New lenses - our crash test

Rédigé le 26/03/2017
Dumè Siacci


Don't worry, no lenses were hurt in the process! However, you know us, when we receive new gear, we like to put it to the test and we do not take it lightly. Which is why, when we received two new lenses this week, we decided to go for it. For the competition to be a fair fight, we tested them under the exact same conditions, that is, a rainy New York day. There's no fun in conducting a test without a little bit of challenge, right? Now, read on to discover who, from the two, came out with the laurels of victory!

 


The first lense is very light which makes it a good candidate for the wanderlust enthusiast photographer. It's such a drag to have to carry heavy gear on the road—it's no secret that achieving great photography means you need to walk around with several lenses in the first place, but if you can make your backpack lighter with lightweight lenses, something which can be achieved with the best of today's technology, we are inclined to say yes. In that sense, our first candidate is definitely a winner.

However, on the exposure front, this lense is unfortunately lacking in flexibility. It's not very convenient to work with. The automatic mode is trustworthy and the pictures turn out great almost every time. But for the experienced photographer, playing around with the manual settings falls short, with few options and a zoom ring which quickly shows its limitations.


Our second candidate is heavier in terms of gear (not twice the weight of the first one, but still not on the lightweight side), yet, it also comes in first place in terms of heavy duty performance! The results with this lense were really impressive, both in automatic and manual modes. All around, it was a treat to work with it, with a very smooth zoom ring and optic of the finest quality. 

Of course, one must not forget that the best lense in itself is nothing without the camera case it's attached to. The technology, the viewfinder, the flash, these are all parameters of the case which can make a huge difference, regardless of the quality of the lense. We've said it before, but sometimes an outstanding camera case can work wonders even with the cheapest lense. Just like an impressive lense can fail to live up to its technical expectations with a cheap camera case.


*This is demo content