Lens Reviews

Last month, portrait photographer Anita Sadowska conducted a lens shootout pitting the Canon 35mm F/1.4 vs the Sigma 35mm F/1.4 vs the Tamron 35mm F/1.4. The comparison test went down to the wire with the Tamron doing well considering its affordable price and the Canon succeeding for overall image quality.

Camera lens shootouts are always fun especially when comparing a popular focal length and aperture. It's even more fun when they're led by swimsuit photographer Anita Sadowska and she's photographing a beautiful model on the beach.

More and more photographers are using vintage glass on modern digital cameras and saving a lot of money in the process. That’s because there are inexpensive adapters available that permit you to mount 35mm lenses on just about any mirrorless camera you own.

7Artisans just released the updated Mark II version of their popular 7.5mm f/2.8 Fisheye lens and it’s about the most fun a photographer can have for $139. We borrowed an early sample in Fujifilm X mount and here’s what we discovered.

After shooting with Nikon’s extraordinary AF-S Nikkor 180-400mm f/4E TC1.4 FL ED VR lens last year I wondered what their next telephoto zoom lens would be. We didn’t have to wait long, because hiding in the wings was the fast and powerful Nikkor AF-S 120-300mm f/2.8E FL ED SR VR.

When Sigma decided to extend its esteemed Contemporary line of broad-spectrum lenses to include a full-frame 100-400mm long-range telephoto zoom, they handed their optical engineers a tough assignment: come up with a really long 4x zoom that delivers outstanding imaging performance and enhanced shooting flexibility in a compact, well-balanced, lightweight package optimized for handheld shooting. In other words, they wanted a lens that would expand the long tele zoom market by appealing to travelers, nature, wildlife, and street photographers, hikers, sports shooters and others daunted by the prospect of toting and hefting a ponderous telephoto zoom lens. 

Few things are as exciting as using a brand new lens for the first time. To photographers, a new lens is like an empty canvas to an artist, or a fresh storyline to a novelist. Fortunately, despite the unsettled tenor of the world situation, 2020 has witnessed an outstanding and diverse collection of exceptional lenses.

Shutterbug once again worked with EISA, the world’s largest independent collection of magazines and websites focusing on consumer electronics, to select the ten best lenses of 2020. Here are our choices. As a voting member of EISA, Shutterbug helped choose these outstanding lenses, which we feel are the best you can buy right now.

Our choices for the ten best lenses you can buy in 2020 run the gamut from super wideangle to super telephoto, and one thing is certain: not one of them will disappoint you. So, take a look at our choices for the ten best lenses of 2020 below (with links to where you can purchase them) and find something amazing to start shooting with today.