Posts Tagged ‘f’
Tokina 12 f 24mm and me
Tried the lens at a wedding shoot last weekend at full 12mm. The images are excellent with edge to edge sharpness and contrast at f8. For half the price of a Nikon lens, it is 100% worth it!
Tokina 12 24mm f | ggler
USM UD Canon f/3.5-5.6 IS EF-S 15-85mm for you
Excellent walk-around lens. If you have to pick one high-quality walk-around lens for your Canon APS-C (1.6x) dSLR, this is it. I debated between this one and the Canon 17-55m f/2.8 IS; the additional range won over (the extra 2mm on the wide end helps noticeably, and longer telephoto reach is nice too), and being 25% cheaper didn’t hurt. The big advantage of the other lens’ f2.8 max aperture could be important to some. I shoot a decent bit of video and don’t mind the smaller aperture for a little more latitude in focusing errors; even my stills are rarely shot below f5.6, though I do have other lenses to cover other needs (50mm f/1.4 USM and 70-200 f/2.8L IS).
Coupled with the EOS 7D, this lens is perfect as a fairly compact and very capable kit. Images are sharp and colorful, focusing is quick. Build quality feels solid. No issues at all!
Why 4 stars only then? Dunno, found Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM UD hard to give 5 stars when I compare it with my faster L lenses, even though those are much more expensive. Guess it’s an absolute rating scale for me 
Wow! 70-300mm Sigma Macro SLD DG f/4-5.6 Lens
Good Utility lens. I bought this lens based on reviews here and my budget. I was just stepping up to a DSLR and wanted a long reach lens but I didnt have the budget for much. I went back and forth between the Sigma and the Tamron and ended up with the Sigma, again based on reviews here.
The Good:
This is a great starter lens or budget lens. With a 1.5 crop factor Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 SLD DG Macro Lens is a 105mm-450mm lens with true macro from 200-300mm (250-450 converted). Thats a lot of lens for $150. The macro is good but takes some getting used to. First you have to go past 200mm, then flip a switch to go to macro focusing. When you are done, you have to do all of that in reverse or it wont retract. The macro focusing is good but most of the time you will want to switch to manual. The zoom ring has a nice positive feel that lets you stop when you want to and go when you want to. Some zooms are a little too “lose” for my taste. Because of its size, hand held shooting needs daylight and even then if you can use a tripod, do. With a tripod, the sharpness is excellent. This lens has a definite sweet spot between 135mm and 200mm, f/8. Shoot in this range and you will get amazing results.
The Bad
This thing is BIG and HEAVY. At 300mm and the full macro focusing, this lens is HUGE!! Do not try using it on a cheep tripod. I did, its frustrating. Because of the size and weight, it flops around more than some lenses. BE CAREFUL! Focus at either end is not a strong point. There is softness and CA at 300mm and at the low end of the f-stops. IF you can shoot f/8 or better, you will get better results.
This is not a “digital” lens. It is a full frame, 35mm film lens that works great on new Pentax digitals. AS long as you understand and accept its limitations, you will get a lot of value from it.
Why DX 55-200mm IF ED AF-S Nikon VR f/4-5.6G
Didn’t meet expectations. Unfortunately, I found that the VR on this lens didn’t perform as I expected (comparing Nikon 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED IF AF-S DX VR to the image stabilization on my previous Canon S2 IS). I also didn’t like that the focus ring is at the far end of the lens, making it especially difficult to use if the hood in attached.