7Artisans 35mm f/2 - Okay with Film?

[Travis L.]

A great little lens. The build quality and optical performance are better than I expected for the price.

Mine was also properly calibrated upon arrival.

 

[Toastybunzz]

It's a bit soft outside the center at f/2, there's visible distortion (up to you if that bothers you or not) and it flares pretty badly. Mine also needed a slight focus adjustment as it was backfocusing, I only own film M's so I calibrated with film and it only took maybe an hour.

Personally I didn't like it for color, it's kind of low contrast so it looked great with b&w but the Color Skopar will do much better on that front.

 

[Huss]

Personally I didn't like it for color, it's kind of low contrast so it looked great with b&w but the Color Skopar will do much better on that front.

Hmm, I had no issues using the 7A 35 with kolor film

 

[agentlossing]

I think it's clear that the 7artisans is a controversial lens, @Huss is willing to go to bat for it, but I still don't like the focus calibration issues reported, and the distortion is noticeable (although corrected easily enough in PP). I think I will stick with Voigtlander, if for no other reason than aesthetics, on my Voigt body 😉

The range of focal lengths that I like, from 28mm to 40mm, are well represented in Cosina's lineup, especially 35 and 40. The Nokton is quite cheap secondhand, I might pick that up at some point.

 

[Toastybunzz]

Hmm, I had no issues using the 7A 35 with kolor film

It's just not to my taste for color, I like the more modern look from my Planar ZM and 35mm Ultron f2. I shot some slide with it as well and it was just okay. I do like the lens though and would recommend it, it's not perfect though.

 

[Huss]

.. I do like the lens though and would recommend it, it's not perfect though.

Definitely not perfect! My other 35mm lenses that are not perfect:

Summicron Asph 35 f2 - horrible flare protection. Unacceptable at that price point.
CV 35 1.2 v2 - back focuses and big.
ZM 35 1.4 - perfect optics but very long and has a sticky feeling focus helicoil (like all my ZM lenses). Like it is lubricated with syrup not grease.
Summaron 35 3.5/goggles - aperture ring hard to use if using a lens hood (which it needs)
Nikkor 35 1.4 AIS - serious glow at 1.4 (but cool to use for effect)
Zeiss SLii 35mm f2 - poor flare protection, sticky feeling focus ring.
Sigma Art 35mm 1.4 - awesome optics, fantastic focus but humongous

I think there are a couple others but you get the idea.

FYI I love using the 7A 35 on my beater M4-2 as the lens is so cheap (relatively speaking) that it results in uninhibited useage, not fearing damage to a pricey optic. Great results are a bonus.

 

[Crazy Leica Fox]

The 7Artisans 35mm f/2 is a Sonnar design, correct? A bit unusual for a wide-angle lens. Are there any Sonnar fans who've tried and are happy with the 7A?

 

[Archlich]

The 7Artisans 35mm f/2 is a Sonnar design, correct? A bit unusual for a wide-angle lens. Are there any Sonnar fans who've tried and are happy with the 7A?

Not that unusual since its diagram is extremely similar to the CV 35/2.5 and C-Biogon 35/2.8. The later two are almost identical. In this way the 7A is connected to the entire family of small CV lenses (21/4, 25/4, 28/3.5).

They're actually based on the Sonnar-derived, asymmetrical, prewar Biogon, i.e. the original 35/2.8 for Contax. It's confusing since the better known circa 1950 symmetrical design is also called Biogon. So it really depends on in which flavor you'd like to name it. Zeiss for example chose to call the ZM version C-Biogon...