TTArtisan is definitely starting to get some serious attention over their series of low priced yet relatively high performing prime lenses. Last year’s AF 56mm F1.8 has proven to be a popular budget portrait lens (only $129 USD!), and I gave it a positive review. They had released an AF 35mm F1.8 just a few months before that, but they decided that they could do better, and less than a year later, they released the AF 35mm F1.8 II last month, a lens that was reduced in size and but improved in performance. I was pretty impressed by their drive to improve, and it was reflected in my review. Between those two lenses, we have the standard prime (50mm) covered, the short portrait telephoto (85mm) covered, but what about the wide angle 35mm prime that typically completes the trilogy of primes? Consider that now covered in the form of the new TTArtisan AF 23mm F1.8. Priced at around $125 USD, this is yet another budget lens that is surprisingly good. Dive into my video review or read my text review to find out more…or just enjoy the photos below.
Thanks to TTArtisan 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 find the visit the TTArtisan listing page for the lens to get more information.
You may have been a bit confused about my reference to 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm lenses, but because this series is made for for APS-C cameras, the focal length of each lens must be magnified by the crop factor of the cameras that they are made for. I’m reviewing the TTA 23mm on Fuji X-mount, but it will also eventually be available on Sony E-mount and Nikon Z-mount. The crop factor of all those systems is 1.5x, which means that a 23mm lens becomes 34.5mm, a 35mm becomes 52.5mm, and a 56mm becomes an 84mm full frame equivalent. The math isn’t perfect, but essentially you have a 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm full frame equivalent series of lenses…just high compacted!
As you can see, the 23mm isn’t quite as compact as the MK II version of the 35mm F1.8, but it is still a nicely compact lens that was a nice fit even on the X-M5, which I just reviewed and is one of Fuji’s most compact cameras.
I think that the TTA 23mm will probably be a hit, as while it isn’t a perfect lens, it delivers really stellar image quality, focuses just fine, and proved to be a great walkaround/street kind of lens.
You probably aren’t going to find a better autofocusing 23mm lens for less, but does that mean that this is the lens for you? Find out in my reviews!
Keywords: TTArtisan AF 23mm F1.8, TTArtisan, TTArtisan 35mm, TTArtisan AF, Autofocus, TTArtisan 23mm F1.8, 23mm, F1.8, STM, Review, Fuji X, Sony E, Review, Telephoto, Action, Tracking, Hands On, Dustin Abbott, Real World, Comparison, Sharpness, Bokeh, Flare Resistance, Autofocus, Image Quality, Sample Images, Video, Photography, Sony a6700, Sony a6600, Fujifilm X-T5, Fujifilm X-H2, let the light in, #letthelightin, DA
DISCLAIMER: This article 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.
TTArtisan is definitely starting to get some serious attention over their series of low priced yet relatively high performing prime lenses. Last year’s AF 56mm F1.8 has proven to be a popular budget portrait lens (only $129 USD!), and I gave it a positive review. They had released an AF 35mm F1.8 just a few months before that, but they decided that they could do better, and less than a year later, they released the AF 35mm F1.8 II last month, a lens that was reduced in size and but improved in performance. I was pretty impressed by their drive to improve, and it was reflected in my review. Between those two lenses, we have the standard prime (50mm) covered, the short portrait telephoto (85mm) covered, but what about the wide angle 35mm prime that typically completes the trilogy of primes? Consider that now covered in the form of the new TTArtisan AF 23mm F1.8. Priced at around $125 USD, this is yet another budget lens that is surprisingly good. Dive into my video review or read on in my text review to find out more.
Thanks to TTArtisan 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 find the visit the TTArtisan listing page for the lens to get more information.
You may have been a bit confused about my reference to 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm lenses, but because this series is made for for APS-C cameras, the focal length of each lens must be magnified by the crop factor of the cameras that they are made for. I’m reviewing the TTA 23mm on Fuji X-mount, but it will also eventually be available on Sony E-mount and Nikon Z-mount. The crop factor of all those systems is 1.5x, which means that a 23mm lens becomes 34.5mm, a 35mm becomes 52.5mm, and a 56mm becomes an 84mm full frame equivalent. The math isn’t perfect, but essentially you have a 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm full frame equivalent series of lenses…just high compacted!
As you can see, the 23mm isn’t quite as compact as the MK II version of the 35mm F1.8, but it is still a nicely compact lens that was a nice fit even on the X-M5, which I just reviewed and is one of Fuji’s most compact cameras.
I think that the TTA 23mm will probably be a hit, as while it isn’t a perfect lens, it delivers really stellar image quality, focuses just fine, and proved to be a great walkaround/street kind of lens.
You probably aren’t going to find a better autofocusing 23mm lens for less, but does that mean that this is the lens for you? Read on to find out.
Build and Handling
The little TTArtisan AF 23mm F1.8 makes a very positive first impression. I’ve been really consistently impressed by how nicely built and cosmetically attractive these budget lenses from TTArtisan have been. The TTA 23mm has an anodized black finish and everything is made of metal and glass.
It is a simple design, with no switches on the lens barrel nor an aperture ring (Fuji shooters will probably miss this!). Fortunately you can function just fine without either of these, and AF | MF switches on Fuji lenses are rare, anyway, though that’s not true on other platforms like Sony or Nikon. But the simple metal body comes off as looking clean and classic.
At the rear of the lens we have a metal lens mount complete with the appropriate electronic contacts; aperture will be controlled from the camera. Aperture control seems to work well; it is quick and responsive and the aperture iris blades are not noisy, with just a light click as the blades open and close.
There are nine aperture blades, but you can see below, they aren’t particularly rounded and don’t deliver a fully circular shape even by an aperture like F3.2:
Up front we have a fairly stylish looking front façade complete with 52mm filter threads (which are blessedly shared across all three lenses in this series, which is great for filter sharing!)
The included lens cap has a new font for the TTARTISAN logo imprinted on it, and I think it looks smart and modern.
TTArtisans first few lenses in the series featured somewhat odd lens hoods. While the lens hood was made of metal, it had an odd design that terminated in something looks like an anamorphic adapter (a rectangular opening) which prohibited either the use of filters or mounting the lens cap…plus it meant that you absolutely couldn’t reverse the lens hood for storage. TTArtisan changed that for the MK II version of the AF 35mm F1.8, and I’m happy to report that they’ve continued that trend here. We have a conventional hood that can be easily reversed for storage and doesn’t interfere with filters.
The manual focus ring is another positive, however. It is ribbed in metal and moves with a nice amount of resistance. The active focus area will automatically magnify when you start to focus, and this helps visually confirm accurate focus. The focus ring is not linear, so the amount of “throw” will vary based on the speed. As per usual on Fuji, manual focus at slow speeds does not feel linear, feeling instead like you move in little steps of focus rather than a smooth progression.
TTArtisan has continued with their design where the rear lens cap has a USB-C port along with electronic contacts inside that will allow you to transfer firmware updates to the lens through a computer. It’s an interesting alternative to having a USB-C port built right into the lens, though I do prefer the built-in option in case you lose the rear lens cap at some point.
TTArtisan has still not mastered the ability to design their lenses with great close focus ability. The minimum focus distance is 30cm, and, while they haven’t listed the maximum magnification, I estimate it as being around 0.14x.
That’s not great for a 35mm lens, but it is enough magnification to at least let you play with isolating a subject a bit.
So while this is a rather simple design, it is nicely executed. Other than the lack of features (no aperture ring, switches, or weather sealing), you would easily think of this as being a much more expensive lens. I suspect that those who are purchasing a lens from this series for the first time will be very pleasantly surprised by how premium their cheap lens feels.
Autofocus for Stills
As before, TTArtisan has chosen to equip this lens with a lead-screw type STM focus motor.
Fuji remains the least favorite of the four brands of cameras that I own and test, though the recent firmware updates on my X-H2 to V5 and beyond seem to have made some small improvement. Autofocus performance here is on the slow side of average, with decent speed in most situations. If you are intentionally going from a close to a distant subject (as I do in my tests), then autofocus speed feels a little more deliberate.
