Micro Four Thirds equivalent (rather than the full-frame equivalent of 3x).

By our calculations, that will crop off almost all of the black frame except right at the very corners. But while the 4mm won't look like a standard circular fisheye, that extreme barrel distortion will still be in effect on the ILS.

That, combined with an affordable price point and lightweight design, still makes the Laowa 4mm a contender if you don't mind the crop and darkened corners.

Read our full Laowa 4mm F/2.8 Fisheye review

Best lenses for the GoPro Mission 1 Pro ILS: Over 250g (require support)

Any lens over 250g should be paired with an external support system – the GoPro ILS body is just too small to handle the heavy optics. GoPro doesn't make its own, but recommends a model from SmallRig.

GoPro's first mirrorless camera isn't submersible like earlier action cameras, but the camera is splashproof if paired with a lens that also has weather-sealing. There are very few weather-sealed lenses that sit on GoPro's compatibility list, but the Irix Cine T1.5 is one of them – and it's a fantastic lens.

Its lens' T1.5 aperture will go a long way in helping the ILS' 1-inch sensor to gather the most light and create background blur. This 30mm creates an excellent cinematic look with minimal focus breathing.

The biggest complaint coming from the Irix 30mm review is that the lens is a bit soft when shooting at T1.5; while the sharpness was still plenty enough for 8K footage, the ILS' crop factor will exaggerate that softness a bit. That means scenarios requiring the very sharpest subjects will want to step down a bit.

This lens is also a hefty one and will require using an external support system; otherwise, the heavy optics will stress the ILS mount.

Read our full Irix Cine 30mm T1.5 review

Cine lenses are pricey, but the 7Artisans Vision 50mm T1.05 is rather affordable considering its full metal construction and bright T1.05 iris.

The Vision 50mm has large gears built for accessories like follow focus systems, and that focus adjustment is buttery smooth – though we did spot some focus breathing in our testing.

But the footage coming from this lens has lovely character. Bokeh has a bit of a swirl to it, and contrast is excellent.

While the lens performs well for the price point, there is some colored fringing. The lens tends to look sharpest at T2 rather than wide open – but the crop factor on the ILS may warrant pushing that a bit narrower.

Again, this lens weighs more than 250g, so be sure to factor in the cost of a lens support, rods, and baseplate.

Read our full 7Artisans Vision 50mm T1.05 review

One area where the Mission 1 Pro ILS crop factor comes in handy is with close-ups. This macro lens is one of the most affordable macro options that still sits with a focal length under 50mm for the best performance on ILS.

Reviews Editor Gareth Bevan actually rigged this affordable lens up to a film scanner, but didn't notice a difference in sharpness compared to pricier optics.

Image quality won't be perfect coming in as an ultra-affordable option, but this lens is well-built, extremely well priced and works with the ILS when using an added external support system.

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Read the GoPro Mission 1 Pro ILS review, or check out the Mission 1 Pro for a fixed-lens option.

Fujifilm has launched a new X-mount super-telephoto prime lens: the Fujinon XF400mmF4.5 R LM OIS WR. This is only the second super-telephoto prime in the current X-mount range, lining up alongside the existing XF500mmF5.6 R LM OIS WR.

The new 400mm optic is 90g lighter and 16mm shorter than the 500mm lens, and its f/4.5 maximum aperture makes it marginally faster. The 400mm focal length equates to 609mm in full-frame terms, making this an ideal lens for sports and wildlife photography. The lens can also be teamed with Fujifilm's 1.4x and 2x teleconverters, where it'll provide full-frame-equivalent focal lengths of 853mm and 1,219mm, respectively.

Build and handling

The XF400mmF4.5 is built to Fujifilm's no-compromise R-series lens standard. Like the XF 500mm f/5.6, it sports a distinctive silvery-white barrel finish to help reflect solar heat. Along with the usual aperture ring, you'll also find a trio of switches on the barrel: a focus limit switch for locking out the closest 5 meters of focus range to help prevent focus hunting when shooting distant subjects, an OIS on/off selector, and a focus preset function with AF-L (autofocus lock), standard AF, and 'preset' options. The latter works in conjunction with the 'Set' button located beneath the mode switches, enabling you to instantly shift focus to a pre-defined position at the touch of a button.

Focusing is completely internal, with the wide manual focus ring providing plenty of travel for accurate manual focusing. Autofocus is achieved using a high-speed linear motor, while up to 5.5 stops of optical image stabilization makes hand-held photography a completely viable option.

At 1,245g, the new XF 400mm is surprisingly light for such a fast super-tele optic and feels well balanced when mounted to the X-H2s body provided for our initial testing. Even with the included lens hood attached, the whole set-up isn't too unwieldy, and I was able to shoot handheld for over an hour with no issue.

The lens's go-anywhere ability is further enhanced by full weather sealing incorporating 20 sealing points to guard against water and dust ingress. The front element also gets a fluorine coating to repel water and resist fingerprints. Much of my time with the lens was spent out in the rain, but the XF 400mm functioned perfectly, and the deep lens hood did a great job of keeping droplets off the front element.

The barrel contains a complex 21-element optical stack arranged in 14 groups. This includes 2 super ED (extra-low dispersion) elements and 4 ED elements (1 less than in the XF 500mm), with the aim of minimizing chromatic aberrations. Fujifilm says that the optical design is such that weight has been biased towards the rear of the lens, to help bring the center of gravity closer to the camera body for more balanced handling.

Performance

Having been blown away by the performance from the existing XF 500mm f/5.6, I had high hopes for the new 400mm, and it didn't disappoint. Even wide open at f/4.5, sharpness in the center of frame is superb. I can't yet give a definitive judgement on corner sharpness as my brief time with the lens was spent photographing birds of prey at a press event, with most of my sample shots having out of focus backgrounds. But having previously lab tested the sharpness of the XF 500mm with excellent results, I expect the XF 400mm to perform just as well in this area. Many of my sample images included areas of trees in front of a relatively bright sky - a classic recipe for fringing - but the lens managed to avoid generating any noticeable aberrations. Even so, we'll need to get a sample into our test lab to get a conclusive verdict on lens sharpness and fringing.

A lens like this is intended for fast-paced sports and wildlife photography, so autofocus speed and accuracy are paramount. Photographing fast-moving birds of prey proved to be a suitably tough test for the XF 400mm, but after plenty of trial and error finding the ideal AF settings for my X-H2S test body, I was able to get plenty of sharp shots of birds in flight, despite me being far from a seasoned bird photographer. No doubt with more time to finesse the correct settings my hit rate would get better still. But even with my relatively brief hands-on testing, I found the XF 400mm's autofocusing to be utterly smooth and essentially silent, plus it had no trouble keeping pace with the 15fps burst shooting speed of the X-H2S.

Verdict

You may wonder why Fujifilm has made this lens when it already produces a superb super-telephoto prime in the shape of the XF 500mm. Sure, the XF 400mm isn't radically different in concept or design to the XF 500mm, but it fills a niche for users who want a smaller, lighter and faster pro-level super-telephoto prime than the XF 500mm, yet still retain enough reach to capture distant subjects. For ultimate reach and focal length flexibility, the XF 150-600mm f/5.6-8 zoom is still king, but that lens is noticeably longer and heavier than even the XF 500mm, while also being considerably slower.

Although my time with the XF 400mm was sadly all too short, I was particularly pleased with lens's ease of use, even when shooting fast-moving subjects, and it's gorgeous image quality left me equally impressed. We'll need to get another copy of the lens into our test laboratory before we can give a final performance verdict, but right now I've got little to criticize.

The XF400mmF4.5 R LM OIS WR will be available to buy from the end of September, priced at $3,199 / £2,499.99 / AU$4,949.

Fujifilm’s longest telephoto prime just got a little sibling. Announced on September 4, the Fujifilm XF400mm f/4.5 R LM OIS WR slots in between the X-series 200mm and 500mm primes, yet comes in lighter and nearly the same length as Fujifilm’s 100-400mm zoom.

The Fujifilm XF400mm f/4.5 R LM OIS WR is meant to fill a gap in Fujifilm’s telephoto lineup, offering a brighter aperture and a bit less reach than the XF500mm f/5.6 R LM OIS WR for tighter sports venues – and a lighter profile for wildlife photo hikes.

While the new 400mm shares a similar design with the 500mm, the new telephoto comes in at 1245g / 2.74lbs – that’s about seven percent lighter than the XF500mm and nearly a ten percent weight savings over the Fujifilm XF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR.

Built with 21 elements in 14 groups, the lens is weighted towards the mount in order to create a better balance with the camera body.

The lens’ linear autofocus motor is built for both quiet and quick performance, Fujifilm says, with the minimum focus distance creating a 0.16x magnification for close shots.

Like the 500mm, the new 400mm uses a stabilization system rated at up to 5.5 stops.

The design of the new 400mm also echoes Fujifilm’s earlier 200mm and 500mm primes, including weather-sealing at 20 points and an Arca-Swiss compatible tripod foot. The bank of controls offers a bevy of switches and buttons, including stabilization, focus limiter, focus control, and preset AF controls.

The XF 400mm fills a gap in Fujifilm’s telephoto primes between the XF 200mm f/2 and the XF 500mm f/5.6, while bringing brighter, sharper optics than the X series current telephoto zoom choices.

The 400mm creates a 609mm full-frame equivalent on Fujifilm’s APS-C sensors, but the lens is also compatible with both of the brand’s XF 2.0x TC WR and XF 1.4x TC WR teleconverters as well.

“XF400mm lets photographers stay mobile and react to what's in front of them, and they don't have to trade image quality to do it,” said Victor Ha, vice president and general manager of the electronic imaging division for Fujifilm North America. “With super telephoto lenses, the balance of size and performance is the creative advantage, and XF400mm is exactly that. Lightweight, compact, powerful.”

The lens is expected to ship in mid-September at $3,199 / £2,499 / CA$3,899 / AU$4,949

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Leica has reached deep into its military archives for its latest M-mount release, resurrecting one of the rarest lenses in the company’s history with the new Leica Summicron-M 66 f/2.

Joining the Leica Classic Line, the unusual 66mm lens is a modern reinterpretation of the Elcan 66mm f/2, a specialist optic originally developed by Ernst Leitz Canada for the US Navy during the late 1960s. Only around 200 examples of the original were reportedly produced, making it one of the rarest lenses associated with the Leica M-System.

The original Elcan was designed by legendary optical designer Dr Walter Mandler following a commission for a compact lens capable of delivering exceptional resolving power for covert reconnaissance photography. According to Dr Mandler, Head of Development and Vice-President of Ernst Leitz (Canada) Ltd. in Midland, Ontario, at the time:

“The Naval Intelligence Service wanted a lens that looked like any other but delivered an unparalleled level of resolution.” The strange 66mm focal length was therefore anything but arbitrary, instead representing a carefully calculated compromise between resolution, fine contrast and a body compact enough for discreet photography.

The lens also comes with a fascinating Cold War backstory. Historical accounts suggest that examples were used beyond the original US Navy commission by Western allied partners, while many Elcan 66mm f/2 lenses were paired with the Leica KE-7A, a military version of the Leica M4.

Perhaps most remarkably, the original camera and lens sets were supplied with instructions explaining how to destroy the equipment in the event that the photographer was captured, which gives some indication of just how sensitive the assignments involving these cameras could be.

Sample images

For the new Summicron-M 66 f/2, Leica has retained the character of the original optical design while updating it to meet modern standards. There are some wonderfully unusual historical touches too, including an aperture ring that turns in the opposite direction to conventional M lenses, a military-style distance scale and engravings inspired by the original Elcan.

The tiny engraved “60” on the side indicates a precisely measured focal length of 66.0mm, while Leica says the f/2 maximum aperture combines soft bokeh with strong contrast before delivering maximum resolution and fine detail when stopped down. Sitting neatly between a traditional 50mm and longer portrait focal lengths, it should also offer a natural perspective with just a little additional compression.

Naturally, something this unusual was never going to be produced in huge numbers. Leica will make just 660 examples of the Summicron-M 66 f/2, each carrying a special serial number alongside the optical calculation number B1047 and Leica’s internal material number.

The Leica Summicron-M 66 f/2 will be available worldwide from September 3, 2026 from Leica and authorized dealers, priced at $10,900 / £8,410.

Collectors may also want to keep an eye on the Leitz Photographica Auction in Wetzlar in November 2026, where the very first example, serial number 001, will go under the hammer.

Check out our full guide to the best Leica M lenses

If there’s one thing I loathe about photography, it’s spying an image with great potential, but not quite having the right tools for the job. As much as it’s the photographer that makes the biggest difference, there are some photographic opportunities that simply cannot be maximized without having the right kit. And more often than not, it’s a specific lens.

That’s why everyday zooms are so popular. They afford photographers incredible versatility, so why am I still left wanting? Well, there has to be a compromise. Everyday standard zoom lenses tend to be small and affordable, and while image quality has skyrocketed in the mirrorless era, you still have to pay a price: speed and handling.

The cost of convenience

Speed is the most important factor when using a zoom lens. If you follow the reciprocal rule and beyond, even relatively short telephoto focal lengths can require fast shutter speeds, especially if you’re using a high-resolution camera. This means that if you’re not shooting in bright conditions, you’re often forced to boost your ISO so you can increase your shutter speed. And because these lenses are designed to be light and compact, they tend not to balance as well in the hand, making them even more prone to camera shake at the telephoto end.

The whole point of an everyday zoom is versatility, but that doesn’t mean you won’t find yourself compromising. Now, that’s not to say everyday zooms are bad. They are hugely popular and for good reason. If I’m out and about on holiday and I have no idea what I’m going to encounter, they’re fantastic. But when my goal is to capture the best images possible, I find myself gravitating towards prime lenses.

Embracing limitations

A prime is unforgiving. Sure, it’s versatile in the right hands, but it’s not as versatile as a zoom. And yet, that’s part of the charm. If I identify a scene with photographic potential and I’m using an everyday zoom, I’ll probably go for it, even if I can’t quite get close enough, or I have to boost my ISO sky high or wrestle with camera shake. I might also be less decisive, zooming in and out, moving around, taking picture after picture and struggling to move on.

But if I’m out and about with a prime lens and I see something off in the distance that I can’t reach or the angle of view isn’t right, I’ll simply move onto the next thing. It’s really liberating!

Maybe it’s just me, but something I struggle with when I’m out and about with my camera is the urge to photograph everything and spend less time actually thinking about what I’m doing. I find myself far less likely to slow down and consider each shot when I’m working with a zoom than I am with a prime. Prime lenses make me a more methodical photographer and a calmer photographer. Sure, I miss things, but I’m okay with that.

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Check out the latest camera news. Plus, here are the best compact cameras and the best mirrorless cameras.

f/1.2 is impressive, but what about a fast prime that goes way faster than this? Well, it appears that NiSi may have decided that what photography and filmmaking needs is a huge 26mm lens with a frighteningly wide f/0.7 maximum aperture.

According to Chinese video-production news outlet ProNews, NiSi unveiled the unfathomable lens at the recent Beijing International Radio, Film and Television Exhibition (BIRTV) alongside a 50mm T1 cinema prime, having initially teased it via Chinese social media channel RedNote a week earlier.

With an insanely fast aperture and wide-angle view, the 26mm prime is said to weigh a hefty 102oz (2.9kg). It’s also reported that the lens has currently only been produced for Nikon Z-mount.

