7 most interesting mirrorless lenses in 2020 | Articles | Photo, video, optics

7. Venus Optics Laowa 15mm f/4.5 Zero‑D Shift

6. Canon RF 70–200mm f/4L IS USM

5. Sig­ma 85mm f/1.4 DG DN Art

4. Canon RF 800mm f/11 IS STM

3. Nikon NIKKOR Z 50mm f/1.2 S

2. Fuji­film XF 50mm f/1.0R WR

1. Sony FE 12–24mm f/2.8GM

Mir­ror­less cam­eras are push­ing DSLRs on all fronts, includ­ing where DSLRs have always had a tra­di­tion­al advan­tage — in the lens sys­tem. It was formed due to the fact that SLR sys­tems have exist­ed for much longer, and there­fore the choice of avail­able lens­es for them is rich­er. How­ev­er, in 2020, major man­u­fac­tur­ers have focused on the release of lens­es specif­i­cal­ly for mir­ror­less cam­eras. This year we saw sev­er­al impor­tant releas­es of new cam­era mod­els, and with them inter­est­ing glass­es often flashed in the head­lines. In this arti­cle, we take a look at sev­en of the most orig­i­nal and, in our opin­ion, inter­est­ing mir­ror­less lens­es of 2020 — from ultra-wide-angle primes to super-tele­pho­to zooms.

7. Venus Optics Laowa 15mm f/4.5 Zero‑D Shift

Venus Optics has nev­er been afraid to cre­ate unique lens­es. In 2020, she intro­duced an option that is still very rare for mir­ror­less cam­eras — lens­es with an opti­cal axis shift. The Laowa 15mm f/4.5 Zero‑D Shift fea­tures an ultra-wide field of view with zero dis­tor­tion (as the “Zero‑D” in the name sug­gests), while +/- 11mm shift helps cor­rect key­stone dis­tor­tion to straight­en con­verg­ing ver­ti­cal lines in archi­tec­tur­al and inte­ri­or pho­tog­ra­phy . You will be able to shoot tall build­ings with­out per­spec­tive dis­tor­tion, as well as remove unwant­ed objects and reflec­tions from the image (for exam­ple, when shoot­ing objects with a mir­ror sur­face).

The lens is avail­able for Canon RF, Nikon Z, and Sony E‑mount full-frame cam­eras. The com­pa­ny also claims a 75mm image cir­cle, mak­ing it suit­able for 44x33mm medi­um for­mat mir­ror­less cam­eras.

The cost of the nov­el­ty is $1200 (approx­i­mate­ly 91 thou­sand rubles at the exchange rate at the end of Novem­ber 2020).

6. Canon RF 70–200mm f/4L IS USM

Source: bhphotovideo.com

Canon’s RF 70–200mm f/2.8 with its com­pact retractable body stood out in com­par­i­son to sim­i­lar 70–200mm SLR lens­es (so the EF ver­sion was 5cm longer and 400g heav­ier). This year, Canon intro­duced an even more com­pact ver­sion of the 70–200mm f/4L IS USM, which sac­ri­fices one stop of aper­ture to drop anoth­er 400 grams and be 26mm short­er.

At the same time, the nov­el­ty is still includ­ed in the L line, which means excel­lent optics and pro­tec­tion of the case from dust and mois­ture. The lens is equipped with an opti­cal sta­bi­liza­tion sys­tem with a five-stop rat­ing, mak­ing this tele­pho­to lens ide­al for hand­held shoot­ing. All in all, this is a great option for Canon mir­ror­less users who want the ver­sa­tile 70–200mm range but can do with­out the big broth­er f/2.8 max­i­mum aper­ture.

The price of the Canon RF 70–200mm f/4L IS USM will be about $1600

5. Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG DN Art

Sig­ma 85mm f/1.4 DG DN Art is Sig­ma’s fresh take on a clas­sic por­trait fix. In the new prod­uct, the com­pa­ny sought to match the main idea of ​​​​mir­ror­less sys­tems: max­i­miz­ing qual­i­ty while min­i­miz­ing size. In gen­er­al, Sig­ma in 2020 has focused on expand­ing its line of DG DN lens­es designed for full-frame mir­ror­less cam­eras. And one of its flag­ships is a new por­trait lens avail­able for L and Sony FE mounts.

In the past, Sig­ma has not been shy about sac­ri­fic­ing com­pact­ness for high aper­ture ratios and supe­ri­or opti­cal qual­i­ty. But with the DG DN line, the com­pa­ny has decid­ed to sup­port the gen­er­al trend of reduc­ing size and weight by cre­at­ing a lens that is com­pact enough for com­pact mir­ror­less cam­eras. In gen­er­al, this lens has become an excel­lent exam­ple of how you can com­bine high aper­ture and mod­er­ate size (630 grams, 94x83 mm). It also boasts inclu­sion in the Art series, which means excel­lent sharp­ness and image clar­i­ty — “pic­ture above all”. Por­trait pho­tog­ra­phers will also appre­ci­ate the round­ed 11-blade aper­ture for beau­ti­ful bokeh.

A new por­trait will cost $1,200 (approx­i­mate­ly 91,000 rubles at the exchange rate at the end of Novem­ber 2020).

