newborncamera's reviews

  • Sigma 24mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art

    7 out of 10 points and recommended
    Sharp. Smooth focus ring. Adaptable with viltrox ef-m2ii and sigma MC-11.
    Soft at 1.4 at normal/moderate distance. AF settings needs adjustments. More better adjustments needed for AF from factory before release to consumer.

    Got this last year used in ok shape condition only to find out that it needed ALOT of fine adjustment using the sigma usb dock.

    After the adjustment of AF performance then was it sharp autofocus. Sometimes it did back focus but it usually gets fixed but pressing AF a second time.

    Very sharp otherwise.
    I use this with Sony A7S with sigma Mc-11 and it work just fine.
    Use this with panasonic GH4 and Gx80 with the viltrox ef-m2ii speedbooster and works just as good aswell.

    Always calibrate the speedbooster for infinity first before calibrating the lens thru sigma dock. Otherwise youll find yourself sharp AF on some distances and not as sharp AF other distances.

    To calibrate speedbooster.
    Make zero adjustments on lens.
    Setup the distance test rigs.
    Put camera on a tripod and turn off Stabilizer function.
    Have a big enough target at around 7-15 meters distance from subject and adjust focus.
    Put camera in MANUAL focus mode.
    Put shutter delay at around 2-10 seconds so as to eliminate micro shake from hands.

    If possible, use silent mode/electronic shutter to eliminate shutter schock.

    Check lens if its right in the infinity line. If not the make adjustments from the back of speedbooster. Loosen (but not remove) the tiny screw that holds the plastic center element.

    If backfocus, turn center element counterclockwise looking at the rear of the adapter/camera side.
    If front focus the turn center element clockwise from the rear of the adapter/camera side.

    Once in focus at infinity line then tighten small screw and clean the element from finger print.

    THEN. Calibrate your lens all distance ranges according to the usb dock.


    Overall id rate this a 7 of 10 for the AF performance need alot of adjustments with the usb dock.

    Build quality and image quality id give it a 9 of 10.


    Update:

    i just found out that this sigma lens does not allow AF-C with viltrox speedbooster EF-M2 II. It just stops at one shot and not even in focus. AF-S works fine and accurate.

    reviewed March 24th, 2021 (purchased for $300)

  • Panasonic 45-150mm f/4-5.6 ASPH MEGA OIS LUMIX G VARIO

    7 out of 10 points and recommended
    Sharp fast and accurate AF performance. Mega OIS stabilization. Very light. Metal mount.
    Not constant aperture. Not fast lens in low light. Mostly plastic construction. None weather sealed.

    Once again. This is one of the best kit kens there is.

    It is sharp and accurate and AF performance is fast and pinpoint.

    Not much to say other than been taking great photos and videos using this. Very good stanilization, even better than the 14-42 kit lens. Gives 90-300mm FF equivalent.

    Again not fast aperture but i dont use this indoors and only outdoors with good light where this lens shines.

    I recommend this lens.

    reviewed March 24th, 2021

  • Panasonic 42.5mm f/1.7 ASPH POWER OIS LUMIX G

    9 out of 10 points and recommended
    Fast and accurate AF PERFORMANCE. Fast aperture good for low light. Power OIS stabilization. Light weight with metal mount. Good looks and front glass looks really nice
    I cant find one.

    Excellent image quality. Very fast aperture. Ultra fast and accurate AF performance with no focal plane issues.

    Very very nice focus ring. Little to no distortion/CA fringeing. I love the look of glass from the front when wide open.
    Very small lens and light weight.

    Has a very effective power OIS stabilization.

    I cant find a bad thing at all.

    Compare this to my sigma art 60mm f2.8 this one wins because of low light performance and ois stabilization.
    The sigma 60mm has a look of its own. Its got really good bokeh aswell.

    Id give this a 9 overall because nothing is perfect. I cant find anything that is bad about this lens. Its got metal mount aswell.

    reviewed March 24th, 2021 (purchased for $150)

  • Sigma 60mm f/2.8 DN Art

    8 out of 10 points and recommended
    Sharp. Good bokeh quality. Ok speed aperture in M4/3 terms. Focus ring smooth to turn. Tight and firm mounting fit. AF speed is very fast just like a native lens. All functions as native as it gets. Nice to look at from the front at f2.8.
    Focus ring is very smooth externally. No ribs on focus ring bad for sweaty fingers/hands. No OIS. This is 120mm FF equivalent. Slow aperture in FF at f5.6 equivalent.

    Okey so the lens has some rattle inside due to the internal AF motor. Stop with all the shaking of the lens already. You might damage something.


