[Music] So far 2024 has been the year when more And more companies are taking the leap To autofocus and today's review is of Yet another company that is taking that Leap and that is in this case the Company 7even Artisans today I'm Reviewing the seven Artisans Autofocusing 50mm f1.8 lens and seven Artisan's first autofocusing lens is Actually a fairly ambitious one now on Paper it's just another 50mm f1.8 lens But really this is far from being your Typical nifty50 as you can tell it is Bigger it's heavier it's nicer made but It's also optically Superior to any of The more budget style 50mm f1.8 lenses That I've reviewed in the past now it Does have some flaws that we will detail But if Optics are your priority I don't Know that I've used a nicer 50mm F1.8 for this kind of price tag a price Tag of right under $230 and in many ways I think that this Lens is competitive optically with a Lens like the Sony's ice 55mm f1.8 a Lens that cost you know about nearly Four times more three to four times more And so that makes this a very Interesting value proposition if you're Willing to tolerate just a little bit Larger lens so is this a lens you can You should consider we're going to dive Right into it right after a word from
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Of the build quality even the focus System and of course it comes to the Optical performance now the trade-off is This lens is Big it's 72 mm in diameter Leaving a 62 mm front filter thread it's 104 mimet in length and so that's 2.83 In by right over 4 in in length and as You can see from this shot it dwarfs the Samyang af45 mm f1.8 and it is slimmer But it is just as long if not a bit Longer than the Sony 50mm f1.4 G Master Lens which I'm filming on at the moment The lens also is fairly Hefty it weighs In at 412 G that's right under 15 oz but A lot of the reason for that is this is Actually quite an upscale build in many Ways though it's not the same shape but The feel of the lens and the materials And things like the focus ring actually Reminds me a lot of the Sony's ice Planar 50mm f1.4 so that is to say it is A very nicely built lens it's all black Anodized metal and it has a really nice A manual focus ring here that's all in Metal it's a rib the weight is heavier It's damp fairly heavy but that means That the experience feels actually quite Feels a lot like a typical manual focus Lens and so that is a great job of doing Manual focus emulation here it does have A few of the expected features it's got An AF MF switch it has an aperture ring Though it is only declick there's no Option to click dclick and there are a
Couple of quirks there the first of Those being that between f1.8 and F2 There is the they have the 1/3 stop to Tense markings throughout the scale but They have them between f1.8 and F2 and Of course that is only a onethird stop Difference and so it's a little bit Deceptive you can go along those you Know little markings that are there and The truth of matter is you're nothing's Going to change until you hit the F2 Mark the other Oddity there is that Between F-16 and then what is the Automatic mode there is also two Markings for those one3 stops and of Course the minimum apture is F-16 so You're not doing anything beyond that Point those are some of the little Details that maybe they'll clean up in The future what is nice here however is That the aperture Iris has 11 curved Blades and so not only does it make for A nice circular shape as you can see Looking at the aperture but it also does A good job maintaining circular bouqu Highlights as you stop The Lens down and Then even nicer as you stop it down Further it actually inverts to make a Surprisingly nice looking Sunstar for a 50mm lens now like VR there is a USBC Port on the lens mount and so I've also Already done a firmware update on a Pre-release copy this is a retail copy I'm looking at here I did a pre-release
Copy that I've looked at for a while it Needed a firmware update to try to get It up to retail standard and so I went Through the update process and it's Basically identical if you've ever Updated a vro lens it is identical to That which is to say very easy now Unfortunately there is no weather Seiling here the lens hood is included But unlike the rest of the lens it is Plastic and it it's okay it feels a Little bit cheap compared to the rest of The lens which is not atypical when you Have a all metal lens and then you have A plastic lens Hood minimum Focus Distance here is 50 cm which is better Than the VR which is 55 cm it's worse Than the Sony 50mm f1.8 that is 45 cm so As a result it's magnification is Basically right between those two lenses I estimated it being at about 0.12 times Which is a little bit on the low side For a 50mm lens overall however there's A lot going on here a very nice build Some actual features giving you the Option of doing manual aperture control If you like doing that the ammf switch Which I love having and so I I'm fairly Impressed with what we've got overall Here for that kind of Money let's talk autofocus this they Haven't specified what kind of autofocus Motor this is at least that I've seen Anywhere over the last couple of months
