[Music] Hi I'm Dustin Abbott and I'm here today To give you a review of another one of The sniper series from Siri now in late 2023 Siri released their first three Sniper lenses a 23mm 33mm and then 56 mm Option all of them with a maximum apture Of f1.2 I reviewed all three of those With some varying results sarai's back This year with two additional sniper Lenses and these I think in manyways Have up the game they're a little bit Less generic in terms of focal length Including a 16 mm f1.2 that I'm Reviewing today and then also a 75mm F1.2 so they've gone both wider and then Longer on the telephoto end so these Lenses uh they have different strengths And weaknesses one thing that is Definitely a strength is the maximum Very bright aperture of F1 .2 and then Also a really reasonable price tag of About $350 and often they can be had a little Bit cheaper than that so as the 16 mm F1.2 a lens worth buying well that's What we're going to explore in today's Review so let's start by talking about The focal length itself 16 mm when you Apply the uh 1.5 times crop factor of Either Fujifilm which I'm testing on Here or also on Nikon Z or Sony E mounts It is a 1.5 times crop factor which gets To a full frame equivalent of 24 mm
Obviously a really popular focal length For a lot of reasons so this is going to Be a very useful lens and takes us Considerably wider than what we could Previously at the 23 mm being the widest Now there are three finish options Across the whole sniper series that Includes what they call black which has Carbon fiber accents as seen here there Is silver that has an aluminum alloy Section on it and then finally there is A white Edition that has has a ceramic Glazed portion on it so all of them have Some unique materials in their design And frankly they are different looking Than anything else that's out on the Market right now so I do give them high Marks for that they're attractive Looking lenses with a both a modern but Also a distinct ethos from any of the Other lenses I'm testing at this point Now to this point all of them have been Almost identical in terms of their Diameter and their length as a part of a Set but here because we are diversifying A little bit more we deviate deviate From that just a little bit not a much When it comes to the 16 mm but more so With the 75 mm which becomes wider than Any of the other lens in the series now The 16 mm is 70 mm in diameter 2.75 in And it is 94 mm or 3.7 in in total Length by my scale it weighs in at 375 G without either the front or the
Rear cap that's 13.2 Oz now outside of Like the carbon fiber that's kind of the The standout feature as far as the Design but outside of that there really Isn't much in terms of features here There is no ammf switch there is no Aperture ring and here on Fuji it is the Aperture ring that might be missed the Most by those that are accustomed to Having that what it does have is a USB C Port in the mount to allow for firmware Updates and I have done that update Update process before and it is very Simple a lot like vrs in that regard the Focus ring here rather than being ribbed It has kind of a diamond pattern on it And it moves nicely the weight is not Particularly heavy it doesn't have maybe As much fuel as what I would like but You can focus with some precision and You can go Fairly long about 360° of Focus rotation here on Fuji although I Find with Fuji to get all the if you're Want to go all the way to the minimum Focus distance you have to kind of keep Rotating you it'll creep closer and Closer it's just kind of a a quirk on Fuji that I find that isn't the case on Other lenses we do have included a Petal-shaped lens hood and it's Unique In that it flares out a bit obviously to Make sure that there's not any Additional vignette so it's trying to Offer a maximum amount of sun or flare
Protection but then also trying to keep From creating a mechanical vignette so It does flare out a little bit which Means that when you reverse it for Storage it's going to make the lens's Diameter a little bit wider than what it Would otherwise be or with the other Lenses where the the lens Hood reverses In a more fitted uh shape inside there's A beautiful aperture Iris with 11 Aperture blades does a nice job keeping A circular shape and as we're going to See it also produces a pretty nice Sunstar as well now a weakness for this Series remains here and that the minimum Focus distance is 30 cm when you're Talking about a not particularly wide Focal length that means you're getting a Magnification level that's really low Under 0.10 times probably 0.09 something like that it means that You're not going to be able to really Compress backgrounds very much but Because you do have a wide maximum Apture if you get very close as I did With these flowers that's minimum Focus Distance there you will get your Background blurred out somewhat because The apture is so nice and big so build Is good there's good about it it looks Great the size and the weight is about Competitive with what we're finding from Either Fuji or Sigma both of those being F1.4 lenses so it's not unusually large