There isn’t a lot of noise in focus, though you will hear faint whines and clicks if you put your ear near it. I don’t hear any focus motor noise under normal shooting, however, even with my eye at the viewfinder. What you will hear is a little “clack” from the aperture blades opening and closing if you partially hold down the shutter.
Autofocus accuracy was good, whether I was using it to capture family moments:
…or capturing fancy holiday treats…
Eye detect worked well (as is pretty expected at this point). I had no problem with people or pets in getting accurately focused results.
No, autofocus isn’t in the upper tier of performance, but in real world use, I had zero problems getting the shots I wanted in all the settings I used the camera. No problems in a dim restaurant, for example.
I wouldn’t use this lens to try to capture fast action, but outside of that, no problem.
Video Autofocus
Fuji’s video AF on their cameras remains somewhat primitive, so take these results with a slight grain of salt and expect them to be better on Sony or Nikon. Focus pulls feature some obvious steps, with the majority of the pull occurring, then a slight pause, and then the final adjustment. In a couple of my pulls I saw a third microadjustment as the focus algorithms debated their final choice. Deliberate focus pulls remain an area of weakness for lenses in general on Fuji, but I can also see a difference here from some native Fuji lenses that I recently reviewed, so at least part of that is due to the AF in the TTA 23mm.
Focus seemed smoother in some clips where I moved in a more natural fashion towards a subject.
My hand test (where I alternately block and then unblock the camera’s view of my face with my hand) proved somewhat better. I saw a fairly decent focus transition from one subject to another, though there is some obvious focus breathing so that perspective does change somewhat.
Focus seemed to be stable when I had a static subject that wasn’t changing. There wasn’t any obvious focus noise during any of these tests. This isn’t the most sophisticated focus system out there, but it does a fairly decent job so long as you don’t try to force too many focus pulls.
Image Quality Breakdown
The TTArtisan AD 23mm F1.8 has an optical formula with 11 elements in 9 groups, including one High Index element and two Extra Low Dispersion elements. The MTF chart shows a fairly flat optical performance, with a good (not great) center performance, a slightly stronger mid-frame performance, and then so drop in the corners.
The MTF chart suggests only a minor improvement when the lens is stopped down. In fact, the corners show a slightly odd result, where in the corners there is actually a bigger separation between the sagittal and meridional axis. Bottom line is you shouldn’t expect amazing corners (ever, really), but the lens is should prove very competent everywhere else.
There is literally no platform that I test on this is more challenging than Fuji’s 40MP APS-C sensor, as it has (by far) the greatest pixel density. A full frame sensor would have to be more than 90MP to achieve a similar pixel density, which is 50% higher than the current maximum full frame resolution of 61MP. While the budget TTArtisan 23mm F1.8 is not anywhere near the top resolving lenses on the platform, it is also far from embarrassing itself and delivers a fairly strong optical performance from F1.8 on.
This shot holds up at a pixel level, too, with very nice detail in the bodice and fabric textures.
Let’s take a closer look at both strengths and weaknesses here.
If we look at vignette and distortion, we see both a great success and a great weakness.
There is the tiniest amount of pincushion distortion, requiring just a -2 to correct, but vignette required me to max out the sliders to get the result on the right. You will DEFINITELY need to correct vignette in your images.
Early TTArtisan AF lenses really struggled with a fringing, but that’s been an area where TTArtisan has really focused on improvement.
This real world shot of moisture on a window with light pouring through it shows a nice, neutral result.
There are only minimal amounts of LaCA (lateral chromatic aberrations), with little fringing on either side of black and white transitions.
I never really saw any kind of real world issue with LaCA.
So how about sharpness and contrast? Here’s a look at the test chart:
And here are the crops from across the frame at F1.8 at a 200% magnification.
You may notice that I have sampled the upper left corner rather than the usual lower right crop that I normally take. The reason for this is that my copy clearly has a centering issue, and the lower right corner is incredibly soft. If I take the same image and compare the lower left and the lower right, you can see that the lower right is much softer.
I didn’t notice the centering issue as much when shooting at landscape distances. If I sample both the upper left and the bottom right corners from a real world F5.6 image, I’m not really impressed with either of them, but one doesn’t look radically different from the other.
Shots taken on the lower resolution X-M5 work pretty well, though I would say that I actually probably preferred X-H2 images for the most part.
Real world contrast looks pretty decent, and in this shot from our New Year’s party, you can see that the detail really looks quite good. Not what I would call pin-sharp, but I suspect that this is plenty of resolution for most people.
It’s good that wide open sharpness is fairly good, however, as the lens doesn’t really sharpen up a lot as you stop it down (as the MTF chart suggested). That’s not to say there isn’t improvement, however. You can see see that the contrast and detail definitely looks different between F1.8 and F5.6 here:
As the MTF chart suggested, I find that the mid-frame results actually look the best. The F4 result looks better than what I see in the middle of the frame.
Stopping down to F5.6 and F8 shows mostly good results across the frame, but there is definitely ebbs and flows for sharpness depending on where you look. Here, for the example, the upper edge looks good.
After that, however, diffraction will become a factor, and the image quality will be slightly softer at F11 and then moreso at F16.
Sharpness isn’t top tier (lenses like the Sigma 23mm F1.4 or the Fuji 23mm F1.4 WR are clearly sharper), but, to be fair, this is a lens that costs $127, whereas those lenses are anywhere from $600-900. I took plenty of images that I liked with this lens.
The bokeh quality is pretty good. Perhaps the biggest weakness (for some), will be some serious flattening of specular highlights near the edge, giving it a bit of a swirl look in some situations.
In other situations, however, the bokeh looks fairly soft:
Even where the setting is a bit less favorable (more in the transition zone), I felt like the bokeh was pretty good.
An image like this is a little more jittery due to a lot being in the transition zone, but I don’t dislike the image. The bit of swirl effect works for me.
TTArtisan has had their struggles with flare resistance, and there’s definitely some remaining issues here. Perhaps the worst effect I saw was on a very cold night where a street light was right out of frame, but I still got a strong corona of flare artifacts.
In many ways I think the lens is more susceptible at large rather than small apertures. This wide open (F1.8) shot has definitely got some flashing and loss of contrast going on.
The same shot when stopped down looks radically different.
This window shot of Nala is pretty washed out due to veiling.
Then again, there are some who love optical flaws like these, feeling they add character. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder! In general, however, I felt like I got plenty of images that I liked, which is pretty impressive from such an inexpensive lens.
If you’d like to see more images, check out the image gallery linked here.
Conclusion
It’s pretty remarkable that a company like TTArtisan has progressed to making autofocus lenses that are fully usable and functional and yet still cost so little. A person could get this 23mm, the 35mm II, and 56mm F1.8 lenses from TTArtisan for around $380. That’s amazingly good value, and it feels like ten years ago that would have been the going price for one lens like this…not three.
When I dive deeply into the technical performance of the TTArtisan AF 23mm F1.8, I could find a number of things to criticize. But the truth of the matter is that in normal use, and particularly when shooting at larger aperture values, I didn’t find the lens fun to use, and got plenty of images that I liked just fine.
And that’s the real story here. Those on a tight budget can rejoice that once again TTArtisan has delivered another perfectly usable lens that can be had for under $130 USD. What’s ironic, however, is that TTArtisan has had a new Viltrox AIR series lens to compete with alongside each of these released. The Viltrox AIR 56mm F1.7 was released at just about the same time as the TTArtisan 56mm F1.8. The excellent Viltrox 35mm F1.7 AIR lens was released right after the 35mm F1.8 II, and, right on cue, the new Viltrox 25mm F1.7 AIR has just been announced. My experience has been that the Viltrox lenses tend to be sharper, but they are also typically priced about $50 higher. If you’re on a tight budget, that $50 might be the difference maker. And if you want something a little more “old school” feeling, the TTArtisan AF 23mm F1.8 might be just the thing. The AIR lenses are more corrected, more modern, while the TTArtisan AF series has a bit more of a retro vibe. Decisions, decisions….
