[Music] Hi I'm Dustin Abbott and I'm here for The final of my series of reviews of the New sirai sniper Series this is a series Of autofocusing f1.2 Maximum abure Lenses designed for apsc platforms like Fuji X Mount which I'm reviewing here Sony E Mount and then also Nikon z-mount I've also released a video where I Looked at the series as a whole and if You want to look at how they complement Each other with identical physical Designs the ability to kind of hot swap Them and also uh a consistent color tone Throughout the series you can check out That review there these lenses retail For between $300 and $350 depending on Your price point and whether you use a Coupon or you can get them as a total Series for around $900 in a nutshell this is a really Nicely built lens that uses premium Materials it has average autofocus for Stills it has rather poor uh video focus It has extremely nice Boke definitely a Highlight and it stops up very or Sharpens up very nicely when it's stop Down but wide open it has a lot of Chromatic aberration resulting in lower Contrast it's a modern lens in its build And its design but it has a retro Aesthetic which is both good and bad as We're going to see in this review In a moment we will dive into the
Overall details and overview of the Build and handling the autofocus and the Image quality and if you want a deep Dive into the optical results you can See that at the end of the video or you Can jump ahead to that using the Description below today's episode is Brought to you by into the am a clothing Brand from Southern California that Wants to outfit your passion whatever it Might be their everyday comfortable Fabrics and Designs are great whether You are working from home working out or Even just chilling out I love the fit And fabric on their everyday t-shirts And you can choose more funky Styles Created in collaboration with local Artists like this killer fractured King Hoodie use the code Dustin 10 or follow The link in the description to get 10% Off sitewide including their monthly T-shirt Club visit intotheam.com Dustin for more information now 56 mm When you apply the 1.5 times crop factor Of the various amounts that it is for it Results in roughly an 85 mm equivalent Lens so this is essentially the portrait Lens or primarily portrait lens of the Group that being probably the most Popular portrait focal length of all so Getting a big f1.2 aperture there is Going to be extremely useful for that Now like the other lenses in the series The overall dimensions are identical and
Like all of these lenses you have the Option of three different finishes I've Tested what they call the black and its Accents are actual genuine carbon fiber As on the barrel itself there's also a Silver that uses aluminum alloy accents And then there is a white look that has A ceramic um and a ceramic paint paint Baked into it as a part of the look all Of them are really really stylish and Definitely not carbon copies of other Lenses that are out there on the market All the lenses have an identical Exterior dimension of 72 by right over 92 mm in length 2.8 in by 3.6 in a Common 58 mm front filter thread this is The heaviest of the bunch because the Optical elements inside are going to be The largest it weighs in at 419 G or 14.7 O now as I mentioned these lenses are Really beautifully built the focus rings Are consistent and that they're to have A 360° rotation so if you're happen to Do manual focus and focus pulls uh so That they perform consistently for Example on a gimbal But at the the same time I will note That here on Fuji that if you get close To minimum Focus you have to make some Additional rotations to get that extra Little bit down to minimum focus and That's more of a Fuji Quirk as I've Noticed with many lenses over time and
Not specific to this particular Series So while things are very nicely made There aren't any additional features There's no switches on the side there's No apertur ring the one thing that it Does have is there is a USB C port in The lens mount and that is very welcome Because it allows you to do firmware Updates to keep the lens future proof And also will allow them to tweak Autofocus to maybe get a little bit Better performance in the future in this Case we do have an included lens Hood It's a little deeper and not Petal-shaped and that just reflects the Fact that this is a telephoto lens and Thus as a longer focal length as we're Going to see even with the lens Hood Lots of flare anyway so a big hood hood Is probably welcome the one thing that Does set it apart here is there is a Grip section Alla signal ma that you Know makes it a little more convenient For breaking loose or putting back on so I appreciate that I also appreciate the Fact that inside we have 11 aperture Blades and so with a massive maximum Apture that ability to maintain a Circular shape as the aperture is closed Down is something that's very welcome Not so welcome as a minimum Focus Distance of just 50 cm and as a Byproduct you get a quite low around 0.1 Times level of magnification far from a
