Last week, the first of the 7Artisans 75mm f/1.25 lenses landed with me in the UK. The first thing I did was mount one onto my M10-P and take some shots wide open. Since then, I must admit, I have been a little bit suckered in by the novelty of shooting such a fast short-tele. I’m not sure how long this novelty will last, but for now, I am really enjoying the look of the results!
Since posting a little bit about the 7Artisans 75mm f/1.25 on social media, I’ve had a good deal of interest from people wanting to know how it shoots wider-open. I suppose if you’re going to buy a 75mm f/1.25 lens, one of the main things you might be interested in is how it performs at it’s extreme – this certainly seems to be the primary interest people are expressing in my direction – so I thought I’d share a few brief early thoughts.
For me, as I say, there is a novelty value here – but I must also say, compared to ultra-fast normal lenses I have shot, I do like the slightly longer-lens look. The fall-off to out of focus is very fast indeed. It also has a nice glowy/gooey (for want of some slightly less subjective words) transition zone. Compared to the 50mm f/1.1 lens from 7Artisans the bokeh seems to be a lot more stable – though it does look like foliage can trip it up a little. It suffers a from “cats-eyes” too – but that’s to be expected, I think.
In terms of contrast and resolution, it does seem to also be a little higher contrast than the 50mm f/1.1 wide open which tends to wash out with spherical aberrations and veiling flare. I’d be sugar coating things if I said it was “sharp” – wide open, the resolution just isn’t all there. But, given normal viewing distances (ie. not pixel peeping) the contrast seems to give enough “pop” to allow this slightly nuts lens to be shot wide open and give aesthetically pleasing images.
Here’s a few early tests for you to judge for yourself – if you click through to flickr on each image you can view the images larger too.
The 7Artisans 75mm f/1.25 is big, and quite heavy, but I guess that’s the price you must pay for such a chunk of glass with this sort of on-paper spec. A sacrifice those who want this sort of look, or those who want to shoot in lower light, will no doubt be happy to make – especially at this price point!
It’s also worth noting that I had to calibrate my 7Artisans 75mm f/1.25 out of the box – wide open it was back focusing a fair bit out of the box. These lenses come with the tool needed to adjust the focus calibration, but it’s worth noting that the process is a lot easier with a digital rangefinder to hand than with a film rangefinder.
Finally, I should point out that I sell these lenses through the 35mmc shop here. Regardless, I try to be 100% transparent about my opinions on the 7Artisans kit, and will be following up with more thoughts in due course. If you have any questions in the meanwhile, please ask in the comments below so others can see my answers.
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Stefan on 5 Wider-Open Frames with the 7Artisans 75mm f/1.25 & a Leica M10-P
Comment posted: 28/08/2019
Scott Edwards on 5 Wider-Open Frames with the 7Artisans 75mm f/1.25 & a Leica M10-P
Comment posted: 28/08/2019
Comment posted: 28/08/2019
Philip Lewis Lambert on 5 Wider-Open Frames with the 7Artisans 75mm f/1.25 & a Leica M10-P
Comment posted: 28/08/2019
I bought a used 75mm Leica f2.5 Summarit recently for £550 that worked well on an M240 for a month until the iris jammed at f5.6. Not a lot of depth of field at f5.6 so I don't know how you manage at f2 or wider. I sent the lens back to Wetzlar (via Leica off Oxford Street, London) and got it back 6 weeks later serviced free of charge. I wonder where I can get a black M10-P at a sensible (!) price and trade my 240 in.
I recommend the 75mm Summarit as it suits the M240 but I use the 40mm f2 Summicron mostly, or wide-angle glass indoors.
As a result of reading your posts about film I am looking for a 120 film reflex. Do you have any suggestions? I once had a Pentacon Six but the subsequent Mamiyaflex 330 was better built and gave better results, but two such bodies and three lenses weighed enough to replace my holdall with a Minivan,
Best regards
Phil
Thanks
Phil
Comment posted: 28/08/2019
Mark on 5 Wider-Open Frames with the 7Artisans 75mm f/1.25 & a Leica M10-P
Comment posted: 28/08/2019
Kevin Saruwatari on 5 Wider-Open Frames with the 7Artisans 75mm f/1.25 & a Leica M10-P
Comment posted: 29/08/2019
I'd be interested to see a similar close up portrait shot like the first shot at say f1.7 or 2.0 (even 2.8) where a little extra depth of field would be fine and see if the lens smartens up a bit. It's hard to say if it's not sharp at that distance or just not enough is in focus that close.
