There are two reasons why I bought the 7Artisans 18mm f/6.3 Mark II last year: I’m a sucker for pancake lenses, and I wanted to see how it fared against my Sony E 20mm f/2.8. Here’s what I found out.
It’s tiny. When mounted on my Sony a6300, it barely extends past the grip. Crucially though, it doesn’t feel cheap to the touch, though the “NEW” marking on the front makes it feel like it was made in a sweatshop. Because it’s so thin, I was expecting the focusing ring to feel loose, but it doesn’t. It’s pleasantly smooth, making the whole experience feel much more premium.
As I’m sure you guessed by now, such a small lens weighs next to nothing (58g for those who like to keep track). This means if you have a small camera like my A6300, you have an under 500g kit to take anywhere.
Anywhere where there’s light, of course. An f/6.3 aperture on an APS-C body means that as soon as the sun sets, noise is going to show up in every photo. If you use this lens as it was intended – a pancake street lens – you won’t have anything to worry about.
Image quality
It’s worth pointing out that expecting stellar image quality out of a $59 pancake lens is unreasonable. With that said, the 7Artisans 18mm f/6.3 Mark II isn’t bad at all. It gives a point-and-shoot vibe, which means you don’t have to have an extra compact digicam with you. Just pop the 18mm on your camera, and you’re good to go.
Detail and Vignette
If you’re wondering what it all means in terms of image detail, here’s a quick comparison between the 18mm f/6.3 II and my Sony 20mm f/2.8:
Vignette is a thing you’ll have to live with, as the lens doesn’t have a correction profile you can apply in Lightroom.
Bokeh
If you like the 28mm focal length, I assume you don’t really care about bokeh. But if you’re curious about the 7Artisans’ capabilities, the 30cm minimum focusing distance will let you do this:
By contrast, this is what the Sony can do at f/6.3 and f/2.8 (20cm minimum focusing distance):
Because of its smaller minimum focusing distance, the Sony can squeeze more bokeh at f/6.3. After opening the aperture all the way, the difference between the Sony and the 7Artisans is significant.
Flaring
I wasn’t expecting much in terms of flare control, and I was right. I got a lot of flares that betray the simple optical formula. If your composition gets anywhere near the Sun, you’re going to get a lot of flaring. The good news is that if the Sun is unobstructed, the flares seem quite decent.
I’m almost certain nobody is going to use this lens for video work. However, keep in mind that focusing this lens means you’re rotating all the optics, which means the flares will actually rotate at the same time.
Chromatic Aberration
By now you’ve seen plenty of foliage, and you’ve must have noticed there’s no chromatic aberration to worry about. I can say the same thing for longitudinal chromatic aberration. This is actually pretty nice, because with no lens correction profile, I would’ve spent a lot of time removing green and magenta aberrations.
The shutter problem
The 7Artisans 18mm f/6.3 II is the first lens that I’ve used that can lead to partially darkened images. The reason for this is the small optical construction and the way Sony has built the mechanical shutter inside my a6300.
There are two ways to fix this problem: according to a quick query in Claude, keep the shutter speed under 1/800s or disable the mechanical shutter (turn on Silent Shooting on the a6300).
Fortunately, the 18mm f/6.3 II is available in Fuji X, Micro 4/3, and Nikon Z mounts, so chances are you might not have this problem.
Should you buy it?
If you’re a Sony APS-C owner and want that 28mm field of view, the 7Artisans 18mm f/6.3 Mark II will get you the closest. The other options are the Sony E 20mm f/2.8, which, at $378, is over 6 times more expensive, and the TTArtisan 17mm f/1.8 Air, though it’s not a pancake. You could go the full frame lens route, but then you’d be spending a lot more, and, unless you’ve set a goal of upgrading your camera down the line, it’s not worth it.
At $59, the 7Artisans is the type of lens you don’t budget for. It’s cheap enough to forgive its limitations, but it’s also tiny enough to make it fun. What’s even better, it’s the type of lens you can actually buy as a gift.
Good things:
- small and light;
- good construction;
- point-and-shoot image quality (if that’s what you want);
- cheap.
Bad things:
- flaring;
- forces you to use the electronic shutter at high speeds;
- vignetting;
- won’t take a lens hood.
