Meike is rumored to be releasing more Nikon F-mount DSLR lenses. This comes off the back of it launching its AF 85mm f/1.8 SE Mark II earlier this year - another lens with an F-mount variant. At just $229, with stepping motor autofocus, this lens is significantly cheaper than the F-mount AF-S Nikkor 85mm f/1.8G, which costs around $500, or the $750 Nikkor Z 85mm f/1.8 S.

So what's with this latest resurgence of lenses for Nikon DSLRs? As much as we love the immediacy of shooting with a proper optical viewfinder, not to mention the terrific battery life that most DSLRs can give you, the harsh truth is that the DSLR's days are numbered. Nikon won't be making any new models, and its most recent offering - the D6 - is now exactly (and appropriately!) 6 years old.

Sure, you can still buy a new D7500, D780, D850 or D6, but with their tech now being over half a decade old, these legacy cameras exist mostly for Nikon DSLR purists who are now heavily invested in the F mount system and don't want to incur the expense of selling up and switching to mirrorless.

The reason for Meike's puzzling pivot towards the dying F-mount could actually be due to legal concerns, not because there's a renewed demand for new DSLR lenses. It's been widely reported that Nikon may be suing Viltrox for potentially producing cut-price Z-mount teleconverters without paying Nikon licensing fees.

But whatever the reason for Viltrox being in hot water with Nikon, any third-party lens manufacturer looking to launch a new Z-mount optic will now want to tread very carefully.

One solution could therefore be to avoid the Z-mount completely and instead switch to F mount. There will still be plenty of F-mount users who'll appreciate new glass being released for their tried-and-tested system, but let's not forget that Nikon Z shooters can also buy a new F-mount lens and use it on a Z camera courtesy of the FTZ II mount adapter. Switching to F-mount is therefore a clever workaround from Meike, as the company avoids the legal heat currently focused on the Z-mount, yet it can still make lenses that can, technically, be used on Z-mount cameras.

This new resurgence of DSLR lenses is an intriguing subject, and one we've covered in greater detail in the latest edition of the Digital Camera World podcast, Bokeh Face, available here:

Back in September Nikon joined forced with the toy company Bandai Namco to produce micro-scale toy models of four Nikon cameras. At the time, the cameras featured in the “Nikon Miniature Collection” were only available in Japan, dispensed from specialist toy vending machines called Gashapon. However, as of March this year, the Nikon Miniature Collection has also been available in North America.

Gashapon has been around since the 1960s and are hugely popular in Japan, with a growing fan base in other parts of the world. Most Gashapon are released as themed sets (like the four Nikon cameras), with the idea being the purchaser will want to collect the full set. However, this may not be easy, as it's often difficult or simply not possible to see the contents of each capsule inside the vending machine before purchase.

The four toy cameras in the Nikon Miniature Collection include the Nikon Z9 fitted with a Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S lens, and the Nikon Z fc with Z DX 16-50mm f/3.5-6.3 VR lens. There are also two 35mm film cameras: the iconic Nikon F from 1959 with a Nikkor-s 55mm f/1.2 lens, and the Nikon SP from 1957 equipped with a W-Nikkor 3.5cm f/1.8.

The lens is detachable from each camera, and the toys feature extra details like removable lens and body caps, plus a set of small stickers that add additional fine detail to the models. This attention to detail is particularly impressive when you consider how tiny these models are - the Nikon F model is only around 2cm in height.

If you want to get your hands on one or more of these micro Nikon recreations, there are 28 official Gashapon shops dotted across the US and Canada, plus an additional 138 locations with licenced Gashapon vending machines. Expect to pay $8 for each turn of the Gahsapon machine's dispensing handle, which will vend one of the Nikon cameras at random. This is considerably more than the 500 Yen ($3.50) that the same toys cost in Japan, but that's likely to be of little concern to keen collectors of these iconic Japanese toys.

The Brenizer method is the brainchild of renowned US wedding photographer Ryan Brenizer. It's sometimes referred to as the 'bokeh panorama' or 'bokeh-rama', owing to the panoramic stitching technique used to achieve it and the super-shallow depth of field that's produced. 

'Bokeh panoramas' boast shallower depths of field than are otherwise achievable with a wide-angle lens and give APS-C and full-frame users the ability to produce portraits with a large-format aesthetic. 

The key to this striking technique is to use a telephoto lens, ideally a fast one such as the best lens for portraits. You then shoot your portrait in small sections - in a tile-like grid that you will then stitch together in Photoshop. For each shot you use constant camera settings that won't change between frames, so you can create a seamless blend.

Once you've settled on a white balance preset, and locked your exposure in Manual, you used AF to focus on your subject and then switch to manual focus so as not to change your point of focus as you begin to shoot your panoramic sequence. Exactly how many photos you take is down to personal preference, but we strongly recommend overlaying each image by around 30% to ensure you don't leave any gaps.

Adobe Photoshop CC makes it easy to blend your sequence by automatically merging your images. You then simply need to check the blend for any inconsistencies and crop it as desired. If you like the idea of creating a wide portrait with a super-shallow depth of field, here's how to shoot and edit your own 'bokeh panorama'.

The Brenizer method

1. Select a fast lens 

A fast medium telephoto is handy for maximizing the shallow depth of field. However, if you don't have a pro porttrait lens any telephoto zoom will do. The great thing about this trick is you end up with a wide-angle view with much less depth of field than your existing lenses will allow.

In this instance, we used the Nikon AF-S 85mm f/1.4G, but the classic 50mm f/1.8 could also work well, especially when providing an equivalent focal length of 75mm on an APS-C camera. 

Depending on your system, the Canon RF 85mm F1.2L USM, Sony FE 85mm F1.4 G Master, and Fujifilm XF 56mm F1.2 R WR would work well, too. Thankfully, you're not limited to just prime lenses though. A fast telephoto zoom, like a 70-200mm f/2.8, will still produce a suitably blurry background for this effect.

2. Set a consistent white balance  

As you'll be merging photos, each image needs to be as consistent as possible. To prevent the white balance from changing mid-sequence, head to menu and set the color temperature manually. We'd suggest shooting in Raw so you can tweak the color temperature of you batch of images later.

3. Frame your image 

You'll have plenty of room to crop your large panorama in post, but you should still consider your composition. Visualize your final image and position yourself accordingly before you start shooting. Still leave enough space to crop, though, as your blended image will be an irregular shape.

4. Camera settings 

Select Aperture Priority mode and choose a wide aperture. We'd recommend f/2.8 or wider. Adjust the ISO value until you get a shutter speed of 1/200 sec (or higher). Select Manual mode and input the same settings to lock your exposure. Just like the white balance, consistent exposure is vital.

5. Switch to manual focus 

Your focus needs to be consistent throughout your sequence. If you're using back-button focus you can simply release the back button after you've focused on your subject. If not, focus on your subject using AF and then switch to manual focus. Your focus will then remain locked as you proceed to capture your bokeh panorama.

6. Capture a 'bokeh panorama'

We framed and captured our subject, and then shot three frames to the left and three frames to the right. This process was repeated just above the model's head and below her feet. There's no hard and fast rule for how many or how few images you should capture. Just make sure you overlay each image by around 30% to prevent any gaps between frames.

Blend a 'bokeh panorama'

7. Open your sequence in Camera Raw 

Highlight your sequence in Adobe Bridge (select the first image, hold Shift and select the last image). Right-click and select Open in Camera Raw. Hold Shift and select the last image in the left panel to highlight the sequence. Edits will now affect all of the images.

8. Set the color temperature

Once you've selected Remove Chromatic Aberration and Enable Profile Corrections in the Lens Corrections tab, check the exposure and color temperature of each image. Ensure you fix any inconsistencies before blending your panorama and select Done.

9. Import your sequence into Adobe Photoshop

With the images still selected, click Tools>Photoshop>Photomerge. Make sure Auto and Blend Images Together are selected when the Photomerge window opens and click Browse to select the images from your sequence. Hit OK to start the merging process.

10. Blend your 'bokeh panorama'

You'll now have a large medium-format style image that's spliced into multiple layers. Photoshop generally does a good job of blending images together, but it's worth looking for any obvious inconsistencies, which you can rectify with the Clone or Patch tools.

11. Crop your blended image 

Your image is likely a rather irregular shape; fix this using the Crop tool. It's worth remembering that your photograph is a blend of multiple pictures, so you have plenty of room to play with if you opt for a tighter composition.

6. Flatten and finish 

Make a flattened copy of your image by selecting the topmost layer and pressing  Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E (Cmd+Alt+Shift+E on a Mac). You can then proceed with your normal tonal editing regime to finish it off.

You may also be interested in how to use Photoshop's High Pass Filter to selectively sharpen your photos, or to learn other great Photoshop tips

Tamron has been knocking it out of the park with its recent lens releases, and thanks to a leak, we now have information about a brand-new macro lens.

According to the leaked press release which has appeared on many camera rumor sites (including SonyAlphaRumors), the Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Di III VXD 1:1 Macro lens will be officially launched later this week, with Tamron stating that its 'legendary 90mm macro is reborn for mirrorless'. The lens will be available for full-frame Sony E and Nikon Z mounts and hosts impressive features to rival most macro lenses.

The 90mm f/2.8 will feature Tamron's first 12-blade aperture diaphragm enabling users to capture circular bokeh and minimal vignetting when using the lens for macro. Tamron states that the 12-blade design creates 12 rays for stunning starburst effects when stopped down, making it ideal for dramatic images with point light sources.

The lens has been ergonomically designed to be held in the palm for an extended amount of time, measuring just 126.5mm long and weighing 630g, it is considerably compact for a 90mm f/2.8 macro lens.

Tamron lenses have recently been praised for quick and efficient AF and this lens looks to follow suit with the addition of a focus limiter that can restrict the AF coverage. This may sound counter-intuitive however, when you are focusing on a stable subject with a macro lens, it prevents the AF from hunting the lens range of focus enabling quicker adjustments.

Manual focus is still an option, and a preference for some when shooting macro, and the rotational torque of the focus ring has been calibrated to assist with precise manual adjustments.

Other notable features include a new hood design with a sliding window for filter adjustments, compatibility with Tamron Lens Utility software enabling users to further fine-tune lens settings, and a minimum focusing distance of just 0.23m.

From what we've seen, the Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Di III VXD 1:1 Macro lens will be priced at just $699 / £525 – $400 less than Sony's 90mm macro equivalent.

The original Tamron 90mm macro lens was a fan favorite among users, and this lens has the potential to be the same, especially at such an attractive price!

It is also worth noting, that although the leaked information and images appear to be taken from an official Tamron press release, no official announcement has yet taken place.

You may be interested in our guides to the best Sony lenses, the best Nikon lenses, and the best macro lenses.

While its garden is well-trodden, Prospect Cottage’s interiors remained largely private after famed film director Derek Jarman died in 1994. The photographs and essays in my book on Prospect Cottage explain my experience of being inside Prospect, revealing the care given to it by Derek’s companion Keith Collins across 24 years following Derek’s death, before Keith too sadly passed away. 

In 2018, Keith became unwell with a previously undiagnosed brain tumor. Friends and neighbors became very concerned for him and for what his illness might mean for Prospect, to which he had so dutifully tended. During this uncertainty, I was asked to photograph the cottage to record how it was at that moment.

The photos were taken between 2018 and 2022. I originally planned to photograph inside the cottage only, with glimpses of the garden through windows and doorways, partly because I felt the garden had been so extensively photographed there was little point me adding to that discourse. But as time went by, I realized I needed to photograph outside Prospect as well, as otherwise I was telling just half the story, and not revealing the dialogue happening between the inside and the outside.

Initially, I photographed each wall and corner as a true inventory. However, I realized that, while capturing ‘everything’, those shots missed what Prospect Cottage was about. My approach soon became a journey of exploration and experimentation, as I allowed myself to be led round Prospect by the mood, the light, my memories of Prospect before Keith died, the weather… whatever seemed right. 

On visiting Keith previously, Prospect had always seemed a peculiar mix of histories: in part a museum-memorial, in part a living home. But the more I spent time there with my camera, the more my understanding developed of how the house had been used – and perhaps seen – by its residents. 

My idea for the series evolved as I came to see that, while Prospect’s history was heavily punctuated by Derek’s and Keith’s deaths, it was ultimately one story of love to which each man added pages.

As an architectural photographer, I generally work methodically, planning and bracketing exposures widely. When I have to work fast to capture a moment, though, I know I can rely on the dynamic range offered by my Nikon D800E. I used Nikon PC-E 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift lens, Nikon AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8 and Nikon AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses, along with a Manfrotto tripod with a three-way pan/tilt head. 

Having time to properly engage with Prospect Cottage was a hugely enjoyable experience, allowing it to reveal to me how it wanted to be seen. But it was not without its challenges. Prospect can be dark, especially when it’s bright outside. Balancing the exposure was at times a challenge, though one my D800E was up for. 

Having taken down the cottage’s net curtains partway through the shoot, it also became somewhat challenging to get a clean shot of a room without someone’s nose pressed against a window! 

Prospect Cottage: Derek Jarman’s House

Prospect Cottage: Derek Jarman’s House, by Gilbert McCarragher, is published by Thames & Hudson.

Micro-scale toy models of four Nikon cameras have been released in Japan. The set of four 'Gashapon' includes the Nikon Z9 fitted with a Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S lens, and the Nikon Z fc with Z DX 16-50mm f/3.5-6.3 VR lens. There are also two 35mm film cameras: the iconic Nikon F from 1959 with a Nikkor-s 55mm f/1.2 lens, and the Nikon SP from 1957 equipped with a W-Nikkor 3.5cm f/1.8.

Gashapon are small capsule toys dispensed from dedicated vending machines. Each toy usually costs around $1-5 USD. Gashapon has been around since the 1960s and are hugely popular in Japan, with a growing fan base in other parts of the world. Most Gashapon are released as themed sets (like this set of four Nikon cameras), with the idea being the purchaser will want to collect the full set. However, this may not be easy, as it's often difficult or simply not possible to see the contents of each capsule inside the vending machine before purchase.

The cameras featured in the “Nikon Miniature Collection” are just that - tiny - with the Nikon F toy measuring only 2cm in height. Though even at this tiny scale, the toys are fairly well detailed replicas of their full-size counterparts, with the lens on each camera being removable and a body cap supplied to replace it. The Z fc model is also said to come with a random sticker that can be used to customize it in some way. Each miniature Nikon camera/lens combo will cost 500 Yen, or around $3.50 / £2.70 / AU$5.20.

Read more: The best Nikon cameras • The best Nikon Z lenses

Micro-scale toy models of four Nikon cameras have been released in Japan. The set of four 'Gashapon' includes the Nikon Z9 fitted with a Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S lens, and the Nikon Z fc with Z DX 16-50mm f/3.5-6.3 VR lens. There are also two 35mm film cameras: the iconic Nikon F from 1959 with a Nikkor-s 55mm f/1.2 lens, and the Nikon SP from 1957 equipped with a W-Nikkor 3.5cm f/1.8.

Gashapon are small capsule toys dispensed from dedicated vending machines. Each toy usually costs around $1-5 USD. Gashapon has been around since the 1960s and are hugely popular in Japan, with a growing fan base in other parts of the world. Most Gashapon are released as themed sets (like this set of four Nikon cameras), with the idea being the purchaser will want to collect the full set. However, this may not be easy, as it's often difficult or simply not possible to see the contents of each capsule inside the vending machine before purchase.

The cameras featured in the “Nikon Miniature Collection” are just that - tiny - with the Nikon F toy measuring only 2cm in height. Though even at this tiny scale, the toys are fairly well detailed replicas of their full-size counterparts, with the lens on each camera being removable and a body cap supplied to replace it. The Z fc model is also said to come with a random sticker that can be used to customize it in some way. Each miniature Nikon camera/lens combo will cost 500 Yen, or around $3.50 / £2.70 / AU$5.20.

Read more: The best Nikon cameras • The best Nikon Z lenses

If you have been a Nikon photographer at any time since 1959 and have owned any Nikon DSLR 2018 you would have heard of the Nikon F-mount – the company's sole lens mount for a total of 59 years!

Well now might be your last chance to get your hands on a new stock of these fantastic lenses, which you can still use on some of the best Nikon mirrorless cameras with the Nikon FTZ II adapter. 

Most can save you on average a cool $440, but if you have your eyes on some of the more exotic super telephoto prime lenses from Nikon you can save a MASSIVE $4,800!

Now I understand not everyone has $11,496.95 spare to be able to save that $4,800 - but as Ecommerce Editor for Digital Camera World I have searched and looked at every deal and I've listed the one that caught my eye below for all budgets:

While this is a rather wild pick of the crop it shows that you're in the market for one of the best Nikon lenses for your best DSLR, or best mirrorless camera with the Nikon FTZ adapter.

While the 'affordable' options in this list are a significant investment, they will last you the test of time and are well worth the initial expenditure.

The original Sony FE 85mm f/1.4 GM is unquestionably a Sony lens classic, originally launched in 2016 as one of the first of three G-Master lenses, it proved that Sony could make lenses for its new mirrorless cameras that rivaled the best DSLR lenses for optical quality. 

Over the years as lens technology has evolved the original 85mm G-Master is starting to show its age, with slow autofocus, prominent chromatic aberrations, and a large size that doesn’t perfectly balance with smaller bodies. So, Sony has gone back to the drawing board to design a more compact and lightweight 85mm lens that solves the previous version’s optical flaws – and has come back with the Sony FE 85mm f/1.4 GM II.