Pros:
Very nicely built for the money
More conventional hood design
USB-C port in rear lens cap allows for firmware updates
Keywords: TTArtisan AF 23mm F1.8, TTArtisan, TTArtisan 35mm, TTArtisan AF, Autofocus, TTArtisan 23mm F1.8, 23mm, F1.8, STM, Review, Fuji X, Sony E, Review, Telephoto, Action, Tracking, Hands On, Dustin Abbott, Real World, Comparison, Sharpness, Bokeh, Flare Resistance, Autofocus, Image Quality, Sample Images, Video, Photography, Sony a6700, Sony a6600, Fujifilm X-T5, Fujifilm X-H2, let the light in, #letthelightin, DA
DISCLAIMER: This article 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.
It was just a year ago that TTArtisan released the first version of this lens and I covered it in my reviews. It’s rare for a company to do such a quick refresh of a newly released lens, but clearly TTArtisan is in a rush to get things right and felt like there were a few key areas that they could make improvements. My two two negatives from my review were 1) a very odd lens hood design and 2) rather poor minimum focus distance (60cm) and maximum magnification. The new TTArtisan 35mm II deals with both of those issues, with a more conventional hood design, a reduced minimum focus distance (40cm), and a smaller, lighter physical design to boot. Priced at only $125, this new lens is going to be a very hard one to ignore for those looking for a budget “normal” lens for their APS-C camera. Should you get one? Dive into my video review or read my text review, or just enjoy the photos below.
Thanks to TTArtisan 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 find the visit the TTArtisan listing page for the lens to get more information.
It’s pretty clear the TTArtisan’s ability to improve their lens designs is rapidly growing, as just a year has gone by and already we have a lens that is improved in pretty much every area. One of the key priorities for TTArtisan was to reduce the size of the lens.
TTArtisan managed to shrink the lens by a full 16mm, which may not seem like a lot, but in a lens this size that is nearly a 25% reduction in size. Weight has also dropped by 23g, making for a truly lightweight 176g. The biggest challenge for TTArtisan comes from a fellow Chinese company, Viltrox, whose new AF 35mm F1.7 Air lens will almost certainly be the chief competitor. The Viltrox lens is made of high quality plastics rather than metal (TTArtisan), but is even lighter at 170g despite having a slightly faster maximum aperture of F1.7. The TTArtisan 35II wins for size, however, coming in shorter by about 5mm.
35mm is a slightly oddball focal length on APS-C, landing at a 52.5mm full frame equivalent. It stands to reason why the 33mm (49.5mm) is more conventional, as it is delivering that typical 50mm “normal” angle of view. That extra 3mm is hardly likely to make much of a difference. This is a great focal length that gives a very normal, relatable point of view.
There’s no question that this is a pretty impressively good little lens for just $125…but how improved is it? Read or watch the reviews to get more info.
Keywords: TTArtisan AF 35mm F1.8 II, II, 2, TTArtisan, TTArtisan 35mm, TTArtisan AF, Autofocus, TTArtisan 35mm F1.8, 35mm, F1.8, STM, Review, Fuji X, Sony E, Review, Telephoto, Action, Tracking, Hands On, Dustin Abbott, Real World, Comparison, Sharpness, Bokeh, Flare Resistance, Autofocus, Image Quality, Sample Images, Video, Photography, Sony a6700, Sony a6600, Fujifilm X-T5, Fujifilm X-H2, let the light in, #letthelightin, DA
DISCLAIMER: This article 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.
It was just a year ago that TTArtisan released the first version of this lens and I covered it in my reviews. It’s rare for a company to do such a quick refresh of a newly released lens, but clearly TTArtisan is in a rush to get things right and felt like there were a few key areas that they could make improvements. My two two negatives from my review were 1) a very odd lens hood design and 2) rather poor minimum focus distance (60cm) and maximum magnification. The new TTArtisan 35mm II deals with both of those issues, with a more conventional hood design, a reduced minimum focus distance (40cm), and a smaller, lighter physical design to boot. Priced at only $125, this new lens is going to be a very hard one to ignore for those looking for a budget “normal” lens for their APS-C camera. Should you get one? Dive into my video review or read on in my text review to find out.
Thanks to TTArtisan 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 find the visit the TTArtisan listing page for the lens to get more information.
It’s pretty clear the TTArtisan’s ability to improve their lens designs is rapidly growing, as just a year has gone by and already we have a lens that is improved in pretty much every area. One of the key priorities for TTArtisan was to reduce the size of the lens.
TTArtisan managed to shrink the lens by a full 16mm, which may not seem like a lot, but in a lens this size that is nearly a 25% reduction in size. Weight has also dropped by 23g, making for a truly lightweight 176g. The biggest challenge for TTArtisan comes from a fellow Chinese company, Viltrox, whose new AF 35mm F1.7 Air lens will almost certainly be the chief competitor. The Viltrox lens is made of high quality plastics rather than metal (TTArtisan), but is even lighter at 170g despite having a slightly faster maximum aperture of F1.7. The TTArtisan 35II wins for size, however, coming in shorter by about 5mm.
35mm is a slightly oddball focal length on APS-C, landing at a 52.5mm full frame equivalent. It stands to reason why the 33mm (49.5mm) is more conventional, as it is delivering that typical 50mm “normal” angle of view. That extra 3mm is hardly likely to make much of a difference. This is a great focal length that gives a very normal, relatable point of view.
There’s no question that this is a pretty impressively good little lens for just $125…but how improved is it? Read on to find out.
Build and Handling
The little TTArtisan AF 35mm F1.8 II makes a very positive first impression. When I opened the box, the first thing I noticed is how small it is, and the second thing is that it is a very nicely made little lens. This is actually quite a handsome little lens. It has an anodized black finish and everything is made of metal and glass.
It’s pretty extraordinary how rich this cheap lens feels. It no looks very stubby when mounted on a bigger APS-C camera like my Fujifilm X-H2:
You’ll note that there are no switches on the lens barrel nor an aperture ring. Very possibly this is cost cutting measure. Fortunately you can function just fine without either thing, and AF | MF switches on Fuji lenses are rare, anyway, though that’s not true on other platforms like Sony or Nikon.
At the rear of the lens we have a metal lens mount complete with the appropriate electronic contacts; aperture will be controlled from the camera. Aperture control seems to work well; it is quick and responsive and the aperture iris blades are not noisy, with just a light click as the blades open and close.
There are nine aperture blades, but you can see (above at F2.8) that they don’t do an amazing job of keeping a perfectly circular shape as the lens is stopped down.
Up front we have a fairly stylish looking front façade complete with 52mm filter threads.
The included lens cap has a new font for the TTARTISAN logo imprinted on it, and I think it looks smart and modern.
One of my critiques of the previous generation lens was the odd lens hood. While the lens hood was made of metal, it had an odd design that terminated in something looks like an anamorphic adapter (a rectangular opening) which prohibited either the use of filters or mounting the lens cap…plus it meant that you absolutely couldn’t reverse the lens hood for storage. The new lens hood (pictured above), is much more plain and conventional, but all the better for it.
The manual focus ring is another positive, however. It is ribbed in metal and moves with a nice amount of resistance. The active focus area will automatically magnify when you start to focus, and this helps visually confirm accurate focus. Focus throw feels like it is somewhere near 160° of rotation.
One final interesting design element is that the rear lens cap has a USB-C port along with electronic contacts inside and will actually allow you to do firmware updates to the lens through a computer. It’s an interesting alternative to having a USB-C port built right into the lens, though I do slightly prefer the built-in option in case you lose the rear lens cap at some point. I’ve seen a similar approach to firmware updates through the rear lens cap with the Techart LM-EA9 adapter I reviewed a year ago.
