Santa’s coming! And for many photography enthusiasts, that means gear! For the luckiest amongst you, it might mean lenses and bodies. Others might be looking forward to a Loupedeck Live or Simplr Strap. That stuff is fantastic, too. For me, though, wedding photography is my job, and I don’t ask Santa for gadgets because I buy them when needed. Instead, my family now usually asks: “which book do you want for Christmas?”
We are lucky to have a huge range of quality supertelephoto zoom lenses to choose from nowadays — so many, in fact, that it can be difficult to know which is right for you. This excellent video review takes a look at three of the best options: the Sigma 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3 DG DN OS Sports, Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG DN OS Sports, and the Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS.
70-200mm f/2.8 lenses are the workhorses of choice for a huge number of photographers, as they can comfortably tackle many genres and needs and often offer some of a company’s best features and capabilities. For Nikon mirrorless shooters, there is the NIKKOR Z 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S, and this excellent video review takes a look at the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in practice.
A wide-aperture 35mm lens is one of the most versatile a photographer can own, suitable for a huge range of applications from portraiture to astrophotography or even as a walkaround option that lives on your camera. For Fuji shooters, there is the XF 23mm f/1.4 R lens, and this excellent video review takes a look at how it holds up in practice.
Twenty years ago, tripods were necessary for any sort of long exposure. Today, though, lenses and cameras can offer insane levels of stabilization of sometimes up to eight stops. With those capabilities, do you even need a tripod anymore? This interesting video poses that question and covers the times where you may or may not need one.
