How difficult is it to be a virtually brand-new lens-manufacturing company in today’s digital world? I am guessing it is not easy. Luckily, you have the Internet available as a marketing tool, but you are also entering a competitive arena to battle for sales against several companies that are more than 100 years old and have passionate and dedicated brand loyalists as their customers. Enter 7Artisans—a true startup in the world of lens manufacturers. Many “off-brand” manufacturers have been around for decades, making lenses of some sort or another off the photography magazine’s radar, but 7Artisans came to be in the summer of 2015.
Photographs © Todd Vorenkamp unless otherwise noted
Shenzen 7Artisans Photoelectric Technology Co., Ltd. was created by a group of Chinese photography enthusiasts with various backgrounds in optics, manufacturing, and spending too much money on cameras with red dots on them. After a long development process, the 7Artisans Photoelectric 50mm f/1.1 Lens for Leica M was launched. Through the long process to get the company off the ground, many of the team had departed, leaving only 7 of the original enthusiasts—hence, the company is named after these craftsmen.
With storied brands like Nikon, Canon, Sony (Minolta), FUJIFILM, and Leica on the shelves at the B&H SuperStore, it takes a leap of faith for a photographer to reach for a lens that is made by a company that has not celebrated its fifth birthday yet. But with some lenses priced in the ballpark of a cheap dinner for two in New York City, the 7Artisans brand breeds a curiosity. Once you pick one of the lenses up, you know that these seven craftsman, in Shenzen, China, took great care in crafting a quality photographic experience. The lenses all have a great feel. Metal bodies and damped focus rings and aperture rings (usually click-less) are silky smooth and feel precise.
Specializing in APS-C and Micro Four Thirds-format lenses, there are a handful of offerings for Sony E, FUJIFILM X, Canon EF-M, and Panasonic and Olympus’s Micro Four Thirds mounts. For the full-frame mirrorless crowd, 7Artisans has a full-frame Sony E lens and a couple of M-mount options, as well.
To experience this relative newborn in the optics world, I took a trio of 7Artisans lenses out for a walk—the M-mount Photoelectric 50mm f/1.1 with the FUJIFILM Leica M to FUJIFILM X adapter, and the FUJIFILM-X native Photoelectric 55mm f/1.4 and Photoelectric 35mm f/1.2 lenses.
The 50mm f/1.1 is a heavy lens that features a monster maximum aperture. It balances pretty well on the Fujifilm X-T3, but likely better on a Leica rangefinder. At f/1.1, the lens gives a slight soft glow to the world around you, like the Nikon 50mm f/1.2, but slightly crisper. As expected, the depth of field is razor thin. Stepping down, the lens gets naturally sharper and is more than capable of great images. At f/1.1 you can point the lens toward the sun and get some unique flare—including a swirling rainbow to go with your swirling bokeh. I wished it would have focused closer than its 2.3' minimum distance. Regardless, the lens was a pleasure to hold and use.
Co-worker and B&H Photo Podcast host Allan Weitz, who has shot just about every lens ever made, fell head over heels for this lens, went out and bought his own, and said this about his new Photoelectric 50mm f/1.1: “With the exception of Nikon’s 50mm f/1.2 NIKKOR AI-S (the same lens over which Todd swoons) and my 55mm f/2.8 Nikon Micro-NIKKOR, I’ve never been a big fan of ‘normal’ lenses. However, the 7Artisan Photoelectric 50mm f/1.1 made me stop and go ‘Oooooh’ after the first few frames. Wide-open the photographs have a gorgeous mist-like quality about them. Stop down to f/2 and the center of the frame starts becoming clearer. F/2 to f/5.6 is the sweetest spot, yet even stopped down to f/11, you get crisp detail with subtle hints of ‘twirl’ toward the corners of the frame. I really like this lens.”
The native FUJIFILM-X mount lenses were decidedly lighter than their M-mount buddy, but both maintain a quality feel that you don’t see in today’s autofocus lenses. The Photoelectric 55mm f/1.4 is a beautiful lens with a great close focus capability. If you don’t want to “splurge” for the 50mm f/1.1, this lens is a great substitute. And, the Photoelectric 35mm f/1.2 is a fantastic “normal” lens for APS-C shooters with a larger-than-most f/1.2 maximum aperture. The lens itself is almost identical in size to the older classic Leica 35mm f/2 Summicron, but the 7Artisans lens opens up to a gaping f/1.2.
I am not a video shooter, so the click-less aperture rings are lost on me and I quickly bemoan the fact that I have to take the camera down from my eye and rotate it toward me to check my aperture versus simply counting clicks on other manual lenses. The new Photoelectric 28mm f/1.4 lens for Leica M mount does have a clicking aperture—maybe a new trend for 7Artisans? (I wonder if someone could design an aperture ring that lets you decide between 1-click/stop, 2-clicks/stop, or no clicks/stop.)
If you look at the 7Artisans lens offerings, you will see some lenses that are truly, for almost any budget, bargain priced. Most photographers first reactions to low prices is: not good. Well, 7Artisans changes that paradigm with its well-constructed lens bodies, multi-coated optics, and flawless mechanicals. If you are looking for a gift for your favorite photographer, a 7Artisans lens has a lot of selling points and will appeal to the artistic side of your favorite shutterbug. Or, if you are a photographer and want to experience a retro mechanical shooting experience while on a budget, a 7Artisans lens will be a quality companion for your favorite camera. Also, stay tuned to B&H Explora because we’ve heard rumors of exciting new releases from 7Artisans coming soon!
