Lens News

High-performance zoom lenses with fast maximum apertures are powerful tools for everyday shooting, and in this battle of the mid-range zooms, you’ll see a comparison between two of the best: The Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM, and Sigma’s 24-70mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM Art.

Earlier this month we wrote about the website What The Lens that’s designed to help you choose a perfect lens for your type of photography. The catch is that site is limited to Canon shooters. But now the new website Lens vs. Lens helps you be a smarter shopper by comparing actual photos taken with Fuji, Nikon, Olympus, Sony and Leica lenses, as well as those made by Canon.

Sometimes an old fashioned recipe and the latest modern technology don’t mix: zap-blasting your grandmother’s vegetable soup ingredients in a 10,000-watt microwave instead of slowly simmering them for six hours, for example. But other times strange bedfellows bring out the best in each other. Such is the case with Lensbaby optics on modern digital cameras.

Lensbaby recently introduced the latest addition to its unique line of creative lenses. The new Velvet 56 is a 56mm f/1.6 lens for DSLRs and mirrorless cameras. It's a classic portrait lens with 1:2 macro capabilities designed to deliver "a velvety, glowing, ethereal look at brighter apertures," according Lensbaby, and sharp (but subtly unique) images as you stop down.

Lensbaby Spark lets your camera color outside the lines. It mounts directly on your Canon or Nikon and focuses manually when you squeeze it toward the rear while watching the sharp, sweet spot move around in the viewfinder. The affordable Lensbaby Spark deserves a spot on every photographer’s holiday wish list.

Unless you’re completely new to photography, you’ve heard about Lensbaby, the marvelously creative series of lenses that are best described as intentionally unsharp and stuffed with almost every imaginable aberration and distortion. The Lensbaby Trio 28 is the latest model, and it has a secret. 

Lensbaby, known for a variety of creative effects lenses, has dropped the curtain on the new Twist 60, a 60mm portrait lens with a fast f/2.5 maximum aperture, all-metal construction and some unique swirling bokeh effects. The lens harkens back to a design created by Joseph Petzval in 1840.