BEST LENS of 2019

**Best Lenses of 2019: A Year of Excellence**

As we close out another year in the world of photography, it's time to take a look at some of the best lenses that were released in 2019. From telephoto masters to compact portrait enthusiasts, this year had something for everyone.

**The Sony FE 600mm F/4G Master with Optical Image Stabilization**

When it comes to long telephoto photography, there's no denying that Sony's FE 600mm F/4G Master is the best of the best. This lens is not for the faint of heart, as it's extremely large and cumbersome. However, for sports and wildlife photographers, this lens is a must-have. I had the opportunity to shoot with this lens on a press trip, and let me tell you, it's gorgeous. The optical image stabilization is top-notch, and the F/4 aperture provides excellent low-light performance. Whether you're shooting soccer or wildlife, this lens is the perfect choice.

**The Sony FE 600mm F/4G Master: A Game-Changer**

One of the things that sets the Sony FE 600mm apart from other long telephoto lenses is its exceptional sharpness and contrast. The bokeh is smooth and creamy, making it ideal for capturing stunning portraits and landscapes. However, what really sets this lens apart is its optical image stabilization. This feature allows you to shoot in low light conditions without worrying about camera shake or blur. Whether you're shooting in the midst of a busy stadium or waiting for a critical moment in the wild, the Sony FE 600mm F/4G Master has got your back.

**The Sony FE 600mm: A Practical Choice**

While the Sony FE 600mm is an incredible lens, it's also extremely expensive. The price tag is steep, and not everyone may be able to afford this luxury. However, for serious sports and wildlife photographers, this lens is a worthwhile investment. If you're on a budget, there are alternatives available, such as longer zoom lenses or telephoto lenses with less optical zoom power. While they may not match the Sony FE 600mm's performance, they can still deliver excellent results.

**The Sony FE 35mm F/1.8: A Sleeper Hit**

One of the most surprising lens releases of 2019 was the Sony FE 35mm F/1.8. This lens was met with skepticism by many, as it was released without fanfare and at a relatively affordable price point. However, those who had the chance to try it out were blown away by its performance. With excellent micro-contrast, sharpness, and a beautiful bokeh, this lens is a true sleeper hit.

**The Sony FE 35mm F/1.8: A Value Proposition**

One of the things that makes the Sony FE 35mm F/1.8 so appealing is its value proposition. At $750, it's an incredibly affordable price point for a high-quality lens with such excellent features. While it may not have all the bells and whistles of more expensive lenses, this lens delivers exceptional results in every area. Whether you're shooting street photography, portraits, or landscapes, this lens is sure to please.

**The Sony Zeiss 35mm F/1.4: A Comparison**

For those who prefer a faster aperture, the Sony Zeiss 35mm F/1.4 is an excellent alternative. While it's not as affordable as the Sony FE 35mm F/1.8, it delivers exceptional results in terms of sharpness and contrast. However, one area where the Sony Zeiss falls short is in its bokeh. The Sony FE 35mm F/1.8 has a more pleasing, creamy bokeh that's hard to beat.

