7Artisans 25mm f1.8 Lens Review

In this blog, I'll be reviewing the 7Artisans 25mm f1.8 lens and briefly explaining why I decided to purchase it.

I discovered this lens through an Instagram reel. Its small size and sleek design caught my eye, and I was curious to learn more. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to use a manual focus lens on my Fujifilm camera, so when I saw that this one was reasonably priced at €75, I decided to give it a try.

Build Quality

The build quality of the 7Artisans 25mm f1.8 is solid. It's made entirely of metal and feels premium in the hand. However, there are a few quirks worth mentioning. Firstly, after some use, I noticed some oil leakage around the aperture ring. (You can see this on the image below.) This could be a defect in my copy, but it's something to be mindful of.

The aperture ring is de-clicked, which could be useful for video, but I personally prefer aperture rings with clicks.

Another thing I discovered with the aperture is that I didn’t notice a significant difference in light or bokeh when switching between f1.8 and f2.8, making it feel more like an f2.8 lens in practice.

While the aperture ring is quite stiff, it can easily get bumped if you're not careful or when placing the lens in a bag. This is another reason I’d prefer a clicked aperture ring.

Lastly, the lens is not weather-sealed, but that comes as no surprise at this price point.

Around the aperture ring you can see some oil leakage.

Size

The size of this lens is fantastic; it fits comfortably in the palm of my hand, which was one of the main reasons I bought it. It’s almost pancake-sized and, when paired with my Fujifilm XE-4, easily slips into a jacket pocket. For portability and compactness, I highly recommend it.

The lens easily fits in the palm of my hand.

7Artisans 25mm F1.8 paired with my Fujifilm XE-4.

Image Quality

This isn’t a high-end lens in terms of image quality, but it offers decent center sharpness across all apertures, which I like. However, from f1.8 to about f4, it struggles to maintain sharpness in the corners. At f5.6, the lens sharpens up nicely across the entire frame and stays sharp until f11, which is a pleasant surprise.

There’s a bit of barrel distortion, but it's barely noticeable in everyday photography and can easily be corrected in post-processing. Chromatic aberration is well-controlled at all apertures, though it's more visible at f1.8 when you zoom in closely. From f4 onwards, chromatic aberration is hard to spot, which is nice.

At wider apertures (f1.8–f4), there is some noticeable loss of contrast and vignetting, especially in daylight or when shooting into direct light. The contrast loss seems to be due to lens flare, a common issue with budget lenses. The vignetting can be fixed in post, but it does require some effort. Thankfully, both issues clear up by f4 and beyond. While the imperfections didn’t bother me much and can even add some character to images, minor edits using Lightroom’s dehaze or contrast sliders are usually needed.

This lens has a unique character compared to my other lenses, which tend to be more clinical in their rendering.

Images taken with the 7Artisans 25mm f1.8 using the Nostalgic Negative Recipe from Fujixweekly.

Heavy vignetting at F1.8

Stopped down to F8 the vignetting is almost gone.

Here another example, slightly less visible here.

Again, stopped down to f8 fixes the vignetting on the corners and shows better contrast.

Photo taken at f1.8 with nice bokeh. Here you don't notice much of the vignetting or soft corners, it really depends on the scene. The lens works really well here.

Photo taken using the Cuban Negative recipe. Here you see nice close focusing distance with nice bokeh. Vignetting adds to the image.

Focusing

I don’t have extensive experience with manual focus lenses, aside from occasionally using a Zuiko 50mm f1.8 on my Olympus OM-10 film camera. That said, I really enjoyed the manual focus experience with this lens. It feels smooth and well-dampened. However, the focus throw is a bit short, and the infinity focus marking on the lens isn’t accurate. These issues didn’t bother me too much, though, and overall, I found manual focusing on my Fujifilm XE-4, paired with the 7Artisans 25mm f1.8 to be a good experience.

What I like about it

• Build Quality: The all-metal construction gives the lens a high-quality, premium feel.

• Size: Compact and nearly pancake-sized, making it highly portable and pocketable, especially with the Fujifilm XE-4.

• Center Sharpness: Offers good center sharpness, particularly between f5.6 and f11.

• Chromatic Aberration Control: Chromatic aberration is well-managed, especially from f4 onward.

• Manual Focus Experience: The focus is smooth and well-dampened, providing a good manual focusing experience despite some quirks.

What I don’t like about it

• Oil Leakage: Some oil seeps around the aperture ring after use, which might be a defect but is still worth noting.

• De-clicked Aperture Ring: The lack of clicks in the aperture ring isn’t ideal for photography, and it's easy to accidentally adjust.

• Aperture Inaccuracy: There’s little to no difference between f1.8 and f2.8, making it feel more like an f2.8 lens.

• Corner Sharpness Issues: Soft corners between f1.8 and f4, though this improves at higher apertures.

• Vignetting and Contrast Loss: Visible vignetting and loss of contrast at wider apertures, requiring post-processing adjustments.

Final thoughts

Overall, I’m quite pleased with this lens for the price. It’s perfect for street photography, where I tend to shoot at around f5.6, so the quirks at lower apertures don’t affect me much. For street photography, I’d give it a solid 7/10 and would recommend it to anyone who wants to try a manual focus lens to have fun with without breaking the bank.