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In the trifecta of portrait lenses—85mm, 105mm, and 135mm—the 85mm focal length is the gateway. It’s short enough for tight shooting spaces, while producing a real portrait look, yet versatile enough for use in other genres, including photojournalism, where a nifty 50 comes up a bit short. Enter Sigma’s 85mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art lens ($1,199) that’s fast enough for reportage and long enough for portraiture.

There are a variety of new things under the Sony A7R III’s hood, including the ability to shoot 10 frames per second (fps) continuous bursts of images at full resolution, 4K video recording across the width of its full-frame sensor, longer battery life, and a host of other features.

Sony’s Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 VII ($1298), to give it its full name, is the latest in the company’s series of pocketable premium fixed lens cameras. The Sony RX100 VII is the follow-up to what has become a long line of Sony RX100 cameras, preceded by the RX100 VI, the RX100 V, the RX100 IV and so on.

Tamron’s new SP 15-30mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2 lens ($1299) continues a trend that many camera and lens manufacturers have embraced in recent years. This new Tamron 15-30mm lens is fast, big, expensive and designed for photographers who expect optical excellence. As part of Tamron’s Di lens series, the SP 15-30mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2 is available for Canon and Nikon full-frame DSLRs and APS-C cameras where it produces a 24-48mm equivalent focal length range.

I tend to travel on the wide side when it comes to lens selection, so it was exciting to get a hold of Tamron’s new super telephoto zoom—the SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 (Model A022). And what better way to give this big beauty a try than to take it on safari? Admittedly, this “safari” was of the local variety with a quick trip to the recently renovated Audubon Zoo barely two miles from my home in New Orleans. I also spent an afternoon with the Tamron 150-600mm G2 ($1,399) on one of the many bayous running through Southern Louisiana to shoot some gators and less exotic wildlife.

A score of digital and analog cameras that set standards for their era and pointed to the future.

2020 has been an interesting year to say the least. The one thing that has stayed steady in an unsteady world though has been the variety of quality cameras that have come out in the past 12 months. This year 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 cameras of 2020.