singapore – Page 4

Ricoh GR III with TTArtisan 28mm optical viewfinder

Ricoh GR3 came out in March 2019, which marked its 5th year in the market. Today it is still going strong and I was told that the camera has been put out-of-stock from the moment it was put up onto the store shelf. What exactly is the charm behind this 5-year-old camera? Why is it still going strong? How can it win my heart from my lovely Fujifilm X100V?

Intro

I once had the Ricoh GX100. I love the compact camera and practically good focal length. I also love the idea of using AAA batteries as an alternative solution if I run out of batteries and a removable electronic viewfinder. How amazing and innovative it was in 2007.

*Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f2.8 . 1/80″ . ISO 640*

Left: *Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f2.8 . 1/80″ . ISO 1250*
Right: *Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f2.8 . 1/80″ . ISO 2500*

Before I proceed, I would like to thank the good people from Audio & Photo Distributor for sending me this GR3 for my review. I appreciate their kindness and support. Having said that, they have zero influence on my review.

Design, Build Quality & Handling…

The first thing before I hold the GR3, I admire how compact, sleek, and well-built the camera is. The metal-constructed camera gives a very premium experience when held on hand.

*Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f2.8 . 1/80″ . ISO* 2500

Left: *Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f2.8 . 1/100″ . ISO 200*
Right: *Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f2.8 . 1/80″ . ISO 4000*

There is a textured grip that helps to improve the handling of the camera, which does help my big hand to grip slightly better somehow. At 257 grams, it is a lightweight camera. Basically, it is not a burden to carry around.

Sensor and Processor

*Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f5.6 . 1/200″ . ISO 100*

Left: *Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f2.8 . 1/80″ . ISO 2000*
Right: *Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f2.8 . 1/80″ . ISO 2000*

The 24.2 megapixels together with the GR Engine 6 is what the core of this GR3 is. Is 24 megapixels sufficient? My answer is yes. Today, I am using Fuji X-T5, a 40-megapixel camera, and I am underutilized it. That’s because I hardly print and do cropping. Even my beloved Fuji X-T3 is more than sufficient megapixels for my printing needs. Hence, 24 megapixels is more than enough. This is my opinion.

Typically, I shoot Raw with Jpeg and the processor handles well with minimum lag. But it does hold up a little if I shoot in burst mode. For clarity, I am using Sandisk Extreme Pro.

Oh yes, the camera is capable of shooting at a maximum ISO of 102400.

Image Quality

The image quality is awesome. The 18mm (28mm in full frame equivalent) is decently sharp and has good contrast at wide-open. It also preserved a very good amount of details. This is something I am surprised about. Vignetting is pretty minimal and I cannot identify the chromatic aberration, it seems to be close to none.

*Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f2.8 . 1/1600″ . ISO 100*

Left: *Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f2.8 . 1/80″ . ISO 2000*
Right: *Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f2.8 . 1/80″ . ISO 3200*

The transition from focused subject to blurred background/foreground is okay. It is not the smoothest but not the most harsh that I have seen. No complaint here.

Performance

On an average day, the focusing speed is fine. Not blazing fast or unexpectedly slow. Just fine for a compact camera.

*Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f5.6 . 1/250″ . ISO 200*

Left: *Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f2.8 . 1/80″ . ISO 250*
*Right: Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f2.8 . 1/80″ . ISO 2000*

But when it comes to low-light situations, focusing tends to be a little challenging. I get to see more push-pull focusing before it locks onto the subject successfully. if I remember correctly, I have encountered missed focus twice in my testing period.

There are some focus options like zone focus, pinpoint focus, snap focus mode, and Full Press Snap for the photographers to explore and find one that suits them the best.

IBIS

GR3 comes with Sensor-shift shake reduction which is capable of up to 4 stops. How does it perform in my real-world environment? The slowest shutter speed that I can achieve is 1/13 seconds. Anything slower cannot counter my shaky hand.

*Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f8 . 1/320″ . ISO 200*

Left: *Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f2.8 . 1/80″ . ISO 500*
Right: *Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f2.8 . 1/80″ . ISO 640*

Battery Life

According to CIPA standards, it is tested to be approximately 200 shots. During my test, I have an average of 275 shots. For my usage behavior*, it seems to be not too far off from the CIPA standard.

Left: *Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f2.8 . 1/80″ . ISO 1000*
Right: *Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f2.8 . 1/80″ . ISO 1250*

*In most situations, I will power on the camera to shoot and power off when not in use.

Wishlist

All GR series have the standard 28mm focal length with an f2.8 and I hope one day this will change to have a brighter aperture value like f2. Just a hope.

*Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f2.8 . 1/250″ . ISO 200*

Left: *Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f2.8 . 1/80″ . ISO 3200*
*Right: Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f2.8 . 1/80″ . ISO 1250*

Secondly, I think it might be too much to ask for an EVF, so I hope to have a flip screen like the X100V. A flip screen is helpful when I can shoot at waist level and it is a little challenging to do waist-level shots without one.

I think it is also more forgivable to compromise if the camera is slightly thicker but has a flip screen that flushes well with the camera body.

Price Point

966.95 USD price tag stated on the B&H website and I cannot say it is affordable but still cheaper than the X100V (yes, V, not VI). Of course, it is not an apple-to-apple comparison. For direct competition, the Fujifilm X70 was priced at 699.95 USD at launch but it was discontinued.

*Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f2.8 . 1/80″ . ISO 1250*

Others

Like all modern cameras, the GR3 also comes with a USB-C port for charging too. What I like about this camera is that it has a lock button that prevents the photographer from accidentally changing the mode dial.

*Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f2.8 . 1/1250″ . ISO 200*

Left: *Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f2.8 . 1/160″ . ISO 200*
Right: *Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f2.8 . 1/400″ . ISO 200*

Unlike most cameras, it does come with a small 2GB internal storage which is capable to store an average of 31 shots consist of RAW plus Jpeg.

Lastly, it comes with built-in Neutral Density filter which is capable of providing two stops of exposures. It is very accessible and it comes in handy if one needs one.

Who is this for?

It’s a pocketable camera and it is suitable to be an “Every Day Camera” for any photographer. From casual photographers to professionals, it is a tool ready to capture the moments right from the pocket.

*Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f2.8 . 1/80″ . ISO 1600*

Left: *Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f2.8 . 1/80″ . ISO 320*
Right: *Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f2.8 . 1/80″ . ISO 1600*

Conclusion

In these few weeks of shooting with it, I love my experience with this camera. Although I do have some reservations about this camera like the autofocus system and f2.8 lens, I am okay with accepting it because it is so pocketable and it is already 5 years old. I still love my X100V because it still gives me a strong nostalgic vibe. Both cameras target different groups of photographers.

*Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f2.8 . 1/800″ . ISO 100*

Left: *Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f2.8 . 1/320″ . ISO 200*
Right: *Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f2.8 . 1/800″ . ISO 100*

This experience allows me to understand why Fujifilm X70 photographers love their X70 a little bit more. It may not have the best autofocus system but it gives a very satisfying result. What it aims to be is a pocketable camera, making it easier for anyone to use and it did them right. Also, it is a very low-profile camera that is suitable for everyone to use for day-to-day causal street shoots, family gatherings, and many others.

*Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f5.6 . 1/320″ . ISO 200*

Left: *Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f2.8 . 1/50″ . ISO 3200*
Right: *Ricoh GR III . 18mm f2.8 @ f2.8 . 1/80″ . ISO 2000*

Although the battery comes in a small capacity, I have had no issue using it for the past weeks. If battery is an issue for you, get one more extra. The battery is so small that I am sure it can be kept in your bag somewhere.

While no one knows when the successor of the GR3 will arrive, Ricoh has released a new updated GR3 and GR3x, the GR3 HDF and GR3x HDF. Anyway, I am looking forward to seeing good improvement in every aspect.