4. Canon RF 800mm f/11 IS STM

Source: digitalcameraworld.com/Canon

Tra­di­tion­al­ly, super-tele­pho­to lens­es are huge, heavy and expen­sive. How­ev­er, Canon seems to have its own take on what the tele­pho­to lens­es of the future should look like. The Canon RF 800mm f/11 IS STM is unique in its way. The com­pa­ny decid­ed to make a seri­ous com­pro­mise in terms of aper­ture: of course, f / 11 is only suit­able for shoot­ing in good light. But the reduc­tion in aper­ture ratio has reduced the size, weight and cost of the lens. In addi­tion, a retractable design and pro­pri­etary dif­frac­tive optics are used, which makes the lens more com­pact while main­tain­ing image qual­i­ty.

Com­pared to the pre­vi­ous mod­el (Canon EF 800mm f/5.6L), the length of the nov­el­ty is 352mm ver­sus 456mm, the weight is 1250g ver­sus 4500g, and the cost is $900 ver­sus $13,000!

Of course, this is a very niche mod­el, but thanks to a much more afford­able price com­pared to all com­peti­tors, you can expect sev­er­al new names in the wildlife and sports pho­tog­ra­phy genre in the near future.

As men­tioned above, the price of a Canon com­pact tele­pho­to lens will be $900 (about 70 thou­sand rubles at the exchange rate at the end of Novem­ber 2020).

3. Nikon NIKKOR Z 50mm f/1.2 S

Source: nikonusa.com

Offi­cial­ly, this is the fastest aut­o­fo­cus fifty-fifty that Nikon has ever pro­duced, but the NIKKOR Z 50mm f/1.2 S is even more than a very fast nor­mal focal length prime. Aspher­i­cal and low dis­per­sion ED lens­es in the opti­cal design are respon­si­ble for the high­est sharp­ness, while spe­cial ARNEO and Nano Crys­tal coat­ings pro­vide high con­trast and vivid col­or repro­duc­tion. But of course, the f/1.2 max­i­mum aper­ture remains the lens’ hall­mark, offer­ing greater con­trol over depth of field for por­traits, while the nine-blade round­ed aper­ture con­tributes to smooth bokeh with round­ed high­lights. Like oth­er pre­mi­um lens­es in the Nikon Z line, the 50mm f/1.2 fea­tures an OLED screen show­ing basic set­tings and a mul­ti-focus sys­tem for fast and accu­rate focus­ing.

Nikon NIKKOR Z 50mm f / 1.2 S in Rus­sia will cost about 185 thou­sand rubles (as of the end of Novem­ber 2020).

2. Fujifilm XF 50mm f/1.0R WR

Usu­al­ly lens­es with a max­i­mum aper­ture of f/1.4 and f/1.2 are referred to as “super fast”, but it seems that Fuji­film decid­ed to expand the hori­zons of this def­i­n­i­tion some­what with the release of the XF 50mm f/1.0 R WR. Since it is an APS‑C for­mat lens, its equiv­a­lent focal length is 76mm, which falls with­in the unique range of short por­trait dis­tances. They allow you to high­light the sub­ject from the back­ground, while main­tain­ing a part of the envi­ron­ment in the frame with­out los­ing the over­all con­text. How­ev­er, the huge f/1.0 max­i­mum aper­ture allows for very strong back­ground blur. You can also shoot hand­held in very low light con­di­tions. In addi­tion to incred­i­ble aper­ture and high-qual­i­ty optics, the mod­el has a weath­er­proof body and a reli­able DC-type aut­o­fo­cus motor, which is well suit­ed to work with the large glass ele­ments of this unique por­trait lens.

A mega-fast fix in Rus­sia can be found for 120 thou­sand rubles (as of the end of Novem­ber 2020).

1. Sony FE 12–24mm f/2.8GM

Source: sony.ru

Per­haps the most inter­est­ing lens in 2020 we were pleased with Sony. An ultra wide-angle zoom from the pro­fes­sion­al G Mas­ter line, the Sony FE 12–24mm f/2.8 GM, offers a wider range of focal lengths than most lens­es in its class while main­tain­ing a con­stant f/2.8 max­i­mum aper­ture. In addi­tion to an inter­est­ing focal length and excel­lent aper­ture, the lens has an advanced opti­cal design that reduces dis­tor­tion and pro­vides the high­est sharp­ness through­out the zoom range. Spe­cial ele­ments in the design are coat­ed with Nano AR anti-reflec­tive lay­er.

For fast aut­o­fo­cus, a float­ing focus­ing sys­tem and a nim­ble XD Lin­ear Motor are used. Since the lens is aimed pri­mar­i­ly at land­scape pho­tog­ra­phy, Sony did not for­get to pro­tect the body from water and dust. The Sony FE 12–24mm f/2.8 GM fea­tures a built-in petal hood, and the front ele­ment is pro­tect­ed by an anti-stain flu­o­rite coat­ing.

An ultra-wide-angle yet high­ly ver­sa­tile fast aper­ture zoom is ide­al for any land­scape or archi­tec­ture shoot. True, and the cost of Sony’s main high­light is appro­pri­ate — at the end of Novem­ber 2020, it is 270 thou­sand rubles.

* In prepar­ing the arti­cle, mate­ri­als from the resource bhphotovideo.com were used