Tag Archives: Canon

10 Highly Recommended DSLR Lenses

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Cameras come and go, but good glass is forever. More than any other piece of gear, lenses determine how your photos look. As a photographer, they’re your eyes to the world, and they’re the most important tools that help define your style.

You probably have a favorite lens- we all do. That one lens that gets used more than any other piece of glass in your kit. The one you’ve used to make some of your favorite images. Here are my favorite focal lengths. There’s something really cool about having that tried and true piece of photography gear that you know so well.

At the same time, it’s always great to expand the kit. After all, photographers love to buy gear. And there’s nothing wrong spending a few bucks on your hobby- your passion. If you’re looking to upgrade to a new lens or want to try out a new focal length, check out the glass on this list. To help you out, I’ve gone through the best selling lists and pulled out the essential lenses I think are worth considering

1. Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM

Back in the day, everyone started with a 50mm lens. With the advent of kit zooms, that trend has waned in recent years, so it’s good to see that people are buying fixed 50mm lenses again. Everyone should have a  50, or a 50mm equivalent. They’re fast, light, compact and they’re superb for portraits. Plus, they replicate how our own eyes see. For a single walk-around lens, you can’t beat a 50. Nikon has a 50mm f/1.8 as well.

2. Nikon AF-S DX 35mm f/1.8G

As I said, everyone should have a 50mm equivalent lens, and if you shoot Nikon DX cameras, this is the one for you. The 35mm focal length gives you that classic 50mm angle of view that closely matches what you see with your own eyes. Up close, they have a very shallow depth of field, so they’re great for close portraits, and since they’re fast, their ideal for low light and travel.

3. Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM

Ultra wide angle zooms are very popular and for good reason: They’re ideal for shooting landscapes, and with good image stabilization, they work extremely well for shooting travel and interiors, especially under low light.

The Canon EF-S 10-18 is a reasonably inexpensive lens that gives you excellent performance and versatility on your crop sensor EOS camera. The OIS gives you up to 4 stops of stabilization and enhanced lens coatings help reduce flare and chromoatic aberration. All in all, this a quick and quiet lens that will give you a wide range of creative options.

4. Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS USM

You can never go wrong with a fast 70-200mm telephoto zoom lens, but those f/2.8 models are pretty darn expensive. For most people two grand is just out of they budget. If you can swing a single grand, though, the f/4 versions offer excellent performance for shooting wildlife, sports, distant nature and portraits, all as assignments. The Canon 70-200mm f/4L is an lens that you’ll truly love if you’re wiling to spend the money. Nikon has their own version, the 70-200mm f/4VR lens.

5. Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM Medium Telephoto

If you love shallow depth of field effects and shooting portrait, then an 85 is an absolutely essential lens for you. I had a Nikon 85mm f/1.8 for years and now I have the 90m f/2, and I love the look that this kind of short telephoto gives. In fact, I consider my short teles to be among my favorite lens of all time. They’re extremely sharp, relatively compact and produce wonderful imagery. All I can say is get one- you’ll fall in love with it. I promise. What it lacks in variable focal length, it will make up a hundred times over in sharpness and image quality over a cheap kit zoom lens. Here’s the Nikon version.

6. Nikon AF-S 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 ED IF VR

We’d all like to have a super fast f/2.8 telephoto zoom, but those things are expensive and they’re heavy. Nikon’s 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 offers very good performance for a reasonable price. The AF-S autofocus is very fast, the VR give you excellent stabilization and the 300mm focal length gives you a long throw when you’re shooting sports, wildlife, nature or distant subject matter. Overall, this is a really good lens that will greatly expand your creative options without breaking the bank. Definitely make sure you get the VR version, though.

7. Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 EX DC OS Zoom Lens

Sigma makes some very nice lenses and this is a real winner. With a fast, fixed f/2.8 aperture, the Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 is available for Nikon, Canon, Sony and Pentax mounts, and it makes for an excellent all around lens. It has a sturdy build, fast autofocus, and a useful zoom range that makes it ideal for everything from landscapes, portraits, astrophotography, and shooting intimate travel photos. Given its f/2.8 speed, I’d go for this one over the slower 18-55mm lenses that most companies make.