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.
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.

Reviews

Meike 55mm f1.4 – Checking All the Boxes?

May 27, 2024October 21, 2024 Alwin Kok

I mentioned before that I do not have very good experience with Meike’s first autofocus lens. When I received this lens, I set myself a low expectation of this lens.

Sometimes, I wonder whether the manufacturers communicate with one another or they coincidentally have the same thoughts at the same time. This is the third portrait lens that are available to photographers in just the first half of 2024. Anyway, I feel there is a sudden strong competition with this focal length in this budget segment.

Intro

Meike 55mm f1.4 was announced in March 2024 and this is Meike’s second autofocus lens. I have reviewed their first X-Mount autofocus lens, the Meike 85mm f1.8, and I have my reservation with it after some testing. The announcement between the two lenses was about 1 year apart.

*Fuji X-T5 . Meike 55mm f1.4 @ 55mm . f5.6 . 1/950″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . Meike 55mm f1.4 @ 55mm . f1.4 . 1/10,50″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Meike 55mm f1.4 @ 55mm . f1.8 . 1/7500″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Before I proceed further, I appreciate the good people from Meike for sending this lens for my review. I thank them for their continuous support.

Design and Build Quality

From the first impression, the lens design seems to take inspiration from the Canon L lens (the red line ring). Secondly, the plastic build quality feels so much better than the Meike 85mm f1.8 when I hold it in my hand. The lens comes in a matte finish, so it is fingerprint-magnet-free. It’s a huge improvement in my opinion.

*Fuji X-T5 . Meike 55mm f1.4 @ 55mm . f2.8 . 1/5000″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . Meike 55mm f1.4 @ 55mm . f2 . 1/3000″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Meike 55mm f1.4 @ 55mm . f1.4 . 1/1900″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

This 52mm filter-size lens is compact and lightweight. Only 286 grams. Oh yes, it comes with an aperture ring! Hooray! However, the ring is a little stiff compared to other lenses I have tested. At least it is clicky but the experience is not what I expected.

On the bright side, it comes with a lens hood too. As for the lens cap, it is the normal pinch-to-release lens cap but better than the ArtraLab 24mm and 35mm.

Image Quality

With my low expectations, Meike gives me a good surprise. The image quality at f1.4 is pretty good. Decently sharp and has good contrast. Although corner-to-corner sharpness is within passable to a fair standard, in general, it is fine if you do not pixel-peep.

*Fuji X-T5 . Meike 55mm f1.4 @ 55mm . f1.4 . 1/90″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . Meike 55mm f1.4 @ 55mm . f1.4 . 1/1900″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Meike 55mm f1.4 @ 55mm . f1.4 . 1/1900″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

I also think the optic glass of this lens resolves quite well with the new X-Trans CMOS 5 HR 40-megapixels sensor. Another good surprise for me.

*Fuji X-T5 . Meike 55mm f1.4 @ 55mm . f4 . 1/1600″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . Meike 55mm f1.4 @ 55mm . f5.6 . 1/15″ . ISO 500 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Meike 55mm f1.4 @ 55mm . f1.4 . 1/80″ . ISO 160 . Nostalgic Negative*

Chromatic aberration is decently well-controlled but you still can spot it if you pixel-peep. Vignetting can be observed too but not as heavy as I have expected.

When it comes to sun effect, I think it is just fair. The lines are not clearly defined or sharp. Also, shooting directly facing the sun does come with some flares as well. So please be mindful if you dislike it.

Focusing

It comes with a Stepper Motor (STM) and the focusing speed is fast. The focusing response is pretty good from MFD to infinity. But it is still not as fast as the new generation lenses from Fujifilm like XF23mm f1.4 WR.

*Fuji X-T5 . Meike 55mm f1.4 @ 55mm . f1.4 . 1/680″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . Meike 55mm f1.4 @ 55mm . f1.4 . 1/110″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Meike 55mm f1.4 @ 55mm . f1.4 . 1/170″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

However, I do notice that the lens is unable to focus on the subject, even in bright daylight. It seems to have this strange phenomenon, luckily, it happens rarely. I hope they will address the issue here.

One interesting thing to note here, it comes with an AF/MF switch. If you want to switch to manual mode to shoot, you have to switch the mode via the AF/MF switch on the lens and not on the focus mode selector on your camera. I hope they can give the photographer an option to choose where to change the focus mode freely. I hope they can implement it in future firmware updates. Nevertheless, it is not a big deal.

Minimum Focus Distance (MFD)

By now, we all know there is no perfect lens in the market. The lens should have compromise(s) and it is also depending on our acceptance. Well, for Meike 55mm f1.4, the shortcoming is the MFD.

*Fuji X-T5 . Meike 55mm f1.4 @ 55mm . f1.4 . 1/3800″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

At 61cm, it is not quite on par with today’s portrait lenses but not the worse. Here are some of the MFD of the portrait lenses I have tested before:

XF56mm f1.2 WR – 50cm

XF50mm f2 – 39cm

Yongnuo 50mm f1.8 – 45cm

Sigma 56mm f1.4 – 50cm

TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 – 50cm

*Fuji X-T5 . Meike 55mm f1.4 @ 55mm . f2 . 1/80″ . ISO 320 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . Meike 55mm f1.4 @ 55mm . f1.4 . 1/1250″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Meike 55mm f1.4 @ 55mm . f1.4 . 1/80″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Why did I say not the worse? Because we have lenses that are even furthe, the classic XF56mm f1.2 and XF50mm f1. Both at 70cm. So this is something the Meike 55mm is slightly better.

Price Point

This lens comes at a very competitive price point of 199.99 USD. To name a few, TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 is priced at 158 USD and Viltrox 56mm f1.7 is priced at 169 USD in their own respective online stores.

With just 30-40 USD more, I can get aperture ring and a faster lens. So do you think it is a sweet deal?

*Fuji X-T5 . Meike 55mm f1.4 @ 55mm . f1.4 . 1/6400″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . Meike 55mm f1.4 @ 55mm . f8 . 1/340″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Meike 55mm f1.4 @ 55mm . f1.4 . 1/15″ . ISO 500 . Nostalgic Negative*

Others

One good improvement that Meike do it right is having a few USB-C port for firmware upgrades. This is so much friendlier than the 85mm. Now I can have fewer cable management issues.

Also, I think this is also within expectation. This lens does not come with any weather sealing or weather resistance.

Who is this for?

Although it is 1mm shorter than the typical 56mm, this 82.5mm (in full frame equivalent) lens is still a portrait lens. It does not make any difference from the other portrait lens.

*Fuji X-T5 . Meike 55mm f1.4 @ 55mm . f1.4 . 1/80″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . Meike 55mm f1.4 @ 55mm . f1.4 . 1/80″ . ISO 1250 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Meike 55mm f1.4 @ 55mm . f1.4 . 1/70″ . ISO 3200 . Nostalgic Negative*

With this price tag, I can recommend it to any photographers new to photography or exploring photography genres like portraits. But this lens can be used for street, documentary, and product shoots.

Conclusion

The market is flooded with many third-party portrait lenses, but what makes this lens stand out is the f1.4 fast lens, aperture ring, and price point. Even though the MFD is the only drawback I have with the lens, Meike has done well with the optic quality and the focusing speed.

*Fuji X-T5 . Meike 55mm f1.4 @ 55mm . f1.4 . 1/250″ . ISO 320 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . Meike 55mm f1.4 @ 55mm . f1.4 . 1/250″ . ISO 400 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Meike 55mm f1.4 @ 55mm . f1.4 . 1/250″ . ISO 400 . Nostalgic Negative*

I feel that Meike makes a good move by penetrating the market differently and gives even more choices to the photographers in the budget segment.