With 14 elements in 11 groups, including x2 XA and x2 ED elements, as well as a Nanon AR II coating on the front of the lens, Sony is promising this second-generation’s refined optics will produce significantly less color fringing and improved chromatic aberrations. Sony demonstrated some images taken with both generations of the lens, and this definitely looks to be improved, as well as the lens being clearly sharper than the Mark I version. However, we will have to test this ourselves in our review. 

The 11-blade aperture should make for a nice rounded bokeh, with the classic 85mm portrait focal length being a favorite of many for creamy background falloff. Sony has brought all its lens technology to bear here, claiming its XA elements are manufactured to a 0.01-micron surface precision to remove any onion ring effects in the bokeh.

According to Sony’s calculations, the lens should be three times faster during autofocus (AF-S) than the previous version, with two XD linear motors driving the internal autofocus. This should allegedly make for a seven-fold improvement in subject tracking speed, with 120fps tracking supported. The lens has also been engineered to suppress focus breathing and will work alongside the focus breathing compensation in Sony’s latest cameras.

The Mark II version of the lens has shrunk down, measuring 84.7x107cm, versus the 89.5 x 107.5 mm of the original lens, and is also much lighter, weighing in at 642g versus 820g for the Mark I. The lens features two focus hold buttons, a manual focus ring, a de-clickable aperture/iris ring, and an iris lock switch.

The Sony FE 85mm f/1.4 GM II will be available at the beginning of September 2024 for a launch price of $1,799 / £1,850, with AU pricing to be confirmed. This is a jump from the $1,699 / £1,499 price of the original, although 8 years is a long time, so this price hike isn’t completely unexpected.

For more on all things Sony – check out our guides to the best Sony camera and the best Sony lenses.

I think most photographers start out with either buying something new, that's also cheap and growing their kit or buying something slightly better but secondhand to see if they actually like photography and then expanding upon that camera/lens combo.

I started out like that myself and slowly bought better second-hand cameras until I was in a position to buy new, and while I knew that buying new would also have a depreciation over time the lenses would more than make their money back during my professional career - which they all did, but when it came time for them to move one, the only lens I bought brand-spanking-new was the one I lost the most money on... and it will surprise you. 

The lens in question was quite a rare item in terms of photography telephotos, while most dream of owning a 300mm f/2.8 or at a push the lavish 400mm f/2.8 - I had to go one better and buy at the time the brand new Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4G ED VR lens for an eye-watering £8,000 / $9,500 - and I enjoyed all 11.2 Ib / 5.1kg of it for many man-years and traveled the world with it covering international events.

But when it came to letting this beautiful lens go I was hit with a sting that even today sends a shiver down my spine, due to the up-turn Nikon releasing some of the best Nikon Z lenses around the same time, including the new Nikkor Z 600mm f/4 TC VR S my 'slightly-used' but pristine optics 600mm took a nosedive on the secondhand market and my investment look like a poor choice in the grand scheme of things.

So how much did I sell one of the best lenses I've ever owned you ask? I initially bought it for $9,500 / £8,000 in 2012, and 12 years later I sold this massive lens for a mere $2,619 / £2,000... a massive loss of $6,881 / £6,000!

Yes, I had enjoyed using this lens and I know it made its money back ten-fold over those 12 years of ownership, but man... what a hit, and lesson learned!

In fact, it is the only lens I have ever bought brand-new, and as a special order. Heck, it even came directly from Nikon Japan in a wooden transport box - something straight out of an Indiana Jones movie!

But what this story does teach you all reading this is these exotic lenses in the Nikon F-mount are now a steal of what they once used to cost, and if equipped with the Nikon FTZ-adaptor you can still use these wonderful F-mount lenses your Nikon Z9 or any of the best Nikon mirrorless cameras. Take a look on eBay and secondhand specialists – there are bargains to be had!

Nikon has dropped the price on lots of its cameras and lenses for the Bank Holiday, and if you have been thinking of splashing out on new Nikon gear, this is a great time to make the jump.

It is worth trying all the retailers - as we have noticed that there is a surprising amount of differences. For instance, you can get a Nikon Z9 at Jessop for £4,399. Meanwhile at Park Cameras, the Z9 has dropped to just £4,549 - which sounds a worse deal, until you read this comes with a free 660GB CFexpress card worth over £600. 

Nikon stockists with sales

Clifton Cameras: Nikon Z8 £270 off
Jessops: Deals include £470 off the Z6 II
Park Cameras: Free 660GB CFexpress card with Z9
Wex Photo Video: £500 off Nikon Z 600mm f6.3 VR S 
London Camera Exchange 10% off over 70 Z and F mount lenses

Some sample deals

See our guide to the best lenses for the Nikon Z9 and Z8 

Nikon has rolled out new firmware to 5 of its Z-mount Nikkor lenses, adding a much-longed-for feature for all manual focus shooters.

Linear focus has now been added as an option when manually focusing with the focus ring – in addition to the default non-linear focus – making it easier to make fine adjustments.

The lenses benefiting from the update include some of the best Nikon Z lenses on the market – the Nikon Nikkor Z 28-75mm f/2.8, Nikkor Z 28mm f/2.8(SE), Nikkor Z 40mm f/2(SE), Nikkor Z 40mm f/2, and the Nikkor Z 28mm f/2.8.

The firmware notes are the same for all included lenses and reads as follows:

" • The lens now supports options for [Focus ring rotation range] * in the camera [CUSTOM SETTINGS MENU] in addition to [Non-linear]. When a linear option is selected, rotating the control ring the selected amount in manual focus mode will take the lens from the minimum focus distance to infinity, regardless of the speed with which the ring is rotated.

* As of August 2024, the cameras that support this option are (from “C” firmware version 2.00) the Z9, Z8, Z6III, Zf and (from “C” firmware version 1.40) the Z7II and Z6II. "

The download pages for each lens can be found using these links:

Nikkor Z 28-75mm f/2.8 (Ver.1.10), Nikkor Z 28mm f/2.8(SE) (Ver.1.10), Nikkor Z 40mm f/2(SE) (Ver.1.10), Nikkor Z 40mm f/2 (Ver.1.10), and the Nikkor Z 28mm f/2.8 (Ver.1.10).

For those wondering what linear and non-linear focusing means, and the differences between them, you're not alone. I had to do a little research myself to find out.

Both are terms to describe different ways lenses allow you to manually focus when using the focus ring. Non-linear focusing moves the focal point based on how fast you rotate the ring,

Linear focusing is the type of manual focusing that existed before the invention of autofocus and is perhaps the one most often thought of. Instead of the focal point moving depending on how fast you turn the ring, linear focusing moves the focus point depending on how much you turn the ring. This is the same way focusing works on traditional manual lenses and cine lenses as it allows the user to pull focus gradually.

Linear focusing enables the users to make more refined adjustments by incrementally turning the ring, a very useful update for owners of these Nikon Z lenses. If you are unfamiliar with how to update your Nikon lens, there is a helpful step-by-step guide on the download page.

You may also be interested in our guides to the best Nikon lenses, the best Nikon cameras, and the best mirrorless cameras.

Yongnuo is a Chinese camera and lens manufacturer that focuses on delivering premium optics with an entry-level price tag. Over recent years its standard of development has risen, but Yongnuo has kept its attractive prices – and now it has announced a new autofocus lens packed with tech for just over $400!

The Yongnuo YN23mm f/1.4 DA DSM WL Pro has officially been announced and although packed with great features, it will fit comfortably in our guide to the best cheap lenses.

The lens is designed for APS-C sensors, meaning the 23mm focal length is the equivalent of 35mm on full-frame bodies – a common focal length for street photography and reportage, and a great all-arounder for photography and video.

Initially available for Nikon Z mount, both Fujifilm X and Sony E mount versions are scheduled for a future date.

Much like the Yongnuo YN33mm f/1.4 DA DSM WL Pro, released earlier this year, it comes complete with a wireless remote that enables the user to control aspects of the lens from a distance. 

The small controller facilitates changes to aperture and focus via a 2.4GHz radio frequency wireless link, meaning it's a great option for video.

The lens also promises great photography capabilities. Constructed of 11 elements in 9 groups, with 9 aperture blades, and a wide max aperture of just f/1.4, the lens offers great bokeh and falloff in the out-of-focus areas.

Other notable features include a quick and accurate AF stepping motor, a minimum shooting distance of just 0.3m, a control ring, customizable buttons and switches, a USB-C interface for firmware updates, and multi-layer lens coating.

The Yongnuo YN23mm f/1.4 DA DSM WL Pro is available now for Nikon Z mount for just $420 (converted from the US$276 price tag).

You may also be interested in our guides to the best cheap lenses, the best Nikon lenses, and the best wide-angle lenses.

Yongnuo is a Chinese camera and lens manufacturer that focuses on delivering premium optics with an entry-level price tag. Over recent years its standard of development has risen, but Yongnuo has kept its attractive prices – and now it has announced a new autofocus lens packed with tech for well under $300!

The Yongnuo YN23mm f/1.4 DA DSM WL Pro has officially been announced and although packed with great features, it will fit comfortably in our guide to the best cheap lenses.

The lens is designed for APS-C sensors, meaning the 23mm focal length is the equivalent of 35mm on full-frame bodies – a common focal length for street photography and reportage, and a great all-arounder for photography and video.

Initially available for Nikon Z mount, both Fujifilm X and Sony E mount versions are scheduled for a future date.

Much like the Yongnuo YN33mm f/1.4 DA DSM WL Pro, released earlier this year, it comes complete with a wireless remote that enables the user to control aspects of the lens from a distance. 

The small controller facilitates changes to aperture and focus via a 2.4GHz radio frequency wireless link, meaning it's a great option for video.

The lens also promises great photography capabilities. Constructed of 11 elements in 9 groups, with 9 aperture blades, and a wide max aperture of just f/1.4, the lens offers great bokeh and falloff in the out-of-focus areas.

Other notable features include a quick and accurate AF stepping motor, a minimum shooting distance of just 0.3m, a control ring, customizable buttons and switches, a USB-C interface for firmware updates, and multi-layer lens coating.

The Yongnuo YN23mm f/1.4 DA DSM WL Pro is available now for Nikon Z mount for just $276 (approximately £220 / AU $420).

You may also be interested in our guides to the best cheap lenses, the best Nikon lenses, and the best wide-angle lenses.

Call me old-fashioned but I’m of an age where enthusiast photographers with deep pockets bought f/1.4 prime lenses and those on a tighter budget settled for cheaper f/1.8 alternatives. That was certainly the case with Nikon’s F-mount lenses for its DSLRs but, in its Z-system line-up for mirrorless cameras, we’ve so far seen f/1.8 premium S-line lenses, jumping straight to the likes of the super-fast Nikon Z 50mm f/1.2 S and Nikon Z 85mm f/1.2 S, taking time-honored f/1.4 lenses completely out of the equation. Stranger still, while the Nikon Z 35mm f/1.8 S was one of the very first Z-mount lenses to be released, the new f/1.4 option following about six years down the line is not only faster but cheaper to buy, lacking S-line credentials. 

Nikon is billing it as a perfect choice for ‘street photography,’ but I’ve always found that the 35mm focal length works great for all sorts of photo opportunities, from landscapes and architectural photography through environmental portraiture to general shooting. 

Naturally, on a DX (APS-C format) Z-system body, the lens has an ‘effective’ focal length of 52.5mm, thus delivering a very standard perspective and giving it the potential to work well as a ‘nifty fifty’. All in all, the new lens looks like it should be on track to become one of the best lenses for Nikon Z full-frame cameras, as well as one of the best lenses for the Nikon Z 50 and other Z DX bodies.

Nikon Z 35mm f/1.4: Specifications

Nikon Z 35mm f/1.4: Price

I wouldn’t call the Nikon Z 35mm f/1.4 a cheap lens but it’s certainly not expensive for an own-brand Nikon f/1.4 prime. Listed at $597/£649, it undercuts the Nikon Z 35mm f/1.8 S for price, the latter retailing at $847/£789. For comparison either side of the 35mm focal length it’s more than twice the price of the Nikon Z 28mm f/2.8 ($277/£259) and Nikon Z 40mm f/2 ($277/£259) lenses, which have an all-plastic build, right down to their mounting plates, and rather slower aperture ratings. For a few dollars more, the 28mm and 40mm lenses are available in SE (Special Edition) guise, to match the retro styling of the Nikon Z f and Nikon Z fc cameras. That’s not the case with this lens, at least not so far.

Nikon Z 35mm f/1.4: Design & Handling

Cameras like the Nikon Z 6III are designed to suit content creators, being equally adept at shooting video as well as stills. The Z 35mm f/1.4 follows the same ethos. A notable addition compared with the Nikon Z 35mm f/1.8 S is that the new f/1.4 lens has a secondary stepless control ring, as well as a main, full-sized manual focus ring. As I’d expect nowadays, both of the control rings are customizable via in-camera menus, but their obvious applications are to use the main control ring for manual focus and manual override of autofocus, and the smaller secondary ring for stepless aperture control, ideal when shooting video.

What Nikon gives with one hand, it takes away with the other. While you gain an extra control ring, you lose the A/M autofocus/manual focus switch that’s featured on the Z 35mm f/1.8 and many other Z system lenses. I’m not a fan of the omission, as it means I have to resort to using camera menus whenever I want to make a quick change between auto and manual focus modes.

To continue the comparison between these two Z 35mm lenses, they both have an optical path that’s based on 11 elements arranged in 9 groups, a well-rounded 9-blade aperture diaphragm and a 62mm filter attachment thread. However, while the f/1.8 lens features 3 aspherical elements and 2 ED (Extra-low Dispersion) elements, this f/1.4 lens only has 2 aspherical elements and no ED elements at all. It’ll be interesting to see how that affects factors like clarity and color fringing, when we come to looking at performance a bit further on. Another difference is that the f/1.8 prime boasts Nikon’s high-tech Nano Crystal Coat for minimizing ghosting and flare, which is absent in this f/1.4 lens.

At least the lens is supplied with an effective petal-shaped hood, whereas no hood is supplied with the more budget-oriented Nikon Z 28mm f/2.8 and Nikon Z 40mm f/2 lenses. The build quality of the Z 35mm f/1.4 is rather better than in both of these other lenses. It has a more substantial metal rather than plastic mounting plate and feels a little more sturdy. All three lenses have a basic set of weather-seals to guard against dust and a light sprinkling of rain.

Nikon Z 35mm f/1.4: Performance

Autofocus is typically rapid and virtually silent, as well as enabling smooth transitions when shooting movies, thanks to the now-common linear stepping motor arrangement. I found that autofocus performance was consistently accurate during my testing. The minimum focus distance is just 0.27m (10.6 inches), as measured from the camera body’s image sensor rather than from the front of the lens. That gives plenty of scope for close-ups, where the f/1.4 aperture enables a fairly tight depth of field, despite the lens’s moderately wide-angle focal length. The quality of bokeh is pretty smooth and remains of good quality when stopping down a little, thanks to the well-rounded 9-blade aperture diaphragm.

Vignetting is quite pronounced when shooting wide-open, even with automatic in-camera correction applied, but becomes much less noticeable at f/2.8 and narrower apertures. Like many lenses designed for mirrorless cameras nowadays, this one relies heavily on automatic in-camera correction for distortion, which can’t be disabled in the menu system of the body. Similarly, it can’t be switched off when processing RAW files in Nikon’s NX Studio app. With the correction applied, however, distortion is negligible. The small amount of color fringing is similarly eliminated after automatic correction is applied, either in-camera or when processing RAW files.

I’ve never had any problems with sharpness from any Nikon Z system lens, and this one’s no exception. Center-sharpness is thoroughly excellent even wide-open at f/1.4, although the edges don’t really get into their stride until you stop down to f/2.8 and narrower apertures. Even so, sharpness in general isn’t very far at all behind that of the Nikon Z 35mm f/1.8 S, which is one of the sharpest lenses I’ve ever tested.

Nikon Z 35mm f/1.4: Sample Images

This gallery of sample images was taken with a Nikon Z 7II, at Wells Cathedral and the adjacent Bishop’s Palace Garden, in the UK.

Nikon Z 35mm 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:

Center-sharpness at f/1.4 is exceptional, although edge/corner-sharpness is merely average at this aperture. Stop down to apertures of between f/2.8 and f/11, and sharpness is excellent across the whole image frame.

Fringing:

Color fringing at all competing apertures is a little worse than from the Nikon Z 35mm f/1.8 S but it’s still of a pretty low order, and well within the remit of automatic in-camera correction, which works as a complete fix.

Distortion: 0.02

Like many recent lenses, this one relies on automatic in-camera correction for distortion, which can’t be disabled in the shooting menu. With the correction applied, however, it essentially works as a virtually zero-distortion lens.

Nikon Z 35mm f/1.4: Verdict

I like that Nikon has made a full-frame compatible Z system 35mm lens with a fast f/1.4 aperture rating, and for a pretty reasonable price. Sure, it lacks up-market S-line credentials and doesn’t feature any ED (Extra-low Dispersion) glass, nor any fancy high-tech coatings, but it boasts fast autofocus and very good image quality. The extra stepless, customizable control ring is ideal for aperture adjustments, making the lens well suited to videography as well as stills photography. All in all, it’s a good job well done by Nikon.

