Last Updated on 09/24/2018 by Mark Beckenbach
What IRIX had been hiding all this time is their new IRIX 150mm f2.8 Macro Lens.
Just in time for Photokina 2018, the new IRIX 150mm f2.8 Macro Lens is making its debut today from the company. In true IRIX fashion, this is a manual focus lens with some cool features beyond just weather sealing. For starters, it has 11 aperture blades. Sound familiar? If you’re a Sony G Master lens user, then you’ll know that Sony loves their 11 aperture blades. Ssdly, the mirrorless world won’t be seeing this lens just yet. It’s only coming out for Canon EF, Nikon F, and Pentax K mounts to start.
According to the press release provided via Nikon Rumors:
“The optical design consists of twelve elements – three of which are made of super-low dispersion glass (ED), another four of glass with a higher refractive index (HR), and the whole arranged into nine optical groups. Thanks to this construction, we obtain an close to zero distortion (at a level of 0.1%).”
Pretty cool, huh? Topping all of this off is that the IRIX 150mm f2.8 Macro Lens has the company’s new Dragonfly finish which combines aspects of their higher end BlackStone and their run of the mill FireFly editions. To recap, Blackstone lenses are made of metal and have full weather sealing while Firefly are plastic (though still solidly made) and need a UV filter to complete their weather sealing.
There is still no official word on pricing yet for the IRIX 150mm f2.8 Macro Lens, but considering that we’ve got connections with IRIX we’re going to try to get our hands on it soon with a Canon EOS and an adapter. In fact, I’ve brought the EOS R to Photokina with me. Judging from what IRIX has done in the past, we’re not expecting the price tag to be very high. They’re new to the game and their lenses are perhaps some of the best bang for your buck options on the market alongside Tamron and Rokinon–although not all of Rokinon’s lenses are weather sealed.