Yongnuo 35mm F1.8 ART Review | High Quality on a Budget?
May 6, 2025
Photographer Dustin Abbott shares a deep dive review of the Yongnuo 35mm F1.8 from their new "ART" series. Is this a Sigma worthy lens? | Read the Text Review: | Visit the Image Gallery |
Check out the DA Merch here: https://bit.ly/TWIMerch | Become a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/dustinabbott | On the Web: http://dustinabbott.net/ | Sign up for my Newsletter: http://bit.ly/1RHvUNp | Instagram: http://bit.ly/DLAinsta | Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1nuUUeH | Flickr: http://bit.ly/1UcnC0B | 500px: http://bit.ly/1Sy2Ngu Follow Craig @ https://www.instagram.com/craigstoffersen/
Want to support this channel? Use these affiliate links to shop at:
B&H Photo: http://bhpho.to/1TA0Xge
Adorama: https://howl.link/nt4zdz1goa7ql
Camera Canada: http://bit.ly/DLACameraCan
Sony Canada: https://www.thesonyshop.ca/?ref=abbott
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3HrY64d
Amazon Canada: https://amzn.to/3qG1p18
Ebay: http://bit.ly/DustineBay
Into the AM Clothing: https://bit.ly/intotheAMda and use code DUSTIN10 for 10% off
Fioboc Clothing: https://tinyurl.com/FiobocDA20 and us code DUSTIN20 for 20% off
Make a donation via Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/dustinTWI
=============================
Table of Contents:
=============================
0:00 - Intro and Concept
1:51 - Disclaimer
2:03 - Build and Features
7:21 - Autofocus
8:20 - Video AF
9:02 - Image Quality Summary
15:07 - Conclusion and Pricing
16:54 - Optical Deep Dive
---------------------------------------------------------
Oben Tabletop Tripod shown in video: https://bhpho.to/3vL8YWy
My Cameras:
Purchase the Sony a7RV @ B&H Photo https://bhpho.to/3ZivNyZ | Adorama https://howl.me/cjNY1LU3gFH | Amazon https://amzn.to/3CRCDlq | Camera Canada https://shrsl.com/3vulf | Sony Canada https://bit.ly/BuyA7R5 | Amazon Canada https://amzn.to/3H8yeNH | Amazon UK https://amzn.to/3kbg5FM
Purchase the Sony Alpha 1 @ Camera Canada https://shrsl.com/2wdk2 | B&H Photo https://bhpho.to/3upRFZd | Adorama https://howl.me/cj2nQpjLBKW | Amazon https://amzn.to/3t1m8MD | Sony Canada https://bit.ly/BuySonyA1 |Amazon Canada https://amzn.to/3cVFrBB | Amazon UK https://amzn.to/2OtrjGe | Amazon Germany https://amzn.to/3d0GtMO | Ebay https://ebay.us/i371Vs
Canon EOS R5: B&H Photo https://bhpho.to/3iMH18x | Amazon https://amzn.to/33L3D53 | Camera Canada https://shrsl.com/2jqth
Purchase the Fujifilm X-H2 @ B&H Photo https://bhpho.to/3KAInTC | Adorama https://howl.me/cjyzbiO5lVp | Amazon https://amzn.to/41zMzKl | Camera Canada https://shrsl.com/4128o | Amazon Canada https://amzn.to/40gY4W7 | Amazon UK https://amzn.to/43Grn7a | Amazon Germany https://amzn.to/3L6hwjR
Purchase the Nikon Z8 @ B&H Photo https://bhpho.to/3yaMuDB | Adorama https://howl.me/cmcvUHymQIt | Amazon https://amzn.to/3UQjfi0 | Camera Canada https://shrsl.com/4ipga | Amazon Canada https://amzn.to/3UtFSHL | Amazon UK https://amzn.to/4bsf1Tn | Amazon Germany https://amzn.to/4drP4oN
Get a discount off all Skylum Editing Software (Luminar, Aurora HDR, AirMagic) by using code DUSTINHDR at checkout: http://bit.ly/LuminarDLA
DISCLAIMER: This video and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Keywords: Yongnuo, YN, 35mm, F1.8, Yongnuo 35mm F1.8, DSM, WL, F1.8, ART, Yongnuo 35mm F1.8 ART, APS-C, Review, Sony a6700, a6000, a6400, Sony a7RV, 23mm, 33mm, Wireless, Review, Hands On, Dustin Abbott, Real World, Comparison, Sharpness, Bokeh, Flare Resistance, Autofocus, Image Quality, Sample Images, Video, Photography, let the light in, weathersealing, #letthelightin, DA
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
[Music]
0:10
hi I'm Dustin Abbott and I'm here today
0:12
to give you a review of the Yong No 35mm
0:14
f1.8 Art lens now I want to preface this
0:18
review by saying that I am disappointed
0:20
in Yongno for in my opinion taking a
0:23
step back in at least one area even as
0:25
they've taken a step forward in another
0:28
as far as far as taking a step back I've
0:30
been praising them the last couple of
0:31
years because their recent designs were
0:33
innovative unique they were their own uh
0:36
