Joined in 2023 
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Workshops/ Photowalks Mailing List– Receive info on future events specific to your city/ country/ interest. This lens has possibly some of the best bokeh that you can get for the X series system. And this is even true when including the 50mm f/1 and the 56mm f/1.2 APD Join the family on Patreon!Instant access: 200+ exclusive posts including 100+ videos, 2 group Zoom calls/month, Friendly private Facebook group.. *Sign up to Patreon for 12 months and get 10% off! All samples have been shot on my Fujifilm X-pro3 cameras. I have shopped this lens at night as well as in daylight, I have tried to shoot both portraiture and more street oriented images. All images have been post processed using Adobe Lightroom software. 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.
When I first held this lens, my lizard brain screamed, “this thing has serious build quality. It is heavy. Holy cow that aperture ring is sweeet. The tabbed focusing ring is as smooth as anything in that closet of yours downstairs. Build quality = good. Hey buddy, so much for that “you get what you pay for” nonsense you have been talking about for 30 years.” I told my lizard brain to shut the hell up and stop getting in the way of my objectivity. Short of the corners, it’s an acceptably sharp lens. Of course, it’s far from the likes of the Voigtlander 50mm f/3.5 which gave me a bit of a benchmark for just how capable these little Sony a5100 cameras can be when it comes to resolving what a lens is capable of. By comparison this lens’s resolution is quite low, especially wide open. 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 photosThe flares are big and bold. You wont find crisp orbs and lines like you do with other vintage lenses such as the Canon 35mm f/2 LTM, Minolta M-Rokkor 40mm f/2, or the modern-vintage Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 MC. Photographs made at f/2 have more contrast than I imagined and just like every lens of this design, it absolutely shines when stopped down to f/4 or f/5.6. I haven’t seen much difference in terms of sharpness from there to smaller apertures but what you get through the entire f/2 to f/16 aperture range is that Sonnar POP. Outside of my joy for the Sonnar formula, to my mind the 7Artisans 35mm f1.2 lens does seem to offer pretty great value. It might not be built to the exacting standards of something out of the stables of the big boys, and it might offer a slightly unusual user experience but neither of these factors are deal breakers at the price point… Ultimately, if you’re looking for a 50mm equivalent fast lens for your aps-c camera, it’s hard to argue with the 7Artisans 35mm f/1.2 ! 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. ZoomConsultations/ Mentor– Not sure what camera or lens to buy or need help with your photography? Act today and book a 1:1 Zoom call!
The focusing ring has the perfect amount of resistance. Not too much, not too little. I would say the closest thing to this focusing ring is actually my Leica Summicron 50mm f2 v5. And having to reference a Leica lens in regards to build quality makes it abundantly clear just how well built this 7artisans 35mm f0.95 lens really is. All samples have been shot on my Fujifilm X-pro3 cameras. I have shot this lens at night as well as in daylight, I have tried to shoot both portraiture and more street oriented images. All images have been post processed using Adobe Lightroom software. As long as it isn’t an environmental portrait and I am shooting wide open to hid any peripheral shmear. If you’re so obsessed with avoiding “Chinese crap”, please do everyone a favour and stop buying products made in part or in full in China, or by Chinese businesses. FYI, this includes but is not limited to: 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’s not the sharpest lens I’ve ever shot, far from it, but it is by far the sharpest fast aperture lens that I’ve ever shot in this segment. And this actually applies when shooting it wide open too!! Yes, it is so satisfyingly sharp at f0.95 that I never even consider stopping it down during day to day use. Colorcast and contrast with the 7artisans 35mm f/1.2 is actually quite balanced. In this digital day and age where the auto white balance and film simulations will alter any optical traits of any given lens into something completely different, it can be quite hard to notice when lenses differ in this regard. What I tend to do is measure how much extra “oomph” I have to add in post processing compared to the modern Fujinon lenses. With the 7artisans a raw file will tend to be less contrasty compared to a modern Fujinon, but also very well balanced in colorcast. This makes the lens very well suited for B&W shooting, since you retain much more detail in darker areas when the lens has less contrast. You can alway punch in contrast in post, but its damn hard to pull contrast from the image if the optics added that at the time of recording. My lens was calibrated correctly out of the box. I did not need to mess around with the focusing screwdriver it came with. I’ve also noticed some distortion – this seems to be most noticeable when closer focusing, though to be honest I perhaps havent shot it exhaustively enough to confirm that… One way or another, barrel distortion is definitely a thing here! You can see this in the image of Stanley above (look at the top of the radiator), and in the wall to the far right here: Stopping down to f/2 the sharpens up quite a lot and becomes a lot more contrasty. As is to be expected. Optimal sharpness is achieved at f/5.6-f/8, but who on earth buys a 98USD 50mm f/1.2 lens to shoot it at f/8?….. yeah…didn’t hink so either!
Stopping down to anything below f/2 makes the 7artisans a very decent performer. But it will never become super super sharp. So let’s just put the whole sharpness thing to rest, shall we? This lens is about other things. So let me write a little bit about the TTartisan 50mm f/1.2 on it own terms, listing its strengths and weaknesses. Then I’ll leave the comparisons out of the equation for now. Build and feel Leica is a Rip Off! Period! I’ve been working with them since 1999 when there were still real photographers out there and leica products were reachable. Until these Mid-Life Crisis Millionaire Wannabes caused prices of leica products into the stratosphere. The TTartisan 50mm f/1.2 is an instant recommendation for anyone who likes to use the 50mm focal length on an APSC camera. Speaking of the aperture, this lens has 10 aperture blades. They’re double curved, looking a little like the Summilux 50mm f/1.4 aperture blades. It makes for nice looking bokeh even stopped down, but around f/2.8-5.6 the out of focus areas will sometimes have a bit of uneven edges on the specular highlights.
7Artisans 35mm f/2 on Agfa Vista 400
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. 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. Shot wide open at f/1.2. Uncropped frame. Cornersharpness is decent even at long ranges. (open image in new tab for full size) That being said, the build quality of this lens is fantastic! I was quite surprised when I pulled the lens out of the box for the first time and felt its substantial (but not cumbersome) heft. The lens weighs in at 205g which is 5g heavier than the Voigtlander 35mm f1.4 M-Mount lens by comparison. The lens housing is made from anodized aluminum with the internal focusing helical being made of brass (this is where a majority of the weight is coming from). I guess when people say “This will never be as good as my Summicron,” they need to be specific as to which Summicron they’re talking about.
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