    Lens is sharp. Gives really good bokeh and the focus ring is smooooooooth and easy to turn, perfect for focus racking in videos.
    Too smooth on the barrel in fact that if your fingers gets sweaty, fingers slips and hard to turn focus ring.
    A pro tip is to use some rubberbands around the focus ring for good grip.

    I use this with a couple panasonic cameras, GH4, GX80 and G7.

    It still deserves the ART logo. No its not that fast in MFT terms being 2.8 F stop. And the weired decision of make the focus ring a smooth barrel rather than the traditional ribbed style giving us manual focus mongers a hard time when our hands gets slippery.

    The image quality is really REALLY good for the money spent used for a mere 100 USD that came with everything except for the small bag and carton.

    Manual focus overide is possible by having the shutter halfway held in and turning focus ring.
    Lens functions just like a native panasonic lens.

    Id just wish this lens had OIS, id happily pay 100 dollars more.

    Overall id rate this an 8 just because i wished it had OIS built in. This is 120mm equivalent in FF.

    Id rate the build quality as 8 aswell since it doesnt feel robust even though the barrel is made of thin aluminuim sheet. Then im not hard on my gear either so it works for me.

    Image quailty is a 9 of 10 for its color rendition, resolution and sharpness for this price its hard to beat.

    reviewed March 24th, 2021 (purchased for $100)

  • Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 DC HSM Art

    9 out of 10 points and recommended
    Sharp. Good wide to normal focal range. Very adaptable with varios cameras thru means of adapters and speedboosters. Cheap when used due to popularity. Very good build quality. Only small adjustments needed.
    Lens hood mount too tight. Needed to lubricate with lip gloss just so i could mount hood smoothly.

    Well not much to say really. Everyone already covered much about this lens.

    This lens is very well known for its versatility by its own or with speedboosters and adapters.

    Where do i start.

    Got this lens mainly for M4/3 system adaptation with Viltrox ef-m2ii speedbooster with panasonic GH4, G7 and Gx80. The lens functions much like a native lens including the manual focus override.
    Zoom ring is smooth. Focus ring is smooth and not choppy.
    Image quality is next to perfect, bokeh, speed aperture yeah just about everything about this lens is almost perfect.

    It even works like a stabilizer due to its sheer weight and length that even with GH4 i could do 1/5 second SHARP handheld!!

    Works wonders with sony a7s and sigma MC-11 aswell though eye autofocus doesnt work.

    I also use it in fullframe mode in the A7s from 28-35mm on the lens. It has some vignetting on the extreme four corners at f1.8 but not much. Any FF lens in FF cameras will have some vignetting. Check out zeiss 55mm1.8 and has heavy vignetting in FF mode wide open.

    Use this in apsc mode with the sony yeilds no vignetting. Gives me 27mm-52mm FF equivalent.

    Also only needed small adjustments on infinity range with the sigma dock. All other ranges gives me good AF performance accuracy.

    One bad thing is the too tight of a lens hood mount. I had to smear some lip gloss around the lens hopd mount just to make it smooth the lens hood dont get stuck.
    Never had this problem with my sigma art lens 24mm 1.4.

    Id rate the overall 9 of 10 since nothing is perfect.

    Build quality is top notch but gives 8 due to the lens hood being too tight of a fit. Others are also exepriencing thesame issue.

    For image quality id give a solid 9.

    Update:

    i just found out that this sigma lens does not allow AF-C with viltrox speedbooster EF-M2 II. It just stops at one shot and not even in focus. AF-S works fine and accurate.

    reviewed March 24th, 2021 (purchased for $300)

  • Sony 50mm f/1.4 SAL-50F14

    7 out of 10 points and recommended
    Sharp and detailed. Nice looks of the glass from front. Fast apperture. Smooth focus. Focus stops on ring. Focus/apperture distance scale. Fast focus with adapter.
    Needs an adapter to work AF. bad BAD chromatic abberation when sun hits the edge of subject. Misfocus front/back/center focus.

    I got this for the sole purpose to use with the sony a7s and LA-EA4 sony A mount adapter for low light performance.
    My old lens came from the first owner and was in good shape except the front portion of the lens gets flakey black finish. Otherwise my lens is in really prestine shape. The glass is as clear as it can be with little bit of pixie dust trapped inside the elements.

    For low light it gives the best results due to its fast F1.4 aperture. I also fell in love with how big the opening of the glass from the front. I have a fetish for good looks when looking at the glass from the front.

    The LA-EA4 has a translucent mirror for the PDAF autofocus to work. It gives mark 1 A7S and A7R PDAF hybrid autofocus capability.

    One note: with the adapters translucent mirror robs 1/3 of stop of light, making the f.14 a 1.7 f stop light transmission. The image quality and bokeh remains f1.4.

    Even with the screw type focus mechanism built in the lens, it still focuses fast though not as fast as native E mount lens, works perfectly with the said adapter above.