Alternatives

Sigma has announced a firmware update that enables several of its E-mount lenses to be compatible with the maximum 120fps burst shooting rate of the Sony a9 III. Three lenses have been given the update:

• 50mm F1.4 DG DN | Art Ver.02 (Sony E-mount)
• 105mm F2.8 DG DN MACRO | Art Ver.04 (Sony E-mount)
• 14-24mm F2.8 DG DN | Art Ver.04 (Sony E-mount)

Read more: Sony a9 III full review

We were stunned by the a9 III and its incredible global shutter that enables 120fps full-resolution RAW continuous shooting, with no strings attached. Except that last bit was only true providing you were using the camera with a supported Sony lens - third-party lenses from the likes of Sigma were not compatible with the maximum 120fps burst shooting rate. Whether or not that was because of legitimate technical reasons, or just because Sony was intentionally restricting this stand-out feature for use with its own lenses, is up for debate. But now it is available with select Sigma optics, albeit still with a rather large caveat!

While these Sigma lenses are now compatible with the a9 III's 120fps mode, this is only when used in AF-S, DMF or MF focussing modes. You can't use AF-C; the very focussing mode you're most likely to want when shooting a continuous burst of stills. Granted, you'll still be able to track subjects moving across the image frame at a consistent distance from the camera, but you won't be able to maintain focus of a subject like a cyclist or racing car that's approaching you.

Of course it is plausible that only Sony lenses have the necessary processing ability to facilitate AF-C autofocus at 120fps. But on the other hand, Sigma is more than capable of producing world-beating optics with top quality AF, so we can't help but wonder if this is just Sony artificially reserving uncompromised 120fps a9 III burst shooting for use with its own lenses.

The Zeiss Milvus 135mm F2 has the longest focal length of any lens in the 11-strong Milvus family. It comes into its own for tight head shots and medium-distance portraiture, and also works well for still life, where you have the time to focus accurately with this manual-focus lens. The combination of focal length and f/2 aperture enables a really tight depth of field, so accurate focusing is often paramount. That can be tricky to achieve, especially if your subject is anything other than absolutely still. As well see, however, help is at hand.

Specifications

Key features

The absence of autofocus isn’t really a problem with ultra-wide-angle lenses in the Zeiss Milvus collection, like the 15mm, 18mm and 21mm primes. Combine a 135mm telephoto focal length with an f/2 aperture and depth of field becomes really tight at short to medium focus distances, making pinpoint focusing much more critical. Designed primarily for Canon and Nikon full-frame DSLRs, in ZE and ZF.2 editions respectively, focusing can be a struggle. DSLRs lack the split screen or microprism focusing aids typically featured in older 35mm film cameras. However, full electronics built into all Milvus lenses enable use of the focus confirmation lamp in the viewfinder of Canon DSLRs, as well as the additional directional indicator lamps in Nikon DSLRs.

Although designed and built for Canon and Nikon DSLRs, Milvus lenses are arguably easier to use on EOS R-system and Nikon Z-system mirrorless cameras, via Canon EF-EOS R and Nikon FTZ mount adapters respectively. You’ll get the added bonuses of a magnified viewfinder image for accurate manual focusing, as well as a focus peaking option to light up in-focus details.

A further indication of the tighter depth of field is that markers are only applied next to the focus distance scale for apertures of f/11 and f/16, rather than wider apertures, and the markers that are present are comparatively close together. On the plus side, the lens’s focus control ring works with a wonderfully fluid feel and offers very fine and precise adjustments, helped by a particularly long 268-degree throw. The focus range itself stretches from 0.8m to infinity, the closest setting equating to a distance of 0.52m (24.4 inches) between the front of the lens and the subject. This gives you a pretty generous maximum magnification ratio of 0.25x, small objects being reproduced on the image sensor at a quarter of life size.

More so than ever before, videography is muscling in on the stills photography party. The Nikon-mount edition of the lens obliges with click/de-click options for the aperture ring, although the Canon edition only enables aperture adjustment in click steps.

Build quality is everything I’d expect in a lens with such an up-market price tag. The black anodized barrel is exquisitely finished and the lens features extensive weather-seals. The rubberized focus ring is extremely tactile, while avoiding being cold to the touch and feeling a bit slippery in chilly shooting conditions.

Performance

The Milvus 135mm F2 is designed on classic Zeiss Sonnar principles. There are 11 optical elements in total, which include four low dispersion elements to enhance contrast, clarity and color accuracy while minimizing chromatic aberrations. Highly acclaimed Zeiss T* anti-reflective coating is also applied to both sides of all elements, to keep ghosting and flare at bay, further boosting contrast and clarity. And that’s not all. Zeiss uses a labor-intensive process to manually coat the edges of all the optical elements with a pitch-black lacquer, as well as fitting light traps around mechanical components, to prevent unwanted internal reflections within the lens.

Sharpness is simply excellent, from the center of the frame to the extreme edges and corners, even when shooting wide-open at f/2. Naturally, however, that’s not the whole story. The quality of bokeh is arguably even more important with this type of lens. The Milvus 135mm excels here as well, with beautifully smooth bokeh and a really natural roll-off between focused and defocused areas, with minimal axial chromatic aberration (often referred to as ‘bokeh fringing’). Lateral chromatic aberration is also minimal, even at the extreme edges and corners of the frame, while distortion is negligible. All in all, image quality is absolutely beautiful.

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 is excellent right out to the extreme edges and corners of the image frame. It’s more likely that you’ll want to isolate subjects by blurring the surroundings with this type of lens, but it’s good to know that plenty of sharpness is on tap across the board, if and when you want it.

Fringing:

Both axial and lateral chromatic aberrations are very minimal in this lens, the latter being almost impossible to spot even towards the corners of the image frame.

Distortion: 0.16

There’s the slightest touch of pincushion distortion but, if you’re shooting real-world subjects rather than laboratory test charts, you’ll be hard pressed to notice it.

Verdict

I love the Zeiss Milvus 135mm F2’s focal length and fast aperture for portraiture and still life photography. It’s super-sharp and delivers deliciously smooth bokeh, with a natural roll-off between focused and defocused areas. As a manual-focus lens, however, accurate focusing can be a challenge with such a tight depth of field, and tracking the action of moving subjects can be tricky. It’s also very expensive to buy. Long story short, the lens is capable of delivering absolutely sumptuous image quality, if your manual focusing skills are up to the task.

• Other Zeiss Milvus lens reviews:
• Zeiss Milvus 35mm f/2 review
• Zeiss Milvus 50mm f/1.4 review
• Zeiss Milvus 15mm F2.8 review
• Zeiss Milvus 21mm f/2.8 review
• Zeiss Milvus 18mm f/2.8 review

The Zeiss Milvus 15mm f/2.8 follows suit with various other families of Zeiss lenses, like the Batis and Loxia (for Sony E-mount cameras), in that it’s named after a bird. This time around, instead of being a sub-Saharan flycatcher or a stocky finch, Milvus takes its name from the red kite, a bird of prey. That sounds like a more high-performance and impressive deal from the get-go. It’s worth bearing in mind though that, in my neck of the woods, the red kite went extinct for about 100 years before being so successfully being reintroduced to the UK. I have to wonder if the writing is also on the wall for DSLR lenses, with so much of the world going mirrorless. Either way, the Milvus 15mm ultra-wide-angle, full-frame compatible lens is still available in ZE and ZF.2 options, for Canon and Nikon DSLRs respectively. In fact, these manual-focus lenses arguably work even better on Canon and Nikon mirrorless cameras via the respective companies’ mount adapters, where focusing aids like magnified preview and focus peaking come into play.

Specifications

Key features

This Zeiss Milvus lens has two key features as far as I’m concerned. First is its ultra-wide 15mm focal length, delivering a mighty 100-degree viewing angle. As an ultra-wide lens, it’s great for sweeping landscape vistas, cityscapes, architectural interiors and simply for exaggerating the perspective between foreground and background areas of a scene. Indeed, with a short minimum focus distance of just 0.25m (9cm or 3.5 inches from the front of the lens), you certainly can get in close.

The second major attraction is the fairly fast f/2.8 aperture rating. That comes in useful for maintaining quick shutter speeds for freezing motion even under dull lighting conditions, as well as enabling a fairly tight depth of field if needed, when shooting extreme close-ups. It also adds astrophotography to the remit of the lens.

A glaring omission from the feature set, at least for many digital photographers, is that there’s no autofocus. Many of us have come to rely almost entirely on autofocus since the 1970s, and the lack of it can seem a real challenge. But hang on a minute. At regular focus distance and medium aperture settings, the depth of field of a 15mm lens is huge, so ultra-precise, pinpoint focusing is largely unnecessary. As it turns out, the long throw of 119 degrees for the focus control ring enables very fine adjustments, and the silky-smooth action gives a really fluid feel.

And there’s more. The long throw of the focus ring enables a genuinely useful focus distance scale, complete with depth of field markers for all full f/stop intervals from f/2.8 right through to f/22. This enables effective ‘zone focusing’, so you can set the near and far limits covered by the depth of field for any focus distance and aperture combination. On top of that, while there’s no split screen or microprism in the viewfinders of DSLRs, there’s a focus confirmation lamp in Canon cameras and the additional benefit of focus direction lamps in Nikon cameras. Those are enabled thanks to the lens having an integral CPU and full electronic communication with the host camera body.

All in all, the lack of autofocus needn’t be a deal-breaker. And if you use an EOS R-system or Nikon Z-system mirrorless camera, the lens is fully compatible via EF-EOS R and FTZ mount adapters respectively. A bonus in both cases is that you can take advantage of magnified preview in the viewfinder or rear screen, and the option of focus peaking to help with accurate focusing.

Many ultra-wide-angle lenses have an integral hood that precludes the easy use of filters. I like that the Milvus 15mm has separate petal-shaped, bayonet-fit hood, enabling the inclusion of a filter attachment thread. A downside, however, is that the filter thread is unusually large at 95mm.

A bonus for video shooting, at least with the Nikon F-mount version of the lens, is that the aperture ring comes complete with a click/de-click option. That’s sadly lacking in the Canon edition. Both versions of the lens are epically well built, with an black anodized metal barrel and comprehensive weather-seals. And unlike many ‘metal lenses’, this one has a rubberized focus control ring which feels more tactile and less cold to the touch in chilly weather.

Performance

The lens is designed on classic Zeiss Distagon principles. As such, it has a retrofocus design that aims for optical excellence right out to the edges of the image frame, with effective correction of aberrations and very low field curvature. The complex optical path contains 15 elements which include two aspherical elements and five low dispersion elements, the latter to boost sharpness and clarity while reducing color fringing. Zeiss’s legendary T* Anti-Reflective Coating is applied to minimize ghosting and flare, and to boost contrast. To further this, the edges of all the optical elements are manually coated with pitch-black lacquer light traps are built into mechanical components to combat internal reflections.

Center-sharpness is excellent, even when shooting wide-open at f/2.8. As I’d expect, it pays to stop down to apertures of between f/5.6 and f/11 for enhancing sharpness towards the extreme edges and corners of the frame.

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:

Surprisingly, the lens delivers its best center-sharpness at the very widest aperture of f/2.8, but it remains excellent all the way down to f/11. Edge/corner-sharpness comes on song at f/5.6 and remains impressive through to f/11.

Fringing:

There’s only minimal color fringing across most of the image frame, throughout the entire aperture range. It can be a little visible towards the extreme edges and corners of the frame but is still very well controlled.

Distortion: -2.15

Barrel distortion is of a low order for such an ultra-wide-angle lens. For critical scenarios, like in architectural photography, the uniform nature of the distortion makes it easy to correct at the editing stage.

Verdict

I feel that sometimes bigger really is better, and the Zeiss Milvus 15mm F2.8 certainly delivers in terms of an oversized viewing angle. I love the way it can shoehorn vast landscape vistas into the image frame and that it works similarly well for architectural interiors and even for astrophotography. Build quality, handling and performance are all exceptional but it lacks autofocus and comes at a very steep purchase price.

• Other Zeiss Milvus lens reviews
• Zeiss Milvus 35mm f/2 review
• Zeiss Milvus 50mm f/1.4 ZE review
• Zeiss Milvus 18mm f/2.8 review
• Zeiss Milvus 21mm f/2.8 review

Laowa is teasing the launch of the world's first-ever lens that is both a zoom and a shift lens. To date shift lenses have only been prime lenses - and the ability to have a choice of focal lengths in the one zoom will be of huge interest to architectural photographers. 

We don't know much about this lens as yet—we will have to wait until Monday, 08 July, for more information on what this innovative lens actually offers. But the launch has been announced on Laowa's Weibo social media channel, promising a video launch at 7.30pm Chinese time – so 10.30am ET / 3.30pm BST.

From the name and the teaser image, we can tell that this is not a tilt-shift lens and will only offer shift movements. Laowa already offers an attractively-priced 15mm f/4.5 Zero-D Shift wide-angle prime that offers ±11mm on full-frame cameras. This manual-focus lens is available in Canon RF, Canon EF, Nikon Z, Nikon F, Sony FE, L mount, and Pentax K mounts. It also produces a Laowa 20mm f/4 Zero-D Shift lens option.

The shift movements allow the lens to move sideways or vertically relative to the camera, correcting for converging verticals while keeping the image sensor parallel to the surface being photographed.

The launch invitation shows that the lens has a rotating collar at the rear, that allows you to move the lens so that it can shift either vertically or horizontally. And it is also clear that this a manual focus only affair. It also shows that it has a minimum focus of 0.15m (6 inches).

Rumors suggest that it will have a focal length of 12-24mm with a maximum aperture of f/5.6 - but we can't confirm this, although there is an existing Laowa 12-24mm f/5.6. It is also hard to be sure whether this is for full-frame, or solely for APS-C crop sensor cameras.

We will have to wait until next week to have the answers…

The Zeiss Milvus 21mm F2.8 is designed for Canon and Nikon full-frame DSLRs, available in ZE and ZF.2 options respectively. There are wider-angle lenses in the Milvus family, in the same fitment options, namely the Zeiss Milvus 15mm F2.8 and Zeiss Milvus 18mm F2.8. However, if you find that the viewing angles of these two lenses is simply too expansive, the 21mm gives a useful boost compared with a typical 24-70mm zoom lens, without going to such extremes. It’s useful for everything from landscapes and cityscapes to architectural interiors and astrophotography. The viewing angle also works well simply for creative effect.

Specifications

Key features

I’ll kick off with a feature that’s absent in this lens, and that’s autofocus. If you don’t like being in control, stop reading now, but I actually find that manual focusing works really well with ultra-wide-angle lenses. Although it’s manual-focus, the Zeiss shares with other Milvus lenses a full complement of electronics for communication with the host camera body. As such, the focus confirmation lamp works in Canon DSLRs, while Nikon cameras add directional assist lamps. Coupled with the generous depth of field at regular shooting distances and medium apertures, that makes manual focusing a breeze.

Although designed for DSLRs, before mirrorless full-frame cameras were even a glint in the eye of Canon and Nikon, the lens works just as well (arguably better) with EOS R-system and Nikon Z-system cameras. You get the additional focusing benefits of a magnified preview in the viewfinder and the focus peaking option.

Despite its ultra-wide perspective, the lens has reasonably compact dimensions of 96x95mm and no heavyweight, tipping the scales at 851g for the Canon version and just 735g for Nikon. The petal shaped hood is detachable, so the lens features a filter attachment thread, particularly useful for landscape photography, which has an 82mm diameter.

Build quality looks and feels fabulous. The barrel is made from black anodized metal and features a grippy rubberized focus control ring. This has a long 124-degree throw, making precise adjustments much easier than with an autofocus lens in manual focus mode. Another bonus of the long throw is that there are plentiful markings on the focus distance scale, complete with depth of field markers for all full f/stops between f/4 and f/22. The aperture control ring has click/de-click options in the Nikon version of the lens, but there’s no de-click facility in the Canon edition. Like with other Milvus lenses, extensive weather-seals are fitted.

Performance

The lens is designed on classic Zeiss Distagon principles. The designers didn’t feel the need to include any aspherical elements but five anomalous partial dispersion elements are featured in the 16-element path, to enhance color quality and clarity, while reducing chromatic aberrations. Trusty Zeiss T* anti-reflective coating is applied to both sides of each element, to reduce ghosting and flare, and to enhance contrast.

The lens comes out of the traps at f/2.8 with very good sharpness across almost the entire image frame, although it pays to stop down to between f/5.6 and f/16 if you need to maximize extreme edge/corner sharpness. Color fringing proved minimal in my tests and, refreshingly for an ultra-wide-angle lenses in this day and age, the Milvus 21mm is a zero-distortion optic.

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:

Center-sharpness is very good wide-open at f/2.8, and excellent at apertures of between f/4 and f/11. Outside the central area, sharpness is excellent from f/2.8 to f/11, while extreme edge/corner-sharpness is best at apertures of between f/5.6 and f/11.

Fringing:

There’s very little color fringing even at the extreme edges and corners of the image frame, which will generally go unnoticed in real-world shooting conditions.

Distortion: 0.00

The Zeiss Milvus 21mm is essentially a zero-distortion lens. That’s no mean feat for such an ultra-wide-angle optic.

Verdict

A measly 3mm might not sound much but I love the way the Zeiss Milvus 21mm F2.8 gives me a very noticeable step up in viewing angle, compared with a 24-70mm ‘trinity’ zoom lens, with the same f/2.8 aperture. It’s a manual-focus lens but don’t let that put you off. It’s a top-class optic, but the purchase price might be hard to swallow.

