Review | 7Artisans 55mm f/1.4 Lens

Hi everyone Gino here! Hope you’re all doing well in this time of quarantine.  And for today’s video, we’re going to do another gear review. This time it’s going to be a lens from 7Artisans.

This is my review of the 7Artisans 55mm f/1.4 manual prime lens.

7Artisans is a Chinese based lens manufacturer that offers low-cost alternatives to branded optics. The company produces lenses specifically designed for mirrorless APS-C cameras that are compatible with Sony E-mounts, Fujifilm X-mount, Micro Four-Thirds, and Canon EF-M mounts, as well as for Leica M cameras.

7Artisans offers a wide variety of lens option that ranges from ultra wides like the 7.5mm f/2.8 fisheye, they also have a few standard lenses and telephoto lenses, and a 60mm f/2.8 macro lens.

The copy that I have here is a 55mm f1.4 that has a Sony E lens mount. This focal length on a crop sensor body is an 82.5mm full-frame equivalent in terms of the field of view. So basically the shots that you’ll be getting on this lens will be a bit zoomed in or its going to be tight. That said, it’s actually quite easy to get beautiful shots using this lens. Basta makuha mo lang yung proper framing ng subject mo all good na.

The lens has a max aperture size of f/1.4 and can close down up to f/16. And because of the large aperture size, this lens will let you shoot images with shallow depth of field and creamy bokeh. The large aperture will also let in a lot of light making it perform well in poorly lit situations.

You can get this lens online for around 6,000 PHP more or less. 7Artisans’ official Facebook page also sells this for only $119 in which they sell all 3 versions of the lens mount. be it Fujifilm X mount, Sony E or Canon EF-M.

Here’s the 7Artisans box. Aside from the lens, you’ll also be getting manual, warranty card and a focus ring grip attachment which I’ve lost at hindi ko na mahanap. BTW guys I’m also not sure is this is a retail or just a demo unit. I got this lens directly from 7Artisans. And they gave this to me for free because I won their facebook contest in November last year.

Now let’s take a look at the lens. Medio vintagey yung datingan ng lens nato. The lens barrel is made of metal. It feels pretty solid on the hand and is substantially heavier than the kit lens. Let me remove the plastic lens cap so we could see the front element. And here’s the front element. The lens also has 14 aperture blades so the bokeh balls taken on this lens will be very circular. On the rear end, we can see that the lens has a Sony E mount.

The mount is made of metal, no autofocus connectors, has no weather sealing which is to be expected at this price point. Since the focus ring is declicked, you’ll be able to create smooth focus pull transition on videos using this lens (broll). One thing I don’t like about the design of this lens is that the aperture ring is placed too close to the focus ring. It’s only a few mm apart. I’ve noticed that I sometimes bump the aperture ring unconsciously and accidentally change the value of my aperture when I’m pulling focus. For example, like when you’re too focused on getting the shot, and your dialing in your focus, You’ll often bump the aperture ring by accident if you’re not conscious enough. It’s quite annoying and it adds a bit of difficulty because now I have to be very cautious when I’m just changing focus.

Conclusion

Let’s take a look at the pictures that I’ve taken using this lens. BTW guys these pictures here were all taken before the community quarantine and they’re all taken with the aperture wide open unless stated otherwise.

This is the ultimate budget bokeh lens for your APS-C camera. It’s an 82.5 mm full-frame equivalent that captures sharp beautiful images. The background bokeh is super creamy when the aperture is wide open plus the 14 aperture blade makes perfect circular bokeh balls.

This is prominent on pictures that have tiny lights in the background like Christmas lights or light rays passing through foliage (broll). If you are a beginner and you’re looking for your first manual lens. The 7Artisans 55mm at $119 is a good choice and a good value – just like this list of the best 25 inch monitor.

It’s an amazing portrait lens. The wide aperture size provides shallow depth of field and improves low-light performance.

That said, this lens also has its downsides which aren’t really a deal-breaker considering the pros that you’re getting for the price. Design-wise, I wish the distance between the aperture ring and focus ring would be a bit farther from each other to avoid the user from accidentally changing their respective value. The lens also suffers from chromatic aberration which BTW is common among fast lenses. This can be corrected in post or by closing down the aperture by a little bit. Purple fringing is prominent when shooting wide open in a high-contrast situation.

And that’s it! Hope you like my review of the 7Artisans 55mm f/1.4 lens. Please subscribe for more videos, stay safe and I’ll see you on the next one! peace!