All posts by The Team

This is an article at least two members of the Team worked on.

The Team’s Kit – January 2022 Edition

A photographers kit tells a lot about his interests and preferred subject matter so we thought it might be interesting to give you an overview of the team’s current kit(s).

In the past we wrote several “The Team’s favourite lenses articles which might be interesting to you, if you would like to track the development of our interests.

Phillip’s kit

Lens Number of Pictures Share
Voigtländer 1.2/40 631 36%
Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG DN 429 24%
Sigma 35mm F2 Dg Dn 292 17%
Zeiss Loxia 2.4/25 105 6%
Voigtländer APO Macro 2.5/110 99 6%
TTArtisans 1.4/50 87 5%
Samyang 1.8/75 AF 58 3%
Sony FE 4/16-35 ZA 34 2%
Voigtländer 3.5/21 23 1%

Breakdown of my three star images taken in 2021 by lens used

Voigtländer 1.2/40 (most used lens by some margin)

It has been my most used lens for years now. It got some competition by the Sigma 2/35 and TTA 1.4/50 but it at least outcompeted the Sigma for me.

In early 2021 my daughter was born and that has of course changed my life and with it my photography. Maybe 50% of the images I take are of her and here the compact Voigtländer again showed its versatility. For portraits the bokeh is almost always very smooth. If I focus very close I sometimes like the softer look caused by much increased SA and when I don’t I stop down to f/1.7 to get rid of it.

Sony a7RII | Voigtländer 1.2/40 | f/1.7

Before my daughter was born and when she was very young and sleeping a lot, I did many photo rides. Most often with the 1.2/40 and the Sigma 100-400 in my sling bag. I would like to bring my Loxia 2.4/25 as well but that doesn’t fit in the bag so I am happy to stitch when the 40mm are too narrow.

Sony a7RII | Voigtländer 1.2/40 | f/4

Continue reading The Team’s Kit – January 2022 Edition

Review: Tamron 70-180mm f/2.8 Di III VXD

Introduction

tamron 70-180mm f/2.8 2.8 review comparsion sharpness resolution contrast 42mp 61mp test sony a7rIII a7rII a7riv distortion sunstars starburst
Tamron 70-180mm 2.8 on Sony A7rII

With the 70-180mm 2.8 Tamron completed its “Reasonable Trinity” in 2020. Before the announcement I expected a 75-150mm 2.8 but we got an even bigger zoom range instead. Will there be more surprises? Let us find out in this review!
Update: a new version of this lens has been released in late 2023, you can find its review here.

Sample Images

Sony A7rIV | Tamron 70-180mm 2.8 | 70mm | f/10
Sony A7rIV | Tamron 70-180mm 2.8 | 180mm | f/2.8
tamron 70-180mm f/2.8 2.8 review comparsion sharpness resolution contrast 42mp 61mp test sony a7rIII a7rII a7riv distortion sunstars starburst
Sony A7rII | Tamron 70-180mm 2.8 | 180mm | f/2.8
tamron 70-180mm f/2.8 2.8 review comparsion sharpness resolution contrast 42mp 61mp test sony a7rIII a7rII a7riv distortion sunstars starburst
Sony A7rII | Tamron 70-180mm 2.8 | 70mm | f/2.8

Continue reading Review: Tamron 70-180mm f/2.8 Di III VXD

Best budget lenses under $499 for Sony a7/a7II/a7III

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You can easily spend a fortune on lenses for your Sony E-mount camera but you don’t have to. These lenses all cost less than $499 and give you great image quality on your a7/a7II/a7III/a7rII-series camera.

For each lens we have summarized the defining strengths and weaknesses. We hope this will make it easier to decide for yourself, if the lens could fit your needs. Please make sure to check out our in-depth reviews for a much more detailed discussion of each lens.

There are certainly other lenses which would deserve a spot in this list but we only include lenses we have used ourselves, so please don’t take it personal if we haven’t included your favorite lens.
Last Update: November 2019

If you purchase the lens through one of the affiliate-links in this article we get a small compensation with no additional cost to you

Voigtlander 5.6/12 M39

Compared to the DSLR lenses (like the Samyang 14mm 2.8) this lens is ridiculously small. This is a lens that will always easily fit into your bag, which is great if you not intend to shoot this wide on a regular basis. With the filter adapter it is even possible to use standard 77mm filters.

You should be aware of: The corners never reach excellent levels, huge vignetting, slow, not a good match for A7r.

175g + adapter | ~$450 | full Review | aperture seriessample images

buy from ebay | Sony E-mount adapters (affiliate links)

dancing houses prag prague praha gehry sony a7s voigtlander 12mm 5.6

Continue reading Best budget lenses under $499 for Sony a7/a7II/a7III

Review: Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 Di III RXD

Introduction

tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 2.8 review comparsion sharpness resolution contrast 42mp 61mp test sony a7rIII a7rII a7riv
Tamron 17-28mm 2.8 Di III RXD on Sony A7rII

Tamron’s first E-mount lens was the 28-75mm 2.8. Compared to the 24-70mm 2.8 lenses Tamron decided to give up a bit of zoom range to realize an affordable and compact yet fast standard zoom.
This 17-28mm 2.8 shares these qualities on paper, so let us see if the optical performance can keep up with our expectations.
Last update 07/25/19: Sharpness Close, Focus Shift, Alternatives, Pro/Con table added

Sample Images

tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 2.8 review comparsion sharpness resolution contrast 42mp 61mp test sony a7rIII a7rII a7riv
Sony A7rII | Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 | 20mm f/11
tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 2.8 review comparsion sharpness resolution contrast 42mp 61mp test sony a7rIII a7rII a7riv
Sony A7rII | Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 | 28mm f/8.0
tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 2.8 review comparsion sharpness resolution contrast 42mp 61mp test sony a7rIII a7rII a7riv
Sony A7rII | Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 | 28mm f/2.8
tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 2.8 review comparsion sharpness resolution contrast 42mp 61mp test sony a7rIII a7rII a7riv
Sony A7rII | Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 | 17mm f/2.8
tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 2.8 review comparsion sharpness resolution contrast 42mp 61mp test sony a7rIII a7rII a7riv
Sony A7rII | Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 | 28mm f/2.8

Continue reading Review: Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 Di III RXD

Building a lens kit

Introduction

carl zeiss loxia 85mm 2.0 sonnar sony a7 a7r a7r2 a7rm2 alpha alpha7 review
Loxia 21mm 2.8 – Loxia 35mm 2.0 – Loxia 85mm 2.4

When you start getting more involved with photography – and especially when you prefer using prime lenses – at some point it makes sense to spend some thoughts on building a lens kit.
In this article we want to give you a few ideas of what to consider when building your own lens kit and show you some of ours in the end.

Continue reading Building a lens kit