What Photo Gear

Aside from its 18-270mm VC Ultra-Zoom, Tamron has also announced a new 10-24mm Ultra-Wide lens for Nikon and Canon mounts.

Covering a 16-37mm zoom range (in 35mm terms) this f/3.5 - f/4.5 lens also features a minimum focus distance of about .24m though out its entire zoom range.

Tamron is probably going to price this lens just above the excellent Sigma 10-20mm (currently at just over $500 at Amazon.com) but well below Canon’s 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 and Nikon’s 12-24mm f/4.0. Or for those of you who might see a Nikon D700 or D3 or a Canon 6D (or any full-frame DSLR) in your future - you might also want to look into the Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5 - 5.6 which can cover the full 35mm frame, something which all the other previously mentioned ‘digital only’ ultra-wide lenses can’t!

The Tamron 10-24mm f/3.5 - 4.5 will be available in Japan in late September 2008, and should make its way to the rest of the world in time for Christmas. We will have sample images here on WhatPhotogear.com as soon as they become available. Stay tuned!

Tamron has just announced a new ultra-zoom lens, initially available in Nikon and Canon mounts. The Tamron 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC LD Aspherical (IF) Macro covers a whopping 28-419mm zoom range (in 35mm terms) - that’s a 15x zoom!

The VC stands for Tamron’s Vibration Correction feature (similar to Canon’s Image Stabilization (IS) and Nikon’s Vibration Reduction (VR) ) - which should ideally give you a 2-3 stop advantage when hand-holding the lens.

Other features include a minimum-focusing distance of about .49m over the entire zoom range and a maximum magnification ration of about 1:35 at 270mm, on paper, this looks to be the ultimate ultra-zoom yet - the only significant potential downside so far is it being an f/6.3 towards the long-end of the zoom.

All-in-all, this looks to be quite an interesting lens for Tamron - a 15x zoom definitely has its upsides, especially if you don’t want to be carrying around too many lenses. But with Nikon’s 18-200 VR finally becoming widely available, and Canon having just announced its own 18-200 IS zoom lens, not too mention Sigma’s 18-200 OS lens - it’s getting pretty crowded in ultra-zoom territory.

This lens is scheduled for a Sept 20th release in Japan. We’ll get you sample images as soon as we can. Stay tuned.

The Canon 24-105mm L Lens is an almost 4 year old lens, so why feature a review now? Well, Camera Labs has chosen an interesting way to test the lens in its recent review - despite the 24-105 f/4 Lens pretty much being a perfect companion to the Canon full-frame camera’s such as the 5D, this time they’ve chosen to review it with 2 cropped sensor bodies - the Canon 400D / XTi and the Canon 40D DSLRs. (And they’ve even used two different copies of the lens.)

Being a 24-105mm lens, this lens would unfortunately end up being a 38-170mm lens on Canon’s 400D and 40D (due to the 1.6x crop factor.) So while it’s a versatile general walk-around lens for the Canon 5D it won’t be as appealing if mounted on a cropped sensor body.

But if you prefer the long end of your zooms, then the 24-105mm might just be a nice option. And while CameraLabs says not to expect a big jump in quality when upgrading from your stock lens and using this on your 40D or XSi or XTi, you will definitely get the benefit of better build quality, and being sure that your lens will be compatible with your camera when you do upgrade to a full-frame body.

If you head over to the Verdict section of their review, you’ll also see a very nice comparison to some of the other lenses that you are probably considering as well, like the Canon EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 and EF-S 17-85 IS (for cropped sensor DSLRs only) and even the Canon EF 17-40mm lens.

From: Camera Labs via What Photo Gear

And it’s not just Canon 450D samples that are slowly popping up all over the web - Olympus also has an exciting new DSLR due to be released soon - the Olympus E-420, and their new standard pancake lens - the 25mm f/2.8. This lens and camera combo promises to be one of the most compact DSLR and lens combo’s you can find right now - and we had a quick look at some sample images just a few days ago.

And today, we’ve got more E420 samples for you, these images are from a Japanese site though, and well, if you don’t read Japanese, don’t worry, the pictures speak for themselves. The first few images are shot with the E-420 and the Olympus 14-42mm kit lens, but once you reach the third page, you’ll see images shot with the 25mm f/2.8 lens. Full resolution files are available as well if you click on the images.

The Olympus E-420 is currently available for pre-order from Amazon, the body only is going for $499.99 ; While the 25mm f/2.8 lens is available for just $249.99. Or you can purchase them both for just $699.99. Expected release date is May 20th.

From: TrendyNet via DPReview Forums via WhatPhotoGear.com

Announced just a few weeks ago - the Olympus E420, the world’s smallest DSLR - is definitely getting a lot of interest. And Olympus have done one better, by also introducing the Zuiko 25mm f/2.8 pancake lens. (It’s called a pancake lens because of it’s small flat profile, like a pancake, or a hockey puck - this particular Olympus one is actually less than an inch thick!) And this is definitely an amazing and very appealing combo for those looking for a lightweight DSLR set-up that won’t break your neck even if you carry it around all day.

With an expected release date of just under 2 months away - this compact body and lens combo is definitely on the list of photographers everywhere. And the awesome folks over at Four-Thirds User have just published a 2 sets of images using the 25mm f/2.8 mounted on an E420.

Click here to view the first set ; and click here to view the second set (taken in slightly better weather.) Full size JPGs are available for personal use, and they have even provided RAW versions of the images.

The Olympus E420 with the 25mm f/2.8 lens is available for pre-order from Amazon for just $699.99.

From: Four Thirds User via WhatPhotoGear

Sigma has announced a new standard prime lens - the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM.

The EX tag is used by Sigma to denote a much superior optical and build quality, as well as a crinkle finish which I rather like (but some people say it chips off after a few years of abuse, but so far my Sigma EX lenses are still looking pretty.) The DG means it has been ‘digitally optimized’ - BUT it will work with full frame DSLRs. (A lot of people think this means it is a digital-only lens, similar to Nikon’s DX, but that is not true - Sigma’s designation for it’s digital-only lenses is DC)

HSM stands for Hyper-Sonic Motor which means the lens has it’s own motor providing a silent, high-speed Auto-Focus performance. (As opposed to the usual screw driven focus on other lenses, which while still fast, can be pretty noisy)

With a minimum focusing distance of 17.7″ (translating to a maximum magnification of 1:7.4) this is no macro lens, but then the big selling point is obviously the fast aperture.

From: DPReview via WhatPhotoGear