In this highly detailed review I will cover the extremely affordable fully manual APS-C E-mount 7artisans Photoelectric 55mm f/1.4 Lens. At $119 US this lens is an absolute killer value for the dollar in my opinion and I think you will be very impressed with the results considering the cost.
I used the Sony A6400 to review this lens and it has built in tools to help you manually focus which makes it fairly easy in the real world. I actually created a tutorial video (Click Here) on how to use this lens on the Sony A6400 so you can see for yourself how easy it can be and what is involved.
The effective focal length of 7artisans 55mm f/1.4 Lens works out to 82.5mm due to the 1.5x crop factor. This is a great range for portraits and background separation opportunities which really help isolate your subject as you will see below in the sample photos.
The build quality on this lens is excellent and pretty much all metal. It feels extremely solid and both the focus and aperture ring are buttery smooth with good feedback. The aperture ring is non clicking which makes it great for doing aperture sweeps when recording video in particular, but does make it a bit harder to go from one stop to the next without looking.
The lens does not come with a hood, but you can get a cheap 49mm screw on style like this one (Click Here) to solve that problem without breaking the bank.
7artisans E-Mount Lens Guide This way >> I encourage you to read the story behind this lens company you will find on that lens guide page. It’s very interesting and really made me want to try their lenses out.
7artisans 55mm f/1.4 Lens Key Features:
- E-Mount/ APS-C Format
- Aperture Range: f/1.4 to f/16
- Manual Focus Lens
- Effective focal length = 82.5mm
- Lens Elements = 6 Elements in 5 Groups
- Aperture Diaphragm = 14 blades, Rounded
- Smooth No Click Aperture Ring
- Minimum Focus Distance = 1.15′ / 35 cm
- Filter Thread = 49mm
- Weight = 9.6 oz / 272 g
- Price = $119 US @ BHPhotoVideo
Some photos of the 7artisans Photoelectric 55mm f/1.4 Lens
My 7artisans 55mm f/1.4 Lens Review – Video Version
Real World Sample Photos
For these real world photos I was shooting raw quality and used Lightroom to develop the images a little bit. As you can see in the completely untouched raw quality lab testing photos below, the 7artisains 55mm f/1.4 Lens lacks that puchy contrast and color like some other lenses that cost significantly more money. Therefore, I added a basic tone curve to all of these images in Lightroom, and some vibrance to make the colors pop a bit more. Nothing crazy though.
Be sure to click on the photos for a larger view and the full review of this lens will be coming soon and I will have many more real world sample photos to share!
Here are few portrait shots of Layla on the streets of Liberty, NY near where I live.
Lab Testing
I was shooting Raw quality and made absolutely no adjustments in Lightroom, so you are seeing exactly what was produced by the 7artisans Photoelectric 55mm f/1.4 Lens. I exported the raw files and 100% crops as 1500px jpegs at 75% quality and output sharpening set to screen/ low for reference.
Full Scene Test w/ 100% Crops
Here is a larger version of the full scene for reference when looking at the thumbnail size test shots below and be sure to click on the images for a much larger ~1500px version!
f/16 
f/16 
f/16 
f/16 
f/8 
f/8 
f/8 
f/8 
f/5.6 
f/5.6 
f/5.6 
f/5.6 
f/4 
f/4 
f/4 
f/4 
f/2.8 
f/2.8 
f/2.8 
f/2.8 
f/2 
f/2 
f/2 
f/2 f/1.4 
f/1.4 
f/1.4 
f/1.4
Minimum Focus Distance Lab Testing – MFD
The Minimum focus distance for the 7artisans Photoelectric 55mm f/1.4 Lens is 1.15′ / 35 cm, which is quite good considering how compact the lens is. This really allows you to get close to your subjects which creates that extra buttery background separation and isolation of your subject. It allows for some really good close-up photography when it comes to flowers and things like that.
mfd @ f/16 
mfd @ f/16 
mfd @ f/8 
mfd @ f/8 
mfd @ f/5.6 
mfd @ f/5.6 
mfd @ f/4 
mfd @ f/4 
mfd @ f/2.8 
mfd @ f/2.8 
mfd @ f/2 
mfd @ f/2 
mfd @ f/1.4 
mfd @ f/1.4
7artisans 55mm f/1.4 Lens Lens Accessories:
- 49mm Front Lens Cap
- Rear Lens Cap
- 49mm Lens Hood
- 49mm ND Filters
- 49mm Variable ND FIlters
- 49mm Polarizing Filters
- 49mm UV Protective Filter
- 49mm Filter Kits
- Lens Pouch
Conclusions
So at the end of the day I really enjoyed using the 7artisans Photoelectric 55mm f/1.4 Lens. It’s a really affordable optic, has great build quality, very good overall real world optical quality, and is tons of fun to use. I really can’t recommend it enough for those on a budget looking for a super fast portrait range prime lens willing to manually focus. I was so impressed with this lens in fact I decided to get more of the 7artisans lenses for review, so stay tuned for those in the near future!
If you have any questions or would like to share your experience with this lens, please be sure use the comments area below. I’m always happy to help and I love reading your comments! Have a great day and I will catch up with you later, Jay
- 7artisans Photoelectric 55mm f/1.4 Lens @ BHPhotoVideo
- Sony A6400 @ BHPhotoVideo
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