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Lenses

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  • The Great New Step-up Lens

    Tired of your kit lens? Here's great advice on what lens to buy next!
    • By Peter Kolonia And Julia Silber on December 16, 2008

    It's time to move beyond that kit zoom
    Feeling hemmed in by the 18-55mm lens that came with your DSLR? Yearning for something longer to grab sports or wildlife subjects with crisp detail and vibrant color? Or a wider focal length to embrace the entire family around a holiday spread?

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  • Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD Macro AF SP: Lens Test

    This fast telephoto zoom offers many pro touches for less coin than the competitors.
    • By Julia Silber on December 16, 2008

    Tamron means business with its first high-speed tele zoom in more than 10 years. This full-framer ($700, street) scales up, approximately, to a 109-310mm on most DSLRs, and as a member of Tamron's SP (Super Performance) family, was designed as a pro-quality lens. It boasts two costly LD glass elements that control color fringing and coatings to suppress flare off digital sensors. The lens makes a logical mate to Tamron's 28-75mm f/2.8 SP pro zoom.

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  • Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 7-14mm f/4 AF: Lens Test

    An ultra-wide rectilinear zoom for the Four Thirds crowd is a real winner.
    • By Julia Silber on December 16, 2008

    Olympus continues to push digital's optical envelope with the industry's widest non-fisheye lens for sub-full-frame DSLRs. A 14-28mm equivalent ($1,595, street), even by 35mm standards, this lens is extremely wide.
    Its unusually large and double-sided aspheric elements, plus multiple elements of extra-low- and super-extra-low-dispersion glass (a total of three) help deliver performance unequalled in the ultrawide digital-only zoom category.
    HANDS ON:

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  • Nikon 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR DX AF-S Nikkor: Lens Test

    Not quite kit, not quite pro, this Nikkor should make many advanced amateurs happy.
    • By Julia Silber on December 16, 2008

    This digital-only, 5.3X, wide-to-medium-tele, general-purpose zoom ($600, street) is an attractive upgrade for Nikon shooters underserved by their entry-level 18-55mm kit lens. No longer a beginner? It offers Vibration Reduction, plus extra reach in both directions, scaling up to 24-127.5mm on most Nikon DSLR bodies. Two extra-low dispersion glass elements rein in the image-softening effect of chromatic aberration (a.k.a. color fringing), and three aspheric elements help tackle linear distortion.
    HANDS ON

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  • Lens Test: Pentax SMCP-DA* 200mm f/2.8ED (IF) SDM AF

    How to shoot perfectly sharp photos in less-than-perfect light with a pro-caliber, digital-only tele.
    • By Julia Silber on December 16, 2008

    If you needed proof that Pentax has a high-performance, professional-quality DSLR in the offing, this $1,000 (street) lens is it.
    Based on the film-era 200mm f/2.8 FA lens, it's equipped with new internal-flare-suppressing coatings, and it has a newly designed rear element which Pentax claims projects a perfectly flat-field image. A 300mm equivalent, it sports Pentax's SMC supersonic focusing motor for near-silent autofocus action, as well as Quick-shift focusing that lets you touch up focus manually while the lens remains in the AF mode.

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  • Lens Test: Canon 55-250mm f/4-5.6 EF-S IS

    • By Julia Silber on December 16, 2008

    An 88-400mm equivalent, this is Canon's longest EF-S (digital only) zoom, and roughly the low-cost digital alternative to its 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L full-frame "white" image-stabilized zoom that's so hot with pros. At $280, street, this 55-250mm is by far Canon's most favorably priced IS tele zoom, with the only glass close to it a 70-300mm IS lens that streets for roughly $550.

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  • Lens Test: 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR AF-S DX Nikkor

    Upgrade your glass to Vibration Reduction without getting rattled by the price.
    • By Julia Silber on December 16, 2008

    Nikon offers tyros an option to upgrade to Vibration Reduction technology at a very nice price ($199, street) with this digital-only (DX) kit lens. A 27-82.5mm equivalent, this 3X zoom also sports a near-silent SWM focusing motor.
    HANDS ON

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  • Lens Test: Canon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM AF

    Dramatically compact, satisfyingly sharp, unusually designed, and optically stabilized. This full-framer is for Canon shooters who want it all in one lens.
    • By Julia Silber on December 16, 2008

    One of only two lenses that contains both refractive and diffractive glass elements, this image-stabilized tele zoom is dramatically more compact -- and expensive ($1,143, street) -- than its refractive-only Canon ($549, street) or Nikon ($479, street) counterparts. Unlike more common refractive optics, diffractive optical design is based on how light rays bend when forced to move around (not through) an obstruction -- in this case, a pattern of molded, sawtooth, Fresnel-like, concentric circles. A full-frame lens, it scales up to a 105-450mm on Canon EOS Digital Rebel models.

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  • Lens Test: Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* ZA SSM AF

    A stand-out entry in the general-purpose, full-frame zoom category, this pro-caliber lens is everything you'd expect from a Zeiss.
    • By Julia Silber on December 16, 2008

    The 24-70mm f/2.8 full-frame zoom is becoming the general-purpose standard for news, wedding, portrait, landscape, and event pros. (Everyone, in other words, except sports and close-up photographers.) Canon, Nikon, and Sigma all offer superb examples. Sony's outstanding new entry ($1,750, street) isn't based on any earlier Sony, Zeiss, or Konica Minolta designs, but -- as the blue logo indicates -- was codeveloped with Zeiss, and it paves the way for Sony's soon-to-be-unveiled 24MP pro flagship DSLR.

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  • Lens Test: Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S

    A serious standard zoom lens for exacting professional Nikon-shooters, it's bright, rugged, and optically flawless.
    • By Julia Silber on December 16, 2008

    Surprisingly, this $1,700 (street) lens is Nikon's first constant-aperture optic in the very popular, all-purpose, standard zoom category. Both of the company's previous pro and amateur 24-85mm lenses had variable apertures. If the gold ornamentation on its barrel doesn't tip you off, the price should confirm that this is a professional-caliber lens.

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