*Fuji X-T5 . Meike 55mm f1.4 @ 55mm . f1.4 . 1/2500″ . ISO 800 . Nostalgic Negative*

All in all, I do love this lens a lot and I am excited to know that Meike is planning to release 16mm, 23mm, and 33mm. All are f1.4. (At least this is the understanding so far). I am looking forward to their arrival.

So does this lens check all the boxes? In my opinion, not all but it checks on the right boxes.

Thank you for reading.

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.

Event

X-T50 and GFX100SII Launch Event – Singapore

May 25, 2024May 25, 2024 Alwin Kok

It has been almost a year since the previous event I attended. This X-T50 and GFX100S II launch event is unique, there is not one but four sessions were held on the same day. I managed to attend the last one. The event was held at Hvala @ Chijmes this time round. This is a nice place to catch up with friends as I have visited it several times. Do check it out if you are nearby.

There are some bites available for the guests.

Tea baristas are preparing drinks for the guests.

Leung from Fujifilm Singapore is giving a speech.

Product specialist, Jere, is sharing the new products.

Lee with the iconic Stamford Raffles pose.

Mindy took her turn to share her take on the X-T50 surroundings with her family and her.

Vance, the new X-Photographer, shares his experience with the GFX100S II.

X-T50, XF16-50mm f2.8-4.8, GFX100S II and GF500mm f5.6

The big boy filming for reels and tik tok.

Thank you for reading.

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.

Reviews

Sirui 33mm f1.2 – The First Attempt (Part I)

May 23, 2024May 28, 2024 Alwin Kok

Sirui made a big move by launching the trinity prime lenses with 3 different color options for photographers, black, silver, and white. And what an even smarter move is to launch them via a crowdfunding platform. They call them the Sniper series.

Intro

Sirui has been in the photography industry since 2001. That’s a long established brand for over 2 decades. I came to know about this brand when I have searching for a tripod, what about you?

Although Sirui has been here for quite a long time, when it comes to photography lenses, they are still at the “young”/”early” stage. If I remember correctly, they launched their first lens, the 50mm f1.8 1.33x anamorphic lens, in 2019. So how does the Sirui 33mm actually perform?

Design and Build Quality

The plastic-constructed lens is considerably well-built. The black carbon fiber design is pretty nice looking too. At 400 grams, I can feel the weight when I hold it in my hands but lucky it is not bulky, otherwise, it will not be a pleasant experience.

As you can tell, this 58mm filter size lens does not come with any aperture ring. However, those who love to use the focus ring will be very happy because it has a very big surface area for the focus ring.

*Fuji X-T5 . Sirui 33mm f1.2 @ 33mm . f1.2. 1/12000″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . Sirui 33mm f1.2 @ 33mm . f1.2. 1/6000″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Sirui 33mm f1.2 @ 33mm . f1.2 . 1/17000″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Also, unlike a typical manual ring, this one comes with a 360° rotation angle. As this is an electronic focus ring, I believe this benefits videographer.

The 50mm (in full frame equivalent) comes with a metal rear mount.

Image Quality

Somehow, I am a little disappointed with the optic. At f1.2, the image quality is soft, lacking some contrast and sharpness. Maybe it is the characteristic softness that some photographers love, but this is not my preference. Nonetheless, this experience is similar to those I tested with the typically manual focus lenses but slightly better.

For low-light and indoor situations, it is slightly better with shots taken at wide-open. But you still can see that softness if you pixel-peeped.

*Fuji X-T5 . Sirui 33mm f1.2 @ 33mm . f4. 1/2500″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . Sirui 33mm f1.2 @ 33mm . f1.2. 1/9000″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Sirui 33mm f1.2 @ 33mm . f5.6 . 1/640″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

In my opinion, f2 is the sweet spot. The image quality definitely gets better from f2 onwards. Sharpness and contrast are great and better photos usability.

Chromatic aberration is pretty obvious at wide open but on the bright side, the vignetting is mild.

*Fuji X-T5 . Sirui 33mm f1.2 @ 33mm . f2. 1/100″ . ISO 400 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . Sirui 33mm f1.2 @ 33mm . f1.2. 1/125″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Sirui 33mm f1.2 @ 33mm . f1.2 . 1/1800″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

I seldom share about background/foreground blur as the beauty of it is very subjective and personal. The same for bokeh. However, I feel that the blur rendering is somehow not as smooth as I expected from a f1.2. It seems to be forcefully rendered or at least not to my pleasing.

Focusing

*Fuji X-T5 . Sirui 33mm f1.2 @ 33mm . f2. 1/150″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . Sirui 33mm f1.2 @ 33mm . f1.2. 1/11000″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Sirui 33mm f1.2 @ 33mm . f2.8 . 1/1800″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

This lens comes with a Stepper Motor (STM), which is silent and pretty fast when there is sufficient contrast. However, be it during the day or under low-light situations, I sometimes experience some focus-pulling, and it takes a few times to get it focused. Also, shooting at wide-open sometimes does have focus pulling. Sometimes it will eventually focus-locked successfully, sometimes it will fail. I think this can be resolved with future firmware updates.

*Fuji X-T5 . Sirui 33mm f1.2 @ 33mm . f1.2. 1/80″ . ISO 160 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . Sirui 33mm f1.2 @ 33mm . f1.2. 1/80″ . ISO 640 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Sirui 33mm f1.2 @ 33mm . f1.2 . 1/80″ . ISO 1000 . Nostalgic Negative*

The focusing speed between MFD and infinity is okay, and you can feel the difference when you compare it with the XF33mm f1.4.

Minimum Focus Distance (MFD)

At 40cm, this lens does not have the best MFD in my opinion. It is even worse than the Rokinon 35mm f1.2 (@38cm). For your information, XF35mm f1.4 is holding the record of 28cm. Luckily, the image quality doesn’t get any worse at wide-open at its MFD.

*Fuji X-T5 . Sirui 33mm f1.2 @ 33mm . f1.2. 1/80″ . ISO 250 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . Sirui 33mm f1.2 @ 33mm . f1.2. 1/80″ . ISO 1250 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Sirui 33mm f1.2 @ 33mm . f1.2 . 1/110″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Price Point

It is selling at 456.50 USD on the Sirui website. But if you are getting from B&H, it is 331.55 USD. If you are looking at 3 lens kit, it will be 1304.88 USD and 949.05 USD respectively.

Others

Like most manufacturers, the lens comes with a USB-C port for future firmware upgrades. At least it is not the micro USB found in Meike 85mm f1.8.

Another good point to note is that it comes with a lens hood. The bad point is that the lens hood gives some sort of unpleasant sound that seems like it will break when I try to mount it front-facing. Keeping the lens hood is fine. Strange phenomenal.

*Fuji X-T5 . Sirui 33mm f1.2 @ 33mm . f2.8. 1/350″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . Sirui 33mm f1.2 @ 33mm . f1.2. 1/6400″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Sirui 33mm f1.2 @ 33mm . f2 . 1/30″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Also, the lens cap is thin, making it probably the worst experience I have had with any lenses tested this far. The pinch-to-release area is too narrow for big fingers to pinch and remove the cap without any some level of struggling.

Lastly, this lens does not come with any weather resistance or sealing. I do encounter some drizzling during my shoot, luckily it still works fine.

Who is this for?

This 50mm (in full frame equivalent) lens is a nice focal length that generally covers a lot of genres. Street and portraits are easily some of them.

If you have not owned this focal length before or want to give this focal length a try but do not wish to spend more money, then you may consider getting this lens. If you want a good Trinity lens setup to start your photography journey, this sniper series might be a good choice to kickstart with.

