All posts by BastianK

My name is Bastian and I am your expert here when it comes to ultra wide angle lenses, super fast portrait lenses (ranging from a 50mm f/0.95 to a 200mm f/1.8) and I also have reviewed way too many 35mm lenses. Don't ask me anything about macro or wildlife shooting though.

Analogue Adventures – Part 43: Nikon 35Ti

Nikon 35 Ti

The Nikon 35Ti is a high end compact 35mm analogue camera released in 1993. Let’s have a closer look!

fuji fujifilm fujicolor superia 100 color negative film review analog analogue nikon 35ti
Nikon 35Ti | Fujifilm Superia 100
kodak portra 160 nc analogue nikon 35ti ti compact point and shoot istanbul
Nikon 35Ti | Kodak Portra 160 NC
kodak portra 160 nc analogue nikon 35ti ti compact point and shoot istanbul
Nikon 35Ti | Kodak Portra 160 NC
fuji fujifilm fujicolor superia 100 color negative film review analog analogue nikon 35ti
Nikon 35Ti | Fujifilm Superia 100
fuji fujifilm neopan acros 100 2 II expired black white bw sw schwarz weiss weiß nikon 35ti
Nikon 35Ti | Fujifilm Neopan 100 Acros II
fuji fujifilm neopan acros 100 2 II expired black white bw sw schwarz weiss weiß nikon 35ti
Nikon 35Ti | Fujifilm Neopan 100 Acros II

Continue reading Analogue Adventures – Part 43: Nikon 35Ti

Reviewing Lenses isn’t really worth it

It is this time of the year again. I sadly see many blogs loading their pages with so much advertising these days that it makes it hard to spot the actual content anymore. Some also opted for membership programs like Patreon. We on the other hand always financed this blog exclusively through unobtrusive affiliate links and donations. This is only possible because it is a passion project by people with actual jobs that just happen to love photography.

I still have no intention to add annoying adverts or introducing a membership/Patreon system, as I have always been an advocate of free internet and freely accessible information. I also don’t want to push junk software with high margins that I would never want to use myself or offer questionably useful presets.

This means I have to push this article 1-2 times per year – similar to what Wikipedia is doing every now and then – to reach more people.

There are many articles here that generate zero income: for example the Analogue Adventures and everything from the Technical Knowledge category, as these are not really about a product that could be bought by you. Same is also true for the reviews of simply bad lenses. Why would you buy them through affiliate links if we just told you they suck? 

Affiliate links also don’t work for everyone and every item. If you are not from Canada or the US, B&H is surely less attractive. Many people from Europe don’t like ordering directly from Asia because of import duties and some items may also not be available through our affiliate partners at all.

Thinking of reviews of affordable vintage lenses: if you buy a lens for $50 on eBay, we only get a $1 commission for that. So in these cases, you would do us a bigger favour by donating $5 and buying that lens at a lower price locally (if possible), than using the affiliate links.

If you find yourself in one of these categories – or if you simply want to support us without using affiliate links – you can do that by using this Paypal donate button under our articles:

via Paypal (BastianK)
via Paypal (Martin)

The money you donate will go directly to the author of that article. Even though the blog had two million visitors last year according to our statistics, only around 100 decided to make a donation (you know who you are, thanks a lot for that!), so you can make a real difference here.

And if you often find yourself ordering from one of our affiliates: why not bookmark and use any of our Amazon or eBay links as starting point for your purchases? It won’t cost you anything extra and helps us a lot. It doesn’t matter what you order, whether it is photography related or not, as long as you clicked on one of the links first.

Some articles highlighting the work we do here you might have missed:
Different Filter Stacks and what they mean for us: Sony E | Nikon Z | Leica M | Kolari UT
Comparison: Super Fast 35mm f/0.95 | f/1.2 Fullframe Lenses
Sony FE Lenses: The honest Guide for the A7/A9/A1 Series

And some quirky and rare lenses you won’t find being reviewed this thorough anywhere else:
Review: TTArtisan 75mm f/1.5 – A Modern and Affordable Zeiss Biotar 75/1.5?
Review: Laowa 8-15mm f/2.8 FF Zoom Fisheye
Review: SLRmagic 50mm 0.95 Hyperprime LM
Review: Nikon 200mm 2.0 IF-ED Ai – The first of its Kind