Although, this makes sense, seeing as Nikon’s system has a 55mm inner diameter and a 16mm flange distance, which Nikon says enables “extremely large” apertures.

We all know that a 26mm lens gives you an expansive perspective. But, at f/0.7, NiSi is seemingly attempting to combine that wide-angle view with extremely shallow depth of field.

This could give filmmakers in particular unmatched subject-background separation firepower combined with light-gathering ability.

The images teased on RedNote included text that, translated, says “Paying tribute to a legend,” which is surely a reference to director Stanley Kubrick.

Kubrick famously used a Zeiss 50mm f/0.7 during the filming of Barry Lyndon. While the Zeiss lens was the first to bring f/0.7 to cinema, the NiSi prime would take extremely fast glass to near-panoramic levels.

However, at just shy of 105oz (3kg), unlike a nifty fifty, the unveiled prime isn't an everyday lens. It seems like NiSi is instead vying for an optical perspective conventional wide-angle lenses can’t replicate.

The original RedNote post announcing the lens has since disappeared, but according to what local media reported, it didn’t mention anything about a release date.

However, with a reported price tag of $29,500 (approximately £22,000 / AU$40,000), it’d be well out of reach for anyone not shooting for an established studio – even if hiring it from a rental company.

I’ve reached out to NiSi for comment, so hopefully we’ll have more information about this insane lens soon.

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Here’s our pick of the best Nikon cameras – from basic beginner to advanced pro models.

When I snap close-up photos of small shiny objects like wedding rings and car details, I repeatedly come across a challenge: trying not to catch my own reflection in the photograph. But Panasonic is refreshing four popular lenses with a fix.

Panasonic Japan will refresh four popular lenses in mid-September. One of those lenses is the full-frame L-Mount Lumix S Pro 70-200mm f/4 OIS, while the other three are Micro Four Thirds optics: the Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Elmarit 12-60mm f/2.8-4.0 ASPH Power OIS, the Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 25mm f/1.4 II ASPH, and the Lumix G 42.5mm f/1.7 ASPH Power OIS.

The announcement – which comes from Panasonic Japan and has not yet seen official announcements outside of Japan – brings a relatively small refresh to four existing lenses.

But one of the changes is that the markings on the front of the lens are more muted. The darker markings on the front of the lens will help the lens better blend into the shadows. Of course, that doesn’t matter much when the reflection is strong enough for the photographer to show up, but that will help the lens to better blend into the shadows – and it serves as a reminder why most cameras are black.

Outside of the tweak to the font markings, all four lenses now use a fluorine coating to help repel fingerprints off the front of the lens.

Panasonic Japan marks the new full-frame 70-200mm f/4 OIS as rated to 6.5 stops when mounted on the Panasonic Lumix S1R or S1, which would be a half-stop improvement over the current version of the lens.

Panasonic Japan says that the kit lens for the GH7 and G9 II will be gradually replaced with the refreshed version of the 12-60mm. The lens brings the same optical design and image quality with the new fluorine coating and uses new engraved lettering on the front of the lens instead of the white lettering.

The two Micro Four Thirds primes, meanwhile, will use gray lettering on the front rather than white.

Panasonic Japan says that the four new lenses will begin shipping in mid-September.

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Explore the best Micro Four Thirds lenses or the best L-Mount lenses.

Chinese manufacturer Cloud Workshop has released what I can only describe as neck warmers for Nikon lenses. The story was broken by Nikon Rumors, and I’ve since been able to locate a version for the Nikon 58mm f/1.4 G on Chinese e-store Taobao, while a Nikon AF‑S 105mm f/1.4E ED cover is also said to be available.

If you’ve ever used an FTZ II adapter, you’ll know that the peripheral necessarily elongates the mount end of the lens in question, which can look rather awkward, especially if the lens is rather bulbous.

From the pictures, the cover appears to fit over half of the FTZ Adapter and the back portion of the AF-S lens in question. The cover thickens the thin taper created by the adapter and blends into the lens with textured grips akin to control or aperture rings.

While it looks like this is largely an aesthetic choice, it may also improve the handling slightly. I’ve used an FTZ Adapter multiple times, and the tapering it creates can be slightly uncomfortable when cradling the lens with your left hand.

I was curious how these attachments work with both versions of the FTZ Adapter, given that the original incarnation features a rather bulbous tripod foot protruding from the base of the adapter, which was streamlined in the updated FTZ Adapter II.

Imagery on Taobao reveals that there is a gap in the covers, enabling the tripod foot to poke through, providing beyond doubt that the attachments are compatible with both versions of the adapter.

It doesn’t surprise me that in the imagery a Nikon Zf has been used to illustrate the covers in use. Both the Nikon Zf and Nikon Zfc are ideal cameras for using vintage Nikon glass, and since they’re such good-looking cameras, it’s always been a bit of a shame when using them with an unsightly adapter.

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Check out the best Nikon cameras. If you don't want to use an adapter for your Nikon mirrorless, here are the best Nikon Z lenses. And for those looking for something a little different, check out the best retro cameras.

Chris Burkard says that sometimes getting ready for the shoot is half the battle – but there are a few pieces of gear that the adventure photographer always has in his bag.

In a quirky video series for Sony Alpha’s YouTube Channel, Burkard kits out a new photographer as if he’s building a character inside of a video game. The humorous short starts with weather-appropriate clothing, including closed-toed shoes, a puffer jacket, and a rain shell oversized enough to tuck a camera inside in the event of a downpour.

Burkard is a Sony Artisan of Imagery and, naturally, as part of Sony’s ambassador program, the photographer isn’t shy about sharing what gear he uses. He’s previously shared kits that include three mirrorless cameras along with a compact camera and several lenses. But the video shares some insight into what kit Burkard would build for a more streamlined setup, along with what lens is always in his bag, and what lens is his favorite.

The lens that Burkard says is "always in my bag" is a 24-70mm f/2.8 workhorse zoom – more specifically, he uses Sony’s second generation of the workhorse, the Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM II. The second generation improves the workhorse lens’ handling with a lighter design and more robust weather-sealing, while also improving sharpness and reducing chromatic aberration.

His favorite lens, however, is even wider than that workhorse: the Sony FE 16-35mm f/2.8 GM II. DCW Reviews Editor Gareth Bevan noted that the second-generation lens isn’t just lighter and more compact than the original, but is also sharper, with noticeable improvements in distortion and vignetting.

Beyond those two favorites, the streamlined kit that Burkard builds finishes what’s commonly referred to as the “holy trinity” of lenses, adding the Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II to the trio of zooms in the kit.

Burkard chooses just one prime lens for the streamlined kit: the Sony FE 24mm f/1.4 GM, which he says he grabs for night photography and a shallower depth of field than the f/2.8 zooms.

As for the camera body, Burkard builds the kit around the Sony A7R V, which the photographer calls his “high-resolution workhorse for shooting landscapes in the field.” While Sony now has the newly launched A7R VI, the A7R V remains available at a lower price point than the latest model.

The video is part of a new Sony and Burkard video collab, Inside, Out There, a series of short videos that’s about “learning to see the world with more intention.”

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For more insight, browse the best Sony E-Mount lenses or the best Sony cameras.

Using a crop sensor gives Fujifilm’s popular X-series of mirrorless cameras a more compact design – but the crop sensor also makes getting an ultra-wide lens more challenging. But a new speed booster adapter from Metabones boosts lenses to return to nearly the full-frame equivalent.

This month, Metabones announced a series of four new Canon-EF to Fujifilm X adapters. That list of four converters includes a converter built for maintaining autofocus and IBIS performance and a speed booster for widening the lens and adding an extra stop of light, as well as cinema variants of those two adapters.

The Metabones T Speed Booster Ultra 0.71x II+ turns the usual APS-C crop factor from 1.5 to 1.07, widening the lens almost (but not quite) to the full-frame view. Metabones says the adapter also adds a full stop of light to the lens, up to f/0.9.

That turns lenses like Canon’s workhorse 24-70mm f/2.8 to a 17-50mm f/2.0 on Fujifilm bodies. Metabones says that the adapter uses five lens elements in four groups to optically convert that view while boosting sharpness and reducing vignetting.

Both the Speed Booster and the Smart Adapter use electronic connections and a custom lens profile in order to support both autofocus and image stabilization, despite using a Canon lens on a Fujifilm body.

Metabones says that the autofocus and stabilization support comes from the adapter’s built-in processor and storage that creates a lens profile for each mounted optic. The company says the adapter “gathers information about the lens as you normally use it” and saves that data for better performance.

While the adapters support PDAF (phase-detection AF), Metabones says that the lens doesn’t quite meet the performance of native glass but claims the adapter’s autofocus and stabilization outperform other adapted lens systems.

For full support, the new Metabones adapters need a newer PDAF Fujifilm body such as the X-H series, the X-T2 and newer, or the XPro2 and newer. The lens also needs to come from the list of supported optics, but that list has more than 100 EF-mount lenses.

Both the Speed Booster and Smart Adapter also come in Cinema variants, which have a locking mechanism to prevent unwanted play while focusing or zooming.

With the adapters being a second generation, Metabones says it's also releasing firmware to boost autofocus performance for owners of the previous generation.

All three boosters are set to arrive in September. The Smart Adapter starts at $399 (about £295 / AU$555 / CA$554) and the Speed Booster at $699 (£516 / AU$974 / CA$970).

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It's not often that we get a new fisheye lens, but this 7Artisans AF 10mm f/2.5 Max isn't just exciting because it's a novelty.

With an ultra-wide 185° field of view, fast aperture, full autofocus and 0.15m close focusing, it's going to be one of the most creative tools to keep in your kit bag.

Launching for Sony E, Nikon Z and L-Mount, the 7Artisans AF 10mm f/2.5 Max offers full-frame coverage – which is to say, you get a corner-to-corner (diagonal) image rather than a circular "peephole" perspective.

At 10mm you get a crazy-wide perspective (which is punched in slightly to 15mm, if you mount it to an APS-C body) that delivers truly unique spatial expression.

As a pure fisheye it's ideal for everything from agonized landscapes and wraparound vistas to phantasmagoric portraiture and shooting action sports like skateboarding.

However, by applying the official lens correction profile, you can transform the lens into a traditional wide-angle for more conventional architecture, astro and landscape photography.

The fast aperture makes it especially suited to low light situations, whether that's indoor skateparks or shooting starscapes. Combine it with the ultra-close focusing distance and you can even achieve surreal subject separation.

As far as the lens itself goes, it's an all-metal affair with weather sealing to make it a robust performer in all conditions (providing, of course, that you have a weather-sealed body). The bulbous lens also boasts an anti-smudge coating to repel fingerprints, water stains and oil residue.

Unlike a lot of fisheyes, the 7Artisans AF 10mm f/2.5 Max promises exceptional image quality – being, as the name suggests, part of the company's top-tier Max series.

The manufacturer says that it is capable of resolving 60MP, thanks to its optical formula that features 11 all-glass elements in 8 groups – including a pair of extra-low dispersion and an aspherical lens to control chromatic and spherical aberrations.

It has a dedicated, clicked aperture ring along with a pair of function buttons – and it even has a USB-C port on the lens mount to facilitate straightforward firmware updates. Far from making this a bulky lens, though, it weighs just 504g (on E-mount) and measures a 94mm in length.

The 7Artisans AF 10mm f/2.5 Max is available now, priced $449 (approximately £330 / AU$625) for E, Z and L-Mount – but be aware that there are some compatibility issues with certain camera models.

Per 7Artisans, in the below list, fully compatible means all functions work, basically compatible means "normal shooting works; some features are being improved" and not compatible means the lens cannot be used:

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The trend towards smaller camera systems has pushed into optics – and the L-Mount just got its lightest constant-aperture telephoto yet. The LK Samyang AF 60-180mm f/2.8 L tweaks the usual 70-200mm focal lengths in order to create a lighter multi-purpose lens.

Launched earlier this year for E-Mount, the lens’ L-Mount launch is both the lightest and most compact in the category for L-Mount, the company says. The lens weighs in at 728 g / 25.7 oz and sits at 147 mm / 5.7 inches long.

Built from both LK Samyang (also known as Rokinon in the US) alongside German optics maker Schneider-Kreuznach, the lens is the third in the series built with both companies, adding a telephoto to the series that includes the AF 14-24mm f/2.8 and AF 24-60mm f/2.8 launched in 2025.

Besides being built for more portability than the typical 70-200mm workhorse, the new lens uses an advanced floating focus system. The company says that this helps boost sharpness throughout the lens’ focus range. A minimum focus distance of .35m gives the lens a .26 magnification capability for closeups.

That focus system is paired with a focus hold button, along with an auto-to-manual focus switch on the lens design.

Despite the lightweight build, the lens is still built with weather seals.

DCW Editor-in-Chief James Artaius got his hands on the E-Mount version of the lens during the CP+ trade show in Japan earlier this year and said the lens felt impressively small and lightweight, considering the zoom range and constant f/2.8 aperture.

Now, that more compact workhorse lens is arriving for shooters with L-Mount cameras. Orders for the new L-Mount version have already opened at several retailers. The L-Mount variant is expected to retail for $1,199 / £949 (inc VAT). Australia and Canada pricing has not yet been announced, but that converts to about CA$1,620 and AU$1,850.

That’s a fairly competitive price that puts it well under similar L-Mount options like the Panasonic Lumix S Pro 70-200mm f/2.8 OIS and Sigma 70-200mm DG DN OS Sports.

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Freewell certainly likes a creator collaboration. Not long ago I reviewed its excellent Brandon Li Magnetic VND/CPL Filter Kit, which has subsequently become one of my favorite filter systems for video. Now it has teamed up with YouTuber and filmmaker Dunna Did It for another premium magnetic system.

Instead of a variable ND, the Freewell x Dunna Did It Videography Kit is centered around fixed neutral density filters. You get ND4, ND8, ND16 and ND32 filters, providing two, three, four and five stops of reduction respectively, plus a Glow Mist 1/4 diffusion filter. Each one connects magnetically to a base ring before twisting to physically lock into position. Freewell says it developed the system with Dunna over almost a year, with particular attention paid to reducing bulk and making the filters quick to change.

The headline number is just 2.95mm. That is how thin each solid ND filter is, and at 18.4g apiece, they barely add anything to the front of a lens. The filters share a 103.2mm outside diameter irrespective of the thread size of the lens underneath, while interchangeable base rings allow the same filters to work with lenses from 49mm right up to 95mm.

On paper, then, this sounds like a neat solution for videographers who prefer the optical consistency of fixed NDs but don't want to spend their life screwing filters on and off. In practice, that extreme thinness turns out to be both the system's greatest strength and its biggest annoyance.

Specifications

Price

The Freewell x Dunna Did It Videography Kit is currently listed at $299.99, reduced from what will be the regular price of $350 on Freewell's website (and for a short time you can get further money off with the code DUNNA10).

At first, over three hundred dollars seems like a substantial amount of money for filters, although there is quite a lot here. Four high-quality fixed NDs, a mist filter, locking magnetic metal caps, and a genuinely good case would add up quickly if bought individually.

However, my complaint is the same one I had with Freewell's Brandon Li kit: you only get one base ring. The whole attraction of an oversized filter system like this is that you buy the expensive glass once and move it between lenses, yet doing that immediately requires buying more rings. Additional Dunna rings currently cost $19 each, which isn't extortionate, but for a $300 kit I still think including a couple of common sizes would have been the more generous move.