intellectual property development
0:38
whereas early on my exposure to Yongno
0:41
was that they were making clones of
0:42
existing you know Canon EF designs and I
0:45
remember probably 14 years ago that they
0:48
came out with a a clone of the EF50mm
0:51
f1.8 and so my that was my kind of early
0:54
impression so I you know when I
0:55
revisited them over the last few years I
0:57
was happy to see that they were charting
0:58
their own
1:00
course using the art label while they're
1:02
not may not be a copyright issue that
1:05
I'm aware of that's obviously up to them
1:07
it does feel like a bit of stolen valor
1:09
in that Sigma has worked very hard to
1:11
take that art label and to cultivate it
1:13
as being a unique representative of
1:16
their optical performance and they've
1:18
been very successful with that and it
1:19
feels like Yongo is maybe trying to
1:21
steal a bit of that thunder and so I I
1:24
do want to decry that because I I don't
1:26
like that aspect of it at the same time
1:29
I don't want that to overly prejudice my
1:31
feeling of this lens itself which does
1:34
take some strides forward in some
1:36
optical areas that have been
1:37
deficiencies in previous Yong no lenses
1:40
this is an APS-C lens uh 35mm
1:43
f1.8 and so we're going to you know that
1:46
disclaimer aside we are going to step in
1:48
and take a look at the overall
1:50
performance of this lens now let me
1:52
start with a disclaimer this lens was
1:53
sent to me by Yong No for evaluation
1:56
they have had no input in my review as
1:58
you might expect from my intro here and
2:00
they will not see this review before it
2:02
goes to the public so now let's take a
2:05
look at the build and the design here
2:08
this is a 35mm lens but for APS-C i'm
2:11
reviewing it on Sony E-mount i suspect
2:13
there will also be at least Fujifilm X
2:16
potentially Nikon Z as well and uh and
2:19
so 35 mm with that 1.5 times crop factor
2:22
on APS-C translates to a 50 52 1.5
2:26
millimeter lens and so essentially right
2:28
on around the normal range as we call it
2:31
the full name here is Jeango 35mm f1.8
2:35
SDA art and so S stands for Sony and so
2:39
in this case Sony E-mount obviously if
2:41
it was uh an Fujifilm Xmount there would
2:44
be an X there instead of an S for
2:46
example da is their way of referring to
2:49
not to Dustin Abbott but to APS-C and
2:52
ART is and I asked this is the first of
2:54
a new series of lenses that they are
2:56
using the art label much like Sigma to
2:59
indicate a higher level of optical
3:01
correction and also higher performance
3:04
in general now as far as the physical
3:07
design is a longer lens than what I
3:10
typically expect seeing from an APS-C
3:12
35mm f1.8 in fact it is nearly 80 mm
3:16
long which is more than 25 mm longer
3:20
than for example the Viltrox 35mm f1.7
3:24
air so that's a obviously very
3:26
significant difference and u so 3.14 in
3:30
makes it a a reasonably long lens for
3:32
something like this the diameter is far
3:35
more typical it's 63.5 millimeters or
3:37
about 2 and a half inches and it weighs
3:40
in at 265 g or 9.34 oz it's a little
3:44
heavier than the Viltrox Air series for
3:46
example which I'm using kind of as a
3:48
benchmark here because it is it's a
3:50
great little lens the Viltrox
3:52
weighs 70 g and so that means that this
3:55
is about 95 g heavier now a big part of
3:58
that is that rather than using plastics
4:00
as used in the Vtrox lens we have got
4:03
basically all metals here in the barrel
4:06
it does feel like a nice construction
4:07
and I will say on that point 52mm front
4:10
filter thread another thing that's
4:12
interesting when you look at the front
4:13
of the lens something I've never seen
4:14
before often there are there's different
4:17
types of information that are given
4:18
there but this lens actually has not
4:20
only the minimum focus distance 35 cm it
4:23
also has the maximum magnification of
4:25
0.12 times which is the first time in
4:29
the hundreds and hundreds of lenses that
4:30
I've reviewed that I have ever seen the
4:32
maximum magnification put right on the
4:35
lens in any way but particularly right
4:36