8. Canon 17-40mm f/4L USM

If you’re a Canon shooter and are looking for a top notch landscape lens, this would be a great choice. With a close focusing distance of only .9 feet, this lets you get those classic, sharp foreground-to-backgrond landscapes compositions that wide angle lenses offer. At the other end of the range, the 40mm focal length is ideal for environmental portraits. The Canon 17-40mm f/4L USM lens is also weather resistant, which adds to its appeal as a versatile outdoor photography lens.

9. Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X Pro DX

Tokina also makes some very good glass. I had a Tokina 17mm f/3.5 for years, and I loved it. I also beat the heck out if it and it held up quite well to my abuse. The Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X Pro DX lens offers excellent performance for the price. I like it because it’s wider than most mid range zooms and it has a fixed f/2.8 aperture, which makes it ideal for shooting star trails, northern lights and other night photography scenes. In fact, it’s rated an an excellent astrophotography lens. Overall, this a superb wide angle zoom that gets consistent good marks from people who use it.

10. Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 macro USM

This is a fantastic lens. Killer glass for portraits, great for travel and the macro lets you bring those very small subjects to life in a big way. Some photographers consider this to be one of the best, sharpest, most useful lenses that they own. With superb edge-to-edge sharpness, optical image stabilization, and true macro capabilities, this offers serious performance at a really good price. Period. If you’re a Nikon shooter, I’d highly recommend the Tokina AT-X 100mm f/2.8 Pro D Macro lens. It will give you similar performance at less than half the price of the comparable Nikon version.

A Look at Tokina Lenses for Nikon, Canon and Sony

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Tokina lens

I realize that not everyone has the budget for a full arsenal of dedicated Nikon and Canon lenses. I was there once. That’s why there’s a big market for third party lenses. There’s nothing wrong with using a third party lens on your DSLR, but as with anything, you get what you pay for. Not every lens or lens brand is equal.

I really like Tokina lenses. Always have. I bought a Tokina AT-X 17mm f/3.5 back in the late 90s and proceeded to beat the heck out of it for the next decade or so. I loved my Tokina 17mm, it was built like a tank, it could withstand tons of abuse, and it made great looking images. In fact, many of my favorite adventure photography were made with that lens.

Eric Parsons throwing the rappel ropes into the fog on The Throne, Little Switzerland, Pika Glacier, AlaskaZac Wiebe and Heath Mackay skiing up the McGill Shoulder. Rogers Pass, Selkirk Mountains, CanadaCloseup of a woman's feet and shoes trail running, Glen Alps area, Chugach Mountains, near Anchorage, Alaska

Tokina has a great lineup of lenses for Nikon, Canon, Sony, Micro Four Thirds. They also have a line of lenses designed with PL mounts for Epic Red and Arri motion picture cameras, and they have a selection of Cinema lenses as well. They’re all built in Japan and use SD Super-low Dispersion glass, for maximum optical quality and minimized chromatic aberration.

Currently, they have four series of glass for still/video photography:

  1. AT-X Pro FX: Designed for full frame DSLR cameras
  2. AT-X Pro: Designed for APS-C DSLR cameras
  3. AT-X: Small lightweight fisheye zooms
  4. AT-X V: Built for DSLR videography for use with follow focus gear, but can also be used as an AF still photography lens.

While there are two many to list in this post, here are a few models I would highly recommend to budget minded photographers. If you’re looking for high quality, professional-grade, yet affordable glass, you should give this line of lenses a serious look. With every model, you’re getting a comparable lens to the same brand name equivalent, but for a fraction of the price.

If you read the reviews, you’ll see that Tokina lenses consistently get high marks for build quality, distortion control and their ability to produce high quality, sharp images with good contrast and reduced chromatic aberration.

Also, many of the Tokina lenses have rebates right now. Check out the current savings.

Tokina Full Frame Lenses

AT-X 17-35mm f/4 PRO FX – For Canon and Nikon

The Tokina 17-35 f/4 is a compact wide angle zoom designed for full frame cameras. With Super-Low Dispersion glass and one aspheric element, this is a an excellent and versatile lens for a wide range of styles and shooting situations. It’s ideal for travel, shooting wide expanse landscapes and working in tight spaces.

