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Part of Olympus‘ Digital Specific Lens line, and compatible with all the E-System cameras, the Digital Zuiko 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 lens (28mm-108mm 35mm equivalent) is a wide-angle zoom with a variable f2.8/3.5 aperture, making it a good choice for low-light and/or action photography.

Pentax Imaging Company
Pentax, long renowned for its superb 35mm and medium-format cameras, has made a big commitment to digital imaging. There are now four cameras in the *ist line. Pentax also offers digital-only lenses, which are indicated by the letters “DA” in the product name.

The Pentax P-DA 14mm F/2.8 ED and the Pentax DA 50mm-200mm F/4-5.6 ED lenses are both digital-only lenses for the *ist DSLRs. The 14mm f/2.8 prime lens offers a 90-degree field of view. With a sensor conversion factor of 1.5, it is equivalent to a 21mm lens in 35mm-film format. It has low-dispersion elements, and an internal-focus design. It also features a 77mm screw-in front filter mount.

The 50mm-200mm f/4-5.6 is very compact and weighs less than 10 ounces. It offers a manual-focusing ring (called “Quick-Shift”) that allows the photographer to take over from autofocus when necessary. A small window, which has been cut into the lens hood, is another nice feature. The view it provides makes it much easier to adjust a circular polarizing filter when it is mounted on the lens.

Sigma Corporation of America
Sigma produces one of the largest lines of film and digital lenses in the industry, and the pace of their new lens introductions is quite incredible. One of Sigma’s new digital-only lenses is the APS-C sensor DSLR compatible 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM. The letters “DC” in the product name indicate that this is a digital-only lens.

Good wide-angle lenses are difficult to come by in the digital world. The difference between images captured using digital sensors and film, and the varying size of digital sensors make this a real challenge for manufacturers and photographers alike. The lens offers a 102-degree angle of view at its widest focal length, and almost 64 degrees at 20mm, which is good for when elbow room in an image is desired. Sigma states that its low dispersion lens elements (called SLD in the company’s lexicon) and aspherical lenses correct color aberration and distortion.

One of the 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX lens’ particularly nice features is that it uses a non-rotating configuration, which makes it easy to use on a circular polarizing filter. The front filter size is 77mm. Another interesting new lens from Sigma made specificially for APS-C size DSLRs is the 18-50mm f/2.8 EX DC. This constant aperture zoom is similar to a Swiss Army Knife in that it’s lightweight (under 16 ounces), versatile, and likely to be there when you need it. Constant aperture lenses in this range are easier to use in challenging situations—exposure changes very little when you change focal lengths. This is not only more efficient during a shoot, but it can reduce the amount of time spent adjusting images in post-production as well.

Sinar Bron Imaging
Sinar Bron offers a dizzying array of options in lenses and cameras. Known for its high-precision large-format film cameras, Sinar also markets digital backs and lenses, which are built to optimize the quality of digital capture. Its latest digital back, the eMotion 22, offers 22-Megapixel resolution, and 3 GB of internal memory. Sinar sells a series of large-format Sinaron digital lenses which are purpose-built for use with digital sensors. The company states that their digital lenses offer higher resolution, and improved color rendition when shooting digital, compared with its previous film lenses.

The newest series of Sinaron digital AF lenses (made for Sinar by the renowned Carl Zeiss Group) include the f2.8/80, f4/40, f4/120, and f4/180. These are autofocus lenses made specifically for the Sinar m camera, which interfaces with a number of different digital and film backs.

Tamron USA
Tamron’s extensive collection of lenses includes three different lines: the standard line, made for any 35mm size film or digital camera; digital SLR lenses, differentiated with a “Di” designation, but also compatible with film cameras; and the Di II series, intended for use with APS-C size sensors. Tamron indicates that it uses a combination of low- and high-dispersion glass, as well as other engineering techniques to help optimize performance in digital imaging. Tamron also indicates that its wide-angle, digital-only lenses show improved brightness in the corners of the image.

Among the company’s available lenses is the SP AF11-18mm F/4.5-5.6 Di-II LD Aspherical (IF). On a digital camera, which has a 1.5 multiplication factor, an 11mm is equivalent to a 17mm lens in 35mm film format.

Another interesting Tamron lens is its SP AF200-500mm F/5-6.3 Di LD (IF). Zoom lenses in this range, with the equivalent of 300-750mm zoom on many digital SLRs, enable you to achieve great zoom without losing additional f-stops.

Both of these are internal focus lenses that do not change length when adjusted. The AF200-500mm lens has an 86mm filter mount, which is something to consider if you plan to purchase filters such as circular polarizers. If you also own lenses with smaller filter sizes, it is generally less expensive to purchase step-down rings so that the same filter can be used with multiple lenses. This lens also has an interesting way of allowing filters to be adjusted. This feature, which Tamron calls Filter Effect Control (FEC), allows the filter to be rotated from a ring on the barrel, while the hood is still attached.

The AF200-500 lens also incorporates a tripod mount, which is pretty much necessary when working with equipment of this size. The mount makes the lens much easier to handle, particularly when switching composition from horizontal to vertical orientation.