Note: Current subscribers can click on the header above to log in, if desired. The link to renew a subscription 
or to check when it expires is near the bottom of this page.

The Reid Reviews article index gives a listing of stories published to date.

For suggestions about how to get the most out of the site see our site tips.

Reid Reviews' normal business hours are 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM EST Monday through Friday
(excluding holidays) and any problems with subscriptions, responses to e-mail, etc. are normally handled
during those business hours. I am, however, sometimes away photographing during those hours and
appreciate your patience if you need to wait for a response to your e-mail. If subscribing, please be sure that the
full name you provide exactly matches the name on your PayPal account.

On September 16 I published Part One of an extensive two-part review of the Pentax K3 III Monochrome.

On August 9 I published a full field and studio test of the Pentax HD FA 31/1.8 Limited.

On July 31 I published an article that looks at how the Leica M11M and M10M respond to color filters
which are used to change tonality.

On July 18 I published studio tests that look at the Leica Q3's highlight headroom and estimated native ISO.

On June 1 I published an article based on studio tests which compare the Leica Q2 and Q3
in terms of resolution, vignetting and color drift.

On May 25 I published a full field review of the Leica Q3. This is the first in a series of articles
about the new camera.

On May 17 I published an article that looks at the highlight headroom and estimated native ISO of
the Leica M11 Monochrom.

On May 12 I published an article covering side by side studio tests -- of the M11M, M10M and M11 --
that look at resolution and vignetting with a challenging 21 mm and a challenging 28 mm lens.

On April 14 I published an article covering side by side studio tests -- of the M11M, M10M and M11 --
which look at spectral sensitivity and overall rendering as well as noise at various ISO levels
(and file dimensions). Next up will be tests of resolution and vignetting, for all three cameras, with
four rangefinder lenses. In a separate article, I'll also be testing highlight headroom and apparent
native ISO. Other articles in the series will look at high ISO theater photography with the M11M and
the camera's tonal response to external color filters.

On April 13 I published a full field review of the new Leica M11 Monochrom. This is the first in a series
of articles about the new camera. 

On March 29 I published a full field and studio test review of the Canon 35/2.8 LTM lens tested on the
Leica M10 Monochrom and M (Typ 240).

On March 16 I published an article which is part review and part essay. It looks at the performance
and rendering of the Canon 28/2.8, on the Leica M10 Monochrom and Leica M (Typ 240), in the context
of a larger discussion of lens drawing and of this particular lens' influence on the look of many photographs
made by Garry Winogrand.

On February 15  I published an essay about seeing and focusing the subject with a rangefinder camera.

On February 3 I published a very extensive article based on side by side studio tests of the Fuji X-T5
and X-T4. This is the first time that I have done formal tests of Fuji's 40 MP APS-C sensor and the
results were quite interesting.

On January 19 I published a full review of the Fujifilm XF 30/2.8 LM WR Macro based on field and studio
tests done using the Fujifilm X-T5. Some of the studio comparison tests were also done using a Fujifilm
XF 33/1.4 as a reference lens.

On January 10, 2023 I published my review of the Fuji X-T5. I've simultaneously been working on two
companion articles which are coming up next. The first is a review of the Fuji XF 30/2.8 Macro and the
second is based on side-by-side studio tests of the 40 MP X-T5 and 26 MP X-T4. Those tests will look at
resolution, color rendering, noise at various ISO levels and moire.

On November 30 I published a full review of the Pentax HD FA 21/2.4 Limited DC WR based on studio testing
on the Pentax K1 II and field testing on the K1 II and Pentax K3 III.

On November 10 I published an article based on extensive studio tests of the Pentax K1 II and K3 III.
These tests look at color rendering, performance at various ISO levels, highlight headroom and
rendering in "Pixel Shift" mode.

On October 20 I published a review of the Pentax K3 III and K1 II tested side by side. This is the first in
a new series of Pentax articles which will also include full side by side studio tests of these two cameras
as well as full studio/field reviews of the Pentax HD FA 21/2.4, 31/1.8 and 43/1.9 lenses.