One core weakness for the previous version of the lens was a rather poor minimum focus distance of 60cm. That often felt very restrictive, but TTArtisan has managed to significantly cut that down to 40cm on the new version of the lens. That’s still not great (the Viltrox 35mm can focus as closely as 33cm), but this feels slightly more usable, with magnification at roughly 0.11x (still on the low side).
Contrast isn’t great at this minimum focus distance, so while this aspect of lens design is improved, it remains somewhat of a liability relative to some competitors.
So while this is a rather simple design, it is nicely executed. Other than the lack of features (no aperture ring, switches, or weather sealing), you would easily think of this as being a much more expensive lens. Kudos to TTArtisan for being willing to rapidly improve. One word of caution: don’t do this too often, or consumers will start to say, “Just wait a year and you can get a nicer lens for the same money!“
Autofocus for Stills
As before, TTArtisan has chosen to equip this lens with a lead-screw type STM focus motor.
Fuji remains the least favorite of the four brands of cameras that I own and test, though the recent firmware updates on my X-H2 to V5 and beyond seem to have made some small improvement. Autofocus performance here is about average (though average is getting faster!), with decent speed in most situations though with a occasional rack in the wrong direction if autofocus doesn’t initially detect an obvious contrast point.
There isn’t a lot of noise in focus, with the motor making faint whines and clicks if you put your ear near it. I don’t hear much under normal shooting, however, even with my eye at the viewfinder. What you will hear is a little “clack” from the aperture blades opening and closing if you partially hold down the shutter.
Autofocus accuracy seemed fairly good, able to grab and lock on subjects accurately.
It’s been very cold during my review period, but the lens continued to function fine in sub-zero temperatures, locking on delivering accurate focus.
I did notice one quirk that may be fixed via firmware. Sometimes when shooting at F1.8 either with autofocus or manual focus, focus would reset after the shot. That proved a bit of a pain during my chart tests, as I couldn’t set focus and then just change aperture for subsequent shots. Update: this quirk seems to have been fixed via firmware.
Eye detect worked well (as is pretty expected at this point). I had no problem with people or pets in getting accurately focused results.
No, autofocus isn’t in the upper tier of performance, but the truth of the matter is that this lens focuses better than a number of native Fuji lenses that I’ve tested, so I have no complaints.
Video Autofocus
Video AF is another area that was improved by the firmware update. Fuji’s video AF on their cameras remains somewhat primitive, so take these results with a slight grain of salt and expect them to be better on Sony or Nikon. Focus pulls feature some obvious steps, with the majority of the pull occuring, then a slight pause, and then the final adjustment. In a couple of my pulls I saw a third microadjustment as the focus algorithms debated their final choice.
I saw visible steps in natural focus changes as well as the focus system transitioned from one focus point to another.
My hand test (where I alternately block and then unblock the camera’s view of my face with my hand) showed some similar steps. When my hand was removed, for example, there was a couple of obvious steps as focus returned to my eyes.
Focus seemed to be stable when I had a static subject that wasn’t changing. There wasn’t any obvious focus noise during any of these tests. This isn’t the most sophisticated focus system out there
Image Quality Breakdown
Interestingly, the TTArtisan 35II has a simpler optical design than the lens it replaces, with 10 elements in 7 groups. Though there is one less group, there is an additional ED element (now there are 2) along with two high index elements in the design. The MTF chart shows a completely different optical signature than the older lens, with a much sharper center, a slightly weaker inner mid-frame result, a much stronger outer mid-frame result, and a huge variance between the sagittal and meridional planes (low contrast) in the corners. I’ve charted the two MTF charts so that you can see the different signatures of each lens.
An interest secondary observation is that the stopped down performance on the chart was shown at F8 on the older version of the lens, while the new one is mapped at F5.6, and it generally delivers a much sharper result than the older lens save in the far corners.
There is literally no platform that I test on this is more challenging than Fuji’s 40MP APS-C sensor, as it has (by far) the greatest pixel density. A full frame sensor would have to be more than 90MP to achieve a similar pixel density, which is 50% higher than the current maximum full frame resolution of 61MP. While this little TTArtisan 35II is not anywhere near the top resolving lenses on the platform, it is also far from embarrassing itself and delivers a better than expected resolution result. The single biggest optical challenge is probably lower contrast when viewed at a pixel level. Contrast and detail looks fine when viewed large:
When viewed at a pixel level, however, you can see that the contrast and ability to resolve the fine details isn’t fantastic.
To be fair, the same is true of most lenses on this platform, including many who cost much, much more. When stopped down a bit, the amount of resolution and contrast the TTArtisan 35II can achieve is actually quite good.
So let’s break it down further.
If there is any metric where the new lens takes a step back relative to the first generation version, it is potentially in the vignette department.
The first gen lens wasn’t great in the vignette department, taking a +79 to correct in my tests, but I have to max out the vignette slider for this new lens. What’s more, the vignette is of the nature where there’s also some color attached to it, and you can see that even when maxing out the sliders, I still end up with a somewhat uneven result. Distortion seems to be about equal with the first gen lens – a tiny bit of pincushion distortion that will easily correct with a -2 or -3.
A few other observations. I received a pre-retail copy of this lens for testing (fairly typical), and the keen eyed among you may have noticed that Lightroom isn’t properly detecting the EXIF data for the lens. It is identifying it as the (Tokina) atx-m 33mm F1.4 X. The only thing right there is the “X”! As a result, Lightroom will also automatically assign the wrong correction profile to images. I’ve made TTArtisan aware of this, and they are working on both a new correction profile and a firmware update that should allow for proper recognition of the lens. Update December 17th, 2024: TTArtisan released a firmware update that addressed both this glitch along with a few performance bugs. The lens now properly identifies in Lightroom and a new (correct!) correction profile is applied.
One improvement, however, is in the longitudinal chromatic aberration department (LoCA), which is color fringing that shows up before and after the plane of focus and is typically most pronounced at large aperture values. There is still some fringing here, but it is definitely less pronounced than the first generation lens.
On these reflective Christmas decorations there is a bit of green fringing, but it’s pretty minimal.
There is some minor issue with LaCA (lateral chromatic aberrations) in the corner, though to be fair, I noticed it much more on my chart:
…than I did in real world shots.
So how about sharpness and contrast? Here’s a look at the test chart:
And here are the crops from across the frame at F1.8 at a 200% magnification.
As the MTF suggested, contrast in the center isn’t bad but the lens isn’t radically sharp. The midframe is interesting to me, as there’s quite a bit of variation even across that one crop, with the left side looking quite good and the right side looking much worse. The corner crop is the most interesting, however, as it is quite soft on the left side (closer to the center), but obviously better on the right side (right in the absolute corner). The MTF does suggest an unusual loop up towards the edge of the frame, however.
The bottom line to me is that there is enough resolution here even on the most demanding scenario to produce credible looking images:
Those shooting on lower resolution bodies will find their apparent sharpness quite a bit stronger.
At F2, contrast improves a bit. At F2.8 the contrast looks stronger still.
By F5.6, the corners look fairly good (but never exceptional). This is the upper left corner.
You can see that contrast has improved but detail is not exceptional.
Real world results are a little kinder, however, and I actually found the lens to be fairly sharp in many situations. This example at F5.6 (viewed at 100% in the crop) looks fairly impressive.
There’s a nice amount of detail in the shallow plane of focus in this F2.2 shot:
I actually think the lens is slightly sharper at F8 than it is at F5.6, and that’s true pretty much everywhere in the frame.
After that, however, diffraction will become a factor, and the image quality will be slightly softer at F11 and then moreso at F16.
I do want to add a caveat to my tests here, as there’s no question that Fuji’s 40MP sensor is easily the most demanding place to evaluate a lens. Look at how much better the apparent resolution and contrast look at 100% magnification if I scale the image down from the 40MP on the left to the more common 26MP on the right.
