Full-Frame

New and Fast Telephoto Lenses Coming From Sigma

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Three new patents (see: 1,2) have been issued from Sigma for a 300mm F2.8 lens, a 250mm F2 lens, and 200mm F1.8 lens.  These appear to be for the Sony E mount, at least initially.

We don’t have any other information at this time, and it’s not uncommon for patents to be filed for lenses that never get made.  But hopefully at least some of these lenses get made.  As a bonus, we hope that Sigma makes them significantly cheaper than first-party offerings and keeps the weight and size down as much as possible.

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Brightin Star 24mm F6.3 Tiny Lens

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I don’t know if we should get tired of all of these cheap but small aperture lens or happy to have so many affordable, small options.  I lean towards the latter.

We don’t have a price or release date for this lens yet, but it is full-frame, it would be reasonable to expect it to be available for the Sony E, Nikon Z, and L mounts.  We should also expect reasonable performance in the center and questionable edges.  F6.3 requires so much light that this lens is really limited.  Think of it as an expensive lens cap, maybe.  But we will be happy to be surprised.

For a little bit more money, you could buy a vintage 24mm F2.8 lens, but it obviously would not be as small.  And for more money yet you could a third-party autofocus 24mm F2.8 lens.

This leak comes courtesy a Weibo post.

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Voigtlander NOKTON 28mm F1.5 for Nikon Z Only

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Strange decision for Cosina Voigtlander to release this lens for Nikon only but it may have to do with the unique Nikon mount with its large flange diameter.  Although they do have a 28mm F1.5 lens for Leica M mount.

Cosina has posted sample photos from this lens on their website.  They look good but it’s always hard to trust photos from the manufacturer.  The bokeh does feel vintage which may be a plus or minus depending on your preference.

Key specifications includes:

  • Electronic contacts to communicate information to the Nikon Z body
  • 12-Blade iris diaphragm
  • Minimum shooting distance of 0.28m
  • All metal
  • 10 elements in 8 groups featuring aspherical lenses
  • Current estimate of price is $750 USD

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7artisan’s $90 18mm F5.6 Full-frame Lens

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Small wide-angle lenses used to be a very desirable thing.  Back in the film days there were many esteemed photographers who loved the manual focus 20mm F4 lens.  And F4 is a lot more versatile than F5.6, but for many landscape photographers they could probably get buy with this aperture.  It might also be useful as a gimbal lens.  The lens is basically a cheap, wide-angle pancake lens that weighs only 146grams.  It’s available for the Nikon Z, Sony E, and L mount systems.  Close focus is 0.3 meters / 0.98 feet.

The real question is how does it perform optically.  Early reports indicate a sharp center, weaker edges, reasonable distortion, and significant vignetting.  This is kind of what you would expect from a small wide-angle lens.  The vignetting may or may not work for your use case.

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Rokinon Remaster Slim Wide-Angle 3-Lens Kit

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Rokinon, aka Samyang, has released an interesting lens kit.  There is a base module and then 3 different sets of optics you can swap out inside of it:

  • 21mm f/3.5
  • 28mm f/3.5
  • 32mm f/2.8

These lenses are tiny and full-frame.  Check on the weight on the optical blocks:

The set is available for the Sony FE mount and comes at a price of $399 USD.

To make lenses this small there has to be sacrifices in the optical formula.  Sometimes these sacrifices can create an interesting look, and at other times they add offensive elements.  So how did Rokinon do? It looks like they came up short, unfortunately.

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New Panasonic L-Mount Camera Coming Soon

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Unfortunately we do not know which model.  Some early murmurings seem to point to a high megapixel model being released next but this has not been confirmed.  Stay tuned as we will post any information we can confirm about this camera as soon as we get it.  What a lot of people are hoping for is a Panasonic S1H II but this upcoming camera does not appear to be that.

Leica SL3-S Digital Camera

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leica sl3 s digital camera

The Leica SL3-S Digital Camera is going to be announced on January 16, 2025.

The current Leica SL3 sells for $7000 (USD) and features a 60 megapixel sensor.

What has been rumored is:

  • Contains the 24.6MP sensor of the current Leica SL2-S
  • Tweaked/slightly improved ISO performance
  • C2PA support (a technical standard for certifying the source and history of media content)

The Leica SL2-S currently sells for $3000 which is a price reduction from its launch.  We’re guessing that the SL3-S will be around $5000 but we’ll be happy if it’s lower in price.

This camera will really only be of interest to those already in the Leica ecosystem.  Sadly, it’s not that exciting of an addition and we really wish companies would innovate more.

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Sigma 28-105mm F2.8 Lens

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sigma_28_to_105mm_lens

Sigma released an interesting lens that’s not much heavier than some 24-105mm F4 lenses, the Sigma 28-105mm F2.8.  This lens costs $1500 and we’re happy to have this option.  This lens extends when zooming and does not have optical image stabilization but these were likely necessary sacrifices to keep the weight, size, and price down.  There are some concerns about the manual focusing of this lens.  This lens launches available for Sony E mount and L mount.

Key specifications:

  • Full Frame
  • F2.8 to F22
  • HLA Autofocus
  • 15.8″ Minimum Focus Distance
  • Aperture Ring with Click & Lock Switches
  • FLD, SLD & Aspherical Elements
  • Water and Oil-Repellant Coating
  • Dust and Splash-Resistant Construction
  • Minimal Focus Breathing
  • 82mm Front Filter
  • 18 Elements in 13 Groups
  • 12 Bladed Iris
  • 2.2 lb / 990 g
  • $1500

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