Camera lens review: 7Artisans 35mm F/1.4 M Mount WEN lens

2020-09-21
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Author: Erick   Source: erickoke.wordpress.com   Issuing time: 2020/09/17   



Having new options from 7Artisans is a wonderful thought, in certain ways you can have many different M lenses and crate a full kit for under $2000 if you don’t go with a full Leica brand. The marvelous part of it is that these lenses are near the optical results of the Leica glass, especially the newer ones such as this 35mm WEN series.



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7Artisans 35mm F/1.4 M Mount WEN lens


I get it, some folks don’t like to mix brands but those of us who have choices and enjoy adventure, here we are!

This lens is constructed with aluminum alloy which makes it rust resistant and lightweight. It has a multilayer coating that reduces ghosting and flare. Mechanically, there are 10 aperture blades that help with smoother out of focus areas although is not perfectly rounded, the blur is still smooth.


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Photos taken with 7Artisans 35mm F/1.4 Photo taken with 7Artisans 35mm F/1.4 M Mount WEN lens

My favorite parts of the lens are the built in retractable lens hood (just like my Summilux 50) and the fact that it does not move in or out when focusing, is all internal! While we are on lens hood section, the inside of the lens hood has a glossy black paint which you can sand to give it a matte finish instead and avoid some reflections.

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7Artisans 35mm F/1.4 M Mount WEN lens

It comes with a gorgeous brown case with a secret compartment where you can store an extra SD card, a lens cap or a 49mm filter of your choice.

dz69703.jpg7Artisans 35mm F/1.4 M Mount WEN lens

For those of us who normally shoot with Leica lenses, we seem to prefer lenses that have a focus tab and 7Artisans included a plastic one that you can glue on to this, making if perfect for my taste!

Weight? it feels great with the Leica. I often forget how heavy the Summilux 50 is, but I quickly relearn it when I mount other lenses.

dz69746.jpg7Artisans 35mm F/1.4 M Mount WEN lens

This version has aperture clicks from f/2 through f/22 but none at f/1.4 which is different for me, in some way it feels like it’s missing the click there. Notice that my version has the 1.4 in red and a red mark on the focus mark, this is a special feature that matches my Red M.

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Would this lens be a great option for travel and landscape photography? I would say that it depends on your needs. The lens never gets sharp in the corners, so you may have to crop about 10% of your frame. Keep in mind, we are talking about extreme levels here that only matter if you are printing large.

Flare and Ghosting? yes, it is there but well controlled especially for a lens at this price point.


Background blur? While expected like most lenses, at close distances the background blur can look nice but not sure what to say about this a vortex, is kinda cool!


l1004474.jpgPhoto taken with 7Artisans 35mm F/1.4 M Mount WEN lens

Coma? this is important when you take images at night or when you have bright single sources of light in your frame, they tend to look warped and they are visible but in theory, if you are looking for a perfect lens, you will always shoot at f/8 and by then, most of the bad things that a lens offers can be eliminated or highly diminished.


Distortion? Yes, also found the super expensive Summilux 35mm Aspherical. There is some, but very minimal and in my tests you can adjust it with Lightroom or Capture 1 very easily.


Focus shift? Most range finder lenses also suffer from this. Most of the lenses that I use suffer from it when you close your aperture and rely on the range diner focusing of your camera (not relevant when using an electronic viewfinder) While is minimally shown in wider lenses such as this 35mm, it is still there and will affect your images especially if you want to nail precise focus on the eyes. Floating elements (FLE) found in the Leica lenses are there to help with this but this is a common phenomenon.


l1004473.jpgPhoto taken with 7Artisans 35mm F/1.4 M Mount WEN lens

So, what other lenses do we have out there? I have one of the sharpest 35mm lenses to compare, the Biogon C 35mm f/2.8 and while I really love that lens, it just does not go below f/2.8 obviously and at times, those two stops of light can kill or make an image. But comparing the images only based on sharpness, they are almost identical at f/2.8 and the only thing that would show any real difference would be your technique.

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7Artisans 35mm F/1.4 M Mount WEN lens

Comparing it to the older 7Artisans 35mm f/2? While the WEN lens is bigger, is better in every way except size. See it here: https://amzn.to/2ZKL9z2


What about the TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4? this WEN lens is practically better in every way, my only gripe is the focus knob, I love built in metal focus knobs. See it here: https://amzn.to/3mqKBZ7


Leica Summilux 35mm FLE? well, that is a super overpriced lens but one of the most popular lenses in the Leica world. See it here: https://amzn.to/2ZNsouU


Carl Zeiss 35mm f/1.4 M? very similar lenses in size but different internals, I love the silver version but hate the chubby design of its focus ring body and skinny aperture ring. Optically is a great performer. See it here: https://amzn.to/32KKlwl

Sample Images



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