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Archive 2017 · SLR Magic 25mm f1.4 Review

  
 
trogdon
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · SLR Magic 25mm f1.4 Review


Hello all! I recently acquired an SLR Magic 25mm f1.4 lens, and wanted to share my review with you. This is my first lens review, so I hope I have most everything covered! I am reviewing this lens on my a7r, and I only tested it for photography, not videography. The review could be helpful for both, so read on if you are interested!

Specifications / Version History
The SLR Magic 25mm f1.4 is the latest in lens design from the Hong Kong Optics Company. I have always been interested in their lenses, and reached out to them to be a part of their lens reviewing program for this lens specifically. SLR Magic is a relative-newcomer in the optics field, with their first big claim to fame being the very well received 50mm T0.95 M mount lens in 2012. They have come a long way since then, continuing to provide mirrorless users with exciting and exotic lens designs, with an emphasis on cinema users. The 25mm f1.4 is the company's fourth entry into lenses for the FE mount, following the 50mm f1.1, the 35mm f1.2, and the 75mm f1.4. It's clear they have a pattern: release very fast, compact cine lenses at reasonable prices. For the 25mm f1.4, they have designed an impressively compact lens. In an interview at a trade show, one of the representatives of SLR Magic indicated a design goal was to be able to use the lens on a compact gimbal. Here are the specifications of the lens:

Diameter: 64.64mm
Field of view: 82° diagonal (full frame)
Length: 78.4mm
Weight: 520g
Filter Diameter: 52mm
Number of Aperture Blades: 13
Elements/Groups: 11/9
Close Focusing Distance: 25cm
Mount: Sony FE

Handling / Build Quality


As you might be able to tell from the specs, this lens is incredibly compact. For a frame of reference, it's barely longer than the Sony FE 55mm f/1.8 lens, but it is equal in weight to the Sony FE 16-35mm f/4 lens. I must make a point here, this is incredibly compact for a lens of this focal length and aperture. I don't think there is a more compact fast wide angle available for full frame systems outside of the Leica 24mm f1.4 that costs thousands. This lens's heft comes from the lens barrel and internal tubes, which are made entirely from metal (the whole lens appears to be made from metal). The focusing ring travels about 60 degrees from the minimum focusing distance of 25cm to infinity, and the lens does not extend much when at minimum focusing distance. For a wide angle lens, this is a good amount of travel, and the lens has more resistance than other manual focus lenses I've used (it is most similar to the Canon FL 55mm f1.2). For me this is good, as I tend to use the length for environmental portraits, and wide angles tend to be difficult to focus between infinity and about 6ft. I had no trouble focusing this lens, and the strong dampening helped ensure precision focusing. The aperture ring is click-less which is great for cine users, and features full stop lens markings to f16 (though f11 is missing). The aperture ring has more resistance than the focusing ring, and stays in place pretty well.

As a photographer primarily (I don't shoot video), I did not find the rings to be all that difficult to adjust to. They are cine-geared which means the grip is designed much different than a standard photo lens. The gears on the focusing ring are longer than the rings on the aperture ring, and the greater surface area means that focusing isn't that uncomfortable. The aperture ring isn't as nice, since the resistance is higher and the gear ring is smaller. It's a little uncomfortable, but as I shot this lens mostly only at f1.4, I didn't find it to be too much of an issue. I'd prefer a clicked aperture ring and standard photo package for this lens, but with SLR Magic's focus on video lenses, I can see why they do not offer that. I got used to them eventually, but thought it was worth noting if you are used to older manual focus lenses; this will take a little adjusting to get used to.



Vignetting
When lenses are designed to be this compact, there have to be compromises taken in the optical formula. For this lens, vignetting is one of those compromises. For most lenses, vignetting disappears or is barely relevant a few stops down. For this lens, even at f11 you see noticeable light fall-off. Though not entirely uncommon (the Sony FE 35mm f2.8 has a similar issue stopped down), it is worth noting. I have included some photos below that illustrate the fall-off at various apertures. When using this lens, expect to be compensating for vignetting. Light transmission of this lens does not appear to be f1.4 when used wide open, it seems more around t1.8.



Sharpness

Sharpness of this lens is good, with a caveat. At f1.4 the center is sharp, with veiling haze well controlled in the center. Contrast is already at good levels. Going away from the center you will see mid-frames slightly out of focus due to field curvature (more on this later), and edges that are pretty sharp though with a decent amount of veiling haze. Corners are decent, though lower in contrast. At f2, the center will sharpen up, mid-frames will not improve much, and veiling haze will be less apparent. Corners are a little better. At f2.8 center performance improves to great levels, and don't really improve further. Mid-frames are still out of focus, edges are good, and corners are pretty good. F4 is similar, outside of the center all performance improves except the mid-frames. F5.6 is similar to f4 but a little better. At f8, mid-frames are at decent levels, and the rest of the frame is good. F16 is slightly softer throughout the frame, and you won't need to use this aperture except for depth of field (mid-frames are essentially the same at f8). Overall the lens puts in a decent performance, and is fully usable for close to mid distances, but field curvature does limit landscape performance at wider apertures, which I'll go into below.

