I’ve praised Yongnuo over the past few years for being innovative rather than derivative. My first exposure to Yongnuo is when they started making cheap versions of Canon optical designs (very derivative), but more recently they’ve found their footing in making their own lenses with some of their own innovations. That leaves me a little disappointed in their most recent naming convention (not the lens itself). Their new lens is the Yongnuo 35mm F1.8S DA ART, which is very derivative of Sigma’s branding using the ART moniker that debuted in 2012. Sigma’s ART series really revolutionized its brand perception in the world, not because of the name, but because of the optical quality, and I’m not a fan of Yongnuo essentially trying to borrow that brand success. Perhaps the argument will be that the ART designation (for Sigma) has been reserved for full frame lenses, while Yongnuo will use them for APS-C. Still, it doesn’t sit well with me, so I’ll have to try to separate that negative impression from the actual performance of the lens, as this is a lot of lens for $129 USD! You can find out my full thoughts by watching the video review below, by reading the text review, or just enjoy the photos in the galleries.
Thanks to Yongnuo for sending me a review sample of this lens. As always, this is a completely independent review. *The tests and most of the photos that I share as a part of my review cycle have been done with the APS-C mode (26MP) of my Sony a7RVcamera. You can find the product listing page here.
The new “ART” series is all about the image quality (hmmm, where have I heard that before?) Rather than focusing on features, Yongnuo will be emphasizing the optical performance of the YN 35ART that we’re reviewing today. Yongnuo has confirmed to me that the 35mm is the first in a new series for APS-C that they are releasing, all of which will bear the ART designation. The lens is definitely capable of producing sharp photos even at F1.8.
The challenge, of course, is a very saturated market. I’m reviewing this lens on Sony E-mount (it will also come to Fuji X and Nikon Z), and there are a lot of options available in and around this focal length. The most obvious competitor on price and performance will be the Viltrox AF 35mm F1.7 AIR, a very good (and very affordable) lens that I reviewed here (on X-mount, but I got in an E-mount version to use for comparison in this review.) It’s an interesting turn of events that there are now enough of the Chinese brands on the market that they are directly competing with each other. The question will be how the YN 35ART will manage to distinguish itself from the crowd.
One answer may be in build quality, as the Yongnuo has a simple but more upscale build, including a metal body and even a weather sealing gasket at the lens mount.
But it can take very nice photos for minimal investment, so it is worth looking at.
Keywords: Yongnuo, YN, 35mm, F1.8, Yongnuo 35mm F1.8, DSM, WL, F1.8, ART, Yongnuo 35mm F1.8 ART, APS-C, Review, Sony a6700, a6000, a6400, Sony a7RV, 23mm, 33mm, Wireless, Review, Hands On, Dustin Abbott, Real World, Comparison, Sharpness, Bokeh, Flare Resistance, Autofocus, Image Quality, Sample Images, Video, Photography, let the light in, weathersealing, #letthelightin, DA
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.
I’ve praised Yongnuo over the past few years for being innovative rather than derivative. My first exposure to Yongnuo is when they started making cheap versions of Canon optical designs (very derivative), but more recently they’ve found their footing in making their own lenses with some of their own innovations. That leaves me a little disappointed in their most recent naming convention (not the lens itself). Their new lens is the Yongnuo 35mm F1.8S DA ART, which is very derivative of Sigma’s branding using the ART moniker that debuted in 2012. Sigma’s ART series really revolutionized its brand perception in the world, not because of the name, but because of the optical quality, and I’m not a fan of Yongnuo essentially trying to borrow that brand success. Perhaps the argument will be that the ART designation (for Sigma) has been reserved for full frame lenses, while Yongnuo will use them for APS-C. Still, it doesn’t sit well with me, so I’ll have to try to separate that negative impression from the actual performance of the lens, as this is a lot of lens for $129 USD! You can find out my full thoughts by watching the video review below…or reading on in the text review.
Thanks to Yongnuo for sending me a review sample of this lens. As always, this is a completely independent review. *The tests and most of the photos that I share as a part of my review cycle have been done with the APS-C mode (26MP) of my Sony a7RVcamera. You can find the product listing page here.
The new “ART” series is all about the image quality (hmmm, where have I heard that before?) Rather than focusing on features, Yongnuo will be emphasizing the optical performance of the YN 35ART that we’re reviewing today. Yongnuo has confirmed to me that the 35mm is the first in a new series for APS-C that they are releasing, all of which will bear the ART designation. The lens is definitely capable of producing sharp photos even at F1.8.
The challenge, of course, is a very saturated market. I’m reviewing this lens on Sony E-mount (it will also come to Fuji X and Nikon Z), and there are a lot of options available in and around this focal length. The most obvious competitor on price and performance will be the Viltrox AF 35mm F1.7 AIR, a very good (and very affordable) lens that I reviewed here (on X-mount, but I got in an E-mount version to use for comparison in this review.) It’s an interesting turn of events that there are now enough of the Chinese brands on the market that they are directly competing with each other. The question will be how the YN 35ART will manage to distinguish itself from the crowd.
One answer may be in build quality, as the Yongnuo has a simple but more upscale build, including a metal body and even a weather sealing gasket at the lens mount.
It will probably take more than that, however, so let’s see if this Yongnuo lens lives up to the “ART” name.
Build and Handling
If you don’t speak Yongnuo, let me break down what those letters mean in the 35mm F1.8S DA ART lens designation. In many ways this follows the Fuji naming convention which puts a list of features right in the name.
S = Sony, or Sony E-mount
DA = APS-C
ART = Higher level of optical performance
35mm (along with 33mm) are popular focal lengths on APS-C cameras because the APS-C crop factor (1.5x on these cameras) causes the focal length to behave like a “normal” lens on full frame. The effective focal length is 52.5mm (33mm is closer to 49.5mm), which makes for a field of view considered “normal” because it is close to what the human eye sees. That makes for images that are easily relatable.
You may have noticed that the shape of the new Yongnuo lens is quite different from the Viltrox. The Viltrox lens has a more squat shape. The diameter (64mm) is bigger than the length (54.3mm). The script is flipped with the YN 35ART, which is 63.5mm (2.53″) in diameter (almost as wide as the Viltrox), but considerably longer at 79.9mm (3.14″). That makes the Yongnuo a full 25mm longer, which is very significant.
The weight is also a fair bit heavier, at 265g (9.34oz) to just 170g for the Viltrox. Part of that is due to the extra size, but part is also due to the more robust build quality, which is more metals than plastics.
The greatest point of similarity is from the front of the lenses, where both look similar in diameter and share a 52mm front filter size.
I don’t often discuss minimum focus distance this early in a review, but this is the first lens that I can recall giving not only the minimum focus distance (35cm) but also the maximum magnification information (0.12x) right on the lens facade.
It’s an interesting inclusion, and I guess it makes my job easier! Here’s what that maximum magnification looks like:
The Viltrox can focus 2cm closer (33cm), and achieves a very slightly higher 0.13x magnification for reference. Not enough to look significantly different, as you can see below.
Whereas Yongnuo’s previous lens series (the Commander series) had an above average amount of features for the class, Yongnuo has a much more stripped down aesthetic here. There are no features outside of the manual focus ring on the barrel.
I’m not sure why we didn’t even get an AF | MF switch, and the Fuji crowd, in particular, will clamor over the lack of an aperture ring.
Unfortunately the one thing there (the manual focus ring) isn’t particularly well executed. I found the focus action fairly rough. The focus ring feels like it rubs a bit, and the focus action is distinctly non-linear. I found it to be extremely speed sensitive, with even minor changes to rotation speed dramatically impacting the focus throw. That made it very difficult to achieve consistent pulls from one object to another.
