Camera and Lens Reviews — review

What do you get when an optician, an engineer and a business man meet at a bar? The birth of one of the oldest and greatest lens manufacturers in the world. Way back in 1886 Taylor, Taylor & Hobson first opened up shop and began creating some of the worlds best optics. They designed some great optical formulas and created beautiful cinema lenses that helped make Hollywood what it is today. So much so that in 2013 the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said they "helped define the look of motion pictures over the last century" and gave them...

Back in 1964 Leica noticed that rangefinders weren't the hot ticket they once were and an emerging market of SLR bodies coming out of Japan were slowly taking over their turf. So what was a hoity-toity German camera company to do? Well, after trying for 12 years with the awkwardly designed Leicaflex line they finally cried uncle and partnered up with Minolta to create the R series in 1976. And by 'partners' I mean they copied most of Minolta's electronics and chassis design, set up shop in Portugal, and called it the Leica R3. And this went on for decades! Right up until...