Read more:

Best camera lenses to get
Best Canon lenses
Best Nikon lenses
Best Sony lenses

Sometimes it can feel there are dozens of things to think about, even when you’re taking a shot of a static subject that’s completely motionless. Add movement into the equation and everything can get very complicated, very quickly. 

For anything from kids playing in the garden, to wildlife or sporting action, keeping subjects in focus can feel a bit like herding cats. Thankfully, the best Nikon cameras have a host of autofocus tracking options that you can put to good use, giving you a great hit rate instead of a memory card full of blurred photos.

It’s worth considering how autofocus works. DSLRs have a separate autofocus module for viewfinder-based shooting, which employs phase-detection. It’s fast and highly effective. In Live View mode, when you’re composing shots on the rear screen, contrast-detection is highly accurate as it’s based on the actual image sensor, but tends to be painfully slow and unable to keep pace with the action. 

The Nikon D780 is a notable exception. Its image sensor is more akin to those of Nikon’s Z-series mirrorless cameras, featuring a ‘hybrid’ system that incorporates contrast-detection with phase-detection sites across most of the sensor. It’s like the best of both worlds.

Continuous improvements

For tracking moving subjects, you’ll need to switch to AF-C (Continuous) rather than AF-S (Single) autofocus mode. This keeps adjusting for the whole time you keep a light press on the shutter button, or hold down the AF-ON button (where featured on the back of various Nikon cameras). 

If your camera doesn’t have an AF-ON button, you can often customize the action of the AE-L/AF-L (auto exposure lock/autofocus lock) button in the Custom Settings menu, to act as AF-ON instead. This makes tracking very intuitive, as you hold in the button for continuous focusing and use the shutter button solely for taking a shot. But that’s just for starters. Let’s take a closer look at all the various autofocus tracking options. 

Single-point AF

Mid-range DSLRs including the D7500 and D780 have a 51-point phase-detection autofocus module, where it’s as much as 153 AF points for the D850. 

Z-system mirrorless cameras have between 209 and 493 AF points, spread out across most of the image sensor. However, single-point AF is only really suitable for tracking if the subject is moving slowly and very predictably. 

Dynamic-area AF

Dynamic-area autofocus works much better than single-point for subjects moving erratically and, let’s face it, movement can be hard to predict at the best of times. 

You can still select the initial point on which you want to autofocus, but if the subject strays from its position in the image frame as you’re tracking it, the camera switches to surrounding AF points to keep focus locked on.

3D-tracking

This mode is similar to Dynamic-area AF tracking. However, while you can often change the size of the active area to suit the subject in Dynamic mode, 3D-tracking is based on advanced recognition of factors like color and brightness to lock onto the selected subject. 

However, you can encounter problems if the main subject is similar in color and brightness to its surroundings.

Group-area AF

Group-area AF is featured in many DSLRs, rather than Z-system mirrorless cameras. You can select a ‘group’ of active autofocus points so cover a larger area than when using single-point AF. 

It can be useful when subjects are in motion, especially if they have areas of flat, featureless surfaces. For mirrorless cameras, use the Wide-area AF option, with small and large areas available.

Auto-area AF

This is a common option in both mirrorless cameras and DSLRs. The detection area for autofocus utilizes all of the available focus points and automatically selects the subject. If several subjects are ‘detected’, it will tend to autofocus on the closest. 

That can work well in many situations but is less suitable if you have a particular subject in mind that’s in the middle distance.

Subject-detection AF

Z-system cameras offer benefits over DSLRs for tracking specific subjects. You’ll get ‘intelligent’ detection and tracking of people and animals, which picks out the shape then refines the autofocus distance for faces and eyes. 

You can easily swap between different faces or eyes in the process. The Nikon Z9, Z8 and Zf extends the range for bicycles, motorbikes, cars, trains and aircraft.

Take a look at the best Nikon lenses for DSLRs and mirrorless cameras, along with the best Nikon Z lenses tailor-made for the Z system. 

If you’re of a certain age, there’s a good chance you spent your formative photography years lusting after a Nikon. After all, Nikon was the it camera brand for decades. Its gorgeous SLRs were ahead of their time and captured the hearts and minds of millions. It even landed on the Moon. And when digital rocked the industry, Nikon acted decisively, beating its peers to the punch by launching the now-legendary D1. 

This trend continued well into the noughties. Remember hit crime procedural CSI? The whole forensic crew and their mothers were packing the best Nikon cameras. And so, for that matter, was everyone else. Owning a digital compact camera was like owning a watch: everyone had one. How else could you photograph your tipsy friends sipping WKD, while listening to Scooter in Ibiza?

But trouble was brewing...

Apple launched the iPhone in 2007, starting a chain reaction that would bring the compact market to its knees. In 2013, Sony challenged both Nikon and Canon’s dominance over the pro market with the release of the world’s first pro mirrorless, the A7R. Despite launching some of the best DSLR cameras ever made, Nikon was no longer seen to be operating at the forefront of camera technology. And it hurt. 

Unaware of the Big N’s legendary history, new generations of photographers adopted Sony as their camera brand of choice. And somewhere along the way, the Internet ilk started referring to Nikons as potatoes. The Big N’s cool factor was at an all-time low. Nikon finally entered the full-frame mirrorless market with its incredible Z mount. And by the Nikon Z6/Z7 II, I really thought it was firing on all cylinders. But the naysayers persisted. Then, the Nikon Z 9 came out. 

Suddenly, the delay in joining the mirrorless party made sense. It launched with a newly developed stacked sensor, internal 8K 30p video and the world’s fastest burst speed. Then came the Nikon Z8; an all-but-flagship camera in a smaller body. Then the Nikon Zf, arguably the most authentic retro-themed digital camera ever made. Heck, Nikon even landed the lion's share of the prizes handed out at the prestigious Camera Grand Prix Awards. 

YouTubers are reviewing Nikon cameras without a wry smile, once again a Nikon is set to land on the Moon, and the gap in mirrorless tech between Sony has been bridged. Imagine my glee, when I visited the cinema recently to watch the Alex Garland movie Civil War, only to find the experienced photojournalist (Kirsten Dunst) using a Sony mirrorless and the up-and-coming Gen Z journo (Cailee Spaeny) touting a Nikon FE2. 

Nikon’s back, baby! But for us fans, it never went away.

You might be interested in the best Nikon lenses, including the best Nikon Z lenses for its mirrorless system. 

In an attempt to find Earth-like planets in the Universe, the European Space Agency (ESA) will launch its Plato (PLanetary Transits and Oscillations of stars) space mission in 2026. 

The 26 cameras that will be used on the Plato spacecraft are now being integrated at the Space Centre and Optics facility, run by European space technology group OHB (Otto Hydraulik Bremen), in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. 

With each camera capable of 81.4MP images, the overall spacecraft will ve capable of 2 billion-pixel images – a world first in any space mission. 

One by one the cameras will be attached to the optical bench, the surface that keeps all the cameras pointed in the right direction, and the first camera has now been successfully attached. 

Planter hunter Plato will use 24 "normal" cameras and a pair of "fast" cameras to look at more than 200,000 stars and the rocky planets orbiting them. Specifically, Plato will discover and study planets in orbits up to the 'Goldilocks' region, the habitable zone around the star where the temperature is just right for liquid to exist on a planet's surface. 

"Plato will characterize hundreds of rocky (including Earth twins), icy or giant planets by providing exquisite measurements of their radii (3% precision), masses (better than 10% precision) and ages (10% precision)," says the ESA. 

"This will revolutionize our understanding of planet formation and the evolution of planetary systems, as well as the potential habitability of these diverse worlds."

The cameras acquire images every 25 seconds and have a field of view of 1,037 square degrees. They have been grouped into 4 sets, each set pointing outwards at a 9.2-degree angle, allowing for a total field of view of 2,232 square degrees. This means that about 5% of the whole sky can be observed simultaneously.

The fast cameras have a cadence 10 times higher than that of the normal ones, with an image being captured every 2.5 seconds. They are only capable of detecting bright stars but are extremely useful for navigation.

One of the fast cameras has a red filter and one a blue, to help distinguish between starlight reflected off the exoplanet surface and emission from the exoplanet itself, aiding with more accurate solar mapping.

Plato's Instrument System Engineer, Yves Levillain said:

"Away from the Sun’s brightness we expect to be able to detect the presence of Earth-like exoplanets, where life as we know it might be able to develop, and even to perform stellar seismology, gathering evidence of ‘starquakes’ in the stars we observe."

If you feel like photographing the stars, why not take a look at our guide to the best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography. Also check out the best star tracker camera mounts for astrophotography. 

An extremely rare, and huge, collectable lens has become available to purchase, the Nikon fisheye 14.3mm f4.

The lens is available to buy from the Leica Store Lisse, in the Netherlands.  

"We currently don't really have a price in mind yet, as we aren't officially putting it up for sale at this time. We are happy to have it in our collection ourselves! Although we never know what offers might come our way..." Martijn de Clercq from the Leica Store Lisse told DCW.

This museum-worthy, one-of-a-kind, lens is a piece of photography and optics history, and was originally made for Disney with plans to use it for futuristic film and theatre viewing with 360-degree screens. 

Made by Nikon, the lens could be fitted to IMAX film cameras shooting onto 70mm film.

With some professional engineering, this lens can be adapted to attach to multiple modern cameras, including the Leica S, and Hasselblad XCD. Its speed of f4, which translates to f2.8 on 35mm can be considered ultra-fast for a fish-eye lens.

In the photo below, the giant lens is sat next to the Leica Noctilux 50mm f1.2, which takes a moment to even notice in comparison!

Described by Leica Store Lisse as “the holy grail of (fish eye) lenses,” they add, “Considering this lens is one of a kind vs the dozens of copies of the 6mm, features 70mm coverage vs 35mm of the 6mm, has a similarly ultra-fast aperture scaled up to 70mm, you can begin to understand the significance of what we have on our table today!”

Fisheye lenses date back to 1906, when inventor and physicist Robert W. Wood developed a lens based on how a fish would view the world underwater.

The lenses were used in the 1920s when they were used to study cloud formations, when they were known as whole-sky lenses, but it wasn’t until the 1960s that the fisheye lens became more popular, and mass-produced.

Nikon released their first consumer fisheye lens in 1962 and the style of photography became synonymous with the swinging sixties. Many famous album covers were taken with fisheye lenses including Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Are You Experienced, and The Rolling Stones ‘Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass).

Check out our guide to the best fisheye lenses on the market. We've also put together our guide to the best Nikon lenses. 

I’m sure I’ve got an old bellows camera in the attic somewhere buy I’ve not seen it for years and it’s from an era that very much predates my entry into the wonderful world of photography. Macro bellows are something rather different. Mount a camera body at one end and a lens at the other, and you can increase the magnification of any standard lens by extending the distance between the lens and camera. It’s like using extension tubes but fully and seamlessly adjustable. 

The upside is that I can get large magnification factors using any lens, not just a macro lens. The downside is that macro bellows units typically have no electronic communication between the lens and camera. This rules out automatic exposure metering, autofocus, the recording of lens-based EXIF data and, unless I’m using a lens with a physical aperture control ring, I can only shoot at the lens’s widest aperture. 

This Auto Bellows unit from the somewhat legendary German company, Novoflex, solves the problem by enabling full electronic communication between the camera and lens. As such, it aims to give a viable alternative to some of the best macro lenses on the market.

Novoflex Auto Macro Bellows: Specifications

Novoflex Auto Macro Bellows: Price

The key selling point of this ‘auto’ bellows unit is that it enables the camera body and lens to speak with each other. That relies not only on dedicated camera and lens mounting plates for specific camera systems, but also a stretchy cable to link them together. There’s a wide range of mount options on offer, including Canon EF & RF, Nikon F & Z, Sony E, Fujifilm X, Leica L (which suits Panasonic and Sigma full-frame cameras as well as Leica), plus Micro Four Thirds. 

Each version of the kit costs around $1,285/£769. I’ve also seen a Fujifilm GFX medium format edition of the Auto Macro Bellows advertised in the USA for $1,799. They all cost a lot more than manual macro bellows options but that’s only to be expected. Indeed, they cost as much as some of the best macro lenses on the market, although these typically only give up to 1.0x magnification at their closest focus distances. The flip side is that, unlike a bellows unit, they can focus all the way to infinity so are useful for general photography instead of being limited to extreme close-ups.

Novoflex Auto Macro Bellows: Design & Handling

I got hold of the Nikon Z version of the Novoflex Auto Macro Bellows and, like others in the range, it comes as a kit of parts. The bellows unit itself has a sturdy base plate with a dovetail Arca-Swiss compatible profile, for easy mounting onto a compatible tripod head. And if you don’t have one of these, there are also 3/8” and ¼” threaded holes along with four cutouts for safety pins and two further threaded holes for video pins. Drive knobs are featured front and rear for precise movements and extension of the bellows, along the geared rack, which also features a numbered scale for easy reference. Supplemental locking knobs keep finalized adjustments securely fixed in place.

Attachment of the camera and lens is courtesy of a ‘Camera connector’ which fits into the camera body’s bayonet lens mount, and a ‘Lens connector with release button’ that attaches to the lens. Both are made from metal and feel very solid yet lightweight, excellently engineered and finished. The two items are joined together with a coiled cable catering to the extending and contracting length of the bellows. Again, the cable feels very durable of excellent quality, wired into the gold-plated electronic contacts in both the camera and lens mounts.

The kit I was sent also included a reverse adapter. This enables the lens to be reversed and mounted to the front end of the bellows via its filter attachment thread. It has a 58mm thread but step-up and step-down rings are available for lenses with all popular thread diameters from 37mm up to 82mm. Reversing the lens on the front of the bellows in this way enables even greater macro magnification.

You can leave the bellows unit out of the equation altogether and simply attach the mounting plates to each end of the lens. In this configuration, as a guide, Novoflex says that if you’re using a Canon EOS 24-105mm lens, you’ll get a maximum macro magnification of 2.81x at the short end of the zoom range. With a typical 35mm lens, you should be able to get anything from 1.0x right up to 7.0x macro magnification.

I was a bit concerned that the auto bellows unit would be tricky to assemble and that it would feel a little fragile in use. I was pleasantly surprised that all of the components fit to the camera and lens, and to each other, quickly and easily. Handling feels very smooth and precise, and all of the parts have a really high-quality and durable feel. One word of warning is that Novoflex says you must not hold down the lens release button on the lens connector when attaching it to the lens, otherwise the electronic communication with some cameras and lenses can be lost. No big deal, just bear in mind that the lens release button is purely for detaching the lens.

Novoflex Auto Macro Bellows: Performance

While the Novoflex Auto Macro Bellows is quite quick and easy to set up, it’s relatively fiddly in use. As I’ve mentioned, the amount of magnification is increased by extending the length of the bellows on its geared track, which is simple and intuitive enough. You can also reverse the fitment of lenses, typically with a focal length of 50mm or shorter, using the reverse adapter. Novoflex recommends a focal length of 35mm as being ideal, which tends to be capable of macro magnification factors of anything from 1.0x right up to a huge 7.0x magnification.

The complication comes in terms of focusing and working distance. While the electronic communication enables the use of autofocus, this doesn’t work well in practice. I found there was a lot of autofocus hunting involved and that autofocus would often completely fail to lock onto the subject. Indeed, Novoflex recommends switching to manual focus mode and physically moving the camera or the object being photographed to achieve focus. Ideally, it’s best to use an additional macro focusing rail. As such, Novoflex offers various options including the Castel Mini II, Castel Q and Castel XQ II, being of increasingly larger sizes respectively, all of which are sold separately. These enable very precise movement of the whole assembly, as well as allowing for accurate focus stacking if you want to take a series of shots to merge into a composite image with greater depth of field.

The other issue is that the working distance tends to be extremely short. I found that the front of an attached lens would often be almost touching the object that I was shooting, so you not only need to be careful about collisions but lighting can also be a problem. At moderate extension, I found there were a couple of inches or so to spare, so it effective to bounce flash off a nearby wall or use a flashgun remotely, off-camera. For shorter distances, the latter is preferable, and I also used LED photographic lights, but needed to apply lighting from a very severe angle. For reverse mounting of lenses, Novoflex recommends fitting a protection filter to avoid the risk of any damage at ultra-short working distances, and one was supplied in the kit that I received.

The actual image quality is naturally very dependent on the camera and lens that you’re using with the Auto Macro Bellows or in reverse fitment, either with or without the bellows. Using my Nikon Z 6II and kit Nikon Z 24-70mm f/4 S lens, I was very happy with the image quality of the results. Sharpness and clarity were very good indeed and automatic exposure metering proved consistently accurate.

Novoflex Auto Macro Bellows: Verdict

I’m very much impressed with the build quality of the Novoflex Auto Macro Bellows. I’d actually expect nothing less considering the typical selling price of around $1,285/£769. Personally, I’m happy with the 1.0x magnification of a regular macro lens and, for my Nikon Z system cameras, I find that the excellent  Nikon Z MC 105mm f/2.8 VR S Macro is a better proposition with a much more comfortable working distance, costing around $847/£869. Naturally, I can also use this as a regular lens for portraiture and in other scenarios where I want a short telephoto focal length, focusing right out to infinity instead of being limited to very short focus distances.  If you want greater macro magnification of up to 7.0x, for example when using a 35mm lens, the Novoflex Auto Bellows is an intriguing kit that can really deliver for extreme close-ups, so long as you can live with really short working distances.

Alternatives

Sigma has carved a reputation for itself in the camera world as something of a maverick – a manufacturer that isn't afraid to try new things, a brand that dares to do things differently. 