As has been the case with recent Yongnuo lenses, there is a USB-C port on the barrel of the lens near the lens mount. It is covered by a small rubber gasket that keeps moisture and dust out of the port. You’ll want to be careful with this gasket, as it comes completely out and will be easy to lose if you aren’t careful.
There is a tulip-shaped lens hood included. It is plastic, but nice plastics, and it feels tough and durable. It bayonets on with good precision and clicks definitely into place.
The aperture iris itself has 9 rounded blades to help ensure circular specular highlights when stopped down. This works okay, though the specular highlights have a bit of an odd signature to them, with a little scoop out of the bottom side. Here’s a look at F1.8, F2, and F2.8:
The lens barrel is made of metal, and it has a nice, anodized black satin finish. The materials are good, but I do feel like the longer length of the lens makes the section before the manual focus ring feel a little empty and unfinished – almost like an extension tube is attached to the lens. Even some branding in that section would have helped fill in the space.
There is a metal lens mount with a weather sealing gasket attached. Yongnuo also claims a fluorine coating on the front element to resist fingerprints and moisture.
The build quality is nice enough here, though I wouldn’t say that Yognuo has really done much to separate itself from the competition in this area.
Autofocus for Stills
Interestingly Yongnuo has not included the DSM in the lens name that I’ve seen with a number of their other lenses. DSM stands for “Digital Stepping Motor”. I had to go searching in the included user manual for any information about the focus motor, and found that it is an STM (Stepping Motor). As per usual, my question regarding what is different between a “DSM” and an “STM” goes unanswered. Focus works pretty well for stills, however, though with some caveats.
You can see the precision of focus in this shot.
Initially I had some hesitations about focus because I saw some unexpected hesitations during the focus process. After reporting those to Yongnuo, however, I received a firmware update that seems to have ironed out the quirks and gave more expected focus results.
I found that real world precision was good regardless of what subject I was working with. Here Nala was moving a bit, and focus still nailed her with precision.
Likewise here she was walking towards me and her face was in shadow, and yet focus is nailed on the eye.
Eye tracking worked fine for human or animal subjects, so overall I think it did fine even if focus speed isn’t top tier.
As with most third party lenses, if your goal is tracking fast action, you might want to go with a Sony lens, but for most people in most situations, autofocus for stills was pretty great.
Video AF
As with stills, the firmware update dramatically improved autofocus performance for stills. Focus became smooth and confident, giving me the kind of results during focus pulls that I expect on Sony.
There is a mild amount of focus breathing, but nothing extreme.
My hand test where I alternately block the camera’s view of my face and then remove it went fine. Focus moved with good confidence from my hand and back to my face.
A clip of Nala rolling around on the ground also went fine, with focus adjusting as she rolled and writhed in the sun.
Focus in general was fine post firmware update on the lens.
Yongnuo 35mm F1.8 (ART) Image Quality Breakdown
The YN 35ART has an optical design of 10 elements in 9 groups. I haven’t yet seen a breakdown of the optical design, though the box does have “ASPH” on it, indicating there is one or more aspherical elements. There is some risk in using the “ART” moniker, however, as while there is a marketing benefit, it also opens up the lens to additional scrutiny. Sigma made the word “ART” synonymous with extremely high optical performance and invited comparison with the top lenses in the class that the ART lenses would go up against. If Yongnuo wants to borrow that reputation, it is going to have to (at the least) back it up with excellent optical performance. The MTF chart does look very strong.
Yongnuo gets a good positive start when it comes to vignette and distortion.
Distortion is negligible, with just a +1 needed to correct the smallest amount of barrel distortion. Vignette isn’t bad, either, with a +55 (about two stops) of shading correction needed at F1.8 to get the result above.
The biggest weakness of the Commander series was fringing, but that is much better here, with only the tinies amount visible Longitudinal Chromatic Aberrations (LoCA) visible:
To put that in context, look at how bad the fringing was on the 33mm F1.4 compared to the newer 35mm F1.8:
That’s a pretty huge difference.
Lateral chromatic aberrations (LaCA) are a little more of an issue, with a bit of fringing on either side of transition areas in the edges of the frame.
Often people are interested in the amount of coverage APS-C lenses provide on full frame cameras. This is not some kind of “stealth full frame lens”, as most of the additional full frame image circle is obscured by the “mechanical vignette” of the lens not covering the full frame portion of the lens.
There’s not enough additional coverage available to warrant using it on full frame and cropping. You can probably get a few extra millimeters of coverage with some tweaking, but not enough to be genuinely useful. This is an APS-C lens, period. As is almost always the case, you would be better served by buying a full frame lens if you want full frame coverage.
So how about resolution and contrast? My tests have been done on a 26MP APS-C mode of my Sony a7RV. Here’s the test chart:
Here are F1.8 crops at roughly 200% from across the frame (center, mid-frame, and lower right corner).
That’s good sharpness, though not exceptional. The Viltrox is about the same in the middle, slightly better in the mid-frame, and better in the corners.
The Viltrox manages this while being slightly brighter (F1.7 vs F1.8, thus a slightly faster shutter speed of 1/500th vs 1/400th), smaller, lighter, and cheaper.
That’s less of an indictment of the YN 35ART and more of a praise for the Viltrox, however, as in real world shooting the Yongnuo is actually quite impressive. Even at F1.8 results are crisp and detailed, with good contrast and no “blooming” on fine textures.
And, unlike some other Yongnuo lenses, I thought that sharpness and contrast held up pretty well in either high contrast situations or when shooting at a distance. This F1.8 landscape shoot isn’t losing details in a deep crop or showing any fringing in this very bright image.
Here’s another closer shot in extremely bright conditions, and with the high contrast addition of snow on the moss. This is a shot that could have looked terrible, but the YN 35ART does a surprisingly good job of holding contrast and detail.
At F2 I don’t see much of a difference in sharpness and contrast anywhere but the corners, which have a little more pop.
You’ll see a bit more improvement as you stop down into the prime landscape apertures like F5.6-F8:
If you shoot between F4 and F8, you’ll find a very nice landscape lens, with good contrast and detail.
Diffraction will start to soften the image after that, with a mild amount at F11 but a more obvious amount by F22. Diffraction isn’t as obvious at the 26MP level on Sony, but expect this to be more pronounced if you are using a Fuji 40MP sensor.
Bokeh is a subjective measure, but I do think that the bokeh quality in many situations is fairly good.
In reasonably advantageous situations, the bokeh quality looks fairly soft. That’s true here, as well.
Where a lens like this stumbles, however, is with more complex backgrounds.
There’s a lot of hard edges in the transition zone here, and you can see that the lens shows a lot of busyness and jitteryness in those areas.
When I compared it head to head with the Viltrox, I found that there really wasn’t much to distinguish the two with an ordinary scene. The rendering looked equally soft, and the two lenses even metered the same despite one being F1.7 and the other being F1.8:
In other situations I did find that the Viltrox metered very slightly brighter. What also stood out here is that despite having a near identical white balance (temperature + tint), the Yongnuo produced a much warmer image.
Flare resistance was a pretty mixed bag. Directly on I saw minimal veiling (loss of contrast) and just a bit of ghosting, but there are certain points near the corners or right out of frame where you can get some flashing and much stronger flare damage.
You can avoid flare through careful composition, but it isn’t a flawless performance, to be sure.
I do feel like the optical glass is better in the YN 35ART than in the Commander series. The combination of color/contrast produces nicer results than what I’ve seen from previous Yongnuo lenses, so that’s a step in the right direction.
So overall I would conclude that this is an optically strong budget lens…though not really more so than a lens like the Viltrox. If you’d like to see more image samples, check out the image gallery here.
Conclusion
I’m not thrilled with Yongnuo’s choice to use the “ART” moniker. It feels far too much like a return to the time when they were selling rebranded Canon optical designs. I feel like the company is capable of much more at this point. While I applaud the decision to produce a lineup of lenses focused on optical performance, I feel like they could have (should have) come up with a unique way to market that lineup rather than depend on stolen valor from Sigma.