Design & Handling

The Dunna kit feels great. The frames are nicely machined, the branding is restrained but distinctive, and the whole thing has the kind of solidity I expect from a filter system that costs this much. I also like the visual design much more than some of Freewell's more colorful filters – but maybe I'm boring. With its black NDs and silver mist filter, it looks sleek without vying for attention.

But the defining feature is undoubtedly how thin these filters are. At only 2.95mm, each ND is impressively slight. Even stacking two or three together isn't much taller than some single screw-in filters.

However, the large 103.2mm front diameter means that while you won't be too concerned about the system intruding into the frame on wider lenses, it does dwarf smaller cameras. Using it with my Fujifilm X-T5 and its 72mm filter thread did make it look awkwardly oversized.

Attaching a filter is very straightforward. The magnet does most of the initial work of lining it up, then a short twist locks the filter mechanically into place. Once locked, I have a huge amount of confidence in it. Short of giving the filter a deliberate twist to release it, I can't imagine one simply falling off while I'm shooting.

That makes it much more reassuring than purely magnetic systems, especially if I am walking around with a camera hanging from a strap where it could get bumped.

Unfortunately, Freewell might have been a little too successful in its pursuit of thinness. There simply isn't much filter to grab. If two are sitting together, prizing them apart can require more dexterity than I would like. The same problem gets worse when the filters are stacked for storage. I found myself trying to twist off one filter and taking two or even three with me because even my fairly normal-sized fingers couldn't easily isolate just one of these incredibly narrow frames.

Unlocking a stack without putting a fingertip on the glass is similarly difficult. This isn't catastrophic, and I'm sure I would get slicker with practice, but it undermines some of the speed promised by a system specifically designed to make filter changes easier (there is a cleaning cloth included in the case).

If you're already in the Freewell ecosystem, then you might be disappointed to learn that, despite both carrying the Freewell name, my Dunna filters and base ring aren't compatible with other filters like the Brandon Li magnetic system I already own. That means no mixing and matching between two premium Freewell systems. I appreciate that the mechanisms are designed differently, but if Freewell keeps building creator-specific filter ecosystems, I would really like to see some standardization.

The supplied case, however, is excellent. It is soft enough that I don't worry about it bashing other equipment in my bag, but structured enough to protect the filters properly. There are four compartments, so I can keep individual filters or small stacks organized rather than dumping everything together.

The caps are equally nicely made, and Freewell has also built exposure and white-balance reference surfaces into the rear cap, which is a clever little bonus for video shooters.

Performance

Fortunately, once I stopped fiddling with the filters and actually started shooting through them, there was very little to complain about.

Across my test images, I couldn't see any meaningful loss of sharpness or clarity from adding the ND filters. Detail still looked as I expected from the lens without a filter attached.

Color is also well controlled, although I noticed a very slight yellow cast when comparing filtered and unfiltered images side by side. It isn't severe, and I could correct it very quickly with a small white-balance adjustment in a raw file or while grading video. Freewell promises minimal color change rather than literally zero change, and I think that is fair.

Vignetting was not an issue on my 16mm APS-C lens (24mm full-frame equivalent); the filters are substantially wider than the lens thread underneath them, and I couldn't see darkening in the corners even after stacking a few filters.

Freewell officially recommends using no more than three at once, and its own combinations allow the Videography Kit's four NDs to produce up to 12 stops. Although, naturally, I ignored that advice and stacked all four, much to my surprise, it still worked well, with only a touch of vignetting in the corners at my widest angle, but I suspect that any wider and it would have become an issue.

Mist strength is always subjective, but I think the Glow Mist 1/4 filter is also nicely balanced. It produces a pleasant, even haze around highlights and takes some of the clinical edge off very sharp digital footage.

I also tested the optional CPL available for the Dunna system, although importantly this isn't included in the standard Videography Kit. Optically, it is good, cutting reflections from water and windows effectively. My problem is mechanical. The rotating section doesn't hold its position particularly firmly, so a gentle brush can move it and change the polarization. I would prefer more resistance here, especially for video, where an accidental shift mid-shot could be irritating.

Verdict

I really like what Freewell and Dunna have done here, the magnetic locking mechanism is excellent, it combines the convenience of magnets with the reassurance of knowing that an expensive filter is physically locked onto my lens.

Although I think the product's obsession with thinness has gone just a little too far. Their tiny 2.95mm frames leave almost nothing to grab, and separating or unlocking stacked filters is more fiddly than I think a system built around quick filter changes should be.

But optically, the Dunna Did It Videography Kit is excellent. The four fixed NDs preserve detail very well, vignetting simply wasn't an issue in my testing, and the slightest of yellow casts I observed is easy enough to correct that I wouldn't consider it a serious problem.

I also dislike having yet another proprietary magnetic mount that isn't compatible with the Freewell system I already own, and one base ring still feels stingy for a $300 product.

But once the filter is actually on the lens, the Dunna system does its job exceptionally well. For videographers who prefer fixed NDs to variable ones, I think this is one of the smartest and most compact systems around.

Alternatives

Eight of the Top 10 best-selling lenses in Japan right now come from third-party manufacturers, according to the latest BCN Raking data.

Sigma and Tamron dominate the chart, with four lenses each, while only one Nikon and one Sony lens make the Top 10 – and there isn't a single Canon optic in sight.

The biggest winner is Sigma, whose 18-50mm f/2.8 DC DN | C takes the No.1 spot for Sony E-mount. The same lens also appears at No.2 in Canon RF-mount and No.4 in Fujifilm X-mount, making it one of the most successful individual lens designs in the ranking. Sigma's 28-70mm f/2.8 DG DN | C also takes third place, giving the brand four spots in total.

BCN's Top 10 best-selling lenses, July 2026

1. Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 DC DN | C (E-mount)
2. Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 DC DN | C (RF-mount)
3. Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8 DG DN | C (E-mount)
4. Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 DC DN | C (X-mount)
5. Tamron 17-70mm f/2.8 Di III-A VC RXD (E-mount)
6. Tamron 25-200mm f/2.8-5.6 Di III VXD G2 (E-mount)
7. Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4 S
8. Tamron 70-180mm f/2.8 Di III VC VXD G2 (E-mount)
9. Sony E 70-350mm f/4.5-6.3 G OSS
10. Tamron 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD (E-mount)

Sigma's third party lens success in Japan

Launched for Canon RF in 2024, the Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 DC DN | C was Sigma's first AF (autofocus) lens for the mount – a long-awaited release for Canon EOS R users.

It's an ideal choice for APS-C cameras such as the EOS R7, R10, R50 and R100 and is priced relatively affordably at $659 / £468 (RF-mount).

It offers a useful standard zoom range equivalent to roughly 27-75mm in full-frame and is lightweight, weighing 290g in Sony E and L-mount versions, 285g for Fujifilm X and 300g for Canon RF.

In our review, we highlighted its lightweight design and constant f/2.8 aperture as its major strengths. We also found its AF to be fast and virtually silent, while build quality and weather resistance were further strengths.

Tamron also claims four spots

Tamron accounts for four of the Top 10, with the 17-70mm f/2.8 Di III-A VC RXD at No.5, followed by the 25-200mm f/2.8-5.6 Di III VXD G2 at No.6, the 70-180mm f/2.8 Di III VC VXD G2 at No.8 and the 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD at No.10. All four are Sony E-mount lenses.

Together, Tamron's lenses span everything from fast standard zooms to all-in-one travel lenses and long telephoto zooms – great alternatives to often larger or more expensive first-party options.

That leaves just two first-party lenses in the chart. Nikon's Z 24-120mm f/4 S comes in at No.7, while Sony's E 70-350mm f/4.5-6.3 G OSS takes ninth place.

Canon, meanwhile, is completely absent from BCN's July Top 10 – despite its hugely popular RF 100-400mm f/5.6-8 IS USM previously claiming top spots across different Japanese retailers, like Kitamura.

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DK-Optic has launched a rather beautiful new 50mm lens for Leica M-mount cameras, but rather than chasing the ultra-sharp, clinically perfect look we have come to expect from modern optics, the new Chiaro 50mm f/1.9 is looking firmly to the past. In fact, its inspiration comes from one of the most celebrated British lenses of the 1930s: the Dallmeyer Super Six 2-inch F1.9.

The Chiaro 50mm f/1.9 takes both its optical character and styling cues from that classic lens, while DK-Optic says it has rebuilt the concept using modern materials and contemporary manufacturing tolerances. The result is a manual-focus, full-frame Leica M-mount lens designed to deliver the softer tonal transitions, atmosphere, and natural sense of depth associated with vintage glass, rather than simply prioritizing outright resolution above everything else.

Things get particularly interesting when shooting wide open. DK-Optic says that around f/1.9 the lens produces a noticeably softer, more characterful rendering, before becoming progressively clearer and more defined as the aperture is stopped down. That gives photographers the ability to effectively change the personality of the lens depending on how it is used, which is exactly the sort of behavior that has made classic lenses so appealing to photographers in the first place.

There are also two versions to choose from, and they offer more than just a cosmetic difference. The Blue Coating model is designed to provide stronger color reproduction and contrast, while the uncoated version deliberately embraces the flare, glow, and light bleeding associated with much older optics. Both versions are limited to just 150 examples worldwide, making this a pretty exclusive proposition for Leica M shooters looking for something a little different from the usual modern 50mm. Each version is priced at $1,599.

Underneath that vintage-inspired exterior is a relatively simple six-element, four-group optical design, with an aperture range of f/1.9 to f/22 and a minimum focusing distance of 0.75m. Importantly for Leica users, the lens is coupled to the camera's rangefinder, while its compact 52mm-diameter, 46mm-long body weighs just 178g.

There are plenty of technically brilliant 50mm lenses available for the Leica M system, but the Chiaro 50mm f/1.9 is clearly trying to offer something different – a lens where imperfections, flare, softness, and character are not problems to be corrected, but part of the reason you would want to shoot it.

Check out our guide to the best Leica M lenses

It looks like TTArtisan is trying to capture the budget end of the 85mm market, as the Chinese lens manufacturer has just released the most affordable full-frame 85mm prime lens available to consumers.

While the TTArtisan AF 85mm f/1.8 Neo – currently available for Nikon Z-mount and Sony E-mount – might be as basic as they come, at just $99 (approximately £72 / AU$138) this lens could be a tantalizing prospect for anyone looking to pick up a fast yet highly affordable prime.

The new Neo combines a fast f/1.8 aperture with a light telephoto focal length – becoming effectively even longer on an APS-C camera, with an equivalent 127.5mm length – making it an ideal portrait lens that's able to achieve subject separation while flattering features.

With 12 optical elements arranged in 8 groups – including 2 extra-low-dispersion optics as well as 2 high-refractive-index elements – for a cheap lens it boasts a promising formula. However, where you don’t get as much bang for your buck is in the focus.

ABOVE: Watch the promotional video

The 85mm f/1.8 Neo AF is powered by a stepping motor (STM), which is near-silent but not as fast as the magnetic linear motors powering the AF in premium primes such as the Sony FE 85mm f/1.4 GM II.

But there's also no manual focus – nor any lens barrel switches or weather sealing, so there are no bells or whistles here. However, the Neo’s basic design means it’s customizable – and you’re able to personalize the exterior with stickers, paint or 3D-printed shells.

Does any of this bolster performance? No, but it’ll probably appeal to youngsters and collectors who want a quirky piece of kit where the price is more important than pixel-peeping. If you want to add a fast 85mm to your kit bag without breaking the bank, at $99 this makes a lot of sense.

The TTArtisan 85mm AF f/1.8 Neo is available now at B&H Photo, Amazon and from TTArtisan directly.

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I have always been a bit of a lens snob. Not necessarily a red-ring, G Master absolutist, but I've always had a preference for first-party lenses.

Up until now, all my Canon cameras have had Canon glass and my Fujifilm cameras have Fujinon optics. My logic followed the consensus that first-party lenses offered the best autofocus, the cleanest compatibility and, supposedly, the fewest compromises.

However, recently I purchased a Panasonic Lumix S9 – and had the world of L-Mount lenses opened up to me. Panasonic makes its own fantastic glass, but there are 11 players currently in the L-mount Alliance including big hitters like Leica and Sigma – as well as rising stars like Viltrox.

I had played around with some super-cheap Viltrox lenses several years back, and optically I thought they were good but I wasn’t sold on the excessively “budget” feeling of the lenses.

However, I was recently sent the Viltrox AF 16mm f/1.8 to test for DCW – and honestly, this lens has shifted my opinion of the brand dramatically.

The AF 16mm f/1.8 is a full-frame autofocus ultra-wide prime available for L-Mount (as well as Sony E and Nikon Z mounts). Outside, it’s built with a solid metal barrel, aperture ring, customizable buttons, dust-resistant sealing and even a small color display showing focus information.

This certainly does not feel like a “budget” lens – despite costing far less than many first-party equivalents. More importantly, it does not shoot like a budget lens either.

It has a fast f/1.8 aperture and a 105.6° angle of view. Inside are 15 elements arranged in 12 groups, including 4 ED and 3 aspherical elements. It is impressively sharp in the center at f/1.8, performs strongly toward the edges when stopped down and controls distortion remarkably well for such a wide lens.

There are still some compromises. At 550g, the Viltrox is hardly featherweight and its autofocus is not quite as polished as the very best first-party motors. Wide-open vignetting is also noticeable.

Yet none of that feels as important when the lens costs around $580 / £530. Meanwhile, Panasonic’s narrower Lumix S 18mm f/1.8 costs $1,099 / £799 and, for Sony shooters, Sony’s own FE 16mm f/1.8 G is $899 / £849.

The bigger story is what this says about Chinese lens makers. Brands such as Viltrox are going from cheap curiosities to genuinely compelling alternatives.

I still understand the appeal of first-party glass, but I am no longer convinced that the logo on the barrel deserves quite such a large portion of my budget.

For years camera phones struggled to match 'proper' standalone cameras for zoom reach, but now telephoto and periscope telephoto modules are standard in flagship phones and increasingly common in mid-range models. Consequently many phones now have enough focal range for a majority of shooting scenarios. On-sensor cropping and AI zoom up to 120x zoom is also possible with some flagship phones, providing you're happy for your shots to be more of an interpretation than a faithful representation of your subject.

Oppo Find X9 Ultra vs. Hasselblad X2D II - can a camera phone out-shoot a $7,800, 100MP medium format goliath?

But what if you don't want to rely on AI and its potential processing pitfalls for telephoto shots from a camera phone? Clip-on lenses from brands like Moment and Apexel can optically increase the focal length of a phone's primary camera, and there are cheaper alternatives from marketplace retailers. The downsides of aftermarket clip-on lenses is restricted phone compatibility (many are only available for iPhone), and questionable image quality.

In the last few years two of the most innovative camera phone brands have launched flagship handsets available with separate, bespoke telephoto lenses. Vivo partnered with Zeiss to produce a dedicated 200mm teleconverter lens for the X200 Ultra, and it now offers a 400mm lens for the X300 Ultra. Not to be outdone, Oppo launched a Hasselblad Teleconverter adapter lens alongside its Find X9 Pro, and its most recent teleconverter lens is a 300mm Hasselblad-branded optic designed exclusively for its current flagship phone, the Find X9 Ultra.

To get your hands on the 300mm teleconverter, you'll need to buy the Oppo Hasselblad Earth Explorer Kit. This contains the teleconverter, along with the bespoke phone case to which the lens mounts, as well as a tripod collar for the lens, plus other small accessories.

