Last year about this time I reviewed the little 7Artisans AF 27mm F2.8, a pretty decent budget autofocus lens for various APS-C mounts (I reviewed in on Sony). This year they are back with another APS-C lens, but this is a much more ambitious option – the 7Artisans AF 35mm F1.4. F1.4 is two full stops brighter than an F2.8 lens, and is thus much harder to engineer. They have also elected to bring it to market (at least initially) just for Fuji X-mount. 7Artisans has managed to keep the size small and the price inexpensive ($169 USD), so should you consider this new 7Artisans AF 35mm for your Fuji camera? Find out my thoughts in the video review below or by reading on…

https://youtu.be/kFr_bAdCcGo

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Thanks to 7Artisans for sending me a review copy of this lens. 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. You can visit the product page for the 7Artisans AF 35mm F1.4 here.

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The first thing that jumped out to me about the new AF 35mm F1.4 is just how small it is. This is lens not much bigger than a pancake lens (only 49mm long) and which weighs only 184g. That’s incredibly small and light for an F1.4 lens.

35mm on APS-C behaves differently than on full frame. While a 35mm lens on full frame is moderately wide, the 1.5x crop factor of Fuji’s X-mount system means that the lens will behave like a 52.5mm full frame lens, or what is called the “normal” perspective because it is similar to the field of view that the human eye sees.

There are some quirks with this lens that I’ll detail, but put in the right situation, the 7Artisans AF 35mm F1.4 can produce some lovely images, with very soft, creamy bokeh and a solid amount of sharpness and contrast even at F1.4:

So is this a lens that you should seriously consider? We’ll explore whether or not that is the case in this review.

Build and Handling

As noted, this lens has a nicely compact size. If you remove the lens hood, the lens looks pretty short mounted on my X-H2. Not much sticks out past that grip!

It is 68mm (2.67″) in diameter and is just 49mm (1.92″) in length. 184g translates to just under 6.5oz, making for a very compact, lightweight package.

The front filter thread size is fairly uncommon 62mm.

The 7Artisans AF 35mm F1.4 is wider in diameter (+4mm) but shorter (-5.3mm) in length than the Viltrox AF 35mm F1.7, a lens that has a similar price and may be the top competition for this lens.

The Viltrox is very slightly lighter (-14g) at 170g in weight. Both lenses are have metal mounts, but while the Viltrox has a plastic outer shell (though very good plastics), the 7Artisans is a mix of metals and plastics.

Because there aren’t any real features on the lens, the look of the lens is very clean and simple. Nothing striking, but nothing negative, either. The large tulip shaped hood that is included adds a bit of visual interest.

That hood is strongly needed, as we’ll see in a bit.

The one feature here is a USB-C port covered by a small rubber gasket. Be careful when pulling it out, as it is small and wouldn’t be hard to lose.

The USB-C port will allow for quick and easy firmware updates, which is very smart of 7Artisans considering that they are A) new to autofocus and B) a third party lens maker, so they may have to rely on firmware updates to maintain compatibility with cameras in the future. The lens does include a USB-C cable in the box in case you don’t have one.

There is a metal lens mount but no weather sealing gasket, though no competing lenses at this price offer weather sealing, either. 7Artisans does claim a water and fingerprint resistant coating on the front element.

Some Fuji users are going to be disappointed to find that there is no aperture ring, as that is a fairly ubiquitous feature on native Fuji lenses. There are seven aperture blades in the aperture iris. These blades are clearly not rounded, as you can clearly see the aperture shape even by F2. The geometry near the edges of the frame gets a little weird looking as you stop down further (F1.4, F2, and F2.8 shown below).

The manual focus ring is main object on the lens barrel. It’s made of tightly ribbed plastics, and has a fairly firm amount of damping. While perhaps a little heavy, the damping feels good (tight and connected), but unfortunately (as is so often the case on Fuji) the focus seems to happen in little steps rather than in a smooth, linear fashion.

