Hire Tiffen Interview Kit for 82, 77 & 72mm lenses

The EF 50mm f1.2L USM is no spring chicken yet remains highly sought after by photographers and videographers who’d like a super-bright f/1.2 maximum aperture and professional weather sealed construction. It has a fairly short barrel and isn’t particularly heavy at 580g. As a result it balances superbly with full-frame DSLRs and it produces images of magical quality when it’s used wide-open. Out of focus areas are smoothly rendered and it enables excellent subject isolation at f/1.2, though centre sharpness improves noticeably when it’s stopped down towards f/4. It’s the finest 50mm lens Canon has made in EF-mount and its depth of field control, fast focusing, and low-light performance is what makes it so popular with Canon users.

Short telephoto primes covering the 85mm focal length don’t come much faster than this example in EF-mount. Its extreme f/1.2 maximum aperture creates a razor-thin depth of field and dreamy background blur that makes portrait images pop, but it can call for a neutral density filter to be attached via its 72mm filter thread when it’s used wide open in bright, sunny conditions. Users must be vigilant when focusing and it’s worth shooting more than less to make up for a reduced hit-rate of pin-sharp results. It’s a special lens capable of breathtaking results using available light, but the EF 85mm F1.4L IS USM makes a better choice if a well damped manual focus ring and optical stabilisation are a priority.

Nikon’s professional standard zoom has a lot going for it, not least its constant f/2.8 aperture and reliable focusing under tough low-light conditions. With no optical stabilisation it weighs less than a kilogram. It upholds good levels of sharpness from the centre to edge at f/8, however it does suffer from field curvature, resulting in fairly soft corners at wide apertures. Nikon’s Nano Crystal Coat is effective at mitigating ghosting and flare when shooting towards the sun and the colour and contrast of the lens is excellent. It serves Nikon full-frame users well and is only outdone optically by its heavier and more expensive 24-70mm f2.8E ED VR cousin.

Although no longer the flagship 70-200mm lens in Canon’s EF-mount lineup, the EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS II USM is similar to its Mark III successor and features the same optical design with different lens coatings. It’s a workhorse that merges top-of-the-line L-series build quality with a fine optical performance that sees it resolve impressive sharpness throughout its zoom range at f/2.8. Autofocus goes about its business fast and silently, with the supplied tripod collar and stubby foot offering a solid platform when it’s supported on a tripod or monopod. It performs well with Canon’s EF 1.4x extender, which turns it into a 98-280mm zoom with a maximum aperture of f/4.

The Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G AF-S ED VR II is a professional, fast aperture, telephoto zoom lens with Vibration Reduction, and Nano Crystal coatings.

The ultimate in fast aperture wide-angle lenses, the Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM contains UD and aspherical elements to eliminate distortion and aberrations – producing stunning results.

If you’re a Canon user after a general-purpose focal range combined with a fast maximum aperture look no further than the EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM. Built to Canon’s professional L-series standard with weather sealing and fast, silent autofocus, it’s a lens that’s hard to pick fault with and returns images of exceptional quality. As well as impressive centre sharpness wide open at f/2.8, users can expect it to handle ghosting and flare extremely well when shooting directly towards the light. The only downsides are its lack of optical image stabilisation to suppress camera shake and that it becomes a little soft wide-open at its minimum focus distance.

The Sigma 18-35mm F1.8 DC HSM Art is a fascinating lens and one that’s designed for cameras that employ an APS-C size sensor. With a constant aperture of f/1.8 and focal range that’s equivalent to 27-52.5mm, it lets you do what very few zooms allow, which is to shoot at a fast maximum aperture across a practical focal length range without having to switch between multiple prime lenses. It’s constructed to Sigma’s robust standards, however it’s not weather-sealed. It’s also fairly heavy (810g) for its size and balances best with APS-C cameras that have a large handgrip. It’s puts in an exceptional optical performance and produces highly attractive images at f/1.8.

If you don’t require the extra stop in speed offered by the FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS and fancy a smaller, lighter lens that covers the same practical focal length, the FE 70-200mm F4 G OSS makes a perfect choice. Removing the tripod collar makes it lighter still, and with dust and moisture resistance, focus lock buttons between its zoom and focus rings, and an excellent optical performance throughout, there’s very little not to like. It conveys a feeling of premium quality when it’s paired with A7-series full-frame cameras and turns into a 105-300mm zoom on APS-C format E-mount cameras. Sony has triumphed with their compact 70-200mm f/4 offering.