Rated to be as sharp as Nikon’s 17-35 f/2.8, at a fraction of the price, the Tokina 17-35 has very little distortion compared to other ultra wide zooms in all price categories. It’s also weather resistant, which contribute to it’s versatility and build quality.

AT-X 24-70mm f/2.8 PRO FX – For Nikon and Canon

For many photographers, the 24-70 f/2.8 is a workhorse universal zoom lens for shooting a wide variety of subject matter. While the Tokina 24-70mm f/2.8 is not an inexpensive or small lens, it still costs about $700 less than the comparable Nikon and Canon models, making it a very affordable alternative for shooters on a budget who don’t want to sacrifice quality.

With a fast, fixed f/2.8 aperture, fast Silent Drive-Module autofocus, SD glass three aspherical elements, and high quality construction, this lens has excellent optics that will hold up with even the highest megapixel DSLRs, including the Nikon D810 and Canon’s 50MP 5DSR.

AT-X 70-200mm f/4 FX VCM-S – For Nikon

Another workhorse zoom lens, the Tokina 70-200mm f/4 is comparable to Nikon’s excellent 70-200 f/4 VR lens, although the Tokina version costs about $400 lens.

Designed with solid build quality, 3 stops of VR, a fast ultrasonic AF motor and SD glass elements, this lens produces very sharp, crips images that will hold up on any of Nikon’s DSLR bodies. One reviewer said it produced some of the best bokeh he’s seen from a zoom lens of this style. Pairing this with the Tokina 24-70mm lens above would give you a workhorse professional quality two-lens kit that would get you through just about any photo shoot.

AT-X M100 AF PRO D – For Nikon and Canon Full Frame and APS-C

The Tokina AT-X M100 is a thing of beauty. Not only is it a macro lens that’s capable of shooting 1:1 closeups, it also makes for a incredible short telephoto for shooting portraits and mid-distance subject matter. And, it’s less than half the price of the Nikon 105mm macro lens.

DxOMark tested this on the Nikon D800 and called it a “Solid Performer.” It has good sharpness throughout the range, minimal vignetting and great distortion control. Also, being a true macro, it’s capable of shooting with full 1x “life size” magnification, and it makes a wonderful portrait lens. This is one of the real standouts in the Tokina line and I’d highly recommend it to any photographer.

Tokina APS-C Lenses

AT-X 11-16mm f/2.8 PRO DX – For Nikon, Canon and Sony

With an all new internal silent focusing motor, and updated optics, the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 is an award winning and very popular ultra wide angle compact zoom lens for crop sensor cameras.

Featuring a fixed f/2.8 aperture and SD glass, this lens yields excellent contrast and sharpness at a price that’s friendly to budget minded photographers.

AT-X 12-28mm f/4 PRO DX – For Nikon and Canon

Less than half the price as Nikon’s 12-24 lens, the Tokina 12-28mm f/4 is one of the most popular and highly rated lenses in their line. For good reason. It’s very sharp, it does a great job controlling distortion and it has very close focus, which means you can shoot dramatic close ups with lots of background detail.

With a very solid build, internal zoom elements and a fast silent autofocus motor, and their standard focus clutch, which allows for easy manual focus control (this feature is incorporated on many of their lenses), this is a fantastic wide angle zoom for DX and crop sensor cameras.

AT-X 14-20 f/2 PRO DX – For Nikon and Canon

This is Tokina’s fastest lens. With a very fast maximum aperture and the optical performance of a fixed lens, the 14-20mm f/2 is an ultra fast, wide angle zoom that’s great for shooting in low light. It’s almost like having a trio of high performance fast primes (equivalent views of 21mm, 24mm and 28mm) at your disposal in a single lens.

An awesome landscape and travel lens, it achieves excellent image quality, contrast and distortion control. With four SD elements, great built quality and a relatively compact design, the Tokina 14-20 f/2 is an outstanding lens that costs about half the price of the Nikon 14-24 f/2.8, and it’s a stop faster.


