I have a problem. It's an addiction. An addiction to glass: the clear stuff inside camera lenses.
My first SLR lens was a kit lens, and it was a bit crappy, but it helped me learn, Later on I bought my first professional, high-end lens (a Canon L-Series) and it made a world of difference in the quality of my photos. At PMA, nearly every manufacturer has at least one new lens. Here's what I saw on the floor.
Nikon actually has three new lens offerings in their line. First is a 60mm macro lens that features a 1:1 image ratio. This means when you shoot something extremely tiny, say an army ant, an image the exact size of the bug falls on the sensor. Their next offering is a 24mm perspective control lens which can tilt or shift in order to correct the distortion created from looking up at a tall building. The third new lens is 16-85mm zoom lens designed specifically for their entry level cameras with DX sensors.
Sony has once again partnered with Zeiss to create a high end hunk-of-glass: the 24-70 f/2.8 which rivals Canon's popular 24-70mm f/2.8 L (disclaimer: I love Canon and shot all these photos with that lens I just mentioned). They also have a nice 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 zoom lens. Rounding out their new lenses is the low-priced 55-200mm f/4-5.6.
Although the specs may seem similar between the last two, the 70-300mm weighs roughly 5 times what its cheaper cousin weighs, and as I mentioned before, the more glass the better.
Sigma's new lenses aren't like the other manufacturer's offerings starting with the ridiculously large 200-500mm f/2.8 lens which scales up to 400-100mm f/5.6 with the adapter below. Next they have an extremely wide and fast 4.5mm f/2.8 lens, that's seriously wide!
Finally, Sigma is offering a 50-150mm f/2.8.
Canon has two new lens offerings, first their incredibly fast, yet relatively light-weight 200mm f/2.0. Their other new lens is the gargantuan (until you compare it to Sigma's monstrosity) 800mm f/5.6
telephoto lens.
Olympus was showing off a new lens that's still in beta, but will soon hit the market. The fast and chunky (in a good, packed-with-glass way) 14-35mm f/2.0 zoom. Their other offering is a
50-200mm f/2.8-3.5.