The YN 35ART comes to market at a difficult season. If it had arrived a few years ago, it would have made a splash as an optically excellent, well priced prime. But the past few years have seen the market saturated with options in and around this focal length, most of them from other Chinese lensmakers.
So, the question will remain if the Yongnuo 35mm F1.8S DA ART does enough to set itself apart from the competition. Ultimately you’ll have to decide that for yourself. This is a sharp lens with good autofocus and a nice (if simple) build…but is that enough in 2025?
Pros:
Nice looking lens with nice build
USB-C port for firmware updates
Has a weather sealing gasket
Autofocus motor is quiet
Excellent sharpness across the frame
Low distortion and vignette
Good control of longitudinal chromatic aberrations
Good contrast
Fairly good bokeh
Better optical glass than previous Yongnuo lenses
Great price to performance ratio
Cons:
Appropriates Sigma’s “ART” label
Some lateral fringing issues
Gasket for USB-C is hard to remove and easy to lose
Keywords: Yongnuo, YN, 35mm, F1.8, Yongnuo 35mm F1.8, DSM, WL, F1.8, ART, Yongnuo 35mm F1.8 ART, APS-C, Review, Sony a6700, a6000, a6400, Sony a7RV, 23mm, 33mm, Wireless, Review, Hands On, Dustin Abbott, Real World, Comparison, Sharpness, Bokeh, Flare Resistance, Autofocus, Image Quality, Sample Images, Video, Photography, let the light in, weathersealing, #letthelightin, DA
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.
Yongnuo’s “Commander” series of lenses has thus far been consistently good. I’ve previously reviewed first an 11mm F1.8, then the first of the trio of faster primes at standard focal lengths. First came the 33mm F1.4, then the 23mm F1.4, and now we will cover the telephoto end of the equation in the new Yongnuo YN 56mm F1.4S DA DSM WL Pro. This series has come with a rich feature set, nice build, good autofocus, and quality optical performances. The YN 56mm delivers a full frame equivalent of 84mm, or roughly an 85mm lens on your Sony E (tested here), Nikon Z, or Fuji X-mount APS-C cameras and their 1.5x crop factor. Is the 56mm a worthy addition to this series and worth the asking price of about $275 USD? You can find out my full thoughts by watching the video review, reading the text review, or just enjoying the photos in the galleries below.
Thanks to Yongnuo for sending me a review sample of this lens. As always, this is a completely independent review. *The tests and most of the photos that I share as a part of my review cycle have been done with the APS-C mode (26MP) of my Sony a7RVcamera.
The 56mm (85mm) is a popular focal length because it sits as perhaps the most versatile focal length for portraits. It is long enough and fast enough to strongly blur out backgrounds, but not so long that it is difficult to work with in smaller spaces.
The 11mm F1.8 was the first of a new series of lenses from Yongnuo that they call the “Commander Series”, and this 56mm is part of a secondary trio of lenses of 23mm, 33mm, and 56mm F1.4 options that all share very similar design elements.
If you don’t speak Yongnuo, let me break down what those letters mean in the 56mm F1.4S DA DSM WL Pro lens designation. In many ways this follows the Fuji naming convention which puts a list of features right in the name.
S = Sony, or Sony E-mount
DA = APS-C
DSM = Digital Stepping Motor
WL = Wireless control
Pro = upscale build, additional features
The YN 56mm has a lot going for it, including a great focal length, great functionality, and fairly strong image quality.
If you want to know more, check out the reviews, or just enjoy the photos in the galleries below.
Keywords: Yongnuo, YN, 56mm, F1.4, Yongnuo 56mm F1.4, DSM, WL, F1.4, Pro, APS-C, Review, Sony a6700, a6000, a6400, Sony a7RV, 23mm, 33mm, Wireless, Review, Hands On, Dustin Abbott, Real World, Comparison, Sharpness, Bokeh, Flare Resistance, Autofocus, Image Quality, Sample Images, Video, Photography, let the light in, weathersealing, #letthelightin, DA
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.
Yongnuo’s “Commander” series of lenses has thus far been consistently good. I’ve previously reviewed first an 11mm F1.8, then the first of the trio of faster primes at standard focal lengths. First came the 33mm F1.4, then the 23mm F1.4, and now we will cover the telephoto end of the equation in the new Yongnuo YN 56mm F1.4S DA DSM WL Pro. This series has come with a rich feature set, nice build, good autofocus, and quality optical performances. The YN 56mm delivers a full frame equivalent of 84mm, or roughly an 85mm lens on your Sony E (tested here), Nikon Z, or Fuji X-mount APS-C cameras and their 1.5x crop factor. Is the 56mm a worthy addition to this series and worth the asking price of about $275 USD? You can find out my full thoughts by watching the video review below…or reading on in the text review.
Thanks to Yongnuo for sending me a review sample of this lens. As always, this is a completely independent review. *The tests and most of the photos that I share as a part of my review cycle have been done with the APS-C mode (26MP) of my Sony a7RVcamera.
The 56mm (85mm) is a popular focal length because it sits as perhaps the most versatile focal length for portraits. It is long enough and fast enough to strongly blur out backgrounds, but not so long that it is difficult to work with in smaller spaces.
Like many of these inexpensive 56mm lenses, the YN 56mm is sharp but can’t match a full frame 85mm lens when it comes to the quality of bokeh. Fuji’s expensive XF 56mm F1.2 WR (my review here) is the exception to that rule, but it isn’t inexpensive, either. And, while an F1.4 lens has the same light gathering potential whether it be an APS-C or full frame lens, the crop factor of APS-C does make for less shallow depth of field. The two shots below were taken about three hours apart (so somewhat different lighting), but it does illustrate how much more shallow the depth of field is for the full frame 85mm lens on the right though the magnification is actually higher for the YN 56mm lens on the left.
That being said, the Yongnuo is very capable of producing very shallow depth of field shots with highly blurred out backgrounds.
The YN 56mm (as we’ll call it for brevity) is a very feature rich lens, as we’ll see, but one of those innovations requires purchasing an inexpensive (under $25) remote control unit that leverages a 2.4gz wireless module built into the lens. Far from just being a basic remote control unit, this remote control allows you to remotely control focus, do aperture racking, set up A-B focus pulls, and more basic functions like take photos, start video, and do whatever you have the function button programmed to do. It’s a very clever little device particularly for video functions as you can do some of these key movements without touching the lens and introducing vibration.
The 11mm F1.8 was the first of a new series of lenses from Yongnuo that they call the “Commander Series”, and this 56mm is part of a secondary trio of lenses of 23mm, 33mm, and 56mm F1.4 options that all share very similar design elements.
If you don’t speak Yongnuo, let me break down what those letters mean in the 56mm F1.4S DA DSM WL Pro lens designation. In many ways this follows the Fuji naming convention which puts a list of features right in the name.
S = Sony, or Sony E-mount
DA = APS-C
DSM = Digital Stepping Motor
WL = Wireless control
Pro = upscale build, additional features
The YN 56mm has a lot going for it, including a great focal length, great functionality, and fairly strong image quality.
There are also a few weaknesses along with many strengths, and we will break down it all in our review.
Build and Handling
The 56mm focal length has seen a lot of releases over the past few years, including a variety of releases from both first party brands (Fuji) and the many third party brands on the market, like Sigma, Viltrox, Tokina, Sirui, and TTArtisan. The YN 56mm shows well in this class, however, with a very reasonable price and more features than almost all of the competing lenses. This does come at the cost of some weight, however, as the Yongnuo is fairly heavy at 368g (13.1oz) in the group. It has similar external dimensions to the 23mm and 33mm, but weighs just a bit more due to the larger glass elements in this longer focal length. Fuji’s own 56mm F1.2 WR lens is a fair bit heavier (445g), but it also has a faster maximum aperture. The YN 56mm is very similar in size to the recently released YN 23mm F1.4.
