Kamlan 50mm E-mount on Amazon US, Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon FR, Amazon IT and Amazon ES.

Kai tested the new Kamlan 50mm f/1.1 E-mount lens. And was surprised by the character and quality of the lens:

We have three new detailed reviews to report:

Marc Alhadeff tested the Sony 85mm GM ([shopcountry 59290]):

The Sony FE 85mm F1.4 GM is one of the best portrait lens available on the market. It has all possible refinement you could expect from a portrait lens. If you can afford it and if your are mainly a portrait / studio / mode shooter, this sony FE 85mm F1.4 GM is definitively a must have

Jordan Steele tested the Sony A9 ([shopcountry 60549]):

The A9 is a unique camera in the mirrorless space. While it’s certainly a full featured, well constructed camera that can be very useful for a wide variety of shooting, there are more affordable options that do most everything the A9 does. However, for sports or event shooting, the A9 is the best there is in the mirrorless world, and the first mirrorless camera I’ve tested that truly has world-class autofocus.

Photographyblog tested the new Voigtlander 65mm macro FE lens ([shopcountry 62826]):

The Voigtlander 65mm F2 Macro APO Lanthar is a stunningly sharp standard prime lens that doubles up as a very effective macro lens, all at a price that won’t break the bank. Boasting the same stellar build quality that we’ve come to expect from recent Voigtlander lenses, this new optic is a real gem.

DxOmark published the 16-35mm GM lens test results. And this has now become the Highest-rated wide-angle zoom! Read the conclusion:

The Sony’s Overall score of 42 puts it 6 points ahead of its nearest competitor, the Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III USM, while its Sharpness score of 34 is a remarkable 10 points ahead.

Another big strength of the Sony is that its image quality remains very consistent across its entire focal range — a relief for those accustomed to having to remember to coddle their lenses if they are weak at some parts of their range. Sony’s sharpness, for example, is ahead of its competitors over its entire zoom range.

The lens is also impressive for its light transmission. While it may not seem exciting to say that a lens rated f/2.8 measures out at a T-Stop of 2.9, its competitors are all over 3. It is in the middle of the pack for vignetting — something fairly easy to address in post-processing — and has relatively little chromatic aberration, which is something much harder to correct after the fact.

With the new Sony EF 16-35mm f/2.8 lens, you are simply getting better quality images for about the same price you would pay for many of its f/2.8 wide-angle zoom competitors.

if you need a fast wide angle zoom this is a no brainer buy. Worth every cent! Get the 16-35mm GM Lens at [shopcountry 60804].

The lens is now in stock at Amazon (Click here).

We have the first full review of the new Voigtlander 40mm f/1.2 FE lens via Photographyblog. The only real downside of this lens is purple-fringing at f/1.2. But that’s not a major issue if you take time to correct this in post. But this is really the only “cons” of this lens:

The 40mm f1.2 Nokton Aspherical is another sharp, well-built and compact standard prime lens from Voigtlander that offers an addictively fast, if somewhat tricky to use, maximum aperture of f/1.2. Combined with the 10-blade aperture and a 35mm full-frame Sony camera, with a certain amount of patience it’s possible to create some beautiful bokeh effects. The manual focusing experience is once again top-class and the clicked/de-clicked aperture ring is a great touch.
In summary, the Voigtlander 40mm f1.2 Nokton Aspherical offers a compelling bland of compact size, excellent image quality and sheer speed, all at a pleasingly wallet-friendly price.

This is a “home run” lens from Voigtlander. Personally the only thing that holds me back is the 40mm focal length. I would have preferred it to be a tack wider. And maybe some of you would have preferred it to be a tack closer.

UPDATE: Marc Alhadeff just posted his 40mm FE review:

Overall the Voigtländer 40mm F1.2 is a very nice lens with a unique character , however as I was not as impressed as the stellar  Voigltänder 65mm F2 Macro Apo Lanthar. The lens is not for everyone, you will need to be patient and practice to be able to get decent manual focus at F1.2

David Braddon-Mitchell tested the new Voigtländer 40mm f/1.2 Nokton FE lens and concludes:

“This lens has some very beautiful aspects. The bokeh is just glorious in many situations. Its speed means you can use a 40mm lens for portraits and get blur comparable to a 1.4/50, thus reducing the one disadvantage, to my taste, of a slightly wider standard lens for environmental portraiture.
What makes it possibly attractive is the speed: for street, for environmental portraits, for playing with the glorious bokeh in the lit-up nighttime of the city (sorry I have no samples of that sort yet!) For all that, it appears give to give excellent results across much of the field stopped down. Of course this will be a lot less appealing if chromatic aberration , flare and backlit bokeh aren’t good, so that’s what I’ll be testing next.”

The Lens is listed at Amazon and BHphoto without a pricing info.

DxOmark tested the sensor of the new Nikon D850. It beats the over two years old Sony A7rII by a hair. The Sony has a better High ISO performance but it’s the one stop imrpoved dynamic range performance at Low ISO that gives the Nikon the edge:

Against the Sony A7R II and Canon 5DS, the Nikon D850 offers an advantage at base ISO of around one stop against the Sony, and a massive 2.5-stop advantage over the Canon. The gaps narrow as sensitivity increases, though, so from ISO 1600 and above, the D850 and Sony A7R II offer broadly the same dynamic range, with the Sony just edging them. The Nikon and Sony both continue to offer around a one-stop advantage over the Canon for dynamic range between ISO 1600 and over the Canon 5DS’s top sensitivity of ISO 12,800. So good dynamic range above or around 10 EV is possible on the Sony and Nikon up to ISO 3200, compared to ISO 1600 for the Canon.

I bet the new Sony A7rIII (or A9r) will get on top of the DxO rankings when it will be announced in 2018.

Image by ePhotozine

This is the cheapest fastest APS-C E-mount lens you can buy: It costs $169 on Amazon US, Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon FR, Amazon IT and Amazon ES.

And ePhotozine posted the full lens review:

KamLan has a simple, ambitiously specified lens for a very low price. It is well made, performs well and, within the limitations of manual focus and lagging edge quality, it is still a lens that delivers something very useful. The bright f/1.1 aperture is one thing and the gorgeous bokeh is another. The lens is not technically perfect, but it does have excellent photographic, creative qualities that could be used to advantage. At £126, there is little to lose.