That’s the space that Fuji’s own 26MP sensors along with Sony’s most recent 26MP sensors occupy, and you can see that everything looks sharper, and brighter at that lower resolution level. On many cameras the TTArtisan 35II is going to look sharper than my results here show.
This is a budget lens, but it doesn’t mean that the performance is terrible. While bokeh rendering is high end, the lens is caprable of producing beautiful looking images.
This shot shows fairly good bokeh perforamce and good detail where it matters at F1.8:
The geometry of the specular highlights will definitely turn lemon-shaped towards the edges, but that’s hardly uncommon.
The previous version of the lens flared terribly, and that’s definitely an area that has gotten improved. A shot like this would have been full of flare artifacts, but I’ve let very bright sunlight coming though a window backlight this scene without any negative impact:
With direct, bright sun right in the frame, things aren’t quite as rosy. There’s some loss of contrast but also some light flashes, particularly when the lens is stopped down (image 2 below.).
I do think there is some improvement here, but it is perhaps unrealistic to expect high end coatings on such an inexpensive lens.
All told, however, this is a pretty good little lens optically, even though it seems a little unfair to test a $125 optic on one of the most optically demanding sensors in the world!
The TTArtisan AF 35mm F1.8 II is a unique lens. It is incredibly rare to see a second generation lens arrive so swiftly on the heels of the first generation lens. I’m not sure if this swift turnaround is due to less interest in the first generation lens than expected, or simply because TTArtisan wants to showcase their ability to produce ever better lenses.
There’s no question the lens IS improved. It’s smaller, sharper, has a better minimum focus distance (though not really an improved up close performance!), has a better lens hood design, and I think even the autofocus is somewhat refined. Not bad for a lens that still has one of the cheapest price tags I’ve ever seen for an autofocus lens.
The biggest question might be how it will compete with the Viltrox 35mm F1.7 AIR lens, particularly considering that Viltrox has really got a lot of momentum right now. But there’s no question that the TTArtisan AF 35mm F1.8 II is a valid option if you’re looking for an inexpensive yet fully functional “normal” prime lens for your APS-C camera.
Keywords: TTArtisan AF 35mm F1.8 II, II, 2, TTArtisan, TTArtisan 35mm, TTArtisan AF, Autofocus, TTArtisan 35mm F1.8, 35mm, F1.8, STM, Review, Fuji X, Sony E, Review, Telephoto, Action, Tracking, Hands On, Dustin Abbott, Real World, Comparison, Sharpness, Bokeh, Flare Resistance, Autofocus, Image Quality, Sample Images, Video, Photography, Sony a6700, Sony a6600, Fujifilm X-T5, Fujifilm X-H2, let the light in, #letthelightin, DA
DISCLAIMER: This article 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.
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…or just reading on.
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.
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.
Sirui Sniper 75mm Build and Handling
The original Sniper lenses all shared a common outer shell and exterior dimensions though with a slight weight variation due to the larger optical elements in some. There’s a little more variation in the new 16mm and 75mm F1.2 designs, however, as would be expected with these slightly more extreme focal lengths. This Sniper 16mm is the lightest of the series (smallest glass elements), weighing in at 375g (13.2 oz) on my scale. The 16mm and 75mm Sniper lenses share a common length (94mm or 3.7″), but you can see that the 75mm is considerably wider than the 16mm.
I measure the 75mm at nearly 75mm (2.95″), with the 16mm being a slimmer 70mm (2.75″). The 75mm is the heaviest of the group at 466g (16.1 oz), which is unsurprising as it has easily the most glass inside. The 16mm, 23mm, 33mm, and 56mm Sniper lenses all share a common 58mm front filter thread, but the filter threads on the 75mm grow to 67mm to accommodate the wider diameter of the lens.
The weight will very slightly vary according to lens and mount. The X-mount that I’m testing is actually the lightest (by a few grams), due to the X-mount being the smallest of the three in diameter. Nikon’s Z-mount is the largest in diameter, with Sony E-mount in between.
So how does the 75 x 94mm and 466g of the Sniper 75mm F1.2 compares to the Viltrox Pro AF 75mm F1.2? The Viltrox is 87 x 101 mm (3.4 x 4″) and weighs 670g (23.6oz). That makes the Sirui a whopping 200+ grams lighter, which is definitely significant. The Sniper 75mm is just 20g heavier than the Fujinon XF 56mm F1.2 WR (my review here) despite the significantly longer focal length of the Sirui. While the early Sniper lenses were heavier than some of their counterparts, this 75mm is sitting in a nice position when it comes to the size and weight of the lens.
The look of the Sniper lenses is unique. There’s not much here in terms of features, but the lenses do have an upscale look with a variety of textures and finishes. I’m reviewing the lenses labeled as being “black”, but black (at least in the typical lens sense) is not the vibe I get off these lenses. There are two metal sections (one near the lens mount and another in the middle of the lens) that has a traditional anodized satin black finish, but in between there is a section of genuine carbon fiber that looks very cool. Carbon fiber is a more upscale material and it definitely sets these lenses apart.
There are two badges in this section. One is a plate with the Sirui banding in raised metal lettering. The second is on the left side, and there is a another smaller badge that says AF and APS-C. Interestingly the word “Sniper” appears nowhere on the lens.
There are no switches on the lens barrel nor an aperture ring. That’s more noticeable here on Fuji, where aperture rings are fairly standard. Both of the F1.2 lenses that I’ve mentioned have both an aperture ring and weather sealing, so the Sirui is at a serious disadvantage in those areas, though, to be fair, it is between $200 and $600 cheaper than its main competitors.
The Sniper 75mm has a great profile to it on camera, with a nice, squat look that is a nice match to my larger X-H2 body.
The manual focus ring has a diamond pattern akin to Canon’s control rings rather than a typical ribbed finish. It’s one more area where the lenses maintain their own unique look.
The manual focus rings move smoothly and the weight is fairly light. Not so light that you can’t accurately focus, but a bit lighter than what I personally prefer. Sirui states that the focus throw is 360°, so plenty of room for precision.
After the focus ring is a blue accent ring that is nearly turquoise in color. Once again it is little different than other lens that I’ve tested, and it works. The final section at the front of the lens has a titanium colored anodized metal finish, so less than half of the lens surface is actually purely black. Each lens color has some unique ingredient: black = carbon fiber, silver = aluminum alloy, white = ceramic baked paint.
The included lens hoods is nothing special. It is made of plastic and doesn’t feel as premium at the rest of the lens. It doesn’t bayonet on quite as precisely as I would prefer, though it does lock into place tightly. I do appreciate the ribbed section in the hood which gives a little more grip.
It’s worth noting that both the front pinch cap along with the rear cap are quite low profile. The front cap is just a few millimeters thick, and the rear cap too feels slimmer than usual. These little details stood out to me as nothing about the lenses felt generic or “by-the-numbers”. Sirui is doing their own thing here, and I like the attention to detail.
At the rear of the lens we have a metal lens mount complete with the appropriate electronic contacts; aperture will be controlled from the camera. There is a USB-C port there that will allow for future firmware updates. That’s a really important move by Sirui, as they are new to autofocus design. The ability to update the focus algorithms in their lenses will help them to focus better in the future and also allows the lenses to be futureproof.
The aperture iris is made up of a higher-than-average 11 rounded blades. That’s a great choice in a lens with an F1.2 aperture, as it helps assure that the aperture iris stays circular as the lens is stopped down. It also looks really gorgeous in a lens like this that has so much glass to look through in the front.
The minimum focus distances for the Sniper 75mm is fairly high at 70cm. Sirui has not listed the maximum magnification, but it is definitely the highest in the group. I would estimate it in the 0.12x range.
It’s not particularly close, but the magnification can still be useful, and the huge maximum aperture allows for a deep blur of the background.
There are some pros and cons for the design and handling. On the positive side, the lenses look and feel great. There are some premium materials being used in the design and the attention to detail is excellent, and, in this case, the Sniper 75mm is smaller and lighter than the directly competing lens. On the negative side, there are no real features on the lenses outside of the USB-C port for firmware updates.