That visual similarity does change when you introduce the hoods, however, as the hood for the 56mm is considerably deeper.
Like the 33mm F1.4, the YN 23mm is 69mm in diameter (2.7″) x 87mm (3.4″) in length, which is about 13mm longer than the Fuji 56mm lens but the Fuji lens is considerably wider in diameter at 79.4mm. The front filter threads are a common 58mm size which is shared across the whole trio of new lenses from Yongnuo.
You’ll note the “Wi-Fi” radio signal logo next to the lens designation. Yongnuo continues to be the only company I know of utilizing this, though I have seen Bluetooth in a few Viltrox lenses.
While some competing lenses have an aperture ring, the Yongnuo adds several other features, including the ability to declick the aperture, a custom/function button, and a two mode-custom switch that allows you tweak the behavior of the ring.
As noted, this is a very feature rich little lens. We have a function/focus hold button on the left side of the barrel. That function can be assigned from within the camera.
There’s also a custom switch that allows for a few different functions. In one mode, it serves a an AF | MF switch, with mode I being AF while mode II will switch to MF.
The manual focus ring has a nice feel to it overall, though the weight is on the lighter side. There is no obvious stepping, however, so focus moves fairly smoothly when using the MF ring. You can program the custom switch to this function by turning the camera off, setting the position to II, and then holding the custom button down. Then power the camera back on, and you will feel a click in the lens.
To use the optional remote control, turn the camera off, set the switch position to I, and then hold down the function button while turning on the camera. Now position “I” will mean that wi-fi is turned on for remote communication while position “II” will mean that it is turned off. I would recommend keeping it in the off position when it is not in use. I haven’t noticed a battery drain issue, but you can essentially assure that this won’t be an issue by turning it off.
The YN 56mm also has a robust approach to aperture control. It has an aperture control ring with one third stop detents between F1.4 and F16 along with an automatic position that can be accessed past F16 (there is a firmer detent there to keep from accidental switches between the two). The feel of the clicks is good, with clear delineation of each position but without being rough.
There is also a declick option with a switch on the right side of the barrel. Click that switch and you can smoothly rack through the aperture, which is particularly useful for video work.
The aperture iris itself has 9 rounded blades to help ensure circular specular highlights when stopped down, though, in practice, this doesn’t work that well. Even by F2 you can clearly see the shape of the aperture blades in specular highlights (series has F1.4, F2, and F2.8).
The lens barrel is made of metal, and it has a nice, anodized black satin finish. The lens design is very clean and modern.
A deep petal-shaped lens hood is included. While it isn’t anything particularly special, it is sturdier than some and bayonets into place with a reasonably precise feel.
There is a USB-C port for firmware updates covered by a small rubber gasket. Be careful when pulling it out, as it is small and wouldn’t be hard to lose. It’s also nearly impossible to pry out unless you have a small prying tool, like a very small flat screwdriver.
The USB-C port will allow for quick and easy firmware updates, which is a smart move by Yongnuo considering that they are a third party lens maker, so they may have to rely on firmware updates to maintain compatibility with cameras in the future. The lens does include a USB-C cable in the box in case you don’t have one.
There is a metal lens mount with a weather sealing gasket attached. Yongnuo also claims a fluorine coating on the front element to resist fingerprints and moisture.
One area where the Fuji 56mm F1.2 and Sigma 56mm F1.4 have a clear advantage is in minimum focus distance. Those lenses can focus as closely as 50cm (producing a 0.14x level of magnification), but the YN 56mm can only focus as closely as 57.9cm. The Viltrox 56mm F1.7 splits the difference at 55cm, though it shares the maximum magnification figure of 0.11x, which looks like this:
In real world use, I would say that the magnification level, while not particularly high, is enough to allow you to really isolate subjects.
The remote control has a small LCD screen and is primarily controlled through the main knob that can be clicked to switch through various functions and rotated to control those functions. There are two buttons for programming A and B focus pulls (just set the focus position, hold down the corresponding button for one second, and either “A” or B” where appropriate will light up. There’s a power switch on the side and also a custom button on the side that corresponds to the custom button on the lens. Clicking it will enable whatever function is programmed to that button on the lens.
Using the remote isn’t always intuitive, but if you’ll spend a few minutes with the included user manual it becomes easy enough to use. Range is up to 30 meters, which definitely gives you some flexibility for controlling off camera.
The fact that the Yongnuo is both the cheapest ($268 USD) and most feature rich lens in the bunch of F1.2 and F1.4 options is pretty impressive, and that has given this whole series a unique advantage relative to other options. I’m not sure if Yongnuo’s market share is growing through these lenses, but it probably deserves to.
Autofocus and Video
Yongnuo has equipped this whole series, including the 56mm F1.4, with what they call a “digital stepping motor” (DSM). I’m not entirely sure how a digital stepping motor varies from a typical stepping motor, so I suspect this is mostly their own marketing language. Focus speed is pretty good, and I’ve gotten good accuracy even in narrow depth of field situations, like in the shot of this pigeon on the beach at F1.4:
You can see the precision of focus in this shot.
There is almost no noise to be heard even if I put my ear next to the lens barrel. There is the slightest buzz from the motor, but so quiet as to be nearly undetectable. Focus speed is good, too, with near instant transitions from one focus point to another either indoors or out. The fact that focus speed matches the other lenses in the series despite being a longer focal length is great for Yongnuo.
I found that real world precision was good, whether shooting human subjects, like this speaker in church.
…or when tracking animal subjects, including birds in flight.
For stills I’ve been impressed with the overall quality of focus with the lenses from this series. The fact that we’re getting such great autofocus from even smaller third party lensmakers like Yongnuo these days is impressive.
I tested focus for portraits at a variety of focus distances, and focus locked on immediately and accurately in all of them.
In my formal tracking test the Eye AF tracking box stayed locked onto the subject as I moved around throughout the frame. I suspect that most photographers should be happy with the focus accuracy and speed of the YN 56mm.
As with most third party lenses, if your goal is tracking fast action, you might want to go with a Sony lens (not that there are many in this focal range), but for most people in most situations, autofocus for stills was pretty great.
Video AF
On the video front I found mostly good results. Focus pulls were smooth with minimal steps, though I did see a tiny final adjustment at times. Focus breathing is more pronounced at this longer focal length than at the shorter ones.
The YN 56mm was mostly okay with my hand test where I alternately block and then remove the camera’s view of my face with my hand. Transitions were smooth, though I did find that I needed to keep my hand in place an extra beat or two before focus would transition to it. Reactiveness was a little slow.
Video footage was generally good, though fringing can be pretty obvious in certain situations. Here’s a freeze frame from one of my clips:
Focus seemed stable in my static shots and didn’t jump around. Overall I would call focus stable but not reactive, which is pretty consistent with what I’ve seen from this series of lenses.
Yongnuo 56mm F1.4 Image Quality Breakdown
The YN 56mm has an optical design of 10 elements in 9 groups. Half of these are exotic elements, including high refractive elements, low dispersion, and ultra low dispersion elements.
The MTF chart shows a fairly consistent result across the frame, with a few minor dips and rises. The F8 graph levels out some of the dips and rises, and it is one of the rare lenses where the corner performance (at least on the sagittal plane) is better than the center performance. This may be a budget lens, but that’s solid sharpness.
The biggest practical negative I saw was some fairly obvious fringing in certain situations. This showed up not only in transitions but also in some high contrast situations, like on this flying gull, cropped from a larger shot.
That fringing was very evident on my chart as well, so just be aware that this is probably the most significant optical issue with the YN 56mm. That green fringing in particular is quite obvious.
Lateral chromatic aberrations (LaCA) are much less of an issue, with only very minimal amount of fringing near the edges of the frame.
