Author: Alik Griffin

Modern Lens Design Is Crazier Than You Think

There are a few tricks lens designers are using now to make lenses smaller. Often they use advanced plastics or resins, to keep elements smaller and lighter. Often these are just used in Aspherical elements because they can have such a high index of refractions.
Pergear 12mm f2 HDR Samples | Fukuoka Japan

This lens is very interesting and fun for the price. I found it doesn’t perform great with regards to flaring and shooting into the sun when compared to the Rokinon 12mm that costs more than twice as much ( so not amazing for landscape work ), but this Pergear lens does have some nice sun…
Cheap vs Expensive Lenses – What’s the Real Difference?

After doing tons of reviews and articles on how I like these cheaper Chinese lenses for day-to-day shooting and for fun, I thought it would be important to do a write up about what your expectations should really be when comparing cheap lenses to higher-end or more expensive lenses like a Samyang or Rokinon. Because…
Best Memory Cards Fujifilm X-E4

The Fujifilm X-E4 has some very powerful features packed in a small little body. Since the camera has some pretty aggressive features with some nice 4k video recording options, choosing the right memory card will be important in order to get the best performance out of the camera. Use this guide to find the best…
Japan Landscape Shooting – Rokinon 12mm f2

For years, the Samyang 12mm f2 has been the go-to lens for APS-C shooters looking for a great ultra-wide prime lens. For a while, it was the only viable option really and probably still is the best bang for the buck in terms of what you get and the pro-level image quality it outputs.
Pergear 12mm f2 Review | Better Than Expected

I was expecting the Pergear 12mm f2 to have a lot more of the imperfections and sort of wild characteristics of their other lenses. But it doesn’t. It’s actually way tamer, with very nice contrast and pretty good sharpness across the frame. I’m actually impressed. I was not expecting this lens to be actually viable…
Pergear 35mm f1.2 Review | Best One So Far

The Pergear 35mm f1.2 is a compact APS-C lens designed with a bright aperture for a very shallow depth of field and low light shooting. When looking at character and performance, this lens is packed with beautiful imperfections, as well as the regular kind. With the limitations in mind, it can produce some nice results…
Secret Gem – Kipon Iberit 75mm f2.4

The Kipon IBERIT 75mm f2.4 is a relatively unknown third-party lens, but is a true gem and a street machine! I’ve written about this lens a few times but it’s sort of fallen out of the general discussion of special secret sauce lenses, so here I share some experiences and photos taken recently with it…
Fujifilm 90mm f2 | Streets In The Snow

It’s been snowing like crazy the last few days here in southern Japan which is rather rare. It’s also been a while since I’ve shot in the snow, so the other night I grabbed my X-T3 and 90mm and took this opportunity and go out in the usual fashion as a creepy foreigner to wanders…
How To Create A Better Film Grain In Lightroom

This is a quick little tutorial on how you can improve your grain in Lightroom. There are limited grain controls in Lightroom, but if you use them correctly you can do some pretty cool things and create some very film-like grain.