[Music] Hi I'm Dustin Abbott and recently I came To you with an overview video of the new Seri sniper series of autofocusing Lenses for apsc cameras uh there's a 23mm 33mm and 56 mm all within maximum Apture of f1.2 and they all come in Fuji X Mount which I'm reviewing here Sony E-mount and the Nikon Z Mount so I've Taken a look at the series as a whole But obviously there are individual Characteristics of each one of these Lenses that warrant a closer look at Them individually so today is the first Of that series of individual reviews Starting with the Siri sniper 23mm f1.2 Lens so this lens retails for $349 MSRP but it can be had cheaper Through a variety of means early bird Purchasing discount codes etc etc so in A nutshell this is a really nicely built Lens it uses premium and unique Materials has average autofocus for Stills a little bit below average Autofocus for video it has very nice Bouquet and it sharpens up when stop Down but it has some chromatic Aberration and lower contrast Euphemistically called dreamy when wide Open at larger a apertures so this is a Lens that is not necessarily a modern Lens in terms of the being very heavily Corrected for all the aberration and Those type things maybe that appeals to
You and if so stick with me and let's Take a closer look at the performance of The lens starting with the build and Handling this at 23 mm when you put the 1.5 times crop factor of the various Cameras that it goes for makes it a Fullframe equivalent of about 35 mm so a Very common very popular focal length as Noted there are n con Z Sony E and Fuji X Mount options available and for all Three of those mounts there are three Different finish option options also Available so we've got the black that I'm reviewing here that has genuine Carbon fiber on the barrel as an accent You have the silver which uses aluminum Alloy in place of the carbon fiber and Then you have a white that uses ceramic And that baked ceramic paint um in that Section as well so all of them have These kind of unique and premium finish Options as a part of them and that Really I think is a large part of the Appeal of the lens is the overall design Which is fresh and different from other Lenses out there and is quite unique now In terms of the dimensions of the lens It is 72 mm in diameter or 2.8 in it is A little over 92 mm in length or 3.6 in It weighs in at 380 G which is 13.4 o so A little bit larger and heavier than Most of the competing lenses though I Will note that most of the competing Lenses have a maximum apture of f1.4
Rather than f1.2 f1.2 is about a half Stop faster than what f1.4 Is I do like all of the attention to Detail in the physical design everything From the badges which all of that feels Premium the different materials and Textures the accents that are here but Outside of that you know it looks good But outside of that there isn't really Any features here no ammf switch no Aperture ring and certainly that Aperture ring is something that some Competing lenses will have the focus Ring here has a more of a diamond type Texture pattern a little bit different Than the typical ribs you see the Texture feels probably most similar to The control ring on Canon RF Mount Lenses the focus ring itself is lightly Damped and it has 360 degrees of Rotation though I will note on Fuji X Mount if you're trying to get to minimum Focus uh if you want to get as close as You can you have to kind of keep Rotating and rotating to finally get it That last few degrees that are there It's kind of a Fuji Quirk that drives me Crazy but you know it is what it is all The lenses including the 23 mm have a USB C port on the lens mount that helps To futureproof the lens allowing you to Do firmware updates both for camera Compatibility but also hopefully we'll See some improvements to autofocus
Through that maybe some tweaks along the Way as they refine the process get some Updated algorithms things like that the Lens comes with a petal-shaped lens Hood It's made out of plastic nothing Particularly special though I will note I like the inclusion of a little bit of A ribed section on there for a little Bit more grip and a little bit more Style AKA Sigma does a lot of things Like that inside we have 11 rounded Aperture blades and so little bit higher Aperture blade count which helps of Course with that big maximum aperture Stop down a little bit and you can Retain a circular shape to the aperture Which helps with that nice bouquet Quality which is one of the strengths of The lens not so much as strength as the Minimum Focus distance can only focus as Closely as 30 cm and that gives you a You know a pretty low-end 0.10 times Magnification you can still blur out Backgrounds because you can get close Enough to blur out the background thanks To that big f1.2 aperture but Magnification is nothing special and Certainly there are some competing Lenses that are going to give a much Better performance in that regard Autofocus Here Comes via an STM Focus Motor which is pretty much standard Unless you're going into the higher and Linear Motors on different cameras so
