All posts by BastianK

My name is Bastian and I am your expert here when it comes to ultra wide angle lenses, super fast portrait lenses (ranging from a 50mm f/0.95 to a 200mm f/1.8) and I also have reviewed way too many 35mm lenses. Don't ask me anything about macro or wildlife shooting though.
Funleader, Leica M, Review, Sony E-mount

Review: Funleader 18mm 8.0

18 Comments

Introduction

Funleader 18mm 8.0 pro m-mount e-mount review caplens contrast sharpness pancake tiny lens
Funleader 18mm 8.0 M-mount and Pro

I try to be as objective as possible when reviewing lenses, but I am not always free of preconceptions. When it comes to this Funleader 18mm 8.0 I didn’t really want to review it at first. Funleader sounded more like a name of a company for adult toys to me and with the fixed f/8.0 aperture (and fixed focus) it felt like some Holga/Pinhole lens as well. But the Funleader team did not only keep being persistent in asking me to review their lens, they also improved its design: the lens can now be focused and more importantly the Funleader writing on the casing is much smaller. So this time I had a closer look and found out that it is actually a rather complex design consisting of 6 elements in 5 groups. But is this enough for an 18mm lens? Let’s find out together.
Lens is being tested on 42mp Sony A7rII and 24mp Leica M10

Sample Images

Funleader 18mm 8.0 pro m-mount e-mount review caplens contrast sharpness pancake tiny lens
Sony A7III | Funleader 18mm 8.0 Pro
Funleader 18mm 8.0 pro m-mount e-mount review caplens contrast sharpness pancake tiny lens
Leica M10 | Funleader 18mm 8.0 M-mount
Funleader 18mm 8.0 pro m-mount e-mount review caplens contrast sharpness pancake tiny lens
Sony A7III | Funleader 18mm 8.0 Pro
Funleader 18mm 8.0 pro m-mount e-mount review caplens contrast sharpness pancake tiny lens
Sony A7rII | Funleader 18mm 8.0 Pro
Funleader 18mm 8.0 pro m-mount e-mount review caplens contrast sharpness pancake tiny lens
Leica M10 | Funleader 18mm 8.0 M-mount

Continue reading Review: Funleader 18mm 8.0 →

Leica M, Postprocessing, Technical

How to: Correcting Color Cast in Lightroom

20 Comments

Introduction

Color cast of Funleader 18mm 8.0 on Leica M10

Leica users where the first to discover that their old compact wide angle lenses with the rear element close to the film/sensor plane have some color cast issues on digital cameras. This is an issue that cannot fully be solved by the optical design – at least when following the quest to create compact lenses. But there is something we can do: fix this in post. How to do it? I will show you in this article.

Continue reading How to: Correcting Color Cast in Lightroom →

Analogue, Leica M, Meta, Mr. Ding Studio, MS-Optics, Opinion, Techart, TTArtisan, Zhong Yi

Review Highlights of 2022

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Introduction

laowa 35mm 0.95 worlds fastest lens review bokeh 42mp 61mp laowa venus optics venuslens fullframe contrast resolution bokeh optical vignetting fall off
Sony A7III | Laowa 35mm 0.95 | f/0.95

Having reviewed a lot of things this year I thought it might be a good idea to mention this year’s highlights, giving them some well deserved spotlight.

Unfortunately there was also a noticeable amount of junk I reviewed, so this list ended up being a bit short.

Continue reading Review Highlights of 2022 →

7Artisans, Leica M, Review

Review: 7Artisans 35mm 2.0 Wen M

7 Comments

Introduction

7artisans 35mm 2.0 M wen leica m10 m11 m10r m9 review sharpness contrast bokeh vignetting
7Artisans 35mm 2.0 M Wen on Leica M10

35mm lenses just keep coming. Recently I reviewed the good performing but huge TTArtisan 35mm 2.0 AA, now I get to review this 7Artisans 35mm 2.0 from the Wen series, which is significantly more compact but also features a simpler optical design. Let’s find out in this review which is the more appealing lens at the end of the day.
This lens will be reviewed on the 42mp Sony A7rII and the 24mp Leica M10.

Sample Images

7artisans 35mm 2.0 M wen leica m10 m11 m10r m9 review sharpness contrast bokeh vignetting
Leica M10 | 7Artisans 35mm 2.0 M Wen | f/2.0
7artisans 35mm 2.0 M wen leica m10 m11 m10r m9 review sharpness contrast bokeh vignetting
Leica M10 | 7Artisans 35mm 2.0 M Wen | f/2.0
7artisans 35mm 2.0 M wen leica m10 m11 m10r m9 review sharpness contrast bokeh vignetting
Sony A7III | 7Artisans 35mm 2.0 M Wen | f/2.0 | Close Focus Adapter
7artisans 35mm 2.0 M wen leica m10 m11 m10r m9 review sharpness contrast bokeh vignetting
Leica M10 | 7Artisans 35mm 2.0 M Wen | f/2.0

Continue reading Review: 7Artisans 35mm 2.0 Wen M →

Accessory, Leica, MS-Optics, Techart

Review: Techart LM-EA9 Leica-M to Sony-E Autofocus Adapter

100 Comments

Introduction

AF-adapter techart leica m sony e fe fullframe autofocus mf close focus programmable exif
Techart LM-EA9

When the original Techart LM-EA7 adapter had been released it was a revelation: turning your manual focus lenses into autofocus lenses, how great is that? But there were also quirks to overcome, some reliability issues and incompatibilities with later camera models.
Now 5 years later there is a fully reworked, improved version. Does it solve all the issues we had with its predecessor? Let’s have a closer look at this new Techart LM-EA9.

bokeh summicron 90mm 2.0 sony a7 review 42mp leica m10 24mp sharpness contrast
Sony A7III | Leica 90mm 2.0 pre-Asph | f/2.0 | LM-EA9

Update March 2023: More detailed information added how to reset the adapter if it is not working anymore, further sample images added

Update February 2024: While my adapter is still working fine I have received several reports of it breaking and very unresponsive customer support. Therefore I cannot recommend anymore to buy it, until these issues have been resolved.

Continue reading Review: Techart LM-EA9 Leica-M to Sony-E Autofocus Adapter →