Or heavy but there's not much here in Terms of features that's true the sigma Is well but the Fuji will have apture Along with weather ceiling which this Lens does not have so let's talk Autofocus that really hasn't been a huge Strength for this series to date though I do think that this one is improved a Little bit one of the other kind of Basic problems here is that Fuji's Autofocus remains less sophisticated Than what I'm finding in any of the Other three systems that I test it's a Little bit of a frustration for me and So that kind of compounds when you're Adding a third-party lens maker that's Fairly new to producing autofocus lenses You know that does create some Challenges the autofocus speed as you Can see here is reasonably fast there is A little bit of a pulse towards the end A step that you can see but it's getting Back and forth reasonably quick though I Would say it's average at best um not Particularly fast it does a little bit Faster it seems like outside but as you Can see on the positive side it does do A good job of staying sticky on the eye Detecting it and staying sticky as I Move around now the focus noise of the Focus motor itself is reasonably quiet I Just hear kind of a faint worring with My ear next to it but you will hear Noise during focus and that is because
The aperture Iris blades uh the way that Fuji Works they open and they close Every time you have depress or you Depress the shutter the aperture blades Open to whatever your preset aperture is Or closed to whatever the preset Aperture is but in between they kind of Go somewhere in the middle round F maybe F. 2.8 here and the problem is is that These aperture blades are not super Quiet and so as a product every time you Do that you get a little bit of clacking And clattering from those the aperture Opening and closing opening and closing So it does produce a little bit more Sound in the autofocus process my focus Accuracy was fine with the lens for Stills it locked on to what I needed to It gave me well focused results I have Zero complaints in that regard if we Talk about video AF already again Fuji Video AF is kind of lousy frankly and It's not helped here and so as you can See on my video Focus pulls going back And forth there is some very visible Steps there's some settling there Towards the end it's not super fast uh And you know doesn't feel incredibly Confident I feel like it didn't actually Lock Focus accurately a few times then When I switch to my hand test where I Try to you know block the view of my eye And then remove my hand I just found That it's not super reactive so
Sometimes my hand got there and I tried To go slow but by the time I moved my Hand it really had gotten Focus there And then you know by the time it bounces Back sometimes it's ready for my hand to Go out again so it's not particularly Reactive and so if you're looking for a A lens for kind of tracking fast action For example this probably isn't going to Be a Top Choice for you though to be Fair I'm not sure that Fuji is your top System for that either and so there is Minimal amount of focus breathing Focus Breathing isn't too bad but at the same Time this autofocus system is it's fine For Stills if you don't need to be Absolutely quiet but for video work There's moments where it leaves somewhat To be desired so let's talk about the Optical performance I will do my Detailed Optical breakdown at the end of The video but here is an overview our Actual Optical formula here is Interesting it's 14 elements in five Groups it's a bigger ratio than what I'm Accustomed to between elements and and Groups but I do think that this lens is One of the better both of these lenses Are the best I've seen in the sniper Series so far but this is definitely Better than some of the other wide-angle Options available previously it still Retains somewhat of that kind of what we Might call a classical op Optical
Signature and that it has lower contrast At f1.2 and then it sharpens down and Becomes much more contrasty at smaller Aptes in this case you actually hit that Earlier than what you do with any of the Other previous sniper lenses so I like It a little bit better in that regard Some of the other areas is that when it Comes to Distortion it's basically Distortion free which is very welcome is A moderate amount of vignette I used a Plus 70 to correct for it that's a Little over two stops but for an f1.2 Wide angle lens that's not bad at all And so uh very good there a huge Improvement compared to previous sniper Lenses is that chromatic abberations are Much better controlled you'll see here For longitudinal chromatic aberration That come before and after the plan of Focus there is much less fringing here You can also see that if we look at the Corner of the frame uh when it comes and Stop down a B at there's no real lateral Chromatic aberration to see there either So kudos to CRI for getting better in That Regard now at f1.2 we find if we take a Look at the optical performance that There is a reasonable amount of Resolution that is there Center Mid-frame and then you know dropping off A bit to the corners but contrast is not Particularly high it's like there's a
