Introduction
The M-System seems to be extremely popular in China, as we still see an increasing amount of manufacturers offering new M-mount lenses from this country. The latest is Syoptic with this 50mm f/1.1, sometimes referred to as “Mr. Ding 50mm lens”. Some of the few samples I found online showed very appealing bokeh rendering, so I ordered one as soon as it was possible in Europe. It took longer than expected, but I finally have it in my hands, so let’s have a closer look.
This lens will be reviewed on the 42mp Sony A7rII and the 24mp Leica M10.
Update March 2022: tests of E-mount version added
Update October 2022: An improved version of this lens has been released under the “Mr. Ding Studios” branding. You can find a full review here.
Sample Images
Most of the sample images in this review can be found in full resolution here.
Contents
Specifications
The lens seems to be available for most mirrorless mounts. The M-mount version has a casing similar to a Leica M-mount lens, the Z/RF/E lenses look more like the E-mount Voigtländer lenses. I bought the M-mount version and later received a review sample of the E-mount version, the specifications are:
-
- Diameter: 62 mm (M/E)
- Field of view: 47° (diagonally)
- Length: 61 mm (M/E)
- Weight: 405g (M) / 389g (E)
- Filter Diameter: 52 mm
- Number of Aperture Blades: 11 (rounded)
- Elements/Groups: 8/6
- Close Focusing Distance: 0.7 m (M) / 0.35 m (E)
- Maximum Magnification: 1:11.7 (M) / 1:6.0 (E)
- Mount: Leica-M / Sony-E
You can buy this lens from ebay.com for about $320 for the M-mount version and $200 for the E-mount version and other mounts (affiliate links)
Handling / Build Quality
M-mount
As usual when dealing with a lens from a new manufacturer we will have a closer look here – no copy paste this time.
There are a few interesting things to point out. The lens I bought features a “Syoptic” branding, but I was told a few samples have also been sold as OEM lenses, so you might find some under different names as well.
The design resembles that of the Leica M-mount lenses, it reminds me of the Leica 50mm 1.4 Summilux-M Asph, but there is no retractable lens hood here, even though it looks like there was. Also the engravings are white/red instead of the more commonly used white/orange.
The mechanical quality feels very good, albeit not as good as that of the Leica or some of the better TTArtisan lenses: the aperture ring (90° rotation from f/1.1 to f/16, but no f/11) is of the linear type with non-equidistant stops (which I am not a fan of) but luckily we get click stops (which I am a big fan of), so it is possible to change the aperture to a desired value without looking at the lens. On this sample the aperture ring can also be moved a bit further than f/1.1, a feature it shares with some Leica lenses I have used and find rather undesirable. It should also be noted that the aperture ring turns in the opposite direction compared to the Leica and Voigtländer M-mount lenses.
The focus ring offers a nice, even resistance and rotates 90° from the minimum focus distance of 0.7 m to infinity. The focus ring is a bit softer than that of most of my other M-mount lenses.
When using the lens on a rangefinder camera like the Leica M10 there is noticeable viewfinder blockage which gets worse on focusing closer, as this lens features a unit focus design.
Luckily – as has been kind of the norm for M-mount lenses from China – it is again possible to adjust the rangefinder coupling yourself. Oh how I wish all my rangefinder lenses from Japan would allow for this.
There is no hood distributed with the lens, but the front element is almost one centimeter recessed. The issue here is, that also the 52mm filter thread is recessed and in its current state it is very fiddly to attach a filter and even more fiddly to remove it.
I am not as impressed with the build quality here as I was with e.g. the 7Artisans 28mm 1.4 or the TTArtisan 50mm 1.4, but this lens comes close and the only thing that really bothers me at the end of the day is the recessed filter thread.
I shared my findings with the manufacturer and he is looking to improve the design regarding the filter thread as well as the hard stop of the aperture ring for further production runs.
Update October 2022: An improved version of this lens has been released under the “Mr. Ding Studios” branding. You can find a full review here.
E-mount
With its hill-and-valley focus ring the E-mount version resembles the look of the Voigtländer E-mount lenses.
The aperture ring (90° rotation from f/1.1 to f/16, but no f/11) is very similar to that of the M-mount version, but here the aperture ring can be moved a bit further at the f/16 end, which I greatly prefer over it being the f/1.1 end.
The focus ring offers a nice but not perfectly even resistance and rotates a little more than 180° from the minimum focus distance of 0.35 m to infinity. The focus ring is less soft compared to the M-mount version.
The E-mount version also features a 52mm filter thread but here it is easy to reach.
Unlike its M-mount sibling the E-mount version does ship with a bayonet type lens hood. It is made from aluminium sits tight and can be mounted reversed to take up less space. It is also painted with matte black paint on the inside, as it should be.
Vignetting
light falloff
| M-mount | E-mount | |
| f/1.1 | 3.4 EV | 2.3 EV |
| f/1.4 | 3.1 EV | 2.2 EV |
| f/2.0 | 2.1 EV | 1.3 EV |
| f/2.8 | 1.4 EV | 1.0 EV |
| f/4.0 | 0.9 EV | 0.6 EV |
| f/5.6 | 0.6 EV | 0.6 EV |
| f/8.0 | 0.4 EV | 0.6 EV |
| f/16 | 0.4 EV | 0.6 EV |
The M-mount version shows vignetting at wider apertures which is in line with what I have seen with other 50mm lenses. The MS-Optics 50mm lenses, the 7Artisans 50mm 1.1, the TTArtisan 50mm 0.95 and the Voigtländer VM 50mm 1.5 II show even higher vignetting figures at their widest aperture. The Voigtländer VM 50mm 1.2 and the Laowa 45mm 0.95 show very similar values. The Samyang 50mm 1.2 XP and the Zhong Yi 50mm 0.95 M show half a stop less vignetting in the corners.