On August 31 I published a full review of the Fujinon XF 33/1.4 LM WR as compared to the
Fujinon XF 35/1.4 R.

On July 8 I published an article about working in B&W with digital camera raw files. It first looks at the
topic in broad ways and then moves through some examples of my own conversion steps when working
with monochrome and color source files. It also looks at ways in which color channel blending, when
creating B&W files, can affect noise.

On June 2 I published an article based on studio tests of highlight headroom (and estimated native
ISO) for the Leica SL, SL2 and SL2-S.

On May 17 I published an article based on studio tests of highlight headroom (and estimated native
ISO) for the Fujifilm GFX100S and GFX50S II. This article may be of interest to any serious digital
photographer who cares about useable dynamic range.

On April 28 I published an article based on full studio tests of the Ricoh GR IIIx's lens.

On March 26 I published an article based on studio tests of highlight headroom (and estimated native
ISO) for the Leica M11, M10 Monochrom and M10-R. This article may be of interest to many serious
digital photographers (working with any brand of camera) as it looks, in some depth, at the nature of
"useable dynamic range", the relationship of that to various colors and color channels as well as other
related topics.

On March 22 I published an article based on studio tests of resolution, luminance vignetting and color drift
which compare the Leica M11, M10 Monochrom and M10-R using a compact 28 mm lens and a compact
21 mm lens.

On February 28 I published an article based on studio tests of resolution, luminance vignetting and color drift
which compare the Leica M11, M10 Monochrom and M10-R using two apochromatic 35 mm lenses.

On February 9 I published an article based on Black & White studio tests which compare the Leica M11,
M10 Monochrom and M10-R.

On January 18 I published an article based on detailed color studio tests of the Leica M10-R and M11. This is
a 14-page article that looks at color rendering, noise levels at various ISO and DNG settings, color moire and
infrared color drift resistance/color neutrality.

On January 13, 2022 I published my review of the new Leica M11. This is the first in a series of six articles that will
be looking at this camera in detail -- including many studio test comparisons with the Leica M10-R and M10
Monochrom.

On December 7 I published a full review of the Fujifilm GF 50/3.5 R LM WR based on field and studio tests
done using a Fujifilm GFX100S and a GFX50S II.

On November 23 I published a detailed comparative 18 page field and studio review of the Fujifilm GFX100S
and GFX50S II.  

On October 31 I published what is essentially two articles in one. It is a detailed full field and studio review of
the M-Mount Cosina Voigtlander APO-Lanthar 35/2.0 ASPH. Woven into that are new field tests of the Zeiss
ZM 35/2.8 Biogon C as well as side-by-side studio tests of the CV 35 APO, the Zeiss ZM 35/2.8 and the Leica
M APO 35/2.0 Summicron ASPH. This is a 16 page article with more than 110 illustrations. 

On September 28 I published a full review of the Pentax HD DA 40/2.8 Limited based on field and studio tests
done using a Pentax KP.

On September 15 I published a full review of the Nikkor Z 35/1.8 S based on field and studio tests done using the
Nikon Z7.

On August 31 I published a comparison test that looks at the resolution seen from the Leica SL, SL2 & SL2-S when
paired with a Leica M APO 35/2.0 Summicron ASPH. It also looks at the luminance vignetting and color drift
seen from the Leica SL & SL2-S when paired with that same lens.

On August 12 I published a comparison test of resolution, vignetting and color drift for the Leica SL, SL2 & SL2-S
when each was paired with a Leica SL APO 35/2.0 Summicron ASPH.

On July 30 I published a short review (based on field and studio tests) of an older Nikkor 50/1.8 AIS tested
on a Nikon Z7.

On July 15 I published an extensive review of the Fuji XF 18/1.4 based on field work and studio tests
comparing the new lens side by side with the Fuji XF 18/2.0 (on a Fuji X-Pro 3).