Often people are interested in the amount of coverage APS-C lenses provide on full frame cameras. This is not some kind of “stealth full frame lens”, as most of the additional full frame image circle is obscured by the “mechanical vignette” of the lens not covering the full frame portion of the lens.
There’s not enough additional coverage available to warrant using it on full frame and cropping. This is an APS-C lens, period. As is almost always the case, you would be better served by buying a full frame lens if you want full frame coverage.
There’s some obvious pincushion distortion, though it does correct in a linear fashion.
I used a -10 to correct the pincushion distortion, which is enough to be noticeable without correction, but vignette is fairly low, requiring just a +32 to correct, or about one stop.
So how about resolution and contrast? My tests have been done on a 26MP APS-C mode of my Sony a7RV. Here’s the test chart:
Here are F1.4 crops at roughly 200% from across the frame (center, mid-frame, and lower right corner).
That’s good sharpness, though there are a number of existing 56mm lenses that could match that, including the Sigma, Viltrox 56mm F1.7, and the aforementioned Fuji.
Still, there’s a solid amount of detail, though you can see some fringing in the high contrast light.
In lower contrast situations I felt like the detail looked more compelling.
Stopping down to F1.8 makes relatively little change (a bit more contrast), with a little more obvious contrast at F2.
This crop from a portrait shot at F1.8 shows good detail; I suspect most would be happy with that level of detail.
By 2.8 I see a good performance right off into the corners.
You’ll see a bit more improvement as you stop down into the prime landscape apertures like F5.6-F8:
That means that the YN 56mm is a very nice landscape lens, providing good detail and contrast across the frame.
Here’s another shot that shows the solid detail across the frame.
Sharpness peaks around F5.6, with F8 being very close to the same. I’ll show the other corner now, which also demonstrates a good quality of centering in the lens that I tested.
Diffraction will start to soften the image after that, with a mild amount at F11 but a more obvious amount by F16. Diffraction isn’t as obvious at the 26MP level on Sony, but expect this to be more pronounced if you are using a Fuji 40MP sensor.
Thus far the only 56mm that I’ve really been wowed by when it comes to bokeh rendering is the Fuji 56mm F1.2 WR, but in the right scenario I think the bokeh is pretty good from the YN 56mm.
I don’t consider the “right situation” to be one with prominent specular highlights, however, because there is a fair bit of fringing in those highlights.
This image is a good example of two sets of strengths for the lens. first of all, the quality of the blur of this rather complicated background is good.
But secondly, the real world sharpness at F1.4 is great.
Flare resistance is mostly good. I had no flare related issues shooting into this bright rising sun over the Atlantic.
This shot that puts the sun up in the corner is a little more impacted, however.
Overall I think this is a pretty average performance.
Yongnuo’s optical glass is fairly good but not top notch. Colors were mostly good, however, though not quite as special as what you’ll get from higher end lenses.
But it’s important to remember that this is a lens that costs under $270. I would say that the overall rendering is pretty great for the money. When compared to other lenses in this price class I think the optics are competitive and the feature set is clearly much more robust than what competing lenses offer. If you’d like to see more image samples, check out the image gallery here.
Conclusion
The Yongnuo 56mm F1.4S DA DSM WL Pro is a pretty attractive option if you’re looking for a 85mm equivalent lens on your APS-C camera. It is a feature rich, focuses well, has weather sealing, and delivers a pretty strong optical performance, too. The price is more similar to an F1.8 lens than an F1.4 lens, which doesn’t hurt, either.
It is priced as a mid-tier lens, but it probably outperforms that. The Sigma 56mm F1.4 DN stands as perhaps a superior lens optically, though far less feature rich, while the Viltrox AF 56mm F1.7 AIR is the budget competitor that has fewer features but every bit as good of optics…and costs nearly $100 less.
But if you want a lens that has the features and the performance, it’s hard to criticize the Yongnuo YN 56mm F1.4 DA DSM WL Pro. It does a lot of things well, and, outside of more fringing than what I would like, doesn’t really have any crippling optical flaws. If you are looking for this particular focal length, the Yongnuo YN 56mm F1.4 well worth consideration.
Pros:
Nice looking lens with nice build
USB-C port for firmware updates
Good manual focus ring and experience
Very feature rich
Weather sealed
Declickable aperture
Wireless remote control
Custom button
Autofocus motor is quiet and fast
Good sharpness wide open
Excellent sharpness stopped down
Fairly good bokeh
Great price to performance ratio
Cons:
Some fringing issues
Gasket for USB-C is hard to remove and easy to lose
Keywords: Yongnuo, YN, 56mm, F1.4, Yongnuo 56mm F1.4, DSM, WL, F1.4, Pro, APS-C, Review, Sony a6700, a6000, a6400, Sony a7RV, 23mm, 33mm, Wireless, Review, Hands On, Dustin Abbott, Real World, Comparison, Sharpness, Bokeh, Flare Resistance, Autofocus, Image Quality, Sample Images, Video, Photography, let the light in, weathersealing, #letthelightin, DA
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 little over a month ago that I spent time reviewing the Yongnuo 33mm F1.4 DA DSM WL Pro lens, which I knew was the first to release from a series of three lenses in YN’s “Commander” series. I was quite impressed with the 33mm for a number of reasons, including the rich feature set, nice build, good autofocus, and quality optical performance. That covered the 50mm “normal” range, but I knew that a 23mm F1.4 wide angle and 56mm F1.4 telephoto were also coming. I didn’t know which would be first, but it turns out that it will be the 23mm, which is the subject of today’s review. The YN 23mm F1.4S DA DSM WL Pro covers the popular 35mm full frame focal length for your Sony E (tested here), Nikon Z, or Fuji X-mount APS-C cameras and their 1.5x crop factor. Does the Yongnuo 23mm F1.4 live up to the standard of the 33mm? Is it worth the asking price of about $275 USD? You can find out my full thoughts by watching the video review, reading the text review, or just enjoying the photos in the galleries.
Thanks to Yongnuo for sending me a review sample of this lens. As always, this is a completely independent review. *The tests and most of the photos that I share as a part of my review cycle have been done with the APS-C mode (26MP) of my Sony a7RVcamera.
The 11mm F1.8 was the first of a new series of lenses from Yongnuo that they call the “Commander Series”, and this 23mm is part of a secondary trio of lenses being released close together, including the 23mm, 33mm, and 56mm F1.4 options.
If you don’t speak Yongnuo, let me break down what those letters mean in the Yongnuo 23mm F1.4S DA DSM WL Pro lens designation. In many ways this follows the Fuji naming convention which puts a list of features right in the name.
S = Sony, or Sony E-mount
DA = APS-C
DSM = Digital Stepping Motor
WL = Wireless control
Pro = upscale build, additional features
The Yongnuo 23mm has a lot going for it, including a great focal length, great functionality, and fairly strong image quality. You can get my detailed thoughts on the lens by checking out my video and text reviews.
Keywords: Yongnuo, YN, 23mm, F1.4, Yongnuo 23mm F1.4, DSM, WL, F1.4, Pro, APS-C, Review, Sony a6700, a6000, a6400, Sony a7RV, Wireless, Review, Hands On, Dustin Abbott, Real World, Comparison, Sharpness, Bokeh, Flare Resistance, Autofocus, Image Quality, Sample Images, Video, Photography, let the light in, weathersealing, #letthelightin, DA
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 little over a month ago that I spent time reviewing the Yongnuo 33mm F1.4 DA DSM WL Pro lens, which I knew was the first to release from a series of three lenses in YN’s “Commander” series. I was quite impressed with the 33mm for a number of reasons, including the rich feature set, nice build, good autofocus, and quality optical performance. That covered the 50mm “normal” range, but I knew that a 23mm F1.4 wide angle and 56mm F1.4 telephoto were also coming. I didn’t know which would be first, but it turns out that it will be the 23mm, which is the subject of today’s review. The YN 23mm F1.4S DA DSM WL Pro covers the popular 35mm full frame focal length for your Sony E (tested here), Nikon Z, or Fuji X-mount APS-C cameras and their 1.5x crop factor. Does the YN 23mm F1.4 live up to the standard of the 33mm? Is it worth the asking price of about $275 USD? You can find out my full thoughts by watching the video review below…or reading on in the text review.