Pricing and availability

If there's one downside of the Oppo Hasselblad Earth Explorer Kit, it's not easy to get hold of. It's only available in select Asian and European regions, and won't be sold in North America. In the UK it's priced at £499, which is strong money for such a niche accessory, but the price reflects the no-compromise build and performance. This is also a product that will never sell in large numbers, so can't benefit from economies of scale.

Build and handling

I've always thought of clip-on phone lenses as tacky plastic affairs, but the Oppo Hasselblad 300mm Explorer Teleconverter (to give it its full name) is quite the opposite. It's a beautifully crafted, metal-barrelled lens that feels reassuringly weighty, tipping the scales at just over 400g with the included detachable tripod mount fitted. The lens is styled to look like a slimline Hasselblad XCD optic, and combined with the stellar build quality the lens really does feel worthy of the Hasselblad branding.

To attach the lens to the Find X9 Ultra, you first need to first need to fit the Oppo Hasselblad Explorer case to the phone. This is included with the lens and features a bayonet thread that encircles the phone's camera island. A separate circular metal plate can then be twisted onto the thread and it’s this that contains the necessary bayonet mount to which the teleconverter lens can be attached.

This teleconverter is positioned in front of the phone's 3x telephoto module, rather than the phone's primary camera, but this arrangement means the teleconverter can be smaller than it would be if it was designed to be used in conjunction with the phone's primary (1x) camera. And thanks to the sensor in the Find X9 Ultra's 3x module being almost as large as that in the 1x module, there's no noticeable difference in image quality.

The lens attaches to the bayonet just as smoothly as any other interchangeable camera lens mount I've used from the likes of Canon or Nikon, and once the lens is fitted, there's very little wobble or flex between phone and lens - not bad considering the supporting case is only clipped onto the phone.

The case doesn't just function as a lens mount; it also contains a physical two-stage shutter button with half-press to focus, and a zoom rocker enabling seamless focal length adjustment with the Find X9 Ultra's built-in cameras and the teleconverter lens. The physical controls connect to the camera app via Bluetooth, and power for this comes from a battery built in to the case's hand grip (which must be charged separately to the phone). Sadly, unlike Vivo's X200 and X300 camera cases, the battery in the Oppo case can't be used to boost the phone's own battery capacity - a missed opportunity.

To actually shoot with the teleconverter lens, you first need to select the phone's dedicated Hasselblad Teleconverter shooting mode. If you only select the 3x camera module while the teleconverter is fitted, the image frame will be inverted by 180 degrees. Though the phone's other three camera modules aren't directly covered up by the teleconverter lens, you will still need to detach the lens in order to use them, as the lens itself significantly encroaches into their fields of view.

The 300mm focal length equates to 13x optical zoom as standard, or as much as 43.4x zoom (1000mm) when combined with on-sensor cropping. There's even a 60x (1380mm) mode, but this requires AI processing, which in my opinion partially negates the 'purity' of having the teleconverter's proper optical zoom.

Sample images

Lab results

Given the lens’s quality build, and the Find X9 Ultra's top-class image processing, I wasn't particularly surprised that the teleconverter lens produced some stunning photos. However I was keen to see how much of this stellar image quality was down to the phone's processing, and whether that might be compensating for any optical shortcomings in the lens itself.

Fortunately at Digital Camera World we have a dedicated laboratory for testing the optical quality of camera lenses, but until now we haven't tested a teleconverter lens for a phone. To ensure a level playing field we need to shoot our lab test images in Raw, however the Hasselblad Teleconverter shooting mode only records JPEGs. To capture Raw stills with the Find X9 Ultra, you must use the phone’s Hasselblad Master Mode, which isn’t directly compatible with the teleconverter. To get around this, I used Master Mode to gain access to Raw capture, manually selected the 3x telephoto camera module in order to shoot through the teleconverter lens. This workaround meant our test images were inverted, but that's an easy fix in post-production.

To better quantify the teleconverter’s image sharpness and levels of fringing, I've compared its lab results to several other 300mm prime lenses designed for full-frame DSLR cameras, as well as two more modern zoom lenses for mirrorless cameras that cover 300mm in their focal range. Sure, the Oppo lens is obviously not a direct rival for any of these lenses, but the purpose here is merely to see if a (relatively) small camera phone teleconverter is able to even come close to the optical quality of a ‘proper’ camera lens. The Oppo lens has a fixed f/2.2 focal length, so I've selected the aperture from each comparison lens that yielded the highest sharpness score, to make things as tough as possible for the Oppo lens.

Sharpness:
(line widths/picture height)

I was fully expecting the Oppo lens to at best deliver mediocre sharpness without the help of JPEG processing, but I was shocked to see that its sharpness scores are actually up there with those from far larger and more expensive optics. The Oppo lens manages to beat Nikon's AF-S 300mm f/4E lens for center sharpness - a lens that when new cost around $2000. That's now an old, discontinued lens, but the Oppo lens still performs well when compared to the much more modern Tamron 70-300mm Di III RXD set to 300mm.

Fringing:
(values closer to zero indicate less fringing)

As for chromatic aberration, the Oppo lens is the clear winner in the group, as it produces no noticeable fringing in any part of the image frame. This will be in part due to the lens’s fixed aperture, which enables it to be more easily tuned to produce the lowest possible fringing. However, there could also be a chance the Find X9 Ultra is baking in some aberration correction to its Raw files. While I've attempted to make this comparison as fair as possible, a camera phone simply doesn't have the same granular image quality settings as a dedicated mirrorless camera to disable things like aberration correction, so we simply don't know whether the lens is benefitting from software enhancement in this area.

Verdict

Oppo is trying hard to gain greater brand recognition in the west, and strapping a big-ass lens to the front of its latest flagship phone is a sure-fire way to turn heads. But until now I'd assumed lenses like this were more of a marketing stunt than a genuinely useful hardware upgrade. However, after extensively testing the Oppo Hasselblad 300mm Explorer Teleconverter, I'm happy to report that this is no gimmick: it's a seriously impressive piece of kit with build quality and optical performance worthy of the prestigious Hasselblad name.

As good as the teleconverter is, it's not an everyday tool, but then it's not designed to be. The Find X9 Ultra alone is easily able to capture 99%+ of your photographic requirements: the teleconverter is for special occasions - concerts, sporting events, etc - when you want to record and archive memories without resorting to AI zoom, which often makes a mess of replicating faces. And in doing so, it further closes what was already a very slim gap between the capability of a flagship phone and a standalone mirrorless camera.

The teleconverter also serves to highlight how lazy the likes of Samsung and Apple have become with the camera hardware in their flagship phones. Samsung, for instance, has recycled its 200MP primary camera sensor since the Galaxy S23 Ultra, relying primarily on AI to differentiate each subsequent generation of S Ultra phone. Meanwhile, Oppo has been incorporating larger sensors, telephoto modules with longer focal lengths, and is now upping the ante with bespoke camera grips and teleconverter lenses.

We rate the Find X9 Ultra as "the most versatile and photography-focused camera phone around" in our list of the best camera phones currently on the market, and this is thanks in no small part to innovations like the superb Hasselblad 300mm Explorer Teleconverter.

Viltrox has a further five new lenses due shortly, increasing its rapidly-expanding lens line-up. The new lenses include the:

• Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.4 Pro (full-frame, E-mount & L-mount)
• Viltrox AF 18mm f/1.2 Pro APS-C (E-mount & L-mount)
• Viltrox AF 40mm f/1.2 Pro APS-C (E-mount & L-mount)
• Two new Air lenses

As the lenses are yet to be officially announced, we don't yet know many specifications. They are however on display at the BIRTV2026 show in Beijing, which takes place August 19-22.

Photorumors.com has several hands-on photos of the AF 35mm f/1.4 Pro, as well as a few details about it. The lens is said to have a 77mm filter thread, a minimum focusing distance of 0.3 meters, VCM (voice coil motor) focusing, and a metal barrel.

As for the 18mm and 40mm lenses; I'd fully expect E-mount variants, but I’m surprised to see that L-mount versions are supposedly due to follow at a later date. This seems a strange mount option, given both are APS-C lenses. There are no new APS-C L-mount cameras, and the few that were produced such as the Leica CL and TL have now been discontinued.

There is a faint possibility that Viltrox might actually be ahead of the game here though. There has been a recent rumor that Panasonic could ditch the Micro Four Thirds sensor format in favour of APS-C. Assuming it would stick with the L mount, then APS-C L-mount lenses would suddenly be in demand.

Back to Viltox though and we can likely expect full details, including pricing and availability of its five new lenses in a matter of days.

Micro Four Thirds (MFT) users received a shock last month when news filtered out that Panasonic had abruptly discontinued three more Micro Four Thirds lenses.

The Lumix S Pro 70-200mm f/4, Lumix G 42.5mm f/1.7, Leica G 12-60mm f/2.8-4 and Leica DG Summilux 25mm f/1.4 II were all listed as discontinued on Panasonic’s Japanese website.

Of course, manufacturers discontinue products all the time. But it’s normally because the products have direct replacements already in the ecosystem – which these lenses don’t.

And this, combined with the fact that there was no formal announcement of the discontinuation, has led some users to be concerned about how committed Panasonic is to the future of Micro Four Thirds cameras and lenses alike.

It was in this frame of mind that I sat down to watch a recent Q&A video by Australian YouTuber, Geeky Nerdy Techy (real name Shane – he’s great), in which he posits that Panasonic might be planning on introducing Super 35mm / APS-C cameras for L-Mount.

Further, that the next camera in its video-centric GH line – presumably the GH8 – might end up joining the L-Mount Lumix S system, with a Super 35mm sensor rather than full-frame.

ABOVE: Watch Geeky Nerdy Techy's video

It’d be similar to what Sony did with the FX30 and, as Shane says, it would make a lot of sense.

The larger sensor could assuage the concerns that some users have over MFT’s low-light ability – even though, as Shane points out, and as my editor James is no doubt screaming as he reads this, that hasn’t really been an issue for several generations now.

It also could be useful for people who are already invested in the ecosystem of L-Mount lenses, enabling them to construct a setup where they can switch between full-frame and Super 35mm and keep using the same glass.

But where would that leave Micro Four Thirds? That’s the thorny question – and Panasonic’s unceremonious discontinuation of its MFT lenses doesn’t inspire confidence.

While manufacturers generally won’t tell you that they’re giving up on a system, products being discontinued without new ones to replace them is often a sign that, as Shane says, "the writing is on the wall".

Look at Canon and Nikon. They never formally announced that they were giving up on DSLRs – they just stopped making new ones. I’m sure if asked, Panasonic would reaffirm that it is committed to Micro Four Thirds. But how many years did Sony spend making the same claims about A-mount?

An MFT to L-mount adapter unfortunately isn’t really possible, due to near-identical flange distances of the two systems (it’d have to be inconceivably tiny).

We’ll have to wait and see what Panasonic’s plans are for the venerable MFT system that it co-founded with Olympus – but I’m hoping there’s still life in the old dog yet.

You may also like…

Our roundup of the best Micro Four Thirds lenses includes many fantastic options still plentifully available for the system.

A few days ago, all the rumor sites were buzzing about a new pancake lens from 7Artisans following a series of teaser images shared on Chinese social media platform Weibo by the manufacturer.

The APS-C lens is touted to feature a fast f/2 aperture, a wide-angle fixed 18mm focal length, autofocus and all-metal construction – which, in theory, would rival models like the Sony E 20mm f/2.8 and the Viltrox AF 26mm f/2.8 Evo.

After first appearing in silhouette with a question mark, the brand later identified the mystery lens as the 7Artisans AF 18mm f/2.

It also confirmed its release for Sony's E-mount, its amazingly low 109g weight and its APS-C design – which would give it an equivalent 27mm field of view on crop sensor cameras, making it ideal for street, travel, reportage and documentary photography.

Rumor sites have been suggesting that, following its release for Sony cameras, it would follow in Nikon Z and Fujifilm X mounts – though this has yet to be confirmed by 7Artisans itself.

Interestingly, amid all these rumors, I’ve come across a company called Etoren, based in Singapore, that seems to be selling the lens already.

Now, considering 7Artisans is yet to actually release the lens, I’m not sure I'd feel safe placing an order. Despite a few red flags in the form of Trustpilot scores, I did try reaching out to Etoren – the contact form gave me error after error and never actually sent.

I'd certainly recommend waiting for the official announcement from the manufacturer and stocking from more well-known retailers.

The 7Artisans AF 18mm f/2 is the latest in a series of pancake lenses lately, following the likes of the Kase AF 24mm f/3.8 and the Viltrox AF 26mm f/2.8 Evo, along with the Viltrox AF 28mm f/4.5 and Lensbaby Twist 28 in new mounts.

If you're wondering why pancake lenses are back in fashion, my colleagues James and Mike covered the subject on the latest episode of DCW's Bokeh Face podcast (which I've teed up at the start of the conversation below).

It seems like we could be seeing even more delicious pancakes throughout 2026!

You might also like…

Here's our pick of the best pancake lenses your money can buy, along with the best Sony lenses of all shapes and sizes.

I still remember reviewing my first ever Sirui tripod for the print edition of our sister publication, Digital Camera magazine, and that was about 20 years ago. I was impressed at the time, and it was around then that Sirui started to make it big in tripod manufacture, after originally launching back in 2001. Fast forward to 2015 and Sirui became better know as a designer and manufacturer of quality anamorphic and cine lenses.

More mainstream, the 85mm prime that I’m reviewing here is one of a pair of relatively new ‘Aurora’ lenses for mirrorless cameras, geared to shooting stills as well as video. Its companion is the Aurora 35mm f/1.4, which has the same fast f/1.4 aperture and similar handling characteristics. They look and feel an impressive pair of lenses, the 85mm aiming to be among the best portrait lenses on the market.

Sirui’s Aurora lenses thus far are both available in a variety of mount options, including Sony E (FE), Nikon Z (FX), L-mount and Fujifilm X. They’re full-frame compatible but can also be used on APS-C format cameras, on which the 85mm has an ‘effective’ focal length of about 127.5mm, stretching further into telephoto territory. Naturally, APS-C is the only option with the Fuji X-mount version of the lens.

Sirui Aurora 85mm f/1.4: Specifications

Sirui Aurora 85mm f/1.4: Price

The Sirui Aurora 85mm f/1.4 carries a price tag of $599 / £549 / AU$959, which makes it very affordable for a lens of this type. The own-brand Sony FE 85mm f/1.4 G Master II will set you back a comparatively huge $1,948 / £1,799 / AU$2,998. The Japanese Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG DN Art is also a fair bit pricier at $1,289 / £979 / AU$1,596, although the more directly competing Chinese Viltrox AF 85mm f/1.4 Pro is similarly priced at $598 / £569 / AU$919. Another hot new Chinese contender is the Meike 85mm f/1.4 Mix II, which launched in mid 2026 at $569 / £429 / AU$826. All in all, the Aurora 85mm f/1.4 looks outstanding value compared with Japanese competition, less so against alternative Chinese offerings.

Sirui Aurora 85mm f/1.4: Design & Handling

First impressions might not always be correct but they still count for something. This Sirui gives an instant feelgood factor, with its smart retail box, complete with fabric lift-up loop and ID card. Open the box and you’re rewarded with a really high-quality soft case, somewhat reminiscent of high-end Sigma lenses but created in an eye-catching colorway of blue, silver and black.