at the very front of the lens now as
4:39
beyond that there really isn't much
4:40
going on here in the feature department
4:43
it is a bare lens barrel no switches no
4:46
uh aperture ring nothing like that all
4:48
we've got is the manual focus ring so
4:50
you know you would think since that's
4:51
the one thing on the lens barrel that it
4:53
would be like flawlessly executed but at
4:54
least in the copy I'm reviewing though
4:56
it is metal and it's nicely built feels
4:58
like there's just a little bit of rub
5:00
inside there and so unfortunately it
5:03
doesn't move quite as smoothly as what I
5:05
would like it may loosen up with some
5:07
wear over time but right now uh it isn't
5:10
fantastic and so uh I also found that
5:13
the the overall throw here is it's it's
5:16
distinctly nonlinear and so it seems to
5:18
be really sensitive to speed like
5:20
particularly sensitive to speed and so I
5:22
actually found repeating focus pools a
5:24
little bit difficult because it just
5:26
didn't seem all that predictable to me
5:28
so unfortunately I don't love the manual
5:30
focus lens or manual focus ring here and
5:33
manual focus performance so it's a good
5:34
thing that the auto autofocus
5:36
performance is pretty good inside there
5:38
are nine aperture blades and so it does
5:41
a pretty good job of keeping a spherical
5:43
shape as you stop it down but there is
5:44
that kind of weird clipping at the
5:46
bottom at the side of the lens fairly
5:49
near the the base at the back there is a
5:52
USBC port it's covered with a little
5:54
rubber gasket i I don't love these
5:57
designs because I find these little
5:58
gaskets they're could be very easy to
6:01
use now these are this one is easier to
6:03
get out than some that I've used but it
6:05
also means that if it rubs on something
6:06
and pulls in just the right way it also
6:08
could pull it out and you wouldn't want
6:10
to lose that because it would kind of
6:12
impinge on the weather sealing of the
6:13
lens this is does have some weather
6:16
sealing it has a gasket at the lens
6:18
mount it has a flooring coating on the
6:19
front element i'm not aware of there
6:21
being any kind of internal seal so that
6:23
makes it a bit like Sigma's IER lenses
6:26
for example where you've got a gasket
6:27
and some coating on the front but you
6:28
don't have any internal seals but at
6:31
least we do have uh some weather sealing
6:33
and of course the fact that this is
6:35
internally focusing and there is no zoom
6:37
means that there's you know not a whole
6:39
lot of uh ingress points into the lens
6:41
itself to get moisture or dust in there
6:43
so I think it'll probably hold up well
6:45
in that regard it does include a lens
6:47
hood and it's pretty decent here uh it
6:49
is plastic but it is decent plastics uh
6:52
it's got some rigidity to it it locks on
6:54
in a nice precise way so no problem
6:57
there as noted the materials here are
6:59
nice i will say that the design itself
7:01
because it's extra long it's feels like
7:03
there's some empty space on the barrel
7:05
that could at least use some branding to
7:07
fill in there almost like a a space here
7:09
where you could put a like a tripod
7:11
collar on there and it feels like that
7:13
could have been filled in with a little
7:14
bit of something you know like an
7:16
aperture ring would have been nice but
7:17
nonetheless um it is a nicely built lens
7:20
but it is very simple now when it comes
7:22
to autofocus it's unique here previous
7:25
Yongno lenses I've been reviewing more
7:26
recently they always have DSM on there
7:29
which refers to digital stepping motor
7:31
in this case there's no reference to the
7:32
focus motor and if I dig into the
7:34
literature it says it's an STM focus
7:35
motor so what's the difference between a
7:37
digital stepping motor and a stepping
7:39
motor i have no idea but the performance
7:42
is basically identical to what I've seen
7:44
from their DSM equipped lenses initially
7:47
I did have a few firmware quirks that I
7:49
had to report back to Yongno but this
7:51
remember I'm I'm reviewing a pre-release
7:53
copy of the lens they were able to do a
7:56