Macro lens though fortunately you can Tremendously blur out a background due To that big f1.2 Aperture now Focus Here Comes via an STM Or a stepping Focus motor Focus speed is Not bad but as you can see here it is What I would call slightly below average Not that it's slow but you can actually See Focus taking place as something Comes into Focus whereas so many of the The modern lenses focus is basically Instantaneous it just jumps from one Subject to another in this case it's a Little bit more deliberate than that the Overall noise of focus is not bad you Will hear a light clicking and worring Sometimes during video capture if focus Is moving around but what you will hear Above all is the snap of the aperture Blades opening and closing because as You go to focus apture blades will pop Open to the preset aperture but when You're done they close back down to a Smaller uh aperture setting and so as a Byproduct you will hear some clicking as Those opening CL Now the actual autofocus accuracy on This Fuji xh2 body that I used for Review was actually quite good I found That overall I was able to get good Focus accuracy I found that it tracked The eye quite well as you can see here And as I move around it's able to stay Locked on that eye and continues to
Maintain good focus in that regard for Stills while it's not fast enough I Wouldn't say for sports or action not a Lot of f1.2 lenses are but I I think That outside of that for most people in Most applications for Stills photography You'll have no problems autofocus will Serve you just fine the video side of Things is not nearly as good however I Found that the video for Focus pulls it Was very slow to react there's Definitely some hunting some visible Steps it's just not great in my hand Test it just shows a really really low Reaction time and so when I you know Cover with the hand it takes a while to Transition to that hand so even though I Was deliberately slow by the time I Moved my hand away sometimes Focus was Not all the way there and then it just Kind of lingers there for a bit and then Starts to move back towards the eye and Vice versa and so overall the only plus I would say on the video side of things Is that Focus breathing is fairly low For a 56 mm lens but other than that This is obviously not a Top Choice for Video Work F focus is just not reactive Enough for for action or really for Video purposes so a quick sketch of the Image quality and if you want more Details dive into the image quality Section but there are 12 elements in 11 Groups including one Ed element for
HR this lens has what I would call quite A retro personality in that it is low Contrast wide open there's actually a Reasonable amount of detail but the Contrast is so low you don't necessarily See it and if you have shiny surfaces There will be a lot of chromatic Aberration longitud style chromatic Aberration and so that tends to give it Kind of a dreamy look wide open without A lot of contrast if you stop The Lens Down after about f2.8 it starts to Really start to to sharpen up and by the Time you get to landscape apertures it's You know fully modern high contrast good Detail even on a 40 megapixel sensor and So it really has that dual personality That you have to actually want and not Everyone does in some ways it reminds me Of the old Zeiss classic planr 50mm F1.4 and that lens was quite soft dreamy Wide open and then quite sharp when sto Down something that it does well is that It has really really low vignette just About a stop of vignette in the corners There's a little bit of ping cushion Distortion as mentioned there are Definitely chromatic aberrations and There is severe amounts of flare and That flare takes a lot of takes a lot Makes a lot of different looks and so Some of them could be artistic but in Other cases you may be annoyed by them And if you don't like flare artifacts in
General this is definitely not the lens For you overall the lens does have some Redeeming qualities and does produce Some nice images but it's really for a Particular type of photographer and so In conclusion I would say that I like This lens better than the 33mm but this Is not a lens for those who value Sharpness and contrast at wide apertures You're probably better served by Choosing a lens like the sigma 56mm f1.4 If you value High sharpness and contrast Wide open by contrast I think the Bouquet is a lot nicer from the sirai Lens than what it is from the sigma but It's it's a trade-off to what you prefer If you're not stuck on 56 mm and you Want a little bit of both you don't mind A little bit larger lens try the vro pro AF 75 mm f1.2 it's a lens that is both Very sharp and also has really nice soft Bouqu it kind of gives you all of the Things but obviously different focal Length and a little bit larger than what Some people like the lens is Competitively priced I believe that's Not a bad price for an autofocusing f1.2 Lens but it you need to be sure that you Are the kind of photographer that this Lens will benefit from and if you like a Little more of a retro look where skin Tones are going to be softer and you Know you don't see all the definition of All the pores and all of that this is a