**The Best Lenses of 2019: A Final Verdict**

In conclusion, 2019 was an incredible year for lenses. From the Sony FE 600mm F/4G Master with optical image stabilization to the Sony FE 35mm F/1.8, this list has something for everyone. Whether you're a sports or wildlife photographer, portrait enthusiast, or street photographer, there's a lens on this list that's sure to meet your needs. As always, we'd love to hear from you – if you have a favorite lens that didn't make the list, please drop us a comment below!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enI figure it's only fitting now that I'm doing a series of videos called lens days that we actually talk about some lenses and I want to do my picks for the best lenses that have come out in 2019 in this video I think this has been a really interesting year really the last two years in that we have this rush into the mirrorless space so we have a lot of new products a lot of new lenses that are coming out and we have bigger mounts which supposedly is encouraging designers to do more with the lens design that they're capable of in the optics we have advancements with autofocus so we've seen a lot of really cool things come out so that's what I want to talk about so there's basically five categories here that because it's really not fair to pick one lens as a favorite that support relent when there's some great white angles so I have five categories that I want to talk about we've got ultra wide we've got wide we've got normal length short telephoto and long telephoto and I'm gonna do my overall pick for the best lens of 2019 in mind not-so-humble and always accurate opinion but first I wanna give a quick shout-out to our sponsor today who are the awesome folks over at squarespace.com Squarespace is in Holland one solution for building beautiful websites portfolios or even an online store they have a awesome drag-and-drop interface you can build websites without having to write a single line of code Squarespace now also features calendar integrations so if you want to do scheduling with clients let's say this is now super easy and a major life saver so head over to Squarespace do the free trial and see if Squarespace is right for you if it is that can save you an additional ten percent off your order by using offer code AOP on check out that offer code once again is AOP and I want to give a special thanks and shout out to the folks at Squarespace for sponsoring another episode of the art of photography so there's some parameters that I set up for my picks for best lens of the year first of all obviously they had to come out this year so in 2019 not a lens that came out in 2018 so if something's missing that you think is superior that could be one of the reasons why also these are all lenses that I have actually used and so they're obviously I haven't hit everything so if you don't see your favorite in here don't hate me too much this is just based on a large selection that I have used this year there are four criteria that I use for selecting a lens in any given category and they are optics features price and size so for instance you have lenses that have incredible optics but they're really low on feature set and they're really high in price and so I'll talk about this as go along with why I picked each one of these but that is a determining factor like I could pick a lens like that but it really has to be incredible to have that trade-off between price size and lack of features but incredible optics and there's some lenses that fall into that category but mostly I try to keep them pretty practical so let's begin with our first category which is ultra wide-angle lenses now this one actually has a tie I've picked two lenses to be the best lenses in the ultra wide category the first one is the Sigma 14 to 24 millimeter F 2.8 DGD in art lens that's a lot of initials in the title but typically when you see D N and a Sigma lens that means it's designed native for mirrorless so you can get this in two mounts right now you can get it in Sony e-mount and you can also get it in like an L mount of course Canon and Nikon have not opened up autofocus lenses to third parties at this point so it is a little bit limited and that's why I picked two in this category however this is an extremely sharp lens the performance is outstanding it obviously is aimed to sort of compete with the sony 12 to 24 millimeter lens but it's not quite as wide that's a little bit of the trade-off this is about a $1,400 lens I think the price is pretty fair for what you get I think it's extremely well-built the autofocus obviously is incredible one of the downsides is this lens does lack filter threading so if you want to use filters on it you're gonna have to use a filter holder system like the wine-country one that I talk about a lot and you're gonna have to use the bigger one that comes with mounts where it will strap over the lens that's one of the problems that you're gonna have other than that that's the only downside I think this lens is fabulous and I picked two in this category the second one that I picked is the NIC or Z 14 to 30 millimeter f-4s lens that was really excited when Nikon announced this this year it did not disappoint this is a ultra wide-angle lens that first of all does not require you to use some kind of external filter system and has filter threads on it so you can use just standard filters you can screw them in it's extremely sharp it handles distortion really well even at 14 millimeters in fact it's one of the best lenses I've used in terms of distortion that's a problem that you're gonna have when lenses get this wide on a full-frame camera I think this is an excellent