But I suspect it is the ubiquitous STM Focus motor you can see here that Focus Speed is about average these days I Expect very good autofocus and autofocus Here is is good typical Focus changes Are pretty quick and you can see that it Speeds up a bit when you get outside and Focus changes are more instantaneous you Can also see that the tracking of the Eye works quite well and it you know Keeps tracking on the face when it's not In the appropriate place to get the eye And then we'll go back to grabbing the Eye I found in some low light shooting Conditions that autofocus speed does Slow down but I was still getting Accurate Focus locks now what I found Over the course of my test across two Copies of this lens is that I had really Good oneshot Focus accuracy and so no Complaints about that in a variety of Situations if I was shooting a single Shot I got no problem problem and that's Not just shooting AFS that's shooting AFC but only shooting one shot the Reason why I say that is that if you Shoot a burst as you can see here of Just a series of shots taken of me Without me moving Focus drifts and a Burst and it did that consistently when I tested it I tested it half a dozen Times and saw the same thing and so That's obviously not great I also noted That if there is obviously we've got an
Issue with burst anyway and so if the Subject is moving things if anything are Worse still and and so or at the very Least equal bottom line is that if You're shooting multiple shots in a Burst you're not going to get all of Them autofocused it'll cycle away it'll Come back it'll cycle away it will come Back and so I would say that we probably Still need at least a firmware update or Two here to refine that behavior and Also in the the bigger picture longterm I think that they probably should beef Up the the power of the autofocus Motors A bit as well and that helps it to stay A little bit more stable you combine That with a little bit better focus Algorithms and I think that we could see Improve focus certainly I think that There's room for improvement even on This lens via firmware update but if They will uh you up the power of their Focus Motors in the future I think that That will become less of an issue as Well now on the video side of things I Would say that video AF results were Mostly good you can see here from the Focus pool test the focus changes are Smooth and quick in between the initial Subjects but you'll see a little bit of Settling at the end and what I'm Actually noticing is it as it micro Adjusts it's typically actually micro Adjusting away from what was already an
Accurately focused result and so I don't Love that aspect I did see better Results when I did my hand Focus test Where I switched between blocking the Lens with my hand and moving to my eye And vice versa again you have more Recognizable subjects that the camera's Autofocus system is looking for and as a Result I didn't see the settling the Same way it is more confident and Locking and staying on that result Likewise in in this clip here you can See that I intentionally wanted to move Kind of Glide along with Focus from one Subject to another you can see that Those Focus adjustments they are they're Not smooth transitions they're a little Bit abrupt looking and so obviously That's not ideal for that so there are Some areas where I can tell that this is A firsttime autofocus effort but in Other ways it's a fairly refined Focus Motor it is very very quiet uh it can Only hear any kind of focus noise if I Put my ear right up next to it and again For for actual typical shots it was Confident in locking on to subjects you Know shooting through uh obstacles to Lock on subjects it delivered really Accurately focused results and so for my Actual typical Everyday Use I didn't Really have a lot of objections there And so if you're not looking to shoot Something like sports or your shooting
Style if you shoot in burst this is not The lens for you at least now but Hopefully that's something that will be Refined in the future so moving on from That let's talk about the image quality Now at the end of the episode there will Be a detailed breakdown we'll go a deep Dive into the optical performance and so If you want the Deep details you can Jump ahead to that in the timestamp but I'll give you an overview here for those That don't want that long of the video Optical formula is 11 elements in nine Groups but that includes two aspherical Uh one extra low dispersion element two High refractive index uh elements so I Mean that that's a total of five out of The 11 elements that are exotic elements That's a lot of exotic elements for an Inexpensive lens the MTF chart doesn't Blow you away at any point but what Stands out to me is how consistent it is From the center to the edge there's not Any kind of significant drop off it's Within 15% from Center to Edge I was Actually really impressed with real World results it's images feel very Sharp even on my 61 megapixel um a7r Mark 5 I saw when I did my my formal Test I saw very little Distortion about A minus two to correct very little Vignette right over a stop I used plus 35 to correct so uh very good Performance there I saw some minor
Longitudinal chromatic aberration some Fringing before and after the plane of Focus it's not extreme or pronounced but I did notice it when I was looking Critically at images when it comes to Lateral chromatic aberations on my test Chart I can see very minimal ones there I didn't really notice it much in real World images so not bad there as the MTF Chart suggests when I did my test chart I saw a consistently good performance Across the frame I compareed to Something like the sigma 50mm F2 which Is a lens that cost about three times as Much but it is a very strong lens Optically probably the strongest lens That's in or around this particular Focal length obviously just a little bit Slower and the sigma is sharper in the Center of the frame but this seven Artisans is about equal at the mid-frame And out into the corners which is pretty Impressive for a lens that costs so much Less by f2.8 sharpness across just about All the frame is very good and the Corners even the corners are excellent By F4 you'll see defraction starting at About f11 on a high resolution body and It will definitely increase at the Minimum aperture of F16 where this lens I think kind of Stood out to me is the combination of Sharpness and bouqu and that I feel like The bouqu is just better looking than