The E-mount version on the other hand is doing noticeably better at wider apertures, showing significantly less pronounced vignetting figures here. Stopped down both lenses perform the same within the margin of error and differences in sensor technology.
It is recommended to have a look at this article first to get an idea how this brightness graph works.
What is also surprising is the very low vignetting stopped down, by f/5.6 it is hardly noticeable anymore. The only other 50mm lenses I have used that show this little vignetting stopped down are the Samyang 50mm 1.2 XP and the Sigma 50mm 1.4 EX.
optical vignetting
Very fast yet compact lenses usually show a significant amount of optical vignetting. Without going too much into technical details optical vignetting leads to the truncation of light circles towards the borders of the frame.
In the center of the frame almost every lens will render a perfect circle, but only lenses with very low optical vignetting will keep this shape in the corners.
So in the following comparison we move from the center (left) to the extreme corner (right) and see how the shape of the light circle changes.
I have reviewed a lot of fast 50mm lenses and I thought this time it might be interesting to add a few more lenses to put things into perspective. As you can see all of these lenses show strong optical vignetting and I am not sure how field relevant these differences would actually be. I like the Voigtländer VM 50mm 1.5 II the least here, due to very strong onion rings and a very sharp shape in the corners and the MS-Optics 50mm 1.0 ISM has the strongest optical vignetting, already visible not that far from the center. The other ones are rather similar.
The E-mount version of the Syoptic shows a little less optical vignetting in the extreme corners than the M-mount version, but this is not a big difference and will only be visible in a rare number of cases.
The lines running through the circles are due to the glass I used as a mirror to take these pictures and are not a feature of the lens.
I did not shoot the lenses side by side, if I did the light circles would be of same size at shared apertures. The lenses were set to 0.7 m focus distance, results may vary at other distances.
When looking closely we also see the change in diameter between f/1.1 and f/1.4 is not as big as it should be and the change between f/1.4 and f/2.0 is bigger than it should be. In comparison to other lenses it looks to me like the f/1.4 click stop isn’t where it is supposed to be, it is closer to f/1.2 than f/1.4. I shared my findings with the manufacturer and he is looking to improve this for further production runs.
Sharpness
Optical Design
The optical design is inspired by the older Leica Noctilux f/1.0 or the Voigtländer 50mm 1.1 Nokton, which means: double gauss based design, no aspherical elements, comparably low element count.
This all spherical optical design leads to an absence of any onion ring structures, but I also expect some issues with off center sharpness – at least at wider apertures, so let’s find out in the following sections if I am right.
infinity (42mp Sony A7rII)
For an f/1.1 lens the performance in the center is surprisingly good at infinity as there is only a little bit of softness due to spherical aberration visible.
There is a noticeable midzone dip at wider apertures present, as we are used from similar lenses like the Voigtländer VM 50mm 1.2 Nokton or the TTArtisan 50mm 0.95.
The performance in the corners reminds me a lot of the Voigtländer VM 40mm 1.2, which also showed a noticeable drop in resolution close to the extreme cornes. This is actually better visible in the coma section.
A solid performance for a compact and affordable f/1.1 lens if you can live with the reduced sharpness in the extreme corners.
I tested both, the M-mount and E-mount version on the Sony A7rII and there were no relevant differences visible here, except for less vignetting in the corners when using the E-mount version.
infinity (24mp Leica M10)
Now this is something I haven’t seen in a fast Leica M lens yet: the performance on the M10 with its thinner filter stack and the A7rII is very similar! So have a look what I wrote above, it applies here as well.
portrait distance 1.4 m distance (24mp Sony A7III vs 24mp Leica M10)
For portraiture it isn’t so important how flat the field is, it is more interesting to see what the sharpness is like when focused at different parts of the frame to take field curvature out of the equation.
We will be looking at 100% crops from the 24mp Sony A7III and the Leica M10. Both cameras do not have an anti aliasing filter in front of the sensor.
Sony A7III <—> Leica M10
This Syoptic 50mm 1.1 is one of those lenses where the focal plane with highest resolution is not necessarily the one with highest contrast, which makes it a bit hard to focus, especially when using the M10’s mediocre liveview.
Also at this distance we see some spherical aberration and some astigmatism when moving towards the corners.
Putting this into perspective with other lenses I checked at this distance: better than Zhong Yi 50mm 0.95 M and MS-Optics 50mm 1.1 Sonnetar, similar to TTArtisan 50mm 0.95 and MS-Optics 50mm 1.0 ISM, worse than TTArtisan 50mm 1.4 and Voigtländer VM 50mm 1.5 Nokton II.
close M (0.70 m, 1:11.7, 42mp A7rII)
100% crops from center, A7rII, because of focus shift (see corresponding section) I refocused for every shot.