firmware update that fortunately solved
7:58
all of those issues and so now autofocus
8:00
is really quite good and so that means
8:02
uh quite good uh speed you know front
8:05
and back no issues with that i had good
8:07
precision overall no problem locking on
8:09
to subjects and getting you know
8:10
definite well focused results uh overall
8:13
speed performance is fine it's quiet
8:16
it's accurate you know it's it's good no
8:19
reservations there on the video side of
8:22
things again the same firmware update
8:24
helped to you know iron out some tweaks
8:26
or some concerns that I was having some
8:27
bugs with the autofocus there and so
8:30
before I was having a little bit of
8:31
issue with focus pulls but now as you
8:33
can see they move seamlessly back and
8:35
forth no hesitation no visible steps all
8:38
good on that front there is some very
8:41
minor focus breathing but nothing
8:43
excessive there and so about I would say
8:45
typical or average for lenses in this
8:48
class i also found that my hand test
8:50
went fine with good transitions from my
8:52
hand to my eye and back and forth and so
8:55
in general I would say that video AF was
8:58
fine and did all that I wanted it to and
9:01
so no concerns there on that front so
9:03
let's take a look at the optics and I'll
9:04
give you an overview here for those of
9:06
you that want more information i will
9:08
have my deep dive kind of optical
9:10
examination at the end of the video this
9:12
is an optical design of 10 elements in
9:14
nine groups i don't know the breakdown
9:17
of of what elements are there i know
9:19
that there's at least some aspherical at
9:21
least a aspherical elements maybe more
9:23
because there is aspherical as a part of
9:25
the design there um I will say that you
9:29
know it's a two-edged sword when it
9:31
comes to using the art name uh yes you
9:34
can maybe take some of the the credit or
9:37
some of the the brand recognition that
9:39
Sigma has created through consistently
9:40
delivering very strong optical designs
9:43
under the- art brand but it also means
9:45
that when I see that word art I also am
9:47
going to expect more in terms of the
9:49
optical performance means I evaluate a
9:51
little more carefully in regards to that
9:54
i will say however that this lens mostly
9:56
survives that um that that critiquing
9:59
the MTF as you can see it looks quite
10:01
consistently good uh very linear across
10:03
the frame and only a minor amount of
10:05
drop off towards the corners that's a
10:07
great looking MTF chart one area of
10:11
clear improvement over their commander
10:13
series lenses all of those lenses did
10:15
suffer from some chromatic aberrations
10:18
and I found that I could definitely see
10:20
some fringing uh lateral style excuse me
10:23
longitudinal style chromatic aberration
10:24
before and after the plane of focus you
10:26
can see here in this comparison to the
10:28
33mm f1.4 just how much radically
10:31
different the 35mm f1.8 from Yong no is
10:35
i did see a bit of lateral style
10:37
chromatic aberrations near the corner of
10:39
the frame nothing significant nothing
10:41
that I consider to be too much of an
10:42
issue there however for those of you
10:45
wondering how well this covers the
10:46
full-frame image circle the answer is
10:49
not very well uh you might be able to
10:51
get very slightly wider than the 35 mm
10:55
um or the you know 52.5 millimeters in
10:57
terms of the crop factor on fullframe
10:59
but I mean you might be able to pull it
11:01
back to maybe 45 millimeters but not
11:03
worth doing if you're looking for a
11:05
secret full-frame lens fortunately these
11:07
days there's lots of great inexpensive
11:09
full-frame lenses that you can choose
11:11
from if that's what you're looking for i
11:13
did find that distortion was very low no
11:16
issue with that i saw I I dialed in a
11:18
plus one to correct the tiniest amount
11:21
of barrel distortion but you would never
11:22
notice it uh vignette is about average a
11:25
plus 55 is what I dialed in so near two
11:29
stops of vignette in the extreme corners
11:30
nothing particularly heavy nothing too
11:32
bad there i found that chart testing