And this is something that the company is acutely aware of, with the company's owner and CEO recently stating that "Sigma is kind of the guinea pig in the lens industry."

It's not just lenses, of course. Sigma marches to the beat of its own drum when it comes to cameras – such as the eccentric Sigma fp and fp L, and before it the truly audacious Sigma dp Quattro series.   

The uniqueness also extends to the image sensors themselves. Sigma was so enamored of the Foveon-made sensors used in cameras like the dp Quattro, SD Quattro and dp Merrill that it acquired Foveon outright in 2008. 

While its struggles to bring a modern Foven sensor to market are well documented, this exemplifies the spirit of Sigma more than anything else the company is working on. 

In this specific instance, though, Kazuto Yamaki is referring to the company specifically in terms of lens design – and how it is often the canary sent down the optical mine shaft to see what will work. 

"In most cases, we are the first to use a new type of element, and once [other companies] see Sigma use that lens element, they start using it," he told DPReview, explaining the risk involved in lower-yield specialist elements, such as those that made the recent Sigma 500mm f/5.6 possible. 

"I'm very happy to play such a role. Sigma is kind of the guinea pig in the lens industry: they use Sigma as an experiment, and if we prove it, they use it."

So why is Sigma willing to take these risks, to be the industry guinea pig, to make the niche and quirky products that nobody else will?

"I believe it’s one of Sigma's missions to create niche products," he continued. "If we only concentrate on standard products and release lower-priced versions, it’s not good: we would not be able to contribute to the development of the photography culture."

Thank you for being the guinea pig, Yamaki-san. The industry is better for what you do. There's plenty more fascinating insight in the full interview, which I highly encourage you to read.

Sigma makes some of the best L-Mount lenses as well as the best Sony lenses, along with some of the best Canon DSLR lenses and best Nikon lenses for the F-mount. 

Nikon announced that it has reached a major milestone, having produced a total of 120 million Nikkor lenses as of April 2024. 

That’s 55 million up from 2011, as the company almost doubled its lens production over the last 13 years. (For reference, Canon hit the 160 million EF/RF lens mark mark in June 2023.)

Nikon is one of the world’s only manufacturers that begins its process with the production of optical glass, offering Nikkor F lenses for single-lens reflex cameras and Nikkor Z for mirrorless cameras. 

Last year saw the company celebrate the 90th anniversary of its first Nikkor release, the Aero-Nikkor lens for aerial photography in 1923.  

“Drawing inspiration from the Nikkor brand's remarkable 90-year history and its endless technological advancements, Nikon remains committed to contributing to the development of imaging culture, with the hope of expanding possibilities for imaging expression,” said Nikon.

The Nikkor line has had a rich history, with photos taken during the Korean War by David Douglas Duncan featured in Life magazine, and in 1948 the New York Times published an article that highlighted the high quality of Nikkor products, which helped to establish the concept of "made in Japan" quality.

Nikkor lenses have also been used in NASA’s space missions. In 1971, both the Nikon Photomic FTN (NASA specifications) and Nikkor lenses were used on the Apollo 15 mission, the fourth United States Apollo mission to land on the moon, and the first to use the Lunar Roving Vehicle.

In 2009, the D3S and AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G ED lenses were used to document activities at the International Space Station. Specially modified Nikkor Z lenses, along with a Nikon-designed Handheld Universal Lunar Camera (a modded Nikon Z9), will be used by astronauts on the moon when NASA returns in 2026 on the Artemis 3 mission.

"These lenses, among many others, showcase Nikon’s commitment to providing unique and high-quality options that support users in expressing their creative vision," concluded Nikon.

Check out our list of the best Nikon lenses and best Nikon Z lenses on the market today, as well as the best Nikon cameras.

Photography enthusiasts will have heard the sad, yet potentially not overdue, news recently about the discontinuation of the Sigma APO 200-500mm f/2.8 EX DG, also affectionately known as 'The Bigma’.

Launched back in 2008, the gigantic lens weighs in at 15.7kg / 34.6lb, with a 200mm+ diameter for the majority of the barrel. With its dark green paint job, it looks more like a piece of military equipment than a camera accessory. 

At a whopping $26,000 (£20,450), only a limited few have ever seen this lens in action, so imagine our surprise when photographer Tom Calton decided to attach 'The Bigma’ to the tiny Panasonic Lumix GM1. 

The Sigma lens was sold in Canon EF, Nikon F, and Sigma SA mounts. The Lumix is a Micro Four Thirds camera, so using a Metabones speed booster to connect the camera to the lens allowed the camera to maintain full autofocus functionality, and we spoke to him about the process and, more importantly, the results. 

“I’ve made videos about 'The Bigma’ in the past and they’ve always drawn an audience, mainly because it’s absolutely ginormous, but also because it’s a pretty rare lens,” Calton told Digital Camera World, “I had a feeling this might be something people would be curious to see.”

As well as its unique size, the Sigma APO 200-500mm f/2.8 EX DG was the first telephoto zoom lens to provide an aperture of F2.8 at the 500mm focal length.

The lens is so large it even needs its own battery-powered motor to control the zoom and autofocus, which sounds like a small plane taking off when in use.

What started off as a fun experiment actually produced some pretty nice results.

“Shooting at 500mm with an aperture of f/2.8 gives a pretty unique look to your images and it's certainly something I like,” said Calton, “However, trying to focus was an absolute nightmare as all of the tech involved is pretty old now and also not really designed to be used in combination, so I came away with way more out of focus shots than I did sharp ones. But that's all part of the challenge I guess!”

Check out our guide to the best portrait lenses on the market that you can actually pick up. 

If your looking for the best micro four thirds cameras, or the best compact cameras, we've also got you covered. 

It's been a great award season for Nikon as it received 4 more awards to add to its cabinet. 

Off the back of winning four TIPA awards, Nikon picked up four Red Dot Awards for product design, among the winners are two of the best Nikon cameras and Nikon lenses on the market. 

Two of Nikon's flagship full-frame mirrorless cameras were among the winners, the Nikon Zf and the Nikon Z8 were both recognized by the jury of esteemed design specialists. In the lens department, two further awards were won by the Nikon Z 135mm f/1.8 S Plena and the Nikon Z 600mm f/6.3 VR S. 

For those unfamiliar, the Red Dot Design Awards is a prestigious competition that celebrates the best in design and business, often awarding state-of-the-art products with a 'Red Dot'. It covers all aspects of design, from cars to camera equipment, and the red dot signifies an industry seal of confidence in great design. (Despite the name, they are not signifying that the winner suddenly becomes a Leica, though the awards are organized in and hosted in Germany).

This year, product submissions from over 60 countries were entered and deliberated over by a panel of judges. The products were judged on the degree of innovation, functionality, ergonomics, and durability. Nikon's winning products were:

Nikon Z8 

Released in May 2023, the Z8 brings the features of the flagship Nikon Z9 to a body that is 30% more compact. The 45MP stacked CMOS sensor provides exceptional image quality and substantial dynamic range. Deep learning AF system provides fast and efficient focus, for capturing even the most action-packed scenes, making it ideal for sports and wildlife. 

Nikon Zf

Classic analog Nikon design meets modern mirrorless technology in one of the best retro cameras on the market. Since its release in October 2023, the Nikon Zf has taken the market by storm enticing those who want the appearance of shooting analog without the added effort and cost of film development. 

As well as looking the part it also walks it, with a 24.5MP full-frame sensor, powered by the Expeed 7 processor, which delivers great autofocus performance. 

Nikon Nikkor Z 135mm f/1.8 S Plena

Nikon's signature portrait beast of a lens, the Plena offers exceptional image quality with an 11-blade rounded aperture for extremely attractive and soft depth of field. The 11 aperture blades minimize diffraction and aberrations, suppressing them at any aperture. 

The 135mm focal length is coupled with the f1/8 widest aperture enabling exceptional subject separation making it a fantastic portrait lens option. 

Nikon Z 600mm f/6.3 VR S

The super-telephoto lens was released in October 2023 and offers a surprisingly lightweight design with superb optics. Typically, lenses of this focal length are incredibly heavy and cumbersome, but this is the lightest and most well-balanced 600mm lens that I have held, which is ideal for keeping up with fast-paced action such as wildlife and sports.

So, congratulations to Nikon for winning yet more awards. Nikon has been releasing some exceptional cameras and glasses of late, and the awards that they are gaining are certainly echoing the thoughts of the market. It makes me excited to see what comes next!

You may also be interested in our guides to the best Nikon camera, the best Nikon lenses, and the best Nikon flashguns.

It’s the time of year that many of us are planning our summer getaways, packing our Nikons, naturally. So in this issue’s lead feature, intrepid photographer Iain Afshar shares his tips for getting off the beaten track and capturing your best-ever travel images. 

You don’t have to go to the ends of the earth for incredible scenic shots, though. Landscape pro Ian Asprey leads his apprentice through the Eryri (Snowdonia) national park in North Wales, where an unexpected dusting of spring snow transformed the mountains into something truly magical. 

A ‘nifty fifty’ should be in every photographer’s kit bag, and in our Big Test we rate eight FX and DX lenses with a 50mm-ish effective focal length for Z-mount Nikons, plus highlight the F-mount options that are still available. We also check out the Astrhori 25mm f/2.8 Macro 2-5x, a fun optic that renders subjects up to five times larger than life – and at a bargain price, too. And we pit the Manfrotto Befree Advanced and Novo Helix T50 travel tripods against each other. 

We speak with macro maestro Tony North about his amazing images of minibeasts and mushrooms in the N-Photo interview, while in our On Assignment section, Alfie Bowen tells how his affinity for horses helped him through tough times and set him on the road to be a wildlife photographer. 

Plus we have a plethora of projects to try your hand at, shooting reflections, festivals, birds of prey and making a party photo booth! 

N-Photo: The Nikon Magazine is a monthly magazine that's written by Nikon enthusiasts for Nikon enthusiasts, you can be sure that all the content is 100% relevant to you! So for the best Nikon-focused news, reviews, projects, and a whole lot more, subscribe to N-Photo today – with our unmissable subs deal!

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Subscription deals: Our guide to the best photo magazines

Fujifilm continues to roll out its big-time firmware updates, adding features and future-proofing its best mirrorless cameras. 

The manufacturer has been releasing what it calls Kaizen firmware, which is a substantial update that often adds new features as well as just fixing issues. The latest camera to benefit from this is the Fujifilm X-H2, one of the best hybrid cameras around, and users will be in for a treat as there are a lot of new additions. 

The firmware is almost identical to the recent Kaizen update for the Fujifilm X-H2S and features a long list of firmware notes. Instead of writing them all out, let's go through the highlights. 

Fujifilm X-H2 (Ver.4.00)

Improved connection to the Fujifilm XApp

"Camera registration and operation information are now displayed in the 'Equipment' management function of the app". This addition enables quick and easy inspection of the camera's maintenance management, adding the number of lifetime shots, number of mechanical shutters, degree of battery deterioration, and the number of days elapsed since the last sensor cleaning, under one easy-to-view tab. 

Updating camera firmware via the app has also been made easier, as you can now automatically download the latest firmware directly to your camera. This process uses the app and downloads it directly to the camera's memory card, providing a prompt to download when you next turn on your camera. This is incredibly valuable as it means you won't miss any important big fixes moving forward. 

The final point on the XApp is that RAW file transfer has now been made possible, a feature many Fujifilm users have been wanting for a while. 

Improved AF

The holy grail of firmware updates is improved camera performance, especially when it comes to autofocus. In this update, Fujifilm has improved AF tracking performance in AF-C mode in scenes "where it is easy to lose focus" – what I imagine to be busier environments, such as foliage. 

The update has also corrected a phenomenon where AF focusing accuracy and distance index varied when used in combination with a wide-angle lens. 

Video Shooting Settings

Video on the Fujifilm X-H2 is hugely important, as it is considered a top hybrid camera, and ranked highly for its video capabilities. The new update has added a few features that aid in this. 

Fujifilm has introduced a Red 'REC' frame to act as a tally light, highlighting when footage is being recorded. Another addition that helps with indicating recording is the addition of a sound that notifies when recording is turned on or off. 

A 'Wide/Tracking' function is now available for focusing when shooting videos. The notes state: "When the focus mode is AF-C, touching the screen will automatically track the subject. In AF-S, the camera automatically selects the subject to focus on".

These are just three firmware notes out of twelve included in the bumper firmware update! Mirrorless cameras are easier than DSLRs to meaningfully update with substantial features, and Fujifilm has delivered its Kaizen update promise so far – with many more scheduled for later in the year. 

The rest of the firmware notes and a step-by-step guide on how to update the firmware can be found on the download page. 

See our guides for more information on the best Fujifilm cameras, the best Fujifilm lenses, and the best cameras for video. 

Canon’s big white telephoto lenses are widely respected for their quality and performance, I can’t argue with many of the world’s most demanding professional sports and wildlife photographers. The EF-mount range includes some of the best Canon lenses for DSLRs, while the growing range of RF-mount options widens the remit for the best Canon telephoto lenses for both DSLRs and EOS R-series mirrorless cameras.

The RF 400mm F2.8L IS USM is the fastest of Canon’s big guns, coupling a generous super-telephoto focal length with a fast f/2.8 aperture. This gives the double bonus of delivering a tight depth of field when you want it, and fast shutter speeds for freezing movement when you need to, even under dull lighting conditions. But we’ve been here before, as I’ll come to next.

Canon RF 400mm F2.8L IS USM: What's changed?

The short answer to ‘what’s changed’ is very little. Back in 2018, Canon announced new versions of its EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III USM and EF 600mm f/4L IS III USM super-telephoto primes, with a weight loss of about 25% and 20% respectively, plus some performance enhancements. The ‘new’ RF editions of the lenses are essentially the same as the EF versions with a few tweaks. Most notably, an RF mount is built into the back of the lenses, saving the use of a separate EF-EOS R mount adapter, and the RF versions are rewired for EOS R electronics, which have a much faster data transfer rate and can enhance the performance of autofocus and optical image stabilization. The focus distance scales of the EF lenses have been stripped but, apart from these changes, the new RF lenses are fundamentally the same as their EF forebears.

Canon RF 400mm F2.8L IS USM: Specifications

Canon RF 400mm F2.8L IS USM: Price & Availability

There’s no getting away from the fact that this is a very expensive lens, tagged at $11,999 / £13,119 / AU$19,999. Even so, that’s what I’d expect to pay for a lens of this type, quality, and performance and the pricing is actually identical to the older EF-mount version of the lens. Due to the price, it’s not the sort of lens you can expect to buy over the counter at small photographic retailers but is widely available from larger online stores.

Canon RF 400mm F2.8L IS USM: Design & Handling

The design and handling are everything I could hope for in a top-flight, super-telephoto prime lens. The optical path features two fluorite glass elements which reduce the overall weight and enhance optical quality. By way of comparison, the F-mount Nikon AF-S 400mm f/2.8E FL ED VR which also includes two fluorite elements is about a kilogram heavier. However, the newer Z-mount Nikon Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S is about the same weight as the Canon, despite also featuring a built-in 1.4x teleconverter which can be engaged or disengaged instantly.

The optical design also includes an SUD (Super Ultra-low Dispersion) element to enhance clarity and minimize color fringing. High-tech Air Sphere Coating and Canon’s more conventional Super Spectra Coating are both utilized to minimize ghosting and flare. Fluorine coatings are applied to the front and rear elements to repel moisture and grease.

Electronic enhancements over the older EF lens include faster RF processing power. There’s a dual ring-type ultrasonic autofocus system for super-speedy AF, and the effectiveness of the optical image stabilizer is boosted from 5 stops to 5.5-stops. Further bonuses include variable speed manual focus and two focus presets.

Onboard controls are identical to those of the EF lens. There’s a triple-mode image stabilizer switch for static and panning shots, as well as a third option which only applied stabilization during exposures. This makes it easier to track erratically moving subjects. Focus preset comes with an optional beep.

You can set two preset focus distances and swap between them using the ‘Playback ring’ You can also use this ring for the motorized ‘Power focus’ mode, with the option of three different speeds available via a switch, which is handy when shooting video. Focus mode and focus range limiter switches are fitted at the rear. Towards the front is a rank of customizable function buttons positioned around the circumference of the lens, typically used for AF-hold.

The most obvious difference in the RF lens compared with the EF model is that it adds a native EOS R mount. About an inch long and finished in brushed metal, it sticks out rather like a saw thumb, as the rest of the lens is coated with a white ‘heat shield’ finish. Just forward of the RF mount section is a 52mm drop-in filter holder, as in the EF lens. As I’d expect, the lens is extensively weather-sealed, and it’s supplied with exactly the same ET-155 (WIII) lens hood and LS400 lens case as the EF version.

Canon RF 400mm F2.8L IS USM: Photo Performance

Although the two fluorite elements save weight and enable a better center of gravity, the lens is still a hefty beast, at just under 2,890g (6.37lbs). Even so, I found short periods of handheld shooting perfectly viable, for which the 5.5-stop image stabilizer lives up to its billing. Autofocus is very fast, snapping onto subjects almost instantly and making the most of the advanced tracking facilities in recent EOS R-series cameras. I tested this taking photos of my grandkids and cat at play in the garden.

Naturally, if you’re going to spend the big bucks on a super-telephoto lens with a fast aperture of f/2.8, image quality is paramount when shooting wide-open. I found the lens was really impressive at f/2.8, delivering superb sharpness and contrast, along with really smooth bokeh. Performance remained excellent when I tested the lens with Canon’s Extender RF 1.4x and Extender RF 2x teleconverters, adding yet more telephoto power and versatility.