The minimum focus distance is 35cm. I estimate the maximum magnification figure to be roughly 0.12x, which looks like this:

That’s close enough to be useful but not exceptionally so. The Viltrox, for example, can focus a little closer (33cm) and has a slightly higher 0.13x magnification.

The 7Artisans AF 35mm F1.4 is a simple lens, but it does get high marks for being so compact and light for an F1.4 lens. It’s also a very affordable lens at just $169 USD. You aren’t going to get too many F1.4 lenses for that price.

Autofocus for Stills

Most 7Artisans lenses that I have tested have used an STM (stepping motor) focus system, but I could quickly tell that this wasn’t the case with the AF 35mm F1.4. It has the kind of buzzy focus motor that I haven’t heard in a while, and autofocus definitely proved to be the weak link in the equation. Autofocus speed is not quick. In my formal tests there was a bit of a lag while inertia built, and then the main focus pull was relatively quick. The combined focus speed was on the slower side, however.

That’s not a big deal if your subject is still.

Autofocus precision was generally pretty good when shooting at large apertures. My shots at F1.4 (like above) were generally well focused – even if the subject was in profile and the eye was not generally visible.

Shots at F1.4 to F2 of other subjects were accurately focused as well.

So, with still subjects, focus is fine.

If the subject is moving, however, it’s another story. Focus speed is just not reactive enough to adjust to movement. This is NOT an action lens.

There’s a secondary problem, too, though this one will most likely be fixed via firmware. On my X-H2, I could focus well and accurately if I was shooting at larger apertures. This shot at F2.8, for example, locked on quickly and without any pulsing.

But just a couple of minutes later, I tried to take a shot up the street at F5.6. Focus just went back and forth without locking on a target. I went ahead and pressed the shutter to highlight the issue.

Here’s another example. On the left side you can see that I clicked the shutter and happened to catch the pulse where it was totally defocused. On the right side I had to open the aperture up to F3.2 to achieve proper focus.

I do think that 7Artisans will fix this via firmware, as I’ve seen them do similar things before. But, at the moment of this review, it remains an issue on my X-H2. I watched a few other reviews from those using different Fuji cameras and none of those reviewers reported similar issues. I tested a second copy to make sure it wasn’t just my original lens, and I saw the same issue on both, so it is definitely an X-H2 compatibility issue.

Autofocus is definitely the weak link in this design.

Video AF

I saw some mixed results on the video front. Fuji’s state of autofocus for video definitely has some shortcomings at present, and that is a bad combination with a lens that is also a little weak in the autofocus department.

Video focus pulls were reasonably well damped, though as is often the case I found that touch to focus often wouldn’t work, with either the lens stubbornly refusing to shift focus or a serious lag before it happened. I see this often on Fuji, so I put more of the blame there than on the lens. I did see some visible steps in the focus process, however, and sometimes there would be a final adjustment once focus was 95% of the way there. Focusing breathing isn’t terrible, but I did note that it was more pronounced than the Viltrox.

The 7Artisans AF 35mm F1.4 did better with with my “hand test” however, where I alternately block the view to my face with my hand and then remove it. While there might be a bit of that lag for a split second, focus would then transitioned nicely from my hand to my face. Fuji’s AF does better when there is a recognizable subject that the AF can track.

Focus results are decent if you are just shooting a normal video clip and focus is making small, minor adjustments.

7Artisans AF 35mm F1.4 Image Quality Breakdown

The 7Artisans AF 35mmmm F1.4 has a simple optical design of 8 elements in 5 groups. There is one ED (extra low dispersion) element in the design. I wasn’t able to to find a published MTF chart for the lens.

I always add the caveat that the Fujifilm 40MP X-Trans sensor in my X-H2 and other cameras is the most demanding platform that I test on…by far. It is the equivalent of over 90MP on full frame, so if a lens can perform reasonably well there…it is exceptionally sharp. The 7Artisans AF 35mm F1.4 doesn’t thrive in every optical situation, but, at its best, it is very usably sharp even at F1.4.

