7ARTISANS’ FIRST AF LENS IS A 50MM F/1.8 FOR FULL-FRAME

New optic is coming to E and Z mounts, but it might not be the niftiest fifty

Lens maker 7Artisans has announced its first autofocus lens, the 7Artisans AF 50mm f/1.8, designed for full-frame mirrorless cameras. We’ve seen a recent shift from lens manufacturers who have previously focused on manual-focus lenses, with TTArtisan, Sirui, and Samyang all now offering an AF lineup for mirrorless, and 7Artisans has now followed suit, with a fan-favourite nifty fifty.

The company teased the new lens, which is due to be released before the end of this month, on social media, in an image showing it attached to a Sony A-series camera. Promotional text on the image states that it will be available for Sony FE mount, but it doesn’t provide much else in the way of information.

For a 50mm f/1.8, it looks on the larger side, and as the current manualfocus 7Artisans 50mm f/1.05 is fairly petite for its extremely low aperture, this is surprising, as one of the benefits of a 50mm lens is its small form factor.

In addition, 7Artisans lenses are often constructed entirely of metal and glass, offering a professional and robust feel.

Add that weight to the size, and this lens may be a not-so-shifty nifty fifty, although we’ll know more when we get our hands on it.

Images seen elsewhere on social media suggest that the lens will be released for the Nikon Z-mount as well as E-mount. The various images provide different angles of the lens, from which we can see the front information. These details include a 62mm filter thread, a minimum focus distance of 0.5m, and an aperture ring running from f/1.8 to what looks like f/22.