On June 29 I published a short review (based on field and studio tests) of an older Nikkor-Q 200/4.0 tested
on a Nikon Z7.

On June 10 I published a full review of the Sigma L Mount 35/2.0 DG DN based on extensive field tests done
using the Leica SL2-S and studio tests (done using a Leica SL2) which were done side by side with a Leica
SL APO 35/2.0 Summicron ASPH. The Sigma 35/2.0 DG DN is also available in Sony E Mount.

On May 21 I published tests of the highlight headroom and estimated native ISO levels of the Leica
Q2 Monochrom, Q2 and M10 Monochrom. This article may be of interest to any digital camera photographer
who is interested in careful exposure and usable dynamic range.

On May 7 I published my field review of the Leica SL2-S tested with the Leica M APO 35/2.0 Summicron ASPH
and Sigma L 35/2.0 DG DN.

On April 29 I published a full review of the Cosina Voigtlander 21/3.5 Color-Skopar ASPH based on field
testing and studio tests done, side by side with the Voigtlander 21/4.0 Color-Skopar, using a Leica M10
Monochrom and M10-R.

On April 12 I published a full review of the Sigma L Mount 24/3.5 DG DN based on extensive field testing and
studio tests done using a Leica SL2. This lens is also available in Sony E Mount.

On March 25 I published a full review of the Pentax HD DA 35/2.8 Macro Limited based on extensive field
testing and studio tests done using a Pentax KP.

On March 17 I published a full review of the Cosina Voigtlander 35/2.0 Ultron ASPH based on extensive field
testing and studio tests done side by side with the Leica M APO 35/2.0 Summicron ASPH and Leica 35/2.0
Summicron ASPH.

On March 4 I published an extensive (21 page) review of the new Leica M APO 35/2.0 Summicron ASPH based
on field testing and full studio tests. For the latter, I tested the new lens side by side with the current Leica M
35/2.0 Summicron ASPH and current M 35/1.4 Summilux ASPH. The core test camera was an Leica M10-R
but I also did resolution tests using the M10 Monochrom and SL2. The field illustrations in this article were
made using the M10-R and an SL2-S.

On February 19 I published my studio tests of the new Leica 50/1.2 Noctilux Aspherical used on the Leica
M10-R, M10M and SL2.

On February 8, 2021 I published an extensive field review of the new Leica 50/1.2 Noctilux Aspherical tested on the
Leica M10-R and SL2. Up next will be full studio tests.