7Artisans glass often has a unique look to it. Somewhat cinematic, without deep contrast levels. For the right subject it really works, though I think it is a “taste” thing (you’ll either like the look or you won’t). The Viltrox delivers a higher contrast, higher detail look wide open while the 7Artisans has a more cinematic rendering.

Zooming in to a pixel level shows the more intense contrast and detail that comes from the Viltrox lens.

Like, I said, it’s a look. Some people don’t want intense contrast and detail, preferring something that’s a little “kinder” on skin.

There are some minor issues with longitudinal chromatic aberrations (LoCA) which show up before and after the plane of focus. I didn’t notice them in a lot of situations, but as I’ve found with some other 7Artisans lenses, that result is very situational. There’s a mild amount in the contrast points here:

A lot of the optical vulnerabilities for the 7Artisans AF 35mm F1.4 come in bright or high contrast situations. Here, for example, you see that contrast drops and some fringing emerges around the subject because of the brightness of the snow.

Put the lens in a lower contrast situation, like this, and I think the end result is pretty great even at F1.4; I don’t see any fringing even in the vulnerable spots.

In general, I don’t have a lot of concerns over LoCA.

LaCA lateral chromatic aberrations are another story. There is some strong fringing visible in the transitions from black to white at the edges of the frame.

There is moderate amounts of barrel distortion and vignette present.

I corrected the barrel distortion with a +7 (nothing extreme) and about two stops of vignette (+57). That’s actually not bad at all for an F1.4 lens wide open.

So how about resolution and contrast? My tests have been done on a 40MP X-H2. I have used a steady tripod and two second delay to achieve optimal results. Crops will be shown at roughly a 200% level of magnification. Here’s the test chart:

Here are F1.4 crops at roughly 200% from across the frame (center, mid-frame, and lower right corner).

The center results look reasonably sharp but with lower contrast, the mid-frame has similar lower contrast but dropping sharpness towards the further out edge, while the corners look quite soft. My testing criteria (particularly on this Fuji sensor) tends to exaggerate softness more than what you’ll see with real world images. If you want high contrast, you probably want to choose the Viltrox, which is noticeably sharper and higher contrast across the frame even when the 7Artisans is stopped down to F1.8.

The rendering of the 7Artisans AF 35mm F1.4 is more like a classic lens. A little “dreamy” wide open (a glow due to lower contrast), which works nicely in certain situations. In lower contrast situations the results are less dreamy. This show in a restaurant, for example, looks great even at F1.4. I don’t need (or want) sharp corners here.

This street scene at F2.2 has a great look to it.

If you tend to favor the “Instagram look” and put those kinds of filters on your images, then this would be a good fit.

Like many classic lenses, if you want more sharpness and contrast, stop down to F2.8 or smaller, as contrast and detail intensify there. There’s a dramatic difference between F2 and F2.8 in the center:

The corners don’t sharp up until F5.6, though they never get quite as sharp as the center.

Peak consistency across the frame is found at F8. Landscape images look good…but again, if you just want sharpness, there are better options.

Diffraction will start to soften the image after that, with a mild amount at F11 but a more obvious amount by F16,though this is one of the rare lenses where the sharpness gains the lens continues to make as you stop it down offset the softening due to diffraction. I would definitely use it at F11, and would consider using it even at F16.

The subject of bokeh, like sharpness, is a little complicated, as there are situations where I really like the rendering from the lens and others where I don’t.

Here, for example, I think the bokeh is lovely. Very soft and creamy, resulting in a beautiful image.

At F1.4, the geometry of specular highlights is only okay, however. There’s some of the normal “cat eye” effect near the edges of the frame, but what I don’t like is the irregular “clipping” that changes the shape a bit near the edges of the frame.

