Irix Lenses Continue to Make Their Mark in the US
These Lenses are Finally Available Here and You Want One
Photographers around the world have been looking for a serious alternative to DSLR camera lenses with prices that will singe your credit card around the edges. Until recently, the accepted solution was to sacrifice some quality. We just had to live with the fact that paying less for a lens meant less-than-optimum performance.
Irix lenses have been changing minds on that for some time in Europe. Now that they're available in the USA, they're turning heads and making believers of American photographers, too.
As of right now, you can even get your hands directly on an Irix lens at two of New York City's top photography equipment retailers as well as through their online stores. Both B&H and Adorama are now stocking Irix. The 15mm f/2.4 Blackstone and Firefly are both available now and you can pre-order the 11mm f/4 Blackstone and Firefly, too!
If you're in New York City and want to brave the cold, you can walk into either store and check out the lens quality for yourself before you buy. Here are the physical store locations:
B&H: 420 9th Avenue, New York, NY
Adorama: 42 W 18th Street New York, NY
(We've already provided links to their websites above for those of you who can't get to the store. Just click on the name of the dealership.)
If you haven't heard about these lenses yet, here's what sets them apart:
What's the Irix difference?
If you haven't heard about these lenses yet, here's what sets them apart: TH Swiss developed Irix lenses to deliver the highest quality at a reasonable price. Instead of compromising on lens design, materials, coatings, and build quality, they opted to reduce manufacturing costs by eliminating the expensive autofocus motors and associated mechanisms.
While these lenses are manual focusing, they fully support the electronic aperture control and metering functions of your DSLR camera. They also provide EXIF data. You can still use your autoexposure settings and you'll still have all the exposure information you're used to seeing when you work with your images. The only difference is that you'll need to focus, BUT...
Irix makes manual focusing easy!
These lenses come equipped with a unique hyperfocal scale and a detent that provides a positive "click-stop" at the infinity setting. They're also equipped with a more traditional depth of field scale. For a full explanation of the advantages these features provide, see this article.
We're sure that you won't mind saving up to 75% of the price of competitive lenses!
With these additions, we're betting you won't miss the autofocus mechanism at all, not to mention the errors they can cause. We're sure that you won't mind saving up to 3/4 the price of competitive lenses!
What are you waiting for?
Irix is here to stay, friends and their lenses are exactly what many of us have been waiting for. Pro and amateur alike will appreciate the unmatched combination of quality and value. Visit Adorama or B&H today to get yours. Still have questions? Email Irix USA for more information.