addition to the Z system the only issue I would say that is kind of an issue it is an f/4 lens so you're not going to use it to handhold in really low light you're gonna run into some issues there unless you're super steady but if you're shooting architecture you're shooting landscapes you're probably gonna be on try anyway and I don't think this has to be as wide but that's the other reason I picked the Sigmund here also because it's an F 2.8 I know these are for two completely different systems but these are my two picks for ultra wide-angle lens of 2019 our next category has a tie as well I picked one prime lens and one zoom lens for the wide-angle category so let's go ahead and start with the prime lens this is the Fujifilm xf 16 millimeter F 2.8 RW r this is another doubling up in the prime lens category that Fuji film has done you probably are aware that things like the 23 millimeter has two different versions that lens as well as the 35 now we have the same thing with the 16 millimeter now the 16 millimeter F one point four is one of my favorite lenses and has been for a number of years in the Fujifilm XF system so they released this one which I've been curious about it's an incredible price point but I haven't really tried until recently and I am doing a comparison video that will have coming out soon on both the 16 millimeter Fuji film lenses this one is absolutely incredible is an F 2.8 it's not a 1.4 the biggest difference is the size it's extremely compact I think Fuji film do this really well they don't make massive lenses but they're still really good in terms of optics and the way they render this one does pretty much 90% of what the F 1.4 does is just missing that extra stop you can still get a nice book Hey look two things when you get close up with this lens may not be razor sharp enough but this is also a $400 option so this is why I would pick this for the prime wide-angle lens for this year the zoom lens I picked to tie in this category is the Canon RF 15 to 35 millimeter F 2.8 l is usm lens this one is absolutely incredible Canon have come out of the gate swinging with the RF mounts lenses and I think this is one of the more practical lenses in this lineup that I think is very well priced considering this is a 16 to 35 they added an extra millimeter into the bottom and so it's a 15 to 35 but this is a standard wide-angle zoom that you would want with any system I think at $2,300 the price is right considering the optics are amazing you do get the function ring and you also have image stabilization in this lens it's sharp it's incredible it has a beautiful bouquet - it is very Canon and I think this represents the gem for me this year in the RF mount so let's move up to our normal focal length category 250 millimeter F 1 point for lens this year but it's one of the best ones I've ever used this is the Panasonic Lumix s Pro 50 millimeter F 1 point 4 I've had several opportunities to use this this is a very expensive lens it's 8 $2,300 50 millimeter lens but it is also incredible this was designed for the Panasonic L mount it's half the price of the like if that makes your decision any easier but when I got to use this lens Panasonic explained to me that this was designed to be a reference lens it is massive it is big the optical quality on it is incredible it can do beautiful book hey if that's what you want it can also render really sharp this is easily the best lens that's been released in 2019 in our normal focal length category so this is my pick for the best normal lens of 2019 next up is the short telephoto or portrait focal length category this one was really tough because we've seen some really great lenses come out in 2019 the Canon 85 millimeter with the focus is absolutely gorgeous I actually really like the nightcore Z 85 millimeter F one point eight but if I had to give it to only one lens which is what I've done it is the Sony Fe 135 millimeter F 1 point 8 G master lens this one is probably one of my favorite lenses ever made it's not cheap it is about a $2,000 lens I had the opportunity to go on the press trip for this lens this year I met the designer it's incredible lens Reynolds has tested this and they've kind of declared it the sharpest lens that they have ever been tested and it is very sharp that's not my favorite thing about it what I love about it is that it gives you an amazing contrast between creamy bouquet and sharpness so it's just a really beautiful well-rounded lens this is my pick for best telephoto lens of the year it is not my best overall though we're gonna get to that soon but first let's do the long telephoto this is not an easy category to pick a lens that's practical within because prime lenses that are for sports or wildlife photography tend to be astronomically expensive we're talking ten thousand dollars fourteen thousand dollars there are incredible lenses they are not practical to own the alternatives that you can get longer zoom or telephoto lenses and I just don't think that I've seen anything that renders up to the standard as my number one pick this year which is the Sony Fe 600 millimeter f/4g master with optical image stabilization I was on the press trip for this lens this I got to shoot another soccer game I have also used the 400 which is an incredible lens too and I think the 600 is just gorgeous it's a really long telephoto lens it's really big it's cumbersome it's extremely expensive but if you were a sports or wildlife shooter this is really the best choice out there hands down of course it's very timely with the Tokyo Olympics next year but it's an incredible lens and finally I would like to share with you my pick for best lens of 2019 which is