Canon RF 400mm F2.8L IS USM: Sample Images

Canon RF 400mm F2.8L IS USM: 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:

Levels of sharpness are very good, and remarkably consistent across the whole image frame, even when shooting wide-open at f/2.8. They only drop off a little even at f/16, a little more noticeably at f/22, due to the usual problem of diffraction at very narrow apertures.

Fringing:

There’s barely any lateral chromatic aberration to be seen even at the extreme edges and corners of the image frame, throughout the entire aperture range. And that’s with automatic in-camera correction disabled.

Distortion: 0.42

There’s very little pincushion distortion which will generally go unnoticed in ‘real-world’ shooting. As with color fringing, that’s with automatic in-camera correction disabled.

Canon RF 400mm F2.8L IS USM: Verdict

The only thing wrong with this lens is that I can’t afford it. And I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one. Sure, it’s a weighty beast but the handling, image quality and all-round performance are epic. And yes, it tips the scales at just under 3kg but, considering the combination of 400mm super-telephoto length and fast f/2.8 aperture, that’s actually pretty good. I found fairly short stints of handheld shooting entirely viable, for which the 5.5-stop image stabilizer really earns its keep. Bear in mind that the directly competing Nikon F-mount rival to this lens is about a kilogram heavier. So while I can’t afford to buy one, I’d certainly earmark it for hiring when special occasions crop up.

Alternatives

Freefly produces high-speed cameras to capture slow-motion footage, and has been known for its E-mount cameras. They have just announced the new Ember 2.5K camera, at NAB 2024, with a Canon EF mount which shoots at up to 2,900fps.

By 'active', Freefly means that the mount has electronics that allow the camera to talk with and control the Canon EF mount electronics through the camera body (or the camera's remote controls).

This is especially interesting because Freefly originally produced its 5K Ember camera with an Sony E-mount, but according to the company's own frank video, Sony has asked them to cease doing so. They have done that and switched to Canon EF compatibility, and clearly done all the necessary work to support Canon in a way convenient to users. 

It sounds like there will be no more new Sony E-mount cameras from Freefly (the B&H page for the Freefly Ember 5K says 'temporarily out of stock'). In the long run, it also begs questions about other Freefly Sony-linked products, like the Astro drone camera platform 

Freefly says their mission is nothing less than creating the “smallest, easiest, most fun to use high-speed imaging system,” and the S2.5K might sound like lower resolution than its predecessor the S5K – because it is – but in this game that isn't necessarily a bad thing. The reduction and crop help in pushing up the frame rates; at 2.5K the device can shoot in 2277fps, while 2K is the 2,900fps (it'll even go to 3,563 with a less broadcast-friendly crop).

The camera boasts a new high-endurance 2.56TB pSLC SSD built right into the camera – all those frames make for a lot of data! The drive also enables pre- and post-recording until it's full, a handy feature.

This launch video (above) shows off the slow-motion capabilities of the Ember 2.5K

Freefly sees its customers likely to be scientists and industrial testers (think crash test dummies, defense testing, and the like), rather than filmmakers. Both the Ember S2.5K and the Ember S5K can be operated using an iPhone, iPad, or Mac app that can also be used as a monitor. A new feature will be 'amplify', to signal process at certain frequencies.

A firmware update for the S5K will also be available on May 1, offering the new crops and frame rates in monochrome only. The update will also bring stabilization options that use the camera's inertial measurement unit.

The Ember S2.5K is already available for order, and will ship in May, at $24,995 from Freefly Systems.

Check our guide for best slow motion cameras for some more consumer-friendly options!

They say change is hard, but it can also be exhilarating, as I recently found out when I defected from the Canon camp for arch-rival Nikon. Not only did I change brands, but I also upgraded from the enthusiast-level Canon EOS 6D Mark II DSLR to the pro-level Nikon Z8 mirrorless camera – a giant leap.

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’d been lusting after the Z8 since it was released last year. It was one of the DCW team's picks for the best cameras of 2023 and the only thing that stopped me from getting hold of one sooner was its 'pro' price tag. While I hadn't personally tested the Z8 myself, from my colleagues' accounts it was one heck of a camera, and I couldn’t think of a better upgrade from my DSLR.

Well, I finally did bite the bullet on it… and just weeks before I jetted off to beautiful New Zealand – Queenstown in the South Island to be specific – in March. 

What I didn’t anticipate was the Nikkor lenses I wanted for the camera being out of stock at most retailers in Sydney, Australia, where I am based. By the time I managed to pick up some glass, I had a day left before traveling and hadn't spent any time learning the ins and outs of the camera.

So there’s me, on a plane, trying to go through a far more extensive menu system than I’ve been previously used to, and thinking I'll manage just fine since I play with different camera systems as part of my job.

Well, that didn't quite work out as I thought.

Muscle memory magic

One worry I’ve had about switching systems is the physical control layout, but the Nikon Z8 felt like an old friend in my hand with a lens on. It’s not only almost as big as my old DSLR, but most of the buttons and dials are just where I want them. In fact, I prefer it to the setup on the Canon EOS R5. So, thankfully, the muscle memory I had developed after years with a Canon DSLR translated almost well enough to make me feel comfortable using the Z8.

There was one small hiccup there, though. The placement of the Mode and Drive buttons are different on the Z8, which caused some delays in taking shots on the first few days of my trip – I’m someone who goes very quickly from shooting single shots to bursts, and I also move between Program, Aperture Priority and Manual modes quite often. 

On the Canon, I was used to the Mode dial being on the left of the top panel (beside the viewfinder bump) and the Drive button on the right. On the Z8, both are on the left and there is no dial there, instead replaced by a cluster of four buttons.

Looking for the Drive button, in particular, made me miss some aerial acrobatic shots of what is locally called a ‘shark ride’ – a submersible speedboat that can leap out of the water and is designed to look like a shark.

ISO impasse

While muscle memory didn't leave me with too many regrets, it was the ISO settings that threw me off entirely. I tend to keep ISO set to auto for simplicity's sake, particularly when traveling. And that’s what I set the Z8 to. During my first day in Queenstown, however, when the weather was overcast and wet, a lot of my shots were very underexposed as the camera was only shooting at ISO 100.

I double-checked the ISO settings in the menu system and it seemed I had it selected correctly, but I was still not having any luck getting better results. So I began to manually select the sensitivity levels for each individual shot, but that was proving to be far from ideal while traveling.

I did the usual shut-off, take-out-battery, restart process – no joy. I tried to figure out what the issue was through a tedious process of trial and error and, eventually, found that reselecting the same setting fixed the problem.

I can’t explain it, but I’m putting it down to a temporary glitch – one that I could have done without, as I lost a lot of images from when I was up in the mountains (called the Remarkables) after some early-season snow.

Off track(ing)

One of the main reasons I decided to go with the Z8 was its tracking precision – after all, it’s the same tech that’s in the Nikon Z9 pro sports camera. However, my years with a Canon DSLR with no such prowess made me forget I had this speed and precision at my fingertips.

Case in point: I was trying to capture some fun pictures during an Easter egg hunt while in Queenstown and, while the autofocus was spot on, I didn’t have the tracking set up properly, resulting in some shoddy work on my part. Well, I really can’t blame the camera for that.

I also didn’t have time to install the latest firmware (update 2.00) before my trip, which would likely have made the Z8 a far more phenomenal experience in terms of precision.

Money well spent

Despite some glitches at the start, the Z8 served me well for the rest of the trip, although it became evident that I will have a steep learning curve to learn everything the camera can do for me. 

For example, only on returning from the trip did I realize the camera gives me extra reach by selecting the DX crop option without compromising too much on resolution. Had I known this, I probably would have been able to zoom in further with the Nikkor Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3 VR kit lens that I took with me on this trip to keep things light. However, upgrading to a 45.7MP effective resolution full-frame sensor from 26.2MP gave me leeway to crop my photos where necessary without losing too much image quality.

Speaking of keeping things light: while the Z8 itself is heavier than the 6D Mark II, the Z-series Nikkor lenses are remarkably lightweight, which more than makes up for the camera body itself.

The Z8 gives me the freedom to capture so many more scenarios than my old Canon could, like a high-speed jet boat that would have been a blurry streak with the DSLR. I’m passionate about wildlife photography, which was another reason for me choosing the Z8 – its speed.

Sure, I could have chosen to buy the Canon EOS R5, which would have more than met my needs and saved me some money too. I prefer Canon's color science over Nikon, but the Canon mirrorless lenses are heavier than Nikon's options. 

That said, the idea of not having a mechanical shutter in the camera appealed to me. Whether the lack of moving parts will extend the life of the camera is a different story altogether – after all, electronics can fail – but the Z8, like the Z9, is revolutionary that way. 

Either way, I wish I had jumped on the Nikon bandwagon a touch earlier as I regret some of the missed opportunities during my trip because of the teething problems in this new partnership. What I don't regret, though, is practically emptying my savings for the Z8 as I did come back with some good photos and I can't wait for my next adventure with the camera.

Learn more about the Nikon Z8 vs the Canon EOS R5, or you can check out what we think is the best full-frame mirrorless camera right now. If you're already a Nikon user, find some of the best Nikon lenses or the best Nikon Z lenses for your camera.

Gone are the days when third-party Chinese lens manufacturers only produced optically questionable manual focus budget lenses. With the advancement in camera technology, companies like Viltrox are now developing high-quality AF glass that remains at the budget price point. 

The Viltrox AF 56mm f/1.7 is the latest lens released by the manufacturer and offers an extremely wallet-friendly APS-C portrait lens for Nikon Z and Fujifilm X mount users. With 56mm being the equivalent of 85mm on a full-frame camera, this could be one of the best lenses for portrait photography for smaller sensor systems. 

The ideal portrait focal length coupled with the wide f/1.7 aperture will enable the user to create shallow depth of field images, that isolate and separate the subject from the background. With nine aperture blades, the fall-off is subtle and creates a smooth bokeh for that dreamy atmosphere. 

The other benefit of a wide aperture is improved low-light performance, and Viltrox promises that the 56mm f/1.7 will provide "purer images in low-light environments".

Many third-party lens manufacturers that previously specialized in manual focus-only lenses have started developing autofocus optics, as is now the case for Viltrox. The 56mm f/1.7 has an internal focusing mechanism and a silent STM motor, enabling fast and accurate focusing for both stills and video. 

Regarding the video capabilities, Viltrox states that the focus breathing is "almost imperceptible when the focus changes".

The lens is configured with 9 groups of 11 elements, including 4 extra-low dispersion lenses and 3 lenses with high refractive index, combating aberrations and dispersion. 

Despite the number of elements the lens is extremely compact and lightweight, weighing 171g and measuring just 55mm, varying slightly depending on the mount option. This makes it an ideal travel lens to keep in your camera bag, ensuring you always have a great portrait lens option on hand.

Other notable features include HD multi-layer nano lens coating, a 52mm diameter filter thread, EXIF info transmission support and an integrated USB-C port for updating firmware.

Without testing the lens it is hard to identify anything to query, as it provides the user with a great portrait lens option for less than $150. Fujifilm has of course got a great 56mm option, in the Fujifilm XF 56mm f1.2 R WR Lens, but it will set you back more than eight times the price.

The AF 56mm f/1.7 is available now from Viltrox for $139 / £175 / AU$259.

See our guides for more information on the best Fujifilm lenses, the best Nikon lenses, and the best mirrorless cameras. 

Documentary photography captures moments from everyday lives that not only show how people around the world live but can also serve as a reminder of events in our own lives. By reflecting on the past, bygone moments are brought back to life and reflected in our memories. This is particularly true when the images document aspects of childhood. 

“These boys had just finished school and were fooling around before heading home,” Rico explains. “Watching them reminded me of my own childhood memories. Most days, I would drag out the time from finishing school to getting home, messing around with friends.” 

The most interesting images are the ones that allow the viewer to interpret the scene. In this photo, the focus is on the interaction between multiple subjects, creating a sense of intrigue in the viewer. “In this case, it was important for me to include the boys who were watching. You have one boy watching me and another boy watching them, while I am watching them all.” This gives the picture a narrative level.

“When composing this image, I needed to get everything proportionally in the frame – and especially the two boys watching,” Rico explains. To do so, he paid particular attention to the framing of the image in post-processing. 

“It was all about the corners. I cropped the image in post-processing and converted it to black-and-white. I felt that their skin tone against the school uniform would really make the image pop.”

Tech details

Camera: Nikon D850
Lens: Nikon AF-S Nikkor 24mm f/1.8G ED
Aperture: f/9
Shutter speed: 1/200 sec
ISO: 1600

You might be interested in the best cameras for black and white photography, along with the best lenses for street photography. 

Nikon’s newly-announced Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR lens and its incredible 14.2x zoom offers a one-stop solution to one of the biggest mistakes that new or keen-to-upgrade photographers make: throwing their entire budget into a camera body, and overlooking the lenses. 

Sure, there’s nothing quite like picking up a state-of-the-art mirrorless body, but while faster and more accurate AF, a better sensor and eye-watering burst speeds might change the way you shoot, these specs are unlikely to change what you can shoot.

You could spend thousands and thousands on a flagship Nikon Z9, arguably the best camera for sports photography in existence. But if all you’ve got to go with it is a Z 24-70mm f/4 S, you’ve got yourself an F1 car and a set of slicks in the pouring rain. 

Give me a first-gen Nikon Z6 and a Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR, or a D500 and 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR to photograph sports or wildlife over that Z9 and standard-zoom setup every day of the week. You need only look back at the jaw-dropping photographs captured by analog photographers over the years for proof that modern cameras are a luxury, not a necessity. 

Optics are infinitely more important than cameras, and that’s precisely why Nikon’s new super-duper superzoom is such a big deal for Z-series users. If you’re an enthusiast photographer who simply cannot justify the expenditure of a kit bag bristling with top-quality glass, or a frequent flier who values portability over all else, then the Z 28-400mm is a complete game-changer – not to mention the only lens you could feasibly ever need! And I don’t say that lightly. 

With the exception of a few specialist applications such as ultra-wide or low-light photography, there’s literally nothing this veritable multi-tool of a zoom range won’t cover. Landscapes? Check. Wildlife? Check. Sports, portraits, architecture, street, close-ups… check, check, check, check and check.

We’ve yet to put it through our lab but, on paper, the only big compromise is that narrow f/8 aperture at the telephoto end. When you add together the zoom range, portability and bang for your buck, something had to give, right? And realistically, even if the aperture range matched the F-mount equivalent Tamron 18-400mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC HLD, would it really make that much difference? 

Don’t get me wrong, faster glass is always better. But If you care that much about wider apertures and image quality, you’re probably better off picking up more specialist lenses anyway. 

Looping back around to my previous analogy; if you’re intent on investing your hard-earned cash in a new camera and don’t currently have a versatile collection of lenses, then the Z 28-400mm could be the most affordable answer to your optical needs. After all, you’ve got three zoom lenses in one – enclosed in a 142mm-long cylinder that weighs just 725g. 

Not too shabby Nikon, not too shabby at all. 

You might be interested in the best Nikon lenses, including the best Nikon Z lenses for its mirrorless system. 

Can you imagine trying to photograph a horse with a manual focus lens? How about a racehorse? How about an entire horse race? How about the finish line at the Kentucky Derby? 

That's exactly the situation that sports photographers used to find themselves in. Back in the days when the best sports cameras had no autofocus whatsoever – let alone subject tracking and animal detect and algorithmic AI processors – and fired about 6fps on a good day, getting any shot in focus required true skill.  

But getting the shot of the first horse to cross the finish line at the Kentucky Derby? That's next-level stuff.

Below is a photograph that has started to blow up on Facebook. (Because Meta is Meta, I can't actually embed the post in this article, so please click through to the full thread.) In it you can see photographer Michael Brohm, in the late Eighties or early Nighties, nestled amid 18 Nikon cameras with manual focus Nikon lenses at the Kentucky Derby to capture the money shot.

A 25-year veteran of the legendary Churchill Downs derby, Brohm can be seen fine-tuning one of the many bodies on the camera tree (or "P" pole) – all of which were hardwired, rather than radio-triggered, to prevent catastrophic interference. 

Brohm's post – and the many comments that accompany it – remind us all just what a different world it was in the days before cameras like the Sony A9 III, the Canon EOS R3 and Nikon Z9 took much of the skill out of sports photography. 

"Basically you mount your camera to that [camera tree]," commented Hans-Martin Issler. "Then you focus your lens on the finish line and fix that with gaffer tape. Then you turn on the camera and test your remote cable and lead it to your position."

With only one chance to get the winning shot, the best bet is to CYA: cover your ass. "Shooting a finish line at any horse race with remotes is a crap shoot. The reason for so many cameras and lenses," noted Charlie Bernhardt. 

"Will the winner be on the rail? Will the winner be in the 3-4 path? Will he be sandwiched in between 2-3 other horses? Even with camera in hand you can get fooled, especially on the turf / inside position if they [sic] are 2-3 horses jockeying for the lead. The last jump might be the winner. On there [sic] other hand you could have a winner by 2-3 lengths or more! CYA is the name of the game if you can."

Something else that's notable about this image is that every single camera is a Nikon – likely a Nikon F3 or F4. These were the days when Nikon had a monopoly on professional sports photography, before Canon started dominating the scene. Indeed, when asked how different this setup would look today, Brohm simply said, "It looks much the same, except now mostly Canons."

