Camera Lens Reviews

40mm is an awkward focal length, but the Sigma 40mm F1.4 Art is so good that you'll want to use it in place of your 35 or 50mm. Extremely sharp across the frame, it's one of the best prime lenses we've ever tested, and offers beautiful subjective qualities.

With spot-on autofocus, excellent image quality, and lots of character, the Sigma 28mm F1.4 Art is one of the best wide-angle prime lenses ever made. It's not cheap, but it’s still less than the competition and offers plenty of value for the money.

The widest lens available in Nikon's mirrorless Z mount, the Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 S pulls off a number of wins, including accommodating screw-in filters. It's also very sharp and considerably more compact than many ultra-wide zooms. Is it enough to warrant its $1,300 price?

Nikon’s new mirrorless cameras now have a bright, versatile workhorse zoom that can be used without an adapter. So just how does the Nikkor Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S stack up? We put it through the paces to see if this premium lens is worth its $2,300 price.

The Lensbaby Edge 35, part of the Composer Pro optic swap system, creates tilt-shift-like blur without the tilt-shift price. Made for photographers who buck tradition, it opens up new ways to work with blur in your images. But is this type of special effect lens a real tool, or just a toy?

The Olympus M.Zuiko 12-100mm F4 IS Pro packs in a versatile zoom range, great close-up capabilities, and impressive optical stabilization inside a single lens. It's the closest thing Olympus makes to a lens you'll never have to take off of your camera. But can one lens really do it all, or is it simply too good to be true?

The Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.8 S shows the potential for Nikon's new mirrorless Z-mount with excellent sharp-ness. However, its emphasis on image quality means it is actually larger and heavier (and considerably more expensive) than the comparable F-Mount DSLR lens. So is it worth it?

There’s no such thing as a perfect lens, but the Nikkor 105mm f/1.4E ED comes incredibly close. The original 105mm f/1.4 delivers exceptional quality mixing beautiful bokeh and sharp subjects. The lens’ bulky size, however, means photographers will want to be conservative on the shutter speed.

If you're fine with f/4, Nikon's first zoom lens for its full-frame mirrorless Z system will impress you with sharp, colorful images and smooth autofocus performance. The Z 24-70mm f/4 S offers a useful focal length range and, at $1,000, it's a high-quality lens that won't completely break the bank.

Nikon made big promises with the new Z mount lenses, but now that they are finally here, did Nikon overpromise? The Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.8 S doesn’t use the Z mount to slim down, but it does capture im-pressive images with sharp centers, smooth bokeh and impressively little distortion. One performance factor, however, may be lacking.

Combining both a fast f/1.4 aperture and optical image stabilization, the Canon EF 85mm f/1.4L IS USM rejects the choice between speed and stability, finally delivering a prime lens that gives photographers the best of both worlds. The $1,600 prime is worthy of joining any enthusiast or pro’s kit.

The Sigma 105mm F1.4 DG HSM Art is the best portrait lens we have used. While its size and weight takes getting used to, you get superb images in return for the effort.

The Lensbaby Sol 45 is a gateway drug into the world of creatively blurred, expressive photos that make pixel peepers’ brains hurt. It brings Lensbaby’s telltale effect, the “sweet spot” of focus, to a new low price and compact size. Read our review to see if purposefully blurred photos are worth $200.

Made of 15 glass elements and weighing in at a 2 pounds, the Pentax Star series 50mm F1.4 is no ordinary 50mm lens. The $1,200 premium prime seeks to compete with the likes of the Sigma Art series, and it easily succeeds, giving Pentax DSLR shooters a great option for a high-end normal focal length lens.

With no shortage of competition, it’s difficult for a 24-70mm f/2.8 lens to stand out these days. But thanks to a low price and optical image stabilization, the Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 Art offers exceptional value to enthusiasts and professionals while filling the role of a durable workhorse lens.

After a decade of standing uncontested, Nikon’s venerable 14-24mm f/2.8 finally has some very strong competition in the form of the Sigma 14-24mm F2.8 Art lens. It’s a lens for a small niche, but it could be the new ultra-wide zoom to beat.

Using a secondary aperture iris, the Burnside 35 lets you dial in a variable amount of vignetting independently of the main aperture. It’s like Instagram’s vignette slider for people who prefer to get it right in-camera.

At just $449, the Sigma 16mm F1.4 Contemporary is a fast, wide-angle lens for mirrorless cameras that won’t break the bank.

At $1,200, the Olympus M.Zuiko 45mm F1.2 Pro might be expensive, but the premium price is matched by excellent performance. This lens sets a new standard for Micro Four Thirds.

The Olympus 25mm F1.2 Pro is a technically excellent lens that goes beyond objective image quality to become something special.

The Olympus M.Zuiko 17mm F1.2 Pro is the best wide-angle Micro Four Thirds lens you can buy.

Unlike standard lenses, the Lensbaby Sweet 80 is a different way to separate your subject from the background.