booja wrote:
this thread made me buy this lens a few days ago. should be in tomorrow.... i need to stop browsing forums... . Welcome to the club. I'm just happy there's a growing number of us out there enjoying and making images with this thing. It's become a personal favorite for me already.
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virtualrain wrote:
I went out with the 7Artisans and TAP today to the local market for lunch and snapped some photos - not really because I would normally shoot these things, but I want to get a better feel for the lens and the bokeh.
I shot at my fav aperture on this lens which is between the f/1.1 and f/1.4 markings (I call it f/1.2). At this setting I get noticeably more sharpness and contrast at center without impacting the bokeh. And ISO readings are often the same as wide open at 1/60 shutter.
I love the look... and the bokeh. The color and contrast is remarkably good at f/1.2.
I used AF with the TAP on AF-S and medium flexible spot that I moved around within the center of the rule of thirds grid. I had no trouble with acquiring focus on any of these. Admittedly the DoF is too shallow for some photos to be considered decent shots, but as I say, this was more an experiment than a photo assignment.
My post processing for photos from this lens currently includes minor:
- Shadows and highlights
- Add vignetting if I pull the shadows enough to impact the original lens vignette
- A touch of contrast and saturation
- Brush-in a bit of clarity, structure, and sharpness on the in-focus subject area....Show more →
Looking good! I too continue to enjoy the general look it produces. The "look" is what is generally missing from most of my other lenses that are considered to be great.
Agreed regarding the ideal aperture to use the lens at. Just a touch to the right of wide open but not quite at 1.4 is the sweet spot. lol. It appears you can extract a pretty good amount of additional sharpness and contrast here. The thing I love even more is shooting with strong light sources in the frame as it creates that weird haze while still giving you plenty of color and detail to work with.
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avalon27 wrote:
Dammit - I am going to have to get the TAP - I got the lens a few days ago, opportunity has been limited and weather mostly grey here. MF is OK handheld but like my 1.2 lenses it can be a challenge close up. I think using the TAP will get the best out of it. The lens is a neat little package and I love the size.
Welcome to the club as well!!
MF can definitely be a challenge. The TAP, while not perfect, does assist immensely in what you can capture effectively. I have various other ultra fast manual focus glass that can't be mounted on the TAP which I could never capture some of this stuff with. Accordingly, they no longer see much use either since the 7A arrived.
The 7A is indeed a neat little package that packs a pretty big punch for its size and cost.
I want to take a moment to thank you @JohnDizzo15 for bringing this lens to my attention. I’ve long sought a character 50mm lens with a fast aperture and this 7Artisans lens delivers exactly what I’ve been hoping for and with TAP it’s just perfect.
I’d probably pay $1000 for this lens so it’s a huge bonus that it’s the price it is.
Bravo and kudos to all the engineers: the 7Artisans team for great optics, build quality and value in a small package; Techart for a wonderful little device that works remarkably well; and to the Sony engineers for going with such a short register distance that makes any of this even possible.
virtualrain wrote:
I want to take a moment to thank you @JohnDizzo15@ for bringing this lens to my attention. I’ve long sought a character 50mm lens with a fast aperture and this 7Artisans lens delivers exactly what I’ve been hoping for and with TAP it’s just perfect.
I’d probably pay $1000 for this lens so it’s a huge bonus that it’s the price it is.
Bravo and kudos to all the engineers: the 7Artisans team for great optics, build quality and value in a small package; Techart for a wonderful little device that works remarkably well; and to the Sony engineers for going with such a short register distance that makes any of this even possible.
It’s a great time to be doing photography. ...Show more →
Glad to be of service
Totally agree regarding what I would pay knowing what I know now. I only hope that most of the copies are similar and/or up to par. Time will tell.
It definitely took the stars aligning perfectly to make such a rig possible. Never would I have imagined something like this in years past and it is most certainly a great time to be doing photography.
virtualrain wrote:
I’d probably pay $1000 for this lens so it’s a huge bonus that it’s the price it is.
If this lens had a well known brand name, it would easily cost more than that.
And people would be happy to pay that.
My Cosina made Zeiss ZM 50 1.5 is $1261 at B&H, and I much prefer the 7A. For manual rangefinder users it even has the bonus of being able to calibrate the focus yourself. Can't do that with my Zeiss, and it front focuses a little.
From my point, this Lens is the most important Lens - also because of its crazy price - for the past few years.
Before half an eye always looked to Canon Nikon .... this Lens is a show stopper for other systems (except Leica
I wonder i the TO should open this thread to all, not only to Techart Pro + A9 user.
This Lens should have its own Thread.
rsrsrs wrote:
From my point, this Lens is the most important Lens - also because of its crazy price - for the past few years.
Before half an eye always looked to Canon Nikon .... this Lens is a show stopper for other systems (except Leica
I wonder i the TO should open this thread to all, not only to Techart Pro + A9 user.
This Lens should have its own Thread.
Agreed - considering what this lens brings to the table for both the Sony and Leica shooters.
I am more than happy to modify the name of the thread so as to be inclusive to all users (just not sure how to do it). My original intent for titling it this way was simply to point to the specific experience that I was having with it.
@Fred Miranda - Any chance we could have the title modded to simply reflect the 7A? Thanks in advance.
JohnDizzo15 wrote:
Agreed - considering what this lens brings to the table for both the Sony and Leica shooters.
I am more than happy to modify the name of the thread so as to be inclusive to all users (just not sure how to do it). My original intent for titling it this way was simply to point to the specific experience that I was having with it.
@Fred Miranda@ - Any chance we could have the title modded to simply reflect the 7A? Thanks in advance.
I'm not sure if that's what you wanted but I removed the "TAP" reference from the title.
JohnDizzo15 wrote:
@xwing15@ - awesome shots! Looks great at those apertures. Glad to hear the rig is behaving better with the update to the TAP. I didn’t realize an update was even out until about 11pm last night. Lol. Installed but waiting to get some actual shooting done today at the amusement park and hotel.
@realVivek@ - nice! Thanks for the link. Some good info in there I was curious about. Hopefully the user base and interest grows moving forward. I really do love this little lens.
On the article the author mentions: "At 1:5.6 the performance becomes impeccable over the full area of the sensor and the lens can be used as a universal tool."
I don't see that on the samples posted on this thread at f/5.6. There is very noticeable softening towards the edges with samples images at f/5.6 or f/8. It could be copy variation but I don't think it's 'impeccable performance' on the full area of the sensor. It would be nice if someone could post 1:1 crops showing the mid-field and edges of the frame at f/5.6 and f/8. (Preferably at infinity)
Fred Miranda wrote:
On the article the author mentions: "At 1:5.6 the performance becomes impeccable over the full area of the sensor and the lens can be used as a universal tool."
I don't see that on the samples posted on this thread at f/5.6. There is very noticeable softening towards the edges with samples images at f/5.6 or f/8. It could be copy variation but I don't think it's 'impeccable performance' on the full area of the sensor. It would be nice if someone could post 1:1 crops showing the mid-field and edges of the frame at f/5.6 and f/8. (Preferably at infinity)...Show more →
I cannot completely attest to its performance stopped down either way as I don't think I have converted any "keepers" at said apertures. I might have taken a few test snaps but don't have any of them on my phone at the moment.
I will try to take a few if I get out of the office early enough today.
. Welcome to the club. I'm just happy there's a growing number of us out there enjoying and making images with this thing. It's become a personal favorite for me already. 
