ArtraLab 35mm f1.4 – A Nod to Nostalgic Again

ArtraLab isn’t stopped at just releasing their 24mm f1.7 in Septemeber 2023. Just exacting one month later, they released another new lens in October 2023; the ArtaLab NONIKKOR-MC 35mm F1.4. 

Intro

This is the second lens I have tested from the company. Besides the X-mount, this lens comes with E-mount, Z-mount, and L-mount. A little interesting fact about this lens is that it is a full-frame lens. Does this mean that the optical quality of the APS-C sensor should be better than those lenses designed specifically for APS-C?

Design and Build Quality

If I am correct, this lens comes with two designs. Basically, the difference between the two is the change of the focus ring. The first one has very identical design language to their 24mm f1.7 variant, which seems like just an upsize of it. The second one (the one I am reviewing), has a bit more distinguished design language. The focus ring is more of a “blocky rectangular tile-like” shape design.

Nonetheless, this lens is also heavily inspired by the 80’s Nikon lens design language. The 285-gram lens has the same good metal-built quality. Still has the attractive colorful aperture values that I love and it also comes with the same pleasant clicky aperture ring.

This lens comes with a 52mm filter size, which also shares the same filter size as the ArtraLab 24mm f1.7. Nice.

In case one wonders, the lens is designed in Hong Kong and assembled in China.

Image Quality

I previously shared my positive thoughts on the ArtraLab 24mm f1.7, but unfortunately, my experience was not the same this time around. Firstly, the chromatic aberration coupled with softness was quite disturbing when using the lens at a wide open. It reminded me of the image quality issues that were prevalent 4-5 years ago.

Although sharpness isn’t there at wide open, contrast isn’t that bad. The contrast is fair enough in my opinion. Image quality does improve from f2.8. For some reason, The glowing/blooming effect found in the ArtraLab 24mm f1.7 can be found with this lens but I feel it isn’t as strong as the one with 24mm. I thought it would be nice to share the same characteristic charm.

Anyway, to be fair, the optic of this lens is designed to be the same as the one found in the 80s. So I think this is why it behaves this way.

Vignetting is there but it is not that obvious. The sun star, surprisingly, is nice and the lines are well-defined.

Sunstar is pretty surprisingly good in my opinion. The lines are well-defined but it does come with ghosting as well.

Focusing

The focus ring is smooth and gentle but slightly heavier to rotate with my pinky finger (I managed to do it with the ArtraLab 24mm f1.7).

The rotation is approximately 180° from end to end. Personally, I prefer “long travel distance” as this will allow me to have better precision in manual focusing on the subject. This also greatly improves in nailing the shots at a higher success rate.

Minimum Focus Distance (MFD)

35cm MFD is pretty standard nowadays for this focal length. Nothing spectacular but the soft image is expected at f1.4.

Price Point

The price point is 527 USD. Is it expensive?

Here is a small table for some price sense,

TTArtisan 35mm f1.4 – 73 USD
7artisans Photoelectric 35mm f1.2  – 139 USD
Rokinon 35mm f1.2 – 379 USD
XF35mm f1.4 R – 599 USD
Voigtlander 35mm f/2 macro – 599 USD

For the price point, I can top up a bit more to have the legendary XF35mm f1.4. But if you are someone who really loves the 80’s Nikon design, the price is not important.

Others

Sadly, it does not come with any lens hood like most other manual lenses. I wish ArtraLab was willing to provide a metal lens hood to compliment the lens. Giving the photographer his/her choice. Also, weather resistance is not covered as well.

Speaking of lens breathing, this lens has pretty minimum lens breathing. I believe this benefits for videographers. Oh yes, the lens protrudes a little at the MFD, which is pretty normal for most of the manual lenses I have tested.

Who is this for?

This lens is definitely aimed at photographers who love retrospective lenses, this one should not be missed if you are accepting in the image quality. As for Genres, it can do the usual ones, especially street, and portraits.

Conclusion

I love the nostalgic lens design but not the image quality. Given the price point, I cannot accept to have this optical glass quality. But I am not stopping photographers who loves the 80s nostalgic charm from getting it.

Nonetheless, if I am to decide to have a lens from ArtraLab, the 27mm f1.7 will be my preferred one.

Thank you for reading.

Disclaimer:
1. All the shots taken here are shot by me.
2. Most of the shots are straight out of the camera with some shots edited via In-Camera Raw Processing and Capture One.
3. The opinions are based on my experience. If there is any mistake, please kindly drop me a message and I will gladly make the amendment.
4. I reserve ownership of these images, if you wish to use my images, please notify me.

If you like my works, please follow me on either one of the 2 Instagram accounts:

https://www.instagram.com/alwinkok_

https://www.instagram.com/alwin.portraits

If you have a Facebook account, feel free to join Fujifanboys FB group.

If you like my content and you want to show some support and keep this blog alive, you can buy me a coffee here.