It already looks like the lens has a lot to live up to but sure enough, it maintains the theme with a luxurious anodized aluminum barrel, a slew of control rings, switches and a function button, a colorful blue Sirui badge and an Aurora logo printed in a script font that makes it look like the lens has been lovingly signed by hand. As I say, first impressions…

The impression of quality is reinforced when you take the lens from its padded case and hold it in your hand. Everything about it says ‘up-market’, from the weather-sealed metal base at the back to the imposingly large, fluorine-coated optical element at the front. It’s conveniently compact and lightweight for an 85mm f/1.4 prime as well, measuring about 3x4 inches and tipping the scales at 540g / 18oz. For comparison, it’s about the same size as the Aurora 35mm lens and just a single ounce heavier.

Like most self-respecting lenses for mirrorless cameras nowadays, the Aurora has autofocus, and its based on the mainstream type of system that relies on a linear stepping motor. True to type, it’s rapid and virtually silent in operation, as well as featuring an electronically coupled manual focus ring, which works with smooth precision.

When I’m ‘in the moment’, shooting in time-critical scenarios, one thing I hate is having to delve into camera menus to swap between autofocus and manual focus modes, if the need arises. The Sirui comes to the rescue with a straightforward AF/MF switch on the side of the lens barrel, which is more intuitive and a whole lot quicker to operate. Just above the switch, again on the left hand side of the barrel, there’s a customizable function button.

I usually use the function button for AF-hold and it’s suitably labelled as AFL (AF-Lock) but there’s normally a bunch of other custom options available, depending on what camera body you’re using. My only gripe is that, considering that the 85mm f/1.4 lens is so ideal for portraiture, I wish there was a second function button up on top of the barrel, which would be more neatly under the thumb when shooting in portrait (upright) orientation.

Continuing the clarity of design and its white-on-black labelling, the aperture control ring is clearly marked in increments of one-third f/stops throughout the entire range from f/1.4 to f/16. It therefore gives you a direct, hands-on approach to aperture control via the lens itself if you’re shooting in Aperture-priority or Manual exposure modes. For Full Auto, Program and Shutter-priority shooting modes, there’s an A (Auto) position on the ring that defers aperture control to the camera body.

One thing that’s featured in the Aurora 35mm lens but omitted in the 85mm is an Iris Lock switch. I’m sorry to see it go, as I like the security of being able to lock the aperture ring in its Auto position to avoid accidentally nudging it to a narrow aperture while carrying or shooting. Back on the plus side, I’m pleased that the lens features a Click On/Off switch for the aperture ring, which enables precise click steps for aperture control during stills, or smooth and silent transitions when shooting video.

Before we leave the topic of aperture control, it’s worth noting that the lens has an incredibly well-rounded diaphragm. It’s based on no less than 15 curved blades, which helps to maintain optimum quality of bokeh when stopping down from the widest aperture of f/1.4, giving ‘bokeh disks’ from lights and bright spots a similarly well-rounded appearance.

The optical design is based on 14 elements arranged in 9 groups. These include an aspherical element, two ED (Extra-low Dispersion) elements and three HRI (High Refractive Index) elements. The overall aim is to enhance resolution, clarity and color rendition while keeping unwanted aberrations to a minimum – more on that later when I get to ‘performance’.

In keeping with the lens itself, the hood feels very well made. It has a circular profile with a grippy rubber handling ring and a ridged interior surface. However, unlike the petal-shaped hood that’s supplied with the Aurora 35mm lens, the 85mm hood lacks a lock/release button. As usual though, it has the same kind of bayonet-fit mechanism and enables compact stowage by reversing its orientation on the lens.

I even like the design of the lens caps, which look purposeful and chunky. The front cap has a pinch-style release mechanism that makes it easy to fit or remove even when the hood is fitted to the lens in its front-facing orientation.

Bringing up the rear, the mounting plate is made from solid metal and features gold-plated electronic contacts, along with a rubber weather-seal ring to avoid the ingress of dust and moisture through the joint between lens and camera body. Moreover, the lens features a comprehensive set of weather-seals throughout its length. As I’ve seen increasingly in recent lenses, there’s also a USB-C socket for the application of firmware updates, if and when needed.

Sirui Aurora 85mm f/1.4: Performance

You can make a strong case for the quality of blur being more important than outright sharpness for a portrait lens. Photographers often use a wide aperture to isolate the main subject within a scene by blurring a fussy background, and this is something that the Sirui does very well. It’s not just that the f/1.4 aperture enables a tight depth of field, it’s that the quality of bokeh itself is smooth and dreamy.

It’s not just about sharpness and blur. 85mm lenses are also favored for portraiture because the short telephoto focal length gives the illusion of compressing perspective, which can be flattering for facial features. And it’s not only for portraiture either. That compression of perspective can be a creative bonus for landscape, cityscape and other shooting scenarios.

Given that you can use an 85mm for all sorts of general shooting opportunities, edge-to-edge sharpness can be important in some situations. The Sirui does well here as well, when called upon to render objects sharply from the center of the frame to the edges and corners.

During testing, I found that while sharpness remained good towards the edges and corners of the image frame, control over lateral chromatic aberration really didn’t. Indeed, green and magenta fringing around high-contrast edges like the window frames in the image below were clear to see, even with automatic in-camera correction for fringing switched on in my Sony A7 III camera body. The pair of images shown comprise the full frame on the left, and an enlarged section from the top right hand corner on the right.

There’s also a touch of pincushion distortion, which isn’t uncommon in 85mm prime lenses. Unlike lateral chromatic aberration, however, it’s fairly minor and the Sirui certainly doesn’t rely heavily on automatic in-camera correction for distortion, unlike many recent lenses designed for mirrorless cameras.

I often run a specific test on ‘fast’ lenses, shooting a phrenology head in my back garden at various apertures from wide-open to a medium setting. The results give good indications of sharpness and the quality of bokeh for defocused areas. Moreover, fast lenses often suffer from axial/longitudinal chromatic aberration at the widest apertures, also known as bokeh fringing. This displays as color fringing around high-contrast transitions, just in front of and behind the plane of focus. The black lines and writing on the white porcelain of the phrenology head are a good test for this as well. The Sirui does well in most respects, although wide-open sharpness lacks a little bite.

Sirui Aurora 85mm f/1.4: Sample Images

Images in the sample gallery below were taken on a bright, sunny morning at the ‘floating harbor’ of Bristol Docks in the south west of England. I used a selection of wide aperture settings for a tight depth of field when shooting close-ups, and narrower apertures where I wanted edge-to-edge sharpness for more expansive subjects.

Sirui Aurora 85mm f/1.4: Lab Results

We run a range of lab tests under controlled conditions, using the Imatest Master testing suite. Photos of test charts are taken across the range of apertures and zooms (where available), then analyzed for sharpness, distortion and chromatic aberrations.

We use Imatest SFR (spatial frequency response) charts and analysis software to plot lens resolution at the center of the image frame, corners and mid-point distances, across the range of aperture settings and, with zoom lenses, at four different focal lengths. The tests also measure distortion and color fringing (chromatic aberration).

Sharpness:

Sharpness in the center of frame is good wide open, and becomes excellent once you stop down to f/2.8, remaining so until f/11. There isn't that much of a reduction in sharpness in the mid-frame, though at the extreme corners image quality is noticeably softer.

Fringing:

Fringing is noticeable in the corners of frame at all apertures other than f/1.4.

Distortion: 2.63

There's noticeable pincushion distortion, visible when shooting geometric subjects.

Sirui Aurora 85mm f/1.4: Verdict

I feel that the Sirui Aurora 85mm f/1.4 offers an ‘affordable’ choice of portrait lens, compared with top-flight, own-brand primes from some camera manufacturers. Despite its relatively budget-friendly price tag, it’s immaculately turned out and has a robust aluminum weather-sealed build. It also has a wealth of handling extras including an AF-Lock button and aperture control ring with a click/de-click switch. So far, so good.

While the Aurora 85mm looks and feels standout value for money, I found that performance and image quality were also mostly very good, combining pleasing sharpness, clarity and color rendition with beautiful bokeh.

However, I also found a bit of a glitch in performance, in that the lens produced significant lateral chromatic aberration towards the edges and corner of the frame, that was still clearly visible with automatic correction enabled in my Sony A7 III. That’s a bit of an upset as far as I’m concerned, but I think the Sirui is a very appealing lens in all other respects.

Alternatives

The Leica Summilux-M 50 f/1.4 belongs to Leica’s Classic Line, a collection that revisits some of the company’s most important and characterful lenses while updating them for modern production and contemporary digital cameras.

It is important to clarify exactly what this lens is, because its appearance could easily lead someone to assume that it is merely the current Summilux-M 50mm f/1.4 ASPH. housed within a more traditional barrel. That is not the case.

The Summilux-M 50 f/1.4, model 11714, is a true reinterpretation of Leica’s historic pre-aspherical Summilux design. It does not contain an aspherical element, nor does it attempt to offer the same highly corrected rendering as Leica’s current Summilux-M ASPH.

Instead, Leica has returned to a traditional seven-element, five-group optical formula inspired by the second-generation Summilux-M introduced during the early 1960s. Modern glass, coatings and manufacturing tolerances have naturally been applied, but the fundamental intention remains classical.

This gives the lens a very different purpose from Leica’s current aspherical alternatives. The modern Summilux-M 50mm f/1.4 ASPH. is designed to produce strong contrast, excellent sharpness and a highly controlled image from its widest aperture. The 50 Summilux f/1.4 is intended to offer a more expressive and artistic interpretation, particularly when used between f/1.4 and f/2.8.

That makes it a fascinating lens in the modern era. Most contemporary optics are designed to remove every visible imperfection, resulting in images that are technically excellent but can sometimes feel clinically precise. The Summilux-M 50 f/1.4 takes a different approach, allowing some of the glow, softness and gentler contrast associated with vintage lenses to remain part of the image.

However, this is not a lens that is permanently soft or limited to producing one particular look. Once stopped down, it becomes considerably sharper and more controlled, giving photographers the choice between a vintage aesthetic and a more modern result simply by changing the aperture.

Leica 50mm Summilux-M f/1.4 Specifications

Mount: Leica M-mount
Lens design: 7 Elements in 5 Groups
Maximum aperture: f/1.4
Minimum aperture: f/16
Angle of view: 45°
Minimum focusing distance: 27.6" / 70 cm
Filter size: 46 mm (Front)
Dimensions: ø: 2.3 x L: 1.8" / ø: 58 x L: 45mm
Weight: 14.7 oz / 417 g

Leica 50mm Summilux-M f/1.4 key features

The Leica Summilux-M 50 f/1.4 is built around a 50mm focal length, which remains one of the most natural and versatile choices available for the M system. It provides a field of view that works equally well for portraiture, street photography, documentary work, travel and general everyday use.

Its maximum aperture of f/1.4 makes it particularly suited to low-light photography and provides plenty of control over depth of field. More importantly, the aperture is central to the character of this lens. Changing the f-stop does not simply adjust exposure or the amount of background blur; it noticeably alters the overall personality of the image.

The optical construction consists of seven elements arranged in five groups, with no aspherical element. This is central to the way the lens renders, especially at wider apertures. Rather than attempting to deliver completely uniform sharpness and contrast at f/1.4, it produces a gentler result with a subtle glow and smoother transition between focused and defocused areas.

A 12-blade aperture diaphragm helps maintain rounded out-of-focus highlights as the lens is stopped down. The bokeh is one of the lens’s defining features, particularly between f/1.4 and f/2.8, where backgrounds take on a soft, almost painterly appearance.

The lens focuses down to 0.7 meters, which is the traditional minimum focusing distance for many Leica M lenses. Unlike the latest close-focusing Summilux-M ASPH., there is no extended range below 0.7m, but the entire focusing range remains compatible with a conventional optical rangefinder.

This also means there is no point at which you are forced to move from the optical rangefinder to Live View or an electronic viewfinder. The lens operates consistently from infinity down to its minimum focusing distance, whether mounted on a classic film M, a digital rangefinder such as the Leica M240 or an EVF-based camera such as the Leica M EV1.

The silver-chrome model 11714 is constructed from solid brass and weighs 417g. It uses an E46 filter thread and includes Leica’s six-bit coding, allowing compatible digital M cameras to recognize the lens and apply the appropriate metadata and in-camera corrections.

A removable round hood is available and follows the vintage styling of the lens. Unlike the integrated pull-out hoods found on many of Leica’s newer close-focusing lenses, this hood adds some length and bulk to the package. However, considering the weight of the solid-brass lens itself, the hood is unlikely to make a meaningful difference to the overall balance.

Leica 50mm Summilux-M f/1.4 Build and handling

The Leica Summilux-M 50 f/1.4 looks absolutely fantastic. Its silver-chrome finish, engraved markings and traditionally shaped controls immediately distinguish it from Leica’s more modern lenses.

The build quality is outstanding, as you would expect from Leica. The solid-brass construction gives the lens a dense and substantial feel that is quite surprising when you first pick it up. It is relatively compact, but at 417g, there is no mistaking its weight.

This is not necessarily a criticism. The weight contributes to the sense that you are using something designed to last for decades rather than a lightweight accessory that might be replaced with the next generation. Nevertheless, photographers looking for the smallest and lightest possible 50mm lens should be aware that this is a heavy optic for its dimensions.

Mounted on the Leica M EV1, the lens felt extremely solid and well balanced. The additional weight at the front was noticeable, but it never made the camera uncomfortable to use. It also paired beautifully with my Leica M240, where its traditional appearance felt entirely at home on the older digital M body.

The scalloped focusing ring is one of the lens’s most distinctive physical features. It gives the barrel a genuine vintage appearance while also providing a comfortable and secure surface for focusing.

The focusing movement was extremely smooth, with the precise level of resistance needed for making small adjustments at wider apertures. Compared with my modern Summilux-M 50mm f/1.4 ASPH., I felt that the focusing ring moved slightly farther around the circumference of the lens barrel.

In practice, however, the difference was not particularly dramatic once the lens was mounted on a camera. In fact, I appreciated the little bit of extra movement because it gave me more room to make fine adjustments and achieve critical focus, particularly when shooting at f/1.4 or f/2.

This was especially useful on the Leica M EV1, where the electronic viewfinder and focusing aids made it possible to see exactly where the plane of focus was falling. The longer, smoother movement made precise focusing feel deliberate rather than slow.

The aperture ring was flawless. Each setting clicked smoothly and positively into place, with enough resistance to prevent accidental changes without making the ring difficult to operate.

The recessed, or dipped, design of the aperture ring also contributes to the vintage appearance. It feels very different from the larger and more exposed aperture controls found on many modern lenses, yet it remained easy to adjust with the camera held to my eye.

There was never any uncertainty about whether the aperture had moved. The clicks were clear enough to feel through my fingertips, allowing me to make adjustments without lowering the camera or checking the markings.

My review sample did not come with the removable lens hood, so I was unable to assess how the complete setup handled with it attached. The hood follows a traditional round design and will add a little extra bulk to the lens, although its effect on the overall balance should be minimal given the weight of the brass barrel.

Despite using the lens without its hood, I experienced no meaningful ghosting or flare issues during my time with it. However, I should add that I rarely photograph directly into the sun, so photographers who regularly place strong light sources within the frame may have a different experience.