Most Nifty 50s it feels a little bit More sophisticated more like an f1.4 Lens in a lot of ways I would say that That is a definite strength for it and So you can definitely have a very nice Blur when you're closer to subjects but Even at the more moderate distances Where you might shoot family related Things or you know your typical shots The quality of the the fallof of focus Is quite good I actually did because There was a clear sky and I had the lens I did shoot in the night I saw some Minimal coma coma wasn't too bad on it But I did see a little bit of fringing Around a bright star point so not my Favorite lens for that the other thing That is an issue here is the flare Resistance and uh you will see when from These various shots that it does exhibit A variety of flare artifacts not the Worst I've seen But far far from the Best and so you have do have to exhibit A little bit of caution if you're Shooting into a back lit subject Surprisingly I felt like the colors were Pretty good out of the lens and have no Complaints they seemed accurate um with Nice levels of saturation however Without feeling garish or or overdone so Overall a pretty strong Optical Performance for a lens costing under $230 so in conclusion the build quality And the optical performance I would say
Are those of a more expensive lens now The autofocus has its good points but it Obviously could use some improvement in Some other areas bottom line you Probably aren't going to to get better Image quality from a 50mm f1.8 without Spending a lot more money but the Trade-off is that's going to come at the Expense of some size and some weight and So you have to make a decision you know Are you willing to spend maybe a little Bit more for a Plastic Fantastic like The samyang AF 45mm f1.8 a lens that I Really like optically and it is Incredibly small and compact or do you Prefer going for a a larger lens that Actually costs less surprisingly but Also delivers really really strong image Quality choices choices that's the the Way of today's market if you want more Information you can check out the Description below where I have my full Text review I've got some buying links There and of course now if you're Interested join me for the Deep dive Into the optical [Music] Performance okay we will start by taking A look at vignette and Distortion here You can see looking at the uncorrected Result result on the left that we have Very very little Distortion and minimal Vignette and on the right you see my Manual correction now the values that I
Have plugged in here I've done a minus Two to correct for just a tiny bit of Pin cushion Distortion and then I have Dialed in a plus 35 to give us even Illumination so that's just a little Over a stop that is a very strong result Now you can see from this shot that There is a little bit of an issue with Longitudinal chromatic aberration Nothing that is like serious but you can See a little bit of fringing both before And after the plane of focus so in real World shots I didn't find it to be too Critical in most situations you can see Here actually that detail and contrast Looks good and yes you can see the Tiniest bit of fringing around some of These high contrast areas but it's not At all pronounced and as we go towards The specular highlights there's maybe The faintest bit of outlining INF Fringing but nothing strongly pronounced And if we step back to a global level You're not seeing that at all likewise When it comes to lateral chromatic Aberations it's kind of the same story Yes you can see a little bit of fringing Here particularly on this really bold Line on either side kind of more of a Blue and yellow fringing rather than a Green and red fringing but overall it's Not strongly pronounced and of course This is the easiest type of chromatic Aberration to correct for it's just the
Oneclick variety so here we have the Test chart that will take our sharpness And contrast results from this is 200% Magnification and the test is done on The 61 megapixel Sony a7r Mark 5 so if We zoom into that very high 200% Magnification level we can see that it Holds up just fine the contrast and Detail looks very good in the center uh Those fine details in different places Are nicely rendered if we move towards The mid-frame also a very impressive Looking result uh good detail good Contrast there and as we scroll down and We work towards the edge I mean all of This is holding up really really well Right off to the very Corner that's a Very very even sharpness profile so for A little bit of perspective I mentioned Previously the more expensive much more Expensive Sigma 50mm F2 and of course Sigma does really good with sharpness we Can see in the center of the frame that The sharpness results do favor the sigma Just a little bit more contrast a little Bit more detail we can see in the Mid-frame however that these are coming In at a more similar than different I Think the sigma's still probably a a Hair better but it's not by any kind of Significant margin and looking off into The corner we can see that the same is True that they're really the results Maybe slightly favor the sigma but
