Dpreview TV: The Best And Worst Photo/Video Gear Of 2021

Jordan and Chris selected the best and worst gear of the year:

Best MFT lens: Olympus 8-25mm f/4.0
Best APS-C lens: Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 E (BHphoto. Adorama. FocusCamera. FotoKochDE. FotoErhardtDE. WexUK. ParkUK)
Best Full Frame lens: Tarmon 35-150mm f/2.0.2.8 (BHphoto. Amazon. Adorama. Fotokoch DE. Foto Erhardt DE. Wex UK. Park UK)

Best Camera for Video: DJI Ronin 4D
Best Stills Camera: Nikon Z9

Worst video camera of the Year: Sigma FP-L
Worst lens: Laowa 35mm f/0,95
Worst still camera of the Year: Sigma FP-L

CineD Sony a7 IV Lab Test – Rolling Shutter, Dynamic Range and Latitude

Sony A7IV preorders:
In the USA at BHphoto. Amazon. Adorama. FocusCamera. BuyDig.
In Europe at Fotokoch DE. Calumet DE. Foto Erhardt DE. Park UK. Wex UK. Amazon DE. Amazon UK. Amazon IT. Amazon ES. Amazon NL.

CineD tested the Sony A7IV and concluded:

The Sony a7 IV shows overall very strong results in the lab test – really good dynamic range, 12.9 stops at SNR = 2! Rather good exposure latitude with 7 stops. But the rolling shutter falls a bit short unfortunately, it is on the high end at 26.8ms, also in comparison to the Panasonic LUMIX S1, S5, and S1H, the Canon EOS R5, and the Sony A1 and a7S III full-frame cameras.

Tamron 35-150mm FE review by ThePhoBlographer: “this single lens is almost convincing me to sell my Sony lenses”

Tamron 35-150mm f/2.0-2.8 FE lens at BHphoto. Amazon. Adorama. Fotokoch DE. Foto Erhardt DE. Wex UK. Park UK.

ThePhoBlographer tested the Tamron 35-150mm FE lens:

Tamron absolutely deserves the Editor’s Choice award. The Tamron 35-150mm f2-2.8 Di III VXD is just an obvious choice here all around. The autofocus is fantastic, and that’s thanks to the fact that Sony owns part of Tamron. The image quality is unique enough while still also being more than satisfactory. There’s solid weather sealing, and Tamron even did the brave thing of putting a USB port on the lens. It feels good in the hands. It’s built solidly. It starts at f2 and ends at f2.8. But most importantly, it’s actually got a bunch of useful focal lengths. I can go from shooting a party or event to doing headshots with a single lens. I’ll get the best performance from it if I use a flash, and the exposure will be just as consistent. And honestly, I expect more professional photographers and passionate photographers to do just that. (TTL flash will win the day here; throw your L.E.D. lights away because they won’t do you justice.)

Most importantly, this single lens is almost convincing me to sell my Sony lenses. I own the Tamron 70-300mm and the 17-28mm f2.8. The Tamron 35-150mm f2-2.8 Di III VXD would give me everything I need. But of course, it comes at an extra cost of weight. However, the innovation here can indeed justify that.

The Tamron 35-150mm f2-2.8 Di III VXD wins our Editor’s Choice award and five out of five stars.

Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM II review by Lenstip

Preorders:
Sony 70-200mm GM II Lens at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama. BuyDig. FocusCamera.
In Europe at FotoKoch DE, Calumet DE, WexUK, ParkUK.

Lenstip tested the new 70-200mm II lens and concluded:

Pros:

  • solid, shapely, lightweight, and weather-sealed casing,
  • sensational image quality in the frame centre,
  • excellent image quality on the edge of the APS-C sensor,
  • very good image quality on the edge of full frame,
  • sensible correction of longitudinal chromatic aberration,
  • negligible lateral chromatic aberration,
  • lack of problems with spherical aberration,
  • slight vignetting on the APS-C/DX sensor,
  • very good coma correction,
  • low astigmatism,
  • nice out-of-focus areas for a zoom lens,
  • silent, flash-quick, and accurate autofocus,
  • very efficient image stabilization.

Cons:

  • very weak performance against bright sources of light,
  • noticeable vignetting on full frame.

If only the Sony FE 70-200 mm f/2.8 OSS II didn’t have that slip-up concerning the performance against bright light it would be really a perfect lens. There’s also the vignetting problem mentioned in cons but in such a construction it would be very difficult to avoid it (of course providing you want your instrument to have sensible physical dimensions and weight). Anyway, it’s hardly a tragedy, especially for mirrorless standards.