"I wanted to send a groggy note of thanks for your incredible website—examining your reviews has become my late night guilty pleasure. I’d been researching new cameras (unsuccessfully) for months until I found you. Love at first site. Thanks, Sean." Katy Grannan Photographer & Filmmaker "I have to say that I am in awe of your thoughtfulness and intelligence as they're reflected in what you've done. I'm sorry I hadn't come across your work before." - Tod  Papageorge Photographer Former Director Of Graduate Studies In Photography Yale University School Of Art "You are an exceptional writer and photographer but what is most important is that I have never found any bias in anything you have written about. That says a lot in this day and age." - Elliot Stern Photographer Founder and Director Blue Ridge Workshops "In the din of the Internet's noise, Sean Reid is one of a handful of voices worth listening to." - Kent Phelan Photographer "The best and most detailed account (of the Leica M8) I've yet read from a photographer's point of view is on the Reid Reviews site." - Peter Marshall Photography Guide, About.com "Reviewing photographic equipment isn't as easy as it looks. Not only does it take writing skill, and a critical sensibility, but for the review to carry weight and have value its author must have significant experience with similar and previous equipment.  Sean Reid has written equipment reviews for The Luminous Landscape for the past two years, and unfailingly they have been well-researched and comprehensive.  Sean writes with both style and insight, and bases his opinions on his years as a photographer, and not simply from the perspective of a technologist, as is too frequently found on the Net.  His site is free of advertising, and well worth your support. I was particularly taken by his article "On Small Sensor Cameras". It is a unique perspective on how different digital formats are redrawing the face of photography." - Michael Reichmann, Publisher The Luminous Landscape Welcome to ReidReviews.com, an on-line magazine of reviews and essays by photographer and writer Sean Reid.  Each year, there will be at least twelve new articles about the tools and practice of photography added to this site. As of early 2022 there are over 570 articles on the site - most of them very extensive. There are no press releases, news summaries or the like but only reviews, essays and other writing about photography. Every writer naturally brings his or her own experience and perspective to the articles he or she writes.  My writing is heavily influenced by my experience working as a professional photographer for more than thirty-five years.  I'm primarily interested in cameras and lenses as tools for drawing, as I believe that photography really is a branch of drawing.  As the photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson once said in an interview, "My photography is just an instant drawing...I never quit drawing. The camera is a way of drawing." I'm also guided by the photographer Andre Kertesz's observation, "I see the thing, I feel the thing, I make the thing".  So when I review a camera or a lens, I look primarily at how it presents the world to the photographer (via the finder), how it works as a tool in the hands, and how it draws the kind of picture we call a photograph.     There are at least two kinds of review content on this web site.  There are reviews of cameras and lenses that are receiving wide attention from many photographers (and reviewers) as well as reviews of equipment that is of great interest to more specialized groups of photographers.  I have written quite a bit about rangefinder cameras and lenses and that equipment will continue to be an important focus of this site.  I also give a lot of attention to compact cameras that are designed for serious photography. There are also essays and other types of articles to be found here that are not necessarily about equipment per se. I did my first professional photography work in 1984. While I am primarily a "fine art photographer" (a strange and clumsy term that suggests one makes pictures of paintings, sculptures and the like) I also do professional architectural and documentary wedding photography.  So I sometimes look at the performance of cameras and lenses in those contexts.  I obviously can't write about every piece of photographic equipment and so my focus is really on tools that, I think, deserve some attention from serious photographers, professional or amateur.  Sometimes they are fairly new to the market, other times they might be quite old and found only as used equipment.  In either case, if I decide to write about a lens or camera, it's because I believe it's worth reading about. I was a film photographer for two decades (and a B&W exhibition printer for a few years) but I now work entirely with digital capture. As such, almost all of my camera reviews are of digital models. The individual reviews obviously discuss specific cameras and/or lenses but all of the reviews also look at more general aspects of photography that can be relevant no matter what camera and/or lens a photographer uses. My own photography frequently illustrates the articles on Reid Reviews and  the site sometimes features articles about my own photographic projects. I am primarily a black and white photographer (except for a few projects and certain work that I do for clients) and so many of the general (as opposed to technical) illustrations on this site are in BW. My bio: Sean Reid has been a commercial and fine art photographer for more than thirty-five years. He studied photography at Bard College under Stephen Shore and Ben Lifson. In the late 1980s he worked as an exhibition printer for Wendy Ewald and other fine art photographers. In 1989, he was the first American photographer to receive an artist-in-residence