fbpx
Features

The 10 Best Lenses According to DXOMark For April 2019

Brett Day
No Comments
04/27/2019
5 Mins read
julius motal the phoblographer sony 55mm 1.8-2

Last Updated on 04/27/2019 by Mark Beckenbach

If you’re looking for some new glass, you might want to check out the 10 best according to DXOMark.

DXOMark have fired up the lens testing lab once again and there is no shortage of new glass for the guys and gals over there to check out. Here we list the 10 best lenses according to DXOMark for April 2019. If you own any of these lenses congrats; you own some of the best glass around. If you are thinking about dropping some hard earned cash on a new lens then you need to see this list. DXOMark really put lenses through some very thorough testing, and while lab testing may not be to everyone’s liking, there is definitely a place for controlled testing results. You can always check out our real world reviews of the lenses listed here as well, and then, combined with the results from DXOMark, you will be able to make a much more informed purchasing decision. Check out the 10 best lenses according to DXOMark in April of 2019.

Sigma 85mm F1.4 Art

 

dxomark

Pros

  • A bit of weather sealing, though not much
  • Superb sharpness
  • Beautiful bokeh
  • Lots of micro contrast

Cons

  • Massive
  • After working with Mirrorless cameras for so long, I don’t really want to carry something this ginormous around.

Check out our full review

Buy Now ($934.79): Amazon

 

Zeiss 55mm F1.4 Otus

 

Pros

  • Sharpest image quality we’ve seen with any lens at any aperture. Zeiss really has made one of the best lenses ever
  • Cinematic looking bokeh makes every single image look like a dream
  • Great feel in the hand
  • Handles skin tones very well
  • Pretty damned accurate depth of field scale–which is awesome for landscape and architectural photography
  • Not the typical Zeiss color rendering. Instead, it just takes everything from real life and saturates it a tad

Cons

  • Heavy, and when combined with the Nikon D800 it is pretty much as heavy as a medium format outfit
  • At this price point, Zeiss should have put in weather sealing and autofocus abilities. Though we understand why they didn’t for the latter
  • Focusing in low light is incredibly tough–even with Nikon’s excellent focusing system
  • The yellow text on the lens is something that you kind of need to get used to

Check out our full review

Buy Now ($3,899): Amazon

 

Zeiss 85mm F1.4 Otus

 

dxomark

Pros

  • The sharpest 85mm f1.4 lens that we’ve tested in a while. In fact, it’s the sharpest 85mm that we’ve tested.
  • Great build quality
  • Excellent colors
  • Most folks will get a wet dream over that bokeh
  • The rubber focusing ring is starting to grow on us
  • Working depth of field scale
  • Beautiful overall image quality

Cons

  • The tears you’ll be crying after you purchase one
  • Manual focus operation proves tough at this focal length when it comes to trying to keep a subject’s eye in focus
  • Heavy
  • For this price, there should have been weather sealing incorporated

Check out our full review

Buy Now ($4,990): Amazon

 

Sony 85mm F1.4 G Master

 

Pros

  • 11 aperture blades are the most of any autofocus portrait lens made so far
  • Big, but very balanced with the Sony a7
  • Aperture control around the lens is nice
  • Fast autofocus performance
  • Nice color rendition for portraiture
  • The best bokeh of any 85mm lens I’ve tested
  • Weather sealing
  • Wonderful for skin tones

Cons

  • Expensive

Check out our full review

Buy Now ($1,798): Amazon

 

Sony 55mm F1.8 FE

 

Pros

  • Sharp images
  • Creamy bokeh
  • Weather-sealed
  • Smooth and large focusing ring

Cons

  • Lens hood adds a good amount of length to the front
  • No depth of field scale

Check out our full review

Buy Now ($898): Amazon

 

Zeiss 135mm F2 Milvus

 

dxomark

Pros

  • Incredibly sharp
  • Weather sealed
  • Beautiful bokeh
  • Fairly close focusing distance
  • Great feeling in the hand
  • Seems like it was designed for portraits and nothing more

Cons

  • As with all manual focus telephoto lenses, you’ll do best using a tripod with this lens attached to a camera
  • Price tag, though it’s truthfully justified

Check out our full review

Buy Now ($1,869): Amazon

 

Zeiss Milvus 85mm F1.4

 

Pros

  • Only a hair less sharper than the 85mm f1.4 Otus
  • Weather sealing
  • Great feeling in the hand
  • Wonderful, wonderful colors though a bit too saturated for skin tones
  • Zero color fringing

Cons

  • Long focus throw makes focusing very precise, but manually focusing the lens while handheld isn’t so simple due to you actually moving and not staying still. It’s best done with a tripod
  • Quite expensive; $1,799 though that’s cheaper than the Canon 85mm f1.2 L.