For my style of shooting, the lens performed extremely well without the hood. Those who frequently work in more challenging lighting conditions may still find it worthwhile, both for reducing stray light and protecting the front element.

Leica 50mm Summilux-M f/1.4 Performance

The performance of the Summilux-M 50 f/1.4 is defined by its ability to produce two very different types of image.

At f/1.4, the lens delivers the dreamy, artistic rendering that will likely attract most photographers to it in the first place. There is a gentle glow around fine details, contrast is softer and backgrounds dissolve with a beautiful fluidity that is rarely seen in highly corrected modern optics.

This does not mean that images are simply blurred or lacking in detail. The subject can still appear clearly defined, particularly when focus is placed accurately, but the transition away from the point of focus is softer and more gradual.

Portraits benefit enormously from this quality. Skin, hair and clothing retain enough detail, but the image does not feel overly harsh or digitally clinical. Backgrounds are rendered with a painterly softness that helps separate the subject without making the result look artificial.

The 12-blade aperture contributes to the attractive bokeh, but the overall rendering comes from more than the shape of the diaphragm. The traditional optical formula produces a very different transition between sharp and defocused areas compared with the current aspherical Summilux.

At f/2, the central area becomes more defined, but much of the glow and atmosphere remain. This may be the most balanced aperture for photographers who want stronger subject detail without completely losing the classical rendering.

By f/2.8, the lens continues to become sharper and contrast increases, although images still retain a noticeably gentler character than those produced by a modern aspherical design. This is where the Classic begins to bridge the gap between its two personalities.

At f/4, the rendering becomes noticeably more controlled. Fine detail is stronger, contrast is higher, and the frame begins to appear more uniform. There is still a touch of the lens’s vintage character, but the result feels increasingly modern.

Once the lens reaches f/5.6, it becomes very sharp in the center and impressively detailed across the frame. This is where the transformation becomes particularly apparent. A lens that produces soft, expressive images at f/1.4 suddenly becomes a highly capable general-purpose 50mm optic.

At f/8, the Summilux-M 50 f/1.4 Classic delivers images that are clinically sharp while still maintaining a very pleasing overall look. Fine textures are rendered clearly, contrast is strong, and detail extends well across the frame.

I have always considered f/8 something of a sweet spot for many Leica lenses, and that is certainly the case here. The images have the precision expected from a modern optic, but they do not lose all of the tonal character that makes the Classic so appealing.

At f/11 and f/16, the lens provides greater depth of field and remains useful for scenes where keeping more of the frame in focus is the priority. As with any lens, very small apertures can introduce a degree of diffraction, particularly on high-resolution digital sensors, but the results remain highly usable.

What makes the Summilux-M 50 f/1.4 so interesting is that none of these aperture settings feels redundant. Each part of the aperture range offers a slightly different visual signature.

At f/1.4, it is dreamy, glowing and expressive. Between f/2 and f/2.8, it begins to combine atmosphere with stronger definition. At f/4, it transitions toward a more controlled image, while f/5.6 and f/8 provide the sharpness and consistency expected from a modern premium lens.

This gives photographers a level of creative control that goes beyond depth of field. You need to think not only about how much of the scene you want in focus, but also about the type of rendering you want the lens to produce.

There is a certain responsibility that comes with that choice. A technically perfect image is not always the most visually appropriate result, just as a dreamy vintage glow will not suit every subject.

For a portrait, available-light scene or intimate documentary moment, f/1.4 may provide exactly the right atmosphere. For architecture, landscapes or detailed street scenes, stopping down to f/5.6 or f/8 will deliver a much more precise result.

That versatility makes the 50 Summilux-M f/1.4 more than a novelty lens. It would have been easy for Leica to create an optic that offered a distinctive vintage look wide open but became unremarkable when stopped down. Instead, this lens provides a genuinely useful range of rendering styles.

Critical focus at f/1.4 naturally requires care, particularly on a traditional optical rangefinder. The shallow depth of field means even a small focusing error can place the sharpest area in front of or behind the intended subject.

The Leica M EV1 made this considerably easier. Its electronic viewfinder allowed me to confirm focus with greater confidence and encouraged me to use the lens at f/1.4 and f/2 more frequently than I might have done on an optical rangefinder alone.

That said, the lens also felt excellent on the Leica M240. Its smooth focusing action and slightly longer movement made careful rangefinder focusing very satisfying, while the 0.7m minimum distance remained entirely within the coupled range.

Sample images: Leica 50mm Summilux-M f/1.4 

Leica 50mm Summilux-M f/1.4 lab results

We run a range of lab tests under controlled conditions, using the Imatest Master testing suite. Photos of test charts are taken across the range of apertures and zooms (where available), then analyzed for sharpness, distortion and chromatic aberrations.

We use Imatest SFR (spatial frequency response) charts and analysis software to plot lens resolution at the center of the image frame, corners and mid-point distances, across the range of aperture settings and, with zoom lenses, at four different focal lengths. The tests also measure distortion and color fringing (chromatic aberration).

Sharpness:

Wide open at f/1.4 sharpness is disappointing - you'll need to stop down to f/2.8 before center and mid-frame sharpness become impressive. However, corner sharpness still lags behind by some margin, with the lens only becoming sharp across the whole frame at f/8 and narrower.

Fringing:

Fringing is evident in the corners of frame at all apertures.

Distortion: -1.99

There's moderate barrel distortion, and while not severe, we'd expect better from a 50mm lens.

Leica 50mm Summilux-M f/1.4 Verdict

The Leica Summilux-M 50 f/1.4 stands out as a top performer, particularly for photographers who want a more vintage look and feel in an increasingly clinical world of picture taking.

It offers something genuinely unusual within Leica’s current lens range. This is not an existing modern optic wrapped in a nostalgic design. Its classical optical formula, non-aspherical construction and traditional mechanical controls make it fundamentally different from the current Summilux-M 50mm f/1.4 ASPH.

Between f/1.4 and f/2.8, images have a distinctive glow, with gentle contrast, beautiful transitions and wonderfully artistic bokeh. From f/5.6 onward, the lens adopts a much sharper and more modern personality, with f/8 producing particularly impressive results across the frame.

This dual character gives the lens the best of both worlds. It can create images that look as though they were made with a genuine vintage Summilux, yet it can also deliver the detail and precision required from a contemporary Leica M lens.

The photographer simply needs to be clever enough to recognize which look is appropriate for each scene. Choosing the aperture becomes a creative decision rather than a purely technical one.

Its handling is equally impressive. The solid-brass construction feels outstanding, the scalloped focusing ring operates beautifully and the aperture ring provides smooth, positive clicks throughout its range.

The weight will not suit everyone. At 417g, it is a heavy lens despite its compact dimensions, and adding the traditional removable hood will make the package slightly larger. Its price also makes it a serious investment, particularly when there are more affordable 50mm M-mount lenses available.

However, those alternatives are unlikely to offer this particular combination of classical rendering, modern manufacturing and exceptional mechanical quality.

The Leica Summilux-M 50 f/1.4 is a lens for photographers who value character as much as technical performance. It rewards those willing to explore its aperture range, think carefully about the look they want and accept that perfect optical correction is not always the same thing as a perfect photograph.

For the right photographer, it is not merely a vintage-inspired lens. It is a genuine creative tool that can move effortlessly between romantic softness and modern precision.

When it comes to the production, supply and sale of third-party optics that will fit a slew of different manufacturers’ mounts, lens specialist Tamron says it is number one for global sales – claiming as recently as last month that it holds as much as 60% market share.

No wonder, then, that Sony is eyeing up Tamron for a possible takeover bid – the intention and the approach, if not yet the actuality, currently being confirmed by both parties. As it is already in possession of a 15% stake in the company, the electronics giant’s plan is that it will make the lens specialist a wholly owned subsidiary.

Yes, Tamron currently lists 23 lenses directly compatible with the Sony mount at the time of writing. But it also produces plenty of other directly compatible lenses for Canon, Fujifilm and Nikon users.

If Sony were to acquire Tamron – which has currently set up its own committee to consider the bid – I can imagine Sony taking a similar approach to when it exclusively snapped up Konica Minolta’s imaging expertise in 2006.

Konica Minolta immediately exited the camera business, while Sony was able to quickly introduce its first ever Alpha-branded DSLR, based on existing Minolta tech.

So, my worry for the wider photographic community is that Tamron itself may cease to exist – with its lenses hereon marketed as Sony lenses, with the same mix of decent build quality, performance yet affordability that the optical specialist offers now.

If that scenario plays out, I can’t imagine Sony continuing to do what Tamron currently does in offering lenses to other, non-Sony users. Plus I also wonder how it will impact its current relationship with Nikon, for whom it makes several Nikkor-branded OEM lenses.

Factor in a camera market that is experiencing a slowdown this year anyway, according to official figures from CIPA Japan, and the prospect gets even more intriguing.

Cutting out other camera owners might lessen the value of Tamron as a standalone brand. But if it’s subsumed by Sony, then that becomes academic anyway.

At present it’s not a done deal, just one under serious consideration that Sony certainly has the industry clout to pull off. It all comes down to whether Tamron, which independently has its own ambitious growth targets despite the uncertain economic climate, gives the green light.

If the market for interchangeable lens cameras really is in decline, and the current slowdown persists, I feel Tamron may well be tempted to take Sony’s money and run. However bad that is for competitive pricing going forward – and potentially the wider photographic community.

Ultimately, there will be winners as well as losers if a deal is done.

But to end on a positive note, among the winners will not just be Sony’s existing user base, who may theoretically get a boosted and continuing supply of affordable optics, but also rival third-party lens manufacturers such as Sigma, Laowa, Viltrox and more, who will have one less competitor out there.

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Light Lens Lab has officially opened orders for its new 35mm f/2 Apochromatic lens for Leica M-mount, bringing another intriguing premium optic to photographers who want classic manual-focus handling combined with decidedly modern optical ambitions.

The lens has been teased previously, but it is now available to order, including a special Titanium Limited Edition that will only be offered for preorder between now and September 10 2026.

This 35mm f/2 also marks the beginning of what Light Lens Lab calls its new Apochromatic Series – and the optical specification certainly suggests the company is aiming high.

The design incorporates four aspherical elements alongside multiple elements manufactured using ultra-low-dispersion and anomalous partial-dispersion glass, with the intention of controlling chromatic aberrations while delivering high levels of sharpness across the frame.

A newly developed high-transmission multilayer coating has also been employed, to further suppress chromatic aberration and purple fringing.

Light Lens Lab says the lens has been designed to deliver excellent distortion control, edge-to-edge performance and smooth out-of-focus rendering, while maintaining natural transitions between areas that are in and out of focus.

That combination should make the 35mm f/2 an interesting proposition for Leica M photographers who want a lens capable of producing plenty of detail without sacrificing the character and rendering that often make rangefinder lenses so appealing in the first place.

Perhaps one of its most interesting features, however, is just how close it can focus. The new 35mm f/2 has a minimum focusing distance of just 0.3 meters, considerably closer than the traditional rangefinder-coupled focusing distance offered by many Leica M lenses.

Light Lens Lab has incorporated a floating optical system designed to maintain consistent image quality throughout the focusing range, which should make that close-focusing capability genuinely useful rather than simply an additional number on the specification sheet.

Naturally, taking full advantage of 0.3m focusing on a traditional Leica M body will require Live View or an electronic viewfinder once you move beyond the rangefinder-coupled distance.

There is plenty going on mechanically, too, with Light Lens Lab saying that its high-precision optical and mechanical components have been developed in-house. Miniature bearings are used within the focusing mechanism to provide smooth and accurate operation, and buyers can choose between two different barrel designs.

There is a smooth version without knurling for a particularly clean and understated appearance, or a close-focus-knurled version that adds additional grip. Both versions use exactly the same optical design, although the smooth barrel is a limited-time configuration that will only remain available to order until the end of December 2026.

Anyone placing an order should be prepared for a little patience, however. Light Lens Lab says the complexity of manufacturing its apochromatic optics means each lens will initially be produced and assembled individually.

Smooth-barrel versions are expected to begin shipping from September 30 2026, with fulfillment continuing through November, while the knurled model is scheduled to begin shipping in December 2026 and continue into January 2027.

With four aspherical elements, floating optics, enviable close focusing and that compact Leica M format, this looks like one of Light Lens Lab’s most ambitious lenses yet – and certainly one I would be very interested to put on the front of an M camera.

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As a medium format shooter, I usually have to make a choice: wide angle or wide aperture. But thanks to this new 30mm f/2.4 lens from Zhong Yi Optics, now I can have the best of both worlds.

The new ZY Optics Pittura 30mm f/2.4 does what no other lens in Fujifilm or Hasselblad's lineups can do: deliver a wide-angle view and a wide diaphragm. And it goes one step further by offering enviable close focusing, too.

With an equivalent 24mm field of view (in 35mm terms), the Pittura 30mm f/2.4 gives GFX owners a full stop of additional light-gathering capacity over native options like the Fujifilm GF 23mm f/4 R LM WR and Fujifilm GF 30mm f/3.5 R WR.

Hasselblad doesn't offer a 30mm lens in its ecosystem, with its closest alternatives being the Hasselblad XCD 25V (f/2.5) and Hasselblad XCD 38V (f/2.5). But while the Pittura's advantage in the speed stakes is much slighter than it is for GFX users, it still outshines both systems in the close-focusing stakes.

The Pittura 30mm f/2.4 boasts a minimum focus distance of 0.2m, pipping the closest options for both Fujifilm (0.32m on the GF 30mm f/3.5) and Hasselblad (0.25m on the XCD 25V).

The ZY Optics lens also has more aperture blades than the competition. Combined with the fast f/2.4 aperture, the 11-bladed design renders smooth, circular out of focus elements.

It also has an impressively compact and lightweight build – coming in at around 550g and measuring 81 x 80mm for GFX and 73 x 84mm for XCD.

The tradeoff to all these advantages is that this is a fully manual lens, with no electronic contacts to communicate autofocus or EXIF data. However, this is arguably offset by a price that is literally $3,000 less than the competition.

The ZY Optics Pittura 30mm f/2.4 is available now for just $499 (approximately £369 / AU$705). You can find more information at the Zhong Yi Optics site.

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The list of best-selling camera gear is often topped by new launches – but four of the trendiest prime lenses in Japan right now are more than a decade old. The number one lens on the list? It’s a 14-year-old Fujifilm lens that’s still widely available: the XF 35mm f/1.4 R.

The data comes from used camera marketplace app Minna Camera, a popular buy-and-sell camera gear platform in Japan that recently ranked prime lens data from the first half of 2026.

But while a peer-to-peer platform built for used gear will be more likely to lean towards older options, the list isn’t made up entirely of old options, as even the Fujifilm XF 23mm f/2.8 R WR, a 2025 pancake, slides into the top ten. (The more modern version of the popular 35mm, the Fujifilm XF 33mm f/1.4 R LM WR, makes the top 20 at spot 19.)

The Fujifilm 35mm f/1.4 R isn’t the only older lens on the list, as all of the top three spots go to lenses that are a decade old, with four of the top ten being at least ten years old.

The second-place lens is even older: the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, a DSLR lens that launched in 2009. The 100mm was the first Canon optic to use a hybrid stabilization system, but it’s also a versatile prime for both portraits and macro with a 1x magnification.

Canon has a new mirrorless version of the lens, the Canon RF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, but the 2009 launch remains popular for DSLRs (or paired with an RF mount adapter).