And, where normally specular highlights will become more evenly round when the aperture is stopped down a bit, the 7Artisans 35mm F1.4 does the opposite. The shape of the specular highlights becomes even more irregular.

Now, to be fair, bokeh is a subjective measure that really comes down to your personal tastes, but I’m not personally a fan of irregular shapes in the bokeh.

I also found that the lens really benefits from being smart about the background. It doesn’t handle complexity well. This shot, for example, has a clean background that is rendered beautifully.

This shot has a more complex background, and I find that a lot of edges in the defocused region are too hard and draw the eye in a negative way.

This shot is pretty good, however, rendering the background in a fairly soft fashion.

Bottom line is that you’ll need to learn to use this lens to its strengths. If you do so, it can deliver some beautiful images.

7Artisans can use some improvement to their lens coatings, which is part of the reason for the more the vintage character of the lens. That remains true when it comes to flare. This is a lens you’ll definitely want to use the lens hood on, as it is particularly prone to ghosting when the bright source of light is angled in the corners.

The lens is better with veiling, as contrast holds up reasonably well when a bright light is in the frame.

A bright wide angle prime like this will be useful in low light situations, including shooting the night sky. When testing for coma I found a few things. 1) Bright light points will have some fringing on them (crop 1) and 2) while coma isn’t too bad, the low sharpness in the corners will mean that star points aren’t very crisp (crop 2).

When viewed as a full image, however, it looks fine. I managed to catch a meteor shower that I didn’t even know was happening!

The look of your images will vary a fair bit depending on your shooting conditions. That may have something to do with the low element count and lack of coatings on the lens. I found that it behaved more like a vintage lens, and often I rather liked it. I felt like it had character and wasn’t the typical modern, perfectly corrected lens. If that look appeals to you, then you might enjoy this lens.

So not a flawless performance, but for a very inexpensive lens there’s a lot of positives here. If you’d like to see more image samples, check out the image gallery here.

Conclusion

The idea that we could get an autofocusing F1.4 lens for well under $200 was unthinkable just a few years ago. Those lenses would more typically be in the $400-500 range, and I’m still pretty amazed at how decent these extremely inexpensive lenses are. $169 USD is a great price for this lens, particularly when you consider that Fuji’s own 35mm F1.4 costs more than $400 more, and even their 35mm F2 costs more than twice as much. Now, to be fair, those lenses are better, with better features, build, and image quality, but as noted in this review, someone on a tight budget can buy the 7Artisans 35mm and will be able to create images you simply couldn’t make with a kit lens.

The autofocus isn’t fantastic (and needs a firmware update!), but it mostly got the job done. And while the optical performance isn’t exceptional by modern standards, it does have a good deal of charm that will appeal to those who feel that modern lenses are overcorrected and overly complex.

There’s no bells and whistles here, but this is actually a really good little lens for the money. If you want a lens with a more modern rendering, then choose the Viltrox AF 35mm F1.7 for similar money, but if you are looking for some vintage charm, check out the 7Artisans AF 35mm F1.4. If your dream lens is a classic vintage lens but with autofocus, then the 7Artisans 35mm may be just what you’ve been looking for.

Pros:

• Extremely compact and lightweight
• Comes with a lens hood
• Has an F1.4 aperture
• USB-C port for firmware updates
• Good focus accuracy at large apertures
• Useful center sharpness wide open
• Good sharpness across most of the frame when stopped down
• Fairly good bokeh
• Vignette and distortion not bad
• Interesting look to images
• Is this the least expensive F1.4 lens you can buy?
• Great price to performance ratio

Cons:

• Flare issues
• Focus issues when stopped down
• Focus motor is buzzy
• Some fringing issues

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GEAR USED:

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Purchase the Viltrox AF 35mm F1.7 @ Viltrox (use code DUSTINABBOTT for 8% off) | B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

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Purchase the Fuji 16-55mm F2.8 II @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

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