#photography friends, are these lenses any good? https://brightinstar.com/ The prices seem ridiculously low? 35mm f/0.95 for 190 bucks?
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Thomas
in reply to Federico Mena Quintero • • •They look to be surprisingly good for the price, looking a bit at pictures from forums. This short thread on dpreview on that lens makes it look like quite a good deal for the price! I didn't find shots stopped down to f/4 though
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4752695
Brightin Star - 35mm f/0.95 - Surprisingly good: Fujifilm X System / SLR Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review
www.dpreview.comThomas
in reply to Thomas • • •Brightin Star 35mm F0.95 Mini Review
Brightin Star 35mm F0.95 Mini ReviewFederico Mena Quintero
in reply to Thomas • • •Garrett LeSage
in reply to Federico Mena Quintero • • •I've seen some video reviews that say they're amazing.
There are a bunch of cheap f/0.95 manual lenses now, but BrightinStar are supposed to be some of the best for price, build, bokeh, and image quality.
I haven't tried it myself though, being happy with my Fuji 35mm f/1.4 and 56mm f/1.2. (Both, especially the 56mm, already have very shallow DoF and are great wide open. With autofocus.) But I'm tempted still.
If you get it, I'd love to know what you think!
Federico Mena Quintero
in reply to Garrett LeSage • • •Garrett LeSage
in reply to Federico Mena Quintero • • •I just bought an ultrawide a few weeks ago for my Fuji, finally:
Sigma 10 - 18 f/2.8 (constant aperture).
It's amazing... small, super light, extremely close focusing distance, great image quality.
My only complaints:
1. No aperture ring.
2. I already gave it a scuff mark.
But It's an amazing lens and the best price, weight, size, & performance. I considered others, but thought this was the best.
(I wanted something with high IQ that I wouldn't have to second guess bringing.)
Garrett LeSage
in reply to Garrett LeSage • • •Fuji 18-55 lens is slightly taller. They're roughly the same size. Weight feels noticeably different, but scales say it's just slight:
Fuji 18-55 kit: 348 g
Sigma 10-18: 297 g
It feels so light and is incredibly small for how wide it can make pictures.
The 18mm quality is much better on the Sigma. (When pixel peeping or cropping with 40 MP sensor like the X-T5. Lower MP sensors doesn't matter as much.)
10mm is *extremely* wide and the edges of the frame are also quite great!
Federico Mena Quintero
in reply to Garrett LeSage • • •Garrett LeSage
in reply to Federico Mena Quintero • • •There's not really another wide lens that's lighter or smaller & it's tack sharp for a zoom.
I was considering the Laowa 9mm, but I do like the autofocus (which isn't as necessary this wide, for most things). Having AF means there are contacts, and the lens therefore transits data and has built-in corrections too (which it doesn't need much of).
I'm definitely optimizing for small and light (but with good IQ still) these days, and I'm planning on bringing this lens around.
mica
in reply to Garrett LeSage • • •Garrett LeSage
in reply to mica • • •@paperdigits AF itself isn't really needed, for sure, but it does bring the other stuff along which is nice.
Since it is f/2.8 and can focus on something that's basically just about touching the lens (minimum focus is *absurd* on it), you actually can get shallow depth of field with background blur even though it's so wide. AF can be useful for that.
I should take and share some real photos to demonstrate. (I just have sample shots @ home of minimum focus distance + shallow DoF.)
Garrett LeSage
in reply to Garrett LeSage • • •@paperdigits I've been using continuous focusing autofocus lately on the X-T5. I never really did on the X-T2.
But on the X-T5, it feels snappier with every lens and the "all" AF mode with tracking lets me focus and recompose and have perfect focus even on wide open lenses (even telephoto). And it works on the Sigma wide open and super close up too.
(I probably could've done this on the X-T2 really though, except for the new "all" AF mode. I should probably try it on that too. 🤔)
Federico Mena Quintero
in reply to Garrett LeSage • • •@garrett @paperdigits I need to learn to use AF continuous tracking better on the X-T2... it works fine, but I feel like I'm not using all the features that go around it. Useful now that my daughter is doing non-ballet sports :)
And dogs. Because dogs in motion are fast.
(Does the X-T5 have a screen that flips around to the side to let you take selfies? That's my major minor gripe with the X-T2 :)
Hubert Figuière
in reply to Federico Mena Quintero • • •Ross Burton
in reply to Garrett LeSage • • •Garrett LeSage
in reply to Ross Burton • • •@ross Sorry it took a little while to share an example photo, but here are a few I took today with the Sigma ultrawide @ 10mm on my Fuji X-T5 (APS-C) wide open at f/2.8 at minimum focusing distance.
They're actually in focus. The depth of field is quite shallow.
You get ridiculous blurry bokeh. I was so close, it was hard to not completely cast a shadow on the subjects.
(They're really not typical photos for a lens like this. I was playing with the limits of the lens.)
Federico Mena Quintero
in reply to Garrett LeSage • • •@garrett @ross damn, that's impressive!
Gotta start saving up.
Ross Burton
in reply to Garrett LeSage • • •Garrett LeSage
in reply to Ross Burton • • •Garrett LeSage
in reply to Garrett LeSage • • •@ross Something that can help for more traditional wide photos:
Set your camera to manual (or do exposure locking), take a series of photos, & shift your camera a bit each time, making sure to have a little overlap.
Throw the resulting photos at a tool like XPano, which is new, free, and cross platform (Linux, Windows, macOS).
https://krupkat.github.io/xpano/
Also on Flathub @ https://flathub.org/apps/cz.krupkat.Xpano
(I did this for a decade for wide angle photos on my Fuji without an ultrawide lens.)
Install Xpano on Linux | Flathub
FlathubFederico Mena Quintero
in reply to Garrett LeSage • • •