Introduction

Many photographers are familiar with high-end tripod brands like Gitzo and Really Right Stuff, but are we always willing to pay the premium that comes with their reputation? Over the last few years, Leofoto has established itself as a serious alternative, producing tripods that can match—or at least come very close to—the performance of the established brands.

In this review, I take a look at one of Leofoto’s flagship models, the flat-apex, center-column-free travel and field tripod, the LS-324CPRO.

You can see this review as a YouTube video here!

Sample Images

Continue reading REVIEW: Leofoto LS-324CPRO tripod with LH-40 Ball Head →

Introduction

We’ve seen a lot of modern lenses at budget-friendly prices, often offering surprisingly good value for money. But $99* for a full-frame 85mm f/1.8? That’s the price of TTArtisan’s latest lens, and it may set a new record for affordability in this category. It’s part of their new, most budget-friendly NEO series, and given TTArtisan’s track record of delivering relatively good optical quality in solidly built bodies, I’m really intrigued to see what this lens can do. Let’s take a closer look.

• TTArtisan has a time-limited $ 5-off offer, which brings the price to $94 (plus limited-time free shipping on orders over $84)

I tested this lens on a 46 Mp Nikon Z7ii (Sample images were taken with a Nikon Zf)
You can see this review as a YouTube video here!
Sample images in high resolution here.

Sample Images

Continue reading REVIEW: TTArtisan AF 85mm f/1.8 Neo →

Introduction

Today I’m taking a look at Meike’s new professional-grade 85mm lens, the 85mm f/1.4 STM MIX II. The 85mm focal length has long been considered the classic choice for portrait photography, but it’s also excellent for subject separation, beautiful background blur, and low-light photography. Not long ago, I reviewed the Mark I version and was pleasantly surprised by its performance. It also wasn’t the first 85mm lens Meike has released over the past couple of years. This new model is intended to be an improved version and their best 85mm yet, and at $569 it could be a very appealing option if it performs better than the Mark I version. Now I’m curious to see what Meike has improved. Let’s have a look.

I tested this lens on a 46 Mp Nikon Z7ii (Sample images were taken with a Nikon Zf)
You can see this review as a YouTube video here!
Sample images in high resolution here.

Sample Images

Continue reading REVIEW: Meike 85mm f/1.4 STM MIX II →

Introduction

We have recently seen a few 135mm f/1.8 lenses from various manufacturers. Once considered exotic and rare, this focal length and aperture combination has become increasingly popular thanks to its ability to produce tight portraits, fashion images, and excellent subject separation.

About a month ago, 7Artisans joined the group with its own version in Nikon Z mount, the most affordable of them all. Now, it has also been released for Sony FE and L-mount. Let’s take a closer look.

I tested this lens on a 33 Mp  Sony a7C II.
You can see this review as a YouTube video here!
Sample images in high resolution here.

Sample Images

Continue reading REVIEW: 7Artisans 135mm f/1.8 MAX →

It is Prime Day again so a good opportunity to stock up on Lightroom or Lightroom+Photoshop licenses.
The photography plan used to include only 20GB of storage, now it is 1TB but the price sadly increased.
These deals are still better than paying the normal monthly rate though.

Lr+PS + 1TB for 1 year = 128€
https://amzn.to/4voiLj8

LRr + 1 TB for 1 year = 75€
https://amzn.to/4f0g3um

(affiliate links/advertising)

Make sure to tick the “One-Time-Purchase” (“Einmalkauf” in German) box!

Most websites push all kinds of software “deals”, but here you rarely find those. Why is that? Because most of them are not good deals, especially the software related ones. Margins on Preset packages, Tonal mask Addons, Luminar, Topaz and whatnot are huge and this is the sole reason people push those, not because they are actually good products. But I will never recommend you something that I wouldn’t want to use myself.

What I actually am using myself (and constantly so) is Adobe Lightroom + Photoshop.

As was already the case the last years there is a Prime Day offer for all the Amazon Prime members that are using the Lightroom+Photoshop subscription. You can get a one year subscription for 128€ here (affiliate link) instead of the usual 284€. If you are not using Photoshop and only need Lightroom you can get a one year subscription for 75€ here (affiliate link) instead of the usual 142€.

Now probably you are like me and you already have the plan anyway and now comes the highlight: it even works if you already have the subscription. Order, get the discount code, click on “redeem” in the Amazon Email and the next billing month will be December 2027 instead of December 2026. Offer should be valid for everyone in the EU as well as the UK. This is the link where you can redeem your code after you bought it.

If you haven’t done so, this is also a good opportunity to try out the latest AI-based generative fill I already talked about here.