Author Archives: Bhavya Desai

Tamron 28-300mm vs 50-300mm: Review & Shootout

Today we have two lenses from Tamron – the 28-300 mm F/4-7.1 and the 50-300 mm F/4.5-6.3 super zoom lenses. We recently reviewed Nikon’s 28-400 mm lens in the same category and in that review, we stated that there are no other lenses in the market like this. It seems like Tamron heard us and has changed that, they recently added these two lenses but for the Sony E-mount full frame system.

They’re not exactly the same, they’re a 100mm shorter than Nikon’s, but they’re one of the first ones in the extended general purpose zoom lenses category.

What makes this interesting is that the price difference between the newly launched Tamron lens is just ₹6500. So as a user, which one should you buy? The 28-300, which costs ₹75,000 or the 50-300 costs ₹68,500. We will review them and tell you which one is better for you.

Who Is This Made For?

The 28-300mm is ideal for beginners looking for an all-in-one carry around lens and even experienced photographers who want a compact, versatile lens for travel without sacrificing image quality too much.

The 50-300mm, on the other hand, is geared towards those familiar with the 70-300mm range but who want a slightly wider perspective.

Look, Body & Feel

Both lenses follow Tamron’s signature design ethos we’ve seen over the last few years. They’re sturdy, well-built, and both feature a 67mm filter diameter.

Each lens comes with two rings: one for zoom and an inner ring that is programmable. Additionally, they both have a programmable button and a USB-C port for firmware updates and customisable functions.

Despite the minimal weight difference on paper – 610g for the 28-300mm and 665g for the 50-300mm – the latter feels noticeably heavier in-hand and when attached to a camera. Physically, the 28-300mm is also shorter, measuring 126mm versus the 50-300mm measuring 150mm. The lens hoods differ too, with the 28-300mm sporting a shorter hood to accommodate its wider field of view.

Both lenses come with metal mounts and rubber gaskets, ensuring they are weather-sealed and built to endure.

Image Quality

Daylight Performance

Both lenses perform well in daylight, producing sharp, detailed images with decent colour reproduction. The 28-300mm, being the newer of the two, delivers slightly better sharpness, especially when zoomed in. It also produces images with higher contrast, giving photos a more dramatic feel, particularly in black-and-white shots. At higher focal lengths, both lenses show some edge softness, though the 28-300mm maintains sharper overall clarity.

There is also visible distortion in the images shot from the 28-300 as compared to the 50-300. At the max focal length the subjects do appear broader as seen in the images between the two lenses. The perspective distortion also appears more on the 28-300mm.

Focussing

The autofocus is fast on both lenses, but the 50-300mm, with its wider aperture, edges out the 28-300mm slightly. Focussing is smooth, and surprisingly, both lenses performed better in low-light video than in daylight. While both take a little longer to focus when shooting stills, the autofocus motors are exceptionally quiet.

Low-light Performance

In low light, the 50-300mm stands out, thanks to its faster aperture. Though the 28-300mm again delivers higher contrast and sharper images, it has a slight reddish tinge in low-light conditions. The 50-300mm, on the other hand, captures brighter, better-lit images and opens up the possibility of shooting broader subjects in low-light environments.

Bokeh

When it comes to bokeh, there’s little difference between the two lenses. Both produce pleasing, circular bokeh with a cat’s-eye effect, delivering a comparable performance in this regard.

Chromatic Aberration, Flaring, and Ghosting

In terms of chromatic aberration, the 28-300 scored 1.27px when run through Quick MTF, whereas the 50-300 scored a much better 0.44px. In real life, there was no visible colour fringing or aberration in our images.

The 28-300mm handles flaring and ghosting better, displaying minimal issues. The 50-300mm, however, shows some ghosting in certain images, which was a bit disappointing.

Macro Capabilities

The minimum focussing distance (MFD) for the 28-300mm is 7.5 inches at 28mm and 39 inches at 300mm. For the 50-300mm, the MFD is 8.7 inches at 50mm and 35.4 inches at 300mm.

Both lenses can shoot macro-like close-ups, though the 50mm end allows for slightly closer shots due to it being physically longer. In terms of quality, the pics from the 50-300mm appear sharper and better between the two. But yes, both lenses produce decent macro-like images.

Conclusion

So, which lens should you choose – the Tamron 28-300mm or the 50-300mm? Both are solid performers for their price range. The 28-300mm delivers sharper images and offers more visual mood in its shots. However, our pick would be the 50-300mm. Its smoother focussing (especially in low-light), wider low-light capabilities, and lower price tag make it a compelling choice.