Lens that might work well for you and if You just like the look of more Artful Looking images I do think it has that Quality to it plus it gives you Autofocus so I think that there is a Market for this lens I just don't think It's a large and General market but if You've always wanted an autofocusing Lens with a retro Vibe this is it stick Around now if you want a deep dive into The image quality performance or you can Check out the description down below and Check out my text review in the image Gallery and they buying links there as Well let's dive into the image [Music] Quality So we'll start by taking a look at Vignette and Distortion this has been an Area where this series is actually done Quite well and that's no exception here We can see that there is a bit of Noticeable pen cushion Distortion but in My manual correction on the right you Can see it was very linear and corrected Perfectly very easily we can also see That for an f1.2 lens there is Remarkably low amount of vignette there In the corners so my corrections took The form of a minus 4 to correct the Pincushion Distortion and then a plus 37 Just a little over one stop to correct For the vignette and the corners which Is uh definitely better than competing
Lenses that I've seen of course just as Good as this Series has been when it Comes to vignette and Distortion it is Been this bad when it comes to uh Chromatic aberration particularly the Longitudinal style that we see here and So you can see some pronounced fringing Both before and then after the plane of Focus unfortunately that is going to Show up as fringing um around specular Highlights Bast circles here you can Definitely see that fringing around Those then also as you can see on the Various shiny surfaces here there's lots Of fringing there as well there is also A little bit more of lateral chromatic Aberration in this lens than what I've Seen from other lenses in the series you Can see that on either side of these uh Black and white transitions uh Fortunately this is the kind that Corrects very easily with the one click Correction but as an aberration this is Actually a little bit worse than other Lenses now all the various aberration That make up the lens designs does Rob Contrast from these lenses and you can See here uh unlike the 33mm that really Didn't have a lot of detail on the Textures I actually see reasonable uh Detail here but what you see is just Extremely low contrast kind of like that Vaseline smear over the textures kind of A blooming effect that robs away the
Contrast in the mid-frame again Mid-frame results at f1.2 is not bad Other than the really low contrast there Is sufficient detail there but it's Obscured by the low contrast and even Into the corners there's a reasonable Amount of corner performance but that Low contrast does take away from it now For some perspective here's another f1.2 Lens and this is the vro proa 75mm f1.2 Now you might want to sit down for this Here's the comparison ouch that is a lot More contrast and detail for the vro Compared to the CRI 56 mm now no these Aren't identical in terms of focal Length but just look how incredibly Sharp that vrox lens is by comparison That mid-frame is just startling Different and even to the corners where The vro is the weakest you can just see It is such higher contrast so that's an Area where the vrox is really Exceptionally good and frankly the sirai Is not I haven't really noticed a Significant improvement with any of this Series by stopping down a little bit to F1 .4 that continues to be the case here You can mostly just see that we've got a Little bit more contrast shadows in in Particular just are a little bit deeper But that overall kind of haze is still There to the textures stopping down from F1.4 to F2 does make a difference we're Definitely not all the way there yet but