Review: Nikon AF-S 70-200mm 2.8E FL ED VR IF

Introduction

nikon af-s 70mm-200 2.8g vr fl ed n sony 42mp 61mp a7rii a7riv a7riii a1 a9iii a7rv review resolution sharpness contrast bokeh vignetting coma z6 z7 z8 z9
Nikon AF-S 70-200mm 2.8E FL ED VR via FTZ II on Nikon Z6

Having a state of the art 70-200mm 2.8 zoom is something very important for the camera manufacturers, as these are extremely popular lenses. This Nikon AF-S 70-200mm 2.8E FL ED VR is the last one that has been released for the F-mount and after the predecessors – that all had at least one outstanding drawback – this one finally hit the mark. Let’s have a closer look!

Sample Images

nikon af-s 70mm-200 2.8g vr fl ed n sony 42mp 61mp a7rii a7riv a7riii a1 a9iii a7rv review resolution sharpness contrast bokeh vignetting coma z6 z7 z8 z9
Nikon Z6 | FTZ II | Nikon AF-S 70-200mm 2.8E FL ED VR | 135mm | f/2.8
nikon af-s 70mm-200 2.8g vr fl ed n sony 42mp 61mp a7rii a7riv a7riii a1 a9iii a7rv review resolution sharpness contrast bokeh vignetting coma z6 z7 z8 z9
Nikon Z6 | FTZ II | Nikon AF-S 70-200mm 2.8E FL ED VR | 70mm | f/2.8
nikon af-s 70mm-200 2.8g vr fl ed n sony 42mp 61mp a7rii a7riv a7riii a1 a9iii a7rv review resolution sharpness contrast bokeh vignetting coma z6 z7 z8 z9
Nikon Z6 | FTZ II | Nikon AF-S 70-200mm 2.8E FL ED VR | 160mm | f/2.8
nikon af-s 70mm-200 2.8g vr fl ed n sony 42mp 61mp a7rii a7riv a7riii a1 a9iii a7rv review resolution sharpness contrast bokeh vignetting coma z6 z7 z8 z9
Nikon Z6 | FTZ II | Nikon AF-S 70-200mm 2.8E FL ED VR | 100mm | f/2.8
nikon af-s 70mm-200 2.8g vr fl ed n sony 42mp 61mp a7rii a7riv a7riii a1 a9iii a7rv review resolution sharpness contrast bokeh vignetting coma z6 z7 z8 z9
Nikon Z6 | FTZ II | Nikon AF-S 70-200mm 2.8E FL ED VR | 100mm | f/2.8
nikon af-s 70mm-200 2.8g vr fl ed n sony 42mp 61mp a7rii a7riv a7riii a1 a9iii a7rv review resolution sharpness contrast bokeh vignetting coma z6 z7 z8 z9
Nikon Z6 | FTZ II | Nikon AF-S 70-200mm 2.8E FL ED VR | 200mm | f/2.8

Continue reading Review: Nikon AF-S 70-200mm 2.8E FL ED VR IF

Review: Samyang 50mm 1.4 AF II

Introduction

samyang 50mm 1.4 ii mkii mk2 2 mk fe af bokeh master gm sony 42mp 61mp a7rii a7riv a7riii a1 a9iii a7rv review resolution sharpness contrast bokeh vignetting coma astrophotography z6 z7 z8 z9
Samyang 50mm 1.4 AF II on Sony A7rII

The first generation Samyang AF 50mm 1.4 FE has some fans for its appealing bokeh, but at the same time it showed more of a subpar performance in most other categories. Samyang’s engineers seem to have been aware of that, as this lens had been updated to the Samyang AF 50mm 1.4 FE II a few years later. Let’s see if this has become an appealing yet affordable 50mm 1.4 lens that speaks to a broader audience than its predecessor.

