Testing the New 7 Artisans 7.5mm Fisheye Lens

[fmw]

During the month I waited for this lens to arrive from China, the on-line dealers began offering it. I should have known. At any rate it is a 7.5mm full frame fisheye lens for the Fuji X mount. What that means is that it covers the entire sensor with a 180 degree angle of view measured diagonally across the frame. It is a Chinese made fixed focus lens obviously competing with the Rokinon/Samyang lenses from Korea. It comes with front and back caps in a black box reminiscent of the Fujifilm boxes. Optically it is made up 11 elements in 8 groups. The price was $139 with free shipping from China.

You won't be using filters on this thing since it has a protruding front element and a built-in non removable lens hood. The body of the lens is made from aluminum with a brass helicoid, contributing to the product's fairly heavy weight for its size. Fit and finish are impressive.

It includes a clickless aperture ring from the maximum aperture of f2.8 to f22 and a smooth operating focus ring. As you can see from the image, infinity focus is at around 4 feet. So at 4 feet and beyond, there is no need to focus at all. Just set the focus ring to infinity and fire away. If you want to get into the macro range you will need to focus and it isn't all that easy as you can imagine.

Is it sharp. It certainly is in the center of the frame but as you head toward the edges, sharpness does fall off. Is it sharp enough for you? I've included some images that will help you decide for yourself. You may have seen my garden shed before but here it is again, followed by pixel peeping with 100% crops at each aperture.

No it isn't exploding. This lens has the expected barrel distortion of all fisheye lenses. Yes it is underexposed. Sorry for that. The wagon is about 1/3 of the way down from the center of the frame. Here are the crops:

f2.8

f8

f16

At f2.8 to f5.6 I would rate the sharpness as average. At f8 and f11 it is as good as it is going to get and by f16 diffraction takes over. You can make your own determination. The lens does display a little chromatic aberration but nothing you can't overcome. At the very edges of the frame I would rate sharpness as soft and no amount of stopping down improves it meaningfully.

How does it compare to the Rokinon/Samyang? I have no idea. But it is a piece behind the 10.5mm DX Nikkor and the 16mm full frame Nikkor I have owned in the past. Since the fuel oil truck arrived while I was shooting the shed, I made a portrait of it to give you an idea of how an internet jpeg looks from the lens.

There you have it. It is a well made lens with smooth operation than can make competent fisheye images if you don't engage in too much pixel peeping. By the way, it is also available in Sony E mount and micro 4/3 mount. In MFT mount it doesn't cover the complete 180 degree angle of view because it is designed for APS-C.

So if you want to play around with a fisheye without getting into a lot of money, the 7 Artisans fisheye will put you in business for $139 and produce competent results. Happy shooting

 

[benhasajeep]

I would consider that very good when comparing the output with the price paid!

 

[fmw]

Ben, it is definitely a high value product. The reason I don't rave about it is the softness at the edges. I assume other budget fisheyes display the same characteristic. I have owned both a Rokinon and a Meike and they weren't made nearly as well as this lens. When you are using it, it feels like a camera brand lens and, frankly, better than most of the plastic lenses we see today. It's build quality is impressive. It may be ideal for MFT mount because the extreme edges of the frame simply aren't there.

 

[Gary A.]

Hey Fred, I have the Rokinon. It is a solid little lens that is also quite sharp.

Some Street with the 8mm Rokinon.

#1

#2

Theatre with the Rokinon 8mm:

#3

#4

I don't attempt to focus, I guess at the distance and set the focus ring according.

 

[Gary A.]

PS- The hardest thing to do with this type of lens is keeping one's feet out of the frame.

 

[fmw]

Thanks for the images, Gary. I like them. Looks like the Rokinon is perfectly competent as well. I use the monitor on the camera with this lens. It allows me to move the camera forward to keep my body out of the frame.

 

[Gary A.]

I am wondering about the clickless aperture. I guess I could adapt.

 

[fmw]

I am wondering about the clickless aperture. I guess I could adapt.

It seems to be common on Chinese lenses. Since this lens has no electronic connection to the camera you have look at the aperture ring to see where it is set. You can't turn the ring to one side and count the clicks in the other direction. Also it is easier to throw it off if you touch it by mistake I don't particularly like the idea but it isn't a deal breaker for me.