wide angle

If you're a fan of all-in-one zooms, this has been a pretty good week for you. First nikon announces their new 18-300mm VC and now sigma has a new version of their 18-250mm with OS coming in July.

The first thing you'll notice when you hold the new Zeiss 15mm F/2.8 lens in your hand is how big and relatively heavy it is. In most circumstances, that would sound like a criticism, but as with Zeiss lenses in the past, it's actually fairly desirable. The all-metal barrel feels incredibly sturdy, and that includes the integrated lens hood, which sticks out well beyond where the front of the lens would otherwise be to protect the protruding front element.

Korean lens manufacturer Samyang — often sold in the USA as Rokinon — has just announced the European release of a 24mm F/1.4 lens. Their lenses are well known for being remarkably affordable but eschewing all automatic focus for a more manual approach. Because they're manual, you'll see Rokinon lenses in all common formats, and this 24mm version will be released for Canon, Nikon, Sony Alpha, Pentax, Samsung NX and Four Thirds .