Considering the 7Artisans 35mm f2

[lxmike]

I am considering the 7 Artisans 35mm f2 but I must admit I am a little worried regarding focusing issues. I intend to use it with my M2 for shootng film only, I have heard that focus adjustment is needed, am I right in thinking this or will it shoot ok straight out the box on my M2. Any help greatly appreciated. Or do I forget the 7 Artisans and go for a CV 35 2.5.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Aren't you worried about extreme barrel distortions at some distances? This lens does it.
M2 means film, but what after? You can't correct those distortions under enlarger, but in PS.

Color Skopar 35 2.5, I had all three versions. Great for color, not impressive on darkroom prints. Every time I printed, the pinch was missing 🙂.
Nokton 35 1.4 II is better option in this form, shape, design category. Also lens with distortions, but @f1.4 it is funky and will give more light for film.

Or get Ultron 35 f2. Ultrons have more juicy rendering on BW, IMO.
Even older 35 1.7 LTM will do (watch for internal fog) or Canon 35 f2 (beautiful, old, little lens).

 

[lxmike]

Aren't you worried about extreme barrel distortions at some distances? This lens does it.
M2 means film, but what after? You can't correct those distortions under enlarger, but in PS.

Color Skopar 35 2.5, I had all three versions. Great for color, not impressive on darkroom prints. Every time I printed, the pinch was missing 🙂.
Nokton 35 1.4 II is better option in this form, shape, design category. Also lens with distortions, but @f1.4 it is funky and will give more light for film.

Or get Ultron 35 f2. Ultrons have more juicy rendering on BW, IMO.
Even older 35 1.7 LTM will do (watch for internal fog) or Canon 35 f2 (beautiful, old, little lens).

thank you my friend for your very informative reply, you have given me a great amount of food for thought🙂

 

[nzeeman]

well its same distortion that voigtlander 35/1.4 has but nobody complain when leitz or voigtlander or zeiss make mistake.. just get 7artisans and enjoy the shooting for cheap-if you ever find distortion is too much-you will easily sell and switch to other lens. if you ask me priority is not to spend enormous amount of money in start-just keep cheap lenses on camera until your experience tell you what you really need.

 

[lxmike]

well its same distortion that voigtlander 35/1.4 has but nobody complain when leitz or voigtlander or zeiss make mistake.. just get 7artisans and enjoy the shooting for cheap-if you ever find distortion is too much-you will easily sell and switch to other lens. if you ask me priority is not to spend enormous amount of money in start-just keep cheap lenses on camera until your experience tell you what you really need.

my main concern is the focus, I have heard the focus is slightly out when you shoot film with the 7 artisan on a rangefinder body

 

[newst]

In the past bought the 2/35 and the 1.1/50. Both are decent lenses, well worth the cost, but not amazing.

Both lenses come with the tools and directions required to fine-tune the lens' focus. Neither of mine required this. Most of the reviews I have read indicate that this was the case in their experience also.

However, you can find complaints all over the internet by people finding fault with their brand-new lenses. Nothing is perfect.

You pay your money and you take your chance.

 

[lxmike]

In the past bought the 2/35 and the 1.1/50. Both are decent lenses, well worth the cost, but not amazing.

Both lenses come with the tools and directions required to fine-tune the lens' focus. Neither of mine required this. Most of the reviews I have read indicate that this was the case in their experience also.

However, you can find complaints all over the internet by people finding fault with their brand-new lenses. Nothing is perfect.

You pay your money and you take your chance.

I have never really been a slave to brand, so I thought I might give this a go. How complex is the adjustment process, (if needed).

 

[zleica]

My copy focus pretty accurately. You can also adjust the focus with the tool provided. To me, the most interesting part was that it's Sonnar design so it has some interesting characters. It's this is your go to lens, I would recommend to go with VC 35/2 or 35/1.4 VII.

