Thorsten Overgaard's 7A 50 1.1 review

[Huss]

Some may find Overgaard as a little, umm, pretentious, but he still has lots of great info on his site.
And this review of the 7Artisans is very honest, with some really nice photos of what it is for and capable of included.

http://www.overgaard.dk/7artisans-f...50mm-f-1-1-Sonnar-review-and-user-report.html

 

[Larry Cloetta]

Thanks, that was interesting.

 

[DHK]

What’s his story? Does he work for Leica?

 

[raid]

He nearly convinced me to sell our home and to order a Noctilux! It is the lens that brings to you happiness and spiritual heaven and "lots of good stuff".

 

[gnuyork]

Cool lens. I'd buy one if I had a digi M.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

I quit on repetitive shots of Asian female. According to Trousen photos or whatever his name is, lens is garbage.
Sorry, Huss. I'm not wearing blinds, in other words, I don't own this lens to constantly find excuse for owning it.
I own J-3. 🙂

 

[bayernfan]

I forgot about him and I was happy, and then this popped up. Thanks a lot Huss!

 

[Richard G]

This was his first non-Leica lens. He dismissed consideration of Voigtlander lenses. Maybe he will eventually try some Zeiss lenses, like the C Sonnar 1.5. That would be an education worth having.

 

[peterm1]

I quit on repetitive shots of Asian female. According to Trousen photos or whatever his name is, lens is garbage.
Sorry, Huss. I'm not wearing blinds, in other words, I don't own this lens to constantly find excuse for owning it.
I own J-3. 🙂

No he did not say the lens is garbage. This is his conclusion:

"Yes, you will like the 7artisans 50mm f/1.1 ... and it will keep you dreaming of the real Noctilux once you’ve fallen in love with its bokeh, its unreal dreamy look and the possibility of using its extremely selective focus. So get one, and then start saving up for the real Noctilux, because that’s the way it will go. The 7artisan might be the poor man’s Noctilux, but nobody wants to stay poor forever."

Overgaard is a Leica-phile. He owns every Leica you could ever wish to own. Including the Noctilux. Of course he is going to say it is a better lens - technically, he is perfectly correct, it is. Just like a Rolls Royce is technically better car than your average Hyundai. But of course not everyone aspires to own (or more to the point realistically expects to own) a Rolls. And this is where I depart from Overgaard. He seems to think everyone does and can.

 

[Richard G]

No he did not say the lens is garbage. This is his conclusion:

"Yes, you will like the 7artisans 50mm f/1.1 ... and it will keep you dreaming of the real Noctilux once you’ve fallen in love with its bokeh, its unreal dreamy look and the possibility of using its extremely selective focus. So get one, and then start saving up for the real Noctilux, because that’s the way it will go. The 7artisan might be the poor man’s Noctilux, but nobody wants to stay poor forever."

Overgaard is a Leica-phile. He owns every Leica you could ever wish to own. Including the Noctilux. Of course he is going to say it is a better lens - technically, he is perfectly correct, it is. Just like a Rolls Royce is technically better car than your average Hyundai. But of course not everyone aspires to own (or more to the point realistically expects to own) a Rolls. And this is where I depart from Overgaard. He seems to think everyone does and can.

Peter, Ko.Fe says it's garbage, from examining the posted photographs. Ko.Fe is rarely wrong.

 

[Archlich]

Peter, Ko.Fe says it's garbage, from examining the posted photographs. Ko.Fe is rarely wrong.

I wonder if a Noctilux could transmute the said photos into something inspiring...?

 

[E.M]

I didn't read the text , only looked at the photos and don't like the image quality . I would rather save up for a summilux , plenty fast enough for me ...

 

[jonmanjiro]

- The price of the 50mm Noctilux ($10,500) is completely fair. In fact, it’s a miracle - as well as a gift to mankind - that one can even buy a piece of NASA space technology in a retail store. Things of this nature, things that can do what the Noctilux can do, things that can bend the light and bring it back on track, are so far-out and so unbelievable that you would think they don’t exist. But it does, and you can buy one. - T.O.

NASA space technology??? Fo' real??? 😕😕😕

Very dubious description of purple fringing too lol

 

[Out to Lunch]

NASA space technology???

I prefer earth technology at a much lower price point.

 

[johannielscom]

What’s his story? Does he work for Leica?

No, for L. Ron Hubbard's disciples.

He's always aiming at the high-end clientele (most expensive gear, excessively expensive workshops) because that's where you rake the most money in for Scientology.

 

[Archlich]

This was his first non-Leica lens. He dismissed consideration of Voigtlander lenses. Maybe he will eventually try some Zeiss lenses, like the C Sonnar 1.5. That would be an education worth having.

Don't think so. He chose the 7Artisan exactly because: it generated lots of attention and debate; it's on the far lower end of the price spectrum. By putting his 2 cents in he'd surely be able to: get part of that attention; make a safe judgement, that this lens is, as expected, inferior to its Leica counterpart.

A Volkswagen is "inferior" to a Rolls Royce for sure. But what about a Toyota Century? He'd be having a hard time assuming that superior position when judging a CV or a ZM lens.

 

[DominikDUK]

The lens rendering is quiet beautiful, the out-of-focus rendering is sometimes not that great just like with every other lens incl. the Noctilux. Would like to see results on film as I believe that's the place where the lens would really shine

 

[Larry Cloetta]

I don’t know. I looked at the pictures, saw the differences, and the various renderings in various situations of both lenses, and learned something. Maybe not a lot, but something. Just more data points I can keep tucked away somewhere, that I will likely not ever put to practical use. A little bit of knowledge I haven’t seen elsewhere, not exactly. That’s not a bad thing.

 

[Emile de Leon]

I like that Artisan F1.1 lens a lot in rendering..but probably not enough to buy it as I already have the Noctilux F1.0 I got on the cheep a long time ago..

 

[Huss]

But this is about the lens, which he makes a point of showing its value and how he has been impressed that something so cheap can make such nice images.
And I agree with him, the images do reflect what this lens is capable of. I mainly use it on film, as on digital unless you convert to B&W there is magenta color smearing on the edges.

And KoFe, I have had the J3 and much much prefer the 7A. The J3 has harsh bokeh wide open, is less sharp than this lens , suffers from focus shift, is less resistant to flaring, is built to a lower standard, and you cannot adjust it for focus correction if it is needed (mine did not).
I like it so much I bought two, even though I have lenses like the Summilux Asph etc. The 7A wide open really does create special glowy images that people have paid big $$ for in other lenses.

Either way this was a link to provide another point, and one that illustrates the lens' characteristics with actual images instead of brick walls, fire hydrants, a bottle in a bar that other online testers use to illustrate their photography.
The subject matter here is the lens, not someone's personal beliefs.