the sony fe 35 millimeter f one point eight this is a complete sleeper lens there was no press trip for this this year in fact sony didn't even send me one to check out they'd sent them to a couple colleagues of mine I didn't think much of it I thought at $750 for another 35 millimeter this is an F 1.8 and maybe a little high but then I saw some of the images that were being made with it and I called a couple of my friends who I knew had the lens and I'm like what do you think finally I just had to buy one this lens is incredible it's not a G master lens there's no XA element in there so it doesn't get the crazy hype that a lot of the G master lenses do that you didn't have a press trip with it there was no major announcement it was just like here's a new lens the micro contrast on this the sharpness are incredible and I want to say something about Sony they turned a real corner about two years ago with the announcement of the 400 millimeter F 2.8 which is a telephoto sports lens that's not a practical lens for people to own for most people don't anyway unless you shoot sports for a living so I don't think a lot of people took note but that was kind of like we got into a whole new generation of Sony lenses because everything that's come after that has just been a complete homerun the 24 millimeter G master for instance was the next one down the pike the 135 which was my pick this year for the best portrait length telephoto this one is just as incredible as the others now it's not super sexy it's just kind of the black tube look you have a focus ring and that's it well you do have a focus function button here and you can turn the switch between auto focus and manual focus but there's no aperture caller I wish it had a little more to it because this is a little too stark for me I would love to at least have an aperture color typically those only go on the G master lenses so that's just Sony's design aesthetic it renders way better than the other Sony lens which is the Sony Zeiss 35 millimeter F one point for this lens is sharper the bouquet better there's a little bit of purple fringing but it's nothing you can't fix in an editor it is smaller it is more compact it's much more light it's also just a fraction of the cost of the other lens and so there's really not enough good things that I can say about it tested really well over at lens rentals and this is the type of lens that I'm talking about where if you balance out all the features in the cost I would say actually that this is a highly recommended lens if you were in the Sony e-mount system just because the autofocus is so good it renders so well you're really going to love this and it's at a very decent price point it also proves that lenses don't have to be extreme wide apertures and really expensive to be any good this lens performs just as well as things that cost two three times as much so that is my picks for lenses of the year I hope you guys enjoyed this if you have any lenses that you love that I did not recommend and you'd like to scold me for it please drop me a comment below I'll see you guys in the next video until then laterI figure it's only fitting now that I'm doing a series of videos called lens days that we actually talk about some lenses and I want to do my picks for the best lenses that have come out in 2019 in this video I think this has been a really interesting year really the last two years in that we have this rush into the mirrorless space so we have a lot of new products a lot of new lenses that are coming out and we have bigger mounts which supposedly is encouraging designers to do more with the lens design that they're capable of in the optics we have advancements with autofocus so we've seen a lot of really cool things come out so that's what I want to talk about so there's basically five categories here that because it's really not fair to pick one lens as a favorite that support relent when there's some great white angles so I have five categories that I want to talk about we've got ultra wide we've got wide we've got normal length short telephoto and long telephoto and I'm gonna do my overall pick for the best lens of 2019 in mind not-so-humble and always accurate opinion but first I wanna give a quick shout-out to our sponsor today who are the awesome folks over at squarespace.com Squarespace is in Holland one solution for building beautiful websites portfolios or even an online store they have a awesome drag-and-drop interface you can build websites without having to write a single line of code Squarespace now also features calendar integrations so if you want to do scheduling with clients let's say this is now super easy and a major life saver so head over to Squarespace do the free trial and see if Squarespace is right for you if it is that can save you an additional ten percent off your order by using offer code AOP on check out that offer code once again is AOP and I want to give a special thanks and shout out to the folks at Squarespace for sponsoring another episode of the art of photography so there's some parameters that I set up for my picks for best lens of the year first of all obviously they had to come out this year so in 2019 not a lens that came out in 2018 so if something's missing that you think is superior that could be one of the reasons why also these are all lenses that I have actually used and so they're obviously I haven't hit everything so if you don't see your favorite in here don't hate me too much this is just based on a large selection that I have used this year there are four criteria that I use for selecting a lens in any given category and they are optics features price and size so for instance you have