The third spot on the list also goes to a Canon classic: the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM launched in 2015. The nifty fifty is one of the most popular focal lengths for primes on the list – which is 70% standard focal length primes between 35-55mm (in full frame equivalent), with the remaining 30% being longer macro optics.

While the top three primes on Minna Camera for 2026 so far are all more than a decade old, there’s one other lens in the top ten that’s similarly long-standing. The Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS, launched in 2015, sits in ninth place on the list.

When Minna Camera made a similar list but for zoom lenses, only one lens on the list was more than ten years old, suggesting photographers are more likely to pick up an older prime than an older zoom lens.

Beyond the long lifespan of some prime lenses, the list of trending lenses also hints at a few other key trends.

Minna Camera says that the price difference between the cheapest (the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM) and the most expensive lens on the list (the Sony FE 50mm f/1.4 GM, is 13.7 times. The company’s list of the most popular zoom lenses only had a 3.3x price range.

Fujifilm has the most lenses on the list with three (but that switches to Sony when looking at the top twenty instead). Along with that top 35mm f/1.4 prime, Fujifilm’s XF27mm f/2.8 R WR and XF 23mm f/2.8 R WR also made the list. Those latter two lenses are both pancakes, or slim primes designed for portability.

With the popularity of compact cameras, it’s unsurprising that compact lenses are also trending upwards – particularly when high demand has made some compact cameras more expensive than mirrorless outfits.

Prime lenses only make up about a quarter of lens trades on Minna Camera, with zooms taking up 74% of transactions in 2026 on the platform so far.

The top used prime lenses on Minna Camera for the first half of 2026 were:

1. Fujifilm XF 35mm f/1.4 R
2. Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
3. Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM
4. Sony FE 50mm f/1.4 GM
5. Fujifilm XF27mm f/2.8 R WR
6. Nikon Z 50mm f/1.8 S
7. Canon RF 35mm f/1.8 Macro IS STM
8. Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS
9. Nikon Z MC 105mm f/2.8 VR S

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Turns out the Nikon Z 600mm f/6.3 VR S is proving popular. Really popular. So much so that Nikon Japan has had to temporarily suspend orders.

That’s according to a report by Nikon Rumors, which published correspondence – supposedly from the Big N – citing an “overwhelming number of pre-orders (...) which far exceeds our expectations.”

Obviously the big question mark over all of this is, why the Nikon Z 600mm f/6.3 VR S? And why now?

As Nikon Rumors rightly points out, retailers appear to have stock and this isn’t even a new lens. It was announced all the way back in 2023!

Apparently, the suspension has been active since August 08, but there appears to be no word as to when orders will resume. Although, naturally, the statement does stress that orders will be fulfilled as quickly as possible.

Now, this is pure conjecture from yours truly… but I couldn’t help but think back to a recent report from the same rumor outlet, highlighting evidence claiming that Nikon Z 28-75mm f/2.8 units were being manufactured in Vietnam – a lens that was otherwise manufactured in China.

I’m well aware that this is one heck of a swing, but I cannot help but wonder: could Nikon’s struggle to fulfill orders of the Nikon Z 600mm f/6.3 VR S be linked to something similar?

Of course, the other option is that people have suddenly realized what an incredibly good lens this comparatively lightweight supertelephoto prime really is.

We gave it a perfect five stars on test, with my colleague Matthew RIchards citing its weight, high-spec build and handling, and superb image quality and performance as its best attributes in his review.

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Steve McCurry is probably one of the best-known living photographers – famous for his National Geographic shoots and that mesmerizing shot of the Afghan Girl, which he shot in 1984 on Kodachrome using a Nikon FM2 with a Nikkor 105mm lens.

Aged 76, McCurry is still very actively shooting new images today. And when I bumped into him at the recent Leica SL3-P launch in Germany, I was amazed to find out that the legendary Magnum photographer almost always uses just one lens today: a Leica Vario-Elmarit-SL 24-90mm f/2.8-4 Asph zoom.

"I do about 95% of all my shooting with that one lens, whether it's corporate, advertising or personal work", he explains.

In fact, he hasn't just gone down to using this one fast standard zoom; he has also stripped down his whole camera kit.

"In the really old days, I used to have a camera bag with all my stuff," he recalls. "Then I went from that to a photo vest with two cameras, both with fixed lenses, lots of film and maybe a third lens.

"My system now is a 24-90mm lens, one body, a few cards and a couple of batteries. I have no bag, nothing – just cards and batteries in a pocket."

McCurry switched from Nikon with the launch of the Leica SL2 back in 2019 – but it wasn't a move that he made on a whim, or simply because Leica was keen to have him on board.

"I did a very careful analysis," he explained. "I took my Nikon, I took the Leica, and I shot test pictures in the studio and went on the street. I took some of my assistants out. We did some portraits. We did kind of a chart, and we did this over some days.

"It became evident that the Leica lenses were crisper, sharper, had better resolution. It just became obvious that that was a direction that I should go in, after all that careful analysis.

"What really matters is the print. I print every day in my Pennsylvania studio. Every day we're printing for books, for exhibitions, so printing is really an important thing. I need a lens that's really going to make pictures that result in great prints, and that's what I'm achieving with this SL series.

"I look at a lot of my pictures from before Leica and after Leica, and I'm noticing that with the Leica SL series, I could make much bigger prints for exhibitions than I ever could with film or with the Nikon".

Despite his former love for Kodachrome, McCurry doesn't chase after the old color slide film look with his digital cameras.

"When I work with my retoucher, I'm just trying to get the picture to look like what I saw when I was shooting. I'm never trying to achieve a Kodachrome look or a film look," he explains.

"I'm just trying to get it right and capture something that feels genuine. It's not really about the color; it's more about the emotion, the storytelling aspect of the picture. So for me, yeah, I love good, rich color – but it has to support the story".

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After falling out of fashion for a while, all of a sudden we've been hit with a wave of pancake lenses.

In the last few months we've seen the Kase AF 24mm f/3.8, the Viltrox AF 26mm f/2.8 Evo, the Viltrox AF 28mm f/4.5 arriving in new mounts, along with the “most requested lens of all time”, the Lensbaby Twist 28.

Right now it feels like everybody (well, except Nikon) is making pancake primes for mirrorless systems – but why is this happening all of a sudden? The answer, I think, is simple: compact cameras.

Mike and I tackled this subject on the latest Bokeh Face podcast (embedded below), and it really feels that the wildfire-like popularity of compact and point-and-shoot cameras has made everyone hungry for smaller setups and pocketable lens profiles.

Tiny Micro Four Thirds cameras like the Olympus PEN E-P7 can be paired with lenses like the 7Artisans 18mm f/6.3 II or the Olympus Fisheye Body Cap 9mm f/8 and instantly become smaller than compact cameras.

Slap a Samyang Remaster Slim on Sony's A6700 and you've got a pocket-friendly APS-C camera. Heck, add the Viltrox AF 28mm f/4.5 to the Lumix S9 and you've got a full-frame powerhouse that's the same size as the Lumix L10 compact!

ABOVE: Watch our pancake lens discussion (teed up to the start of the chat)

Mike made a point about the Fujifilm X-E5 which, paired with the Fujifilm XF 23mm f/2.8 R WR, effectively gives you a setup the size of the Fujifilm X100 VI compact – but one that also enables you to change lenses.

"When the X-E5 came out, I was like – aww yeah – X100 VI? Who gives a darn about that any more? That's redundant now, as far as I'm concerned, cause you can basically have it as an interchangeable lens camera."

If you think this is all coincidence, and that nobody has noticed the trend, you'd be mistaken.

"The combination of a pancake lens and the camera body creates a very elegant package. We therefore believe there is potential for a future range of pancake lenses,” said Fujifilm's Jun Watanabe, head of product planning for the X series.

In other words, pancake lenses are here to stay. All we need now are more similarly small mirrorless bodies – and for Nikon to learn a couple of pancake recipes.

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Tamron's photography business weakened in the first half of 2026, as the 2nd Quarter FY2026 Consolidated Financial Results report shows. Sales fell 8.2% and operating profit dropped 29.3%.

But those numbers hide a significant shift in the direction of Tamron's lens business. Own-brand lens sales increased 4.2% to ¥17.1 billion (approx. $107.9 million / £80.3 million), while sales of OEM products (made by Tamron but carrying the badge of another brand, such as Nikon) fell 23.2% to ¥10.4 billion ($65.7 million / £48.9 million).

That makes Tamron's own lens business increasingly important – particularly as the company plans to launch 10 or more new own-brand models in FY2026 and accelerate its move into multiple camera mounts.

And all this is happening while Sony is proposing to acquire Tamron.

The split between own-brand and OEM

Tamron's Photographic Products division generated ¥27.53 billion ($173.9 million /£129.3 million) in sales in the first half, down from ¥29.98 billion ($189.3 million / £150.8 million) a year earlier.

But the decline isn't evenly distributed.

Own-brand revenue rose from ¥16.4 billion ($103.5 million /£77.1 million) to ¥17.1 billion ($108 million /£80.3 million). OEM revenue fell from ¥13.5 billion ($85.2 million /£63.4 million) to ¥10.4 billion ($65.7 million /£48.9 million).

The unit figures reveal that Tamron's own-brand shipments fell only 2.3%, while OEM shipments plunged 32%.

So the part of Tamron's photographic business that carries the Tamron name is holding up considerably better than the business it does for other companies.

That distinction matters because Tamron's strategy is built more and more around its own brand, accelerating its shift towards a multi-mount lens business.

Tamron is spreading across camera systems

Tamron's current strategy covers Sony E, Nikon Z, Canon RF and Fujifilm X.

Canon's mount, previously all but locked down to third parties, is particularly notable because Tamron has now introduced its third RF lens, the 17-70mm f/2.8 VC RXD.

This is more than simply adding individual lenses to a product catalog; Tamron is trying to make its own-brand business less dependent on any one camera manufacturer – and less dependent on OEM orders in general.

The mirrorless market is becoming more valuable

Tamron's figures also show the changing shape of the camera market: interchangeable-lens camera shipments fell 5% in the first half, but market value increased by 4%. Mirrorless units fell just 2%, while value increased by 6%. SLR units fell 27%, with value down 35%.

This creates an opportunity for Tamron to generate more revenue from higher-value lenses even if overall market volumes soften, something reflected in the own-brand numbers.

China is currently a complication, as Tamron says inventory adjustments caused a sharp decline there, while the US, Europe and India delivered growth and Japan remained strong.

Then there's the Sony question

Sony has proposed acquiring Tamron and making it a wholly-owned subsidiary.

Sony has also confirmed that Tamron is among the third-party lens makers with access to Sony mount basic specifications.

The proposal is so far just that – a proposal – but the timing adds an interesting layer to Tamron's latest results.

The company is putting more focus on its own-brand lenses and expanding beyond the E-mount at the same time that Sony is seeking to bring it fully into the fold.

Photography is no longer Tamron's main growth engine

There's another important part of the results that has little to do with cameras.

Tamron's Surveillance & FA business grew 29% in the first half, while Mobility & Healthcare grew by roughly 40%.

The company's longer-term strategy is to position photography as a highly profitable "cash cow" while investing more heavily in industrial markets including automotive, healthcare, sensing and AI-related applications.

In other words, Tamron is strengthening its own-brand lens business while positioning photography as the business that funds expansion into faster-growing industrial markets.

For photographers, the question is what those 10 or more new products will be – and how far Tamron takes its multi-mount strategy.

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The latest tally of cameras and lenses coming out of the world’s camera capital is here – and the numbers from the first half of 2026 highlight some key insights into the camera industry and lens trends.

Japan's Camera and Imaging Products Association (CIPA) has released the numbers for June 2026, along with insight into the first half of the year. But along with camera trends, CIPA also tracks lens data.

While worldwide camera shipments for the first half of 2026 showed a slight growth of 100.5 percent compared to the same time last year, lenses showed a slight decline of 99.4 percent for the first half of the year.

Month-to-month, lenses for all tracked categories showed a decline, with June’s shipment numbers at 87.2 percent of the same time frame last year.

But comparing the lens data from the first half of 2026 to the camera data from the same time frame highlights some interesting insight.

Camera brands sold about 1.02 million interchangeable lens cameras with a full-frame sensor or higher in the first half of the year. During that same time frame, brands shipped 2.18 million lenses for those sensors. That means full-frame photographers bought an average of 2.12 lenses for every camera body.

Photographers using crop-sensor cameras tend to buy far fewer lenses for each camera body. In the first half of the year, brands sold about 2.1 million crop sensor interchangeable lens cameras and about 2.7 million crop sensor lenses. That’s a ratio of about 1.28 lenses for every camera sold.

The numbers hint that full-frame photographers tend to buy nearly twice as many lenses – about 1.66 times as many – as creators working with crop sensor systems.

The data, however, only includes CIPA member companies from Japan. That list includes third-party optics brands like Tamron and Sigma, but doesn’t tally third-party optic makers from other countries. Of course, as a six-month span of data, the insight also doesn’t factor in photographers with a pre-existing stash of lenses either.

The crop sensor category likely includes a larger percentage of beginners who only purchase a kit lens with the camera, without adding another lens to swap.

Photographers using full-frame sensors – or larger, such as medium format – tend to include more professionals and serious hobbyists than the crop sensor category, which tends to have lower prices and cameras that cater to beginners.

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In July we reported on the new SG-image AF 35mm f/2.2 Classical Edition lens. With its retro aesthetic, it looked ideally suited to cameras like the Nikon Zf and Nikon Zfc. But it's not just those cameras that can take advantage of this accessibly-priced autofocus prime. Now SG-image has launched the standard (non-retro) version of the lens in L-mount flavor.

Inside the sleek all‑metal barrel sits a 7‑element, 5‑group optical stack that SG-image says has been engineered for image clarity and contrast. A 9‑blade diaphragm, paired with a bright f/2.2 maximum aperture promises smooth, natural bokeh that should make the lens perfect for portraiture and and still‑life work. The 35mm focal length also makes the lens a versatile choice for street and everyday photography.

Despite the metal barrel, the lens remains impressively light at just 163g. It’s also compact, measuring only 36.2mm in length with a 69mm barrel diameter, making it easily portable in a small kit bag.

The SG-image AF 35mm f/2.2 is available to buy now from SG-image direct in L-mount, E-mount or Z-mount versions for $158. You can also option the lens with a distinctive square hood for an additional $10.

Third-party lenses are a popular budget alternative – but the best third-party lenses are often those that the first-party brand trusts enough to share data with through licensing. Sony has now revealed a list of the third-party optic makers that have an E-Mount license, a major hint as to what third-party lenses will deliver the best performance – and there are a few surprises on the list.

The list of third-party optics that have a license for the Sony E-Mount comes amid the news that Sony has made an offer to buy popular lensmaker Tamron. Tamron had already confirmed the rumor, but Sony also recently broke its silence as to why the major tech brand wants to buy Tamron.

In a post from Sony Support Japan released in July 2026, Sony says that “E-Mount basic specifications have been disclosed” to the following brands:

• Carl Zeiss AG
• Cooke Optics Limited
• Cosina Corporation
• Fujifilm Holdings Corporation
• Kenko Tokina Corporation
• LK Samyang Co., LTD.
• Sigma Corporation
• Tamron Corporation
• Thales Las France SAS

A licensing agreement means that Sony is sharing some E-Mount data with those lens makers, though Sony says that doesn’t guarantee “the compatibility or quality of all functions.”