The focus speed is probably about Average for what I would see there is as You can see here moves back and forth Pretty quick but there is just a tiny Step to where you get about two-thirds Of the way there you know just a split Second pause and then that last third Before it does the final lock but but if You add that up it's a little bit slower Than what some competing lenses will be The focus noise is very low you can hear Some very light clicking if you put your Ear kind of right next to it but in most Focus environments you're probably not Going to hear any autofocus sounds and I Found that autofocus accuracy was Generally quite good for Stills um when You know shooting a variety of subjects As you can see her tracking Nala's eye It was staying sticky on the eye deliver Good Focus results things like that when Taking photos of people I had good Focus Results and so in general I think that It did fairly good for Focus accuracy For Stills however if we switch over to the Video side of things you can see that Video AF is just not great you can see That in the pools there is a fair bit of Hunting and settling and uh just kind of Visible steps along the way it's not as Good as what some competing lenses are And when I did my hand test you can see It's just not all that reactive if the
Hand was taken away or added back into The equation there's just this lag where It's as if it's making up its mind what It wants to do and so it just doesn't Have the confidence of what some Competing lenses you know lenses like The sigma 23mm f1.4 or Fuji's own 23mm F1.4 even the vr's 27 mm f1.2 all of Those lenses are more reactive in that Situation I found that the video AF did Better just kind of keeping us subject Locked so for example in this clip of Nala as she moves around it's trying not Instead of trying to make big Focus Pulls which it's not great at it's just Kind of keeping Focus through gradual Degrees and when it has a trackable Subject on the frame that's when Fuji's Autofocus does best anyway and I think That have did better in that Circumstance so this is definitely not a Top video Choice the video autofocus is Just not reactive enough for major Focus Changes but if you're just wanting to do Something more simple just kind of keep Something in Focus probably do okay for That so let's talk about the image Quality there are 12 elements and 11 Groups and in this design there are six Of those elements half of them are high Refractive index elements to help to Give it good Optical properties one Thing I will note if you're wanting to Use multiple of these lenses that sirai
Claims they have a consistent color Accuracy and color temperature across The three of them so the footage will be Or photos will be complimentary from the Three but let's dive in and break down How it performs particularly on the Torture test of this 40 megapixel uh Sensor on the xh2 that I did my review On so let's start by taking a look at Vignette and Distortion at f1.2 you can See some Barrel Distortion that's Apparent but it's not extreme and then In the corners is definitely some Vignette here is a manual correction There on the right side in that manual Correction I dialed in a plus n to deal With the Distortion and you can see it's Not 100% perfect very very mild little Mustache p pattern that's there but for The most part I think that you would be Hardpressed to actually see that in most Real world situations vignette another Story I had to nearly max out the Sliders at 97 to get rid of the vignette And the corners there is a profile here That's available and uh I click it here Quickly you can see that it takes care Of some but not all of the vignette and Not a whole lot of the Distortion so at This stage I don't know if that's the Final version but I can definitely do a Better job manually now one of the Issues with this lens is that it Definitely suffers with some fringing
Longitudinal chromatic aberration are Fairly pronounced as you can see mostly In the green variety after the plane of Focus so that means that you're going to See that for example on these shiny Objects as we go out of focus you can See towards this area back here Definitely going to be some green Fringing that shows up there and in the Bouqu like specular highlights you're Definitely going to see a bit of a green Fringe around those so just be aware That that certainly is going to be a Factor with the Lens now the lateral style chromatic Aberration that come near the edge of The frame are much better controlled and As you can see here there's really not a Whole lot to see so you know at least One thing going on there now the Character of the Siri lenses because They or sniper series because they do Have some chromatic aberration some Other spherical collaborations that Soften contrast and they have a maximum Mture of f1.2 which is a bit of a Challenge to engineer they are not super Sharp wide open and that's going to look Much worse in our test here because we Are literally testing at the most Difficult uh area that I test this is More demanding than the medium format Sensors I test than the Sony 61 Megapixel fullframe sensors this is a
