Tested Reviews

Last month we tested the industry’s least expensive 35mm f/1.4 lens (the $500 Rokinon 35mm AS UMC). This month, we shift to the opposite end of the pricing spectrum to one of the most expensive: Nikon’s $1,800 full-frame 35mm f/1.4G lens. Like all f/1.4 primes, it’s large and heavy—more than three times the bulk of the 7-ounce 35mm f/2 Nikkor. Its weight is identical to last month’s Rokinon as well as Canon’s comparable 35mm f/1.4. This new Nikkor scales up to 52.5mm on DX bodies.

With a look that reminds us of a 1920s-era Leica A (if it were modified for the digital age), Leica’s X1 hopes to offer a high-end approach, with a classic feel, to the compact camera. The twist is that this $2,000 (street) model contains a 12.2MP (effective) APS-C sized sensor in an attempt to produce image quality that goes beyond that of most compacts. In our tests, it certainly did.

Nikon kickstarted a revolution in the photography world when it included video recording in the D90, a DSLR that also wowed shooters with its fine imaging and great handling. Now Nikon’s new D5100 finesses that combo further. It’s the company’s first to include full 1920x1080-pixel recording at 30 frames per second. Nikon’s D7000 and D3100 can record 1080p, but only at 24 fps— great for cinema nerds, but not for watching home movies on regular high-definition TVs. The D5100 can please both crowds.