Another thing to consider? Not only are all these cameras completely manual, they're also shooting film. Which meant you not only had to get the shot, you also had to develop it as quick as you could in order to get it back to your agency or picture editor before your rivals. 

Again, this is all lightyears away from 120fps shooting and CFexpress cards and WiFi and 1000BASE-T ethernet. I was having a conversation the other day with someone complaining about the autofocus on his camera not being good enough. Oh, sweet summer child, if only you knew!

Take a look at today's best cameras for sports photography and the best lenses for sports photography. You might also be interested in some tips on how to shoot showjumping, from our resident equestrian photographer! 

Nikon has announced a new full-frame superzoom for its Z-mount mirrorless that sets a new range for an all-in-one zoom lens. The Nikkor Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR offers a phenomenal 14.2x zoom ratio - which beats all other contenders for its reach.

The lens is designed for use on full-frame cameras, but its size, weight and price means that you will also be able to used on APS-C DX Nikon cameras, such as the Z50 and Zfc. On these DX models, the effective focal range becomes 42-600mm.

Superzoom lenses offer an all-on-one lens solution, that offers wide-angel and telephoto focal lengths in the one zoom. With this lens, anyone can effortlessly capture the finest details and facial expressions of distant subjects, opening up new possibilities for your photography or filmmaking. The longest range superzoom previously available for Nikon cameras was the Tamron 18-400mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC HLD - but that could only be used on Nikon F-mount DX-format DSLRs.

Whether you're shooting sporting events, amusement park attractions, or parade shows where the subject's distance varies continuously, this lens allows anyone to adapt to any situation with ease. Its versatility means I could rely on just this one lens to capture a wide range of scenes, eliminating the need to switch between multiple lenses.

What's more, the Nikkor Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR excels in close-up photography, with a minimum focus distance of just 0.2m at the widest angle and 1.2m at the maximum telephoto position, while also offering a maximum reproduction ratio of 0.35x. It therefore promises to be able to can subjects in exquisite detail, whether it's delicate plants or intricate tabletop scenes.

Despite its impressive telephoto reach of up to 400mm, this lens maintains a very compact and lightweight design, weighing only approximately 725g / 1.59 lbs this portability makes it the perfect lens for travel and everyday use, allowing you to carry it wherever you go without feeling weighed down - making this the perfect lens for content creators wanting to shoot video while out on location.

Additionally, the Nikkor Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR features a stepping motor (STM) for fast autofocus drive, ensuring quick and accurate focusing on moving subjects, Its vibration reduction function provides the equivalent of a 5.0-stop increase in shutter speed, minimizing blur and allowing for sharp handheld shots even in challenging conditions.

The lens supports linear manual focus operation, making it easy to focus precisely on your intended subject during video recording, enhancing the quality of your videography no end.

I'm excited about Nikon's commitment to pushing the boundaries of optical performance and meeting the evolving needs of photographers or filmmakers like myself. With the Nikkor Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR, Nikon is not just providing a lens; they're empowering users to explore new possibilities. 

Nikon already has two superzooms in its ever-expanding Z-mount lens range - the Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3 VR for full-frame cameras, and the  Z DX 18-140mm f/3.5-6.3 VR for APS-C models.

I can see this being a very popular lens with many beginners, content creators, and anyone in between who just wants one lens to cover a vast array of distances whenever the mood or situation strikes. Also, filmmakers will be thrilled, as I think this lens could be used in any situation and again cover so many different scenarios that this lens might just be on their camera forever, with no need to change it - and I like that!

Pre-order and Pricing

The Nikon Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR will go on sale from mid-April for $1,299 / £1,399 / AU$2,199 - and will come with a rectangular lens hood.

Pre-order at B&H (US)
Pre-order at Adorama (US)
Pre-order at London Camera Exchange (UK)
Pre-order at Wex (UK)
Pre-order at Ted's Cameras for a special price (AU)
Pre-order at CameraPro (AU)

If you follow the filmmaking or photography news you will have noticed the surprise announcement that Nikon has acquired RED. Nikon, the digital cinema camera goliath's tech is often used by solo filmmakers, now owns a Hollywood tech name, and for many that came as a bit of a shock. Immediately after, though, everyone started asking what could it mean when Nikon buys Red?

One of the biggest questions on everyone's lips is: Will RED not support some of the best Nikon Z lenses? Well, what if I told you that RED actually did support Nikon lenses, and I've been using some of the best Nikon F-mount lenses on my RED camera for over 8 years?

As you can see I have indeed been using Nikon lenses on my Red camera. This is where the tale of Nikon's acquisition of Red becomes interesting. Back in the day when Red first announced the Red One in August 2007, costing a massive $17,000. That still sounds like a massive amount of money today (and it's $25,000 in today's money). But back in 2007 this was the steal of the decade for cinematographers!

The RED One featured a Super 35mm Mysterium sensor that could deliver REDCODE RAW or R3D video in 4K at up to 60p and 2K at up to 120p. It was used in plenty of very well-known movies—it’s a near guarantee that you have seen work from the Red One – My own Red is the Red One MX which boosted the video quality to 4.5K at 60fps and better slow motion setting in 3K and 2K resolution.

The RED One and One MX were both able to be equipped with Nikon F-mounting options – which is why I chose it to be my main cinema camera. One I have had and used for the last 8 years. Today Red cameras come equipped with either PL-mounts or Canon RF mounts, but 8 years ago the Nikon F-mount was also an option.

So, will the Nikon Z-mount be equipped for future Red cameras? I think it will. I've always found the image quality from my Nikon F-mount is outstanding, not just when using wide-angle lenses, but also when I've used super telephoto lenses like my Nikon 600mm f/4. I've used to film wildlife and, if I'm honest, when using them it was like they belonged together!

I think the future of RED in the Nikon era will be very interesting as it roles out, a relationship which will strengthen both companies going forward. For this Red and Nikon user, I can say that if Red does start offering Nikon Z-mount options I will certainly consider upgrading to the bigger 8K cameras and Nikon Z-mount lenses.

From crumbling castles to epic feats of engineering, the human imprint on the landscape is everywhere you look, and in this issue Nigel Forster shows you how to capture scenes that have been transformed – for better or worse – by the stamp of mankind. 

Our apprentice heads into the streets to photograph Bristol Light Festival – a once-a-year installation that fills the city with light-themed artworks.

They don’t come cheap, but in our Big Test we rate 10 of the best telephoto prime lenses for both F-mount and Z-mount Nikons, which combine epic reach with the optical quality that only a fixed-focal-length lens can deliver, and are the go-to glass for pro sports and wildlife photographers. On the other end of the scale, we bring you our five-star review of the Viltrox 27mm f/1.2 – a fully professional lens for DX mirrorless Nikons that comes with a bargain price tag. 

In our interview, Brett Florens tells his unlikely tale of how a stint as a riot policeman led to being one of the world’s most in-demand wedding photographers. Plus landscape photographer John Miskelly explains why slow is the way to go on a trip to capture the epic scenery of Iceland. 

We have projects on shooting spring flowers, starling murmurations, model railways and cyanotypes – an old-school method of exposing chemically coated paper to capture simple shapes, plus our usual Photoshop and Affinity Photo tutorials.  

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The Irix 65mm T1.5 Cine is the company’s cine lens, coming soon for Canon EF and RF, PL, Sony FE, Nikon Z, Micro Four Thirds, Fujifilm X and L Mount. 

It is compatible with majority of cine accessories, both manual and motorized, and the design ensures that a change of focus distance has no influence on the lens’ length or front element rotation.

Crucial markings are engraved and filled with UV-reactive paint, making them better visible in low light, and up to eight times more visible than standard paint under UV light, making it perfect for shooting in challenging conditions. The weather-sealed construction provides protection from dust and moisture.

The lens is equipped with 11 rounded aperture blades, to offer extraordinary image quality over the entire frame with smooth bokeh, and its low-distortion optical design enables super-panoramic film shots with a rectilinear image. 

There’s an 86mm thread, but the lens also comes with a Magnetic Mount System for rapid attachment of accessories and filter placement. 

This latest Irix Cine lens means the brand now has most common focal lengths covered, covering 11mm to 150mm, with the same color reproduction, weight and location of gears across the range.

The Irix 65mm T1.5 Cine lens retails for approximately $1,300 / £1,050 / AU$1,980 and is available direct from the Irix store. 

See it at The Photography & Video Show on stand B601

The Photography & Video Show 2024 : everything to know

Sigma revitalized its lens line-up back in 2012, introducing its ‘Global Vision’ optics that were divided into distinct Art, Contemporary and Sports categories. The Art lenses aim to maximize creative potential, while the Contemporary range is designed to have a modern look and feel, while keeping size and weight to easily manageable proportions. Sports lenses go all-out for speedy performance, generally in terms of autofocus and effective optical stabilization, making them ideal for action, sports, press and wildlife photography. Most of the Sports lenses that I’ve tried (and I’ve tried pretty much all of them) are weighty beasts that can be a challenge to carry around for long periods of time, and make handheld shooting a struggle for anything other than short bursts. The new 500mm Sports lens for Leica L and Sony E mount cameras aims to be one of the best telephoto lenses, while giving you the best of both worlds, combining high-end handling and performance with a relatively manageable size and weight.

Sigma 500mm F5.6 DG DN OS Sports: What's changed?

Including a veteran 50-500mm lens nicknamed the ‘Bigma’, Sigma has made some notoriously weighty and unwieldy super-telephoto lenses over the years. The new 500mm is more like a cross-breed from the company’s Sports and Contemporary stables, aiming to combine the performance of the former with the portability of the latter. Let’s see how that works out.

Sigma 500mm F5.6 DG DN OS Sports: Specifications

Sigma 500mm F5.6 DG DN OS Sports: Price & Availability

Announced in February 2024 with availability following in March, the new 500mm F5.6 Sports has a list price of £2,779/$2,999. It’s certainly not Sigma’s first full-frame compatible super-telephoto prime. One of my personal favorites is the Sigma 500mm F4 DG OS HSM Sports, predominantly for Canon EF and Nikon F mount DSLRs, as well as for Sigma’s own SA mount cameras. It’s perhaps unfair to compare the two lenses, as the f/4 prime is a whole f/stop faster, but I will anyway. Launched back in 2016, the DSLR-friendly f/4 lens really is a handful, measuring 145x380mm and weighing in at a back-pain-inducing 3,310g. It’s a whole lotta lens and its about twice the price, at £4,999/$5,999. Even so, it’s great value compared with the likes of the Nikon AF-S 500mm f/4E FL ED VR, at £10,999/$10,297 and the Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS III USM, at £11,999/$12,999. Naturally, that’s all a bit academic if you shoot with an E or L mount mirrorless camera but, in the Sony camp at least, the Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS is similarly pricey at £11,999/$12,998, whereas the Sony FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS zoom lens is a bargain buy at £1,599/$1,998.

Sigma 500mm F5.6 DG DN OS Sports: Design & Handling

For me, the headline attraction is the weight, or lack of it, the lens tipping the scales at just 1,370g. That’s less than many 70-200mm f/2.8 ‘trinity’ zooms. It’s reasonably compact as well, measuring 108x235mm, partly thanks to the f/5.6 rather than f/4 aperture rating, although it still has an oversized filter thread of 95mm. Even so, there’s no need to resort to drop-in filters, as featured in many super-telephoto lenses. For the sake of comparison, the lens is only 10g heavier than the simultaneously released Sigma 15mm F1.4 DG DN Diagonal Fisheye Art lens. That difference equates to just a couple of teaspoons of sugar. Bring on the coffee.

In keeping with the lens’s ‘Sports’ aspirations, it features a rapid HLA (High-response Liner Actuator) autofocus system, a linear stepping motor by another name, ideal for tracking the action in sports and wildlife photography. There’s also a 5-stop optical image stabilizer, based on Sigma’s latest OS2 algorithm, with a panning mode that works in diagonal as well as landscape and portrait orientation, further boosting the credentials for handheld shooting.

The optical design is based on 20 elements in 14 groups and includes two SLD (Special Low Dispersion) and three top-grade FLD (‘Fluorite’ Low Dispersion) elements with specialist convex low dispersion elements towards the front. The overall aim is to boost sharpness and clarity while keeping chromatic aberrations to a minimum, while refractive elements help to minimize ghosting and flare.

From a handling perspective, I like that the lens features an aperture control ring with a click/de-click switch, plus a switch to lock it in its Auto position for when I want to adjust the aperture from the host camera body. This avoids any accidental nudging of the ring from the Auto setting to very narrow apertures, something with which I’m all too familiar.

A bank of switches near the rear of the lens gives easy access to AF/MF focus modes, an autofocus range limiter that operates either side of 10m, and selection of static and panning optical stabilization modes, as well as switching off the stabilizer altogether. There’s also a dual-mode custom switch. You can use Sigma’s optional USB Dock to set up custom modes, for example adjusting how visible the stabilization effect is when composing shots. However, this accessory as well as Sigma’s compatible 1.4x and 2x teleconverters are only available for the Leica L mount version of the lens, not for Sony E mount.

Naturally, sports, wildlife and press photographers have to go about their business whatever the weather, so I’m pleased that the lens features extensive weather-seals as well as a fluorine coating on the front element. The hood is particularly durable and features a locking screw, while the Arca-Swiss compatible magnesium alloy tripod/monopod foot is removeable with hex keys that are included in the box, leaving just the mounting ring still attached to the lens. The mounting ring itself works smoothly and has click steps at 90-degree intervals. As usual with Sigma Art and Sports lenses, this one also comes complete with a good-quality padded soft case and shoulder strap.

Sigma 500mm F5.6 DG DN OS Sports: Photo Performance

Sigma sent me an L-mount version of the lens to test, along with a 61-megapixel Sigma fp L camera body. That’s a demanding megapixel count for any lens, requiring excellent resolving power to make the most of the image sensor. Due to a very tight timescale leading up to the official launch of the lens, I was forced to take most of my test shots in very gloomy, rainy conditions. I can certainly vouch for the weather-resistant construction!

Despite the dull, rainy day, I found that autofocus was very quick to lock onto subjects and highly effective at tracking moving objects. The 5-stop optical stabilizer also earned its keep. As for pictorial quality, my dull-day images had plenty of bite, with excellent sharpness, contrast and clarity. I’m impressed that levels of sharpness are both very satisfying and extremely consistent from the widest aperture of f/5.6 down to f/11, as well as being remarkably uniform from the center of the frame to the extreme edges and corners.

Both axial and lateral chromatic aberrations are minimal, the latter being barely noticeable even at the edges and corners of the image frame. And unlike many recent lenses designed for mirrorless cameras, this Sigma is a virtually zero-distortion lens, requiring no automatic in-camera correction or adjustment during editing.

Sigma 500mm F5.6 DG DN OS Sports: Sample Images

I only had the lens for a very limited period leading up to its official launch, and sadly I have no control over the weather! The images in this gallery are a mix of shots taken outdoors on a dull rainy day, including a head and hat shot at a market, flowers and swans, plus some close-up shots taken indoors under artificial lighting.

Sigma 500mm F5.6 DG DN OS Sports: 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:

Based on close-range test charts, levels of sharpness aren’t as magnificent as we’ve seen from some recent lenses in our lab tests. However, in real-world shooting at focus distances more typical for super-telephoto shooting, our test shots were impressively sharp across the whole image frame, right into the edges and corners, and remarkably consistent from wide-open at f/5.6 down to f/11.

Fringing:

Color fringing is well controlled, with lateral chromatic aberration remaining minimal even at the edges and corners of the image frame. That holds true at all aperture settings.

Distortion: 0.03

This Sigma is virtually a zero-distortion lens. Our lab test result is as close to absolute perfection as makes no practical difference.

Sigma 500mm F5.6 DG DN OS Sports: Verdict

I love the freedom of handheld shooting when using a super-telephoto lens, so I can easily track the action in sports and wildlife photography. However, this type of lens is notoriously heavy and cumbersome, which can literally be a pain. Weighing in at 1,370g, I found the Sigma easily manageable even for long periods of handheld shooting, where the 5-stop optical stabilizer comes in really useful. I’m really impressed with the image quality, all-round performance and handling characteristics of this lens. It’s a great buy at the price, I just wish it was available in a wider range of mount options.

Alternatives

I love that tilt-shift lenses enable me to do things in-camera that are difficult or impossible to replicate during editing without some serious compromises. This Fujinon 30mm T/S is one of the very best tilt-shift lenses on the market right now, and arguably the best of all time. It’s also will go down in the history of best Fujinon GF lenses, period.

So what exactly is a tilt-shift lens? In essence, it has a moveable front section that allows you to tilt the optical path in relation to the camera, or to shift it (most commonly) up and down. The tilt function changes the plane of focus, effectively allowing you to alter the depth of field irrespective of the aperture setting. That can be useful in landscape photography where you want everything sharp from a very close distance away to infinity. At the other end of the scale, you can create a really shallow depth of field for a ‘toy village’ effect.

For architectural photographers, the shift function comes to the fore. With this, you can keep your camera level and ‘shift’ the area of a scene captured in the image. The big advantage is that it allows you to shoot tall buildings without pointing your camera upwards, so vertical walls stay upright instead of leaning inwards towards the top.

This is one of Fujifilm’s first pair of ‘GF’ tilt-shift lenses for its medium format GFX camera system. Thanks to the focal length multiplier (or rather the opposite), the 30mm lens has an ‘effective’ focal length of 24mm in full-frame terms, therefore giving a wider field of view than you might expect. The sibling new lens is the Fujinon GF 110mm F5.6 T/S Macro. This one has an equivalent viewing angle of using approximately a 90mm lens on a full-frame camera, and adds a 0.5x macro magnification factor, as discussed in our separate review.