lenses that have incredible optics but they're really low on feature set and they're really high in price and so I'll talk about this as go along with why I picked each one of these but that is a determining factor like I could pick a lens like that but it really has to be incredible to have that trade-off between price size and lack of features but incredible optics and there's some lenses that fall into that category but mostly I try to keep them pretty practical so let's begin with our first category which is ultra wide-angle lenses now this one actually has a tie I've picked two lenses to be the best lenses in the ultra wide category the first one is the Sigma 14 to 24 millimeter F 2.8 DGD in art lens that's a lot of initials in the title but typically when you see D N and a Sigma lens that means it's designed native for mirrorless so you can get this in two mounts right now you can get it in Sony e-mount and you can also get it in like an L mount of course Canon and Nikon have not opened up autofocus lenses to third parties at this point so it is a little bit limited and that's why I picked two in this category however this is an extremely sharp lens the performance is outstanding it obviously is aimed to sort of compete with the sony 12 to 24 millimeter lens but it's not quite as wide that's a little bit of the trade-off this is about a $1,400 lens I think the price is pretty fair for what you get I think it's extremely well-built the autofocus obviously is incredible one of the downsides is this lens does lack filter threading so if you want to use filters on it you're gonna have to use a filter holder system like the wine-country one that I talk about a lot and you're gonna have to use the bigger one that comes with mounts where it will strap over the lens that's one of the problems that you're gonna have other than that that's the only downside I think this lens is fabulous and I picked two in this category the second one that I picked is the NIC or Z 14 to 30 millimeter f-4s lens that was really excited when Nikon announced this this year it did not disappoint this is a ultra wide-angle lens that first of all does not require you to use some kind of external filter system and has filter threads on it so you can use just standard filters you can screw them in it's extremely sharp it handles distortion really well even at 14 millimeters in fact it's one of the best lenses I've used in terms of distortion that's a problem that you're gonna have when lenses get this wide on a full-frame camera I think this is an excellent addition to the Z system the only issue I would say that is kind of an issue it is an f/4 lens so you're not going to use it to handhold in really low light you're gonna run into some issues there unless you're super steady but if you're shooting architecture you're shooting landscapes you're probably gonna be on try anyway and I don't think this has to be as wide but that's the other reason I picked the Sigmund here also because it's an F 2.8 I know these are for two completely different systems but these are my two picks for ultra wide-angle lens of 2019 our next category has a tie as well I picked one prime lens and one zoom lens for the wide-angle category so let's go ahead and start with the prime lens this is the Fujifilm xf 16 millimeter F 2.8 RW r this is another doubling up in the prime lens category that Fuji film has done you probably are aware that things like the 23 millimeter has two different versions that lens as well as the 35 now we have the same thing with the 16 millimeter now the 16 millimeter F one point four is one of my favorite lenses and has been for a number of years in the Fujifilm XF system so they released this one which I've been curious about it's an incredible price point but I haven't really tried until recently and I am doing a comparison video that will have coming out soon on both the 16 millimeter Fuji film lenses this one is absolutely incredible is an F 2.8 it's not a 1.4 the biggest difference is the size it's extremely compact I think Fuji film do this really well they don't make massive lenses but they're still really good in terms of optics and the way they render this one does pretty much 90% of what the F 1.4 does is just missing that extra stop you can still get a nice book Hey look two things when you get close up with this lens may not be razor sharp enough but this is also a $400 option so this is why I would pick this for the prime wide-angle lens for this year the zoom lens I picked to tie in this category is the Canon RF 15 to 35 millimeter F 2.8 l is usm lens this one is absolutely incredible Canon have come out of the gate swinging with the RF mounts lenses and I think this is one of the more practical lenses in this lineup that I think is very well priced considering this is a 16 to 35 they added an extra millimeter into the bottom and so it's a 15 to 35 but this is a standard wide-angle zoom that you would want with any system I think at $2,300 the price is right considering the optics are amazing you do get the function ring and you also have image stabilization in this lens it's sharp it's incredible it has a beautiful bouquet - it is very Canon and I think this represents the gem for me this year in the RF mount so let's move up to our normal focal length category 250 millimeter F 1 point for lens this year but it's one of the best ones I've ever used this is the Panasonic Lumix s Pro 50 millimeter F 1 point 4 I've had several opportunities to use this this is a very expensive lens it's 8 $2,300 50 millimeter lens but it is also incredible this was designed for the Panasonic L mount it's half the price of the like if that makes your