The f/0.95 Lens Battle: Laowa Argus 33mmF0.95 vs Zhongyi Mitakon 35mmF0.95 vs 7Artisans 35mmF0.95

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There is a vast offering of third party manual focus only Fujifilm X mount lenses. We share a selection of them down below.

Among the most popular ones, there are the ultra fast Laowa Argus 33mmF0.95, the Zhongyi Mitakon 35mmF0.95 and the vs 7Artisans 35mmF0.95.

Now Richard Wong compared them all on his youtube channel. As usual, I’ll provide a summary for you guys in case you don’t have time right now to watch at the 22 minutes long video.

Summary

Design and Built Quality

  • all manual focus only with no electronic contacts
  • all full metal construction
  • they all feel very solid
  • Mitakon and 7Artisans size and weight is similar. The Laowa is quite a bit bigger and heavier
  • The Laowa feels a bit front heavy on X-T3
  • Mitakon and 7Artisans, when you change focus distance, the high of these lenses will extend a bit. The size of the Laowa always remains the same
  • Only Laowa comes with lens hood, a metal lens hood. But the lens cap is of plastic
  • 7Artisans and Mitakon have a focus throw of 90 degrees, while the Laowa has a much longer focus throw of 270 degrees
  • Laowa focus ring feels smooth but also a bit tight. Changing from closes distance to infinity, it will be hard to do it quickly on the Laowa. Not a problem with the other lenses
  • 7Artisans has a quite loose focus ring, so it can be tricky to focus very precisely when shooting at f/.095
  • all these lenses have an de-clicked aperture ring, which he hates. Non of his videographer friends ever changes aperture while shooting a video. He’d prefer a clicked aperture ring
  • he prefers the design of the Laowa

Field of view

  • Laowa has the widest field of view (33 instead of 35)

Sharpness

  • Center at f/0.95: Laowa is clearly the sharpest, followed by Mitakon and the last is 7Artisans
  • at f/1.4 all lenses improve contrast
  • corner sharpness at f/0.95: all quite soft, but Laowa is the sharpest and borderline usable
  • corner sharpness at f/1.4 is reasonably sharp, while you must stop the Mitakon and 7Artisans down at f/2 to get similar results of the Laowa at f/1.4

Chromatic Aberration

  • at f/0.95: Laowa is the best with only a little bit of aberration, and much better than the other two lenses. Mitakon still keeps chromatic aberration at a decent level. 7Artisans has noticeably more chromatic aberration than the other two lenses
  • LoCA at f/0.95: serious color fringing on the 7Artisans. Laowa is best. Mitakon only marginally worst than the Laowa

Vignetting

  • at f/0.95, the Laowa is worst, followed by Mitakon and 7Artisans is best
  • it’s surprising, as the Laowa is the biggest lens

Bokeh

  • at f/0.95: Laowa has smoothest and most creamy bokeh, Mitakon a bit of halo, on 7Artisans pretty noticeable halo which makes it look more nervous
  • bokeh balls: Laowa pretty round a bit swirly in the corners. Mitakon relatively round in the center, but in corners a weird triangle shape. 7Artisans bokeh a bit similar to Mitakon but not quite as extreme and corners have oval shape bokeh with pointy end

Distortion

  • overall similar and noticeable barrel distortion

Focus distance

  • similar minimum focus distance of 35/37 cm
  • at close distance, Laowa has softest sharpness, Mitakon in the middle, and 7Artisans is the sharpest at close distance

Flare

  • All have quite some lens flare and contrast drops
  • lens flare looks quite different
  • 7Artisans is best with least amount of lens flare, but the Laowa has the best and very cinematic looking lens flare with lots of character thanks to a red lens flare

Sun Stars

  • from f/8 to f/11: Laowa most beautiful. Also 7Artisans has nice sun stars. Mitakon not quite as clean sun stars
  • You can stop down the Laowa only until f/11, while 7Artisans and Mitakon go until f/16
  • Mitakon and 7Artisans have quite a bit of ghosting when shooting at f/16, so while the sun star is a bit sharper compared to Laowa at f/16, the ghosting can become a bit distracting
  • Laowa and 7Artisans are a good choice

Coma + Focus Breathing

  • Laowa Coma is at acceptable level. 7Artisans has slightly more coma. Mitakon is the worst
  • Laowa and Mitakon similar focus breathing, 7Artisans more focus breathing

Final Thoughts

  • Each of the lenses has Pros and Cons
  • 7Artisans best value for money, Mitakon overall balanced design and reasonably well in most areas
  • Laowa is his favorite. It’s the sharpness of all and has lowest amount of chromatic aberration, making it most usable at f/0.95
  • Laowa renders best bokeh and lens flare
  • Laowa has way too long focus throw
  • He would pick the Laowa, even if it is larger and heavier

Where to get them

Some Third Party X Mount Options

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