Check out our full review

Buy Now ($1,614.89): Amazon

 

Sony 90mm F2.8 OSS FE

 

Pros

  • Great image quality in most situations
  • Sharp performance, again in most situations
  • Optical stabilization
  • Fast focusing performance
  • Very silent stabilization
  • Internal focusing design, and one that is pretty small for what it is. In fact, it’s about on par with a DSLR lens designed for the same purpose.
  • Push/pull focusing ring
  • Lightweight
  • At last, a focusing scale that actually work!

Cons

  • The colors just aren’t there compared to many of Sony’s other lenses. Perhaps this was done specifically for portraits, but you’re mostly going to rely on the capabilities of the Sony sensors–which are very good

Check out our full review

Buy Now ($998): Amazon

 

Tamron 85mm F1.8 Di VC USD

 

dxomark

Pros

  • Super sharp image quality
  • No focusing issues with the Canon 6D or other Canon SLR cameras
  • Fast focusing
  • Weather sealing
  • Nice feel in the hand
  • Vibration compensation built in is a godsend
  • Fantastic color
  • A unique look that makes everything seem like it’s got quite a bit of Clarity in Lightroom increased.
  • Beautiful bokeh

Cons

  • Quite honestly, not a single thing is wrong with this lens

Check out our full review

Buy Now ($749): Amazon

 

Zeiss 25mm F2 Batis

 

Pros

  • The straight out of the camera color rendition we’ve seen with any single lens that we’ve ever tested. Tied right up there with the Zeiss 85mm f1.8 Batis lens
  • Pretty compact for what it is–a full frame wide angle prime lens
  • Weather sealing
  • Quite sharp with great bokeh

Cons

  • That display thingy really is superfluous

Check out our full review

Buy now ($1,169): Amazon

You might also like
Screen Shot 2017-08-28 at 12.07.13 PM
Features

Opinion: Please Stop Wearing a Photo Vest if You Don’t Need to Be Wearing a Photo Vest

4 Mins read
07/09/2018

When I got into this industry years ago, one thing really confused me almost as much as how much certain older photographers tend to treat the younger generation of us: photo vests. I’m completely positive that you’ve all seen them: a photographer of a certain distinguishment (or trying to show off without having said distinguishment) wearing their vests that look a lot like safari vests. You know, almost as if they’re going to go out on an African safari at all times without being anywhere near something like a safari. Walking down the streets doing street photography? You’ll see a photo vest. In the studio? Photo vest! Hiking? Yup, A Photo vest!

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Canon RF 24-105mm f4 L IS USM review product images Canon EOS R
Features

Did Canon Miss the Memo That Says Mirrorless Lenses Are Meant to Be Smaller?

3 Mins read
12/26/2018

When Canon introduced their new Mirrorless cameras earlier on this year (The EOS R) one of the stand out features was that the lens mount was so huge. While other manufacturers like Sony have made all things Mirrorless smaller, the late comer to the Mirrorless party seems to have decided that bigger is better. In a recently released interview, Canon engineers seem to be having a sly dig at Sony by saying that lenses with smaller mounts are far less capable than those with larger mounts. Read on after the break to find out more about what the Canon engineers are wafting on about.

5.01
Features

What is Kodak Aerochrome? A Beginner’s Guide to The Confusion of Lomochrome Purple

3 Mins read
01/30/2013

Today’s exciting announcement from Lomography about Lomochrome Purple is bound to get some people excited and others totally confused. First off, know that it is based off of Kodak Aerochrome–an old infrared film developed for government surveillance. Since it is infrared, that means that there are no real purple fields in the Congo. So we’re here to answer a couple of big questions that you may have about the new film. Check out more information after the jump.