Autofocus Performance
The Sirui Sniper lenses are all equipped with STM (stepping) focus motors. There is a certain amount of autofocus performance that is camera and camera system specific, so I’ll try to distinguish between the lens performance and the system performance as much as possible. My experience is that third party lenses focus better on Sony and Nikon than they do on Fuji, and that’s largely because Fuji’s autofocus systems in their cameras are not quite as sophisticated as equivalent Sony or Nikon cameras.
That being said, autofocus speed is about average for a modern STM motor on Fuji. The thrust in this AF motor seems a little more impressive than some of the lenses in the series, so I found that AF speed was perhaps better than average for the Sniper lenses despite the focus motor having to push the larger glass elements in this lens. When doing my focus speed tests with the Sniper 75mm from close to distance, I found that focus wasn’t quite instantaneous, but neither was it slow. And in real world shooting I found that focus speed was fast enough that I never really thought about it. This isn’t going to be a lens for shooting sports, but none of these F1.2 lenses on Fuji are.
The actual focus motor makes only a light whirring, but there is more noise caused by the the sound of the aperture blades opening and closing. This happens even when the aperture is set at F1.2, as the aperture blades close partway in between focus on Fuji (for some reason). This happens with all lenses, but the aperture blades on the Sniper lenses are noisier than average, and that does draw your attention to them. It unfortunately makes autofocus feel less sophisticated than it actually is.
Focus accuracy was good. I was able to shoot through layers of the foreground and accurately focus on the lock above.
I could shoot from roughly 2 meters (six feet) away and focus easily locked on these growing plants.
Focus was also good with the lens stopped down, and it produced very nice looking landscape shots.
When I moved around with Eye AF engaged, focus tracked accurately and the green box stayed locked on the “eye” of my little test statue.
I was less satisfied when I had a moving target like Nala moving towards me. Even though eye AF grabbed her eye, it seemed like images tended to be backfocused.
So other than being a little noisy in focus, I actually had no issue with the lens for stills. Like other lenses in the series, autofocus isn’t fast enough to track action, but it does seem to be accurate for more still subjects.
The state of autofocus on Fuji for video remains pretty abysmal relative to other platforms. Add a third party lens from company that has been making autofocus lenses for less than a year, and you’ve got a recipe for a bit of frustration. Focus pulls were quite slow with very obvious steps. The focus pull felt it came in 3-4 stages rather than one smooth arc. Focus also did a bit of settling before a final lock.
My hand test (where I alternately block and then unblock the camera’s view of my face with my hand) was particularly frustrating. The lens didn’t really want to focus on either my face or my hand at first (it acted as if I hadn’t come into the frame), and by the time it eventually decided to focus on me, focus transitions were so slow and non-reactive that I rarely got a decent cycle of focus from my hand to my eye or vice versa.
On a positive note, focus breathing is fairly well controlled.
If you rarely shoot video (or don’t really need autofocus during video recording), then the Sniper 75mm will work fine. It’s not a great choice for video work, however. The frustrating thing is that there doesn’t seem to be many alternatives on Fuji that are much better. I suspect this lens will function much better for video work on either Sony or Nikon from my experience on those platforms.
Sirui Sniper 75mm Image Quality
The Sirui Sniper 16mm F1.2 has an optical design of 13 elements in 9 groups. All of the Sniper lenses have had more of what I call a “classic” sharpness profile, in that they behave like some older large aperture lenses. They are somewhat dreamy (low contrast) wide open and then sharpen up to higher contrast and detail at smaller apertures. The 33mm and 56mm Sniper lenses took this to an extreme, and I wasn’t really a fan of them, but the 16mm and, in particular, this 75mm find a much nicer balance. While it is true that the extreme resolution of the 40MP Fuji APS-C sensor tends to make a lot of lenses look softer than they are in any other application, I feel like the Sniper 75mm is able to handle those demands reasonably well. It isn’t as bitingly sharp and high contrast at F1.2 as the Viltrox, but it does produce enough contrast and detail at F1.2 to be useful. Pair that with gorgeous bokeh and you’ve got a lens that I think will make a lot of people happy.
I like the 16mm and 75mm better than the early lenses in the series because they have more sharpness potential when stopped down…even on the very demanding sensor of my X-H2. When stopped down it delivers high detail images that look great.
Our optical deep dive starts with a look at vignette and distortion, an area where the Sniper lenses have held up quite well. The 75mm is no exception with no distortion there to correct.
Vignette is also well controlled for an F1.2 lens, requiring only a +45 (about 1 1/2 stops) to correct. This is an area of advantage over competing lenses.
The first telephoto in the series (56mm F1.2) was terrible for fringing, but the Sniper 75mm is much better. There is very little longitudinal chromatic aberrations (LoCA_ here.
You can see the advantage of this in this shot of white raspberry blossoms in a high contrast setting. There is very little fringing in this F1.4 shot despite this being prime conditions to seem them.
Lateral chromatic aberrations near the edge of the frame are fairly well controlled. I see some very minor fringing in the transitions from black to white here, but nothing significant.
The Sniper 75mm is holding up MUCH better in these tests than the 56mm did.
So how about resolution? The 40MP Fuji X-Trans sensor tends to make all but the very sharpest of lenses look a little soft under the microscope of my tests. I examine results at a 200% magnification, and that’s a lot to ask of any lens. Here’s a look at the test chart:
And here is a look at F1.2 crops from the center, then mid-frame, and then extreme lower right corner:
The crops reveal that contrast is fairly good even at F1.2 in the center of the frame, and the corners stand out to me as being quite good as well. That’s born out in real world results (particularly outside of close focus range), as the detail even in the corners at F1.2 looks good even on such a high resolution body.
Even at landscape distances, however, I think the sharpness results are quite good.
There is a minor uptick in contrast even at F1.4 along with slightly better detail. Here’s a look at the midframe at 200% magnification.
You’ll see even more improvement from F1.4 to F2:
By F4 to F8, you’ll find sharpness that reaches all across the frame, even to the corners.
Landscape shots in this range will show great detail and contrast all across the frame.
By F11 you will see some softening due to the effect of diffraction, with more rapid deterioration by F16.
The standout quality from the Sniper 75mm, however, is its bokeh, which is pretty fantastic. If you combine the minimum focus distance with F1.2, you’ll end up with a near complete dissolving of the background and gorgeous creaminess.
Add more complex backgrounds and the lens still thrives.
Move back a little further and even close down the the lens a bit, and I still like what I see.
Even this shot of a very complex scene and with the lens stopped down to F2 looks great:
Flare resistance is fairly good for a large aperture telephoto lens. It’s not free of flare artifacts, but the ghosting is minimal. There’s a bit more when stopped down, but not bad.
I was able to test for coma, and found that while there is some minor distorting of star points near the edge of the frame, this is actually a decent lens to use for capturing the stars. No fringing on star points, low amounts of vignette, and obviously the ability to suck in massive amounts of light with that very bright aperture.
All told, this is really a very nice lens optically. The Viltrox 75mm F1.2 is sharper, but the bokeh from the Sniper 75mm may be even nicer.
This is the first of the Sniper lenses that I feel completely positive about in terms of its optics. It is sharp enough to not embarrass itself even on the very high resolution of the Fuji’s 40MP APS-C sensor and has some of the nicest bokeh I’ve seen from any lens on Fuji. This is a very nice lens optically for the price tag of just $350 USD, and should make for a gorgeous portrait lens. You can check out the image gallery to see more photos and see if the rendering from the lens suits you.
Conclusion
The Sirui Sniper 75mm F1.2 AF lens is a welcome addition to the Sniper series. While the focal length is less conventional, the Sniper 75mm more than makes up for it through its beautiful rendering.
Autofocus isn’t great for action or big video pulls, but it worked fine for the majority of my photography subjects.