Yes, you’ll miss out on the 28mm wide angle, but if that’s not a dealbreaker, the 50-300mm might be the better all-around option.

OnePlus Buds Pro 3 Review

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The latest OnePlus Buds Pro 3 were recently launched at a price of ₹13,999, with potential discounts available. As someone who used the Buds Pro 2 daily for much of last year, I was eager to try these new earbuds, and I have several observations to share.

Design, Build, and Feel

The design of the Buds Pro 3 has seen some notable changes. First, the charging case has been updated to a flip design, similar to other recent OnePlus earbuds, moving away from the flat design of the Buds Pro 2. The case now features a textured, leather-like finish that enhances grip and feels sturdy and premium in hand. However, like Apple’s AirPods, they now come in a white colour, called Lunar Radiance, which may require more frequent cleaning.

The earbuds themselves maintain the familiar in-ear stem design but with some visible differences. The Buds Pro 3 are slightly larger, indicating an internal redesign, possibly to accommodate the dual DACs in each earbud, which deliver a more powerful audio experience compared to the previous model.

The stems are now longer and feature a touch-enabled sliding function for adjusting volume—a welcome and much-needed addition. However, getting the gesture right can be tricky, as I found my left earbud occasionally slipping out. The earbuds also now have “L” and “R” markings, making it easier to identify the correct earbud, another thoughtful improvement. And with an IP55 rating, won’t have sweat creep in through them.

A nice touch is the “co-created with Dynaudio” branding on the earbuds and the case.

Sound Performance

The Buds Pro 3 support Fast Pair, which means they quickly connect to Android devices, especially OnePlus phones, when brought close. The pairing process is swift, and the earbuds offer the same settings as the Buds Pro 2, with no significant changes. iPhone users can access similar features through the HeyMelody app, though OnePlus should do more to highlight this compatibility.

In terms of sound quality, the Buds Pro 3 deliver a noticeably louder, clearer, and crisper audio output. The bass is well-rounded, much like the Buds Pro 2, but with a richer overall sound. OnePlus claims these earbuds can cancel noise up to -50dB, and they deliver on that promise. The Adaptive Noise Cancellation feature adjusts to your environment, cutting out outside noise more naturally than the Buds Pro 2, which tended to create a slight vacuum effect.

Areas for Improvement

While the overall experience is designed with OnePlus phone users in mind, I feel there’s room for improvement for iOS users. The fit of the ear tips also leaves something to be desired. Despite trying all the provided tips, the fit still felt average and slightly loose during sound tests.

Another issue I’ve noticed with the Buds Pro 2 is that latency tends to increase over time, particularly when connected to a TV, leading to brief connection drops. I’ll need more time with the Buds Pro 3 to see if this issue persists.

As for call quality, there’s definite improvement—voices sound clearer, though still somewhat robotic.

Conclusion

The OnePlus Buds Pro 3 are simple and easy to use. Just pop them open, and they connect to your paired devices, ready to go. They offer a range of customization options and deliver sound quality that sits comfortably between Apple’s AirPods Pro and Samsung’s Buds Pro.

The standout feature here is the price. At ₹13,999, with potential discounts making them even more affordable, the Buds Pro 3 offer excellent value for money. With features like multiple device connections, fast charging (providing up to 43 hours of listening time), and LHDC support (though this won’t work with iOS and Pixel devices), they are a compelling choice.

Ultimately, it’s the combination of price and features that make the OnePlus Buds Pro 3 a great product for the money, especially when compared to pricier competitors like AirPods and Samsung buds.

Sigma 50mm 1.2 Art Lens Review

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Sigma recently launched the new 50mm F/1.2 DG DN Art lens for the Sony and the Panasonic mount. Now this is a DG DN lens which means it is for the full frame sensor and these lenses can be used on the Sony’s E-mount and the Panasonics L-mount as well. The MRP for this lens is Rs. 1,33,000, but it can be available for around Rs. 1,17,000 lacs at street price. That is a considerable discount as compared to the other lenses in the same segment. And at this price, the Sigma 50mm becomes a very interesting lens.

Look Body and Feel

In terms of the look, body and feel, at first glance the lens looks sturdy, well-built and also pretty light. Infact it is only weighs 745 gms and being an art lens it comes with weather sealing and a metal mount. The lens is also different as compared to the usual lenses of today and features a host of buttons. I also love the shiny A on the lens denoting that this is the Art lens.

