Andoer 25mm f/1.8 for Fujifilm X Mount Quick Review with Samples

Viktor (flickr page) purchased the Andoer 25mm f/1.8 lens and wrote me the following feedback with sample images.

Andoer 25mm f/1.8 – Quick Review

I was really intrigued by the Pergear 25mm F1.8  (5 lenses, not 7 like Mitacon) but it was completely sold out on ebay.  What I have found was same looking lens but labeled Andoer. The best thing about it is, that unlike Pergear this one also comes in silver!

It came within one week from China (two weeks ago, I got lucky…) and with a lens bag! (finally a bag small enough for APS-C lenses) 50 euro only!!

Build Quality is on pair with Venus Optics Laowa 9mm!

Picture quality is awesome! (Yes pixel peepers may notice corners getting softer, I don’t care)

Just look at the sample pictures (I have reduced the to Full HD to fit the mail) You can find couple of full resolution pictures here on Flickr.

Quality of bokeh is in my eyes on pair with my all time favorites 18mmf2 and 60mmf2.8 (and sometimes 50mmf2). The general feel is similar to Fuji’s first generation X-Mount lenses, mixed with Soviet lenses (like the brilliant Helios 44 I have inherited from my grandfather). I think it is due to slight spherical aberration wide open which makes portraits look so mich better!

This lens remind me a lot of the Olympus 25mm f1.2 which costs over 1000 (!!) Euros and in my eyes does not make 20 times better pictures.

One more interesting thing about flare: with the sun in the corner wide open you get a giant beautiful blob you can place around someone’s face. It’s almost gone closed to f2 and entierly gone by f4. (last 3 Pictures)

Focal length is really peculiar. I does not have the documentry feel of the 27mm but it does not feel like a wide lens the 23mm is. I my eyes every mm counts and you cannot say that 25mm is the same es 23 or 27. It is totally different!

There is just one little annoying thing: Focus at infinity goes beyond infinity, but it’s not a big deal.

Anyway this is the best thing you can get for 50 euros! (Autofocus is really overrated ;)

One friendly suggestion:

Can you include an 40mmf4 Pancake in your polls? (I just love that focal length and my Lomo 40mmf4 but to get those you need to disassemble an old soviet camera and build in a new helix and adopt it to the X-mount… lots of work)

And please please a 45mm f2 lens! (45mm are hard to get by you need a 3d printer to adapt those to Fuji, I only know one guy in Aachen who does stuff like that) So more focal lengths please :)

I have attached one picture wide open. It’s not for everybody but I absolutely love it.

Andoer 25mm F1.8 Manual Focus Lens: AmazonUS