Little bit of a smear over the textures But here one of the main differences is That you stop down even a little bit to About F2 too and as you can see in this Comparison it sharpens up considerably Much higher contrast crisper details Thus this lens gets better faster and I Think is a little bit more usable as a Result by F4 to f5.6 particularly at F5.6 you're getting great sharpness all Across the frame even into the corners Which makes it a good landscape option And my landscape images had good detail Even on 40 megapixels which isn't always The case a good detail and I was happy With the in results from them colors Look good overall I'm just satisfied With the overall look of the images Defraction starts to arrive at f11 and We'll start to soften the image a bit by F-16 it's much more noticeable effect And so I would avoid shooting at F16 Unless you absolutely have to now Because of having a brighter wider Maximum aperture than most competing Lenses I would say that this also has Nicer Boke than a lot of the competing Lenses it has the ability to create a Little bit more and what's there is it's Not Flawless but it looks fairly good as You can see from these sample images in This video shot as I kind of go through Some long grass you can see a very nice Looking amount of defocus in the
Background I also find that if you shoot Wisely you can get a really nice looking Sunburst effect I like this shot through The the leaves and this other shot where I a little let a little more light Through um it's a there's a little bit More ghosting and it kind of flares out A little bit more I also noted that in This shot at f5.6 of a beautiful home That I just happened to be passing by The sun behind it there is some ghosting In the image and so it's not Flawless But it's not as bad as again some of the Other lenses in the series and it's Really not bad period um it's not Perfect but it is certainly usable I Also had an opportunity to shoot the Night sky and this is obviously going to Be a really useful lens uh for shooting Night sky that f1.2 apture means that You can keep your ISO down and get Cleaner results I happen to be able to Shoot during the middle of a meteor Shower and so I've got a lot of you know Cool little streaks here and there of The meteors falling stars going through The air and so it's uh was useful for That there is a little bit of coma smear In the corners but it's not terrible Either it's low enough that I would Consider this lens perfectly useful for Shooting at the night sky and that may Be one of the better applications for it So in conclusion I would say as I've
Mentioned previously that this is one of The best lenses in the series optically I feel like the fact that it sharpens up Quicker makes it more useful to me and I Felt like I was happier with the images I got off it in general as compared to Some of the previous lenses in this Series The autofocus is not Sophisticated particularly for video Work but I think it's good enough for Most people particularly those that are Shooting Stills and probably good enough For most people that shooting videos and Don't need to do like really big Focus Pools if you're doing static shots it's It's obviously better for that one of The things that is most going for this Series however is the fact that the Pricing is very competitive it is at Minimum $100 cheaper than the sigma Which is an f1.4 lens and it also has Less fringing and lower Distortion than That Sigma lens and when you compare it To the Fuji 16 mm f1.4 that lens cost $1,000 so you can buy nearly three of These for that same price that obviously Positions this to be a pretty strong Value considering it does offer up Something in an f1.2 aperture that these Other lenses do not so some food for Thought and if you want more detail into The optical performance stay tuned with Me now as we dive into the optical Performance in more detail or you can
Check out my text review that is linked To in the description down below along With some buying links there let's dive Into those Optics [Music] Together so let's start by taking a look At vignette and Distortion as you can See Distortion is really a non-issue There wasn't really anything to correct And so I didn't here vignette is more Noticeable and I used a plus 70 to Correct forward in the corners about two Stops now you can see that there are Just minimal amounts of longitudinal Chromatic aberration it is really pretty Clean overall so no major issue there You can see in this f1.2 example up Close that there's not really any major Fringing it's a little bit along those Edges but nothing significant there at All so a nice job when it comes to that Likewise lateral chromatic aberration Are well controlled here with no real Fringing to see along the edges in these Transitions from black to white so we'll Next take a look at sharpness and Contrast this is on the 40 megapixel uh Fujifilm xh2 and I'm showing these Results at 200% magnification to really Show off any kind of flaws so you can See in the center of the frame there is Actually a pretty decent amount of Detail here but contrast is a little bit Lower so you're missing some of that uh
