Having reviewed a lot of things this year I thought it might be a good idea to mention this year’s highlights, giving them some well deserved spotlight.
Unfortunately there was also a noticeable amount of junk I reviewed, so this list ended up being a bit short.
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.
| 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
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.
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.
The bokeh quality – or a lens’ rendering for that matter – is probably one of the most discussed and maybe also most important aspects of a (fast) lens. While many people think only the focal length and the maximum aperture are important, there is actually much more to it, as I will try to show you in this article. This knowledge may also aid you in finding the best lens for your specific needs.
There are two main things to consider here: bokeh quantity and bokeh quality, which we will both have a look at.
I love travel photography, going to exotic places and exploring landscapes and cities different from those I can find back home. But when you travel somewhere far away what you mostly do is checking before what are “the best” spots, hoping for decent weather only to actually end up at a totally overcrowded landmark with lots of other photographers, fighting for a good spot and hoping to not have too many tourists in the picture.
In this article I will try to show some alternatives that might not be as exotic, but can nevertheless be just as enjoyable and in the process might also improve your photography skills more than just “collecting” the shots from other photographers.
This image was taken a little after sunrise on the day of the winter solstice 2020 and I feel that it is a fitting image for the whole situation at the moment. Most days here in Germany are dark but at times one is lucky enough to catch a few rays of sunlight. At the same time one can look forward to sunnier days ahead.
2020 took it’s toll on the team as well. We and our families are all healthy and we work in secure jobs which is a big privilege these days. The blog, which is our hobby, got a little less attention because of the whole situation though. But still we managed to publish or update about one article per week and I am grateful to Bastian, David, Juriaan and Jannik not only for the articles but for the constant exchange behind the scenes.
And now lets have a look at the teams most important articles of the year and also one important image from 2020 from each team member.