Category Archives: Uncategorized

Lens & Accessory Spring Sale

Many of us here at the Phillipreeve team acquire too many lenses (and sometimes also accessories) and with some of the manufacturers it also isn’t easily possible to return the review samples after we reviewed them, therefore a bunch of stuff is for sale.
Update March 11th 2024: added new items, removed sold items

I will ship to all european countries and all prices are without shipping. If you live in Germany you can add 7€ for shipping, within EU should be around 16€.
Payment is possible via Paypal or Bank Transfer. If you decide by Dec 25th shipping will be carried out directly, afterwards shipping date will be Jan 10th.

I will only ship insured with DHL. If you want to come to Stuttgart you can also check out the lens you are interested in in person and we have a little chat.

All the items come without warranty.

If you are interested, leave a comment with your Email address (it will not be visible to the public) and I will get back to you.

PS: I might also be interested in trading in some of these things for stuff on my Lenses I would like to review list, especially a Canon 50mm 0.95 for M-mount.


The following items are former review samples:


AstrHori 50mm 2.0 E

astr hori sony fe 50mm 2.0 fullframe lens contrast resolution 33mp 42mp 61mp sharpness vignetting a7riv a7rv a9 bokeh portrait compact
AstrHori 50mm 2.0

The same exact lens from this review.

This lens has only been used for the review and is in as-new condition.
Update: comes with retail box and both caps.

49€ + shipping


Continue reading Lens & Accessory Spring Sale

Review: Laowa Argus 25mm f/0.95 CF APO (APS-C)

Introduction

Review Laowa Argus CF 25mm f/0.95 APO APS-C nikon z6 Z6ii z50 z30 zfc z7 z7ii Z8 Z9 Zf nikon z f fc Sony FE Fuji X canon rf m43 review nikon z z-fc z30 z50 test sharpness bokeh coma vignetting Flare 24mp nikon z6 z6ii 46mp nikon z7 z7ii Z8 Z9 Zf nikon z f
Laowa Argus 25mm f/0.95 CF APO with the lens hood on a Nikon Z fc

We have seen a few exciting lenses from Laowa in recent years, especially in their Argus product line, which seems to be Laowa’s premium line of lenses. The one here, Laowa Argus 25mm f/0.95 CF APO is one of them. A manual focus “standard/wide-angle” lens for APS-C cameras with an ultra-fast maximum aperture of f/0.95. It has an unusual focal length of 25mm (fullframe equivalent of 37.5mm*), between the more usual 23mm and 27mm focal lengths (FF equivalents of 35mm and 40mm*). The 0.95 aperture promises impressive and nice background separation and hopefully a nice bokeh and extreme low-light capabilities. Besides, the APO designation indicates Laowa has used its APO technology in this lens and it should give much better correction of spherical and chromatic aberrations than non-APO lenses. Let’s see how good it is in the real world!

* The fullframe equivalent focal length of 37.5mm is true for Sony, Nikon, and Fujifilm cameras, while on a Canon APS-C, it will be equivalent to a 40mm lens on a fullframe camera.

Sample Images

Review Laowa Argus CF 25mm f/0.95 APO APS-C nikon z6 Z6ii z50 z30 zfc z7 z7ii Z8 Z9 Zf nikon z f fc Sony FE Fuji X canon rf m43 review nikon z z-fc z30 z50 test sharpness bokeh coma vignetting Flare 24mp nikon z6 z6ii 46mp nikon z7 z7ii Z8 Z9 Zf nikon z f
Nikon Z fc | Laowa Argus 25mm f/0.95 CF APO | f/2.8
Review Laowa Argus CF 25mm f/0.95 APO APS-C nikon z6 Z6ii z50 z30 zfc z7 z7ii Z8 Z9 Zf nikon z f fc Sony FE Fuji X canon rf m43 review nikon z z-fc z30 z50 test sharpness bokeh coma vignetting Flare 24mp nikon z6 z6ii 46mp nikon z7 z7ii Z8 Z9 Zf nikon z f
Nikon Z fc | Laowa Argus 25mm f/0.95 CF APO | f/1.2
In my liking the bokeh leaves something to be wished.
Nikon Z fc | Laowa Argus 25mm f/0.95 CF APO | f/0.95
Review Laowa Argus CF 25mm f/0.95 APO APS-C nikon z6 Z6ii z50 z30 zfc z7 z7ii Z8 Z9 Zf nikon z f fc Sony FE Fuji X canon rf m43 review nikon z z-fc z30 z50 test sharpness bokeh coma vignetting Flare 24mp nikon z6 z6ii 46mp nikon z7 z7ii Z8 Z9 Zf nikon z f
Nikon Z fc | Laowa Argus CF 25mm f/0.95 APO | f/0.95

Continue reading Review: Laowa Argus 25mm f/0.95 CF APO (APS-C)

Review: Viltrox AF 85mm f/1.8 Z

Introduction

The Viltrox AF 85mm f/1.8 STM ED IF Z mount is an autofocus mid-range telephoto, which is popular for portrait photography on full-frame cameras. Viltrox originally made this lens for Sony E-mount cameras, but later they managed to improve and produce it also for Fuji X, Nikon Z, and Canon RF mounts. Viltrox is the only manufacturer that has been able to produce Nikon Z mount lenses with full lens-camera communication and autofocus in the most common focal lengths. 85mm is a focal length that seems easier for manufacturers to design and make lenses with good optical qualities. There are quite a number of those nice and sharp lenses available and it seems that the price, in relation to how good/fast they are, goes up exponentially. Let’s see how good Viltrox has done with this one!

Sample Images

Viltrox 85mm f/1.8 review sharpness bokeh coma vignetting 24mp nikon z6 z6ii 46mp nikon z7 z7ii Z8 Z9
Nikon Z6 | Viltrox 85/1.8 Z | f/1.8
Viltrox 85mm f/1.8 review sharpness bokeh coma vignetting 24mp nikon z6 z6ii 46mp nikon z7 z7ii Z8 Z9
Nikon Z6 | Viltrox 85/1.8 Z | f/1.8
Viltrox 85mm f/1.8 review sharpness bokeh coma vignetting 24mp nikon z6 z6ii 46mp nikon z7 z7ii Z8 Z9
Nikon Z6 | Viltrox 85/1.8 Z | f/1.8
Viltrox 85mm f/1.8 review sharpness bokeh coma vignetting 24mp nikon z6 z6ii 46mp nikon z7 z7ii Z8 Z9
Nikon Z6 | Viltrox 85/1.8 Z | f/1.8
Viltrox 85mm f/1.8 review sharpness bokeh coma vignetting 24mp nikon z6 z6ii 46mp nikon z7 z7ii Z8 Z9
Nikon Z6 | Viltrox 85/1.8 Z | f/1.8

Continue reading Review: Viltrox AF 85mm f/1.8 Z

Lens Guides Updated and Upgraded

As you may or may not know we have several guides on fullframe E-mount lenses:

Keeping these guides up to date takes a lot of time but I nevertheless try to do it on a yearly basis.

That time has come again so I just spent about 3 weeks doing exactly that, this means many new lenses have been added and the prices and also the recommendations for many lenses have been updated.

Continue reading Lens Guides Updated and Upgraded

phillipreeve.net now on Discord

A few days ago I asked you what you think would be a good platform to get announcements about new posts any maybe also start discussions or simply chatting.

Discord was mentioned quite often in your comments. I did some research – as I didn’t know much about it – and it does indeed offer some features I was looking for. I also like that it is you who decides what you want to see and not some algorithm. So I set up a phillipreeve.net Discord server where already some of you joined.

Continue reading phillipreeve.net now on Discord