Nikon Z User

Funleader 18mm f/8: A strange name for a strange lens. My guess is that the name is directly translated from Chinese. So what is it? It is a "body cap lens", a simple lens the size of the body cap. There are no mechanical moving parts at all: The focus is fixed, at the hyperfocal distance, and the aperture is also fixed at f/8. The picture shows what you get: A box with a small pouch, and the lens itself: The lens is made from black aluminium, and from the rear you can see that the material is ribbed on the inside to avoid stray light: Connected to the Nikon Z7 camera, you can see how tiny the lens is: As the lens has a very short focal distance (ultra wide angle), and a small aperture, the depth of field is wide. According to the advertisement, everything from 0.8m to infinity should be in focus automatically. Image quality So are the images good? Is the lens more than just a fun novelty toy? Let's look at some examples: In this picture, we clearly se

The Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 S and 50mm f/2.8 macro lenses for the Z mount, or micro as Nikon says, were announced at the same time. Both are 1:1 capable macro lenses, but they have major differences beyond the focal length. The 105mm lens has the premium "S" label, and has optical image stabilization built in. Also, it has a small LCD screen to show the focus distance or aperture. Finally, while the 105mm has internal focusing, the 50mm macro lens focuses by extending the front lens assembly. This probably makes the 50mm lens more fragile and less water/dust resistant. While the 105mm f/2.8 is the more expensive one, it is in fact priced quite competitively compared with peer lenses, more about that later. The 50mm lens, on the other hand, while it is priced lower, the price point is surprisingly high for what you get. So I expect that interest in the 50mm macro is going to be rather low, while the 105mm lens has been popular and hard to find. Here is an overview of compe

For as long as there have been interchangeable lens cameras, there have also been third party lenses, i.e., companies capitalizing on the success of a camera system by selling additional lenses. Mostly, the third party producers have been competing on price : Getting customers by producing and selling less costly lenses. However, just competing on price is of course very unambitious: It leads to a race to the bottom, a place where nobody wants to be. So another way to attract customers, while also charge a premium price, is to produce exotic lenses. Laowa (Venus Optics) have been exploring this area for a while, for example with the unique 2x macro probe lens and various ultra wide angle lenses. This strategy makes good sense, since these unique lenses can be sold at a premium price point. Interchangeable lens camera users now are generally more willing to pay a high price for lenses that give them new possibilities. The casual  users looking for entry level products are largely g