7artisans AF 135mm 1.8 Max Full Frame

The 7Artisans AF 135mm f/1.8 MAX came in as a bit of a surprise. So far 7Artisans supplied the budget segment of the market, but with such a fast medium tele prime lens they are moving up the food chain - as also signaled via the new "MAX" designation. The optical quality of the lens is quite impressive. At f/1.8, the center quality is very good and it even achieves greatness across the frame at f/4. Lateral CAs are low and axial CAs are almost nonexistent. It produces a slight image distortion but it's usually not relevant in real life. The vignetting is comparatively low and well-autocorrected anyway. The quality of the bokeh is good although not flawless. It's certainly very smooth if the depth-of-field is very shallow, but you can spot some busy spots in difficult scenes. The build quality is very impressive thanks to an all-metal outer shell and tight controls. The weather sealing is a bit basic with only a mount gasket. The STM AF is decent but not cutting-edge in terms of speed and refinement. The almost baffling aspect is the price tag. A fast 135mm prime lens at just $689 is unheard of and certainly an amazing value.