This 135mm f/1.8 Is the Sharpest Lens 7Artisans Has Ever Made, But With a Catch

The 135mm autofocus lens market has gotten crowded fast, with options from Samyang, Viltrox, and Sigma all competing for your attention on Sony E-mount, Nikon Z-mount, and L-mount. The 7Artisans 135mm f/1.8 enters that field with the lowest MSRP of the group at $689, but price alone isn't enough to stand out when the competition has had years to mature.

Coming to you from Dustin Abbott, this detailed video puts the 7Artisans 135mm f/1.8 through a full evaluation covering build, autofocus, and optical performance. Abbott notes right away that this is the most accomplished lens he's seen from 7Artisans, with genuinely beautiful rendering, strong sharpness across the frame, and excellent control of longitudinal chromatic aberration. On a Sony a7R V, the lens holds up well against the Viltrox 135mm f/1.8 in the center and actually beats it in the extreme corners wide open. The 12-blade aperture iris produces consistently circular bokeh even as you stop down, and in real-world shooting Abbott found the background rendering to be one of the lens's clearest strengths.

The build is all-metal, which partly explains the 1,014 g weight — heavier than the Samyang 135mm f/1.8 at 772 g and the Sony at around 950 g, though lighter than the Viltrox at 1,235 g. There's a weather-sealing gasket at the rear mount and a USB-C port for firmware updates. Abbott flags a handful of handling quirks: lightly clicked aperture detents with little resistance between f/16 and automatic, a lens hood that doesn't lock securely, and in-body image stabilization that required manually inputting the focal length to communicate correctly with his cameras. The minimum focus distance of 68 cm is closer than competing lenses, and Abbott estimates the magnification ratio approaches 0.30x, which is a genuine practical advantage.

Where things get complicated is autofocus and firmware stability. Abbott received two copies of this lens, as the first was decentered badly enough to require replacement, pushing the review back by several months. Even on the second copy, the aperture ring communicates incorrectly with his cameras, displaying f/6.3 while actually exposing at f/2, and won't step the aperture down further without switching to camera-body control. Autofocus during portrait shooting produced more front-focus misses than Abbott expected, and touch-to-focus response in video lagged noticeably. Abbott is direct about it: the lens isn't mature yet, and on Sony E-mount and Nikon Z-mount, he'd have a hard time recommending it over the Viltrox or Samyang at current firmware. L-mount is a different story, since neither of those alternatives has arrived there yet. Abbott does hold out hope that firmware updates can address the remaining issues, given how strong the optical foundation is.

Check out the video above for the full rundown from Abbott, including real-world portrait and nature shots, flare resistance tests, and his direct comparison to the Viltrox at multiple apertures.