Digital Camera News and Reviews

Olympus M.Zuiko 17mm f/2.8

Photozone.de has tested the Olympus M.Zuiko 17mm f/2.8 pancake lens. This Micro Four Thirds lens from Olympus is an all-round lens that competes with the Panasonic 20mm lens. It is interesting to see how the quality is as the Olympic lens is cheaper and a bit wider.

Photozone ends up giving the Olympus 17mm lens a pretty lukewarm review. They think it is quite lovely, but it disappoints in several ways like sharpness and a lot of barrel distortion (which is corrected by software). What the reviewer likes it the quality of the bokeh from the Olympus lens. Too bad Olympus did not put more effort into the production of this lens as they have a very good reputation when it comes to optical quality.
Read the full review of the Olympus M.Zuiko 17mm f/2.8 pancake lens here.

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM

SLR Gear has tested the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM lens. This macro lens from Canon has an interesting 100mm that give it effectively 160mm on APS-C DSLR cameras. The f/2.8 is also very useful when taking macro pictures of fast insects.

SLR Gear ends up giving the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM a very good review as the lens is able to produce sharp pictures even wide open at f/2.8 on Full Frame cameras. The addition of image stabilization is also a very addition for macro photographers. Overall this Canon macro lens looks like a good option for Canon photographers.
Read the full review of the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM lens here.

Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 IF EX DG HSM AF

SLR Gear has reviewed the Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 IF EX DG HSM AF lens. This standard zoom lens has a constant large aperture across the zoom range making it more interesting than other standard zooms with varying aperture. But the constant aperture comes at a price since the Sigma lens got a $900 price tag. Will the hefty price be worth it?

SLR Gear find the Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 IF EX DG HSM AF to be pretty good, especially on cameras with smaller sensors than full frame cameras as you get quite a bit of vignetting on full frame. Wide open you get quite a bit of corner softness and chromatic aberrations, but if you stop it down it performs better. If you need sharp pictures at f/2.8 you might want to look at a more expensive lens, but if that is not so important for you you should consider this Sigma lens.
Read the full review of the Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 IF EX DG HSM AF lens here.

Panasonic Lumix G 20mm F1.7 ASPH

Dpreview has reviewed the Panasonic Lumix G 20mm F1.7 ASPH lens for the Micro Four Thirds system. There has been quite a lot of fuzz around this lens because of its F1.7 aperture and the interesting 20mm focal length (equivalent to 40mm in 35mm standards). Since Dpreview is my favorite review site I’m quite excited to see what they think about this lens as I’m looking into purchasing a Micro Four Thirds camera.

Dpreview ends up giving the Panasonic Lumix G 20mm F1.7 ASPH a “Highly Recommended” rating as the lens is very small and light weight in combination with having good build quality and proper manual focusing. The lens also is also able to produce impressive images at all apertures. The only downside is a bit hefty price tag. Seems like Panasonic has produced a winner with the Lumix G 20mm F1.7 lens.
Read the full review of the Panasonic Lumix G 20mm F1.7 ASPH lens here.