The performance near the minimum focus distance is typical for a very fast lens without a floating elements design. At wider apertures we see a high amount of spherical aberration (glow) and it takes stopping down to f/2.8 to get really crisp results at these distances. Performance here is pretty much exactly the same as that of e.g. the Voigtländer VM 50mm 1.2 Nokton and many other compact fast lenses.
close E (0.35 m, 1:6.0, 42mp A7rII)
100% crops from center, A7rII, because of focus shift (see corresponding section) I refocused for every shot.
Unlike the M-mount version the E-mount version focuses down to 0.35 m resulting in a maximum magnification of 1:6. It doesn’t come as a surprise that also here stopping down to get crisp results is recommended.
Flare resistance
As always evaluating flare is a complex matter since you can get any lens to look bad if you push it hard enough and a slight change of scenario can affect results a lot.
Sun outside frame
The Syoptic 50mm 1.1 does not ship with a hood and even though the front element is recessed I think it would have been useful, as the lens has quite some issues with stray light. If a strong light source is outside the frame it is easy to encounter significant veiling flare running across most of the frame. The flares are more severe stopped down, but still easy to encounter at maximum aperture.
Also at night with street lamps this is something easy to encounter, here shading the lens with my hand helped though:
Unlike the M-mount version the E-mount one does ship with a lens hood. Using it improves the performance with point light sources outside the frame:
Sun inside frame
With the sun inside the frame the situation is a bit better, but it is still easy to catch frame filling artefacts and encounter a loss of contrast.
Coma
From f/1.1 to f/2.0 there is noticeable coma visible. Stopping down to f/2.8 and f/4.0 improves the coma performance significantly, but now we can see that there is also some astigmatism in the corners present, which you can mostly get rid of by stopping down to f/5.6.
Performance here is a little bit worse compared to the Voigtländer VM 50mm 1.2 Nokton, but still better than the TTArtisan 50mm 0.95.
100% crops from extreme corner, focused on center, M10
Distortion
The Syoptic 50mm 1.1 shows an absolutely minimal amount of distortion which should hardly be field relevant, even for architecture applications.
Bokeh
What got me interested in ordering this lens were a few samples I found online that showed very appealing bokeh rendering – at least to my eyes. So let’s find out if my first impression was correct.
Close distance
As usual with very fast lenses at close focus distances we can encounter very smooth and undistracting bokeh. With point light sources in the background you will be able to spot the optical vignetting, but the shapes still look comparably natural to me.
Mid distance
What really caught my eye at mid distances is the smooth transition from in-focus to out-of-focus and the smooth rendering even when dealing with complex backgrounds.
Long distance
What always separates the wheat from the chaff when it comes to the bokeh qualities is the performance at longer focus distances. When optical vignetting and field curvature overlap in an undesirable way the corners may look like they are in focus at longer distances, even when the center is very much out of focus. Just recently we saw such behaviour with the Laowa 45mm 0.95.
With the Syoptic 50mm 1.1 the situation looks better and even at longer focus distances the bokeh looks very appealing to me: no double edged structures, no obvious field curvature.
Now with pretty much all the fast 50mm (and even more so 35mm) rangefinder lenses I have used so far I saw worse corner bokeh due to the thicker filter stack in front of the sensor when using it on Sony cameras – similar to the worse corner sharpness we usually see when using lenses designed for M-mount cameras on E-mount cameras.
To my surprise there were no differences in terms of sharpness, but will this be the case for the bokeh, too?
In the scene I picked here we would easily see bokeh issues caused by field curvature in the writing in the corner of the frame, as was the case with e.g. the Voigtländer VM 35mm 1.2 III.
What caught me by great surprise: there is hardly a difference visible between using this 50mm lens on M10 or A7III.
I have already used 27 different 50mm lenses and reviewed almost 20 of those here. At the end of the day, this Syoptic 50mm 1.1 for 300 bucks is one of my favorites when it comes to bokeh rendering.
Sunstars
The Syoptic 50mm 1.1 features 11 rounded aperture blades, good news for bokeh when the lens is slightly stopped down, not particularly good news for sunstars.
Hard to get both right in one lens (Cosina tried with the Voigtländer 35mm and 50mm 2.0 Apo-Lanthars though) and I think for a fast lens likely to be used for portraiture a high number of round blades are a sensible choice.
If you want to know more about sunstar rendering of different lenses have a look at this article.
Chromatic aberration
lateral
100% crops from corner, A7rII
There are only minor lateral CA visible near the corners that are easily corrected in a raw developer like Lightroom by one click.
longitudinal
The high amount of spherical aberration at close distances masks the longitudinal CA a bit, so it will be more revealing to see what the performance is like at longer focus distances.
Leica M10 | Syoptic 50mm 1.1 | f/1.1
Here we can clearly see a bit magenta in front of and cyan behind the focal plane. For an f/1.1 lens the performance is not bad and comparable to lenses like the TTArtisan 50mm 1.4, Sony 55mm 1.8 or the Sony 35mm 1.8, all slower lenses, where the problem should be less pronounced.
In high contrast scenes the longitudinal CA can also be visible in lower resolution images. You can try to correct this (like I did here), but this will not always work perfectly.
Sony A7III | Syoptic 50mm 1.1 M | f/1.1
Focus shift
50% crops, A7rII
With some lenses when stopping down the plane of optimal focus shifts to the back or the front. The Syoptic 50mm 1.1 is one of those lenses and the focus shift is noticeable when making the jump from f/1.4 to f/2.0 and even more noticeable from f/2.0 to f/2.8. For rangefinder users this is rather bad news and definitely something to watch out for.