Incredible resolution ideal for the high-megapixel era, the 50mm f1.4 DG HSM | A raises the benchmark for large-aperture standard focal length lenses.

Sigma’s award-winning 50mm F1.4 DG HSM Art lens isn’t small or light, yet it excels in terms of its optical performance and features a specially developed algorithm that ensures accurate, quiet and smooth focusing. The quality of out-of-focus areas at wide apertures is exquisite. It’s a lens that lends itself to isolating subjects and emphasizing them in the frame, with quite astonishing sharpness from corner to corner between f/2.8 and f/11. It lacks weather sealing and optical image stabilisation, but these are omissions you’ll be prepared to live without for the outstanding results it produces.

Canon users looking for a robustly made, weather sealed wide-angle zoom in EF-mount that’s smaller and lighter than the EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III USM will find their ideal partner in this lens. It’s not as well suited to shooting in challenging low-light situations with its slower maximum aperture, but presents significant advantages of its own, including 4-stop optical image stabilisation to compensate for handshake and Super Spectra coatings that enhance contrast and light transmission under harsh lighting conditions. Sharpness is outstanding and it handles chromatic aberrations admirably. It’s right up there as one of best performing wide-angle zooms Canon has ever made in EF-mount.

With a F1.4 brightness when at wide-open aperture, the Sigma 24mm f1.4 DG HSM | Art reveals a new horizon of image quality.

F1.4 brightness at wide-open aperture. The Sigma 24mm f1.4 DG HSM | Art is a large-diameter wide-angle that reveals new horizons of image quality.

Canon offers a vast range of telephoto lenses in its EF-mount lineup, but when it comes to zooms covering the 100-400mm focal length there’s only one lens to choose and it’s this one. Its maximum aperture of f/4 switches over to f/5 at 125mm and it doesn’t reach f/5.6 until it’s used beyond 300mm. It’s at home shooting cars on the track in the pouring rain as it is photographing animals on safari in midday sun and delivers exceptional sharpness across the frame with only a slight reduction in sharpness at the long end. Bokeh is beautifully portrayed in out of focus regions too. It’s an L-series lens that strikes the perfect balance between advanced features and sublime performance.

Canon has knocked it out the park with the EF 35mm f/1.4L II USM. Photographers and videographers who lean towards a natural, reportage-style approach to their work will be blown away by its performance that records beautifully blurred backgrounds at wide apertures. It’s phenomenally sharp when it’s stopped down between f/2.8 and f/4 and resolves a gorgeous look to images wide-open at f/1.4. Execution of a blue spectrum refractive optic sees it control chromatic aberrations extremely well and vignetting towards the edge of the frame is tasteful too. All in all, it’s an extraordinarily impressive 35mm lens that can’t be praised highly enough.

The FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM has been a staple part of Sony’s lineup of full-frame E-mount lenses since 2016. Its G-Master status reflects its position as the premium professional standard zoom for Sony Alpha 7-series cameras and its constant maximum aperture of f/2.8 and sensational sharpness are valid reasons to choose it ahead of the Sony FE 24-70mm F4 ZA OSS. It returns outstanding images with whatever Alpha 7-series mirrorless camera it’s mounted on, be it the A7S III, or the high-resolution prowess of the A7R IV. It doesn’t feature optical image stabilisation, nevertheless is regarded as the finest example of a fast standard zoom in E-mount.

This is the crème-de-la-crème of portrait lenses for Sony users who shoot stills and video. Its sharpness across the frame, stunning bokeh at wide apertures and pro-grade build quality place it above Sony’s cheaper FE 85mm F1.8 lens. Sony has thought of everything. It has a de-clickable manual aperture ring that allows silent aperture control from the lens when shooting video and a focus lock button on the barrel that can be customised to different functions. It’s relatively compact for an f/1.4 prime and being a G-Master lens it has extensive weather seals throughout. Fast portrait lenses are loved by many and they don’t come much better than the FE 85mm F1.4 GM.