Sirui launched their “Sniper” series of autofocus lenses in late 2023. 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 telephoto option – the Sirui Sniper 75mm 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 my text review here, or just by enjoying 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 75mm 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 that the Sniper 75mm is the best of the bunch optically. It does face very stiff competition from the excellent Viltrox Pro AF 75mm F1.2 (my review here), though the Viltrox is bigger, heavier, and more expensive.

For that size, however, you get more features (aperture ring, AF/MF switch), weather sealing, and it is definitely sharper. But this new Sniper 75mm is no slouch optically, and while it isn’t as transcendently sharp as the Viltrox at F1.2, it helps compensate by both a very useful amount of sharpness along with gorgeous bokeh.

This is definitely the “bokeh monster” of the Sniper series, capable of crushing backgrounds and delivering beautiful subject isolation.

75mm is the least traditional of the focal lengths in the Sniper series. Once you apply the 1.5x crop factor of the APS-C cameras that these lenses are designed for (whether Fuji, Sony, or Nikon), the 16, 23, 35, and 56mm become the full frame equivalents of 24, 35, 50, and 85mm – the most common prime focal lengths you could ask for. 75mm is a much less conventional 112.5mm full frame equivalent, and while that isn’t as flexible a focal length as some of these others, it a really great portrait focal length because you can shoot full length and still have the background blurred out. Viltrox’s Pro AF 75mm F1.2 has proven very popular for that reason.

All of these Sniper lenses have sported an F1.2 maximum aperture. 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 75mm 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. It has no problem when the light gets dim.

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 75mm F1.2 lens from Sirui.

Photos of the Sirui Sniper 75mm F1.2

Images taken with the Sirui Sniper 75mm F1.2

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GEAR USED:

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

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