*Fuji X-T5 . Sirui 33mm f1.2 @ 33mm . f1.2. 1/3800″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . Sirui 33mm f1.2 @ 33mm . f1.2. 1/1600″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Sirui 33mm f1.2 @ 33mm . f1.2 . 1/80″ . ISO 160 . Nostalgic Negative*

Conclusion

This Sniper series is Sirui’s first attempt in the APS-C world and this series really gets a lot of attention and successfully gets the lenses funded in the crowdfunding platform.

*Fuji X-T5 . Sirui 33mm f1.2 @ 33mm . f2. 1/900″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

In my opinion, this lens is considerably affordable as it comes with a fast but not-so-favorable f1.2 and pretty decent focusing performance. As I mentioned earlier, I think treating this lens as an f2 lens instead of an f1.2 lens will make me feel better. Then f1.2 is a “bonus” when I really need that big aperture, then it is there for me to use it.

*Fuji X-T5 . Sirui 33mm f1.2 @ 33mm . f8. 30″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative* . Crop: 65:24

There is room for improvement with this series, and I hope to see better image quality at wide-open, comes with an aperture ring and probably some form of weather protection.

And yes, this is the first of the 3 Sirui lenses I have reviewed. 2 more to go.

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.

Reviews

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

May 7, 2024May 6, 2024 Alwin Kok

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.

*Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 35mm f1.4 @ 35mm . f1.4. 1/4700″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

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.

*Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 35mm f1.4 @ 35mm . f1.4. 1/2700″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Left: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 35mm f1.4 @ 35mm . f1.4. 1/80″ . ISO 320 . Nostalgic Negative*
Right: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 35mm f1.4 @ 35mm . f1.4. 1/80″ . ISO 640 . Nostalgic Negative*

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.

*Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 35mm f1.4 @ 35mm . f1.4. 1/80″ . ISO 500 . Nostalgic Negative*

Left: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 35mm f1.4 @ 35mm . f1.4. 1/3200″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
Right: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 35mm f1.4 @ 35mm . f1.4. 1/1900″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

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.

*Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 35mm f1.4 @ 35mm . f1.4. 1/30″ . ISO 1000 . Nostalgic Negative*

Left: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 35mm f1.4 @ 35mm . f1.4. 1/1100″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
Right: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 35mm f1.4 @ 35mm . f1.4. 1/950″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

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.

Left: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 35mm f1.4 @ 35mm . f16. 1/220″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
Right: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 35mm f1.4 @ 35mm . f16. 1/150″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

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).

*Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 35mm f1.4 @ 35mm . f1.4. 1/80″ . ISO 3200 . Nostalgic Negative*

Left: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 35mm f1.4 @ 35mm . f1.4. 1/4800″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
Right: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 35mm f1.4 @ 35mm . f1.4. 1/1100″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

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.

*Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 35mm f1.4 @ 35mm . f1.4. 1/5400″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Left: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 35mm f1.4 @ 35mm . f2. 1/2500″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
Right: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 35mm f1.4 @ 35mm . f1.4. 1/1250″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

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

*Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 35mm f1.4 @ 35mm . f1.4. 1/8000″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Left: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 35mm f1.4 @ 35mm . f1.4. 1/7500″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
Right: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 35mm f1.4 @ 35mm . f1.4. 1/10500″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

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.

Left: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 35mm f1.4 @ 35mm . f5.6. 1/640″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
Right: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 35mm f1.4 @ 35mm . f4. 1/680″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

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.

Left: Artralab 35mm f1.4 at MFD
Right: Artlab 35mm f1.4 at infinity

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.

*Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 35mm f1.4 @ 35mm . f1.4. 1/1400″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Left: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 35mm f1.4 @ 35mm . f1.4. 1/210″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
Right: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 35mm f1.4 @ 35mm . f2. 1/110″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

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.

*Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 35mm f1.4 @ 35mm . f1.4. 1/2500″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Left: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 35mm f1.4 @ 35mm . f1.4. 1/450″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
Right: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 35mm f1.4 @ 35mm . f2. 1/2400″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

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

Left: ArtraLab 35mm f1.4
Right: ArtraLab 24mm f1.7

Thank you for reading.

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.

Reviews

ArtraLab 24mm f1.7 – A Nod to Nostalgic

April 26, 2024 Alwin Kok

Artralab Nonikkor-MC 24MM F1.7 is probably one of the best-looking retro-designed lenses in recent years and pairs very well with the Fujifilm range of retro-designed cameras. It was announced sometime in September 2023 and gained much traction from manual lens lovers and enthusiasts. So how does it live up to?

Intro

I was only aware of this company when they teased the internet about this lens last year. I had never heard about the company before, so I googled a bit about them. Here is some high-level information about the company: ArtraLab (Art Random Adventure), a Hong Kong-based company, was founded in 2018 by a group of passionate photographers, architects, fashion designers, and product designers.

*Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 27mm f1.7 @ 24mm . f4. 1/5800″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Left: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 27mm f1.7 @ 24mm . f1.7. 1/10,000″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
Right: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 27mm f1.7 @ 24mm . f1.7. 1/3800″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Oh yes, this lens comes with an E-mount and Z-mount.

Design and Build Quality

At first look, I am attracted by the colorful print of the aperture and manual focus rings. The lens design takes a lot of inspiration from the 1980s Nikon lens designs. I love it.

*Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 27mm f1.7 @ 24mm . f1.7. 1/1600″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Left: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 27mm f1.7 @ 24mm . f1.7. 1/1800″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
Right: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 27mm f1.7 @ 24mm . f2.8. 1/550″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

When I hold the 210-gram lens, I can feel that the aluminum-constructed lens is very well-built and I did not feel any loose parts. Oh yes, it is made in China if someone ever wonders. I love the colorful aperture values on the aperture ring. Rotating the aperture ring is one of my most pleasing experiences because I love that satisfying clicky feedback. The focus is another pleasure to use (more on this later).

This compact lens comes with a small filter size of 52mm and comes with a typical plastic pinch-to-unlock lens cap.

Image Quality

The image quality coming out from this 36mm (in full frame equivalent) is pretty decent at wide-open but has a kind of characteristic softness. This softness is not totally soft and not to the extent that I am not acceptable. In fact, I like the charm of this softness.

*Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 27mm f1.7 @ 24mm . f2. 1/3500″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Left: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 27mm f1.7 @ 24mm . f1.7. 1/80″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
Right: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 27mm f1.7 @ 24mm . f1.7. 1/80″ . ISO 2500 . Nostalgic Negative*

Oh yes, it is not clinically sharp if you pixel-peep but it has good contrast and it is still acceptable for my day-to-day use.

Also, I get to see the glowing/blooming effect (very similar to the CineBloom filter from Moment) at wide-open but this effect will wear off from f2.8 onwards.

*Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 27mm f1.7 @ 24mm . f1.7. 1/10,500″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Left: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 27mm f1.7 @ 24mm . f1.7. 1/240″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
Right: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 27mm f1.7 @ 24mm . f1.7. 1/80″ . ISO 3200 . Nostalgic Negative*

Chromatic aberration is surprisingly in decent control as I did not observe any during my shoot. As for vignetting, it does have them at wide-open but not as heavy as I have expected.

Sun star is pretty pleasing in my opinion. The lines are fine but not clinically sharp. Also, ghosting can be observed as well.

Left: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 27mm f1.7 @ 24mm . f16. 1/210″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
Right: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 27mm f1.7 @ 24mm . f16. 1/105″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Focusing

The sensitivity of this manual focus ring is probably one of my favorite ones to use. It rotates effortlessly like a breeze and I can even use my pinky finger to glide clockwise and anti-clockwise without any problem.