Wide open looks pretty darn sharp at the distance of the shot with the girl in plastic tub. But I will say the swirly bokeh in the grass is not my thing. Curious if it ever gets critically sharp across the frame and what aperture it does it at. Also at what aperture the swirl goes away.
I've been looking at images from the new Voigtlander 75mm/f1.5 and hoping this lens compares favorably from f2.0 and smaller as it is quite a bit less expensive and this is not a focal length I expect to use on my camera a lot.
Seems like a good ol' fashioned lens where I'd have to learn what conditions to avoid certain apertures. I don't mind that for this focal length.
Comment posted: 29/08/2019
eric on 5 Wider-Open Frames with the 7Artisans 75mm f/1.25 & a Leica M10-P
Comment posted: 29/08/2019
Very sharp and great rendering. Bokeh is perfect for me here.
Voigtlander .... the great pretender at human prices ;-)
Ashley Carr on 5 Wider-Open Frames with the 7Artisans 75mm f/1.25 & a Leica M10-P
Comment posted: 29/08/2019
Saying that, my £80 Leitz Elmar 90/4 is superb for the price I paid and the focal length still gets me good isolation when I need it.
Comment posted: 29/08/2019
Brian on 5 Wider-Open Frames with the 7Artisans 75mm f/1.25 & a Leica M10-P
Comment posted: 29/08/2019
Ondrej Kratochvil on 5 Wider-Open Frames with the 7Artisans 75mm f/1.25 & a Leica M10-P
Comment posted: 29/08/2019
Comment posted: 29/08/2019
James Johnson on 5 Wider-Open Frames with the 7Artisans 75mm f/1.25 & a Leica M10-P
Comment posted: 04/09/2019
Comment posted: 04/09/2019
Huss on 5 Wider-Open Frames with the 7Artisans 75mm f/1.25 & a Leica M10-P
Comment posted: 07/09/2019
Focus was still accurate as long as you used the RF to focus, so I don't really care (as I have other M lenses too) but it is something to note.
Comment posted: 07/09/2019
Huss Hardan on 5 Wider-Open Frames with the 7Artisans 75mm f/1.25 & a Leica M10-P
Comment posted: 11/09/2019
Personally I'm not going to go through that as I am happy focusing accurately using my RF patch and so don't want to mess around with anything. But it does suggest that one reason the price on these lenses is so good is because in essence final assembly/tuning is left to the end user!
Right now I'm using the 35mm f2 lens on my 'beater' M4-2, taking it places where I'm too scared to take my pricey Leica glass.. kinda enjoying getting excellent results w/o worry! But the 28 1.4 is my current stand out. Awesome glass and gets me shots my way more expensive Leica 28 2.8 Asph cannot.
Thanks for the reply Hamish
Comment posted: 11/09/2019
Brian on 5 Wider-Open Frames with the 7Artisans 75mm f/1.25 & a Leica M10-P
Comment posted: 18/09/2019
https://cameraderie.org/threads/7artisans-75mm-f1-25.49525/
Focus is perfect out-of-the-box throughout range at F1.25 on my M9. I would have to adjust it slightly for use on the M Monochrom with a Yellow-3 and deeper filter. I use a 1.25x magnifier on the M9. I'll get out with this lens and the Canon 85/1.5 within the next few weeks for a decent comparison. I paid about as much for the Canon lens.
Focus is smooth after a few turns from max to min distance, had one little "bump" in the action that smoothed out, not uncommon with a new lens. I'm happy with the sharpness, there is a good bit of spherical aberration BUT the "gradient" is computed to give smooth transitions in the out-of-focus areas. This is similar to the 50/1.1 Nokton. The glass and finish on my lens is perfect out of the box. I've been coding it as a 75/1.4, do not notice vignetting on my CCD based M9. I'll have to turn off lend coding and see if there is a difference.
Bruno Chalifour on 5 Wider-Open Frames with the 7Artisans 75mm f/1.25 & a Leica M10-P
Comment posted: 14/06/2020