Thanks to Yongnuo for sending me a review sample of this lens. As always, this is a completely independent review. *The tests and most of the photos that I share as a part of my review cycle have been done with the APS-C mode (26MP) of my Sony a7RVcamera.
As noted, this is a fast “wide” lens. I love the 35mm focal length as a general purpose walkaround lens, as it is good for a lot of subjects, including people:
…but also things like landscapes:
And, when equipped with a fast maximum aperture like this lens, you can even use it for stylish shallow depth of field shots.
The YN 23mm (as we’ll call it for brevity) is a very feature rich lens, as we’ll see, but one of those innovations requires purchasing an inexpensive (under $25) remote control unit that leverages a 2.4gz wireless module built into the lens. Far from just being a basic remote control unit, this remote control allows you to remotely control focus, do aperture racking, set up A-B focus pulls, and more basic functions like take photos, start video, and do whatever you have the function button programmed to do. It’s a very clever little device particularly for video functions as you can do some of these key movements without touching the lens and introducing vibration.
The 11mm F1.8 was the first of a new series of lenses from Yongnuo that they call the “Commander Series”, and this 23mm is part of a secondary trio of lenses being released close together, including the 23mm, 33mm, and 56mm F1.4 options.
If you don’t speak Yongnuo, let me break down what those letters mean in the 23mm F1.4S DA DSM WL Pro lens designation. In many ways this follows the Fuji naming convention which puts a list of features right in the name.
S = Sony, or Sony E-mount
DA = APS-C
DSM = Digital Stepping Motor
WL = Wireless control
Pro = upscale build, additional features
The YN 23mm has a lot going for it, including a great focal length, great functionality, and fairly strong image quality.
There are also a few weaknesses along with many strengths, and we will break down it all in our review.
Build and Handling
The 23mm focal length has been a fairly popular one over the past few years, with a variety of releases from both first party brands and the many third party brands on the market, like Sigma, Viltrox, Tokina, and Meike. The YN 23mm shows well in this class, however, with the lowest price and more features. This does come at the cost of some weight, however, as the Yongnuo is fairly heavy at 368g (13oz) in the group. It has similar external dimensions to the 33mm, but does weigh about 2g less. Fuji’s own 23mm F1.4 WR lens is actually a hair heavier at 375g, however.
Like the 33mm F1.4, the YN 23mm is 69mm in diameter (2.7″) x 87mm (3.4″) in length, which is about 9mm longer than the Fuji 23mm lens. The front filter threads are a common 58mm size which is shared across the whole trio of new lenses from Yongnuo.
You’ll note the “Wi-Fi” radio signal logo next to the lens designation. Yongnuo continues to be the only company I know of utilizing this, though I have seen Bluetooth in a few Viltrox lenses.
While some competing lenses have an aperture ring, the Yongnuo adds several other features, including the ability declick the aperture, a custom/function button, and a two mode-custom switch that allows you tweak the behavior of the ring.
As noted, this is a very feature rich little lens. We have a function/focus hold button on the left side of the barrel. That function can be assigned from within the camera.
There’s also a custom switch that allows for a few different functions. In one mode, it serves a an AF | MF switch, with mode I being AF while mode II will switch to MF.
The manual focus ring has a nice feel to it overall, though the weight is on the lighter side. There is no obvious stepping, however, so focus moves fairly smoothly as I use the MF ring. You can program the custom switch to this function by turning the camera off, setting the position to II, and then holding the custom button down. Then power the camera back on, and you will feel a click in the lens.
To use the optional remote control, turn the camera off, set the switch position to I, and then hold down the function button while turning on the camera. Now position “I” will mean that wi-fi is turned on for remote communication while position “II” will mean that it is turned off. I would recommend keeping it in the off position when it is not in use. I haven’t noticed a battery drain issue, but you can essentially assure that this won’t be an issue by turning it off.
The YN 23mm also has a robust approach to aperture control. It has an aperture control ring with one third stop detents between F1.4 and F16 along with an automatic position that can be accessed past F16 (there is a firmer detent there to keep from accidental switches between the two). The feel of the clicks is good, with clear delineation of each position but without being rough.
There is also a declick option with a switch on the right side of the barrel. Click that switch and you can smoothly rack through the aperture, which is particularly useful for video work.
The aperture iris itself has 9 rounded blades to help ensure circular specular highlights when stopped down.
The lens barrel is made of metal, and it has a nice, anodized black satin finish. The lens design is very clean and modern.
A petal-shaped lens hood is included. While it isn’t anything particularly special, it is sturdier than some and bayonets into place with a reasonably precise feel.
There is a USB-C port for firmware updates covered by a small rubber gasket. Be careful when pulling it out, as it is small and wouldn’t be hard to lose. It’s also nearly impossible to pry out unless you have a small prying tool, like a very small flat screwdriver.
The USB-C port will allow for quick and easy firmware updates, which is a smart move by Yongnuo considering that they are a third party lens maker, so they may have to rely on firmware updates to maintain compatibility with cameras in the future. The lens does include a USB-C cable in the box in case you don’t have one.
There is a metal lens mount with a weather sealing gasket attached. Yongnuo also claims a fluorine coating on the front element to resist fingerprints and moisture.
One area where the Fuji 23mm F1.4 has a clear advantage is in minimum focus distance. It can focus as closely as 19cm, but the YN 23mm can only focus as closely as 30cm. The Sigma 23mm F1.4 splits the difference at 25cm. The closest focus of the YN 23mm will give maximum magnification figure of right over 0.10x, which is not very good.
The remote control has a small LCD screen and is primarily controlled through the main knob that can be clicked to switch through various functions and rotated to control those functions. There are two buttons for programming A and B focus pulls (just set the focus position, hold down the corresponding button for one second, and either “A” or B” where appropriate will light up. There’s a power switch on the side and also a custom button on the side that corresponds to the custom button on the lens. Clicking it will enable whatever function is programmed to that button on the lens.
Using the remote isn’t always intuitive, but if you’ll spend a few minutes with the included user manual it becomes easy enough to use. Range is up to 30 meters, which definitely gives you some flexibility for controlling off camera.
The fact that the Yongnuo is both the cheapest ($268 USD) and most feature rich lens in the bunch is pretty impressive, though it is also the biggest and heaviest. This is all relative, however, as the lens isn’t abnormally large or anything.
Autofocus and Video
Yongnuo has equipped the 23mm F1.4 with what they call a “digital stepping motor” (DSM). I’m not entirely sure how a digital stepping motor varies from a typical stepping motor, so I suspect this is mostly their own marketing language. Focus speed is pretty good, and I’ve gotten good accuracy even in narrow depth of field situations.
There is almost no noise to be heard even if I put my ear next to the lens barrel. There is the slightest buzz from the motor, but so quiet as to be nearly undetectable. Focus speed is good, too, with near instant transitions from one focus point to another either indoors or out. This is one of the speedier STM motors that I’ve tested, which is great for a third party lens from a smaller brand.
I found that real world precision was good, whether shooting human subjects:
…or “animal” subjects:
For stills I’ve been impressed with the overall quality of focus with the lenses from this series. The fact that we’re getting such great autofocus from even smaller third party lensmakers like Yongnuo these days is impressive.
I used the YN 23mm casually for a wedding and other related celebrations, and it performed perfectly in the APS-C mode of the Sony a7RV that I was carrying for the trip to Arizona.
