dSLR Dad

Popular Photography Magazine has published their review of the Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G Lens:

The first DX Nikkor with the classic advantages of a high-speed “normal” lens…

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Photozone has published their review of the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.4G dSLR lens:

Normal primes have a long standing reputation of high quality for an affordable price and the Nikkor AF-S 50 makes no exception in this regard. The lens is able to deliver ver sharp images, at least slightly stopped down.
However it’s not without flaws. Wide open, it lacks a bit sharpness and most of all contrast, vignetting is very high wide open, but that is to be expected on a full frame camera with a moderately priced fast prime. The bokeh is smooth from f/2 to f/2.8 onwards, but a bit nervous wide open, where the lens also shows considerable amount of LoCAs

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Imaging Resource has published their review of the SIGMA 18-250mm F3.5-6.3 DC OS HSM lens:

Like most ”vacation” zooms, the trick is to know the parameters where they function best. Sigma’s latest iteration of this lens offers a bit more telephoto performance, for which the integrated optical image stabilization is crucially useful. Unfortunately the lens’ maximum aperture decreases quickly as the lens is zoomed out, to the point where at 80mm, you’re using a ƒ/5.6 lens. This design allows the lens to be kept as small as it is, but at that point you’re needing either a sunny day, an external flash, or a steady hand (even with the image stabilization) to get reasonably sharp photos.

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I just received my Joby Gorillapod Focus in the mail today.  All I can say is that I think I have found my new travel tripod.  Most of you have probably already seen Gorillapods in the stores, the Focus is a whole different animal:

1. All of the socket joints are made out of anodized aluminum. They are made out of aluminum because:
2. This little unit can hold up to maximum of Eleven pounds (7kg)!
3. It is large for a Gorillapod at 11.4 by 3.6-inches (289 x 92mm), but the Focus is still extremely compact for my intended use as a travel tripod. The weight is still a respectable 1.1-pounds (500g).
4. Like any Gorillapod, it’s legs can bend to and contort into any position. Since each little socket has a rubber ring around it, you can even wrap it around a fencepost. Again, it will still hold 11-pounds!
5. Since it has some decent size to it, those dSLR Dads whole can also shoot video can use this as a steadycam rig.  Just angle out two feet in front of you and hold on the third like a hand grip.
6. You can mount to both a standard 1/4-inch and 3/8-inch mount, via the included adapter screw. That means that you can even attach your nice Kirk or Really Right Stuff Ballhead to it, which is what I plan to do. Heck I may just wrap this around the top of my regular tripod if I need to.
7. The street price is $99.95.

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Popular Photography Magazine has published their lens test report of the Sigma APO 50-150mm F2.8 II EX DC HSM:

Rest on its laurels? Not Sigma. Just look at the updated version of its bright 50–150mm f/2.8 digital-only (DC) zoom ($675, street), part of the company’s top-drawer EX family of glass. Its predecessor performed admirably in the Pop Photo Lab just two years ago (January 2007). Since then, the company’s engineers have twisted, squeezed, and tweaked its design in an attempt (we’re guessing) to catch up to the optical superiority of Tokina’s remarkable 50–135mm f/2.8.

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Photo by Chris Mampe

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Popular Photography Magazine has published their review of the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.4G dSLR lens:

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Photozone has published their review of Canon’s EF 70-200mm f/4 USM L Image Stabilized (IS) Telephoto Zoom Lens:

The Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 USM L IS is an amazing lens. It is truly outstanding when used on APS-C DSLRs and it suffers only from a minor quality deteriorations on full format DSLRs.

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Imaging Resource has published their review of the Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G Lens:

The 35mm ƒ/1.8G DX fills an obvious hole in Nikon’s lineup, and with its very reasonable price point Nikon may have found a way to ride out the recession. In our tests, the lens performs very well, with good results for sharpness at ƒ/1.8, becoming excellent at ƒ/2.8. Chromatic aberration is visible but not overly objectionable and light falloff is nicely controlled. Distortion is a little high for our tastes, especially if the lens is to be marketed as a ‘’standard” lens. But for the money you can’t beat it, especially if what you’ve had to work with has been an 18-55mm kit zoom.

You can read the complete review at SLR Gear.  As always, you can find more news and reviews at the dSLR Dad Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G Lens Resource Guide.

Photozone has published their review of the Sony SAL-70400G 70-400mm f4-5.6G Lens:

TheSony 70-400mm f/4-5.6 SSM G is an impressive piece of engineering. The resolution figures are very good across the zoom range. Lateral CAs, vignetting and distortions are generally very well controlled and not field relevant.

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