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.

Canon, Canon EF-Mount, Review

Review: Canon EF 24mm 1.4L II USM

July 19, 2025 BastianK 12 Comments

Introduction

canon ef 24mm 1.4l 1.4 ii usm sony 42mp 61mp a7rii a7riv a7riii a1 a9iii a7rv review resolution sharpness contrast bokeh vignetting coma z6 z7 z8 z9 zf — Canon EF 24mm 1.4L II USM via Sigma MC-11 on Sony A7rII

While Nikon is somewhat famous for their 28mm 1.4 lenses, when it comes to 24mm lenses as fast as f/1.4, Canon beat them by several decades, as they released their first Canon FD 24mm 1.4 S.C.C. Aspherical in 1975. Canon also kept the fans of the 24mm 1.4 lenses happy with regular updates: a New FD lens in 1979, the original Canon EF 24mm 1.4L USM in 1997 and then this updated Canon EF 24mm 1.4L II USM in 2008. Let’s see in this review how it compares to the Nikon AF-S 24mm 1.4G (released in 2010) and to today’s mirrorless designs like the Sony FE 24mm 1.4 GM.

Sample Images

Sony A7III | Sigma MC-11 | Canon EF 24mm 1.4L II USM | f/1.4

Continue reading Review: Canon EF 24mm 1.4L II USM →

Leica M, Review, Thypoch

Review: Thypoch 21mm 1.4 Simera

July 12, 2025 BastianK 7 Comments

Introduction

thypoch simera 21mm 1.4 fast portrait wide angle leica m10 m11 m9 m8 m10r review 42mp 24mp 61mp contrast sharpness bokeh vignetting — Thypoch 21mm 1.4 Simera on Leica M10

As fifth lens of the Simera lineup, Thypoch released this Thypoch 21mm 1.4 Simera lens in mid 2025. This is obviously a direct competitor to the Voigtländer VM 21mm 1.4 Nokton, so we will especially check how these two lenses compare.
Lens is being reviewed on Sony A7rII and Leica M10

Sample Images

Continue reading Review: Thypoch 21mm 1.4 Simera →

Leica M, Review

Review: SLRmagic 50mm 0.95 Hyperprime LM

July 5, 2025 BastianK 13 Comments

Introduction

review slrmagic hyperprime lm T0.95 leica m 50mm 0.95 lens contrast resolution m10 42mp 24mp 61mp m6 analogue contrast bokeh vignettingreview canon leica m 50mm 0.95 tv dream lens lens contrast resolution m10 42mp 24mp 61mp m6 analogue contrast bokeh vignetting — SLRmagic 50mm 0.95 Hyperprime on Leica M10

In 2025 you can find various f/0.95 fullframe lenses from different manufacturers and with different focal lengths – most (or all by now?) of which you can find reviews here. In 2013 that wasn’t the case though, you only had the Canon 50mm 0.95 Dream Lens from the 1960s, the Leica 50mm 0.95 Noctilux-M from 2008 for 10k and then this SLRmagic 50mm 0.95 Hyperprime. Not many people were willing to spend 5k on this lens from a rather unknown manufacturer and production ceased soon, so this is an extremely rare lens. I finally managed to acquire one, so let’s have a look at one of my white whales.
Tests are being done on the Leica M10, samples have been taken with various cameras.

Sample Images

Continue reading Review: SLRmagic 50mm 0.95 Hyperprime LM →

Uncategorized

Full Resolution Pictures getting fixed

July 4, 2025 BastianK 5 Comments

The latest update to Flickr’s Terms and Conditions means that it wasn’t possible for you anymore to have a look at or download the sample pictures of my reviews in full resolution.

I spent the last days to migrate all the pictures to one account (not an enjoyable process) and upgraded that to a paid Pro account so that you should have access to the full resolution pictures again.

I now need to update the links to those pictures in more than 200 articles which will surely take some time. In the meantime you can already look up the desired lens directly here.

Analogue

Analogue Adventures Part 42: A wedding with Eastman Double-X 200

July 2, 2025 BastianK 6 Comments

Some of you may remember the last time I shot Kodak Double-X, which was completely mouldy and gave very interesting results. I had another roll and kept thinking what I could possibly do with it. When a friend got married I decided that it was the right opportunity to get this film out and create some special pictures with it.
Processing and scanning was done at urbanfilmlab in Germany, the pictures in this article are from one roll of film which was exposed as ISO 125.