    Why didnt you bought a canon 50mm 1.4 or 1.8? You ask.

    Because i like how the old classic look looked like. The big glass opening from the front is so good looking.
    I also love the smooth focus ring and the focus stops ( yeah im old school).
    Also because the thought of giving PDAF hybrid autofocus in my contrast detect af only camera gives the adapter the ability to focus fast.

    Things to remember when having the adpater.
    Never clean, blow with mouth or touch the mirror of the adapter. Blow only with a blower tool and leave the rest of the dust or fibers that could accumulate on the miror.
    Touching the mirror WILL disturb the position of it and youll never get correct AF performance.

    The good:

    Fast aperture
    Smooth focus ring
    Aperture and distance scale
    Very tight firm fit with adapter and adapter also tight fit with camera.
    Not much vignetting
    Fast AF though not native performance.
    Stop bounderies on focus ring.

    The bad:

    Chormatic abberation and alot of it when sun hits the edges of subject. Doesnt bother me because i use this lens for low light environment.
    Needs LA-EA4 adapter to make autofocus work but rons 1/3 stop light due to adapter mirror.
    Has a front focus AF point missfocus. I fix it with -4 micro adjustment and seems to fix it. It still missfocuses a bit. Sometimes front sometimes back focuses. Othertimes center focus.

    Overall id rate this at 7 because i needed an adapter to use with my E mount system.

    Build quality ill give an 8.

    Image quality ill give a 7 due to the chormatic abberation.

    Sharpness and focus performance id give a 9.

    reviewed March 24th, 2021 (purchased for $60)

  • Sony 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G SSM SAL-70300G

    7 out of 10 points and recommended
    Sharp. Fast accurate AF performance due to SSM motor and la-ea4 adapter. Smoong focus ring. Distance scale. No stops on focus ring. Little to no distortion/CA fringeing. Not heavy at all. Big long deep lens hood. Firm tight fit with adpater
    Zoom ring is choopy. Not fast enough aperture. No stops in focus ring. No OIS stabilization.

    Got this for 160 dollars used. Came with original carton, papers, reciept and the original price in 2018 was 650 dollars.

    The image quality and sharpness is great. Corner2corner seems sharp though not as sharp as others. This zoom lens with complex elements for only 650 dollars what do one expects?

    Works wonders with sony LA-EA4 adapter. Gives PDAF hybrid auto focus with my sony A7S mark 1.
    AF performance is fast, queit and accurate. No focus point issues with back/front misfocus.

    Little to no distortion no CA as far as i can see compare to the sony a mount 50mm 1.4.

    Not as heavy as it looks. Very long lens especially with a ridiculously long lens hood hehe.

    Very tight fit with adapter and adapter to lens.

    Two things bad. The lens is f4.5-5.6 aperture. So not fast by any means. Then again you dont use this type of lens indoors and you are to use this outside in sunny light.
    With the la-ea4 adapters 1/3 of stop robbing light due to mirror built in, gives f4.8-5.9 stop for lihht transmission. Image quality and bokeh is not affected.
    No OIS stabilization. Means you need good light to get high shutter settings to stop motion.
    The zoom ring is NOT SMOOTH at all especially near 300mm.



    The good:

    Very very fast and accurate pin point AF performance.
    Smooth focus ring with distance scale.
    Very good fit on adapter.
    Not heavy as it looks. My sigma art 18-35 is way heavier.
    Good ridiculous lens hood.
    Very nice to look at glass from the front.
    Mostly plastic but rigid plastic and constuction.
    Has grippy like finish of the entire barrel.


    The bad:

    Not fast enough apperture.
    No OIS stabilization
    Needs good light to stop motion.
    Choopy zoom ring
    Mostly plastic.


    For overall with all the quirks id give it 7.

    Build quality id say 9.

    For image quality its a solid 9.

    reviewed March 24th, 2021 (purchased for $160)

  • Panasonic 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH MEGA OIS LUMIX G VARIO

    8 out of 10 points and recommended
    Good wide and zoom range. OIS stabilization. Tiny footprint. Very very light. No focus ring. Fast accurate AF performance. Little to no distortion/fringeing. Perfect for gimbal use with feiyutech ak4500 and gx80.
    No focus ring can be a good thing for others. Too light. Made of plastic even the mount.

    Got it as a kit lens for the panasonic GX80.
    Its very small but has good OIS stabilization. Little to no distortion/CA fringeing.
    It has accurate and fast AF performance.

    Anyone saying this lens is not sharp doesnt really know what their saying.

    It doesnt have any focus ring. This can be a good thing or a bad thing. A bad thing because you wont have a physical focus ring.

