All posts by Jannik Peters

I am a passionate photographer from northern Germany and I love landscape, architecture, travel, portrait and family photography. I use manual lenses but I also enjoy the comfort of autofocus lenses, therefore both can be found in my bag.

A beginner’s guide to bird photography – Episode 1: Sharpening your senses

Long-eared owl | Sony A7RIV* | Sony 1.8/135 GM | 1/1000s | f1.8

Many of you may have wondered where I have been in the past year. My last review has been published long ago and the dust settles on my blog activities. There is a good reason: I have been out there and had an intense time learning new skills in a totally different field of photography. Now I am ready to share my knowledge in a beginner’s guide for bird photography.

Continue reading A beginner’s guide to bird photography – Episode 1: Sharpening your senses

Review: Tamron 35mm F/2.8 Di III OSD M1:2

After the success of their compact and affordable f/2.8 zooms Tamron has released a small family of f/2.8 primes: we already reviewed the Tamron 2.8/24 Di III OSD, this time  I check if the Tamron 2.8/35 Di III OSD is a good performer.

Sample images

Sony A7RIV,Tamron 2.8/35, f5.6
Sony A7RIV,Tamron 2.8/35, f/11
Sony A7RIV,Tamron 2.8/35, f/5.6
Sony A7RIV, Tamron 2.8/35, f/2.8

Most images in this review can be found in full resolution here.

Continue reading Review: Tamron 35mm F/2.8 Di III OSD M1:2

Review: Zeiss Batis 2/40 CF after the Firmware Update

The Zeiss Batis 2/40 CF is a lens of a very popular focal length / aperture class that was missing in the FE lineup from the beginning. When we released our review 6 months ago there were some serious issues and Zeiss released a firmware update some time later. Read our review to check if that could solve all the issues.

Sample Images

Sony A7III | Batis 40 CF2 | F2.5 | 1/80s | 400 ISO | David Mathar
Sony A7III | Zeiss Batis 2/40 CF | f/5.6 | full size
Sony A7III | Batis 40 CF2 | F2 | 1/50s | 500 ISO | David Mathar

Sony A7III | Zeiss Batis 2/40 CF | f/8 | full size

Sony A7III | Zeiss Batis 2/40 CF | f/5.6 | full size

Continue reading Review: Zeiss Batis 2/40 CF after the Firmware Update

Review: Sony FE 135mm F1.8 GM

The Sony 1.8/135 GM is a highly anticipated lens that has been rumored for some time. Being a GM lens, it is part of a line which includes some of my favorite lenses like the Sony FE 1.4/24 GM and the Sony FE 1.4/85 GM. My expectations are as high as its price – can it live up to that?

Sample Images

Sony A7iii | Sony FE 1.8/135 GM | f1.8 | full size
Sony A7iii | Sony FE 1.8/135 GM | f1.8 | full size
Sony A7iii | Sony FE 1.8/135 GM | f1.8 | full size

Continue reading Review: Sony FE 135mm F1.8 GM

Sony FE Standard Zoom Shootout – Sony 2.8/24-70 GM vs. Sony 4/24-105 G OSS vs. Tamron 2.8/28-75 Di III RXD – Part 2: Macro capabilities

Sony A7iii | Tamron 2.8/28-75 | 70mm | f2.8

After analyzing the infinity sharpness of the candidates in Part 1 of this series, we are looking at the opposite direction of the focus ring. For a versatile do-it-all standard zoom lens, the macro capability is an important factor of the overall performance. Details in documentation-, wedding-, product-, nature- or food photography are typical applications for a standard zoom as a pseudo-macro. In photographic history, the macro feature of zoom lenses was often a shameful marketing trick without any serious usefulness. Let’s check out the performance of the of the Sony FE 2.8/24-70 GM, Tamron 2.8/28-75 Di III RXD and the Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS.

Continue reading Sony FE Standard Zoom Shootout – Sony 2.8/24-70 GM vs. Sony 4/24-105 G OSS vs. Tamron 2.8/28-75 Di III RXD – Part 2: Macro capabilities