It is always interesting to see new lensmakers entering the market. Sirui started with cine (video) lenses (all manual – no autofocus or electronics), but they are now releasing their first autofocus lenses – called the “Sniper” series – and I’ve done an overview of the series here. The Sniper Series was initially made up of 3 APS-C specific lenses – a 23mm F1.2, 33mm F1.2, and 56mm F1.2 lens, but they have now expanded the series to include both a wider angle option (Sniper 16mm F1.2) and a longer telephoto option (Sniper 75mm F1.2). It is these latter two that I am currently reviewing, and today’s review focuses on the wide angle option – the Sirui Sniper 16mm F1.2 AF lens. These can be purchased individually for $349 USD each (though various discounts will provide a little fluctuation in pricing). These lenses will be available in Fuji X-mount (reviewed here), Sony E-mount, and Nikon Z mount configurations, though in all mounts they are designed to cover the APS-C and not the full frame image circle. Find out by watching my video review below, reading the text review here, or just enjoy the photos below.

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Thanks to Sirui for sending me a set of review samples of the lenses.   As always, this is a completely independent review.  All opinions and conclusions are my own. I’m doing this review on a 40MP Fujifilm X-H2 camera.

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Here’s a quick way to access my reviews of each lens in the series:

• Sniper 16mm F1.2
• Sniper 23mm F1.2
• Sniper 33mm F1.2
• Sniper 56mm F1.2
• Sniper 75mm F1.2

I’m doing this review on Fuji X-mount since that is what Sirui had available to send me. In many ways this is jumping right into the fire, as there is no platform more optically demanding than the 40MP sensor on my Fujifilm X-H2. This is the equivalent of over 90MP on full frame, a resolution point that is currently 30+MP higher than what is even available on full frame. That creates an extremely demanding optical test that will push this new series to the limits. Is this 16mm F1.2 Sniper lens up to the challenge? As with the other lenses, that answer really depends on your priorities and expectations as a photographer, though I will say that I think these two newest Sniper lenses are optically the best of the bunch. It is very rare to get such a bright aperture on a wide angle lens like this, with competing lenses having (at most) a less bright F1.4 aperture. Though the wide angle of the view dictates that depth of field is still not going to be particularly shallow, this does allow you to play with focal points a bit. In this shot, for example, I first focused on the barn and left the foreground trees out of focus:

In this second shot I focused on the foliage in the foreground, leaving the barn slightly out of focus.

In neither case is the amount of blur strong, but it at least allows for some creativity that you don’t always get with a wide angle lens. Getting closer to your subject and shooting at F1.2 does allow for some pretty nice bokeh for a wide angle lens (bokeh has definitely been a strength for this series!)

16mm is obviously a popular wide angle focal length on APS-C, as once you apply the 1.5x crop factor of the camera you mount it on (whether Fuji, Sony, or Nikon), you have a full frame equivalent focal length of 24mm. The Sniper 16mm has an advantage over many competitors due to having a maximum aperture of F1.2, which is about a half stop faster/brighter than F1.4. For example, my X-H2 metered at 1/90th second at F1.2, but 1/60th of a second at F1.4 with the Sniper 16mm F1.2 mounted. That’s an obvious advantage for the F1.2 in two ways: 1) when shooting in low light conditions that large aperture can suck in more light 2) the depth of field will shallower at F1.2 than F1.4, allowing for larger, softer bokeh highlights and a more blurred out background. The fact that the Sirui Nightwalker 16mm T1.2 exists (my video review here) tells me that the light transmission for the lens is excellent, as the T-stop actually matches the F-stop (fairly rare, in my experience). This is a very bright lens, and that’s going to be useful in a lot of situations.

The Sniper series has come in three different finish option: a black/grey finish with carbon fiber accents (the lenses I’m testing come in this finish), a white finish, and a silver finish. Each is available for the three different mounts that lens is sold for. These photos cover the three older lenses as I’m reviewing the 16mm and 75mm lenses before public release.

It is great to see Sirui forging their own design path, and I’ve been impressed across the three different lineups that I’ve tested (Sniper, Night Walker, and Saturn). So let’s take a closer look at this 16mm F1.2 lens from Sirui.

Photos of the Sirui Sniper 16mm F1.2

Photos Taken with the Sirui Sniper 16mm F1.2

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GEAR USED:

Early bird discounted pricing: https://sirui.kckb.me/dabbott

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