Lens Reviews
Meike 35mm f1.7 Review & Sample Photos
The Meike 35mm f1.7 is a compact manual focus APS-C lens designed for photographers who want affordable image quality in as small of a package as possible. Although the f1.7 aperture isn’t as fast as some of the other lenses available, the smaller aperture allows the lens to produce a more corrected image than some of the faster lenses without the loss of character.
Fujifilm 23mm f2 Review & Sample Photos
The Fujinon 23mm f2 is a small light weight lens with a weather sealed construction and an incredibly fast, but silent internal focusing system. The f2 aperture with 9 rounded aperture blades produces very smooth bokeh when wide open and the 10 element design with 2 aspherical elements corrects for most issues with chromatic aberrations, distortion and vignetting while still maintaining a very natural and unique rendering.
It’s suited for photographers who need a fast autofocusing compact lens that still capable of producing outstanding image quality.
Canon RF 24-105mm f4L Review & Sample Photos
The Canon 24-105mm f4 is true master of versatility with an incredibly useful 24mm focal length on the wide end, and some really nice reach with 105mm on the telephoto end.
Walking around, shooting landscape photography, travel photography, HDR or events, you can use this lens in just about any situation. Build quality is really nice, color contrast, sharpness is very good and there are no serious flaws other than some minor chromatic aberrations in the corners and some distortion. It’s the perfect high end kit lens.
Kipon IBELUX 40mm f0.85 Mark II Review & Sample Photos
Without a doubt the Kipon IBELUX 40mm f0.85 is one of the most interesting lenses for APS-C shooters to date. This is currently the brightest lens on the market as well as the fastest. For APS-C shooters that miss the depth of field and low light performance of full frame cameras, you’ll find all that here. A 35mm equivalency would give you something like a 60mm at f1.2.
Handevision 50mm f2.4 Review & Sample Photos
The Handevision IBERIT 50mm f2.4 is a full frame mirrorless lens designed to function as a light weight and compact prime. The IBERIT is constructed with an aluminum barrel, a copper core and stainless steel components. Although the lens isn’t that fast, the 6 elements in 6 groups produces a very beautiful image with a ton of pop and a very classic style of rendering with a lot of great character.
Handevision 35mm f2.4 Review & Sample Photos
The Handevision IBERIT 35mm f2.4 is a light weight compact full frame 35mm f2.4 mirrorless lens. It’s constructed of an aluminum body with a brass and stainless steel core for a low weight design. While the Handevision 35mm f2.4 is not a very fast lens, its characteristics are very balanced with a classic style of rendering and an extremely versatile 35mm focal length.
Rokinon 50mm f1.2 Review & Sample Photos
The Rokinon 50mm f1.2 (also sold as a Samyang 50mm f1.2), is an ultra fast, ultra bright 50mm APS-C mirrorless lens with a field of view equivalent to 75mm on Sony and Fujifilm cameras and 80mm on the Canon mirrorless cameras. It features excellent coatings for flare and ghost reduction and two aspherical elements for excellent corner sharpness and chromatic aberration control.
This is the best all around manual 50mm lens I’ve tested in the native Fujifilm mount so far.
7Artisans 55mm f1.4 Review & Sample Photos
The 7Artisans 55mm f1.4 is a fast, compact APS-C lens that is excellent for all types of shooting conditions, especially available light. It features 6 elements in five groups that give nice color and contrast, great flare resistance and low distortion. With a 14 bladed rounded aperture, bokeh is smooth across all focal ranges.
Overall, the 7Artisans 55mm f1.4 is an incredible value and a fantastic starter portrait lens or compact prime.
7Artisans 35mm f1.2 Review & Sample Photos
The 7Artisans 35mm f1.2 is a compact APS-C lens designed for mirrorless cameras. It’s built with an all metal housing and a 9-blade rounded aperture with only 6 elements. I wouldn’t consider this a pancake but it’s very short.
Performance according to specs isn’t great, but the lens has some very beautiful character, especially wide open. So far, this is my favorite 7Artisans lens and it’s a lot of fun to use!
Kamlan 50mm f1.1 vs 7Artisans 55mm f1.4 | Lens Comparison
With cheap manual lenses from China and Korea growing in popularity, many people are wonder if they are worth it, or which to buy.
In this test, I compare the 7Artisans 55mm f1.4 to the KamLan 50mm f1.1. I also threw in a more expensive lens, the Rokinon 50mm f1.2, and the even more expensive Fujinon 56mm f1.2 as a control. Since Fujifilm is legend when it comes to lens design, it will be interesting to see how they compare.