Even at F1.4 the lens produced sharp, well focused results with focus in the right spot.
As with most third party lenses, if your goal is tracking fast action, you might want to go with a Sony lens (not that there are many in this focal range), but for most people in most situations, autofocus for stills was pretty great.
Video AF
On the video front I found mostly good results. Focus pulls were smooth with minimal steps. Focus breathing is fairly low (helped by the shorter focal length).
The YN 23mm did very well with my “hand test” as well, where I alternately block the view to my face with my hand and then remove it. Focus transitioned nicely from my hand to my face, and focus breathing is low enough that the transition isn’t jarring at all.
Video footage was generally good, marred only by a bit of fringing. Here’s a freeze frame from one of my clips:
I also had fairly good results with video clips where I slowly moved the camera to force change from one subject to another at varying depths of field. Focus transitions were fairly well damped, and overall autofocus feels pretty capable. This is a solid autofocus experience all around.
Yongnuo 23mm F1.4 Image Quality Breakdown
The YN 23mm has an optical design of 11 elements in 9 groups. The majority of these (7!) are exotic elements, including high refractive elements and ultra low dispersion elements. A lot of fancy glass for an inexpensive lens!
The MTF chart shows a very consistent performance with a nearly flat performance across the frame. The F8 graph levels out some of the dips and rises, and it is one of the rare lenses where the corner performance (at least on the sagittal plane) is better than the center performance. This may be a budget lens, but that’s not budget sharpness.
The biggest practical negative I saw was some fringing in certain situations, but overall I was pretty impressed with the general optical performance. Wide open sharpness was particularly impressive for a lens with this price tag and a maximum aperture of F1.4. In this shot you can see some of the fringing that is present around the needles of the desert cholla.
You can see in a more pronounced way on this torture test here:
That fringing was evident on my chart as well, so just be aware that this is probably the most significant optical issue with the YN 23mm.
Lateral chromatic aberrations (LaCA) are much less of an issue, with only very minimal amount of fringing near the edges of the frame.
Often people are interested in the amount of coverage APS-C lenses provide on full frame cameras. This is not some kind of “stealth full frame lens”, as most of the additional full frame image circle is obscured by the “mechanical vignette” of the lens not covering the full frame portion of the lens.
Here’s the difference in framing, which is negligible enough to not be worth considering.
This is an APS-C lens, period. As is almost always the case, you would be better served by buying a full frame lens if you want full frame coverage.
There’s a bit more barrel distortion than I expected in a normal lens along with some vignette.
I used a +12 to correct the barrel distortion, though it’s not completely linear so my manual correction is somewhat imperfect. The vignette is fairly low, requiring just a +32 to correct, or about one stop.
So how about resolution and contrast? My tests have been done on a 26MP APS-C mode of my Sony a7RV. Here’s the test chart:
Here are F1.4 crops at roughly 200% from across the frame (center, mid-frame, and lower right corner).
I was curious to see how this performance compared with the recent YN 33mm that I reviewed, and I found that the 23mm was slightly better in terms of resolution and contrast across the frame. The lenses didn’t meter identically (the 33mm metered slightly overexposed and the 23mm slightly underexposed), but the results here do align with what I saw in real world performance.
I was generally satisfied with the amount of sharpness and contrast I could achieve at F1.4. This is a perfectly usable lens wide open.
Stopping down to F1.8 improves contrast a bit, but a more noticeable improvement comes at F2, where contrast is definitely darker and details pop more.
This shot of Ferrari at F2 shows great detail and contrast even with a deep crop.
By 2.8 I see a good performance right off into the corners.
You’ll see a bit more improvement as you stop down into the prime landscape apertures like F5.6-F8:
That means that the YN 23mm is a very nice landscape lens, providing good detail and contrast across the frame.
Sharpness peaks around F5.6, with F8 being very close to the same. Diffraction will start to soften the image after that, with a mild amount at F11 but a more obvious amount by F16. Diffraction isn’t as obvious at the 26MP level on Sony, but expect this to be more pronounced if you are using a Fuji 40MP sensor.
Often the tradeoff for a bit of uncorrected fringing is softer bokeh. I wouldn’t consider the bokeh quality to be absolutely top shelf, but it is pretty nice overall.
Here’s a few more shots both with and without specular highlights for your examination.
There’s nothing top tier there, but nothing objectionable, either.
Flare resistance is mostly good. There’s no veiling in this shot right into the bright Arizona sun and only minimal ghosting artifacts.
I can see a bit of a light leak in the lower left corner of this image, but I don’t think it is damaging the image.
Sunstars are very defined when the lens is stopped down. I find them a little too dominating for my tastes, but your mileage may vary.
Yongnuo’s optical glass is fairly good but not top notch. Colors were mostly good, however, though not quite as special as what you’ll get from higher end lenses.
But it’s important to remember that this is a lens that costs under $270. I would say that the overall rendering is pretty great for the money. When compared to other lenses in this price class I think the optics are competitive and the feature set is clearly much more robust than what competing lenses offer. If you’d like to see more image samples, check out the image gallery here.
Conclusion
The Yongnuo 23mm F1.4S DA DSM WL Pro is a pretty attractive option if you’re looking for a 35mm equivalent lens on your APS-C camera. It is a feature rich, focuses well, has weather sealing, and delivers a pretty strong optical performance, too. The price is more similar to an F1.8 lens than an F1.4 lens, which doesn’t hurt, either.
It’s a better lens than those priced near it, and more feature rich than just about all the lenses priced higher. It doesn’t reach the optical achievement of a lens like the Viltrox Pro AF 27mm F1.2, but that’s a different class of lens anyway.
I continue to be impressed by just how good “cheap” lenses are these days. In 2016 I reviewed a Samyang 21mm F1.4 fully manual lens that had zero features, and that lens cost $450 at the time. Flash forward eight years and all the inflation that we’ve seen, and you’re still getting a lens with autofocus, weather sealing, a declickable aperture, a custom button, the ability to wirelessly control the lens…and paying nearly $200 less. That’s really pretty astounding when you stop and think about it. I actually had fun shooting with the YN 23mm, which is pretty amazing considering how many lenses I’ve reviewed over the years. If you are looking for this particular focal length, the Yongnuo YN 23mm F1.4 well worth consideration.
Pros:
Nice looking lens with nice build
USB-C port for firmware updates
Good manual focus ring and experience
Very feature rich
Weather sealed
Declickable aperture
Wireless remote control
Custom button
Autofocus motor is quiet and fast
Good sharpness wide open
Excellent sharpness stopped down
Fairly good bokeh
Great price to performance ratio
Cons:
Some fringing issues
Gasket for USB-C is hard to remove and easy to lose
Keywords: Yongnuo, YN, 23mm, F1.4, Yongnuo 23mm F1.4, DSM, WL, F1.4, Pro, APS-C, Review, Sony a6700, a6000, a6400, Sony a7RV, Wireless, Review, Hands On, Dustin Abbott, Real World, Comparison, Sharpness, Bokeh, Flare Resistance, Autofocus, Image Quality, Sample Images, Video, Photography, let the light in, weathersealing, #letthelightin, DA
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.
In the course of any given year, I review a LOT of gear. In 2024 I did 108 total reviews, including 7 cameras and many dozens of lenses at all price points. At this stage of my career, I have reviewed hundreds of lenses and many dozens of cameras. We are, I believe, in a golden age of photography. 2024 saw a slight shift in the overall movement towards using phones for photography with more people considering a “real camera” instead. But what gear stood out from the crowd in my reviews? Find out by watching the 2024 DA Awards below! There’s also a summary of the awards in this article.
If you just want a summary of what I covered in the video, you can can see the list of contestants in each category below along with the slide of the winner and a photo taken with each winner. Just to clarify: these are my top picks among the lenses I personally reviewed. I review Canon, Sony, and Fujifilm (APS-C and medium format), and Nikon, so there won’t be any M43 or Leica gear here…even though I’m sure there are several deserving products from those brands.