When taking pictures at or near infinity the focus shift is hardly relevant, for the sharpness charts I did not adjust the focus setting on stopping down.
Alternatives
I will only cover the really obvious alternatives in detail here, but if you ended up here by accident and you are looking for an AF lens may have a look at our Guide to 50mm lenses for Sony E-mount.
E-mount
Voigtlander 50mm 1.2 Nokton E:
The most obvious competitor. You gain electronic communications with your camera, better flare resistance and the minimum focus distance is 0.45 m, which is better than the M-mount but worse than the E-mount version of the Syoptic lens.
In terms of sharpness they are rather similar at portrait distances and both offer very appealing bokeh rendering. But then there is the price difference…
buy from CameraQuest | B&H | Robert White | amazon.com | amazon.de | ebay.com | ebay.de for $999 (affiliate links)
Voigtlander 50mm 2.0 APO-Lanthar:
If you are looking for the best possible correction of optical aberrations instead of lots of bokeh this is the lens you are looking for.
buy from CameraQuest | B&H | Robert White | amazon.com | amazon.de | ebay.com | ebay.de for $1049 (affiliate links)
M-mount
Voigtlander VM 50mm 1.2 Nokton:
See E-mount version above, except for the minimum focus distance, this one has 0.7 m.
buy from CameraQuest | B&H | amazon.com | ebay.com | ebay.de for $1.059 (affiliate links)
7Artisans 50mm 1.1:
This is a very different lens as it is not optimized to give smooth bokeh at maximum aperture but rather nervous bokeh with lots of field curvature. Does not fit my taste, but maybe you like this kind of look.
buy from amazon.com | amazon.de | B&H | ebay.com | ebay.de for $349 (affiliate links)
TTArtisan 50mm 0.95 M:
Probably the currently most sold f/0.95 M-mount lens. Significantly bigger and heavier, 3 times at expensive.
Corners at infinity also never look great, more but to my eyes worse bokeh, similarly bad flare resistance.
buy from amazon.com/amazon.de, B&H or ebay.com/ebay.de for about $755/860€ (affiliate links)
Zhong Yi 50mm 0.95 M:
In terms of look of the pictures I prefer it over the aforementioned TTArtisan lens, but it also comes with quite a few compromieses, especially flare resistance and off center sharpness at wider apertures. It is also significantly bigger, heavier and 3 times as expensive. And the 1.0 m minimum focus distance is a real burden.
buy from amazon.com or B&H for $799 (affiliate links)
Leica Noctilux-M 50mm 0.95:
I have never used this lens personally, mainly due to it being roughly 12 grand. I expect higher sharpness, better build quality and better flare resistance. But in terms of bokeh I am definitely not a fan of this one.
buy from amazon.com | amazon.de | B&H | ebay.com | ebay.de for $12.500 (affiliate links)
Conclusion
good
|
average
|
not good
|
We have a really wide variety of (M-mount) lenses to choose from these days, so whenever there is a new one it barrens the question: did we need it? Are there any tangible improvements over already existing lenses? To put it simple: is there actually any reason to get this lens?
The craftmanship of this Syoptic 50mm 1.1 feels very solid and what was even more surprising: the rangefinder coupling as well as the hard infinity stop were perfectly calibrated out of the box – something I rarely encounter even with way more expensive lenses from reknown brands.
This is not to say there weren’t any flaws. If you don’t intend to use this lens at the maximum aperture most of the time – and you are using mainly the rangefinder to focus – the focus shift will be an issue. The flare resistance isn’t good and certainly something to watch out for.
And then there is the almost unreachable filter ring, actually my main concern and something that will hopefully be fixed in further production runs.
But what I care most about in a fast 50mm lens is what the bokeh looks like and here this lens is a real winner to my eyes. The sharpness is also more than good enough for the portrait applications I have in mind for a lens like this.
I like the Voigtländer VM 50mm 1.2 Nokton, but I never bought it because I thought it was a bit too expensive (keep in mind I am more of a 35mm guy, so I don’t want to spend as much on a 50mm). I also like the TTArtisan 50mm 1.4, but I never bought it because I thought it was a bit heavy for a manual focus f/1.4 lens. I bought the Samyang 50mm 1.2 XP out of curiosity, but sold it because the optical qualities/weight+size ratio wasn’t good enough for me at the end of the day.
Now this Syoptic 50mm 1.1 looks like it is the perfect 50mm lens for my needs.
Update October 2022: An improved M-mount version of this lens has been released under the “Mr. Ding Studios” branding. You can find a full review here.
E-mount user:
The E-mount version of the Syoptic lens features a few advantages over the M-mount version: it is a little bit lighter, focuses closer, comes with a lens hood and shows (very slightly) less optical vignetting and (noticeably) less light fall off and on top of that it is even quite a bit cheaper.
Nevertheless, apart from these differences the M-mount version does perform very similar on the Sony cameras, not only in terms of sharpness, but also in terms of bokeh rendering. There is hardly a difference between using the M-mount lens on a Sony camera versus a Leica camera, which is very rare. So if you are looking for an M-mount 50mm lens because you are using both systems or you are looking to use it on a Techart AF adapter you should have a serious look at this one as well.