Sharing mount data tends to mean that the third-party optics meet a set of quality standards. Chief among these standards, brands sharing mount data tend to offer better autofocus performance than those without.

The list reveals a few key revelations over which companies have a license and share data with Sony for the E-Mount. Sony is a partial shareholder in Tamron, so the inclusion of Tamron on the list doesn’t come as a surprise. Sony also has a longstanding agreement with Carl Zeiss with several co-branded products, so Carl Zeiss is another expected name on the list.

Sigma has also said on several occasions during lens launches that E-Mount optics are built under a licensing agreement with Sony, so that name on the list doesn’t come as a surprise either.

Beyond those well-known partnerships, the list says that popular budget brands like Smayang, Tokina, and Cosina also have agreements in place.

The inclusion of Fujifilm – a company that’s known more for its first-party cameras and lenses than as a third-party optics maker – is an unexpected name to see on the list. However, Fujifilm’s cinema line does have a few special-order lenses that are compatible with E-Mount.

But another key takeaway is the names that aren’t on the list – chief among these, no China-based optic companies pop up on the list. Companies like Venus Optics (Laowa), Viltrox, TTArtisans, 7Artisans, Meike, Sirui, and Thypoch do not make an appearance on the list of licensed E-Mount lens makers.

Along with the official list of third-party lens license agreements, Sony has also commented about the potential purchase of lensmaker Tamron for the first time.

Speaking during a Q&A session at Sony’s latest investor meeting, Sony Chief Financial Officer Lin Tao said that Sony has proposed making Tamron a wholly owned subsidiary.

“Our thinking is that this proposal will create optimal value for both Tamron’s shareholders and our imaging business,” she said (translated by Google). “Our proposal is based on the hypothesis that it will enhance Tamron’s corporate value, leverage the strengths of both companies, and lead to the development of our imaging business.”

While both brands have now confirmed the potential buyout, Sony’s offer to purchase Tamron is still in the proposal stages.

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Just three months after launching its last 100-400mm lens, Sony has just announced another one – but this new super telephoto zoom is aimed at a very different audience.

Back in May, the company gave us the Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5 GM OSS – a constant aperture, internal-zoom super tele with a $4,300 / AU$6,899 price tag. But now Sony has revealed a far smaller, lots lighter and much more affordable alternative.

The new Sony FE 100-400mm f/5.6-8 OSS is described as a lens "built for the future to grow your skill", which really underscores who it's intended for: budding photographers and hobbyist users who've never experienced telephoto shooting but have always wanted to.

As Sony says, "great cameras deserve the best lenses" – but most super-tele zooms are too bulky, heavy and pricey for amateur and even enthusiast shooters.

That's where the Sony FE 100-400mm f/5.6-8 OSS comes in. Costing under a grand, this non-G Master offering enables E-Mount users to experience genres like birding, wildlife and aircraft or trainspotting, along with fully exploring other areas like travel, landscapes and family photography.

The new lens is much more lightweight and compact than the GM versions, weighing just 654g and measuring a mere 78.2 x 164.5mm (collapsed). That's less than half the weight of the Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS (1,395g) and almost a third of the 100-400mm f/4.5 GM OSS (1,840g).

It's also smaller and lighter than the Sigma 100-400mm f/5-6.3 DG DN (86 x 199.2mm, 1,140g) and the Tamron 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III VXD (88.5 x 183.4mm, 1,155g).

And while it's about the same size but 19g heavier than the Canon RF 100-400mm f/5.6-8 IS USM (79.5 x 164.7mm, 635g), Sony is quick to point out that its lens comes with a lens hood – which Canon's does not.

Sony's lens boasts a 10-group optical formula with 15 elements, including a pair of extra-low dispersion (to suppress chromatic aberrations) and a pair of aspherical (to control aberrations), with new multi-coatings.

Along with a nine-blade aperture for circular bokeh, the Sony FE 100-400mm f/5.6-8 OSS boasts a maximum magnification of 0.41x and a minimum focus distance of 1.13m at the wide end and 0.86m at the long – making it excellent for telemacro work.

But that's not all; the lens is also compatible with Sony's teleconverters, enabling you to achieve up to 800mm of reach.

All this is backed up by dual linear motors, which offers fast and precise autofocus without noise – and also enables the lens to keep up with the tracking and lightning-fast burst speeds of Sony's top cameras, whether it's 30fps on the Sony A7 V or 120fps on the Sony A9 III.

Tech like this enables this lens to grow with you as your telephoto skills improve. This extends to the comprehensive controls on the lens body, from a focus hold button to a focus mode and focus range limiter switch, to an OSS switch to toggle Opotical SteadyShot stabilization and even a zoom lock.

The Sony FE 100-400mm f/5.6-8 OSS goes on sale in September and carries a retail price of $849 / £799 / AU$1,399.

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DK-Optic has released a new lens for Leica M-mount cameras. The Chiaro 1.5-inch (38mm) f/1.9 lens has been designed as a tribute to the classic Dallmeyer Super Six lens design from the 1930s, which shared the same f/1.9 aperture and was famed for its distinctive painterly bokeh and ethereal image quality. It also explains why the lens's focal length is given in inches rather than millimetres, as that's the unit of measurement used by the classic lens. To quote DK-Optic:

“The Super Six 1.5-inch f/1.9 stands as one of the most legendary standard-focal-length lenses in the realm of painterly optics. In its era, it represented the absolute pinnacle of balancing extreme resolving power with dream-like bokeh. The unique “3D Pop” it delivers wide open remains just as highly coveted today as it was decades ago. Driven by pure passion, DK-Optic has flawlessly paid homage to this masterpiece, combining its vintage soul with the extreme precision of modern industrial manufacturing.”

DK-Optic's Super Six recreation stays true to the original, copying the same 6-element, 4-group optical stack, "rejecting the sterile, dry perfection of modern lenses" to instead replicate the vintage lens's image quality characteristics. Wide open at f/1.9, the Chiaro 1.5-inch is said to deliver "mesmerizing 3D spatial separation (subject isolation). The in-focus areas maintain astonishing sharpness, while the out-of-focus areas rapidly melt away into a signature, highly painterly bokeh." Sharpness and contrast increase as you stop down.

The lens is hand-made in DK-Optic's bespoke workshop using techniques like 5-axis CNC machining of core brass components, as well as grinding decades-old new old stock optical glass. The lens barrel is constructed from high-strength 7075 aerospace-grade aluminum, while the core focusing helicoid and aperture mechanics are machined from aerospace-grade brass, which DK-Optic says provides an "unmatched, buttery-smooth tactile feel".

Though a Chinese lens, don't assume the Chiaro 1.5-inch f/1.9 is just another ultra-low-cost optic. It's priced at $1,600, which evidently reflects the bespoke craftsmanship that's gone in to designing and making the lens. Although by Leica M-mount lens standards, even at this price the Chiaro 1.5-inch f/1.9 is reactively accessible.

Pergear has launched a new fast standard prime for Sony E, Nikon Z, Canon RF and L-mount cameras.

The Pergear 50mm f/1.4 is a full-frame, manual focus lens with a larger than average maximum aperture for a low-cost 'nifty fifty' optic. As such, Pergear claims the lens enables distinct subject separation, as "out‑of‑focus regions dissolve into lush, creamy softness", helped by the well-rounded 12-blade aperture diaphragm. The f/1.4 aperture also makes the lens very useful in low light environments.

The lens uses a 6-element optical design arranged in 6 groups and includes a multi‑layer, anti‑reflective coating. This is said to effectively suppress flare and ghosting, while improving contrast and colour saturation.

Despite its budget price tag, the lens features an all-metal barrel with a tactile diamond-knurled focus ring for improved grip and focussing precision. Weight has been kept to a reasonable 255g, partly thanks to the compact 66mm lens diameter and 43.5mm barrel length. The lens has a minimum focussing distance of 0.6m, takes 52mm filters, and is fully manual, on account of there being no electronic contacts for lens-body communication.

However, with a retail price of $129 (£96, currency conversion), the Pergear 50mm f/1.4 still seems like incredible value for money.

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TTArtisan appears to have come up with an idea for a filter holder that’s so delightfully simple, I cannot believe it hasn’t been done before!

A quick search reveals some similar concepts, but I can’t find any that look quite as tidy as the TTArtisan concept posted via Independent Photographers Association on Chinese social media site Weibo.

The filter holder is compatible with the new TTArtisan AF 50mm f/1.8 Neo and, judging by the video that accompanies the post, it’s being referred to as a “quick-flip filter adapter”. The mechanism fits over the barrel of the lens, featuring a circular hinged door that houses a 52mm screw-in filter.

A caption reads “Close-Up Lens & ND Holder Concept Model”, because it can also accommodate compatible close-up filters. Personally, I see no reason why it couldn’t house any standard 52mm screw-in filter.

The video then shows the accessory being 3D-printed and hand-assembled. A filter is then screwed onto the attachment as if it were simply the end of a lens.

What’s so nice about the hinged design is that you can quickly flip the filter out of the way if you need to (like if you want to photograph the total solar eclipse) and flip it back in place as and when required. Personally, I think this would be great for ND filters on a run-and-gun vlogging setup, especially if you’re moving from indoors to outdoors.

I recently explained how a lens filter changed my whole relationship with photography and, if you’ve never used a filter before, something like this could be a fun and accessible starting point. As it stands, I can’t find any word on an official release date or price, so watch this space.

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Most macro lenses boast a 1x magnification that enlarges tiny subjects to the size of the camera’s sensor – but macro specialist Laowa has unleashed a lens that not only reaches ten times that, but does so with parafocal zoom and an unusual solution to lighting tricky shots. The Laowa Asken 17.5mm f/1.7 5-10x Ultra Macro APO is the world’s first commercial 5-10x – and it launches alongside the Laowa Asken 45mm f/2.8 1-5x Ultra Macro APO.

Laowa – the macro specialist brand from Venus Optics – had previously showcased prototypes of the new lenses earlier this year (which is how the series has already won a TIPA Award). But the lenses – which arrive in both photo and cinema variants for multiple mounts – were officially unveiled in full detail on July 31, with orders already open for the new optics.

A few things have changed from the original prototype – chiefly, the series is now called Asken, not Axon – but what’s remained unchanged is the headline features. The largest magnification in Laowa’s lineup before was 5x, but the Laowa Asken 17.5mm is capable of capturing extreme closeups from 5x all the way to 10x on a full-frame sensor.

A 17.5mm lens that gets that close is nearly touching the subject itself – the lens is designed to sit as close as 22.48mm / .88 inches from the subject – which leaves no room to add lighting equipment.

But Laowa has built in a solution to the challenging lighting that such a close lens brings. The lens can twist on what’s called a Coaxial Light Block, an accessory with a hole to shine a light through. Coaxial lights are more traditionally used for cameras used for machine vision, but Laowa is calling on the concept to help light a subject that’s just milimetres away from the lens.

The Laowa 17.5mm uses a parafocal design. This means that, if the lens is focused at 5x, the subject will still be in focus when the lens twists to 10x, so photographers and videographers won’t need to adjust the focus after zooming in. That’s particularly helpful considering both lenses are manual focus only.

Keeping the lens barrel the same length also helps aid lighting set-ups – and avoiding accidentally bumping the subject itself with the lens.

Laowa says that chromatic aberration – a type of lens distortion that creates distracting colored fringing – tends to be a major challenge with extreme magnification. To help fight that, the lenses are designed with an apochromatic (APO) design to help reduce that colored fringing while also aiding in sharpness.

The Laowa 45mm f/2.8 1-5x brings the same parafofocal design, but brings a less extreme macro range of 1x to 5x and allows for more distance between the lens and the subject with a 40.35mm minimum working distance.

That much magnification requires a lot of pieces and components, so the lenses aren’t exactly compact. The 1-5x sits at 121mm / 4.76 inches and 599g / 21oz, while the 5-10x is at 127.5mm / 5 inches and 570g / 20 oz.

Both new lenses are launching in several mounts, covering a full-size sensor but also compatible with crop sensors. The still version is available in Sony E, Nikon Z, Canon RF, L-Mount, Nikon F, Canon EF, Fujifilm X, and Micro Four Thirds. A cinema version will also be available in an Arri PL native mount, with interchangeable bayonets to adapt to Sony E, Nikon Z, Canon RF, Canon EF, L-Mount, Fujifilm X, and Micro Four Thirds.

Sales for both lenses opened today, July 31. Both photo variants of the lenses retail for $749 (about £556 / $AU1,066 / CA$1,050), with another $100 added to the 5-10x that includes the coaxial Light block. The cinema variants sit at $1,499 each (about £1,076 / AU$2,133 / CA$2,030).

The 17.5mm 5-10x and 45mm 1-5x are available to order from Laowa as well as authorized retailers.

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The third-party lens market is a highly competitive one with an increasing number of names in recent years. But long-standing optics maker Tamron says it now leads the third-party lens market with a share of approximately 60%.

The data comes from Tamron’s integrated report, an annual document that looks at the company’s achievements and future goals.

In the report, Tamron notes that it now holds a “leading market share of approximately 60%” for third-party interchangeable lenses.

That number, however, does include the lenses that Tamron manufactures for first-party brands. Lenses that carry the Tamron name make up 59% of the company’s numbers for 2025, with lenses produced for other brands sitting at 41%.

While the figure includes both Tamron-branded lenses and those that it manufactures but carry another name, the statistic is an unusual glimpse into the standings in the highly competitive third-party lens market.

Both Tamron and Sigma have long been a key part of the segment, but recent years have brought an increasing number of optics from lens makers based in China.

Part of Tamron’s success comes from doubling the number of lenses launched each year. As recently as 2023, Tamron was launching around 5 lenses a year, but Tamron has “more than 10 new products scheduled for 2026.”

The report also says that Tamron’s goal of “establishing a four-mount lineup, including Canon RF Mount” remains. Tamron’s first RF-mount lens arrived in 2024, and the company is now up to three RF-supported lenses – all for APS-C sensors.

Tamron attributes part of its success to what it calls “user-centric designs”.

“We set ourselves apart from manufacturers’ genuine products by combining a design philosophy focused on practicality with product planning that achieves both compactness and lightness alongside high performance,” the report says.

“We have gained support through user-centric designs, such as the standardization of filter diameters.”

Tamron is also attributing its growth to an approach to manufacturing that now stretches across three countries, including a new Vietnam plant opened last year.

With facilities now in Japan, China and Vietnam, Tamron says it has also been able to adjust the volume of each plant to help offset some higher tariff costs.

But Tamron’s growth comes as the company expects a “shrinking digital camera market.” The company’s plan includes retaining and growing its core lens business, but says lenses are also a stable “cash cow” in which to grow its other avenues – which also include surveillance lenses, lenses for car cameras and healthcare devices.

Tamron plans to continue growing its core photography business, but at a slower rate than other segments in order to create more stable revenue where interchangeable lenses make up two-thirds of the company’s profits rather than three-quarters.

The English language report was published on July 27, following a Japanese version published one month prior. The report comes amid the news that Sony has proposed buying all shares in Tamron.

Tamron has confirmed that an offer was made, but has not shared any decision or further insight on the matter. But the potential of Sony having full ownership makes the insight on Tamron’s 60% share in third-party optics – with 41% of that chunk being lenses manufactured for other companies – all the more interesting.

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