grant from the Irish Arts Council in Dublin, Ireland and his work is held in their collection. That same year he gave a guest lecture at Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art in Dublin. In the early 1990s Sean met occasionally with Helen Levitt to discuss and edit pictures he was making in the subways of Budapest and New York City. These were exhibited in New York in conjunction with performances by Jens Nygaard's Jupiter Symphony. Sean's work for clients is often of weddings and architecture. His editorial work has appeared in magazines such as Motorcyclist, Rider and The Robb Report. His personal work is primarily of people in public places -- especially in rural New England where he resides. In 2004, Sean began reviewing cameras and lenses for Luminous Landscape. The following year he began Reid Reviews,  a site that accepts no advertising and is paid for entirely by subscribers. Sean also serves as an unpaid consultant, advisor and sometimes beta tester for several camera and lens manufacturers.   "Quite simply, I think your sections on 'drawing' and and on 'sunny day lenses' are the best writing about photographic lenses that I have read - whether in magazines, journals, books or the various sources online. Few professional writers about photography ever attempt such a full consideration of the range of lens performance characteristics and the different ways in which they are photographically significant. Some discussions in photographic communities online circle around the subject, but don't achieve the focus, rigour and articulacy that you have managed here. Your article is what all writing about photographic lenses ought to be like, yet it's astonishing that next to none of it is. Interesting though Irwin Puts Leica lens book is, it would have been so much more interesting, and so much more appropriate to its subject matter, if it had been written as you have written here...I found the article incredibly useful and interesting. A great help in clarifying and firming up what I have experienced and half-understood about how different lenses work." - Simon Pulman-Jones, England "We all owe you a vote of thanks for such a massive and thorough piece of work. What a concept-- a "lens test" that is really about the pictorial effect of how lenses draw their images. Lines per millimeter and MTF graphs have their place, but your article really gets to the heart of the matter in the way that photographers can relate to instantly." - Peter Klein, USA "This is a really excellent in depth review. I particularly like how you guide the reader not to look for winners, but to use it as a reference for their own needs. I think it may turn out to be a reference classic for working photographers seeking how to judge lenses in real world use.. I for one will be returning to it." - Jim Watts, USA "I read your substantial paper with great interest. I am an amateur enthusiast in photography and optics. Your concept first surprised me, because I have had an impression that few photographers in North America and possibly in Europe like to discuss lens characters as expression tools. Among Japanese photographers, amateurs and professionals alike, there is a long tradition of interest or even addiction in appreciating various image characters of optics. For instance, Shoji Ohtake, one of the most influential photographers in Japan writes a regular column titled Lens Physiognomy for a major camera journal. He says that for each of his representation he selects the right lens from his huge collection.  I was impressed by your pragmatic and well-organised approach in reviewing the lenses. Your observation is keen and relevant to essential aspects of photographic imagery. Your rhetoric is straight, logical, and free from jargon. These are rarely met in review papers on similar tests, which tend to be too technical or too subjective. I should also tell you that I myself have evaluated lenses mostly in B&W for the same reason as in your reviews. Few people have understood me. All in all, it is a marvelous paper. My applause." - Mikiro Mori, Japan "...a very informative, even enlightening, work. It not only provides visual evidence of comparative lenses' performance, it also gets right to the most important factor of lens evaluation - how the image looks to the photographer. Long ago I stopped reading test charts of lenses since none of my clients ever published any. It is always the look of the finished image that counts." - Richard Weisgrau, USA "I hope your tests become a benchmark for other reviewers to pay more attention to the real needs of photographers..." - Phil Fogle, USA "I think that your approach is what photographers have been asking for. Your article was spectacularly successful. I didn't think a review could be any better than yours on wide angles for the R-D1, but you topped it with this one. Thank you for all the hard work that went into it!" - Bill Marshall, USA     Example Articles ReidReviews.com accepts no advertising.  A subscription is currently $49.95 per year. To get a sense of my writing style and approach you may want to read any of the freely accessible articles linked in the Read Without A Subscription section of our article index.  And, of course, that index includes every article on RR so you'll be able to see just what content can be found here. As of late November, 2017 there were over 450 articles on the site, most of them quite extensive. All of them are reviews or essays. Current Articles A list of current articles on Reid Reviews can be found at the site's article index.   