Articles tagged "lensrentals"

Unsurprisingly, 96% of respondents said their work has been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with nearly 75% saying 'all or almost all' of their work had been cancelled in April.

The results of the short survey will be shared in the coming weeks in an effort to better understand how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the professional photography community.

In the 13 years since Roger Cicala started LensRentals, he and his team have managed to ship over one million orders. To celebrate the occasion, they've shared a video and podcast on the history of the company.

Roger and Aaron are back at it again with a teardown of Nikon's premium 24-70mm F2.8 zoom lens for its Z-series cameras.

As has become a year-end tradition, Lensrentals has shared the details of what brands, mounts, cameras, lenses and accessories it's rented out throughout 2019.

Roger Cicala and his team at Lensrentals have taken apart Canon's RF 70-200mm F2.8 IS lens to reveal what engineering feats are hidden within.

This kind of bug isn't going to be fixed with the latest firmware update.

Roger Cicala is a hard man to impress. His team tests a lot of lenses, but the new Sony FE 135mm F1.8 GM looks like it's a cut above the average tele prime. His verdict? 'This is the sharpest lens we've tested. Period'.

As promised during the Canon 400mm F2.8 teardown, Lensrentals has taken apart Sony's 400mm F2.8 G super-telephoto lens to see what lurks beneath its magnesium alloy shell.

Roger Cicala and his team at Lensrentals tore down Canon's third-generation 400mm F2.8L IS lens, revealing a slew of interesting and impressive bits.

Lensrentals Founder Roger Cicala set aside some time to take apart Canon's new 50mm F1.2L RF lens and in doing so revealed a number of interesting discoveries.

Never ones to take a press release at face value, Roger Cicala and the team at LensRentals opened up Canon's new EF 70-200mm F2.8 III and compared it to the Mark II, to see whether Canon made any hidden changes.

Lensrentals' Roger Cicala just tore down the Sony a7R III to see just how much Sony did (and didn't) improve the camera's weather sealing over its predecessor. The results are a "good news, bad news" deal.

Lensrentals most-rented gear of 2017 contains a few interesting surprises. Among them: Sony has out-rented Nikon for the first time ever, and a Sony battery somehow took the #6 spot overall.

The Minolta MC Rokkor X 40-80mm F2.8 zoom is a unique lens, which uses a gearbox for controlling focus and zoom. Roger Cicala has been fascinated with its design for ages, and he recently got the chance to take one apart.

If you've been dying to try out drone photography or VR but can't justify buying the gear yet, there's good news. Lensrentals is expanding their repertoire to include drones, VR and 360° photo and video gear.

Following some initial lab testing results, Lensrentals has published a full review of the highly-anticipated Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 Art.

Roger Cicala is a difficult man to impress, but he's been waxing lyrical over at Lensrentals about Sony's new 12-24mm wide zoom.

Are you puzzled about what protective filter to buy for your expensive lenses? Roger Cicala from Lensrentals tested twenty of them to see which are the best choices.

Zach Sutton at LR has made a list of the gear that he'd recommend for various trips – just please don't take their cameras to Burning Man.

Joshua Richardson over at the Lensrentals blog has published a helpful article about off-camera video recorders, why to use them, and highlights some models worth looking at. Read more

Roger Cicala, confirmed lens nerd and Lensrentals founder, has put Tamron's new 70-200mm F2.8 'G2' to the test, and the results are impressive. Read more

Arch lens nerd Roger Cicala has been busy recently, testing multiple copies of several popular wideangle zoom lenses to try and prove what he calls 'Roger’s Law of Wide Zoom Relativity'. And what exactly is that? Read more

Last week we took a look at Lensrentals' disassembly of a broken Sony FE 70-200 F2.8 GM lens. Check out part two to watch the guys at LR further dissect the lens, to see if it can be saved. Read more

When the Sony FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM didn't test as well as expected, Roger Cicala and crew jumped on an opportunity to crack one open and see what was going on inside. Read more

In the latest LensRentals blog post, Roger Cicala writes about a phrase he hears a lot: 'This zoom is just as good as a prime.' Find out why it sets his teeth on edge. Read more

Despite some gripes with Nikon's marketing of the 105mm F1.4, Lensrentals finds a lot to like inside Nikon's new lens. Read more

LensRentals' optical testing shows Nikon's third generation 70-200mm F2.8 makes some notable sharpness gains in the middle of the zoom range. Read more

Canon's EOS 5D IV is a formidable bit of hardware, with a 30MP and 4K video. Our friends at LensRentals have taken one apart to see how it works. See more

In their latest blog post, the crew at LensRentals tears apart a series of linear drive lenses and discuss the various designs they've encountered – some are robust, others, not so much. Read more

Roger and Aaron over at LensRentals have been tearing lenses down again. This week they've 'eviscerated' Fujifilm's XF 55-200mm F3.5-4.8R LM OIS - the company's mid-price tele zoom. The name may be redolent of a '$100 extra for a dual lens kit' zoom but inside they found surprises at every turn. And not just with regards the number of screws holding the thing together. Read more

