For the 12 days of Christmas, we're looking back on the 12 months of 2024 and the lenses that they brought. Today, we're running down February…
Think wide-angle lenses for full-frame cameras and you’re probably thinking of big, heavy and expensive affairs. Launched in February, the Viltrox AF 20mm f/2.8 redresses the balance in every way. It’s surprisingly compact and lightweight, despite its fairly fast f/2.8 aperture rating – and was announced with a sub-$160 price tag. As an autofocus lens for Nikon Z and Sony E cameras, it’s supremely affordable.
Adding further options for your kit bag, Viltrox also revealed that it was working on equally budget-friendly APS-C format AF 40mm f/2.5 and AF 56mm f/1.7 primes in Fujifilm X, Nikon Z and Sony E options, plus upmarket, full-frame compatible AF 16mm f/1.8 and AF 135mm f/1.8 Lab lenses for Nikon Z and Sony E cameras.
More esoteric fare announced in February included the super-fast Voigtländer Nokton 50mm f/1 Aspherical prime for Sony E cameras. Phew, f/1… how racy is that? Later in the month, Cosina announced it was also working on several more new Voigtländer lenses.
Then there were two new Laowa Nanomorph 28-55mm and 50-100mm, claiming to be the world’s first "affordable anamorphic zooms", plus a new Lensbaby Sweet 22, delivering the company’s smallest ‘sweet spot’ to date. Meanwhile, there was talk of an SG-Image 25mm f/1.8 lens for APS-C format mirrorless cameras that would cost just $40.
Big news was the not-so-big Sigma 500mm f/5.6 DG DN OS | Sports. Redesigned from the ground up for mirrorless Sony E and L-mount cameras, it takes downsizing to the extreme and is much more easily manageable – and affordable – than Sigma’s previous 500mm prime for DSLRs.
And speaking of downsizing, Sony also announced a new lightweight package in the shape of the Sony FE 24-50mm f/2.8 G. Helped by its relatively modest zoom range, this new zoom squeezes a constant f/2.8 aperture rating into a compact design.
Indeed, it seemed that downsizing was all the rage in February, with Panasonic also joining the party and announcing its new Panasonic Lumix S 28-200mm f/4-7.1 Macro OIS.
February’s review schedule can be summed up in one word – hectic. A proper flurry of activity saw us kick off with polar opposites in the shape of the Sigma 15mm f/1.4 DG DN Diagonal Fisheye | Art and Sigma 500mm f/5.6 DG DN OS | Sports, before moving onto those downsized Panasonic Lumix S 28-200mm f/4-7.1 Macro O.I.S. and Sony FE 24-50mm f/2.8 G zooms.
Jumping the gap into medium format territory, we reviewed the Fujifilm GF 30mm f/5.6 T/S, Fujifilm GF 110mm f/5.6 T/S Macro and Fujifilm GF 250mm f/4 R LM OIS WR primes – a brace of stellar tilt-shift lenses and an epic telephoto.
And taking telephoto to heart, we went teleconverter crazy, reviewing a job lot of Canon Extender EF 1.4x III, Canon Extender EF 2x III, Canon Extender RF 1.4x, Canon Extender RF 2x, Nikon AF-S TC-14E III, Nikon AF-S TC-20E III, Fujifilm XF 1.4x TC WR, Fujifilm XF 2x TC WR and Fujifilm GF 1.4X TC WR examples of the breed.
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They're a bit of a dying breed these days, so check out the best fisheye lenses while you can still get them. For long-range shooters, take a look at the best lenses for sports photography, and GFX users should have a nose at the best Fujifilm GF lenses on the market.