    But the good is you you dont have a ring that will disturb your focus. One can also press a button on the camera to give manual focus adjustment via slider or thru the panasonic app.
    I actually like this concept as it actually gives me accurate and precis controlled manual focus racking by just tapping lightly on the LCD manual focus slider.

    When used with the panasonic gx80 and feiyutech ak4500 gimbal, you can rack focus using the focus wheel of the gimbal via bluetooth. No need external focus system. Gx80 is fully supported with ak4500.

    The good:

    Sharpness.
    Smooth zoom ring.
    Tiny. Like the size of to oreo cookies stacked together.
    No focus ring.
    Mega OIS stabilization for this tiny of a lens is a marvel.

    The bad:

    No focus ring but can be used with LCD manual slider or thru app.
    Tiny and light. Feels like you could drop this by accident.
    Little to no barrel distortion/CA fringeing.

    Overall id give this an 8 because its not as fast aperture.

    Build quality id give a 5. Its plastic overall even the mount.

    Image quality id give an 8.

    reviewed March 24th, 2021

  • Panasonic 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 II ASPH MEGA OIS LUMIX G Vario

    8 out of 10 points and recommended
    Sharp. Fast and accurate AF performance. OIS stabilze lens. Good range of zoom 28-84mm FF equivalent. Best kit lens there is. Light weight. Focus ring very smooth and controlled no choppy.
    Small aperture. Made entirely of plastic. Loose zoom ring but doesnt creep. Wobbly zoom barrel.

    Who said this kit lens is bad? This is one of the greatest kit lens around any manufacturer ever released.

    Iv been using this lens since 2016 back when i got the G7 as kit lens together with 45-150.
    The lens is pretty sharp, ultra fast AF and accurate performance.
    Mega OIS is stable. Zoom range gives 28-84mm FF equivalent.

    Not fast enough though so i cant use it indoors in the evening unless i use good light.
    The lens has a wobble on the zoom barrel and the zoom ring is a bit loosey goosey. It doesnt give any creeping suprisingly.

    Id rate this overall as an 8 simpley because aperture is not constant.

    Build quality id give a 7 due to the majority of the materials is plastic even the mount is pastic. I have the mark2 version with 46mm filter thread.

    Image quality id give an 8. Comparing the kit lens at 25mm range and to my panasonic prime lens 25mm f1.7 using thesame aperture value starting at f3.5 and above yields no image quality difference. Go figure. Thats why i said this is the best kit lens hands down.

    Comparing 42mm range with may panasonic 42.5mm lens. The prime wins. Its got a look of its own.

    Id definitely recommend this lens if 3.5 aperture is enough for you. Like using this lens in broad daylight in movie mode without an ND filter where you need to stop up to f10 even higher to compensate for bright light.

    reviewed March 24th, 2021

  • Sigma 70mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro

    7 out of 10 points and recommended
    Really sharp. Good out of focus background. Fast aperture. Smooth focus ring Sharp sharp and one more...... sharp. Works with: Panasonic GH4/GX80+viltrox ef-m2ii speedbooster. Sony A7S+sigma MC-11.
    Autofocus misses with adapters. Focus ring too smooth giving lens creep. Weired screw in type lens hood not able to use lens cap woth hood. Hood cannot be reversed for storage.

    Sharp sharp sharp

    Used with Panasonic GH4/GX80 + viltrox ef-m2ii and sony a7s + MC-11.

    Everything works except autofocus miss focuses even though it says it has locked focus.

    Should work with sony a7rii with mc-11 autofocus according to youtube.
    It sometimes locks in autofocus mode but fortunatly its does not lock up the entire camera. No disconnections with the camera/adapter/lens and aperture control works regardless.
    All you have to do is switch AF/MF/AF switch and auto focus returns. No need to turn off camera and unlock adapter etc......

    The good:

    Sharp
    Works with adapters
    Can be adapted to other cameras other than canon.
    Fast aperture
    Cheap
    Nice tight fit. Bought from first owner
    Build quality
    GX80s 5 axis IBIS works wonders with this lens.
    Sharp

    The bad:

    Autofocus missfocuses
    Lens creep due to ring too smooth.
    Focus ring a bit loose therefore said lens creep
    Lens hood is screw in type. Meaning you cant have lens cap with hood.

    Id rate this a 7 of 10 due to the missfocus in autofocus mode. Could be just this lens to my system not being offically supported. Other lens i have focuses perfectly with thesame camera/adapter setup.

    For overall id rate this a 9 of 10 due to that fact that everything works except the AF missfocus. Was amazed it even worked with the viltrox speedbooster.

    Image quality id rate it a sure absolute 10.


    Hot tip:

    Checkout you tube about the MC-11 plus the sony a7rii tested with 24 lenses working with the mc-11 in collaboration with B&H.

    reviewed March 24th, 2021 (purchased for $150)