Very bright lens made in China 7Artisans M 35mm f/1.4
A review and photo examples of the 7Artisans M 35mm f/ 1.4 with the HASSELBLAD X2D-100C.
Table of contents
Gallery
The example photos were taken using a HASSELBLAD X2D-100C.
Review
1．Overview
The 7Artisans M 35mm f/1.4 is a budget lens with the same specs as the Chinese-made LEICA SUMMILUX 35mm F1.4 released in the 2010s.
I bought it on Amazon because it was on sale, and since I didn’t have a LEICA M body on hand, I attached it to my HASSELBLAD X2D and tried it out. The official page says that it features Sonnar and Biogon, but it’s not a simple structure like Sonnar, nor is it symmetrical like Biogon, so you can hardly feel its features, and it looks like a retrofocus lens with a concave front lens, which is popular these days.
The main specifications are as follows, and the details are listed in the table.
- Aperture 1.4
- Lens construction 9 groups, 10 elements
- Aperture blades 10
- Minimum shooting distance 0.7m
- Leica M rangefinder camera rangefinder coupling 0.7m
- Hood included
- Lens color variations Black
2．Usability
The 7Artisans M 35mm f/1.4 has a good resolution on the focal plane and is fully compatible with 100 million pixels. However, the background bokeh tends to be a two-line blur and there is some collapse outside the 35mm format, but this is outside the expected image circle, so there is no complaint.
The focus ring has a standard 45-degree rotation angle from infinity to 0.7m, and the helicoid rotates smoothly.
When you hold the lens, you can feel the heavy mass of the metal barrel and glass lens, and the design does not look very cheap except for the logo. However, I personally have doubts about the functional design of the lens.
As with LOMO’s Atoll 17mm, the focus ring and aperture ring have almost the same design as those found on Chinese lenses, and because the aperture ring is wider than the focus ring, I often had to turn the aperture ring while looking through the viewfinder. This is partly due to the lack of click stops on the aperture ring, and partly due to getting used to the operation, but if the focus ring was wider and the knurling was different from that of the aperture ring, this kind of mistake would not be made, so it is considered a lack of functional design.
The hood is a type that can be pulled out from the lens barrel, and there is no mechanism to turn it and fix it after pulling it out. Even when pulled out, the hood is only about 10mm, so it is a temporary measure and is insufficient to cut backlighting in backlit situations, and there is a strange light and loss of contrast due to ghosting or flare.
The lens is over-inflated, which is not a problem when used with an EVF, but if used with a LEICA M viewfinder, it seems necessary to adjust it yourself. Adjustment tools are included.
The image circle is large, and when shooting at the original X2D size of 116568742 (4:3) pixels and cropping the usable part for 35mm 3:2, 109287286 pixels remained. If you calculate, you’ll be left with about 41mm of usable sensor width, so you can judge that it’s perfectly usable on a 35mm full-frame sensor.
You can also get photos with sufficient resolution even at full aperture, proving that Chinese optical design is a force to be reckoned with. Leica is an established brand and can’t be compared, but the retail price of this lens makes it an incredible value for money.
3．Summary
In conclusion, to sum up the 7Artisans M 35mm f/1.4 is a good lens for the price. As seen from the photos taken with the HASSELBLAD X2D-100C, the image circle is wide, so there is plenty of room at the periphery on a 35mm sensor.
However, I personally feel that the lens design is unsophisticated overall, and the design of the focus and aperture rings makes it easy to make mistakes, so this needs improvement.
Specification
Lenses with the 35mm F1.4 specification have been released by several Chinese manufacturers.
The similarly named Meishoku Kogaku TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 ASPH has an aperture ring at the tip and a focus ring in the center, which I prefer as a lens design.
The 7Artisans M 35mm f/1.4 is a large lens for a rangefinder camera, with a lens length that is slightly shorter than the original Voigtlander NOKTON 35mm F1.2. This is thought to be to increase the image circle to reduce peripheral light falloff, but the second-generation NOKTON 35mm F1.2 has a lens length of 60mm or less, so this lens, with a lens length of about 70mm, shows the limit of the technology at the time of the release of 7Artisans.
| Items | 7Artisans M 35mm f/ 1.4 | SUMMILUX ASPH.2nd |
| Focal length(mm) | 35 | 35 |
| Max aperture | 1.4 | 1.4 |
| Min aperture | 22 | 16 |
| Lens Construction | 10 | 9 |
| Aperture blade | 10 elements in 9 groups | 9 elements in 5 groups |
| Min distance(m) | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| Lens length(mm) | 69.4 | 46.2 |
| Max diameter(mm) | 59 | 53 |
| Filter Size(mm) | 49 | E46 |
| Lens hood | Build in | Black 250 Silver,Titan 415 |
| Weight(g) | 404 | 12589 |
| Release date | 2020s | 1993-2005 |
| Production numbers | – | 18,404 |
Reference links
- 7Artisans official Web site
- Amazon saller site(Affiliate link) / The product photo on Amazon is of an L/M close-up adapter, but as the product description suggests, a regular L/M adapter was included in the package.
- LEICA SUMMILUX 35mm/F1.4ASPH.・Shige’s hobby
- Very bright lens NOKTON VM 35mm F1.2・Shige’s hobby
Update history
- 2025.7.4
- 2023.02.19
Affiliate link
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