Category: Photographic Gear reviews
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Samyang 12mm f2 appreciation
I have owned the Samyang Samyang 12mm f2.0 NCS CS Lens for around 5 years now and while 12mm (18 full frame equivalent) is not a focal length that I use often I always carry it with me. Such a wide focal length is difficult to use, it requires very specific scenes and compositions to…
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TTArtisan 500mm F6.3 Review
Following on from my previous blog post about my experience using the samyang 500mm f8 lens that I had picked up for just £40, I developed the upgrade itch, I wanted more but I did not want to pay 20x more than I paid for the samyang.Enter the TTArtisan 500mm F6.3, a manual focus telephoto…
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7Artisans 35mm F1.2 Mk2 thoughts and impressions
Earlier this year I saw a used copy of the 7artisans 35mm f1.2 mark 2 for Fujifilm X mount. It only cost £70 and so curiosity won the battle over my wallet that day.I have previously tried their f1.4 35mm lens that retails at roughly half the price of this one and while I was…
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Experimenting with a retro 500mm lens
Wildlife and birds are not my main areas of interest in photography however I happen to live within walking distance of an RSPB site, so on a nice evening or when I have nothing better to do I find myself taking a walk down with the camera to pass the time.My only telephoto lens is…
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Kamlan 21mm F1.8 Review
Kamlan is a fairly young brand, I believe that they started life in 2016 when they released their 50mm f1.1 mk1, on paper this lens was promising and good value proposition but ultimately it was too optically simple and lacked an acceptable level of sharpness. Since then they have followed up with a range of…
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Kipon Iberit 35mm F2.4 Review
The Kipon 35mm F2.4 is a lens that I have had an interest in trying for some time now, however up until recently the price tag was too high to justify a purchase purely to satisfy my curiosity. Kipon has currently got the lens on sale for an advertised 51% off bringing the current price…
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Zonlai 22mm F1.8 Review
The Zonlai 22mm F1.8 is a compact and relatively fast manual focus prime lens for APS-C and MFT mirrorless camera systems. It provides a focal length that is a full frame equivalent of around 35mm on APSC and 44mm on MFT sensors. I bought a copy for the Fujifilm X mount and used it on…
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Meike 28mm f2.8 Review
The Meike 28mm f2.8 is a pancake prime lens for APSC and MFT mirrorless cameras, it has a full frame equivalent focal length of around 40mm on APSC and 56mm on MFT. The copy used in this review is the Fujifilm X mount version on an X-T2. This “review” is not scientific or wholly comprehensive,…
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Fujifilm XF 35mm F1.4 Lens Thoughts
Use as a Landscape lens and comparison to other primes Over the last couple of years I I have managed to work my way through my fair share of both first and third party prime lenses for the Fuji X mount system.Through this constant churn of lenses i have come to realise a few things,…
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Meike 35mm f1.7 lens review
Performance beyond its price Meike are a Chinese company that are pumping out cheap manual focus primes for mirror less systems.I am currently unsure if they design and manufacture their own lenses or just rebrand third party OEM lenses, I say this because i have seen company’s such as Neweer selling identical lenses under their…
Attempting Art 