Its been a little over a year since I gave my initial thoughts on the Neewer/7Artisans 25mm lens. In that year, this lens has since non stop use.

My opinion of this lens since that first post, remains the same…. Well actually I love it even more!

I have used the 25mm to shoot all of my project work, project work for Visual Noise Collective, and I have used it to shoot weddings.

The first wedding, I shot it along side the Fujifilm 35mm F2, but since that I have only shot the 25mm. The first time I used it on its own at a wedding, I must admit that my nerves were up. Being manual focus in low light, I wasn’t sure how it would hold up… But I needn’t have worried, I nailed focus and the quality was still great, even when pushing the camera to iso 6400 for the majority of the day.

Images below are from the first wedding I shot using it along with the 35mm F2.

Value for money?

For the price I paid, I think I have most definitely had my money out of it… And some. I think I paid around £45 for this lens on Amazon, and its the best £45 I’ve spent! Yes it does have its issues regarding the focus distance scale on the lens being way way off (on my copy at least) But a little fine tuning and marking the lens, I now know distance etc for when I’m zone focusing.

Les flare… If you’re shooting direct in to the sun or just off, expect lens flare. This isn’t no £2000 lens… It flares, and sometimes quite a lot… But with that said, I personally like it. Its a characteristic of the lens that gives images its own look. I’m sure it will be a bit Marmite (You either love it, or hate it) but I really like it and suits my aesthetic.

Should you buy one?

In short and you have the money, yes!

If you have the cash, looking for a 35mm (equiv) lens but don’t want to shell out £400+ then I don’t think you can go wrong. Like I said above, you might love it…. You may hate it but I think you could well be surprised.

Now one thing I will state is when I buy a lens, I’m not buying it because of the specs, or what coating the glass has got. A lot of my work is far from sharp, far from perfect so do bare in mind that all of the above is my opinion on it and any other equipment for that matter. It has enabled me to shoot how I like and achieve an aesthetic that I love… So for me it was a win win buying one.

Final Thoughts

I’ll end this post buy saying its a great little quirky lens that can take a little to get used to… But… It really is special to me, I don’t think it has come off my XT1 in the last 9 months and I don’t think it will for a while longer.

Here are some images taken with it over the last year.

Leave a comment if you have any questions!

Cheers