Our Policy On Advertising As many readers know, RR has always been an independent site in many senses of that word. We hope that our readers can appreciate the value of this approach. As a society, we are barraged with advertising (on the web, on televison, on radio, on buses, streets, etc.). Reading Reid Reviews is, we hope, an oasis from that. We have never accepted advertising and we never will. We also have never taken sales commission from any business. The Reid Reviews system is simple: we create the content and our readers,  and only our readers, pay for it. The purpose of advertising, ultimately, is to convince us that we need to buy whatever product a manufacturer or other business wants to sell us. Advertising in photography has long perpetuated the myth that owning certain brands and certain products will magically make one a better photographer. But we all know, of course, how false that myth is. For a humorous, but also very perceptive, take on where the line between journalism and advertising seems to be heading, for some publications at least, see this John Oliver video. I highly recommend watching it. Article Viewer Options The new site offers six ways to view Reid Reviews content. Click the image below to read about these. Article Viewers Click on either image below to get a sense of what our main HTML 5 pages look like on a 1920 by 1200 pixel monitor. Our mobile viewers are simplified and more compact. The grey dots you see on each page are clicked to open or close the side panels (an article list panel on the left and a search panel on the right). Site Tips Useful tips on using the Reid Reviews site can be found here. That page is worth reading and will be updated from time to time. Subscribing The one-year subscription rate for the site is $49.95.  Once your username and password have been issued, the subscription amount is not refundable.  The best way to sample my work (to decide if you'd want to be a subscriber) is to read the freely accessible articles linked in the Read Without A Subscription section of our article index.  Pay Pal customers can pay for their subscriptions using their Pay Pal accounts and people who are not Pay Pal customers may make a one-time credit card payment to Reid Reviews via PayPal.  To make a payment by check please follow the instructions listed on the "subscribe" page which is linked below. Reid Reviews' normal business hours are 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM EST Monday through Friday (excluding holidays) and any problems with subscriptions, responses to e-mail, etc. are normally handled during those business hours. I am, however, sometimes away for medical appointments during those hours and appreciate your patience if you need to wait for a response to your e-mail.  If subscribing, please be sure that the full name you provide exactly matches the name on your PayPal account. If they don't match there's a good chance the system will not be able to start your subscription automatically. Browsers: In terms of JPEG rendering quality (tonality) for HTML 5 I find Safari to to be the best Mac browser. That's what I use to proof and read the site. I don't yet know which Windows browser provides the best JPEG rendering. Satellite Internet Connections: Readers viewing the site via a satellite Internet connection (including the ones some airplanes may use) should read important information regarding this on our site tips page.   For content security reasons, the site content may not be copied, downloaded, saved or printed. None of the material published on Reid Reviews may be reproduced in any form without permission from the author. One must agree to this before using the site. This site is best viewed on a calibrated monitor. My own calibrations are based on a gamma of 2.2, for my Macintosh computers, and monitors calibrated to other gamma levels will display these pictures in ways that aren't quite as intended. Please keep that in mind, as you read the articles, if you are calibrated to a gamma other than 2.2. My own editing monitor is an NEC 2490 Spectra View which I calibrate regularly. Reid Reviews is a high-bandwidth site full of high quality JPEGs that, intentionally, are saved with minimal compression so each picture file is quite large (given its dimensions). Preserving the thoroughness and technical picture quality of the reviews requires that the included JPEGs be only lightly compressed.  When you choose your user name and password *please* record them in a safe place for future reference. If you misplace your user name or password please click on the "Log In" link and follow the instructions there. Paypal should automatically confirm your payment so that your subscription begins immediately. Due to the mysteries of PayPal, however, this sometimes does not happen for a small percentage of new subscriptions.  The most common reason for Paypal subscription problems is entering a subscription account name that does not exactly match the name one provides to PayPal.  If you've made a subscription payment but do not yet have access to the site, please contact us to manually confirm your subscription. I am a working photographer, however, so I'm not always at the computer and your patience is appreciated. That said,  I do my best to get accounts activated as quickly as possible once I know that manual activation is needed. When you subscribe, please enter your name exactly as it appears on your PayPal account (if you have one) or credit card (if paying without a Paypal account).  Doing so can help to prevent problems with a subscription starting automatically. Name mismatches are the primary reason new subscriptions do not activate automatically.  Again, if the name you enter for your subscription does not match the name on your PayPal account (or credit card) there's a very good chance that your subscription won't start automatically. If you have questions, please e-mail me. Subscribe Now Log-In (Remember, you can also always log in by clicking the header at the top of this page). Renew or check how long you have left on your subscription Our privacy policy can be found here.