You can see that now the textures are Starting to show up mid-frame is looking Okay not exceptional the corners um They're not vastly improved but because Expectations tend to be a little bit uh Lower in the corners things don't look All that bad there from F2 to f2.8 we See a little bit more Market Improvement To where things are starting to look Good there though frankly not as sharp As what we saw even at f1.2 from the vrs From f2.8 to F4 there is another Improvement now if we take a quick look Here we can see mid-frame is looking Pretty good let's look how we're doing For centering on the other side we can See looking pretty good there down here On the left side some improvement if we Move over to this left corner starting To look pretty good there up in the Upper left uh you know about the similar Level Improvement upper right we can see That it's certainly not Uber sharp but It is improved so by F5.6 things are starting to come Together to where the lens is in real World use is quite crisp and so we're Seeing now that mid-frame looking good And even down into the corners the Corners are starting to look good though Contrast is still not super sharp there Now while I never felt that the 33 mm Got exceptionally sharp um even at Smaller apertures in this case I think
The 56 MIM does genuinely get pretty Much sharp across the frame this is at F5.6 and at 40 megapixels I'm actually Quite happy with this result right down Into the corner I have no complaints About that here's another result from F5.6 and again if I punch into a pixel Level there you know there's good amount Of detail and that detail runs right off To the edge of the frame so uh no no Complaints at small apertures you stop It down the lens does become nice and Crisp between f5.6 and f8 is pretty much As sharp as what we get after that Defraction does start to soften the Image but what's been interesting with This series is because they're not Particularly high contrast at larger Apors they comparatively don't look all That bad at minimum apture so you can See here at F16 yes contrast has been Reduced somewhat again but it looks Better than what it did at wide Apertures and so it's it's still usable And so I would say that you could use This all throughout its range and again This corner performance doesn't look too Bad for F-16 now minimum Focus distance If you're shooting at f1.2 does remain You know quite low contrast again if you Look there at the actual detail that There the detail is not bad but the Contrast is terrible and there's some Fringing that shows up even in a shot
Like this where the lens compensates for All of that low cont contrast is in the Defocused area if anything it's like the Anti Sigma 56 mm f1.4 a lens that I Thought was just beautifully sharp even At f1.4 but the quality of the bouqu was Not that great because it was so high Contrast in this case the opposite is True the contrast on the subject is not Great at all however the actual image Looks quite nice because the bouquet is So soft and nicely blurred out in this Series actually I shot first at f1.2 and So you see your kind of available Options for tackling a scene and I Here's where I think the value might be On the subject contrast is as you can See a little bit soft but you can see That the the blur is really nice Stopping down to f1.8 helps to improve Contrast somewhat now the detail I think Is is sufficient for most purposes the Bouquet is not quite as soft it still Looks pretty good and then at f2.8 Obviously the background is not as Blurred but more is in focus and and the Contrast and detail is better in that Plane of focus so you have different Options with this lens on how you want The image to actually look this image Here is actually a combination of an F1.2 aperture shot that gives you that Beautifully creamy background and then I Shot at f2 on the subject and then
Combine those together and so F2 gives Me enough contrast that in a real world Use I think that looks really quite nice I'm happy with that as a shot and then Of course I'm getting the beautiful blur That comes from the f1.2 aperture so There's another way you could handle it This shot here which was part of my kind Of sample testing for the I you can just See how beautifully blurred out the Background is that's definitely a Strength for the lens now finally a look At flare resistance because as you can See in this particular just the position Of the sun coming through the window Here is just kind of flooded this image With light It's actually an artistic Effect that I I like fine um in this Shot here I just composed a little bit Differently and so we have a little bit Of a pris itic Veil there but overall You can see that there's a little bit More contrast in the scene this shot is Actually interesting because one of the Things you'll get is kind of a flashing Effect and so you can see that on Display here it comes across I think as Being artistic but it all depends on how You're going to compose and so here if We take a look kind of panning across uh In video mode you can see there's just a Huge variety of different flare Artifacts and different effects that are There and so maybe you love maybe you
Hate those stop down I don't like any of Them quite as much because it's just a Little bit more inyour face and Pronounced you can see that flashing Effect though there at the end well if You've stuck around to the end thank you So much have a great day and let the Light [Music] In
