7Artisan 50mm f1.8 AF review...
The 7Artisans 50mm 1.8 AF for Sony FE is 7Artisans' first autofocus lens. Compared to other 50mm 1.8 lenses it is
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Either size or the non clickable aperture on their own would make this a non starter for me. Based on the three Chinese MF lenses I've owned I'd think that flare performance would be well behind the offerings from the more established brands and that is maybe the case looking at those samples. I'd also want to check the aperture setting v exposure numbers v the more obvious choices.
All in all I'm sure this lens will not even begin to even possibly cross my mind as a potential buy but maybe it's a pointer to better AF offerings from Chinese marques in the future.
Just on Chinese lenses and any differences to better ones.
Does ultimate image quality really make that significant a difference in real world pictures? There's a thread elsewhere in which the OP claims not to perceive the difference between his Voigtlander 50mm f2 apo (£800+) and TTArtisan 50mm f2 (£80.)
I found that interesting as I do own those two lenses and the differences in many and possibly even all shooting scenarios could very possibly be visible to the good old blind man on a galloping horse. Several things would make the differences pretty obvious to me but the technicalities are just one part of making a picture and if the picture is good enough in other than ultimate technical ways then a TTArtisan 50mm f2 picture may well be very nice and someone with vision could even make use of the cheap lenses potential weaknesses for a more pleasing end result.
Yes and no,
For me for work stuff I will always buy equipment that I feel, is the best available for the job I need it for. This will usually but not always be the most expensive option.
For non work stuff I have recently bought a couple of the noodle makers and a Viltrox mainly because of their tiny size. Am finding myself enjoying the cheap council estate primes, while I would never consider them for work for non work for me they are good enough.
The majority of people in this thread have high end equipment but are amateur photographers and I totally get why they would want high end equipment, I was of the same mindset before photography became a job. The truth is though that while the differences between low end cheap stuff and the high end stuff are there, and here we can all see them, for amateur stuff you can quite easily get away with much more basic equipment and a normal person won't be able to tell the difference in images.
There is also the case for saying a skilled photographer can do a great job with any equipment.
I also think it's a man thing. As men we always want to have the best gear when it comes to anything, it is our mindset, be that photography or anything else. Women often care less about that sort of thing unless it comes to stuff they are really interested in like handbags, shoes etc. of course there are some exceptions. (Yes, I know that sounds sexist, I don't mean it to be) I know some female photographers and they don't talk much about equipment at all. It can be the same with a lot of things for example about a year or so ago I bought a focus ST. When picking up the car my missus was having a look at some of the other cars in the Ford dealership and found another focus that she like better because it was a nicer colour had much more comfortable full leather vs the half leather / half alacantra sports seats that are in the ST. She really couldn't wrap her head around the fact that I preferred the ST even though it was more expensive because of its performance vs the other focus.
With men probably more than women there is also the "one up them" scenario as well. Using my car again as an example, when I bought my focus, my wee bro went out 2 days later and bought a McLaren 570s. I think often people on photography forums see other people getting excited about new equipment they have just bought and think, I need that too, or I am gonna get a better version of that, Just my opinion.
There is a saying I seen somewhere, newbie photographers talk about camera's, amateurs talk about lenses and experienced photographers talk about light. I think that is also true. Not trying to be mean or anything but I see photos posted on this forum on a regular basis (not just this thread) that are honestly just awful taken with high end gear, I also see plenty of amazing images taken with much lower end gear.
Even from a work point of view I see lots of local wedding photographers with high end gear who provide really low quality horrendous in some cases standard of photography to their clients and others with much lower end gear providing high quality work.