At the front you have a 72mm filter diameter and in terms of the buttons it has the focus ring, the aperture control ring, a lock, autofocus and manual buttons and also a click and de-click button as well. And you can tell that a lot of thought has gone into the details as you turn the aperture dial around to hear its click sound. There’s a different level of satisfaction from that sound, which can only happen if there has been a lot of attention paid to it.. The lens hood also has a familiar design with the unlock button to it, which has been part of the Sigma Art lens design.

Images

Shooting with a 1.2 prime lens is always exciting because it can open really wide and with this lens as well, much like the other Art lenses that Sigma has, the performance is really good. The images are really sharp, very detailed and are able to deliver a pleasing performance that’s impossible to miss. Now as you might know that usually these lenses are always sharp on the centre and slightly soft in the corners. But in this case the lens displayed good sharpness in the corners as well which was good to see.

The focusing is also very fast and you will hardly find it hunting under most conditions. Even in lowlight conditions I found the autofocusing to perform pretty well.

Bokeh Performance

Another advantage that a prime lens gives you is the ability to get some great portraits and bokeh performance. For this lens, Sigma has used a 13-blade rounded diaphragm, which helps with delivering nice rounded bokeh’s. And in terms of performance, we found nice circular bokeh at the centre and cats eye in the corners. The portraits and the depth to the subject also look really good and using this lens really reminds me of why I like prime lenses so much.

Chromatic Aberration

When we checked the lens for chromatic aberration then it gave a CA value of 0.22 pixels through the quick MTF software, which is a pretty good CA value.

Flaring and Ghosting

In terms of flaring and ghosting we shot a number of pics and found the performance pretty decent. Under most conditions the lens was able to cut the flare and ghosting, unless we really pointed it directly into the Sun’s line of sight. So, I’d say that the performance was pretty decent in this case.

Conclusion

Honestly there is hardly anything to dislike about this lens. Its compact, its light, delivers good performance in terms of image quality, both in daylight and lowlight, plus it’s has the ability to deliver good bokeh, which is so important for a prime lens, especially if you are shooting weddings, street photography, etc.

Now what sweetens this deal even more for me is the fact that it is also cheaper than some of the other lenses in the same segment and at a street price of Rs. 1,17,000, which means you can use that extra money to buy more equipment or other lenses that you might desire.

OnePlus Watch 2 Review

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The latest addition of the OnePlus watch has been launched after a gap of nearly 3 years with a price of Rs. 24,999. At this price point this watch is competing with the likes of Samsung Gen 4 and Fossil’s Gen 6 watches and the likes of others in that category. Now this isn’t really a premium category watch like your Apple and Samsungs watches. And OnePlus knows that, with this they are trying to target a user that is looking for value for money + premium features and also someone who piggybacks on the OnePlus ecosystem.

Look, Body and Feel

The first thing I notice about the watch is its big dial, a 1.43-inch dial beams out at you with a premium build quality, especially for the price point. And this builds on the IP 68 water resistant rating plus a military grade durability. But while the look is premium the button and rotation dial quality feel average.

The colour is the flagship green, which can be seen on the OnePlus Pad, OnePlus Open, and the OnePlus 12. But at 80 gms the watch certainly feels heavy on the wrist, may be because of the stainless steel build, in comparison the Apple Watch that I use is about 32 gms. The display can go upto 1000 nits and this now also has an improved resolution of 466×466, which is more than the 454 pixels before. It is bright as daylight and you won’t have an issue viewing this under any conditions.

Dual Chipset

To improve the efficiency of the watch it now runs with a dual chipset, one is the Snapdragon W5 performance chipset that runs Wear OS 4, and the other is the BES 2700 efficiency chipset that runs the RTOS operating system. These run concurrently and in most cases I found it to be running smooth and fast. There is not much lag and the watch is able to handle what you throw at it efficiently. Yes, it isn’t lighting fast as I am use to with the Apple Watch, but full points to OnePlus on this one.

Graphics and Animations

But where I feel the let-down are the graphics. When I use the watch, the graphics, the animation, there just seems something missing in them, I can’t put a finger on it, but something is there. And its even more surprising since it features a 60 hz refresh rate, same as the apple watch which is actually pretty good, but for some reason it does feel that fluid. But the Wear OS 4 runs smooth and feels at home with the back button swipes for android, it’s just so intuitive to just do that.