Left: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 27mm f1.7 @ 24mm . f1.7. 1/38,000″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
Right: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 27mm f1.7 @ 24mm . f1.7. 1/80″ . ISO 1250 . Nostalgic Negative*

The rotation is approximately 180° from Minimum Focus Distance to Infinity. While it may seem “far” or “long travel distance”, in my opinion, this gives a very good amount of travel distance to have better precision on the focusing.

Minimum Focus Distance (MFD)

The MFD 23cm is nothing to shout about as it has the same MFD as most 23mm focal length lenses have.

*Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 27mm f1.7 @ 24mm . f1.7. 1/80″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Left: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 27mm f1.7 @ 24mm . f1.7. 1/160″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
Right: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 27mm f1.7 @ 24mm . f1.7. 1/500″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

But having said that, unlike some manual lenses that suffer from image quality breakdown, the image quality is well-maintained at wide-open at MFD. At least, the sharpness isn’t any softer.

Price Point

At 386 USD, it is very close to the autofocus lens price points. For example Viltrox 23mm f1.4 at 299 USD, Sirui 23mm f1.2 at 330 USD and spend a bit more for XF23mm f2 at 449 USD. As for manual lenses, we have TTArtisan 23mm f1.4 is 99 USD, and 7Artisan 24mm f1.4 is 109 USD.

Left: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 27mm f1.7 @ 24mm . f2. 1/100″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
Right: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 27mm f1.7 @ 24mm . f1.7. 1/80″ . ISO 640 . Nostalgic Negative*

After sharing the price point, if you really like this lens, I guess the price is not a concern here.

Others

Like most manual lenses, it does not come with weather sealing or resistance, and the lens barrel will protrude a little when you are at the MFD. Also, it does not come with a lens hood which I feel is a little disappointing, given the premium that the photographer has spent.

*Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 27mm f1.7 @ 24mm . f1.7. 1/240″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Left: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 27mm f1.7 @ 24mm . f1.7. 1/4400″ . ISO 125 . Acros*
Right: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 27mm f1.7 @ 24mm . f1.7. 1/80″ . ISO 160. Nostalgic Negative*

This lens does have very minimal lens breathing, so videographers should be less worried if they want to use this lens for their videography work.

Lastly, do take note of the change of white balance when you change the apertures. This is very common for most of the manual lenses that I have tested thus far.

Left: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 27mm f1.7 @ 24mm . f4. 1/5400″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
right: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 27mm f1.7 @ 24mm . f5.6. 1/2000″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Who is this for?

Unless you love the retrospective design of this lens, I won’t encourage anyone to get this lens at this price or at least I feel that paying a little more to get an autofocus lens is more worth it.

Left: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 27mm f1.7 @ 24mm . f1.7. 1/120″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
Right: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 27mm f1.7 @ 24mm . f1.7. 1/80″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Having said that, there are quite several genres that can be covered with this focal length such as landscape/cityscape, street, environmental portrait, documentary, editorial, etc. It is a very versatile focal length

Conclusion

As my title suggests, this lens is all about being nostalgic and I am sure it gives a lot of reliving memories for all the 80s Nikon photographers. In my opinion, the company did well in launching this lens and I am glad that they did it. This gives 1 more option for the photographers to choose from.

*Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 27mm f1.7 @ 24mm . f1.7. 1/80″ . ISO 320 . Nostalgic Negative*

Left: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 27mm f1.7 @ 24mm . f1.7. 1/80″ . ISO 1000 . Nostalgic Negative*
Right: *Fuji X-T5 . ArtraLab 27mm f1.7 @ 24mm . f1.7. 1/3200″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Also, as this lens is very close to 23mm, it is a very versatile focal length for me. For image quality, it has that charming blooming at wide-open. Rotating the manual ring is really a pleasure for me. Smooth and giving me a sense of satisfaction.

I like everything about the lens except for the price. Maybe someone finds it worth the value but I shall wait for a better deal.

Thank you for reading.

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.

Reviews

TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 – A Worthy Budget Portrait Lens

April 19, 2024April 14, 2024 Alwin Kok

The TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 is my most anticipated lens since it is in the land of rumors. Why? Because TTArtisan is good at keeping very competitive pricing for their autofocus lenses without sacrificing much on the image quality. And this lens could be one that can give XF50mm f2 a run for its money.

Intro

Both TTArtisan 27mm f2.8 and TTArtisan 35mm f1.8 are announced in 2022 and 2023 respectively. And today in 2024, it is TTArtisan’s first autofocus lens announcement and the third autofocus lens in the company’s portfolio.

I have been testing this gem for close to a month now and it is probably one of the longest times I have spent time testing.

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 @ 56mm . f1.8. 1/3200″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 @ 56mm . f1.8 . 1/8000″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

To be honest, it has been a long time since I am so excited about testing a lens.

Before I proceed further, I would like to thank TTArtisan for sending this lens to me. I appreciate and am thankful for their support. Having said that, the review is truly my own opinion and TTArtisan has no influence on it.

Design and Build Quality

First off, the TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 shares a lot of similarities with the TTArtisan 35mm f1.8. It has the same design language, the same good metal built quality, and the same filter size (@ 52mm) too.

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 @ 56mm . f1.8. 1/1800″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 @ 56mm . f1.8 . 1/200″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Since it’s the same design language, this also means that it only comes with a manual focus ring and lacks one of my favorite elements of a lens: an aperture ring. The manual focus ring comes with a smooth rotating experience and doesn’t feel any small “friction” for precision control.

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 @ 56mm . 5.6. 1/80″ . ISO 800 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 @ 56mm . f1.8 . 1/80″ . ISO 2500 . Nostalgic Negative*

It weighs 237 grams, 258 grams with it’s square hood and 275 grams with it’s squarehood and docking lens cap. Yes, it does come with a square hood! Sweet gesture!

Image Quality

I feel that the image quality set a higher benchmark for what we usually expect for this price point (later on this). At wide-open, it is not the sharpest, a little soft (depending on the photographer’s preference), and does not have the best contrast, but it is very usable. Or at least, it exceeds my expectations in this department.

Vignetting is there but not as heavy as I thought it could be compared with the TTArtisan 35mm f1.8. Chromatic aberration is barely noticeable in my eyes. That’s to say, you still can see it if you pixel peep. Nevertheless, I think the engineers in the TTArtisan do well in engineering this.

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 @ 56mm . f1.8. 1/80″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 @ 56mm . f1.8 . 1/80″ . ISO 200 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Fuji X-T5 . TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 @ 56mm . f2. 1/80″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

As for sun star effect, it is okay but it does come with some characteristic flares. Please be mindful if you do not like the characteristics of lens flares.

At f1.8, I do not expect to have a great separation between the subject with background/foreground but decent enough to blur the unwanted subject. Bokeh balls are fine as I do not see any onion or cat eye like bokeh. I seldom talk about bokeh but this one seems to be very pleasing to my eyes so I thought I should share it with every reader.

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 @ 56mm . f1.8. 1/80″ . ISO 160 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 @ 56mm . f1.8 . 1/80″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Fuji X-T5 . TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 @ 56mm . f16. 1/120″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Focusing

It comes with a Stepper Motor (STM) which performs pretty snappy in most situations. I do experience some back-focusing or off-focus shots. But that happens very rarely and it might happen due to my error.

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 @ 56mm . f1.8. 1/400″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 @ 56mm . f1.8 . 1/80″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Fuji X-T5 . TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 @ 56mm . f1.8. 1/80″ . ISO 500 . Nostalgic Negative*

The focusing speed between MFD and infinity is considerably fast under good lightning conditions but it isn’t really slow or struggling under low light conditions either. I could say it is not disappointing.

When comes to lens breathing, it is pretty far. While it does not affect me but I think it might likely impacts videographers.

