All Lenses Feeds

Olympus ED 50mm f/2.0 Macro

tech.co.uk staff — 1206287392

This Four Thirds lens has 'macro' on the side but only a 1:2 magnification ratio. It relies on the 2x crop factor to bring objects up to size.

Despite this, the 50mm lens feels more like a 100mm on Olympus bodies, giving it an ideal focal length for macro tasks.

Centre and edge definition were good when shooting wide-open at the f/2 maximum aperture, but dropped off at apertures smaller than f/11.

There's no front element rotation with focusing and the barrel doesn't protrude far at closest focus range. It draws back in to infinity when you switch the camera off too. However, there's no focus limit switch or controls on the lens barrel, or a manual focus override, so you have to use the camera's menu system.

Sony 100mm f/2.8 Macro

tech.co.uk staff — 1206201442

There's a lot of 'retro' about this Sony lens, from its appearance and finely ridged focus ring to the grumbling autofocus motor.

The autofocus also seems as slow and imprecise as anything from 25 years ago. In our tests, the lens frequently gave up and settled on a focus point way off the mark.

There's no on-barrel switch for manual focus, but at least the AF/MF switch on the Sony Alpha 100's body is near to the lens for convenience. Given the vagaries of the autofocus, the focus limit switch is a welcome addition.

Optically, it performed well throughout the aperture range, providing high levels of detail and contrast. For sharpness, the Sony was no better than the Tamron, despite costing £330 more.

Pentax smc-DA 12-24mm f/4 ED AL (IF)

tech.co.uk staff — 1206004316

The Pentax 12-24mm has a big price tag but is compact and lightweight. The big zoom ring facilitates smooth zooming with an even progression from start to finish.

The focus ring is equally smooth but has a longer travel than most of its ultra-wide competitors.

Optically, the Pentax is a bit of a mixed bag. It failed to deliver sharpness equal to Canon or Nikkor lenses but was better than the Sigma.

Vignetting is barely perceptible, even when shooting wide-open at 12mm and distortion is controlled well. Performance in flare and ghosting are fine, but chromatic aberration proved a problem.

More edges took on purple fringes than with rival lenses. Overall, the Pentax 12-24mm doesn't live up to the expectations of its asking price.

Olympus Zuiko 4-45mm f/3.5-5.6

tech.co.uk staff — 1205320682

Despite being mainly a kit lens, the Olympus 14-45mm has a lot going for it.

A new multi-coating helps keep ghosting and flare to a minimum, while an aspherical element adds to the quality.

Sharpness proved good throughout the zoom range, even at close quarters down to the minimum focus distance of 0.38m. Autofocus is fast and quiet and the absence of on-lens controls means you have to dive into the camera's settings to switch between Auto and Manual focusing.

While the optics are good, as with most kit lenses, the Olympus is built down to a price. For example, focus distance information isn't provided and the lens has a slightly plasticky feel.

On balance, this is a decent lens, but won't set your photography alight.

Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM

tech.co.uk staff — 1204974590

At the budget end of the market, Sigma and Tamron are the major scrappers and Sigma's 10-20mm lens is the cheaper of the two.

Despite its low cost compared with lenses from Nikon and Canon, the Sigma feels robust and has silent HSM autofocus. Designed for SLRs with APS-C-sized sensors, rather than full frame, the 10-20mm is available to fit Canon, Nikon, Sony/Minolta, Pentax and Sigma.

While handling is good, image quality doesn't match it. Sharpness is disappointing in the centre and even more so towards the edges. On the plus side, there's practically no vignetting, even with a filter fitted, while ghosting, flare and purple fringing are kept under control.

Colour rendition and contrast are good. All in all, it's only the lack of outright sharpness that lets the Sigma down.

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM

tech.co.uk staff — 1204909882

In typical cheapskate fashion, at least when it comes to lens hoods, Canon doesn't supply one with this lens, which when added takes the overall price to about £500.