The lens suffers from field curvature, which means that when focused to infinity, the mid-distances are not at the same level of focus as the edges and centers. This means that if you are shooting a deep landscape (not much in the foreground at middle distances), you'll see some obvious sharpness loss. This is noticeable until about f8, when the mid elements become decently sharp, though worse than the rest of the frame still. For landscape purposes, this makes the lens a little weak, as it limits your compositional choices for wider aperture shooting, and even f8 performance is compromised. I tend to use lenses of this focal length and aperture combo for night photography, and if you place the horizon line on the lower third of the frame, it won't be in focus proper until you are stopped down until f8. For available light landscapes, this means you will need long exposures, and greatly limits utility for astro-photography. Additionally, this must bee kept in mind when placing subjects off center. You will not be able to focus in the center and recompose, you will need to magnify in the mid frame to focus for the best critical focus. This is not abnormal, but worth keeping in mind in order to achieve best focus.

I have performed an infinity test showing the sharpness at various apertures, just need to compile it into a table. If you are interested in having the full sized files for comparison sake, they are included in a zip file below:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zwifpkxudfk2c3m/SLR%20Magic%2025mm%20Sharpness%20infinity%20100%25.rar?dl=0

Flare resistance
Flare resistance with this lens has a mixed personality. For veiling flare, this lens has impressive performance. In back-lit situations the contrast remains quite high. In fact, when stopping down there really isn't a gain in contrast. This is quite impressive. Ghosting control could be better. When the sun is out of frame, you can see noticeable ghosting. I recommend using your hand to block the light and it won't be too much an issue (the lens does not come with a lens hood). I've included a few photos of typical back-lit scenarios in the sample images, where I think it performs pretty well. The lens however does show a more troubled performance at night, when artificial light sources are in the scene. This is a bit disappointing as it means the lens isn't the best performer in low-light situations, where an f1.4 lens might be most useful. This performance is most noticeable in city scenes. If you have a tripod I recommend stopping down to f2.8, and probably a little clean up in post processing. I've included a photo that has motion blur and should not be judged at all for sharpness, but you can see where ghosting can be significant in night scenes with strong sources of lighting inside the frame.

Night scene at f1.4 (slightly blurred):


Sun in frame at f16 (worst possible scenario):


Backlit scene at f1.4, contrast is good for an unedited photo:


Distortion
Distortion of the lens is pretty well controlled. It appears to be barrel distortion, without too much wave. It is correctable in post pretty easily, although I tend to find the levels fine as long as you aren't doing architecture work. I cannot give exact values, but it is not very significant.

Bokeh
Bokeh of a lens is highly subjective, and hard to quantify analytically. In my opinion, the bokeh of the lens can be pretty harsh wide open, but improves quite a bit by f2, and to decently smooth by f2.8. There is a significant amount of outlining around circles of light, and due to the light fall-off mentioned earlier, the bokeh deteriorates toward the edges. This is commonly known as the cats-eye effect, but the bokeh does take on more dramatic shapes toward the edges. At longer distances the bokeh is fine, but the closer you get, the worse it is. I've included some wide-open samples below. For closer focusing distances, I'd recommend stopping down to make the outlining a little less harsh, but at longer distances wide open is fine. I would also note that the bokeh remains rounded as you stop down, due to the high number of aperture blades. Overall, I wasn't a fan of the bokeh of this lens, and it's probably my biggest hang up.

Bokeh at f1.4:


Bokeh at f2:


Bokeh at f2.8:


Bokeh at f4


Bokeh at f16 focused at minimum focusing distance


Bokeh at f1.4 minimum distance, quite nervous:


Bokeh at f1.4 longer distance, not bad at all:




Coma
Coma performance of this lens is good in the corners. The performance is better than most older fast wide angle lenses that I have used. There are slight bat wing shapes in bright lights, but they are relatively small, and performance at f2 gets rid of them for the most part. While the corners may be good, you will see performance suffer in the mid-frames due to the field curvature that I mentioned earlier. This makes astro-photography a little more difficult to recommend, as stars in the mid-sections of the frame will be larger than the center due to being slightly out of focus. The field curvature is still present at f2.8 and f4, meaning that stopping down won't help you a ton in terms of astro performance (but will help sharpen up your landscapes). For night city-scapes, I think the performance is quite good (just watch out for ghosting), as the field curvature will not be as apparent, and you'll notice the good coma control in the corners.