Just kind of the Christmas and some of The textures in the mid-frame again There is a little bit less resolution But still a reasonable amount but with Contrast being lower and as we start to Pan towards the edge we can see that It's really the same thing the corners Are not really a whole lot softer than What the midf frame is so not a bad Result there now from f1.2 to f1.4 you Can see that there is some improvement In contrast right off the bat and so if You want to shoot at a wide aperture but Want a little bit more contrast stopping Down even to f1. 4 does make a Difference there's a much bigger Difference from f1.4 to F2 by F2 you can See we've got a good degree of contrast In the center of the frame mid-frame is Looking better and uh still not super Sharp yet in the mid-frame but making Improvements we can see all improvements There this side is starting to look Pretty decent in the corners and looking Up in this corner you can see also an Improvement taking place there I like This example here because it shows how That that difference plays out in the Real world f1.2 here on the left F2 on The right if we punch into a pixel level You can see again that lower contrast There but by F2 the contrast is much Much higher you can see all of those Textures are really starting to pop and
Look good and we can see that even as we Get towards the edge of the frame where There is depth of field that it is Starting to look pretty good and it's Hard to make too many reads here in the Corners because depth of field isn't Large enough but definitely an Improvement even towards the edges those Edges improve more by F2.8 and by f5.6 you can see that that Sharpness profile goes right off into The corners here in the foreground you Can see all of this grass all the detail Looks really really great there if we go Back to the surface of the building it's Already been really sharp but you can See now it is super crisp detail all the Textures are looking really really great Right off to the very edge of the frame Here's another real world landscape and We can see as we look in at a pixel Level that it is really sharp and crisp Very nice detail there and that detail Does again it's depth of fuel affected But on the side where you have depth of Fuel where it goes out to the very edge It is sharp off to the very edge it Stays nice and sharp through f8 by f11 You can see that we're starting to lose A little of that contrast due to the Fraction and then as we move on to F16 You can see that it becomes softer still Though still I think a acceptably usably Sharp because contrast isn't quite the
Same but you can see if we look towards The edge that just some of that detail Has been lost here in the corner now the Large f1.2 aperture makes for nicer than Typical bokeh for a 16 mm lens you can See as we look at this image overall That the bokeh there's some outlining There but it's really not too bad looks Pretty clean another shot here with more Hard edges shows that yes again there's A little bit more outlining than what I Would like but a lot of the background Is actually pretty soft this image shows That there's a little bit of that swirl Effect into the edges due to the kind of Lemon or cat eye shape towards the edge Of the frame but again for a wide- angle Lens this is a pretty decent looking Performance you can also see in this Image that while the sun is here in the Frame there's not really any kind of Issue with ghosting stop down here at F9 There is a little bit more of ghosting Artifacts but really nothing too extreme The shot here with the sun right in the Frame I do have a ghosting artifact here But again we can see that overall Contrast is held up well and the you Know there's nice detail and color Throughout the image itself finally Let's take a look at coma here you can See the meteors that are kind of Shooting all over the place in this Image I was able to shoot this at only
ISO 1600 so able to keep it nice and Clean in the center of the frame you Know star points look pretty good nice And crisp not any kind of real fringing On any of them which helps a lot however As you get towards the edge of the frame You can see that there's definitely some Coma smear that begins to happen some of These look like flying insects now Rather than star points so not a Flawless performance but again that Bright aperture and nice focal length Make this a tempting lens to use for Shooting the night sky anyway so thank You for sticking around to the end and I Hope that the optical Deep dive has Helped you to get a better sense of the Performance of the lens and maybe can Help you to make a more informed Decision as to whether or not this is The lens for for you as always thanks For watching have a great day and let The light in [Music]