11:35
results and this is at 26 megapixels on
11:38
Sony which is the current highest
11:40
resolution available there that it all
11:43
looks it looks good it's consistently
11:45
good across the frame um and so you know
11:47
I have no reservations about that but
11:50
what I did find and that is that this
11:53
Viltrox 35mm
11:55
f1.7 air series lens that it's just as
11:58
good in terms of the optics and so if
12:00
you know this was to be some kind of
12:02
like kind of next level performance I
12:04
don't know that that's necessarily true
12:05
i mean the Viltrox is a very good lens
12:07
but I wouldn't say that the Yongno is
12:10
particularly better in any kind of
12:12
category there however just you know
12:15
moving away from the comparison I would
12:17
say that real world results really were
12:19
consistently great and what kind of
12:21
stood out to me is that the micro
12:22
contrast is quite good and so a lot of
12:25
these inexpensive lenses and this is a
12:26
lens that will cost they're telling me
12:28
under $200 US dollars that a lot of
12:31
these lenses they don't hold up as well
12:33
when you're looking at kind of at a
12:34
pixel level and looking at areas of high
12:37
contrast a lot of times you'll see just
12:39
some kind of haze around some of the
12:40
textures they're not able to just nail
12:43
down that high level of acuity that I
12:45
like to see on higherend lenses this
12:48
lens however is doing a really good job
12:49
in those circumstances contrast holds up
12:51
under careful examination that micro
12:54
contrast that I'm referring to there you
12:56
will see a little bit of boost at f2
12:58
it's primarily seen in the corners and
13:00
then just a little bit more as you stop
13:01
down to f2.8 through you know f5.6 and
13:04
up to f8 kind of your peak landscape
13:07
apertures you're able to get nice crisp
13:09
landscape type results there at that
13:11
point in this case uh it has a smaller
13:13
minimum aperture than what I often see
13:15
in these style lenses usually it's f16
13:17
this will go down to f-22 but of course
13:20
that means that there is more potential
13:21
at f-22 for defraction as compared to
13:24
f-16 and so typically I try to use f11
13:28
as my cut off point and anything after
13:30
that you're getting diminishing returns
13:32
and so only do that if you if absolutely
13:35
necessary the bokeh quality was
13:38
generally good and so when I put it in
13:40
advantageous situations I feel like it
13:42
rendered very nicely in some situations
13:44
where there was a more busy background
13:46
and andor a lot of it falling in what I
13:49
call the transition zone before
13:50
everything is fully out of focus i felt
13:52
like there it you know it felt more like
13:54
a budget lens it wasn't incredibly
13:57
creamy in those situations but of course
13:59
you know it is an APS-C lens with a
14:01
maximum aperture of f1.8 so you can't
14:03
expect you know f1.2 type results and we
14:07
certainly don't get
14:08
those the flare was a mixed bag uh
14:12
directionally into the sun it did pretty
14:13
good coatings held up pretty well but
14:15
what I noticed is if the sun was right
14:17
out of frame you or frame you get some
14:19
of that flashing effect that could be
14:21
quite disruptive to the image and so you
14:22
do you will have to be careful in your
14:24
composition just being aware of that
14:27
another area where I did see some real
14:29
improvement is that I suspect that this
14:31
is using different optical glass than
14:33
what we've seen in some of their
14:35
previous lenses optical glass feels
14:37
better colors are are nicer they're
14:40
there's kind of a look that comes with
14:42
some cheaper lenses where the colors
14:44
they're just it's very hard to define
14:48
but there's there's just something about
14:49
them that feels cheap this doesn't fall
14:52
into that category optical glass is
14:54
better it reminds me of the leap ahead
14:56
that Viltrox has taken to where they're
14:58
just their optical glass is is
14:59
demonstrabably better than what it was
15:01
in their early years of lens development
15:03
and I feel like this lens is taking a