You can buy this lens from ebay.com for about $320 for the M-mount version and $200 for the E-mount version and other mounts (affiliate links)
Sample Images
Most of the sample images in this review can be found in full resolution here.
Further Reading
- Sony FE lenses: Our comprehensive and independent guide
- Review: Laowa 9mm 5.6 – The World’s widest lens
- Review: Laowa 35mm 0.95 – The World’s fastest 35mm lens
- Review: Zhong Yi 135mm 1.4
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Nice to see a review out so soon.
I find the level of vignetting pretty good compared to the lenses listed, and I like how the extreme darkening is banished to the far corners. Add to this the price and I’m impressed- I wonder what a mark II would look like (not that this isn’t good enough).
By shading with your hand- I assume you mean you’re already using one hand to hold the lens, and you just move it abit forward to shade? Just trying to get an idea. I struggled to do this with anything longer than 75mm FL.
Yes, exactly like that.
It is far from ideal, as you loose the option to fine tune focus when you need one hand for shading, and you might actually cut a bit of the aperture opening, but what can I do…
Thanks for the review! I always enjoy them.
Looks like a cool lens. I’ve never heard of Syoptic and couldn’t find any info on them, though I like the name. It seems like a lot of companies from China have figured it out and the only big downside I think is maybe QC with the risk of decentering (and perhaps possible moral considerations about possible working conditions given it’s low price, though it’s not clear if that’s a problem here).
The biggest reservation for me with this lens is that it’s 50mm. I would always prefer a 45mm or 55mm over a 50mm. I used to think 50mm would be the “best of both worlds” but it turns out it’s the best of neither IMO.
Thank you for the review. I haven’t even heard about this one.
I think it is (on of) the most interesting fast fifties you’ve recently reviewed.
For it’s size and speed the IQ is great.
I’m especially impressed by geometry, something commonly overlooked in modern Chinese lenses.
The price point puts vintage 50/1.2s in a really tough spot.
As for the recessed filter thread, if my Eyeball Mk I is correct, i think at 0.7M the thread should be flush with the outer barrel, or even stick out a bit. Have you tried that?
I’ve looked up a Sony E version on eBay, and it looks quite different from the M-mount version:
• hill&valley focus ring, which is fantastic
• no infinity adjustment screws visible, which sucks
• 0.35M MFD, outstanding
• claimed weight climbs to 523g
The last point is kind of a big downer. I’ve hoped it would be lighter, ditching those Leica couplings and integrating adapter, instead it have grown to a freaking half a kilo.
If you are able to, I’d ask you to keep this till the foliage season and update the album then.
The lens features a simple unit focus design, the position of the focus ring relative to the rest of the casing does not change on focusing closer.
It also seems that other mounts (or at least Nikon Z) have clickless apertures. I’ll probably go for the M-mount version.
@Bastian: thanks for the review and the very nice sample images (as usual) 🙂
Are there in fact Nikon Z mount versions of this lens available?
Yes there is.
Many thanks, now ordered!
I still feel indecisive about those small but fast MF 50mm with good bokeh rendering, because they usually can be described as “sharp enough”, which for me today rather menas: sharp enough for fullscreen on FHD monitor while slightly lacking on 4K monitor.
I would really like to see a comparison of a CV 1.2/50 to a Sony 1.2/50GM to see if i care more about sharpness or bokeh (since i try to cure myself of pixelpeeping).
I feel similarly for the 35mm lenses. Spoiled by choice 😉
Enjoyed the review as usual. Please note that the Noctilux 0.95 has 11 curved blades, not 10. I also think it’d be fair to color-code from green to red also the “f-stop” column in the comparison table.
Thanks for reviewing this lens. Very informative and interesting as usual.
I would like to invest in a 50mm lens that would allow me to do portraits (50%), landscape photography (30%) and street photography (20%). I find it difficult to justify the investment for the Voigtlander 50mm f/1.2. There is probably a Sigma DG DN that may arrive sooner or later. For now, I’m hesitating between TTartisan 50mm f/1.4, Samyang 50mm f/1.4 ii and this lens. I would love to know what you think.
Thanks in advance !
From initial reports the Saymang 50mm 1.4 II looks like a fine lens, but I haven’t used it personally.
If you want to use AF: go for it. If you prefer using manual focus: get the TTA 50mm 1.4 instead.
Thanks for the feedback, it’s much appreciated considering that you probably have a lot of other things to do.
I like lenses with AF, but I also like to “take the time to take my time” when shooting. So I’m not limited to just one type of lens.
Thank again !
Purely speaking about rendering, would you favor it over the Nokton 50/1.2 VM on E-Mount? Or the other way around. Phrased differently: if price would be no consideration, which one would you pick?
Thanks for the thorough review. 🤙
Bokeh rendering is quite a bit different.
Even though the 1.2/50 hardly shows onion rings you can still see it is using aspherical elements and this one isn’t.
Also the stopped down bokeh is vastly different due to the usage of rounded aperture blades here.
For 300 bucks each I would buy both 🙂
just received mine today, my god, this is a beauty!
my review coming soon too.
thanks for your swift review Bastian. the rendering in your samples is quite lovely and 3d, reminds me of my ZM C-Sonnar 50/1.5
Hi Mihai!! Have you reviewed your copy? Could be posible to have images or test to read ? Many thanks 🙂
In the optical vignetting test I notice a line going from upper left to lower right, and a dot below the line in the center bokeh ball. Was this an artifact from the lens?