The optical performance, however, makes this lens a great “bang-for-the buck” value, capable of producing gorgeous images with good color, contrast, detail, and lovely bokeh.
So if you’re sweet spot for a telephoto falls somewhere between Fuji’s 56mm F1.2 and 90mm F2, the Sirui Sniper 75mm F1.2 might just be the lens for you.
Keywords: Sirui, Sniper, Sirui Sniper, Sirui Sniper 75mm F1.2, 75mm, 23mm, 33mm 56mm, 16mm, F1.2, STM, Carbon Fiber, Review, Fuji X, Sony E, Review, Telephoto, Action, Tracking, Hands On, Dustin Abbott, Real World, Comparison, Sharpness, Bokeh, Flare Resistance, Autofocus, Image Quality, Sample Images, Video, Photography, Sony a6700, Sony a6600, Fujifilm X-T5, Fujifilm X-H2, let the light in, #letthelightin, DA
DISCLAIMER: This article 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.
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.
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.
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.
Keywords: Sirui, Sniper, Sirui Sniper, Sirui Sniper 75mm F1.2, 75mm, 23mm, 33mm 56mm, 16mm, F1.2, STM, Carbon Fiber, Review, Fuji X, Sony E, Review, Telephoto, Action, Tracking, Hands On, Dustin Abbott, Real World, Comparison, Sharpness, Bokeh, Flare Resistance, Autofocus, Image Quality, Sample Images, Video, Photography, Sony a6700, Sony a6600, Fujifilm X-T5, Fujifilm X-H2, let the light in, #letthelightin, DA
DISCLAIMER: This article 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.
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…or just reading on.
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.
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.
Sirui Sniper 16mm Build and Handling
The original Sniper lenses all shared a common outer shell and exterior dimensions though with a slight weight variation due to the larger optical elements in some. There’s a little more variation in the new 16mm and 75mm F1.2 designs, however, as would be expected with these slightly more extreme focal lengths. This Sniper 16mm is the lightest of the series (smallest glass elements), weighing in at 375g (13.2 oz) on my scale. The 16mm and 75mm Sniper lenses share a common length (94mm or 3.7″), but you can see that the 75mm is considerably wider than the 16mm.
I measure the 75mm at nearly 75mm (2.95″), with the 16mm being a slimmer 70mm (2.75″). The 75mm is the heaviest of the group at 466g (16.1 oz), which is unsurprising as it has easily the most glass inside. The 16mm, 23mm, 33mm, and 56mm Sniper lenses all share a common 58mm front filter thread, but the filter threads on the 75mm grow to 67mm to accommodate the wider diameter of the lens.
The weight will very slightly vary according to lens and mount. The X-mount that I’m testing is actually the lightest (by a few grams), due to the X-mount being the smallest of the three in diameter. Nikon’s Z-mount is the largest in diameter, with Sony E-mount in between.
So how does the 70 x 94mm and 386g of the Sniper 16mm F1.2 compare to the F1.4 competition from Fuji and Sigma? The Fuji 16mm F1.4 WR is a bit smaller (73.4 x 73 mm – wider but shorter) and has an identical 375g weight. The Sigma 16mm F1.4 is both bigger (72.2 x 92.6 mm) and heavier (405g), so the Sniper 16mm is right where it should be in size and weight, particularly considering it is a bit brighter than either of these lenses.
As noted, the look of the Sniper lenses is unique. There’s not much here in terms of features, but the lenses do have an upscale look with a variety of textures and finishes. I’m reviewing the lenses labeled as being “black”, but black (at least in the typical lens sense) is not the vibe I get off these lenses. There are two metal sections (one near the lens mount and another in the middle of the lens) that has a traditional anodized satin black finish, but in between there is a section of genuine carbon fiber that looks very cool. Carbon fiber is a more upscale material and it definitely sets these lenses apart.
There are two badges in this section. One is a plate with the Sirui banding in raised metal lettering.
The second is on the left side, and there is a another smaller badge that says AF and APS-C. Interestingly the word “Sniper” appears nowhere on the lens.
There are no switches on the lens barrel nor an aperture ring. That’s more noticeable here on Fuji, where aperture rings are fairly standard. The Fuji 16mm options (F1.4 and F2.8) both have aperture rings (and weather sealing), though the Sigma does not. Prices range from $399 (Fuji 16mm F2.8) to a whopping $999 (Fuji 16mm F1.4). The Sigma 16mm F1.4 DN is going to be the closest to a direct competitor, costing a little more ($449 USD) but have a more established reputation for performance (my review of the Sigma on E-mount can be found here).
If the Sniper lenses are not set apart by features, then Sirui has attempted to distinguish them by style instead. That middle anodized metal section includes an interesting projection over the carbon fiber section that has the lens designation there, including the focal length and maximum aperture value. This section is important if you own multiple of the Sniper lenses, since they all look the same.
Next comes a manual focus ring with a diamond pattern akin to Canon’s control rings rather than a typical ribbed finish. It’s one more area where the lenses maintain their own unique look.
The manual focus rings move smoothly and the weight is fairly light. Not so light that you can’t accurately focus, but a bit lighter than what I personally prefer. There is no obvious stepping when manually focusing, though I do find (as per usual on Fuji!) that large manual focus changes require a number of rotations. This is particularly true if you are trying to focus towards minimum focus; I counted 6 full rotations to get from 1 meter to minimum focus.
After the focus ring is a blue accent ring that is nearly turquoise in color. Once again it is little different than other lens that I’ve tested, and it works. The final section at the front of the lens has a titanium colored anodized metal finish, so less than half of the lens surface is actually purely black. Each lens color has some unique ingredient: black = carbon fiber, silver = aluminum alloy, white = ceramic baked paint.
A look at the front of the lens shows the 58mm filter threads (in metal), along with a front façade that has the lens designation and the filter size on the opposite side.
The included lens hoods is nothing special. It is made of plastic and doesn’t feel as premium at the rest of the lens. It is petal shaped and flares out away from the lens to prevent vignetting, though this does make it a bit wider for storage when reversed. I do appreciate the ribbed section in the hood which gives a little more grip.
It’s worth noting that both the front pinch cap along with the rear cap are quite low profile. The front cap is just a few millimeters thick, and the rear cap too feels slimmer than usual. These little details stood out to me as nothing about the lenses felt generic or “by-the-numbers”. Sirui is doing their own thing here, and I like the attention to detail.
At the rear of the lens we have a metal lens mount complete with the appropriate electronic contacts; aperture will be controlled from the camera. There is a USB-C port there that will allow for future firmware updates. That’s a really important move by Sirui, as they are new to autofocus design. The ability to update the focus algorithms in their lenses will help them to focus better in the future and also allows the lenses to be futureproof.
The aperture iris is made up of a higher-than-average 11 rounded blades. That’s a great choice in a lens with an F1.2 aperture, as it helps assure that the aperture iris stays circular as the lens is stopped down.
The minimum focus distances for the Sniper 16mm is fair high at 30cm. Sirui has not listed the maximum magnification, but it looks to be in the sub 0.10x range. Here’s a look at the 16mm’s maximum magnification.
The large maximum aperture will allow you still blur out backgrounds, but that’s not because you are particularly close to your subject!
There is no weather sealing gasket on the Sirui Sniper lenses or internal seals. These are not weather resistant lenses.
There are some pros and cons for the design and handling. On the positive side, the lenses look and feel great. There are some premium materials being used in the design and the attention to detail is excellent. On the negative side, there are no real features on the lenses outside of the USB-C port for firmware updates. But also worth considering is that the lenses have a larger maximum aperture than competing lenses while also tending to be less expensive.
Autofocus Performance
The Sirui Sniper lenses are all equipped with STM (stepping) focus motors. There is a certain amount of autofocus performance that is camera and camera system specific, so I’ll try to distinguish between the lens performance and the system performance as much as possible. My experience is that third party lenses focus better on Sony and Nikon than they do on Fuji, and that’s largely because Fuji’s autofocus systems in their cameras are not quite as sophisticated as equivalent Sony or Nikon cameras.
