Joined in 2023 
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63 About this deal
DISCLAIMER: All shots of- and with the product in this review have been shot by me. All rights reserved. You may use the images only after explicit permission. The optical-, as well as the build quality of the lenses from both companies are amazing. It’s getting better and better. 7artisans makes incredibly well built lenses, of which I currently own the M-mount 75mm f/1.25 as well as the new X-mount 35mm f/0.95 (review here). Assuming, however, that I won’t be protesting anytime soon, I will be looking at it sitting on my shelf thinking that if you or anyone you know are turning your nose up at this lens because it was made in China, you need to be a better person than I was and stop acting like a pig like I did. 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. It would make more sense to compare the 7artisans lens with the pre-aspherical Summicrons, both in terms of price, and performance.
All this to say that I’m still getting used to it, or to put it another way, sorry if the pictures below are a bit crap. About the lensThis also mean that your colours won’t be as saturated straight off the camera, so you’ll have to add some punch in the colours if that’s your thing.
In use, the 7Artisans 35mm f/1.2 is a odd lens, but to be fair to it I think some of this comes from the fact that it’s also a very small lens – especially for its specification. I think it’s actually slightly smaller than the 25mm 1.8 lens 7Artisans also make. As such, I’ve found it makes for a great compact carry everywhere lens.
Full frame equivalence
Just a couple of months ago Fujifilm announced their own XF50mm f/1 R WR lens (You can read my thorough run-through of that lens here ). A lens which is just about as fantastic as a lens can get within the X-series system. Some people proclaimed that that lens was “the worst lens of 2020”. I laughed a bit when I read that. An opinion seemingly based on sharpness alone, I couldn’t really take that moniker seriously. I wonder if anyone else will. I can’t explain what it is with the 7artisans 35mm f/1.2. On the spec sheet and in technical terms it’s one of the shittiest lenses I’ve ever mounted on my X-series cameras. But in spite of that, I just absolutely love the little thing. It is such a nice creative tool, and my pictures are better because of it. Sometimes I just have to succumb to the fact that there is sooooo much more to photography than the quest for ultimate IQ. Build quality is solid and compared to my Leica and Voigtlander lenses it feels somewhere between both, although closer to Voigtlander. I’ve no M-mount Zeiss lenses to compare, sadly. I also used this lens on my Panasonic S1. I was trying to see if maybe this lens had a Sonnar focus shift or it wasn’t calibrated properly on my rangefinder. I got the same results on the S1 so I don’t think it is a Sonnar focus shift issue. It is just a little bit soft at F2. As a second love, the situation is different. If I was shooting portraits of someone who didn’t want to look like an athlete who spent too much time in the sun, or I was doing some lazy Sunday surf side lifestyle work, I would pull this lens off the shelf and give it a go – even in a commercial situation (2). Did you catch that? That was a not so well hidden hint. You missed it didnt you? I might be keeping this one. More on that in a minute.
It’s a modern lens in that it has been newly designed and built, the materials it uses are modern and the various coatings it employs are based on today’s optical standards – but the optical design is still the optical design. Lens design – Sonnar Cons: Terrible lens cap, Vignetting, Color shifts, Distortion, Very soft wide open when close, Made in China
The cognitive dissonance was overwhelming but despite my best efforts, I could find no usability issues. I have no idea how this lens will hold up over time but from where I sit in June 2020, I have no complaints. When shooting the 7artisans and Mitakon side-by-side the 7artisans exposure seem just a tad darker. It’s so minute that it could also just mean that there is added contrast in the lens. For me to match the exposures one-to-one I had to add 3% extra exposure in post-processing. So it is indeed very minute. Maybe the 7artisans is a T1.0 lens.
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