decision any easier but when I got to use this lens Panasonic explained to me that this was designed to be a reference lens it is massive it is big the optical quality on it is incredible it can do beautiful book hey if that's what you want it can also render really sharp this is easily the best lens that's been released in 2019 in our normal focal length category so this is my pick for the best normal lens of 2019 next up is the short telephoto or portrait focal length category this one was really tough because we've seen some really great lenses come out in 2019 the Canon 85 millimeter with the focus is absolutely gorgeous I actually really like the nightcore Z 85 millimeter F one point eight but if I had to give it to only one lens which is what I've done it is the Sony Fe 135 millimeter F 1 point 8 G master lens this one is probably one of my favorite lenses ever made it's not cheap it is about a $2,000 lens I had the opportunity to go on the press trip for this lens this year I met the designer it's incredible lens Reynolds has tested this and they've kind of declared it the sharpest lens that they have ever been tested and it is very sharp that's not my favorite thing about it what I love about it is that it gives you an amazing contrast between creamy bouquet and sharpness so it's just a really beautiful well-rounded lens this is my pick for best telephoto lens of the year it is not my best overall though we're gonna get to that soon but first let's do the long telephoto this is not an easy category to pick a lens that's practical within because prime lenses that are for sports or wildlife photography tend to be astronomically expensive we're talking ten thousand dollars fourteen thousand dollars there are incredible lenses they are not practical to own the alternatives that you can get longer zoom or telephoto lenses and I just don't think that I've seen anything that renders up to the standard as my number one pick this year which is the Sony Fe 600 millimeter f/4g master with optical image stabilization I was on the press trip for this lens this I got to shoot another soccer game I have also used the 400 which is an incredible lens too and I think the 600 is just gorgeous it's a really long telephoto lens it's really big it's cumbersome it's extremely expensive but if you were a sports or wildlife shooter this is really the best choice out there hands down of course it's very timely with the Tokyo Olympics next year but it's an incredible lens and finally I would like to share with you my pick for best lens of 2019 which is the sony fe 35 millimeter f one point eight this is a complete sleeper lens there was no press trip for this this year in fact sony didn't even send me one to check out they'd sent them to a couple colleagues of mine I didn't think much of it I thought at $750 for another 35 millimeter this is an F 1.8 and maybe a little high but then I saw some of the images that were being made with it and I called a couple of my friends who I knew had the lens and I'm like what do you think finally I just had to buy one this lens is incredible it's not a G master lens there's no XA element in there so it doesn't get the crazy hype that a lot of the G master lenses do that you didn't have a press trip with it there was no major announcement it was just like here's a new lens the micro contrast on this the sharpness are incredible and I want to say something about Sony they turned a real corner about two years ago with the announcement of the 400 millimeter F 2.8 which is a telephoto sports lens that's not a practical lens for people to own for most people don't anyway unless you shoot sports for a living so I don't think a lot of people took note but that was kind of like we got into a whole new generation of Sony lenses because everything that's come after that has just been a complete homerun the 24 millimeter G master for instance was the next one down the pike the 135 which was my pick this year for the best portrait length telephoto this one is just as incredible as the others now it's not super sexy it's just kind of the black tube look you have a focus ring and that's it well you do have a focus function button here and you can turn the switch between auto focus and manual focus but there's no aperture caller I wish it had a little more to it because this is a little too stark for me I would love to at least have an aperture color typically those only go on the G master lenses so that's just Sony's design aesthetic it renders way better than the other Sony lens which is the Sony Zeiss 35 millimeter F one point for this lens is sharper the bouquet better there's a little bit of purple fringing but it's nothing you can't fix in an editor it is smaller it is more compact it's much more light it's also just a fraction of the cost of the other lens and so there's really not enough good things that I can say about it tested really well over at lens rentals and this is the type of lens that I'm talking about where if you balance out all the features in the cost I would say actually that this is a highly recommended lens if you were in the Sony e-mount system just because the autofocus is so good it renders so well you're really going to love this and it's at a very decent price point it also proves that lenses don't have to be extreme wide apertures and really expensive to be any good this lens performs just as well as things that cost two three times as much so that is my picks for lenses of the year I hope you guys enjoyed this if you have any lenses that you love that I did not recommend and you'd like to scold me for it please drop me a comment below I'll see you guys in the next video until then later\n"