As of the time of this review Pentax is offering no less than 5 lenses covering the standard zoom range and the Pentax SMC DA 17-70mm f/4 AL [IF] SDM is the latest addition to this series. It can be seen as the sweet spot lens here because it offers ...

The Pentax DA SMC 17-70mm f/4 AL [IF] SDM is undoubtedly the most desirable standard zoom lens in the current Pentax lens lineup. The resolution characteristic is very good without any significant weakness. The vignetting and distortion are about ...

The Pentax SMC-DA* 16-50mm f/2.8 ED [IF] SDM is part of the professional grade DA* lens lineup by Pentax. At around 600-700 &eur;/US$ it is surprisingly affordable when considering its direct counterparts like the Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 USM IS or ...

It is difficult to find a final verdict for the Pentax SMC DA* 16-50mm f/2.8 ED [IF] SDM. On the one hand it has some obvious problems like a weak border performance at max. aperture and very pronounced lateral chromatic aberrations (CAs). On the ...

The Sigma AF 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM is a quite uncommon lens. It is Sigma's first-ever large aperture AF 50mm lens which is quite surprising regarding the market significance of the company. It is also refreshing to see a newly designed, state-of-the ...

The new Sigma AF 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM is a refreshing alternative in the long-ignored standard AF lens market. The lens is fairly big and heavy due to unusually big glass elements but thanks to the design efforts it is already capable of delivering ...

The Sony 50mm f/2.8 macro is a further survivor from the Minolta era. Naturally it has been redesigned to match the look and feel of Sony Alpha lens series but under the skin little if anything has changed. It it, obviously, a full format lens which ...

The Sony 50mm f/2.8 macro is certainly a very good lens but it does not really stand out from the crowd - macro lenses simply tend to be top performers. The resolution potential of the lens is very high straight from f/2.8. The vignetting is usually ...

The Sony 35mm f/1.4G is one of those lenses that survived from the old Minolta era. The original design dates back to 1987 - the early days of the Minolta AF SLR system. The current incarnation is basically identical to the Minolta AF 35mm f/1.4G RS ...

To G or not to G is the question and the answer is ... no. The Sony 35mm f/1.4G may offer lots of creative potential thanks to its ultra-large max. aperture but technically it is not an overly impressive lens especially in relation to its very steep ...

The AF 12-24mm f/4 AT-X Pro DX was a huge success for Tokina - it is one of the most attractivelenses from a price/performance perspective. Obviously this wasn't enough for Tokina - in 2007they released a development announcement for a new variant, ...

The Tokina AF 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X Pro DX is currently the best ultra-wide angle zoom lens for Canon EOS APS-C DSLRs. The resolution is impressively high throughout the zoom range (albeit a short one) and across the image field. Vignetting is really ...

The Sony 100mm f/2.8 macro is one of the lenses that survived from the Minolta era.Naturally it has been redesigned to match the look and feel of Sony Alpha lens seriesbut under the skin little if anything has changed. It it, obviously, a (full format ...

The Sony 100mm f/2.8 macro is able to produce very sharp results combined with a negligibleamount of distortions, vignetting and lateral CAs. However, longitudinal (axial) chromatic aberrations can be quite a problem in out-focus areas (f/2.8-f/5.6) ...

The Sony 50mm f/1.4 is currently the only standard lens available in Sony Alpha mount. Mostlikely it is not a new lens but simply the relabeled variant of the old Minolta AF 50mm f/1.4 RS plusADI encoding.On an APS-C DSLR its focal length is ...

The Sony 50mm f/1.4 is a typical representative of the standard lenses that were designed back inthe 70s to 80s. The max. aperture (f/1.4) should be generally avoided due to weak contrast,poor borders and a significant amount of longitudinal chromatic ...

The Pentax SMC DA* 200mm f/2.8 ED [IF] SDM is a long awaited lens in the Pentax community. Prior ofthe DA* 200mm f/2.8 and its sister lens, the DA* 300mm f/4, Pentax users had to considerthird party lenses when seeking for high quality lenses beyond ...

The Pentax SMC DA* 200mm f/2.8 ED [IF] SDM is a very welcome addition to the Pentax lineup. Theperformance is generally on a very high level. In terms of resolution and contrast thelens is able to produce very good results straight from the max. ...

The Pentax SMC DA 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 ED AL [IF] is a worthy representative of its species. Naturallyit is not comparable to more specialized zoom lenses, not to mention fix-focals, but within itsscope it does a good job. This is especially true for ...