Minimum Focus Distance (MFD)

The MFD is 50cm and I think it isn’t as close as other mid-range lenses like the XF50mm f2 (at 39cm) and Yongnuo 50mm f1.8 (at 45cm). But the MFD is the same as the XF56mm f1.2 WR.

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 @ 56mm . f1.8. 1/30″ . ISO 1000 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 @ 56mm . f1.8 . 1/80″ . ISO 1000 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Fuji X-T5 . TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 @ 56mm . f2.8. 1/320″ . ISO 320 . Nostalgic Negative*

Price Point

TTArtisan is famous for its affordability and strikes a perfect balance between price and image quality. This 56mm f1.8 is the same too. At 158 USD, this is probably one of the cheapest autofocus portrait lens one can ask for.

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 @ 56mm . f1.8. 1/320″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 @ 56mm . f2 . 1/80″ . ISO 800 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Fuji X-T5 . TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 @ 56mm . f1.8. 1/55″ . ISO 3200 . Nostalgic Negative*

Others

Similar to TTArtisan’s other autofocus lenses, this 56mm comes with a dock for future firmware updates and it does function as a rear lens cap as well.

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 @ 56mm . f1.8. 1/100″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 @ 56mm . f4 . 1/300″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Fuji X-T5 . TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 @ 56mm . f1.8. 1/90″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Also, this lens does not come with any form of weather and dust resistance.

Who is this for?

TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 is obviously targeting a certain genre of photographers and that is portrait photographers. To be more specific, beginners or photographers who are unsure if they want to shoot portraits with this focal length but do not want to break their piggy banks. And it can be a good gift to your photography friends.

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 @ 56mm . f5.6. 1/800″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 @ 56mm . f1.8 . 1/1100″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Fuji X-T5 . TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 @ 56mm . f1.8. 1/80″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

But I would like to extend this lens to other street photographers, journalists, documentary and travel photographers.

If you are using the XF50mm f2, I will suggest keeping what you have and continuing to use it. A small difference in the aperture value does not make a huge difference in the shooting experience and the end results.

Conclusion

TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 is by far one of my favorite budget autofocus lenses I have tested thus far. It is lightweight, has decent image quality and acceptable autofocus speed. Plus with this attractive price point, I can’t find any reason not to own it.

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 @ 56mm . f1.8. 1/3000″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 @ 56mm . f1.8 . 1/850″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Fuji X-T5 . TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 @ 56mm . f1.8. 1/3200″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

If you are fine without the aperture ring and lack of weather resistance, I highly recommend owning this lens first if you are interested in looking for a portrait lens.

TTArtisan has released two f1.8 lenses to complement each other. I wonder if will there be a “23mm f1.8” or similar focal length lens to complete the Trinity lenses in the affordable price range?

Oh yes. According to TTArtisan, this lens will be made available from 19 April 2024, 6pm (UTC/GMT +8).

TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 and TTArtisan 35mm f1.8

Thank you for reading.

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.

Discussion

The Not So Serious Comparision: Sigma 23mm f1.4 VS XF23mm f1.4 WR

March 6, 2024March 6, 2024 Alwin Kok

This is the 3rd of the abovementioned series. To be honest, I actually took the shots with both Sigma 23mm and XF23mm in October last year but it slipped my mind to share it. Recently, someone on the FB page asked about the comparison between these 2 lenses. From there, then I recall I had done that and started to dig around my hard drive.

Left: Sigma 23mm f1.4 Right: XF23mm f1.4 WR

Of course, like the past 2 posts, this comparison is not scientific, nothing technical or chart board to take reference and compare. All the photos are taken in my house.

The comparison is simple. Shoot at the respective lens’s Minimum Focus Distance (MFD), approximately 50cm and 100cm. Apertures range from wide-open, f2.8, and f4.

For a note, the MFD for the lenses are as of below:
Sigma 23mm – 25cm
XF23mm – 20cm

Remember do not take this comparison seriously.

Shooting at Minimum Focus Distance

Left: Sigma 23mm f1.4 @ f1.4
Right: XF23mm f1.4 WR @ f1.4

Left: Sigma 23mm f1.4 @ f2.8
Right: XF23mm f1.4 WR @ f2.8

Left: Sigma 23mm f1.4 @ f4
Right: XF23mm f1.4 WR @ f4

Shooting at approximately 50cm.

Shooting at approximately 100cm.

Conclusion

At MFD, XF23mm performs better in terms of sharpness at wide open and closer MFD. On the other hand, Sigma 23mm is a little bit softer at wide open but gets better from f2.8 and f4.

For 50cm and 100cm, the Sigma 23mm is a little bit softer at wide open as compared to the XF23mm. Otherwise, all other aperture values for Sigma 23mm are pretty on par with the XF23mm. If you don’t compare both directly, the Sigma 23mm is good.

In terms of value for money, I think Sigma is the better choice. You can save money on other lenses or accessories. If you are looking for the best of the best at this point, then the latest XF23mm will be your only choice in the market. What do you think?

Thank you for reading.

Disclaimer:
1. All the shots taken here are shot by me.
2. All shots are straight out of the camera.
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.

blob:https://alwinkok.wordpress.com/c7d326ae-6c2d-4d9c-9be5-a42bd3927f72

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.

Reviews

Meike 12mm f2 – Balance & Compact

January 5, 2024January 10, 2024 Alwin Kok

One fine day, Meike contacted me to ask if I was interested in reviewing this lens. Of course I do and I told them I was going on a trip in a week. And 2 days before my flight, it arrived at my doorstep.

Intro

I have reviewed the Meike 10mm f2 just less than 6 months ago. My verdict on that lens is that it has very usable wide-open image quality but the size and weight are the 2 drawbacks I have. Meike 12mm f2 addressed the 2 drawbacks but does it have the same usable wide-open image quality?

Let’s step back a little. This lens was announced in June 2022 and that makes this lens a year and a half years old now. Is this a real concern? Probably. Because this lens was made available before the release of the X-H2 and X-T5. The most common thing about these 2 cameras is that they house the X-Trans CMOS sensor 5 HR 40 megapixels sensor. (I am not worried too much about the X-Trans 4 sensor 26 megapixels sensor and I am pretty sure they just work fine with this lens.) So another question to me is, can the lens able to resolve the new sensor?

*Fuji X-T5 . Meike 12mm f2 @ 12mm . f2. 1/4400″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Left: *Fuji X-T5 . Meike 12mm f2 @ 12mm . f8. 1/80″ . ISO 1250 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Meike 12mm f2 @ 12mm . f4. 1/80″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Just for info, it comes with an E-mount and M43 mount too.

Before I begin, thank you Meike for contacting me and sending this lens over. I appreciate their tremendous support in making this review a reality.

Design and Build Quality

The Meike 12mm f2 has the same metal built quality as other Meike manual lenses I have tested thus far. But what strikes me is how compact the lens is and it is great to hold in hands. Although it is only 227 grams, I can feel the well-balanced weight of the lens, especially when I mounted it on the X-T5.

*Fuji X-T5 . Meike 12mm f2 @ 12mm . f2. 1/3500″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Left: *Fuji X-T5 . Meike 12mm f2 @ 12mm . f2. 1/1500″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Meike 12mm f2 @ 12mm . f2. 1/680″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

This lens shares many similarities with most of its siblings except for the Meike 10mm f2. The aperture ring is de-click which can be easily rotated by accident. Rotating the aperture ring is smooth with very little or gentle friction against your rotation direction. I think this might benefit the videographers.

*Fuji X-T5 . Meike 12mm f2 @ 12mm . f16. 1/80″ . ISO 250 . Nostalgic Negative*

Left: *Fuji X-T5 . Meike 12mm f2 @ 12mm . f16. 1/80″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Meike 12mm f2 @ 12mm . f16. 1/80 . ISO 160 . Nostalgic Negative*

Both the aperture ring and the manual focus ring are smooth and also give different levels of friction feedback.

