Category Archives: Canon EF-Mount

Canon EF-Mount, Guides, Leica M, lenses, Olympus OM, Sony A-mount, Sony E-mount

Guide to the best Portrait Lenses – Sony A7/A9/A1 series

May 15, 2026 The Team 148 Comments

We summarize our experience with all the native E-mount and a few legacy lenses in the 85-200mm bracket for the Sony A7/A9/A1 series to give you a compact and independent resource for choosing the best portrait lens for your needs.

We also have a general guide to FE-lenses, 9-18mm ultra wide angle lenses, guide to 20-28mm wide angle lenses, 35mm lenses, 50mm lenses and macro lenses.

Unlike most other review sites we have no association with any lens manufacturer apart from occasionally loaning a lens for a review. No fancy trips and meals.

Before any short introduction we tell you how long we have used a lens and if we have borrowed it from a manufacturer. But in most cases we have bought the lenses new from retail stores or on the used market.

If we have left any question unanswered please leave a comment or contact us on social media and we will do our best to answer it.

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.

Last update: May 2026, Meike 85mm 1.4 FF STM added, Viltrox AF 85mm 1.4 Pro added, Viltrox AF 85mm 2.0 Evo added, Sigma 135mm 1.4 DG Art added, Laowa 200mm 2.0 AF C-Dreamer added, Sigma 200mm 2.0 DG OS Sports added, Zeiss Otus 100mm 1.4 added, many additional changes

Continue reading Guide to the best Portrait Lenses – Sony A7/A9/A1 series →

Canon EF-Mount, Canon FD-Mount, lenses, Minolta SR mount, Sony E-mount

Guide to 20-28mm wide-angle lenses for Sony A7/A9/A1 series

May 1, 2026 The Team 111 Comments

Sony A7rII | Zeiss Loxia 21mm 2.8 | f/8.0

We summarize our experience with all the native E-mount and a few manual legacy lenses in the 20-28mm bracket to give you a compact and independent resource for choosing the right wide-angle lens for your Sony A7/A9/A1 camera. In this summary we also included some adapted lenses we think are worth mentioning. We didn’t include any zoom lenses, you can find those in our general guide to FE lenses as well as the guide to 9-18mm ultra wide angle lenses.

You may also want to check out our guides to 35mm lenses, 50mm lenses and 85-200mm portrait lenses.

Some of these lenses are manual focus only (MF) whereas others feature auto focus (AF). There is also a noticeable amount of lenses listed here that do not feature electronic contacts to communicate with the camera (no Exif).

We have no association with any manufacturer apart from occasionally loaning a lens for a review. Before any short introduction we tell you how long we have used a lens and if we have borrowed it from a manufacturer. But in most cases we have bought the lenses on the market. If you want to support our independent reviews please consider using one of the affiliate links. It doesn’t cost you anything and helps us a lot.

If we have left any question unanswered please leave a comment or contact us on social media and we will do our best to answer it.

Last update: May 2026, Meike 24mm 1.4 MIX added, 7Artisans 24mm 1.8 AF added, Sigma 24mm 2.0 DG DN C updated, Sony FE 24mm 1.4 GM updated, layout updated

Continue reading Guide to 20-28mm wide-angle lenses for Sony A7/A9/A1 series →

Canon EF-Mount, Review, Samyang

Review: Samyang 35mm 1.2 XP

April 1, 2026 BastianK 1 Comment

Introduction

samyang 35mm 1.2 xp premium mf canon ef sony a7r 42mp review sharpness bokeh coma vignetting contrast a7riii a7riv a7rv z6 z7 z8 z9 zf z7ii z6iii — Samyang 35mm 1.2 XP via Sigma MC-11 on Sony A7rII

In 2019 Samyang relesased this Samyang 35mm 1.2 XP. At that time, I honestly didn’t care much about it, because Sigma also released their Sigma 35mm 1.2 Art DG DN mirrorless design, which actually offered AF, making it a more sensible choice. This Samyang 35mm 1.2 XP is one of only two fullframe 35mm 1.2 lenses for EF-mount (or any (D)SLR mount actually) though, reason enough to have a closer look at it.

Sample Images

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Canon, Canon EF-Mount, Review

Review: Canon EF 50mm 1.0 L USM – Still the world’s fastest AF lens

December 30, 2025 BastianK 25 Comments

Introduction

review canon ef 50mm 1.0 l usm 1.0l world's fastest AF autofocus lens contrast resolution 42mp 24mp 61mp analogue contrast bokeh vignetting — Canon EF 50mm 1.0L USM via Fringer EF-NZ on Nikon Zf

Over the past years we saw huge improvements in optical performance of 35mm format lenses – a trend started by the Zeiss Otus and Sigma Art lineups – and the latest Sony GM and Nikon Z designs offer an optical performance unheard of only a few years before. Still, there are some lenses that never saw a successor and this Canon EF 50mm 1.0L USM is one such lens. Released in 1989 this is still the fastest fullframe autofocus lens ever made. But what compromises were needed to make a lens like this, leading to no one ever daring to try this again for at least 36 years? Let’s find out in this review.
The lens is mainly being tested on a 24mp Nikon Zf.

Sample Images

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Canon EF-Mount, Review, Vintage, Zeiss

Review: Zeiss Milvus 25mm 1.4 Distagon

December 13, 2025 BastianK 5 Comments

Introduction

zeiss 25mm 1.4 milvus otus t* germany german high resolution bokeh portrait sharpness resolution lateral ca chromatic aberration aberrations zf z6 z6iii z8 z9 z7 z7ii z6ii 24mp 42mp 61mp zf.2 ze — Zeiss Milvus 25mm 1.4 via Sigma MC-11 on Sony A7rII

About a year after the release of the Zeiss Otus 28mm 1.4 Distagon – to the surprise of many – Zeiss released this Zeiss Milvus 25mm 1.4 Distagon. Almost as complex optical design, almost as big, almost as heavy, but “only” half the price – making it the most expensive lens of the Milvus lineup. What are you giving up in terms of performance compared to the 28mm Otus? Let’s try to find out in this review.