For the second year in a row, Sony wins with the top zoom lens. The Sony 28-70mm F2 GM was a winner to both me and my audience. Here’s one favorite photo from it.
DA Awards 2024 – Top Budget APS-C Prime Lens (Under $600)
List of contenders:
Viltrox Pro AF 27mm F1.2 (Sony)
Viltrox AF 56mm F1.7
TTArtisan AF 56mm F1.8
7Artisans AF 27mm F2.8
Yongnuo AF 11mm F1.8
Sirui Sniper 16mm F1.2
Sirui Sniper 75mm F1.2
Yongnuo 50mm F1.8 DA DSM Pro
Yongnuo 33mm F1.4 Pro
Viltrox AF 35mm F1.7
AstrHori 25mm 2-5x Macro
Viltrox takes home a win in this category for the second year in a row. The 35mm F1.7 AIR isn’t as high end as last year’s winner, but it (along with the 56mm F1.7 AIR) are big winners for providing very good optical instruments at budget prices.
DA Awards 2024 – Top Budget Full Frame Prime Lens (Under $600)
Here’s the list of contenders:
7Artisans AF 50mm F1.8
7Artisans AF 85mm F1.8
Nikkor 40mm F2
Viltrox AF 40mm F2.5
Nikkor 50mm F1.4
TTArtisan AF 75mm F2
Viltrox AF 28mm F4.5
TTArtisan 75mm F1.5 Swirl
Pergear 100mm F2.8 2x Macro
Thypoch Simera 28mm F1.4
Thypoch Simera 35mm F1.4
Sirui Aurora 85mm F1.4
The Nikkor Z 50mm F1.4 is a very solid lens at a shockingly affordable price of $499. In my review I concluded that it was “enough” in basically every category for most all photographers. Here’s a photo favorite from it.
DA Awards 2024 – Premium Full Frame Prime Lens
List of contenders:
Laowa AF 10mm F2.8
Sigma 500mm F5.6 Sport
Sigma 15mm F1.4 Fisheye
Sigma 50mm F1.2 ART
Voigtlander Nokton 75mm F1.5
Voigtlander Nokton 50mm F1.9
Sony 85mm F1.4 GM II
Fujinon GF 500mm F5.6
Tamron 90mm F2.8 Macro
Viltrox LAB 135mm F1.8
Laowa 55mm F2.8 T/S
I’ve been very eagerly awaiting Viltrox’s LAB series ever since it was announced, and the LAB 135mm F1.8 did not disappoint. It is feature rich, optically amazing, and sported a whole new autofocus system (Hyper-VCM) that allows it to have quick, accurate autofocus. It’s a treat.
DA Awards 2024 – Which Company Had the Best Year?
Sigma released a ton of interesting lenses this year, from intriguing zooms (24-70mm F2.8 II, 28-45mm F1.8, 28-105mm F2.8) to interesting primes (50mm 1.2, 15mm F1.4, 500mm F5.6), to being the first to move into the Canon RF (APS-C) space with both primes and zooms.
DA Awards 2024 – Which Lens Surprised Me the Most?
There’s nothing surprising about a 50mm F1.4 lens. But what is surprising is that a first party brand like Nikon would release a very good 50mm F1.4 for just $500. My conclusion was that this lens was “enough” for most people, and for Nikon to take the risk of undercutting more expensive options took a lot of bravery.
DA Awards 2024 – Most Disappoint Lens?
The sad thing about the Canon RF 35mm F1.4L VCM is that in many ways it is a very good lens, with great autofocus and amazing sharpness, but it also has a number of qualities that I consider inexecusable in a $1500 lens, like massive distortion and vignette along with some really questionable design choices. I wanted to love this lens, but ended up very disappointed by it…even though you can make some lovely images with it.
DA Awards 2024 – Reader’s Choice Awards
I polled my audience on YouTube over a series of weeks in three categories, and got around 1000 votes in each category. Here are the winners:
Keywords: DA Awards, 2024, Best, Worst, Reader’s choice, Viltrox, Viltrox AF, LAB, Viltrox LAB, #LAB, #LAB135, Nikon Z8, Sony a7CR, Sony 28-70mm F2 GM, Sigma, Nikkor, 7Artisans, TTArtisan, Yongnuo, Tamron, Laowa, Voigtlander, Sony a7IV, Sony Alpha 1, Sony a7RV, Review, Hands On, Dustin Abbott, Real World, Comparison, Sharpness, Bokeh, Flare Resistance, Autofocus, Image Quality, Sample Images, Video, Photography, let the light in, weathersealing, #letthelightin, DA
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.
I’m back with another Yongnuo (YN) review. I was interested in covering their most recent lens on the strength of what I’ve seen from the 11mm F1.8 WL Pro I’ reviewed on Sony and the 50mm F1.8 DSM Pro that I reviewed on Fuji. 33mm is a very important focal length on APS-C, giving you roughly 50mm (49.5mm) full frame equivalent angle of view once you add in the 1.5x APS-C crop. Add a fast maximum aperture of F1.4, a host of features, and a good optical performance, and you’ve got an interesting lens. The Yonguo 33mm F1.4S DA SAM WL Pro can be had for well under $300, and it arguably adds a lot more features and versatility than any other lens that it competes with. Should this be your new “normal lens” for your Sony E (tested here), Nikon Z, or Fuji X-mount camera? You can find out my full thoughts by watching the video review below, reading the text review, or enjoying the photos in the galleries below.
Thanks to Yongnuo for sending me a review sample of this lens. As always, this is a completely independent review. *The tests and most of the photos that I share as a part of my review cycle have been done with the APS-C mode (26MP) of my Sony a7RVcamera.
As noted, this is a fast “normal” lens. Normal lenses are so called because they cover an angle of view similar to what your eye sees, thus the kinds of images you can get look “normal” or easily relatable, which is why the 50mm focal length is so popular.
The YN 33mm (as we’ll call it for brevity) is a very feature rich lens, as we’ll see, but one of those innovations requires purchasing an inexpensive (under $25) remote control unit that leverages a 2.4gz wireless module built into the lens. Far from just being a basic remote control unit, this remote control allows you to remotely control focus, do aperture racking, set up A-B focus pulls, and more basic functions like take photos, start video, and do whatever you have the function button programmed to do. It’s a very clever little device particularly for video functions as you can do some of these key movements without touching the lens and introducing vibration.
The 11mm F1.8 was the first of a new series of lenses from Yongnuo that they call the “Commander Series”, and this 33mm will be joined by a 23mm and 56mm F1.4 lens.
If you don’t speak Yongnuo, let me break down what those letters mean in the 33mm F1.4S DA DSM WL Pro lens designation. In many ways this follows the Fuji naming convention which puts a list of features right in the name.
S = Sony, or Sony E-mount
DA = APS-C
DSM = Digital Stepping Motor
WL = Wireless control
Pro = upscale build, additional features
The YN 33mm has a lot going for it, including a great focal length, great functionality, and fairly strong image quality.
There are also a few weaknesses along with many strengths, which you can discover in the reviews…or just enjoy the photos.
Keywords: Yongnuo, YN, 33mm, F1.4, Yongnuo 33mm F1.4, DSM, WL, F1.4, Pro, APS-C, Review, Sony a6700, a6000, a6400, Sony a7RV, Wireless, Review, Hands On, Dustin Abbott, Real World, Comparison, Sharpness, Bokeh, Flare Resistance, Autofocus, Image Quality, Sample Images, Video, Photography, let the light in, weathersealing, #letthelightin, DA
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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Laowa AF 12mm F2.8 Zero D Review (Z-Mount) 
Nikkor Z 35mm F1.2 S Review 
