A Few Shots with the 7Artisans 35mm f/0.95 in X-Mount

Let’s get straight to the point: here are a few shots taken with a Fuji X-T4 and a 7 Artisans 35mm f/.0.95 (obviously) in X-mount. All photos were taken at the widest (nominal) aperture of the lens, i.e. 0.95. I’m not sure if this is a real value, but it doesn’t matter because comparing the shutter speed with (relatively) slower lenses like the Zeiss Planar 32mm F1.8 shows that the 7 Artisans is proportionally faster, and that’s enough for me.

This is an 8x crop of the featured image. Even wide open the lens was able to make the Ryanair word easily readable and I have found this performance quite impressive.

The bokeh is a little strange. As a fellow photojournalist pointed out discussing this picture, the circular shapes of the lights are reminiscent of a cathadioptric lens. Personally, I don’t dislike it.

Colour reproduction, even in difficult conditions, is also pleasant. This image also shows the progressive loss of sharpness due to the wide aperture, as well as some chromatic aberration.

In this image I have deliberately increased the shadows to hide the bakground and enhance the combination of the columns rising from a fountain and their reflection in the water. The lens is focused on the column in the foreground, again giving an idea of how progressive the bokeh could be.

I am fairly happy with this lens as it produces good images, not only for its price but also in absolute terms.

Personally, I don’t follow the ‘value for money’ approach. If a lens performs poorly, claims like ‘you can’t expect more for such a small price tag’ are a nonsense: just don’t waste good money on bad lenses. By contrast, I prefer to focus (pun intended) on the results, so I have no problem in purchasing lenses from a lesser (or unknown) brand if it suits my aesthetic needs, or holding back on more expensive gear to get a less-than-proportional, marginal increase in quality.

Of course, you could challenge my photographic taste, but that would be a horse of a different colour.

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