Sample Images

samyang 50mm 1.4 ii mkii mk2 2 mk fe af bokeh master gm sony 42mp 61mp a7rii a7riv a7riii a1 a9iii a7rv review resolution sharpness contrast bokeh vignetting coma astrophotography z6 z7 z8 z9
Sony A7III | Samyang 50mm 1.4 AF II | f/1.4
samyang 50mm 1.4 ii mkii mk2 2 mk fe af bokeh master gm sony 42mp 61mp a7rii a7riv a7riii a1 a9iii a7rv review resolution sharpness contrast bokeh vignetting coma astrophotography z6 z7 z8 z9
Sony A7III | Samyang 50mm 1.4 AF II | f/1.4
samyang 50mm 1.4 ii mkii mk2 2 mk fe af bokeh master gm sony 42mp 61mp a7rii a7riv a7riii a1 a9iii a7rv review resolution sharpness contrast bokeh vignetting coma astrophotography z6 z7 z8 z9
Sony A7III | Samyang 50mm 1.4 AF II | f/1.4
samyang 50mm 1.4 ii mkii mk2 2 mk fe af bokeh master gm sony 42mp 61mp a7rii a7riv a7riii a1 a9iii a7rv review resolution sharpness contrast bokeh vignetting coma astrophotography z6 z7 z8 z9
Sony A7III | Samyang 50mm 1.4 AF II | f/1.4
samyang 50mm 1.4 ii mkii mk2 2 mk fe af bokeh master gm sony 42mp 61mp a7rii a7riv a7riii a1 a9iii a7rv review resolution sharpness contrast bokeh vignetting coma astrophotography z6 z7 z8 z9
Sony A7III | Samyang 50mm 1.4 AF II | f/1.4
samyang 50mm 1.4 ii mkii mk2 2 mk fe af bokeh master gm sony 42mp 61mp a7rii a7riv a7riii a1 a9iii a7rv review resolution sharpness contrast bokeh vignetting coma astrophotography z6 z7 z8 z9
Sony A7III | Samyang 50mm 1.4 AF II | f/1.4

Continue reading Review: Samyang 50mm 1.4 AF II

Review: Tokina 17mm 3.5 AF AT-X Pro

Introduction

tokina 17mm 3.5 af at-x pro auto focus wide angle ultra review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting compact nikon d700 d800 d810 d850 d780 fm fe f3 f f5 z6 z7 z8 zf
Tokina 17mm 3.5 AF AT-X Pro on Sony A7rII

During the SLR era Tokina had a bit of a thing for 17mm 3.5 ultra wide angle lenses, as they made three different iterations of it. This is a review of the latest one and the urban legend says that the older manual focus version is actually the better performer. I always found that hard to believe, so I thought it was a good idea to find out myself. So let’s have a closer look at this Tokina 17mm 3.5 AF AT-X Pro.

Sample Images

tokina 17mm 3.5 af at-x pro auto focus wide angle ultra review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting compact nikon d700 d800 d810 d850 d780 fm fe f3 f f5 z6 z7 z8 zftokina 17mm 3.5 af at-x pro auto focus wide angle ultra review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting compact nikon d700 d800 d810 d850 d780 fm fe f3 f f5 z6 z7 z8 zf
Sony A7III | Tokina 17mm 3.5 AF AT-X Pro | f/11 | Polarizer
tokina 17mm 3.5 af at-x pro auto focus wide angle ultra review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting compact nikon d700 d800 d810 d850 d780 fm fe f3 f f5 z6 z7 z8 zftokina 17mm 3.5 af at-x pro auto focus wide angle ultra review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting compact nikon d700 d800 d810 d850 d780 fm fe f3 f f5 z6 z7 z8 zf
Sony A7III | Tokina 17mm 3.5 AF AT-X Pro | f/11
Sony A7III | Tokina 17mm 3.5 AF AT-X Pro | f/11 | Polarizer
tokina 17mm 3.5 af at-x pro auto focus wide angle ultra review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting compact nikon d700 d800 d810 d850 d780 fm fe f3 f f5 z6 z7 z8 zf
Sony A7III | Tokina 17mm 3.5 AF AT-X Pro | f/11 | Polarizer
tokina 17mm 3.5 af at-x pro auto focus wide angle ultra review architecture 42mp 61mp sony a7riv a7rv sharpness contrast vignetting compact nikon d700 d800 d810 d850 d780 fm fe f3 f f5 z6 z7 z8 zf
Sony A7III | Tokina 17mm 3.5 AF AT-X Pro | f/11 | Polarizer
Sony A7III | Tokina 17mm 3.5 AF AT-X Pro | f/5.6

Continue reading Review: Tokina 17mm 3.5 AF AT-X Pro