Jonathan-Mac
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2022
- Messages
- 965
Some of you may not be aware of this lens but it was released last year I think. It's fully manual with no electronic connection to the camera and the aperture is fixed at f/5.6 - it can't be closed down further. It's very compact with a metal build and the focusing ring is very nicely damped and moves through 90º in total. The only visible indication that it's a budget lens is that, on my copy at least, the text on the front is not lined up properly. It sticks out only about three or four milimetres beyond the end of the grip on my S5.
I was planning on buying this new a while ago but changed my mind when I got the TTArtisan 40mm f/2, which filled the hole of wanting a compact lens and is fully automatic, much faster and a far more useful focal length to boot. But I saw this brand new copy for sale as used for €50 and decided to go for it since it will still provide me with an ultra-wide when I don't want to carry the 20-60mm or 16-35mm.
So far I just have a test shot out of my flat window but I plan to take it with me on my coming trip to Edinburgh and give it some use there. As you can see vignetting is heavy. Sharpness in the centre is very good but by the time we get to the edges it's not great and there's some fringing. The extreme corners, by which I mean the last 5% or so of the image by width, are almost mush. So between the vignetting and the loss in sharpness some may prefer to crop down to a 21mm or so field of view to get rid of that, but then no-one's buying this for landscapes to be printed large. I think it's still a good performance for what it costs.
Lumix S5 with 7Artisans 18mm f/5.6 by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr
Test scene for 7Artisans 18mm f/5.6 by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr
I was planning on buying this new a while ago but changed my mind when I got the TTArtisan 40mm f/2, which filled the hole of wanting a compact lens and is fully automatic, much faster and a far more useful focal length to boot. But I saw this brand new copy for sale as used for €50 and decided to go for it since it will still provide me with an ultra-wide when I don't want to carry the 20-60mm or 16-35mm.
So far I just have a test shot out of my flat window but I plan to take it with me on my coming trip to Edinburgh and give it some use there. As you can see vignetting is heavy. Sharpness in the centre is very good but by the time we get to the edges it's not great and there's some fringing. The extreme corners, by which I mean the last 5% or so of the image by width, are almost mush. So between the vignetting and the loss in sharpness some may prefer to crop down to a 21mm or so field of view to get rid of that, but then no-one's buying this for landscapes to be printed large. I think it's still a good performance for what it costs.
Lumix S5 with 7Artisans 18mm f/5.6 by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr
Test scene for 7Artisans 18mm f/5.6 by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr