As you know I am using a 7Artisans lens for my Street Photography. In this post I want to share with you what are the lenses that I consider the most interesting in this particular market niche.

First of all, let me clarify a thing. This is not for any photographer. If you need to work with autofocus forget this advice.

When it comes to Street Photography most of the photographers prefer to use the zone focusing technique and this means to use the lens in manual. Most of the lenses on the market proposed by the official manufacturers are more similar to DSLR lenses (mostly is plastic and without a distance scale on the lens) and this appears to me a no-sense, especially if you are making the camera bodies in metal and then you propose plastic lenses that seem like toys. Moreover, many of them offer prohibitive costs.

To count with a distance scale on the lenses allow to the photographer to work in a intuitive way but the manufacturers, except Leica, seem not to understand and not care about this thing. In the last years we have seen many camera manufacturers winking to street photographers and yet no distance scale on the lenses from them. It is an absurd.

If you are an enthusiastic photographer of mirrorless cameras, you can consider some lenses that will leave you speechless in terms of performance and price. I was able to see with a lens that, among other things is the one considered simpler and with some more cons, the considerable benefits brought to my photography in the last year.

One of the reasons why many users did not decide to buy a mirrorless camera was the limited range of available lenses, now a problem fixed by the most of manufacturers and for their high price. Fortunately more brands have launched to conquer this market.

This is for example the case of the 7artisans brand lenses, lenses made in China, with amazing performance, great brightness and good construction, comparable to those of lenses up to 5 times more expensive. Other third parts lens manufacturer are Meike, TT Artisans and others. And all these manufacturers propose the versions of the same lenses for the differents camera brands.

Why I am recommending the third parts lenses and not the vintage lenses? Because I made some tests also with vintage lenses, using adaptators: guys, it is not working. While some suggest those lenses were built specifically for their purpose at the time. The results produced on the image are in some cases devastating, with contour lines on the subjects, heavy vignetting and a whole host of image quality problems that make me say that no, it is absolutely not something to consider.

7Artisans 25mm f1.8

So, let me start from my lens.

This 25mm has a maximum aperture of f / 1.8 and a minimum of f / 16, which would be something more than an effective 35mm. It is a manual fixed lens for APS-C mirrorless cameras with a 68º angle of view, and a weight of 143gr. It is built in metal in and 7 elements in 5 groups.

So far this is the only direct experience I have but you can judge from the photos made this year, most of them realized using this lens. Look at the colors obtained. This makes me forget the problems of the lens which is not very precise in the correspondence of the result with the distance scale and an excessive tendency to bokeh which should not be for a normal lens, being equivalent to a 37.5mm in full frame.

TTArtisan 17mm f/1.4

I have included this lens in the list of future purchases. I want it. We talk about a lens that is a 25.5mm equivalent and it is just for 139 US$.

Another lens to consider is…

7ARTISANS 35MM F1.2 APS-C

I know what you are thinking: an equivalent 52.5 is too much for Street Photography. Let me say a thing: it depends. Henri Cartier Bresson and Elliott Erwitt would agree. And I think this lens could be considered for Street Photography,. especially at night. To make some emotional and cinematic street shot.

In fact we are talking about super bright lens, with a maximum aperture of f / 1.2 and a minimum of F / 16. This lens is very versatile both for its incredible brightness and for its effective focal length.

Ideal for working in low light situations and for achieving good blurring (bokeh). It has a weight of only 150gr., A viewing angle of 46º, it is built in aluminum with 6 elements in 5 groups.

And with this lens you have a great lens also for portraits.

Conclusions

Sincerely, the offer is not that much when it comes to Street Photography but I hope this changes in future. I contacted 7Artisans asking for a 28mm equivalent that will be a special one to propose to street photographers worldwide and they replied me with a thanks and that they will consider my suggestion.

As I said i am perfectly aware this is not something for all the photographers. In fact the most prefer the official lenses. In this year the 25mm by 7Artisans has become the main lens for my street photography work. And i can share you my experience. the aesthetics, often imprecise, maybe sometimes even out of focus, allowed me to obtain the results that I have always looked for in my photography. I have come to get as close as possible with a mirrorless to certain film photography. You must consider that my focus is constantly printing photos and also proposing images to agencies. The agencies have accepted the images and, indeed, are enthusiastic about them. This is enough for me to say that I will continue to use this type of lenses.

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