15:05
similar leap there where the colors
15:07
really look quite good so my conclusion
15:10
is is that I definitely like the optical
15:13
improvements and I think that I will
15:15
applaud Yongno for taking some steps in
15:17
the right direction controlling
15:19
chromatic aberrations better nicer
15:21
optical glass and just a generalized
15:23
more punch to the images and the
15:25
resolution so all of that is good i
15:28
don't like the use of the art name and I
15:30
won't belleager that too much since I
15:31
did hit it a lot in my opening but I
15:34
really wish that they would have come up
15:35
with something unique to them that that
15:38
demonstrated that this was going to the
15:41
next level of optical design but not
15:42
take something that has been uniquely
15:44
Sigma's for over a decade at this point
15:47
and and so anyway I wish they hadn't
15:49
done that this is a very good lens in a
15:52
lot of ways and if you you know end up
15:53
buying it you're going to get a very
15:55
very nice lens i think the challenge for
15:57
Yongn though is that the market
15:58
particularly over the last two years has
16:00
become very saturated uh I've referred
16:02
to the Viltrox but into that space
16:04
during that time we've gotten lenses
16:06
from TT Artisan we've got lenses from
16:09
seven artisans uh you know not to
16:11
mention the other players that were
16:13
already in the market there's just a lot
16:14
of competition in that particular space
16:16
and at these very common focal lengths
16:19
and so you know there's not necessarily
16:22
a lot to set them apart from the
16:24
competition there's not more features
16:26
the optical performance is great but as
16:28
I said I don't know that it's better
16:29
than what Viltrox's is i will give you a
16:32
detailed breakdown and head-to-head
16:34
comparison with the Viltrox in a
16:35
subsequent video though it's going to be
16:37
some weeks out just because my schedule
16:39
is so full with new releases but stay
16:41
tuned for that if you want more
16:43
information in the meantime you can
16:44
check out my full text review that's
16:45
linked in the description down below uh
16:47
there's also some buying links there if
16:49
you'd like to purchase one beyond that
16:51
if you want that deep dive into the
16:52
optical performance stay tuned with me
16:54
right now let's jump into it together so
16:56
we'll start our examination by taking a
16:58
look at full-frame coverage you can see
16:59
that we have this hard mechanical
17:01
vignette here which shows that part of
17:04
the image circle full-frame image circle
17:05
is just not being covered now if we look
17:07
at vignette distortion we can see that
17:09
there's a really minimal amount of
17:11
distortion i used a plus one to correct
17:14
just a tiny bit of barrel distortion
17:16
corrected nice and linear but I mean in
17:19
99.9% of situations you could leave that
17:22
uncorrected and you wouldn't have any
17:23
problem vignette is moderate i used a
17:26
plus 55 to correct here in the center it
17:28
did correct nice and clean no odd
17:31
discoloration left behind and so uh
17:33
nothing to worry about on that front as
17:36
I pointed out earlier longitudinal style
17:38
chromatic aberration has really been a
17:40
bit of a bugaboo for Yong No lenses
17:42
we've really seen progress on that front
17:45
here and so there is minimal amounts of
17:46
fringing before and after the plane of
17:48
focus that looks great nice and clean
17:51
what that means is that in situations
17:53
like this where previous Yongno lenses
17:55
would just show maybe some blooming on
17:58
the textures uh some loss of contrast
18:00
maybe some extra fringing in these high
18:02
contrast areas we can see here that
18:04
we've got great micro contrast even at
18:07
f1.8 and so it looks it's just a it's a
18:10
real improvement on that front and as we
18:12
look towards defocus we can see there's
18:14
maybe a tiny bit of fringing here but
18:16
for the most part there is just really
18:18
minimal fringing in the image when it
18:20
comes to lateral style chromatic
18:22
aberrations you can see that there is a
