Reviews on gear is not really something that I have much interest in as a general rule of thumb. The only time I will, is when something takes my attention or I love to use.

This time around it is the Neewer (7artisans) 25mm F1.8 lens. As far as I can tell it is the exact same as the 7artisans 25mm 1.8. No evidence to support this other than side by side… they are identical.

The Artisan 25mm caught my attention some time ago. I happened to search for it on amazon, and I came across this version from Neewer for £41! For that price, I had to see what it was like for myself. Reviews of the 7artisan version is a mixed bag of love and hate so here is my short thoughts on it as it only arrived 1 day ago.

On opening the box I was quite surprised by its weight… Not heavy by any means, but it just feels nice like when you pick up a 35 summicron… just feels good.

The build quality is pretty good considering its very low price point.

Now this lens certainly won’t be for everyone… Lets say it has some quirks (Quality control fails)

• First thing is the aperture ring…. Its smooth, notchless, clickless, you get what I mean… Not a big thing for me but some might not like it.

• The focus guide…. I’m just going to say on the copy I have at least, is not accurate…. I had to use the EVF to get an idea of where it was at, to be able to zone focus. No I have figured it out its pretty easy… On on the focus topic… I far, far far far prefer mechanical manual focus compared to the electrical focus on fuji lenses… Soooo good!

• Softness… Do bare in mind the price, you’re not going to get Leica quality glass. It do get a little soft in the edges. From what others have said, at 1.8 the edges and corners are very soft. Again for me no problem. I’m at F8 and above for what I do and I can’t really see too much to complain about.

That is about all of its little quirks/quality control issues. Others have had only praise and others tore it apart but I don’t care about chromatic aberrations or slight distortion. If it looks good to my eye then I’m happy… There is no need at all to dive in to a jpeg at 10000% and complain that a pixel is crap…. I don’t care.
While i mention chromatic aberration… Nothing noticeable

Again I’ve only had this lens for a day but I’ve instantly fallen in love with it… Compact size, great image quality… Manual focus, and it was only £40!….. WTF!

For street/documentary work its perfect for me…. On my X-Pro1 it feels just right. Can’t really say much more yet but in a few months I’ll do a follow up review… By then I might have launched it out of the window… Or still be using it daily!

Here is a few pictures taken today with the 25mm.

If you’re interested in taking a look at this lens, I found it here on Amazon

Cheers!