“The lines running through the circles are due to the glass I used as a mirror to take these pictures and are not a feature of the lens.”
My bad I missed it. Thank you for pointing it out 🙂
Would be so great if you compare this lens to it’s direct competitor for Sony mount – 7Artisans 50/1.05 FE. It is roughly in the same price-range and also have plenty of positive yet less professional reviews.
I’m turn between these two, can’t decide 🙂
Hello Bastian,
I received my copy (the same you revied) with a very, very low serial number somy days ago.
I totally agree with your conclusions. Just one thing is very annoying: why is there no built in hood? But everything else is pretty well made and its a very good performer, considering the price tag.
Did you notice the leica-glow? I don´t know how they did it, but my copy has wide open this very special glow. And therefore I like this lens…
Best regards,
Christian
BTW, have you ever considered to review the new lenses from light lens lab? There are very fine copys of the Leica Summicron 2/35mm (8 elements) and the 2/50 ELCAN on the market.
I also wish there was a built in hood. Especially as it looks like there was…
The lightlenslab lenses are rather hard to come by.
I tried to get on a wait list for the upcoming 8/15 Hologon, but they want a full deposit.
Not a huge fan of that.
The other two I think are better reviewed by people who know the originals, as this will always be the main question: how do they compare to the old Leica ones?
Thank you for your excellent reviews and the accompanying images. Aside from the differences in field of view, do you think this lens plays in the same league as the Laowa 35mm F0.95?
Best Regards,
Raul
There is no “aside from the differences in field of view” in this “comparison”. It just doesn’t make sense as it is the governing major difference.
Great review as always, this looks like a perfect replacement for Mitakon 50mm 0.95, at least for my needs. I like the results coming from Mitakon, but the size and weight are often preventing me from taking it out more. This lens seems like it will provide similar results (maybe even better) but at a much lower size/weight.
Do you have plans to review the E mount version as well?
I told the manufacturer I would review it if they send me one for a few weeks, rest is up to them 🙂
I find it interesting that this lens claims to draw inspiration from Voigtlander 50/1.1. The ebay page even had a side by side optical diagram with Voigtlander once. I own a Voigtlander 50/1.1 and I find the bokeh can’t be more different. V50/1.1 has very harsh bokeh and Syoptic is super smooth. Now I’m interested in getting one.
Couldn’t agree more.
Dear Bastian,
very very nice pictures you took with this lens and the M10. Maybe you should try the M9 someday, i can imagine you will like the additional pop you´ll get with the CCD. Greetings from the Black Forest.
Nice article and pictures. Very interested in the e-mout version.
Just got the e-mount version two days ago, seems to behave like the one tested here.
Thanks Thomas. Following you, I ordered it too.
Great, Jose, have fun with it!
Here are some shots taken with it, the 2nd and 3rd are with f1.1 (unfortunately it isn’t as sharp at 1.1 at closer focus distances, but still very good in the center):
https://digitalzelluloid.wordpress.com/2022/02/06/3222/
Thanks for the images Thomas, nice shots!!
Can you put your copy on the scales?
Still hoping for the declared weight to be incorrect.
Also, do you see any infinity adjustment screws around?
The e-mount-version doesn’t have infinity adjustment screws. Sorry I don’t have a scale which goes beyond 250gr, but it’s quite heavy, the stated weight of around 500gr should be true. But it does give a feel of solidity and it’s neither too heavy nor too big on a A7.
If you ever tried Sigma’s Art 40mm/1.4 everything below one kg will be just fine 😉
Thank you Bastian! Like always very nice shots and very good review! I love your photografic style!
I’m very interested in this lens, but not sure to get the E- or M-Mount Version. (I don’t have any Leica camera, but I like the rendering of the reviewed lens here.)
I asked the seller about the difference beetween E-Mount and M Version. He answered:
“Hi the optics are the same design, size may vary and I believe with an additional element for focal flange correction (I will need to check). Optically I believe no real difference I believe there are images posted on forums etc, Leica version may be ever so slightly faster.”
Though the 50mm lens in the list of comparison are nearly modern design, it seems Canon’s 50mm f1.4 LTM couldn’t be absent in terms of competent of sharpness, and dimension of length and weight. Hoping It would be a perfect chance if there’s a meticulous review like all of these.
I would review the Canon LTM 50s if offered, but I would never buy any of them for myself due to the 1.0m minimum focus distance.
Does anybody know if this is the e-mount 50mm 1.1 version here?
https://www.ebay.de/itm/175182026906?hash=item28c9a9989a:g:kHwAAOSwMpNhzd16
Really getting confused by the article description stating 50 1.2, while the pictures speak of 1.1
Thanks in advance and as always great review 🙂
I already have a review sample and this review will be updated soon.
Both are f/1.1.
If you only intend to use the lens on an E-mount camera, get the E-mount version (less vignetting, lighter, focuses closer, comes with hood, cheaper, otherwise same).
thanks so much for the quick answer! And regarding the e-mount version: Sounds promising 🙂
Dear Bastian,
I am torn between the very expensive Voigtländer 50mm 1.2 or this lense for my a7iii. I would mostly use the lense for portraiture work and a little bit for landscapes/street. Is the Voigtländer worth the extra money? In your review you wrote that stopped down the lenses behave very similar. Is that really true, because I read the thread on fredmiranda on the nokton 1.2 and users there claim the lense to be extremely sharp when stopped down to f4/5.6 (even as sharp as the apo lanthar f2). I am very intrigued by the syoptic especially because of the bokeh, which based in your sample pictures, I like a bit more than the nokton’s bokeh (especially stopped down a bit). Thanks for the review btw. And I am looking forward to your update on the emount version.