Faces & Customisations

One of the interesting things about a smart watch is its faces, and in this case I found the ones in the O Health app to be limited. But you can download upto 80 more faces online, unfortunately that didn’t work for me since under embargo that didn’t seem to fire up. I do have a bone to pick when it comes to customisations as well. I felt those to be limited as compared to what I am use to with other options. But may be in this price segment this could be offering more?

But the good thing is that with Wear OS 4 now you can get things done easily and also use the google apps on the watch. The watch pairs fast, which is convenient and also will download the apps and access pretty well. But do note that in India specifically Google Pay and Google wallet wont work in India. And also for any iPhone fans, this is not compatible with the iPhones.

A Battery Powerhouse

One of the biggest things that OnePlus is pushing with this is the battery life. And with its 500 mAh battery, this is truly a battery power house. It allows upto 100 hours of battery and also now offers a power saving mode as well. And what’s interesting, in that mode you can get access to loads of basic functions, which lot of the other watches wont allow you to do. For instance, most smart watches just show the time in the power saving mode.

But in any case, if the battery also dies then you just need 10 mins to charge your watch. This comes with a 7.5-watt VOOC Charger, which could be better built honestly, but it supports fast charging and is also more than the usual 2.5 watt industry standard.

Health Apps

Now primarily you always use a watch for its heath features and the OnePlus Watch 2 also offers a host of them. And in most cases they work pretty well. Like for instance it accurately detected the bpm and in both the watches I used and that was pretty close. But the metric of calculating steps seemed quiet off. This does feature the new dual frequency for better precision, but there was surely a mismatch in the steps on both my watches. Now I dont know which watch is really giving the accurate step count honestly, but they aren’t the same. They have also enhanced some of the workout modes as well like the badminton mode, which I am looking forward to using it when my injury heals.

Conclusion

So how do I find the OnePlus Watch 2? Now one of my vices are watches actually, I really love them and I invest in them a lot as well. And for approx. 25k, I think this watch offers a lot and is surely decent. Yes, it isn’t the best at everything it does, but for that you also need to spend a lot more, like the Apple watch, which is nearly 2 times this price.

The way I look at it is that, this watch isn’t the best at everything, but it actually is consistent at everything, and for the price and the features it offers, I can see it being an appealing buy for users.

Look at the Samsung S24 Ultra Cameras

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Samsung Galaxy S24+ and Galaxy S24 also unveiled

Samsung unveiled the S24 series comprising of the Galaxy S24 Ultra, Galaxy S24+ and Galaxy S24 along with the Galaxy AI to the public. The flagship devices from Samsung comes with the latest Snapdragon Gen 3 processors and specs that will surely make everyone take notice. Under the hood, the Galaxy S24 Ultra provides 12GB + 1TB, 12 + 512GB, or 12 + 256GB memory and storage options.There are two main take aways for me in these phones, the change in the Cameras and also the power of AI in everyday usage.

Cameras

The S24 Ultra comes with a quad camera set up, like the S23 Ultra, which on the face of it seems the same, but there are some interesting changes to the cameras. The cameras include a 12MP ultra-wide camera that features a 120-degree field of view, a 200-MP wide camera with OIS, and two telephoto cameras featuring 5x and 3x optical zoom options. At the front it has a 12MP front-facing camera.But what’s interesting is that there have been some changes that’ve been made to the camera. For instance, the main 200-MP camera now has a new sensor with the same specs as the S23 ultra, the telephoto also now features a 5x zoom instead of a 10x in the previous edition, to deliver a better performance between the ranges of 3x to 10x performance. These are tiny but important changes for the performance, which the users will benefit from. But we can only be certain when we do the full review of the phone.

Samsung AI

And the other important take away is the Samsung AI, which the company has teased a lot. It’s safe to say that it is difficult to leave AI out of phones anymore, and with each new phone, the use case scenario of AI seems to make things increasingly convenient.

In the Samsung AI world you can now click on a picture, select and search it on google, it will also allow real time translation on calls. But the most interesting thing is the editing tools it offers. Much like google, you can now enable simple edits like erase, re-compose, and remaster. For easier and more efficient optimizations, Edit Suggestionuses Galaxy AI to suggest suitable tweaks for each photo. Generative Editcan fill in parts of an image background with generative AI. When a picture is crooked, AI will fill in the borders. And if an action-packed video needs to be slowed down, new Instant Slow-mo can generate additional frames based on movements to smoothly slow down action-packed moments for a more detailed look. And yes it shows you small stars at the corner if the picture has been edited using AI.