That being said, autofocus speed is a slightly below average for a modern STM motor on Fuji. When doing my focus speed tests with the Sniper 16mm from close to distance, I found that I could see my subject coming into focus rather than just instantly being in focus. When I went outdoors, focus speed picked up, though it still isn’t the instant focus I see with the better modern lenses. There is light clicking sound that I noticed during my focus tests, and it is caused by the the sound of the aperture blades opening and closing. This happens even when the aperture is wide open, as the aperture blades close partway in between focus on Fuji (for some reason). This happens with all lenses, but the aperture blades on the Sniper lenses are really noisy. If I keep the shutter held halfway down in the AF-C mode and move focus around, I hear only a light whirring with my ear near the lens barrel, but if I take my finger on and off the shutter button, there’s a lot of clacking from the aperture blades. It unfortunately makes autofocus feel less sophisticated than it actually is.
Outside of that annoyance, focus is actually pretty good. Wider angle lenses like this have much larger depth of field, so typical focus changes come fairly fast. I also had good focus accuracy as well, even when shooting at F1.2 where depth of field is more shallow (like above).
Equally important to me with a wide angle lens is that it focus well at smaller apertures, as some lenses will pulse a bit when there are many focus possibilities. The Sniper 16mm focused well in these situations.
When I moved around with Eye AF engaged, focus tracked accurately and the green box stayed locked on the “eye” of my little test statue.
So other than being a little noisy in focus, I actually had no issue with the lens for stills. Like other lenses in the series, autofocus isn’t fast, but it does seem to be accurate for stills/photography.
The state of autofocus on Fuji for video remains pretty abysmal relative to other platforms. Add a third party lens from company that has been doing autofocus for less than a year, and you’ve got a recipe for a bit of frustration. Focus pulls were a little more reactive than some of the previous Sniper lenses, though there were still some visible steps and pulses along the way. Focus did a bit of settling before a final lock. The microphone also picked up some faint clicks and whirs during the focus action.
My hand test (where I alternately block and then unblock the camera’s view of my face with my hand) was also frustrating. The lens is not reactive, so there’s a bit of a pause before focus transitions start after the hand is added or removed, and often focus had just not arrived at the destination before it needed to start moving again…even though I was moving slower and more deliberately than usual.
On a positive note, focus breathing is fairly well controlled.
If you rarely shoot video (or don’t really need autofocus during video recording), then the Sniper 16mm will work fine. Just know it isn’t the most sophisticated out there.
Sirui Sniper 16mm Image Quality
The Sirui Sniper 16mm F1.2 has an interesting optical design of 14 elements in 5 groups. Typically the ratio of elements to groups is much closer. Like most of the other lenses in the series, the Sniper 16mm behaves a lot like classic lenses with very large apertures. It is somewhat dreamy (low contrast) wide open and then sharpens up to higher contrast and detail at smaller apertures. This F1.2 image does what I want in terms of creating a more shallow depth of field that hints at the path beyond, but if you look at it critically there isn’t a lot of contrast in the main leaves.
I like the 16mm better than some lenses in the series because I do feel like it has more sharpness potential when stopped down…even on the very demanding sensor of my X-H2. When stopped down it delivers high detail images that look great.
Our optical deep dive starts with a look at vignette and distortion, an area where the Sniper lenses have held up quite well. The 16mm is no exception and is actually a standout in a wide angle prime for essentially having no distortion to speak of.
Vignette is about average for this type of lens, requiring about a +70 correct for (a little over two stops). There is a correct profile available that deals with these automatically. Images look nice and bright with the profile.
The original trio of Sniper lenses struggled with fringing – longitudinal chromatic aberrations – but the Sniper 16mm does just fine in this regard.
Lateral chromatic aberrations near the edge of the frame are also very well controlled. There is almost no fringing in the transitions from black and white.
This a big part of the reason why this 16mm has more sharpness potential than the first three lenses from the series that I reviewed.
So how about resolution? The 40MP Fuji X-Trans sensor tends to make all but the very sharpest of lenses look a little soft under the microscope of my tests. I examine results at a 200% magnification, and that’s a lot to ask of any lens. Here’s a look at the test chart:
And here is a look at F1.2 crops from the center, then mid-frame, and then extreme lower right corner:
The crops reveal that contrast is not high at F1.2 (there’s almost like a “film” over the results), but also that resolution is fairly consistent across the frame.
It is possible to shoot landscape images at F1.2 if you don’t pixel peep.
The difference with the 16mm vs the 23mm, 33mm, and 56mm, is that the 16mm sharpens up much faster. Look at how much sharper and high contrast the results are at F2 (100% magnification):
The corners will really sharpen up by F5.6, :
Landscape images shine from F5.6 to F8.
By F11 you will see some softening due to the effect of diffraction, with a rapid deterioration by F16.
The bokeh here is somewhat better than most 16mm lenses. There is a bit of outlining in some situations, but overall it looks pretty good for a wide angle lens.
Things are a little busier if you back up a bit.
If you want creamy bokeh, consider other lenses in the series. The bokeh here is good for a wide angle lens, but the other lenses in the series all have softer bokeh.
The aperture iris produces nice looking sunstar/sunbursts. I particularly like it when shooting through things (like branches) and allowing the sunburst to pop through.
If I allow a bigger amount of light through, there’s more flaring.
Expect to see a bit more ghosting if there is nothing blocking the sun, but nothing too bad.
This is a fairly decent lens for shooting the night sky with. There is some coma at high magnification (as you’ll see below), but it is also very bright at F1.2 and allows you to keep the ISO down for cleaner results.
None of these Sniper lenses have been world beaters optically, but the 16mm F1.2 is one of the better lenses in the series. It is sharp enough when stopped down to cover the very high resolution of the Fuji’s 40MP APS-C sensor, and doesn’t really embarrass itself in any area. Getting an autofocus wide angle prime with an F1.2 aperture is rare, period, but getting one for just $350 USD is unprecedented. You can check out the image gallery to see more photos and see if the rendering from the lens suits you.
Conclusion
The Sirui Sniper 16mm F1.2 AF lens is a welcome addition to the Sniper series. It is a great focal length, is extremely bright, and is still moderate enough in size that it is easy to bring along. When you stop it down it is very sharp, and doesn’t have a lot of extra optical flaws.
The Sniper 16mm is a little less sharp than the Sigma 16mm F1.4 DN, but it also controls aberrations better and has lower distortion
The Sirui Sniper 16mm F1.2 might be the perfect lens for you if you often shoot in lower light conditions aren’t really a pixel peeper anyway, though the Sniper 16mm is fairly sharp. It’s also cheaper than any of the main competitors at 16mm, and that’s always going to be an attractive quality.
Keywords: Sirui, Sniper, Sirui Sniper, 16mm, 23mm, 33mm 56mm, 75mm, F1.2, STM, Carbon Fiber, Review, Fuji X, Sony E, Review, Telephoto, Action, Tracking, Hands On, Dustin Abbott, Real World, Comparison, Sharpness, Bokeh, Flare Resistance, Autofocus, Image Quality, Sample Images, Video, Photography, Sony a6700, Sony a6600, Fujifilm X-T5, Fujifilm X-H2, let the light in, #letthelightin, DA
DISCLAIMER: This article 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.
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.
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.
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.
Keywords: Sirui, Sniper, Sirui Sniper, 16mm, 23mm, 33mm 56mm, 75mm, F1.2, STM, Carbon Fiber, Review, Fuji X, Sony E, Review, Telephoto, Action, Tracking, Hands On, Dustin Abbott, Real World, Comparison, Sharpness, Bokeh, Flare Resistance, Autofocus, Image Quality, Sample Images, Video, Photography, Sony a6700, Sony a6600, Fujifilm X-T5, Fujifilm X-H2, let the light in, #letthelightin, DA
DISCLAIMER: This article 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.
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