It comes with a 62mm filter thread. Pretty acceptable filter size for its size.

Image Quality

This lens gives an 18mm (in full frame equivalent) field of view which is indeed considerably wide. I could say the image quality at wide-open is similar to the Meike 10mm f2, and the results are very usable. Contrast and sharpness are good at the center and not so much at the corners.

*Fuji X-T5 . Meike 12mm f2 @ 12mm . f2. 1/80″ . ISO 160 . Nostalgic Negative*

Left: *Fuji X-T5 . Meike 12mm f2 @ 12mm . f2. 1/5″ . ISO 400 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Meike 12mm f2 @ 12mm . f2. 1/170″ . ISO 400 . Nostalgic Negative*

The chromatic aberration (CA) is considerably well-controlled but I do observe some mild CA if I blow up the shot. As for vignetting, it is broadly there. In my opinion, it seems to be heavier than the Meike 10mm f2 but it can get better when you step down the aperture value to f5.6.

The sun-star result is pretty sharp, but not that tad sharp. Please be aware that the flare can be introduced if you are trying to get the sun-star shots and direct facing any light-emitting object in your framing.

*Fuji X-T5 . Meike 12mm f2 @ 12mm . f2. 1/20″ . ISO 400 . Nostalgic Negative*

Left: *Fuji X-T5 . Meike 12mm f2 @ 12mm . f2. 1/20″ . ISO 400 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Meike 12mm f2 @ 12mm . f2. 1/80″ . ISO 640 . Nostalgic Negative*

Barrel distortion seems to be pretty well-controlled. At least I did not notice any curve around the edge of the corners but typical ultrawide distortion is there. So try not to put any human at the corners when you are shooting at your waist level.

Focusing

The manual focus ring has a different level of rotation friction as compared to the aperture ring. It gives a more dampening feedback, and I like it. As for the focus throw, it depends on the photographers’ preferences, some prefer to have a shorter focus throw while some do otherwise.

Left: *Fuji X-T5 . Meike 12mm f2 @ 12mm . f2. 1/3000″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Meike 12mm f2 @ 12mm . f2.8. 1/340″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Well, the focus throw of this lens is approximately 110°. It takes me a while to rotate from one end to the other. Depending on how we see it, this might benefit the videographers and help the photographers nail the shot precisely.

Minimum Focus Distance (MFD)

This lens is capable of shooting as close as 20cm, which is pretty far for an ultrawide lens. You will get quite a lot of details apart from your subject. Nevertheless, it is a lens meant to be for landscape or other similar genres.

*Fuji X-T5 . Meike 12mm f2 @ 12mm . f2. 1/1400″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negativ*e

But the image quality seems not to be at its best. At wide-open, you will get to see not-so-good sharp results at the corners. Vignetting seems to be slightly stronger as well.

Price Point

It was priced at 189 USD and now it is running a discount to 159.99 USD on Meike’s website. This is quite a good price point. For a note: Meike 10mm f2 is selling at 349.99 USD. There are not much of manual ultrawide lenses in the market. TTArtisan 17mm f1.4 is the only one that I am aware of (at this point of writing) and it is selling at 118 USD. For about a 40 USD difference, I think it is worth getting the Meike 12mm simply because it gives a 5mm wider field of view.

*Fuji X-T5 . Meike 12mm f2 @ 12mm . f2. 1/1700″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Left: *Fuji X-T5 . Meike 12mm f2 @ 12mm . f2. 1/80″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Meike 12mm f2 @ 12mm . f2. 1/280″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Others

Surprisingly, this lens comes with metal petal lens hood. This definitely gives a good gesture as not many manual lens manufacturers provides one. The look of the lens hood seems to be pretty fragile but when you hold it, you will know it is actually quite well made.

Like most manual lenses, the actual “infinity” is not at the end of the manual focus ring. It is somewhere where the “infinity” symbol is. One of the readers also informed me that it can be manually calibrated. I did not try it but I think it is possible.

*Fuji X-T5 . Meike 12mm f2 @ 12mm . f2. 1/4000″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negativ*e

Left: *Fuji X-T5 . Meike 12mm f2 @ 12mm . f2. 1/80″ . ISO 500 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Meike 12mm f2 @ 12mm . f2. 1/2500″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Also, this lens has this phenomenon that color temperature changes between cool to warm) according to the aperture value set. If you are shooting in raw, not too much of a concern but if you are shooting purely in jpeg, maybe this is something you should take note of.

Who is this for?

This lens literally says it is meant for landscape, cityscape, astrography, and architecture genres but this is not limited to any other genres that I do not mention over here. The creativity with this lens is yours.

I can’t say much for professional photographers but I also not saying this lens is not suitable for professional photographers to commission their works. But this lens is very suitable for budget-oriented photographers looking for a decent alternative to Fujifilm’s ultrawide lens offering.

*Fuji X-T5 . Meike 12mm f2 @ 12mm . f5.6. 1/300″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Left: *Fuji X-T5 . Meike 12mm f2 @ 12mm . f2. 1/30″ . ISO 400 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Meike 12mm f2 @ 12mm . f5.6. 1/80″ . ISO 320 . Nostalgic Negative*

One small detail here. You might notice that the f2 is pretty much the farthest away from the other aperture values. I am not sure why is that so. Maybe it can benefit us somehow? If you know, please share it with me.

Conclusion

There is only one manufacturer ever made such a fast and compact lens beside Meike and that is Rokinon 12mm f2 and it has been in the market for years. I believe some manufacturers will catch up some days if this focal length and aperture value makes a hit.

*Fuji X-T5 . Meike 12mm f2 @ 12mm . f4. 1/640″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Left: *Fuji X-T5 . Meike 12mm f2 @ 12mm . f2. 1/5000″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
Right: *Fuji X-T5 . Meike 12mm f2 @ 12mm . f2. 1/2500″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Although not the best, this lens optic does resolve fairly with the new X-Trans 5 HR sensor. At least I did not observe extreme softness in the image quality like I do in other lenses. Sharpness and contrast are there when I nail the shot totally.

This lens is very good for beginners or photographers who hardly use such an ultrawide lens. Firstly, it is not expensive to own one. Secondly, it is compact and easily kept in the bag or inside the dry cabinet.

*Fuji X-T5 . Meike 12mm f2 @ 12mm . f5.6. 1/75″ . ISO 3200 . Nostalgic Negative*

In my opinion, it is very clear-cut for me to choose this lens over the Meike 10mm f2. Both have very comparable great image quality but the 12mm f2 wins on the size and the cost. (I know I have repeated many times but this lens is this worthy.)

I do not mind sacrificing a 2mm (3mm full frame equivalent) lesser field of view and size does matter, especially when bringing it on a holiday trip overseas. I would rather bring a smaller alternative lens to lighten my shoulder (yes, 227 grams versus 550 grams and every gram counts in order not to injure my shoulder).

Thank you for reading.

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.

Reviews

Brightin Star 35mm f0.95 – A Lens to Shine

December 6, 2023January 12, 2024 Alwin Kok

When comes to 35mm f0.95, we are not lacking of any choices in the market. To name a few: Mitakon ZhongYi 35mm f0.95, TTArtisan 35mm f0.95, 7artisans 35m f0.5 and Meike 35mm f0.95. And then, here comes the latest 35mm f0.95 competitor from Brightin Star. This was only announced in September 2023. Can it stand out from the rest?