For that, you'll get a solid, full-frame lens that seems to work equally well on smaller sensor cameras such as the EOS 400D. In tests, sharpness was excellent, edge to edge. The downside was that we experienced more chromatic aberration than expected.

With an Ultrasonic Motor (USM) at the heart of its autofocus system and a short travel throughout the range of 0.24m to infinity, the focus locks on to its target almost instantaneously, even in low lighting. Manual override and the obligatory AF/MF switch on the lens barrel round out the extras.

Sony DT 16-80mmf/3.5-4.5ZA Vario-Sonnar T

1204890043

At £460, the Sony DT 16-80mm is certainly not cheap, although we can't figure out why. It has a focus scale viewable through a window on the barrel, but it doesn't have the swift focusing of Canon's USM or Nikon's Silent Wave motors.

Instead, you get a conventional mechanism that's sluggish and noisy. The front element doesn't rotate but there's no manual override of autofocus.

Sony waxes lyrical about the aspherical elements for 'high picture quality across the entire zoom range' but this was in fact a pretty soft lens. Contrast was merely average and there was vignetting when shooting wide-open at the wide-angle end, as well as barrel distortion.

Olympus Zuiko 40-150mm f3.5-4.5

tech.co.uk staff — 1204815965

The Zuiko 40-150mm lens is designed for the Olympus E-series cameras, notably the brand new E-500 (reviewed on p34). The Four Thirds sensor in the E-series gives a 2x focal factor, so this lens is an 80-300mm zoom in 35mm speak.

Although you can buy it on its own for around £100, this lens is also available in a kit, along with the E-500 body and the 'standard' 14-45mm zoom. These kits are terrific value - we've seen them advertised as low as £630.

It's a brilliant lens. Many telephoto zooms are disappointingly soft, prone to chromatic aberration and awkward to operate. This is none of these things. Shots have a contrast and clarity that's extremely unusual at this price.

Every shot we took was as crisp as a 'standard' zoom. The E-500's AF system was fast and accurate, even with these long focal lengths - aided no doubt by the lens' wider- than-usual aperture range (f3.5-4.5). The image in the viewfinder is bright and clear, even at the longest focal lengths.

Build quality is excellent, even though there's a good deal of plastic. The lens mount is metal and the filter size (58mm) is the same as the E-500's standard zoom.

The E-500 may not necessarily be the first choice as an entry-level D-SLR, but as a twinlens kit it has to be seen in a new light. Rod Lawton

Nikon Nikkor 18-70mmf3.5-4.5G ED-IF AF-S DX

tech.co.uk staff — 1204628912

Originally sold as a kit lens for Nikon's D70 D-SLR, the Nikkor 18-70mm has a near-silent autofocus system, which was very speedy in operation.

Handling is a joy, with fully internal focusing and a non-rotating front element, plus manual focus override in Autofocus mode. The zoom ring is smooth, if a little cramped at the wide-angle end.

In most shooting conditions, the 18-70mm provides sharp images with excellent levels of contrast and fine detail. Towards the wide-angle settings, vignetting is quite bad unless you drop down a couple of stops, and barrel distortion is noticeable but no worse than average for this class.

The only other problem we experienced with this lens is that it tended to be a little soft when shooting subjects that were within two metres of the camera.

Tamron SP AF 11-18mm f/4.5-5.6 Di II LD Asp

tech.co.uk staff — 1204564598

Although the Tamron 11-18mm might not look quite as wide as the rival Sigma 10-20mm on paper (a millimetre can make a lot of difference at these focal lengths), the field of view was almost identical in our tests, using both on a Canon EOS 400D.

The Tamron is marginally lighter than the Sigma and doesn't have the ultrasonic autofocus motor, so focusing is noisier and slower.

In our tests the Tamron proved rather crisper, with sharpness being much greater in the central area of images, and better still towards the sides and into the corners.

On the other hand, the Tamron was more susceptible to flare, ghosting and chromatic aberration than the Sigma. As well as the Canon fit option, the lens is available with Nikon and Sony/Minolta mounts.