 

[lxmike]

My copy focus pretty accurately. You can also adjust the focus with the tool provided. To me, the most interesting part was that it's Sonnar design so it has some interesting characters. It's this is your go to lens, I would recommend to go with VC 35/2 or 35/1.4 VII.

many thanks, more food for thought🙂

 

[nzeeman]

about the focus-i used sonnar lenses that have natural focus shift and russian lenses that are said not to be fully compatible with leica bodies-but you dont notice that in reality unless you shoot wide open in strictlt controlled setting with both lens and model not moving... yhose few cm that xan be off are much less than what both your body and body of a model will move between focussing and pressing a shutter button. so don't worry - if shot is important shoot double or triple even with most precise lens that you trust. obsession over everything being adjusted is nonsense with rf. you never know if rf was kicked in the meantime and became off. lens is a least of problem-just enjoy shooting process and results will be fine-its what you gain from having fun and seeing interesting things, developing, waiting... photo as final result was always least fun for me from whole process...

 

[GLL]

I've used a few of the 7Artisan and TT Artisan lenses, both of which come with the tools to adjust the focus, and have always found them to be absolutely spot on out of the box, so personally I wouldn't worry about that aspect.

As far as the 7A 35mm f2 goes, I've never used it, but like others i've been very impressed by the photos that i've seen. The sonnar rendering is subtle, but interesting, and it's also almost certainly a zero-regrets purchase, especially if you can get one second hand, because they're very reasonably priced and hold their value fine. Many excellent photographers did great work with worse lenses, and I think it'd make a perfect daily shooter on an M2.

The VM 35mm 2.5 that Ko.Fe mentions is a great lens, sharper and contrastier than the 1.4 nokton and with less distortion. It's also extremely compact, if that's something that you care about. The ultron is obviously a great lens, but much more expensive.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

about the focus-i used sonnar lenses that have natural focus shift and russian lenses that are said not to be fully compatible with leica bodies-but you dont notice that in reality unless you shoot wide open in strictlt controlled setting with both lens and model not moving... yhose few cm that xan be off are much less than what both your body and body of a model will move between focussing and pressing a shutter button. so don't worry - if shot is important shoot double or triple even with most precise lens that you trust. obsession over everything being adjusted is nonsense with rf. you never know if rf was kicked in the meantime and became off. lens is a least of problem-just enjoy shooting process and results will be fine-its what you gain from having fun and seeing interesting things, developing, waiting... photo as final result was always least fun for me from whole process...

So called "Russian lenses" are easy do adapt with most common models, except J-3, which needs extra step of drilling. But the one and only 35mm LTM FSU lens is very easy to re-shim. No tools needed, just scissors to cut new shim. While it is not always required.

Not sure why you have this odd experience with RF focusing. I'm using my J-3 and Nokton 35 1.4 II wide open and no issues.

 

[84Bravo]

I have the 7A 35mm f2 and it's a wonderful lens for the money. If you shop around you can find new demos for $230 on ebay. I also have the 35mm f2 Summicron (IV). If you make photos of brick walls or test charts you will see barrel distortion with the 7A lens. However, when I look at regular photos taken with either lens I can't tell you which lens made which photo.



I have a few 7A and TT Artisans lenses and all of them needed to be calibrated and were not sharp out of the box. It's a very easy procedure to do with a digital camera, but I think it would be pretty tedious with a film camera. Do you have a friend or colleague with a digital camera that could help you for about 30 minutes? You may want to look for a used one that has already been calibrated.

 

[mpaniagua]

Adjusting focus is quite straightforward, but you need access to either a digital M Leica or (my case) use some kind of focusing screen on the film plane. This involves open the camera back and put either a SLR focusing screen (I used a Pentax one) or a piece of waxed paper on the film plane. With this you can check how out of focus you lens is.

Once you do this, and confirm indeed you need to adjust focus, there are 3 screw on the lens mount that will effectivly lose the lens focusing cam. Lose the screw only a little, only until you can push the focus cam a bit. Mount the lens on camera, and focus using the camera rangefinder. Check iif your lens is focused. If not, remove lens and move the cam a little. Mount and focus, then keep adjusting lens cam until image looks focused on focusing screen and camera rangefinder patch is on focus as well.

I'm not a tech savy person and did this within a half hour. I used a Bessa T because rangefinder is quite clear and accurate.

My lens was the 7 Artisan 50 1.1 and it did need some adjustment.

Regards

Marcelo

 

[mpaniagua]

I have the 7A 35mm f2 and it's a wonderful lens for the money. If you shop around you can find new demos for $230 on ebay. I also have the 35mm f2 Summicron (IV). If you make photos of brick walls or test charts you will see barrel distortion with the 7A lens. However, when I look at regular photos taken with either lens I can't tell you which lens made which photo.