You need to be careful not to mix up the different Voigtländer lenses.
The 40mm 1.2 has corners that never ever look great, e.g. demonstrated here.
The 50mm 1.2 does not share these issues and does look good from f/5.6 to f/11 in the corners, as can be seen here.
The 50mm 2.0 looks better in the corners at f/2 than the 50mm 1.2 ever does, no matter what f-stop. There hardly is a difference between center and corner performance at all, as can be seen here whereas that difference is always visible with the 50mm 1.2.
The 50mm 1.2 SE is ~1k€ in Germany, the SY 50mm 1.1 E is around ~200€.
The differences are obvious and outlined in the review, if they are worth 800€ to you only you can decide.
PS: the E-mount update will probably be there by next weekend.
Dear Bastian,
Thanks so much for your response. I probably got confused there indeed. I think I favour the syoptic but will wait on your review of the emount version. Keep up the good articles, I really appreciate them!
Kind regards
Hi Bastian,
Thank you for your very interesting review. I was wondering which lens will you consider better for city trips comparing it with the TTArtisan 50mm 1.4; for general photography and specially for environmental portraits.
Best,
If you are also interested in taking some stopped down landscape/architecture pictures the TTArtisan 50mm 1.4 gets my vote.
I ordered the lens last weekend and payment went through. Here is the message I received yesterday:
“Hi there thanks for your purchase and I was told item has been sent, but now the shipping forwarding company has said all stock has stopped being able to be exported due to a new Covid lockdown, we are not sure how long this may take maybe 2 weeks (but not sure how long the lockdown will last and how China tackles the problem) we assume before any shipping resumes.
Really apologies for the delay, is it ok for you to wait a bit longer for the item? If not we are happy to process a refund.
Many thanks”
Shenzhen is currently under Lockdown and Hong Kong is close to it, this will lead to a significant amount of delays over the course of the next weeks.
I’ll wait a bit… and see what I want to do. They offered me the possibility of being refunded if I wish.
I received a message this morning indicating the shipment of my order is in progress… Hoping it won’t be too long before I get it!
I’ve received an E-mount copy recently. The build quality is very nice – all metal. That is including the hood and cap. It tries to mimic those tank-built Pentax lenses from 70s.
Now comes the bad part, the cap is heavy, thick, and screws on via filter thread. This inevitably leads to scratching the protruding front element attempting to screw the cap on/off.
So use a protection filter or a plastic $1 cap.
Just want to report back that I bought the lens because of this review and I’m really happy with it. Thanks Bastian!
Glad to hear!
I just ordered a Sony version of this lens from Syoptic ebay. During my Google search I discovered the exact same lens being sold under the name “VLOGMAGIC 50mm 1.2”. It is infact an f1.1 lens. It’s being sold on Aliexpress for Sony Canon Nikon mounts. The price is around $100 more then I paid.
I also just found this lens being sold under a third name on ebay. NEWYI 50mm 1.1
“DO NOT USE METAL LENS CAP”
My E mount copy arrived with two scratches on the front lens element caused by the metal screw in lens cap. This is very disappointing. Never had a lens with this issue.
UPDATE. The inside of the metal lens cap actually makes content with the lens element when screwed on all the way. I hope this doesn’t effect every e mount copy. I would ditch the cap completely or maybe stick some adhesive felt on the inside. I don’t believe the scratch marks will be visible in photos as they are very light. I’ve taken around 50 images and cant notice anything. Also after reading some stuff online it’s pretty clear that scratches need to be rather large to have any noticeable effect. And even then that’s usually stopped down to f12 to f22. Be sure to check your copies. If anyone wants to see pictures of the scratches just leave a comment
FINAL UPDATE. After sending pictures of the scratches and explaining the situation Syoptic eBay apologised for the lens and offered me a full refund on return. I decided to keep it and settled on a $40 partial refund. Hopefully they will address the lens cap problem. Apart from that I’m happy with build quality and overall image quality of the lens. The apature ring has nice clicks and the focus ring is very smooth. A little more chromatic aberration wide open than I’d like but as I only shoot raw so its an easy fix. Well worth the money.
Thank god I just read that I am not the only person with that issue. I just noticed little and hard to see scratches too. I will just contact syoptics. Hope they can handle that issue.
I received my E mount copy today (haven’t had time to actually shoot it yet, just opened the package), and they included a UV filter between front element and lens cap, probably exactly for this reason, to protect it from scratches.
I’ll probably get a clip on plastic lens cap, just to be sure.
Good to hear. I’ve found myself leaving the lens on f1.4 and above. I can get some good images at f1 but as I’m using it on the original Sony a7 it’s been more misses than hits. The evf and lcd screen on the early a7 models are really vile compared to those on my Fuji xt2 & xh1. Plus the focus magnifier on the Sony is way to zoomed for my liking and only has one zoom setting. Plus sony has an AA filter and a rather heavy shutter which my Fuji’s don’t. I think I’ll probably end up using my Fuji’s for manual and keep the Sony for autofocus lenses. The Kamlan 50mm f1.1 mark 2 is absolutely superb on my Fuji’s. I’ve used it since release and love it to bits. Wide open f1.1 is very sharp. The Syoptic 50mm is a fine lens and has been a fun experiment but in the end the camera has let me down and made it a rather subpar experience.