Coma Corner 100% at f1.4:


Coma mid-frame 100% at f1.4


Chromatic aberrations
This lens shows a decent performance for chromatic aberrations. For longitudinal CA's, the performance is quite good from wide open. In terms of bokeh, you will not see much green fringing behind the subject, and purple fringing in front of the subject. In terms of other wide angles I've used, this lens performs much better than the average lens, and this is the strongest performance you'll find in regards to CA for the lens. I only included a photo at f1.4, because it's already good enough from this setting. In high contrast subjects, you will see noticeable purple fringing, and veiling haze around the subjects (mostly gone by f2.8). In terms of lateral CA's, performance could be better. You will see red/cyan fringes on the edges of photos, most common in landscape scenes. These are easily corrected through programs light Lightroom in one-click, but that will cost you some loss in resolution.

Lateral at 100% near edge, before and after correction:




Longitudinal at 100%:


Alternatives
Sony 28mm f2: This is what I'd consider the most direct competition with the SLR Magic lens. The Sony is much lighter, a little shorter, slower, but not built quite as well. The Sony shows higher distortions, but a little higher sharpness stopped down and much improved flare performance. I think optically these lenses are pretty comparable, with the slight nod to the Sony. I'd consider the Sony for photographic purposes, but for video the SLR magic shows distinct advantages in terms of haptics.

Samyang 24mm f1.4: The Samyang 24mm f1.4 comes in at a similar price point before an adapter is factored in, but is an incredibly larger lens and I've never enjoyed the manual focusing experience on that lens. However, in terms of optical qualities, I think it beats the SLR Magic in most ways. Better light transmission (t1.5 versus about t1.8), sharper wide across the frame (less field curvature), sharper wide open, much sharper stopped down, better coma control, less vignetting, and the bokeh is much smoother and even more apparent. If you can live with the size and are able to find a good copy, it's worth holding onto.

Zeiss Batis 25mm f2: Though I have no direct experience with this lens, I think it is probably the superior optic. Seems to have better cross frame sharpness, better flare resistance, better coma control, and autofocus. It is larger, slower, and quite a bit more expensive. For filmmakers, I think the SLR Magic offers a haptic advantage.

Conclusion
Good: Size, Sharpness in the center from wide open, Build quality, Bokeh at longer distances, Longitudinal CA's, Contrast in back-lighting
Average: Coma control, ghosting performance
Not Good: Field curvature, Vignetting, Sharpness across the frame, Bokeh close up until f2.8, Lateral CA's, Light Transmission, Weight

In conclusion, I would like to refer back to a point I made earlier. Lens designs are always a compromise. Do you want an inexpensive lens with incredible optical performance? Chances are it's going to be big, slow, or a generic focal length. Want a lens with peerless optical performance and a small size? It'll probably be incredibly expensive and have a slower aperture. What SLR Magic has offered us, is a lens that makes very sensible compromises. The 25mm f1.4 offers us a great focal length, a very fast aperture, great build quality, an incredibly compact design (albeit a hefty one), a good optical performance, and an affordable price. Whether this is an acceptable compromise, is up to the end user. Perhaps this lens does not stand up to 100% pixel peeping on a 36mp sensor (1080p and 4k should be of no issue however), but another user looking for a compact wide angle for filming will find this lens a game changer. I think this lens is a great option for those looking for a fast wide angle that don't mind manually focusing, and can work around the caveats. Those looking for a landscape available light lens or do a lot of closeup work, might find alternatives to better suit their needs. All in all, I think SLR Magic has provided FE mount users with an attractive option for a fast wide angle lens.

Thank you for reading my review, I hope you enjoyed and learned something about the lens!


Sample Images
Click on the images to find links to flickr, they should be available in full sizes!


































Jun 21, 2017 at 12:30 AM
jhg photo
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · SLR Magic 25mm f1.4 Review


Thank you for the impressions of this rather unusual lens. Not the perfect lenls maybe but it seems like lens that is fun to use while it offers very reasonable quality. Enjoy your toy!


Jun 21, 2017 at 02:02 AM
andersd
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · SLR Magic 25mm f1.4 Review


Thank you for the well written review!


Jun 21, 2017 at 05:48 AM
ISO1600
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · SLR Magic 25mm f1.4 Review


Thank you for the review! This is the first one I've seen for any of this series of lens (SLR Magic Cine FE), and I've been VERY curious about them, specifically the 35/1.2!

I like the drawing style of this lens, and I like your processing. Sweet shots.



Jun 22, 2017 at 08:55 AM





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