Category Archives: Guides

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Used Lens and Camera Shopping Guide for Japan

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Introduction

Sony A7rII | Zeiss Loxia 21mm 2.8 | f/4.0

If you are looking for used lenses or cameras, Japan can be a real dream destination. Having already been there two times myself I know from first hand experience that it isn’t easy to locate some of the more interesting stores though. My Finnish expat friend Juha Kannisto – who is living in Tokyo – has been helping out photographers from all over the world for years already when it comes to this topic.

I thought it would be useful to collect all this knowledge and turn it into an easy-to-access article, so here we are.

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7Artisans, Guides, Laowa, Mr. Ding Studio, Pergear, TTArtisan, Viltrox, Zhong Yi

The Best Fullframe Lenses from China

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Introduction

Sony A7rII | 7artisans 28mm 1.4 | f/8.0

In 2023 there are plenty of lens manufacturers originating from China speaking to various different target audiences. While some are the Primark of the lens industry – simply trying to offer cheaper alternatives to the reknown manufacturers of lower quality – others have become the actual innovators in the photography lens business.
Having used more than 60 of those lenses from 14 different manufacturers I thought it is a good time to highlight the best ones I came across.

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Astrophotography, Guides, lenses

Best Astro-Photography Lenses for the Sony A7 series

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Introduction

Sony A7s | Batis 18mm 2.8 | f/2.8 | ISO6400 | 20s

Landscape astrophotography is something I have been doing for several years. Luckily over the past few years many lenses have been released that make this task easier than ever. So today we are going to have a look at all the available lenses for your Sony so you can choose the one that works best for your needs.
Last update: December 2021

What is landscape astrophotography?

Sony A7s | Nikon AF-S 20mm 1.8G | f/1.8 | 3 shot panorama |

In landscape astrophotography you will usually try to have a combination of the starry sky (with Milky Way or Northern Lights) as well as some foreground (e.g. landscape) in your frame so we are mostly looking at ultra wide to normal lenses (for stitching) here.

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Guides, lenses

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 series | sample images

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

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

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