Hi
Have just bought the Dr Ding version of this lens and use it with my Leica SL2-s which has great peaking help.(I do have one or two SL type AFs ) but fancied something different. Its build is superb, yes it does have some flare issues but i managed to fit a standard 52 hood (for £6.95 from Amazon) which helps. Also if you slightly reframe you can reduce the flare. The SL2-s has a superb EVF which helps.The focussing is as easy as it seems to be on the Noctiluxes (£6000+) ie not very easy at 1.1 but when you get it right its great and if you stop down its amazing. Its fun to use as well … For £300+! Why spen more? Thanks for your review.
Is this the valid link for E mount version?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/175324488069
That’s the only one I found, but it states estimated delivery date is late September 🙁
Looks right, yes.
Hi Bastian, I looked at this one too, but I was confused by the following: Bayonet: R Mount.
Or is that just a mistake in the description?
Greetings
Klaus
Might be the Canon RF version. Best contact the seller about the E-mount version.
Is it possible to get defind sunstars with this lens?
Of street lights for example, or any other strong points of light?
This is the only thing that keeps me from buying it right now, since I’m thinking about pairing it with my Voigtlander 21mm f/1.4 for stopped down landscape photography.
I would of course prefer to get one of the f/1.2 Nokton lenses from Voigtlnader (probably the 35mm SE), but the price of this Syoptic lens is crazy low and I’m thinking maybe to settle with it ant that’s it.
No it isn’t. This lens is not meant for that.
Bastian after reading this well done review I ordered the FE-mount version. But on my copy the infinity stop is wrong and stops too early. So I cannot focus on the horizon. Also the corners are much weaker than on an old copy of a Porst Color Reflex 50/1.2, but bokeh is smoother on the Synoptic. Since sending back to China is expensive I regret having bought the Synoptic. On my Sony A7R4 this lens fully open for me only makes sense if I downscale to 1/10 of all the pixels 🙁
Did you try to contact them? Maybe they just send you a new one.
yes I sent sample pics and they told me shipping back would cost me another 41€ or getting 30€ refund. That was not the offer I hoped for.
Indeed. Very unfortunate.
after several mails all I can say the seller is stubborn and ordering is more a gamble than a trade. I regret having spent 221.-€ plus 25€ tax for FedEx. I consider it a complete loss, maybe I can use the lens as paperweight.
So for interested buyers I recommend to negotiate a return policy with the seller before buying!
Hi Lothar
My copy doesn’t focus at infinity wide-open, if I close it down to around f5,6 or f8, the infinity looks in focus…
Did you end up being able to solve the issue ? I was wondering if there was a simple adjustment we could diy.
Update: In the meantime I sent the lens back but had to go via Paypal in order to get the money back for the defective lens. Synoptics themselves only offer a return within 14 days of testing, after that period I was a told: that I broke the lens on purpose / that I probably only wanted it for a single job / that I am a cheater who wants a lens for free /… They did not a single time comment the test pics I sent them but kept constantly blaming me for being evil 🙁
Probably my lens could be easily adjusted but this interested nobody at Synoptics.
My E-mount copy is marked as 50/1.2 on the body.
Shooting white wall at infinity with both Syoptic and Canon FDn 50/1.2 I’ve calculated mean gray level at 51.9111% for Syoptic vs 51.4601% for Canon.
In other words Syoptic’s light transmission is pretty much completely identical to a well known 50/1.2 lens.
It’s an F1.2, not F1.1.
This shouldn’t be too surprising: there are many old F1.7-1.8-1.9 lenses, which had the exact T-stop as your average F2 lens. Marketing is a powerful drug.
Nevertheless Syoptic’s bokeh balls will indeed be a touch larger due to longer focal length. My Eyeball MkI puts it around 52-53mm.
Sounds a lot to me like you tried to measure the T-stop and not the f/stop…
Hello Bastian!!! I was impressed with the syoptic 50 f 1.1 lens. But I also agree with you about the importance of filters and in this regard probably mr. ding. seems to be a better fit. But I still like the photos from the first sample of the syoptic 50 f 1.1 lens better. Did you notice any differences in color or softness between the versions? Thank you!
Optics of both lenses are the same. Maybe you like Stuttgart and Austria more than Hamburg 🙂
so the Vlogmagic 50mm F1.1 is the same as the Syoptic 50mm 1.1 E ?
Looks like, yeah.
ta. a doppelganger certainly!
Bastian. Thanks for this thorough review! I picked one up for well under $200, which makes it tough to pass up.
I wanted to ask: do you think a magnetic ND filter would make the process less fiddly? I definitely want to shoot wide open in brighter conditions now and then. Seems feasible to add the ring and then just pop the filter off and on as needed? Or is it a bit too tight inside the “hood” area?
Thanks!
It might work, but I have no experience with those magnetic holders.
Thanks for the comparison.
Neither the Mr. Ding 50mm 1.1 lens nor a Syoptic 50mm 1.1 is available.
A lens like the Syoptic with the E-bayonet is available but without a manufacturer, but what quality??
“Josh” probably bought such a lens.