Really really demanding sensor and as You can see in the middle of the frame Contrast is definitely not off the the Charts there is a decent amount of Detail there in the center of the frame But contrast is not amazing at f1.2 now When we get towards the mid-frame There's less detail available there but Above all you're seeing just really low Contrast and as we pan down it's almost Like a little bit of a Vaseline smear Over the top of it and that really uh Becomes evident when you get to the Corners where there's almost a bloom Effect from the spherical aberration There is a decent amount of detail to You get about here and then it just as You can see gets mushy but mostly what We're seeing is low contrast so stopping On down to F1.4 you can see definitely does give us A little bit more contrast not enough to Eliminate the overall just kind of haze To the textures that's there at least in The center of the frame if we look here In the mid-frame it's yeah we're still Not making a whole lot of progress there And towards the edges you can see a Similar type effect just with slightly More contrast we'll take a quick peek at Centering here see if we're getting Pretty similar results Everywhere else and so if we go over Here to the left side yes roughly the
Same and then up into this upper left Corner yeah looking pretty soft still And then upper right corner again about The same maybe ever so slightly better On the right than the left but nothing Radically different so if you want to See what's possible on the system at F1.4 we've got the new Sigma 23mm f1.4 Also at f1.4 and as you can see it's Radically different in the center of the Frame so if you're looking for you know Very sharp and crisp uh high contrast Wide open then obviously the sigma is Going to be a better choice there's a Radical difference in the mid-frame and A radical difference in the corners as Well the sniper 23 mm gets a little bit More contrast at f1.8 but as you can see The textures are still not really Popping mid-frame is starting to look a Little bit better but far from great Likewise in the corners that are still Looking pretty hazy F2 not a big Improvement however f2.8 starts to make A significant difference and so if we Look elsewhere we can see that the Mid-frame is starting to look good you Can actually see some textures popping In there and the center of the frame Looks quite good now at f2.8 stopping on Down to F4 gives us more Improvement in The center of the frame and everything Just looks generally brighter the midf Frame is finally starting to look better
Not great yet but good and likewise in The corners a little bit better and There's more detail still there at f 5.6 By which point you're getting decent Results across the frame Center looking Pretty good looking over here in this Mid-frame it's still fairly soft it's Looking a little bit sharper and over on This left side a little bit sharper but I think that the right side is going to Prove to be sharper than what the left Side is f8 is roughly equal to what we Saw at uh F5.6 and maybe just a little bit better There in the corners so maybe your Optimal aperture there is f8 After f8 defraction is going to start to Soften the image again so f11 and then Particularly F-16 which is our minimum Apperture is going to look considerably Softer once again at more typical 100% Magnifications at landscape apertures You can see that images look really good And even at a pixel Level uh detail looks nice and crisp Here and now we have resolution off Towards the edges of the frame as well And so it's fairly sharp not p sharp but Fairly sharp at smaller apertures but as You can see it's pretty dreamy or soft Low contrast wide open so obviously this Lens does not perform great in a chart Setting however I don't want to discount It because it produces images that look
Better globally than what our chart Results suggest so here at f1.2 if You're looking at that image in the way That most people do like the whole image It looks quite good and if we pop into a 100% magnification contrast Is Not Great There but neither is is it terrible and People shots are quite flattering here At f1.6 if we pop in to 100% Magnification we can see that the skin Tones are not you know they're not Showing off all of the imperfections in Flaws another one here shows that just Your skin tones at f1.2 there's you know Enough detail there to see all of the Features but without showing off any Imperfections of pores and skin which Again there are some people that that's The style they're looking for for Portraiture if you stop down a little Bit to f1.8 real world images like this Actually look fairly crisp as you can See good detail there on the fur and the Eyes everything's looking pretty great Here's another at F1.6 that again I think it looks pretty Fantastic it's not the sharpest or Highest contrast lens that I've seen but It has a really nice fallof and you can See a really nice three-dimensional Effect there and of course having an F1.2 aperture uh if you're looking for Something a little bit more creative you Can do things with it like this whereas
