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.

Survey

Dear readers, I would like to increase the range of this blog and I am currently thinking what would be the best way to do it.

Most of the interaction with you happens through the comment section here or through our Facebook account and I am getting the feeling this is not enough, especially considering you cannot get this high quality, in-depth reviews anywhere else with so little and unobstrusive advertising on the pages.

We do have an Instagram blog account, but honestly I hate the instagram workflow. Posting via phone sucks, the desktop apps suck even more and you cannot properly paste links leading to the reviews, because Instagram wants to keep you in their system at all cost.

Is Instagram the way to go nevertheless?
Is Twitter still a thing?
Youtube videos that go along with the reviews?
A whatsapp group?
Telegram?
Anything else that comes to mind I didn’t think of yet?

It would be greatly appreciated if you could tell us in the comment section what would be your preferred way to communicate with us and where you would like to be informed about new posts first.

Thanks in advance, Bastian

Update:
I am amazed by the sheer amount of feedback from you guys! I may not reply to every comment but be assured I read all of them. So I will comment on some of the more common discussion points in summary here.

2nd Update:
I set up a phillipreeve.net Discord server, so you are invited to try it out with me and see if it is an useful addition.

Continue reading Survey

Analogue Adventures – Part 11: Kodak Tmax 3200

Kodak tmax 3200 analogue leica m6 contax canon fd olympus om
Kodak Tmax 3200

An ISO 3200 black and white film is pretty much the fastest film you can get these days. As I like to shoot in dimly lit environments of course I had to give it a try.
Processing and scanning was done at urbanfilmlab in Germany.

Kodak tmax 3200 analogue leica m6 contax canon fd olympus om
Leica M6 | MS-Optics 35mm 1.4 Apoqualia | f/2.8 | Tmax 3200 | 3-stop ND
Kodak tmax 3200 analogue leica m6 contax canon fd olympus om
Leica M6 | MS-Optics 35mm 1.4 Apoqualia | f/2.0 | Tmax 3200
Kodak tmax 3200 analogue leica m6 contax canon fd olympus om
Leica M6 | MS-Optics 35mm 1.4 Apoqualia | f/8.0 | Tmax 3200 | 3-stop ND
Kodak tmax 3200 analogue leica m6 contax canon fd olympus om
Leica M6 | MS-Optics 35mm 1.4 Apoqualia | f/4.0 | Tmax 3200 | 3-stop ND

Continue reading Analogue Adventures – Part 11: Kodak Tmax 3200

Review: AstrHori 18mm 8.0 Shift

Introduction

astrhori rockster rockstar 18mm 8.0 mount review shift contrast sharpness pancake tiny lens
AstrHori 18mm 8.0 Shift on Sony A7rII

This AstrHori 18mm 8.0 Shift is already the third AstrHori lens I am reviewing here. Their lenses often feature a “little extra” over the competition to make them more interesting. In this case this isn’t just a compact 18mm lens, a ±6mm shift function has been added on top. Judging by the size of this lens, especially the diameter of the lens elements, I am wondering how useful that shift function will be though. But let’s have a look together in this review.

Sample Images

astrhori rockster rockstar 18mm 8.0 mount review shift contrast sharpness pancake tiny lens
Sony A7rII UT | AstrHori 18mm 8.0 Shift
astrhori rockster rockstar 18mm 8.0 mount review shift contrast sharpness pancake tiny lens
Sony A7III | AstrHori 18mm 8.0 Shift
astrhori rockster rockstar 18mm 8.0 mount review shift contrast sharpness pancake tiny lens
Sony A7rII UT | AstrHori 18mm 8.0 Shift
astrhori rockster rockstar 18mm 8.0 mount review shift contrast sharpness pancake tiny lens
Sony A7rII UT | AstrHori 18mm 8.0 Shift

Continue reading Review: AstrHori 18mm 8.0 Shift

Review: AstrHori 12mm 2.8 Fisheye

Introduction

astrhori 12mm 2.8 fisheye fish eye review 42mp sony a7rII a7rIII a7rIV a7rV 42mp 61mp contrast review resolution test
AstrHori 12mm 2.8 Fisheye on Sony A7rII

Fisheye lenses have a somewhat limited range of possible applications and I would definitely consider them niche products. Probably this is also the reason most of the big manufacturers seem to have given up on having any of these in their portfolios. So if you are looking to add a fisheye lens to your kit your only real option are lenses like this AstrHori 12mm 2.8 Fisheye from smaller manufacturers. As can be seen from the picture above this is a huge lens, but can its performance keep up with its dimensions? Let us find out in this review!

Sample Images

astrhori 12mm 2.8 fisheye fish eye review 42mp sony a7rII a7rIII a7rIV a7rV 42mp 61mp contrast review resolution test
Sony A7III | AstrHori 12mm 2.8 Fisheye | f/4.0
astrhori 12mm 2.8 fisheye fish eye review 42mp sony a7rII a7rIII a7rIV a7rV 42mp 61mp contrast review resolution test
Sony A7III | AstrHori 12mm 2.8 Fisheye | f/2.8
astrhori 12mm 2.8 fisheye fish eye review 42mp sony a7rII a7rIII a7rIV a7rV 42mp 61mp contrast review resolution test
Sony A7III | AstrHori 12mm 2.8 Fisheye | f/11
astrhori 12mm 2.8 fisheye fish eye review 42mp sony a7rII a7rIII a7rIV a7rV 42mp 61mp contrast review resolution test
Sony A7III | AstrHori 12mm 2.8 Fisheye | f/2.8

Continue reading Review: AstrHori 12mm 2.8 Fisheye

Review: TTArtisan 11mm 2.8 Fisheye

Introduction

ttartisan 7artisans fish eye fisheye ultra wide angle fischauge diagonal diagonally sharpness mirrorless spiegellos
TTArtisan 11mm 2.8 Fisheye on Sony A7rII

Fisheye lenses are not exactly hugely popular and the fact that we haven’t seen a fullframe fisheye lens designed for mirrorless yet – in more than 60 years of the Leica-M system we haven’t seen a single one – only supports this. So maybe this 11mm 2.8 from TTArtisan is a welcome surprise, being the first of its kind? Let us find out in this review!
February 2023: Alternatives section updated

Sample Images

ttartisan 7artisans fish eye fisheye ultra wide angle fischauge diagonal diagonally sharpness mirrorless spiegellos
Sony A7rII | TTArtisan 11mm 2.8 fisheye | f/8.0
ttartisan 7artisans fish eye fisheye ultra wide angle fischauge diagonal diagonally sharpness mirrorless spiegellos
Sony A7rII | TTArtisan 11mm 2.8 fisheye | f/8.0
ttartisan 7artisans fish eye fisheye ultra wide angle fischauge diagonal diagonally sharpness mirrorless spiegellos
Sony A7rII | TTArtisan 11mm 2.8 fisheye | f/5.6

Continue reading Review: TTArtisan 11mm 2.8 Fisheye