Each day during the 12 days of Christmas, I revisit the months of 2024 to recap the lenses that made up the year. Today it’s time to look back on May…
So-called ‘trinity’ standard zoom lenses are perhaps the best and most versatile for everyday shooting. Their ability to extend from a serious wide-angle perspective to a short telephoto length, while maintaining a reasonably fast aperture of f/2.8 along the way, earns them a place in the kit of most professional and enthusiast photographers.
There was nothing wrong with it Sigma‘s excellent example of the breed for Sony Cameras with E and L mount, but updated Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 DG DN Art II I’ve taken everything up a notch.
Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 DG DN Art II is smaller and lighter, but still has improved image quality and faster autofocus (Image credit: Matthew Richards)
Going from the sublime to the slightly ridiculous, the company also said this is so Sigma APO 200-500mm f/2.8 EX DG would still be available as a ‘special order lens’. It’s just a little something: it weighs 35 pounds and costs $26,000.
At the other end of the budget spectrum, it was announced that the TArtisan 600mm f/5.6 prime, previously available in most mirrorless mounting options, would also become available in Canon E.F. and Nikon F versions for DSLRs. In terms of price I am in the middle bracket, Fujifilm has announced the longest lens ever for its GFX medium format system, the Fujifilm GF 500mm f/5.6 R LM OIS WR.
Taking the large GFX medium format sensor into account, the Fujifilm GF 500mm has an ‘effective’ focal length of 396mm in full-frame terms (Image credit: Matthew Richards)
Anyway, enough of this telephoto nonsense. Let’s go wide! The Viltrox AF 16mm f/1.8 launched for Nikon Z cameras, following in the footsteps of the existing Sony E-mount version. This full-frame lens is ideal for everything from landscapes and cityscapes to architectural interiors and astrophotography.
The Viltrox lens usually also has an excellent price-quality ratio. But you certainly won’t get a budget-friendly price tag Hasselblad XCD 25V ultra-wide-angle prime, announced the same month, although the performance is in a different league.
Thanks to the backlit color screen of the Viltrox AF 16mm f/1.8, you can take the guesswork out of shooting in the dark with nighttime images and astrophotography. (Image credit: Matthew Richards)
It’s about time too! That was our reaction when Nikon finally launched a prime Z DX lens. Of course you can use any FX (full-frame) Z system lens on a DX (APS-C) format body like the Nikon Z30, Z50 II And Zfc. The Z-DX 24mm f/1.7 came as good news, however, as it is relatively compact and lightweight, and competitively priced.
The Z DX 24mm f/1.7 actually became the fifth DX-format Nikon Z lens, but the first of the bunch to be a prime lens rather than a zoom lens (Image credit: Matthew Richards)
The choice of wide-angle lenses for Fujifilm X system cameras was expanded in May. Fujifilm launched its widest prime lens yet, in the small form of the Fujifilm XF 8mm f/3.5 RWR. Prefer the versatility of a zoom lens? There was also the launch of the Tamron 11-20mm f/2.8 Di III-A RXDpreviously available in Sony E-mount but reborn in X-mount for Fujifilm cameras.
With an ‘effective’ focal length of 12mm in full-frame terms, the APS-C format Fujifilm XF 8mm f/3.5 R WR is compact and lightweight, measuring 53mm in length and weighing 215g (Image credit: Gareth Bevan / Digital Camera World)
With cost savings in mind, we broke news about a 7 artisans 24mm f/1.4 Prime for crop-sensor Canon, Sony, Fujifilm, Nikon and Micro Four Thirds mirrorless cameras. There was also the downright bizarre AstrHori 18mm f/8 macro probe with built-in LED lighting array, for APS-C cameras.
Literally bringing a new perspective to landscape, architectural and even macro photography, two new ones were announced tilt-shift lenses in the form of the Laowa FFII T/S 55mm f/2.8 Macro 1:1 and Laowa FFII T/S 100mm f/2.8 Macro 1:1both will be released for the Fujifilm GF, Sony E, Canon RF, Nikon Z and L Mount.
In addition to ‘shifting’ your perspective, the ’tilt’ function of Laowa’s new lenses helps to gain some extra depth of field for macro photography. (Image credit: Matthew Richards)
More budget-friendly announcements included the AstrHori AF 85mm f/1.8 for Nikon Z photographers, the company’s first autofocus lens. Then there was one Panasonic Lumix S 26mm f/8 pancake lensinsanely cheap Pergear 25mm f/1.7a retro style Thypoch Eureka 50mm f/2 and ushering in the Samyang AF 35-150mm f/2-2.8 as the company’s first L-mount lens. And finally in the news: Nikon has reached an important milestone and is now producing it 120 million Nikkor lenses.
As far as reviews go, we tested two highly anticipated new lenses. First came the Nikon Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR who wrote a new chapter in travel-friendly superzoom lenses. Then there was the Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 DG DN II item nowith the aim of taking ‘trinity’ standard zoom lenses for Sony E- and L-mount cameras to the next level.
The Nikon Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR sets a new record for zoom range among full-frame compatible lenses (Image credit: Matthew Richards)
We’ve also started testing a wide range of medium format lenses for Fujifilm’s GFX system cameras, including the Fujifilm GF 45mm f/2.8 RWR, Fujifilm GF 110mm f/2 RLMWR, Fujifilm GF 120mm f/4 Macro R LM OIS WR And Fujifilm GF 100-200mm f/5.6 R LM OIS WRfantastic lenses all.
Not to mention Fujifilm’s APS-C format X system, we also have the Fujifilm XF 16-50mm f/2.8-4.8 RLMWRthe reinvention of the company’s classic standard zoom.
The Fujifilm GF 100-200mm f/5.6 R LM OIS WR was the only GFX zoom lens we tested, along with three great prime lenses. (Image credit: Matthew Richards)
In addition to all Fujifilm GF lenses Exotica, we have tested a number of particularly budget-friendly lenses, including the full-frame Viltrox AF 20mm f/2.8and APS-C format ViltroxAF 56mm f/1.7 And Yongnuo YN33mm f/1.4DA DSM WL Pro.
See more from our 12 Christmas series lenses
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