The Leica SL 24-90mm F2.8-4 may not break any new technical ground, but when the SL's 'kit' lens made its way to LensRentals headquarters, the team endeavored to take a careful look inside. With the solidly constructed lens partially disassembled, they got a closer look at its impressive number of moving elements. Read more

Why can't you just make them better? It sounds like a reasonable question until you start unpacking exactly what it entails, and that's exactly what Roger Cicala does in the latest LensRentals blog post. As usual, the closer he looks, the more complicated the question becomes. So why can't everyone just (repeatably and affordably) make lenses, you know... better? Read more

LensRentals' Roger Cicala has been his usual busy self, tearing lenses apart to work out how to repair and maintain them. The latest optic to fall prey to his toolkit is the Sony Zeiss 35mm F1.4 ZA: one of the company's latest designs for its full frame a7 series cameras. Peering inside reveals a radical design approach far removed from the one Canon uses for its latest 35mm lens. Read more

DSLR autofocus has been the gold standard for decades but the higher accuracy and precision offered by some mirrorless cameras risks tarnishing this image. However, many modern DSLRs include an option to fine-tune the AF behavior to help optimize their performance. Guest writer Joey Miller has written a short guide to how to make use of this feature over on the LensRentals blog. Read more

Roger Cicala at LensRentals has a great job - he gets to take things apart whenever he wants, and get paid to do it. And even better, he gets to pay himself to do it. Roger just got his hands on Canon's new EF 35mm F1.4 L II, and just like us, he's been very impressed. But, it must be said, for very different reasons. Click through for a quick look at what he found behind the red ring. Read more

LensRentals has embarked on a quest to investigate the complicated topic of sample variation among copies of the same lens. It's the kind of fascinating, geeky stuff we've come to know and love from LensRentals, and in the latest round of tests they've taken a look at a group of short telephoto primes ranging from 85mm to 150mm. Read more

LensRentals received its first Canon EOS Rebel T6s/760D and T6i/750D units and has identified a sensor problem with a number of those cameras. Out of about 20 units (around 10 of each model), 4 T6s and 2 T6i units contained sensors with noticeable defects in their sensor stacks. These layers of glass on top of the sensor contain a pattern of dust-like spots or particles that are visible when studied under angled light. Read more

U.S.-based LensRentals has announced an expansion to its photo equipment rental service that allows photographers to purchase the gear they've borrowed. This gives renters a try-before-you-buy option and lets those who have become enamored with their rental equipment keep it forever. Learn more

The team over at LensRentals has been doing a lot of work recently, looking at the performance of Canon's new EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM wideangle zoom. They're pretty impressed by the optical quality of the new lens, but being in the business of renting and repairing gear, they also wanted to know how well it would stand up to the rigors of daily use - and how easy it would be to work on. Click through to learn how the new EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM compares mechanically.

We recently published a look at the Lomography Petzval lens, a modern version of a 19th century portrait lens. It's a niche product and not something we typically cover, but an interesting adaptation of a classic design. Roger Cicala and the team at LensRentals went one step further - when a couple of copies rolled through the door, they subjected the lens to their usual optics tests. Why? Well, because why not? 

Roger Cicala of LensRentals has revealed the winners of his 'First Annual Photogeek Geek Photo Contest'. What was originally intended as a light-hearted joke ended up receiving over 400 entries from at least 20 countries, and the impressive quality of the entries caused a real headache for the judges. After a lot of deliberation, Rishi Sanyal won 'Best in Show' for his remarkable 'MacroSetUp' series. Click through to see the extraordinarily geeky winning images, and a link to the full contest gallery.

Lensrentals' Roger Cicala continues his recent run of fine satirical form with his latest blog post - a series of cynical definitions for widely-used photography terms. We're almost tempted to use it to replace our glossary, as it should be considered recommended reading before commenting on any photography or 'gear' forum. It's certainly going to make us think carefully about the terminology we use in future reviews.

Roger Cicala of LensRentals is man after our own hearts, never happier than when tinkering with lenses and writing about what he finds, however obscure it may turn out to be. And in celebration of this, he's launched what we'd like to think of as the ultimate photo competition: The First Annual Photogeek Geek Photo Contest. Full of entertaining categories, and with at least one hugely desirable prize on offer, it's open for entries until November 15th. It's Roger's competiton so we're not going to reveal too much here; head over to LensRentals and have a look. If nothing else, it should make you laugh.

Can cheap filters damage your expensive lenses? LensRentals' Roger Cicala decided to look into the possibility, after seeing a number of lenses returned with odd circular scratches on the front element. His investigations provide a cautionary tale against skimping on buying a new protective filter after buying an expensive lens. Click through for a link to his full article.

LensRentals.com is now shipping the Canon EOS 5D Mark III with the Magic Lantern 'hack' pre-installed. The most notable feature gained by using Magic Lantern on the 5D Mark III is Raw video support, which offers much better video quality than on the 'stock' camera. The rest of the Magic Lantern feature set is also available, including focus peaking, an intervalometer, too many movie enhancements to list, plus the DR improvement that we reported on last month.