18:24
little bit uh as we get here towards the
18:26
edge um where you're getting some false
18:28
color on the sides of the black and
18:30
white there uh not a necessarily a major
18:33
issue in real world shooting but uh
18:35
certainly that is the area where there's
18:37
more of that style fringing than there
18:39
is of the longitudinal style now when we
18:42
get to resolution contrast this is 26
18:44
megapixels on Sony which is the highest
18:47
APS-C resolution currently available
18:49
there uh 200% magnification so we can
18:53
really see all the flaws here looking in
18:55
the center of the frame good uh detail
18:57
and contrast there not off thecharts
19:00
contrast but good and a lot of crisp
19:03
detail that's being shown there
19:04
mid-frame is still looking very
19:06
consistently good no problems there and
19:09
as we move towards the edge I like to
19:11
look here and here you can see that
19:13
there's only minimal drop off from this
19:15
zone to this zone as we move towards the
19:17
corner and right here into the corners
19:20
we can still see a very decent amount of
19:23
magnification this is looking similar
19:25
here on the left side up into the left
19:27
corner again looking consistently good
19:29
upper right corner also looking good
19:32
good centering performance so at 100%
19:34
magnification with real world shots to
19:36
put that into perspective you can see
19:38
there is lots of detail and very good
19:40
contrast it's holding up very well in
19:43
this this image here which allows you to
19:45
have a very nice amount of detail even
19:48
moving out towards infinity where a lot
19:50
of these lenses fall apart uh these
19:52
cheaper lenses like this it actually
19:54
looks really good there's good detail
19:56
and contrast there it's you know it's
19:58
not the highest resolution that I've
19:59
seen but a very strong performance and
20:02
here at a little maybe more optimal zone
20:05
here shot of Nala you can see there's
20:07
great detail and contrast in the area of
20:09
focus around the eyes accurate focus
20:11
there and a pretty decent looking uh
20:14
defocused background as well so if we go
20:16
from f1.8 to f2 we really don't see a
20:20
marketked difference i think there's a
20:22
little bit more contrast darks look a
20:23
little bit darker there but you know
20:26
nothing that really stands out in terms
20:27
of the resolution but you can see again
20:30
here in the hair that it's just there's
20:32
there's more contrast that's available
20:34
there a little bit more contrast in the
20:36
Canada here you can see it's just a
20:38
little softer looking and so there is a
20:40
mild amount of improvement there in
20:42
terms of contrast however you'll see a
20:44
more market improvement in contrast at
20:46
f2.8 where uh all of the darks are
20:49
starting to really darken up and so you
20:52
can see that the text is popping more
20:54
there's more detail there if we look up
20:56
into the upper left corner we can see uh
21:00
just a whole lot more contrast coming
21:02
here you can see that more pattern
21:03
starting to emerge because contrast is
21:05
improved and just a whole lot more
21:07
delineation of detail in the hair here
21:10
in the text it all is looking much
21:12
better between f2.8 and f5.6 even here
21:15
in the corner you can see now that
21:17
resolution is completely crisp all
21:20
across the frame really great detail and
21:22
contrast now you can see here that
21:24
metering didn't remain flawless that uh
21:27
you can see it's it's overexposed a
21:29
little bit here at smaller apertures but
21:32
we can also see that uh there is some
21:35
effects of defraction here uh you can
21:37
see that maybe the the text there isn't
21:39
quite as crisp but I will say that even
21:41
at f-22 it really doesn't look too bad
21:44
and so I I think that this is an image
21:46
on this maybe lower resolution point
21:48
here on Sony you might see more
21:51
defraction if on a Fuji X mount for
21:54
example but overall here I would say the
21:56
lens is holding up quite well even at
21:58
small apertures so as we talked about
22:00
earlier the maximum magnification is