I've shot obviously for a foreground Object where the background is just Suggested but highly blurred I can also Flip that around and shoot with the Foreground now blurred out and at f1.2 You know there's a decent enough amount Of detail there that it doesn't look Terrible as a whole viewed as a whole The image looks quite good that dual Personality is shown here as well and so Here at f1.2 I mean that is a beautiful Amount of bouqu there very very creamy Looking if you look in at the subject The subject is so so as far as the Detail it's not bad but it's not great Either but then I can take the same shot At f2.8 and the Boke is still nice it's Not as creamy as what I saw at f1.2 but Now looking at the subject the subject Looks quite crisp and because of you Know our modern technology I can blend Two shots like that together and so Here's an image where I've combined the F1.2 Boke so the out of focus is coming From f1.2 the INF focus is coming from F2.8 and now I've got you know the Best Of Both Worlds I've got a very sharp Subject but I've got a beautifully Creamy background that actually very few Lenses in this class are going to be Able to match I would say the primary Negatives of the bokeh is first of all There is fringing to it and then there Is some fairly severe clipping near the
Edges of the frame and so it's not even Quite a lemon effect it's a it's not Quite balanced it's a little more curved On this side and then shorter on the Inside so it's I don't love the geometry Of it but that's really my only Complaints about the bokeh otherwise It's beautiful now less beautiful is the Flare resistance and now if you're Actually looking for a lens without a Lot of modern Coatings to where you can Get some of these effects because you Like them uh that's what you're going to Get wide open stop down you get some of This type effect uh here is another Position you can see you got a double Rainbow effect maybe you'll love that Stopping it down and you can see the Rays and some you know prism a little Bit of ghosting artifacts and as we pan Across you can definitely see there is Some very things going on and so either You hate that or you love that depending Upon what kind of photographer you are So in conclusion you could probably see From the optical quality segment that You there's some give and take and maybe More take than give it really comes down To what your set of priorities are those Of you that really don't like the highly Corrected look you of modern lenses that Is sterile or clinical in your mind you May really like the look from this image Or this lens that does have some Optical
Flaws but maybe that gives it character In your mind if you prefer lenses that Have kind of that dual nature where it's A little bit dreamy wide open but Sharpens up when it stopped down then This is a lens that does help to satisfy That and maybe you would prefer that Obviously we saw that autofocus is not Super sophisticated but if you're Primarily do photography and only do Some video it is probably good enough to Work for most people in most situations I would say this lens is is a good fit For those that don't love what I call The sigma approach where they work for a Higher corrected wide open lower Aberration you know nice sharpness wide Open but some people really love the Sigma approach and other people don't Like it as well and if you're one of Those people that don't like it find it Sterile or whatever then this lens might Be a good alternative for you Particularly since it is very reasonably Priced for an autofocusing f1.2 Lens $349 and maybe a little bit cheaper it Could be a of lens for the money my Money would go towards the vro pro AF 27 Mm F1.2 it's yes it's bigger it's heavier And it is more expensive but it gives You pretty much everything optically it Is great wide open it's great stop down
It's very nice bouquet it just has a lot Of the things that I wish this lens had Including weather ceiling and a little Bit more features on it and so I lean Towards that lens but maybe the V TR Also is just not your cup of tea and if You're looking for a stylish lens that Has some interesting character to it Know the sirai sniper 23mm f1.2 might Just be your cup of tea I'm Dustin Abbott and if you'll look in description Down below you can find linkage to my Full text review there's some buying Links there linkage to an image gallery If you haven't already please like And Subscribe thanks for watching have a Great day and let the light [Music] In