I have a few 7A and TT Artisans lenses and all of them needed to be calibrated and were not sharp out of the box. It's a very easy procedure to do with a digital camera, but I think it would be pretty tedious with a film camera. Do you have a friend or colleague with a digital camera that could help you for about 30 minutes? You may want to look for a used one that has already been calibrated.

Not very tedious but you need to be careful not to damage your curtain or leave any masking tape (if used) on the curtain channe. And yeah, it is easier witha digital Leica. Unfortunatly no one near me had one.

Regards

 

[nzeeman]

So called "Russian lenses" are easy do adapt with most common models, except J-3, which needs extra step of drilling. But the one and only 35mm LTM FSU lens is very easy to re-shim. No tools needed, just scissors to cut new shim. While it is not always required.

Not sure why you have this odd experience with RF focusing. I'm using my J-3 and Nokton 35 1.4 II wide open and no issues.

sorry i maybe didnt explain properly-i said that many people say there is a rf problem with russian ones. i meant even if fhere is something like that it would be just few cm wide open and you anyway are not made of stone and will move during focussing.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I had to build up the RF cam on my V1 35 F1.2 Nokton for use on my M9, I added one layer of copper tape to the RF cam. Out of the factory, it was optimized for Film in the Bessa R2. I didn't complain, 5 minute fix. Same with the 50/1.1 Nokton- 1 layer of tape on the RF Cam, easy fix.

I have two 7Artisans 50mm F1.1, they are Sonnar formula lenses. Lens 1- perfect focus on my M9 out of the box. Second lens: I optimized for my M Monochrom using an Orange filter. The adjustable RF cam is wonderful, saved me the trouble of cutting copper tape.

Shoot the lens on your camera wide-open and close up, using a ruler for a target. Mark the point of focus. If it needs adjusting- use the included tool and move the cam slightly. Chances are that a wide angle F2 lens is going to be fine with film out of the box. Put it on a 24+ MPixel camera, pixel peep, you might need to adjust it. 5 minute job at that point.

 

[Toastybunzz]

I had that lens for a while, it's great for the money with some caveats. The main thing that drove me to sell it was how badly it flared, it's really bad. Sharpness was good, contrast was good (especially for b&w), build quality was good for the money. I thought that the color saturation wasn't that great on film, if you like 60-70's lenses it would probably be okay. There definitely is distortion but it didn't bother me that much, not as much as the flaring. I did take a lot of images that I really loved with it though, for the low price you can work around some of it's issues. I ended up moving on to a 35mm f2 Ultron which is an incredible lens. The Ultron has a little too much contrast for me so now I have a 35 Summarit 2.5 which feels about perfect.

Mine did back focus very slightly, so a close portrait focusing on the eye would be on the back of the cheekbone instead. If you get one and it's similar, set focus to either infinity or MFD and use a fine tipped sharpie to mark the adjustable ramp and the lens mount. Then just adjust in the correct direction so it's *one width of a fine tip sharpie*. So instead of lining up, the left side of the mark would now touch the right side of the mark (just whichever direction adjusts focus closer). It's hard to explain over text. That tiny adjustment was enough to bring the plane of focus 3 inches forward.

Distortion:
https://live.staticflickr.com/929/29710572368_a3ebd2ea8d_b.jpg

Flaring:
https://live.staticflickr.com/4863/45840461031_28c2cc285d_b.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/4803/45791361282_7f8585f0ef_b.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/7867/32044436647_70dd4c595c_b.jpg

If you want to see some more with that lens you can poke around here, I filtered out the images taken with this lens.
https://www.flickr.com/search/?sort...ags=7artisans&user_id=67988953@N00&view_all=1
https://www.flickr.com/search/?sort...7artisans35mm&user_id=67988953@N00&view_all=1

 

[mpaniagua]

Whoa talk about flare!!.

Distortion is there but I guess you can work around and even use it for drawing attention to the center?

Marcelo

 

[mpaniagua]

Whoa talk about flare!!.

Distortion is there but I guess you can work around and even use it for drawing attention to the center?

Marcelo

By the way, what hood (if any you tried)?

Marcelo.