Sigma 135mm f/1.8 FE review by Marc Alhadeff: “superb optics for outdoor portraits”

Sigma 135mm f/1.8 for $1,399 at BHphoto, FocusCamera, and Adorama.

Marc Alhadeff tested the new Sigma 135mm f/1.8 FE lens:

The Sigma 135mm F1.8 DG HSM Art (1400 euros) is a superb optics for outdoor portraits. Considering the focal length and aperture, the size and weight is reasonable and much more manageable than the Sigma 85mm F/1.4 DG HSM Art

  • Sharpness is exceptional including in the corners even wide open at F1.8
  • Bokeh, background blur , color rendition are very good
  • AF its fast and silent and its efficiency is  good in general but with still some issues vs a Sony lens : expect to get 15% misses focus (tested on Sony A7RIII)
  • Ergnomics are ok but not perfect
    • no focus hold button that could have been assigned to eye Af 
    • No aperture ring which makes it less practical and more noisy for video

Alternatives

  • Zeiss Batis 135mm F2.8 (2000 Euros) Excellent lens but which does not achieve the same aperture and therefore less background blur. AF is very efficient and reliable
  • Samyang 135mm F2 AS UMC (560 euros) : excellent manual lens with excellent sharpness everywhere & very good color rendition
  • Sony 135 F1.8 GM : expected for end 2018, but expect a price higher than the 1400 for the Sigma

If you need an AF you can trust 100% , I would wait still a few months to see if the Sony will do better , if not the Sigma is a exceptional optics capable of wonderful images

 

New Tamron 28-75mm FE reviews by TheBrotographer, Jason Vong, Jonathan Stewart and David Oastler

The Tamron 28-75mm FE is a highly requested lens and nearly impossible to find in Stock in the USA at BHphoto, Amazon, BuyDig, FocusCamera and Adorama.

Here are four new reviews to checkout:

TheBrotographer writes:

If I had to pick one lens under $1000 for the Sony E-Mount system, I’d pick the Tamron 28-75 most of the time. No, it isn’t a f/1.4 prime, but it does a fantastic job in many areas. It is a joy to film with on a gimbal with its excellent autofocus. Images coming out of the Tamron 28-75 are sharp, contrasty, and have nice colors. It comes in only $799. Yes, there are a few drawbacks, but at $1400 cheaper than its nearest competitor, those drawbacks are perfectly okay.

Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 for Sony FE User Experience Review – BUDGET ZOOM LENS for a7III a7RIII a7SII

Sony Zoom Shootout – G-Master v. Tamron v. G:

Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 incredible value:

Curiosity: SD card fails during the Canon EOS-R review

Today mjfotografie.de sent me this tweet. Just to say cards can fail…

For me personally having one slot only is not a dealbreaker. But still I find it a bit annoying that suddenly Nikon and Canon folks say having one slot is no issue while they annoyed us Sony owners for years because our first and second generation A7 cameras had one slot only…

At the same time I am annoyed by the fact Sony hasn’t added two equally fast UHS II card slots.

Ted Forbes disappointed by the Canon-Nikon announcements: “Sony understands that mirrorless is more than just taking out the mirror”

Ted Forbes quickly summed up what are my exact thoughts on the new Canon EOS-R system.

And just to give you one more thing to think about…

As you see from DxOmark Canon is really way behind Sony’s sensor tech. Thre difference is much bigger than expressed in those numbers because it doens’t evaluate the video quality. The Canon sensor is incapable of reading out 4K FF without crop, and has soft 4K quality compared to Sony. And I doubt they have the resources to close the gap. On the contrary I expect the gap to get bigger. Eventually I can see Canon using Sony sensors just like Nikon does.