Those values in that chart are absolutely my non-scientific findings from just shooting the lenses over the course of many years (except the 7artisans obviously), so take that for what you want. One thing is for sure though. Value for money with the 7artisans is simply something that cannot be denied. For what you’re getting, this lens is an absolute bargain. It hits a sweet spot between being very creamy, and presenting some imperfections such as semi-harsh edges on the out of focus specular highlights. It also skews the OOF blur near the edges, which gives a little “zoom in” effect to your images. This is all of course when shot wide open (which is what I guess you will probably do when shooting bokehliciousness) when you stop down the 9 curved aperture blades ensure specular highlights that are still semi-round. Also the skewing of the edges will subside. The lens exhibits a little bit of barrel distortion, possibly accenting this swirl a little bit further. But as you can see from the examples these flaws are very minute and you have to really push it to make them appear.

In my tests the minimum focusing distance of the Leica Summcron was 65 cm, while the 7artisans needed around 75 cm. The focus throw on the lens is short, which makes it very ideal for day-to-day use. If you want to finetune your focus during, say, a portrait session, the very fluid motion of the focus ring makes it really easy to do precise focusing even though the throw is shorter than a regular portrait lens where you often get close to 180° of rotation for really fine focus tuning.If you love the idea of photographing models but don’t know where to start you might like my workshops 7Artisans 35mm f1.4 vs Voigtlander 35mm f1.4 The images that I shoot with the 7artisans are different, they’re unique, they’re me. And that is much more important to me than ultimate image quality. I haven’t tried this brand lens yet. I do however have and use the Voightlander 35mm f/1.2 full frame in Leica M mount. I love it! I have the Kamlan 50mm f/1.1 lens in Sony E mount. I also have the 7 Artisans 50mm f/1.1 lens in Leica M mount. This is another fine lens. My least used but fine lens in Sony E mount but in APSC coverage is the 35mm f/.095 lens. With this one you can literally see in the dark.

Here it is juxtaposed to a Leica Summicron 35 ASPH. They’re similar in size but the 7Artisans 35mm is 40g lighter, equating to an almost 20% reduction in weight. I also noticed that the 7artisans lens has a narrower field of view and is probably more like a 40mm focal length.Pros: Fast, Small, Nice sharpness when stopped down, Very nice bokeh, Good chromatic aberrations control The aperture construction is made from no less than 12 blades. They’re rounded and ensure a completely circular lens opening right from f/0.95 all the way down to f/16. It’s not all that common to find 12 blade aperture lenses these days. A very cool choice.

Wide open bokeh can be a little wild, but to be honest, it’s not as barmy as I expected it to be. Depth of field is far from as shallow as the 50mm 1.1 on the Leica, as such the out of focus rendering isn’t quite as overbearing or prominent feeling in equivalent photos. That being said, it’s certainly not the perfectly smooth and creamy bokeh some people seem to strive for. Pardon the missed focus – shot at f/1.2 f/2.8 A few more photosA lot of my cheaper manuel focus aftermarket lenses are quite soft when shot wide open, but not this one. What’s that? Your clothes, computers, phones and cameras say they’re made elsewhere? Fantastic, do yourself a favour and find out where their components and materials are sourced. Chances are that upwards of 50% of the products you own and use every single day have some or all of their source materials and components made or designed in China or made by Chinese businesses elsewhere. I already own the Mitakon 35mm f0.95 mk2, which I absolutely adore. ( You can go read my review from a couple of years ago here.) So I was curious to see whether or not the 7artisans would hold up against one of my all-time favourite 35mm lenses for the Fujifilm X-series system The barrel distortion is noticeable with the 7artisans lens and almost non-existed with the Leica 35mm Summicron – this is one area the Leica has a clear advantage – the first picture is from the 7artisans lens: One final thing to note regarding the build quality is that the this lens will mount onto your X-Pro3 without ruining your lens mount release button like some of the early Viltrox lenses did. The mounting-ring itself is made from a gorgeous shiny graphite colour that again just oozes quality! Specifications

From f1.2 to f2.0, you can see that there’s a very distinctive look to the character of the blur in the top left corner, where the light is shining through the leaves. The bokeh balls are outlined, but mainly towards the centre of the image, such that they almost seem like fish scales.In the comparative sample shot below I tried choosing a scene that would show off bokeh quality as well as focused sharpness. I even moved the flower off centre to show what the mid-frame sharpness is with these two lenses. In this shot you can clearly see the difference in angle of view. The 7artisans has a tighter crop. These were shot on tripod, so there is no difference in distance to subject between the two.