22:02
0.12 times which is not super high but
22:05
it's a usable amount we can see that up
22:07
close performance even at f1.8 is quite
22:10
good though good detail good contrast
22:12
nothing to complain about there taking a
22:14
look at a real world shot at minimum
22:16
focus distance contrast looks great um
22:19
I've shot this chest piece a lot and I
22:22
can tell you that this is holding up
22:23
really well in terms of the overall
22:25
contrast and detail you can definitely
22:27
see there's a pretty strong amount of
22:29
the cat eye deformation kind of shape
22:31
and this is kind of the oddity here is
22:33
just this little kind of like cutout or
22:36
clip that is there in those specular
22:37
highlights just a little bit odd we'll
22:39
examine that a little bit closer here
22:41
you can see it just here at f1.8
22:45
stopping down to f2 it's
22:48
um better um but there's still the the
22:52
it's it's like they're the roundness is
22:54
like a little bit lopsided in a bit and
22:57
we can see that even stopping down to
22:58
f2.8 we never get quite a round shape
23:01
it's almost a little bit more of like a
23:03
lemon shape so I don't love the shape of
23:07
the specular highlights so maybe that
23:10
not a strength necessarily in this shot
23:13
uh great on the great front is the
23:16
contrast and detail looks fantastic i
23:18
mean that looks great the bokeh looks I
23:21
think fairly good but it's not like
23:23
super soft and creamy this shot here
23:25
this is a pretty favorable ratio so
23:28
detail on the subject contrast there
23:30
looks good the background looks pretty
23:32
soft where there's more defined specular
23:34
highlights again you're going to see
23:35
those cat eye effects uh you know a
23:38
little bit more pronounced than what I
23:39
would like but in this zone the bokeh is
23:42
reasonably soft this shot uh again a
23:44
pretty good ra ratio and mostly soft
23:48
rather than hard edges and it looks you
23:50
know I would say pretty good
23:52
overall in this shot where we've got a
23:55
little bit busier i still like the look
23:57
of the image here right now this part
23:59
looks great obviously in some of these
24:01
busier things though you can see that it
24:04
it doesn't handle that transition zone
24:06
super well this shot you know it's it's
24:08
a lot of difficult background and you
24:10
can see it's not handling that very well
24:13
a lot of outlining just looks very very
24:15
busy to my eye and this is kind of
24:17
somewhere in between it's not a super
24:20
creamy or defocus background so I mean
24:22
it's a 35mm f1.8 eight lens but I do
24:25
think that the higher detail and
24:27
contrast of the lens means that the out
24:29
of focus backgrounds can also still have
24:31
a little bit too much detail to them and
24:34
so that is a potential downside for the
24:36
lens now if you're shooting landscapes
24:38
with this lens it's great i mean great
24:40
detail great contrast that's all going
24:42
to play to its strengths and so I think
24:45
that it's going to handle this kind of
24:47
image very well and as noted the optical
24:49
glass is looking better flare resistance
24:52
is only average at best you can see here
24:55
there is some loss of contrast there is
24:58
a little bit of a ghosting pattern
24:59
that's not too terrible we can see here
25:01
that you're going to get some ghosting
25:03
if the sun is right in the frame and you
25:06
know and it's kind of going diagonally
25:08
however if the sun is at other certain
25:11
points like kind of like right out of
25:13
frame you can see you get more strongly
25:15
pronounced uh ghosting and definitely
25:17
some veiling in this image as well
25:19
there's kind of like this whole zone
25:21
where there's kind of a flare pattern
25:23
you're just going to have to be careful
25:24
with composition coatings are not off
25:26
the charts good and so as you can see
25:28
this is a nice lens not a flawless lens
25:31
but a very nice lens optically so if you
25:33
do choose to buy one you're going to get
25:35
very nice performance out of it as
25:37
always thanks for watching have a great
25:39
day and let the light in
Science