These and host of other features awaits us with AI. But off the top these were the stand out things that we noticed about the cameras of the Samsung S24 Ultra. But do stay tuned and we will bring you the full review of the phone soon.

Photography Trends in 2024

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With 2023 behind us, it’s time to focus on 2024! And with the New Year around the corner, what’s better than looking at the biggest Photography Trends that we will get to see in 2024. If you’ve been a reader of the magazine over the years then you would know that every year in our January Anniversary issue, we feature an article on the biggest trends and predictions for the year. And more often than not, we are on point with them. Don’t believe us? Then you can read some of our previous articles from 2023, 2022, 2020.

– By Bhavya Desai

For 2024, these are the biggest trends in technology, products, features I feel will come your way:

Dominance of AI in photography

The biggest trend in 2024 will be the increased dominance of AI and its computational photography. If you remember my article from last year, that also featured the increase in the use of AI tools to execute photography. But in the year 2024, AI and its impact on photography will come into its own. This will be evident with the increased use of AI tools by photographers to increase their efficiency in everyday processes. And this spurt will be helped by mainline software giants like Adobe, Canva, etc. introducing AI features into their softwares like Photoshop, Indesign, etc that will allow users to access AI to enhance/change their pictures. The everyday use of softwares like ChatGPT, Midjourney, Dall-E have also increased phenomenally in the past year.

But what’s interesting is that the increase in the use of AI wont only be in the form of apps and software. Smart devices like phones, cameras, processors etc. will also start using advanced AI algorithms to deliver better results, pictures, making the life of a photographer easier than before. So 2024 is going to be all about AI, its tools and computational photography. Get ready because this year will be ‘Monumental for the Future of Photography.’

Rise of Contextual Photography

Ride with me for a minute! The terms contextual photography can be misinterpreted often. When I refer to contextual photography, I am referring to the trend where a picture provides a context to the viewer. With the increase in the usage of AI tools that allow us to manipulate images, there has been an increased push towards realism in the pictures as well. And with that I feel viewers will/are consuming images and content that delivers a larger perspective and context to images.

Focus on Environmental and Sustainability

And with that context the viewers are also thinking about the planet. Now when I say focus on environmental and sustainability, I don’t mean that as a genre in photography that will be the prime focus. I am referring to users/followers/subscribers of photographers who resonate with the planet and how much does their favourite shutterbug care about the environment. And this will come full circle with not only photographers, it will be applicable to people in general as well. And more specifically if photographers are more responsible of their work in a sustainable manner towards the planet.

I don’t think if I have seen any generation that cares about the planet and its environmental impact as the current one. Which is great, and in this time and era the focus isn’t just on the products that are environment friendly, sustainable, but also what he/she/they stand for.

Death of the Horizontal Picture

One of the saddest inventions of social media is the advent of vertical photos. Think of it! When was the last time you took a horizontal photo, unless you were really forced to? Personally, in the last year I also don’t remember taking too many horizontal photos either. And when I thought about this point, I went back to my library to run a check on the horizontal photos I clicked in the last year. And the result was mind boggling. They amounted to less than 10% of all my pictures.

Now it is common to take vertical pics with phones, for obvious reasons, but I find more and more photographers using their cameras also to shoot vertical pics. And I feel that 2024 is going to be the death of the horizontal images and videos (if it hasn’t already happened).

Drone & Aerial Photography – Coming of Age

This point has been featuring in my list for the past 2-3 years. And that is because the first time I predicted it, drones had just started surfacing. But every year drones have been consistently offering better features, become more affordable and have started coming in smaller packages, and 2024 is the year where you will see them make a major impact.

With more advanced features in smaller packages, use of drones especially in video content is almost a given these days. So get ready for some serious drone action.

Short Form Video Content

I am sure this isn’t a surprise for anyone. Short form content like Shorts and Reels are already becoming more popular than long form content in terms of consumption. And the year 2024 is going to be no different. Perhaps the biggest change that one will find is a shift in the mindset of the creators while creating content.

While short form content was believed to be cringe, corny, etc., it is clear that viewers are consuming short-form vertical content. And by the second half of 2023 people have realised, to get more followers/subscribers/views they also need to focus on this format. And 2024 will see a phenomenal rise in the consumption of this form of content.

Faceless Shots

The only photography style to get featured in this list is Faceless shot. As the name suggests, these are pictures that feature without a face/head. And this is I think will be a very interesting image trend in 2024. Combined with contextual photography, this trend will become a powerful medium to provide a good perspective to the viewer, while surrounding some mystery to the subject.