Really not by much and if we look in Other spots like over here I would Actually slightly favor what I see from The seven Artisans lens up in this Zone Here again I would say that if anything I like the seven Artisans and up into This corner the same is true and so Really a pretty strong per performance From such an inexpensive lens so the Sharpness I saw in a lot of real world Shots ended up kind of exceeding my Expectations and so you can see in the Shot of Nala for example great detail in Her fur another shot here where it's got Good window lighting and you can see That the detail all throughout looks Really really consistently fantastic Here at a little bit further a distance You can see that contrast and detail on The subject you know the plan of focus Is pretty narrow you can see that it Holds up really nicely and then even if We move out towards not quite Infinity But close to it a distant subject you Can see that it's handling that just Fine as well and very very nice detail Uh here in this and of course in this Instance we have a a bigger plane of Focus and so as a byproduct you can see That that detail is holding right off to The end and this is at F1.8 now if we compare f1.8 to F2 we Don't really see a significant Improvement here the results look maybe
So slightly better when it comes to Contrast but frankly more similar than Different and uh even down into the Corner the results are largely the same Now from F2 to f2.8 I do see a bit of a Boost in contrast a little bit more Detail there the mid-frame likewise you Can see a an improvement there moving Off to this other side it's looking Really really strong and then up into The corner we can see there's definitely An up in the contrast and the detail There and from f2.8 to F4 we can see Those Corners looking better still They're really fantastic at this point And so this is really good sharpness all Across the frame now we'll see those Same levels of sharpness continuing at F5.6 and f8 we'll find that defraction Starts to soften the image a bit at f11 And then by F16 which is the minimum Aperture it's not bad as you can see but Definitely it is not as sharp or Contrasty as what we saw at larger Apertures now while the magnification Level is not high as we've already seen The good news is is that we have a flat Plane of focus and up close detail looks Really quite good and so no complaints About that now looking a bit at the Specular bokeh highlights you can see Some definite cat ey shape towards the Edges of the frame I will also note There is a there is definitely some of
That kind of concentric circles in these Specular highlights uh not so much that It really shows up a lot at this level Although I can see it but it is Certainly present we can see is we start To stop The Lens down here at f2.8 you Can still see that busyness in the Center of the frame but you can see that We're getting more towards a circular Shape and it's not however until about F4 that we really see that consistently All across the frame now where there Aren't specular highlights I find that Particularly with kind of Bright Lights Associated I find that the bouquet is Actually fairly creamy as you can see in This shot likewise here this is a fairly Busy background you know obviously the Subject matter here there's lots of Hard Edges nothing to soften it but you can See in the branches and then the the Cones that are there you can see that It's rendered really quite well and then In a shot like this uh I'm very Impressed with the combination of Sharpness that you can see here Everything looks great and then the Background is nicely blurred out in the Shot is one of my favorites I took During my review time cuz it shows that Again that great combination good detail On all of this and then a beautifully B Blurred out background now as noted Flare resistance is a bit of a weakness
Here and so we can see at Mid apertures Definitely a ghosting pattern stopping On down the Sunburst effect looks good But definitely some ghosting artifacts You can see here as you pan across first Wide open that there's some various Flur Artifacts that do take take place and Then as as it stopped down you can see That those kind of ghosting patterns Intensify somewhat and so I like it less Actually stop down than I do wide open So finally I'll look at the coma Performance as mentioned previously now This lens being a little bit longer mag Magnifies some of the celestial bodies a Little bit more so in the center of the Frame you know the biggest problem is That there is this that kind of haloing Slight fringing effect around some of Those bright areas you can see that coma Is not bad it actually stays pretty Consistent towards the edge but Unfortunately that kind of haloing Effect does diminish it stopping down a Little bit here's at f2.5 that does Improve things a little bit less of the Halo a little bit less of the fringing And of course again coma is not bad and So it is useful it's just you might want To try to correct a little bit of the Fringing if that bothers you overall However this is a pretty beautiful Optical performance in many ways from Such an inexpensive lens so you've made
It to the end thanks for Faithfully Watching as always have a great day and Let the light [Music] In
