There are lenses which are traditionally considered to be "portrait lenses," such as fast 50mm, 85mm and 105mm primes. There are, of course, many other lenses you can use to capture nice portraits, such as 24-70mm and 70-200mm f/2.8 zooms. Tony and Chelsea Northrup decided to do a portrait shoot with a very different kind of lens, a Nikon 600mm f/4super telephoto prime.

How does this $12,000 lens stack up as a portrait prime? Well, we know that it's a very sharp lens, so that won't be an issue, but as we can see very early in the video below, there are some challenges. Firstly, it’s not easy to handhold. Secondly, you need to be so far away from your subject that communication can be challenging. Obviously this portrait shoot is mostly for the fun and novelty of it, but it's worthwhile to consider non-traditional lenses for portraiture. For example ... Read more »

Just a week after we came across leaked images of the lens, Samyang has unveiled its latest Sony autofocus lens, the AF 24mm F2.8 FE.

Samyang calls the lens ‘tiny but wide’—and rightly so. This lens weighs just 93g and measures 37mm from front to back without the hood or rear lens cap. The FE designation means it works with full-frame Sony cameras, including but not limited to the A9 and A7 III.

The optical design of the lens is made up of 7 elements in 7 groups. ... Read more »

Exactly one week after dropping its 24mm F2.8 AF lens for full-frame Sony cameras, Samyang is back at it again. Today, Samyang announced the release of a new 85mm F1.4 AF lens for Canon DSLRs.

The telephoto prime is yet another addition in Samyang's growing portfolio of autofocus lenses. This lens in particular uses an upgraded dual-motor system to deliver faster, more accurate autofocus performance, according to Samyang. The minimum focusing distance is 90cm/35.43in, roughly 5cm more than Canon's 85mm F1.4 IS USM lens, ... Read more »

Canon has filed a new patent in Japan. The patent application describes an EF 58mm f/1.4 lens (JP 2018-97240) for full frame DSLR with a controllable soft-focus value.

This will be a specialized lens for such needs as portraiture, street, event / wedding photography and astrophotography. The fast aperture of f/1.4 and a complex optical formula would also be ideal for low-light photography needs.

The 58mm lens will feature an aperture range from f/1.4 to f/16 and a rounded 9-blade diaphragm for producing pleasing out-of-focus elements, or bokeh. If we see this lens in mass production in near future, ... Read more »