Go Mobile with a USB Charger For Your Camera Batteries

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Nearly all electronic devices these days come with USB chargers- except for cameras. While some point and shoots and mirrorless cameras feature USB charging capabilities, most cameras on the market only ship with AC battery chargers.

This can be problematic when you’re on a road trip, because when you’re outside, you’re usually not near an AC outlet. However, you’re almost always near some sort of USB port, whether it’s in your laptop, a portable solar panel or an external battery pack. (I really like the rugged Goal Zero Venture 30 power pack.) Heck, even most rental cars and airplane seats have USB ports as well.

If only there was a way to bridge this gap and charge your camera batteries via USB…

Fortunately, these options do exist. We’re finally seeing a number of third party USB camera battery chargers come on the market, and the good news is that they’re quite inexpensive. In my research, I’ve found USB chargers for nearly every major camera manufacturer.

And, the nice thing, is that they’re REALLY lightweight. Most of these chargers only weigh a few ounces and will hardly take up any room in your camera bag. They’re way lighter and less bulky than the regular chargers that come with most camera, and you don’t have to deal with the long, cumbersome AC cable either.

For just a few bucks and you can free yourself from the AC outlet. Combine one of these with a solar panel or a power pack like I mentioned above, and you suddenly have a charging system that will work anywhere, even if you’re outside for extended periods of time.

Here’s a list of available USB camera battery chargers for Fuji, Nikon, Canon, Sony and Olympus. If your camera isn’t listed here, check this page and see if there’s a USB charger for your particular camera battery.

Fujifilm

The OAproda NP-126 USB Rapid Charger is designed for the Fuji NP-126 batteries, which power all of the interchangeable X-Series cameras, including the X-Pro2, X-Pro1, X-T1, X-T10 and the X-E2.

NOTE – If you live in Europe, you can get the Patona USB NP-126 battery charger. It even comes with two spare NP-126 style batteries.

The PowerSmart NP-95 USB Charger works with the Fuji X100 and X70 cameras, although the X70 can be charged via USB. It comes with a micro USB cable, which allows you to plug in and charge it actually charge it directly from any USB port.

Nikon

The OAproda USB charger is for the Nikon DLSR cameras that use the EN EL15 battery: D600, D610, D750, D800, D800E, D810 and D7100/7200 series. Here’s the kit with two extra batteries. If you have the EN EL14 cameras, like the D5200/5300, D3200/3300 or the CoolPix P7000/7100/7700/7800 or the Nikon Df, this is your USB charging solution.

Canon

Here’s the USB Charger for the Canon DSLRs that use the LP-E6 battery, like the EOS 5D, 6D, 7D, 60D and 70D series cameras. If you have the LP-E8 battery cameras, like the EOS 550D, 60D, 700D, or the Rebel T series, you’ll want to use this USB charger.

Sony

This is the USB charger for the A7 series. It also works with all of the NEX series cameras, and they even have a bundle that includes two extra batteries. And, here’s one for Sony Cyber Shot camera, like the RX100 series.

Olympus

The OAproda USB charger is designed for the Olympus OM-D and PEN series cameras.


Current Lens Deals from Nikon, Canon and Fujifilm

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Nikon, Canon and Fujifilm all have great instant rebate deals going on right now. Here’s a rundown of what’s included in these deals and how much you can save. Nikon Combo Deals Nikon is running the latest incarnation of their … Continue reading →

Don’t Forget To Carry Extra Camera Batteries!

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I shot this photo about a year ago while skiing at Hatcher Pass here in Alaska. It was made with my Nikon D700 and my favorite lightweight “adventure zoom lens,” the Nikon 70-200 f/4G ED VR. I love this lens … Continue reading →

More Hot Photography Gear Deals

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As we race further towards the end of December, the holiday deals on photography gear keep piling up. There are certainly too many to keep track of, but here are some of the notable deals that have caught my eye … Continue reading →

Shooting Winter Landscapes With a Short Telephoto Lens

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If you’re one of my regular readers, then you know how much I dig short telephoto lenses. Compared to zooms of the same range, they’re lighter, more compact and considerably faster, which means that you’ll be more likely to carry them … Continue reading →