Fujinon GF 30mm F5.6 T/S: Specifications

Fujinon GF 30mm F5.6 T/S: Price & Availability

We broke news of this forthcoming lens last year and it’s now available to buy, at least if your credit card can take the strain. It’s priced at £3,899/$3,999 and, to put that into some kind of perspective, the full-frame Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II Tilt-Shift costs around £1,999/$1,899 and the Nikon PC-E Micro-NIKKOR 45mm f/2.8D ED costs about £1,899/$2,047. The bottom line is that the Fujinon costs about twice the price but, then again, it’s based on much wider-diameter glass elements, catering to medium format rather than full-frame cameras.

Fujinon GF 30mm F5.6 T/S: Design & Handling

Fully functional tilt-shift lenses can be complex beasts, compared with one-trick lenses that are only capable of either tilt or shift, but not both. Even then, some tilt-shift lenses can only enable shift in one axis and tilt in the other. This Fujinon lens gives you a full range of movement, and thus full creative freedom. The oversized image circle enables a generous +/-15mm of shift, and up to +/-8.5 degrees of tilt. Furthermore, the tilt/shift function can be rotated through 90 degrees with a 45-degree click step along the way. You can also rotate the lens on its mount through 90 degrees clockwise or counter-clockwise, in 30-degree click step increments. The net result is that you can employ either tilt or shift functions in any orientation that you want.

For tilt and shift adjustments, there are the usual fixing screws that keep everything locked off, and the typical adjustment knobs. The tilt function also comes with a sliding locking switch. For a measured approach, tilt and shift both have calibrated scales marked on the lens, in increments of 1 degree and 1mm respectively. What’s more unusual is that the physical parameters of adjustment can be stored in the EXIF data of image files for future reference.

As with other tilt-shift lenses, autofocus is impossible so you have to focus manually. However, light metering is automatic so you’re not limited to manual exposure mode. The optical path is of very high quality, befitting such an expensive lens, and includes three aspherical elements, two ED (Extra-low Dispersion) elements and one Super ED element. Front to back, there’s a grand total of 16 elements arranged in 11 groups.

Accessories that come bundled with the lens include a hood with an adapter ring, enabling the use of oversized 105mm screw-in filters. There’s also a detachable tripod collar. This not only enables a better balance, especially when shooting in portrait orientation but also helps to keep consistent framing when adjusting tilt and shift for capturing multiple shots that you want to stitch together further down the line. When in use, the tripod collar keeps the front section of the lens fixed in place, while the rear section and attached camera body move around when making tilt-shift adjustments.

Fujinon GF 30mm F5.6 T/S: Photo Performance

When you’re monkeying around with tilt and shift, there’s often some compromise in terms of image quality. I was really impressed that the Fujinon GF 30mm F5.6 T/S retains scintillating levels of sharpness and clarity even at the full extents of its tilt and shift ranges. Naturally, the ‘in-focus’ area can be very small when using tilt for minimum depth of field, but manual focus puts it where you want it. What’s more there’s very little vignetting even when taking tilt and shift to the max. Overall image quality is simply spectacular.

If you generally only use autofocus, super-precise manual focusing can be a little tricky, even when using the ‘focus peaking’ facility or other manual focus aids of the host camera body. This being a manual-focus lens, I often found it best to use the magnified preview facility of the Fujifilm GFX 100 II with which I tested the lens, and to check the results with magnification in playback mode.

Fujinon GF 30mm F5.6 T/S: Sample Images

Fujinon GF 30mm F5.6 T/S: 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 is spectacular in the central region of the frame and remains excellent right out to the edges and corners. More remarkably, superb levels of sharpness are maintained even when pushing tilt or shift to the max.

Fringing:

There’s extremely little color fringing to be seen. In fact it’s barely perceptible at all even out at the edges and corners of the image frame.

Distortion: -0.15

It’s not technically a ‘zero distortion’ lens but with only the slightest hint of barrel, it comes as close as makes no difference in practice.

Fujinon GF 30mm F5.6 T/S: Verdict

Like any tilt-shift lens that offers a full range of functions in any orientation, the Fujinon GF 30mm F5.6 T/S isn’t entirely straightforward to use. Even so, the learning curve isn’t steep and the rewards are rich. From correcting perspective to altering depth of field, the lens has plenty of scope, while image quality remains scintillating even at the extremes of tilt and shift movements. Ultimately, it’s the best wide-angle tilt-shift lens I’ve ever used, even if it does come with a hefty price tag.

Alternatives

Tilt-shift lenses are the darlings of professional architectural and landscape photographers, enabling perspective correction to stop tall buildings appearing to lean inwards towards the top, and for gaining control over depth of field, largely independent of aperture settings. With these photo opportunities in mind, the best tilt-shift lenses are often wide-angle optics with a large field of view. The Fujinon GF 110mm F5.6 T/S Macro is even more of a specialist lens. Designed for Fujifilm’s GFX medium format system, it has an ‘effective’ focal length of just under 90mm in full-frame terms. As such, it’s more useful for product photography, still life and, thanks to its 0.5x maximum macro magnification factor, extreme close-ups. Whichever way you look at it, this is one of the best Fujinon GF lenses , full stop.

Fujinon GF 110mm F5.6 T/S Macro: What's changed?

Nothing’s really changed as this is one of a brace of brand new tilt-shift lenses for the medium format Fujifilm GFX system. The companion lens is the Fujinon GF 30mm F5.6 T/S, which gives the same field of view as using a 24mm wide-angle lens on a full-frame camera with a smaller image sensor. The GF 30mm lens comes complete with a tripod mounting ring and a hood, both of which are absent with the GF 110mm T/S. The only accessories you get are front and rear lens caps and a soft lens pouch.

Fujinon GF 110mm F5.6 T/S Macro: Specifications

Fujinon GF 110mm F5.6 T/S Macro: Price & Availability

The lens is very new – so much so that at the time of writing this review, it was only available to pre-order from retailers stocking Fujifilm products. It comes with a price tag of £3,499/$3,499, making it very expensive for a tilt-shift lens but, then again, it needs to produce a much bigger image circle than a full-frame tilt-shift lens. That means wider-diameter glass elements that are more expensive to manufacture. By way of comparison, the Canon TS-E 90mm f/2.8L Macro lens costs around £2,439/$2,199, and the Nikon PC-E Micro-NIKKOR 85mm f/2.8D costs about £1,799/$1,977.

Fujinon GF 110mm F5.6 T/S Macro: Design & Handling

The GF 110mm feels a mighty chunk of lens and is really solidly built from metal parts. There’s no hint of plasticky construction here. Even so, it’s not quite as heavy as the GF 30mm T/S, weighing in at 1,255g. Handling is every bit as complex as I’d expect from a fully functional tilt-shift lens, with lots of control knobs and levers. As with other tilt-shift lenses, autofocus is off the menu so manual focusing can be the typical challenge if you generally rely on autofocus to do the job for you.

Control for creative effect benefits from a full range of adjustments. There’s a sizable +/-15mm of shift, and up to +/-10 degrees of tilt. Unlike with some older tilt-shift lenses, you can rotate the tilt/shift function through 90 degrees with a 45-degree click step, as well as rotating the lens on its mount through 90 degrees in both clockwise and counter-clockwise directions. That comes with 30-degree click step increments. The outcome is that you can use tilt or shift in any orientation to suit pretty much any shooting scenario.

Locking screws for both tilt and shift mechanisms enable you to keep everything locked in place while shooting and, for making adjustments with the locking screws untightened, there are the typical adjustment knobs. An additional locking switch is featured for the tilt mechanism, to keep it fixed at its central position with zero tilt applied. Printed scales are on hand for easy reference, marked in increments of 1 degree for tilt and 1mm for shift. Unusually for a tilt-shift lens, positional adjustments are recorded in the EXIF data of images for reference.

The optical design is based on 11 elements in 9 groups, which is simpler than the 16 elements in 11 groups of the sibling GF 30mm T/S lens. And whereas the latter incorporates three aspherical elements, two ED (Extra-low Dispersion) elements and one Super ED element, the GF 110mm T/S has one aspherical element and two ED elements, but no Super ED element.

Fujinon GF 110mm F5.6 T/S Macro: Photo Performance

The more tilt or shift you apply, the more you’re likely to degrade image quality, because you’re utilizing the extreme outer section of the lens’s entire image circle. I’m very impressed that the this lens maintains superb levels of sharpness and clarity from its central configuration right out to the maximum extent of both tilt and shift adjustments, although the ‘in-focus’ area is naturally very selective when using tilt in the necessary direction for minimum depth of field, where you can pick out the area you want to be sharp with manual focusing. Vignetting is also minimal even with tilt or shift taken to their maximum positions, which is no mean feat considering the relatively large medium format image sensor of the host camera.

Testing the lens with a Fujifilm GFX 100 II I found that precise manual focusing was a little tricky. Perhaps I rely too much on autofocus these days, which is unavailable with tilt-shift lenses. The ‘focus peaking’ facility and other manual focus aids of the host camera body can help to some extent but, for real precision, I generally resorted to a magnified preview facility, and kept a constant check on the results with maximum magnification in playback mode after each shot. In a nutshell, it's a razor-sharp lens but it pays to be precise, especially when making the most of a medium format camera with a 102 megapixel image sensor.

Fujinon GF 110mm F5.6 T/S Macro: Sample Images

Fujinon GF 110mm F5.6 T/S Macro: 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:

Supreme center-sharpness isn’t quite as off the scale as with the companion GF 30mm F5.6 TS lens but it’s still pretty epic. What’s more, levels of sharpness are remarkably consistent across the entire image frame, right out to the edges and corners. And that remains true when taking tilt or shift to the outer limits.

Fringing:

There’s a touch of lateral chromatic aberration towards the edges and corners of the frame, throughout the aperture range. Even so, it’s very slight and automatic correction can rule it out altogether.

Distortion: -0.08

Technically, there’s an extremely slight amount of barrel distortion but it’s virtually impossible to spot in real-world shooting.

Fujinon GF 110mm F5.6 T/S Macro: Verdict

There’s a bit of a learning curve with any tilt-shift lens if you’re not accustomed to the breed. Once you’re up to speed with the basics, however, the Fujinon GF 110mm F5.6 T/S Macro is a joy to use. I found all the controls intuitive, sensibly placed and easy to use. Handling is very refined and the lens feels beautifully built. There’s plenty of scope for correcting perspective and altering depth of field. More importantly, the lens maintains absolutely superb image quality even at the extremes of its tilt and shift movements. The ‘effective’ 87mm focal length in full-frame terms makes this lens even more of a specialist item than a wide-angle tilt-shift lens but it performs excellently and justifies its extravagant asking price.

Alternatives

Fujifilm is a world-renowned photographic company that needs no introduction. It’s been going about its business since 1934, but the medium-format GFX system is comparatively in its infancy, having been launched in 2017. It certainly hit the ground running though, and I’m a big fan of the growing range of excellent Fujinon GF lenses for its medium format cameras.

Although the range is continually expanding, there are currently no GF-mount super-telephoto lenses. At the time of writing this review, the longest telephoto offerings are the Fujinon GF 250mm F4 R LM OIS WR prime and the Fujinon GF 100-200mm F5.6 R LM OIS WR zoom. Factor in the large medium format image sensor of GFX cameras and these lenses give a maximum reach equivalent to using roughly a 200mm or 160mm lens on full-frame cameras, respectively. With high hopes to be one of the all-time best teleconverters, the Fujinon GF 1.4X TC WR aims to add extra reach and versatility to the GFX system.

Fujinon GF 1.4X TC WR: Specifications

Fujinon GF 1.4X TC WR: Price & Availability

As yet, there’s no 2x teleconverter for the GFX system so the Fujinon GF 1.4X TC WR is your only choice for extending the reach of telephoto lenses. There’s also currently little choice when it comes to what lenses you can actually use the teleconverter with. The only options so far are the Fujinon GF 250mm F4 R LM OIS WR prime and the Fujinon GF 100-200mm F5.6 R LM OIS WR zoom, as mentioned above. Typical of GF-mount medium format glass that needs to produce a larger image circle than for full-frame and especially crop-sensor cameras, the Fujinon GF 1.4X TC WR is comparatively pricey for a 1.4x teleconverter, at around £749/$849. That’s around twice the price of the Fujinon XF1.4X TC WR for Fujifilm’s APS-C format X system.

Fujinon GF 1.4X TC WR: Design & Handling

The optical design is based on 7 elements arranged in 3 groups, which is an identical arrangement to that of the smaller Fujinon XF1.4X TC WR teleconverter for APS-C format Fujifilm X-mount cameras and lenses. As I’d expect from a medium format teleconverter, the Fujinon GF 1.4X TC WR is much larger and heavier than Fujifilm’s crop-sensor equivalent, measuring 82x27mm and 400g compared with just 58x15mm and 130g.

Considering the girth and weight of Fujifilm’s medium format telephoto prime and zoom lenses, the additional size and weight of using the teleconverter doesn’t make a massive difference. For example, the Fujinon GF 250mm F4 R LM OIS WR prime weighs in at 1,425g and the Fujinon GF 100-200mm F5.6 R LM OIS WR zoom tips the scales at 1,050g. Naturally, you get the usual 1 f/stop reduction when using the teleconverter, narrowing the aperture rating of these two lenses to f/5.6 and f/8 respectively. 

Let’s do the math. The maximum focal length when using this 1.4x teleconverter becomes 350mm for the prime lens and 280mm for the zoom. In full-frame terms, it’s similar to using a 280mm or 220mm focal length respectively. Typically for a teleconverter, the minimum focus distance for the main lens remains unaltered, so as well as getting a boost in focal length, you also get 1.4x the maximum magnification ratio. That’s handy for extreme close-ups, working out to magnification ratios of 0.31x for the prime and 0.28x for the zoom, the latter at its shortest zoom setting.

As I’d expect from a modern teleconverter, especially at this price, the GF 1.4x enables full electronic communication between the main lens and the camera body. As such, autofocus, metering and image stabilization remain available, and full EXIF data is embedded in images. When it comes to build quality, the teleconverter is extensively weather-sealed and feels particularly solid and well-built.

Fujinon GF 1.4X TC WR: Photo Performance

Fujifilm claims that there’s ‘hardly any deterioration’ in performance when adding the teleconverter to one of its GF medium format telephoto lenses. That’s an increasingly common claim among camera and lens manufacturers these days. We’ll see about that but, on a practical note, Fujifilm recommends setting the host camera’s ‘AF Boost’ function to the Normal setting, to maintain autofocus performance when using the teleconverter. That’s due to the 1 f/stop reduction in light transmission when adding the teleconverter to the main lens.

I tested the teleconverter with the Fujifilm GFX 100 II and Fujinon GF 250mm F4 R LM OIS WR prime lens. They’re both phenomenal bits of kit. The medium format camera body has a 102 megapixel image sensor and the lens is sharp enough to take full advantage. It’s therefore a tall order for a teleconverter to maintain such high levels of optical performance.

In wide-ranging lighting conditions, I found that autofocus remained fast and consistently accurate when using the teleconverter. Image stabilization also remained equally effective, taking the longer focal length into account, which requires a faster shutter speed for handheld shooting.

For outright image quality, the teleconverter maintains superb levels of sharpness along with excellent control over color fringing, distortion, ghosting and flare. It’s simply a great performer - enough said.

Fujinon GF 1.4X TC WR: Sample Images

To demonstrate the image quality of the Fujifilm GFX 100 II, Fujinon GF 250mm F4 R LM OIS WR prime lens and Fujinon GF 1.4X TC WR teleconverter, this gallery includes a series of shots taken with just the camera and main lens on their own, plus comparison shots with the teleconverter added into the equation. As you might notice, for any given focus distance and aperture setting, the depth of field is also reduced by a factor of 1/1.4x when adding the teleconverter. All of the images were captured in controlled conditions under photographic LED lighting arrays. I used a sturdy tripod and set an exposure self-timer delay in the camera, and took each shot several times to judge the consistency of results, which turned out to be highly impressive. In keeping with our testing regime, all of these images were taken in addition to our lab-test shots, which are based on the use of official test charts.

Fujinon GF 1.4X TC WR: 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:

Many companies nowadays claim that their teleconverters have little or no impact on image quality. In this case, the impact is so slight that, from a visual perspective, you won’t see any drop in sharpness. Lab tests are a harsh judge but even these show minimal degradation in sharpness.

Fringing:

As with sharpness, there’s no discernible difference in color fringing when adding the teleconverter into the mix. Levels stay very low indeed, across the entire image frame.

Distortion: -0.24

The slight pincushion distortion of the main lens switches to an even slighter amount of barrel distortion when adding the teleconverter. It’s top marks all round.

Fujinon GF 1.4X TC WR: Verdict

Compared with 1.4x teleconverters for crop-sensor and even full-frame cameras, the Fujinon GF 1.4X TC WR is comparatively large, heavy and expensive to buy. I’d expect nothing less with a scaled-up medium format teleconverter that needs to deliver a larger image circle. The bottom line is that I love its performance and the extra telephoto reach that it gives to the Fujifilm GFX system, and the 1.4x boost in maximum magnification is an extra bonus. Typical of Fujinon GF lenses, it’s really well built and includes extensive weather-seals. All in all, it’s a gem of a teleconverter. I’m sold!