Intro

Brigthin Star is a name that may not be familiar to everyone. In case someone ever wonders, the name “Brightin Star” is a direct translation of their Chinese brand name, 星曜. It is a strange and catchy English name but good enough to get my attention. I also tried to understand more about this company. Unfortunately, there is very little information about them. So based on my limited capability, this company started off in 2019 (at least from the news announcement they had made) and they did make several manual lenses (both full frame and APS-C) for various mounts like M-mount, E-mount, and M43 mount, etc.

Design and Build Quality

It has been a long time since I mentioned how much I like the design, the color, and the handling of the lens. Yes, this lens design pretty much resembles Leica lens design. Not a bad thing and pretty much other manufacturers did something similar as well. Nevertheless, the lens design from Brightin Star is aesthetically pleasing.

*Fuji X-T5 . Brightin Star 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f0.95. 1/10,000″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . Brightin Star 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f0.95. 1/7000″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Brightin 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f0.95 . 1/7500″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

The 50mm (in full frame equivalent) lens is about 370 grams. You can feel how dense the lens is and how well the built quality is when you hold it in your hands. You can imagine how many glasses are there in this lens. As expected, this lens is metal-constructed.

*Fuji X-T5 . Brightin Star 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f4. 1/1900″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . Brightin Star 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f8. 1/180″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Brightin 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f2 . 1/80″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

It comes with a 52mm filter-size thread. It’s a very good welcome for not burning a deep pocket for filter fans. One interesting detail here, the rear mount comes with black/grey coated. It gives a very premium feel to the overall viewing experience.

The aperture ring is great. It gives you very good clicky feedback when you rotate it. Ergonomic wise, you have no issue with changing the aperture as it has ample amount of space especially for those who have big fingers.

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . Brightin Star 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f0.95. 1/80″ . ISO 200 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Brightin 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f8 . 1/220″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

As for the lens cap, it is a capped-on metal lens cap. Unlike other capped-on lens caps, it has a kind of cushion and you can feel it is there. It gives me a kind of satisfaction whenever I remove and put on the lens cap.

Image Quality

The image quality is phenomenal. It is probably the best f0.95 lens I have tested thus far. The result is not perfect but better than some of the counterparts I have tested. Typically, shooting at f0.95 will present you glowing and soft effect, but this lens does not behave this way. I know some photographers prefer glowing and soft effects, but I personally prefer this.

*Fuji X-T5 . Brightin Star 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f0.95. 1/22,000″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . Brightin Star 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f0.95. 1/1400″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Brightin 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f0.95 . 1/8000″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

If you blow up the shot, you are still able to see the softness of the result. When comes to contrast and sharpness, it is also slightly better.

I have low expectations when comes to chromatic aberration and vignetting at wide open. Well, chromatic aberration seems to be present mildly in my tested shots but not that obvious. As for vignetting, it is present and considerably heavy as expected. Of course, the overall image quality improved from f2 onwards. And it looks the best at f2.8.

*Fuji X-T5 . Brightin Star 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f16. 1/50″ . ISO 1250 . Nostalgic Negative*

The fall-off between the focused subject and the foreground/background is a pleasure to view at. Not forgetting that shooting at f0.95, the focused subject is very pop out from the others and it should be expected to have this result.

As for the sun-star result, seems to be the same as the rest of the 35mm f0.95 lens. They are okay but not a tad sharp. Do bear in mind that flares will be introduced as well but I quite like how the flares are created.

*Fuji X-T5 . Brightin Star 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f16. 1/450″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Minimum Focus Distance (MFD)

37cm MFD is fine. Not the shortest or as close to the one from TTArtisan (@ 35cm), but not the worst too. Nevertheless, it does not lose out too much for MFD per se.

*Fuji X-T5 . Brightin Star 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f0.95. 1/200″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . Brightin Star 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f0.95. 1/250″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Brightin 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f0.95 . 1/480″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

As for the image quality, I think this is the weak point of this lens as it provides poor contrast and sharpness. Something to take note of.

Focusing

The focus ring is relatively smooth and there is nothing much to feedback about. It comes with minimal friction and it is comfortable enough to rotate the focus ring.

*Fuji X-T5 . Brightin Star 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f0.95. 1/1250″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . Brightin Star 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f0.95. 1/80″ . ISO 200 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Brightin 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f0.95 . 1/40″ . ISO 3200 . Nostalgic Negative*

As for the MFD to infinity, the focus throw is approximately 100°. Also, pretty much the same as the other 35mm f0.95 lenses out there, and it also gives a fair amount of “traveling” for precise focusing.

*Fuji X-T5 . Brightin Star 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f0.95. 1/160″ . ISO 160 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . Brightin Star 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f0.95. 1/1000″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Brightin 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f4 . 1/800″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Similar to the rest of the manual lenses, the infinity is not directly opposite to the MFD. In order to have the true infinity, you have to rotate back a little to achieve it (somewhere the infinity symbol is).

Price Point

At 199 USD, it is priced the same as the TTArtisan and 7artisan variants and slightly cheaper than the Meike at 259 USD and even cheaper than Mitakon at 399 USD.

*Fuji X-T5 . Brightin Star 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f0.95. 1/180″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . Brightin Star 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f0.95. 1/2000″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Brightin 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f0.95 . 1/900″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Others

If you have noticed, this lens does not come with f5.6. It jumps from f4 to f8, skipping two full stops worth of light. It is a strange lens design and this is my first time encountering this. But does it really affect my day-to-day usage with this lens? Probably not. If I want to bring this lens out for a shoot, what’s more important for me is the usability of the shots taken at wide-open, in this case, f0.95, rather than the missing out of f5.6.

*Fuji X-T5 . Brightin Star 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f0.95. 1/80″ . ISO 800 . Nostalgic Negative*

If you are the kind that is into unique details, this lens comes with a black/dark grey coated rear lens element. While it does nothing but aesthetics, at least this is something different from the other manufacturers.

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . Brightin Star 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f0.95. 1/125″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Brightin 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f0.95 . 1/150″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

Who is this for?

If you are new to manual lenses or you want to have an experience of what f0.95 is, this is one of the many manual lenses you can consider getting. With its focal length, this lens is pretty much suitable for many genres such as street, cityscape, portrait, documentary, and etc.

*Fuji X-T5 . Brightin Star 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f0.95. 1/125″ . ISO 400 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . Brightin Star 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f0.95. 1/125″ . ISO 500 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Brightin 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f0.95 . 1/100″ . ISO 200 . Nostalgic Negative*

As for professional photographers, I believe you know whether you will need this lens for your professional works or causal.

Conclusion

I genuinely love this lens. Despite its shortfall on the MFD and missing f5.6, it is a great f09.5 lens to own. It has been a long time that I have enjoyed shooting at wide-open. I have more shots taken at f0.95 than in any other aperture value because I feel it should be the way. Plus given its 199 USD price point, I think it is pretty worth it. It may seem biased but really, it’s not.

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . Brightin Star 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f0.95. 1/20,000″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*

*Left: Fuji X-T5 . Brightin Star 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f0.95. 1/2500″ . ISO 125 . Nostalgic Negative*
*Right: Fuji X-T5 . Brightin 35mm f0.95 @ 35mm . f0.95 . 1/80″ . ISO 500 . Nostalgic Negative*

Thank you for reading.

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.

Tag: singapore

Ricoh GR III – Still A Good Pocket Camera

Meike 55mm f1.4 – Checking All the Boxes?

X-T50 and GFX100SII Launch Event – Singapore

Sirui 33mm f1.2 – The First Attempt (Part I)

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

ArtraLab 24mm f1.7 – A Nod to Nostalgic

TTArtisan 56mm f1.8 – A Worthy Budget Portrait Lens

The Not So Serious Comparision: Sigma 23mm f1.4 VS XF23mm f1.4 WR

Meike 12mm f2 – Balance & Compact

Brightin Star 35mm f0.95 – A Lens to Shine