This is my first time testing a manual lens for G-mount. Any lens manufacturers venturing into this category, certainly have a big shoes to fill. As we all know; all GF lenses for GFX system are amazing. I hope Astrhori would have known what the head winds are before taking that leap.
Having said that, when I received this lens; I didn’t have much expectation. I have not heard of Astrhori until recently. This Astrhori lens is a manual lens with a 75mm F4 focal lenght. In full frame term that would be about 60mm focal length. Pretty interesting. The build quality of this lens is very good. I think it’s a metal construction. The look of this lens is also pretty modern. The aperture ring is on the front end of the lens and its clickless. Personally I would prefer it to be at the rear end of the lens. The turning ring of both the aperture and focus ring are buttery smooth. No complain on that part. The turning focus from minimum to infinity is just a a 90 degree turn!
The weight of this lens is about 675 grams according to my wife’s green color weighting scale. The filter size is 67mm. GF80mm F1.7 is 795g and GF63mm F2.8 is 405g, just to give you an idea where this lens sits. Its not a light lens, especially if you need to manual focus and holding the camera together. Of course after awhile I gotten used to the work flow and just focus on nailing the focus right. Thankfully for peak focus on the GFX; this is not a very difficult chore.
Next, the optics. I honestly can’t fault the glass on this Astrhori lens. For what it is; the glass is good. it’s sharp when I nail it right. It could resolute the 100MP from GFX100S. The flares from this lens are gorgeous. I guess this lens will be an asset to those who uses GFX system for video work. Chromatic aberration is extremely well controlled. As for bokeh, this lens is not a bokeh monster at F4; generally speaking; its does render well. For portraits; the separation is good enough. Very pleasing to the eye too.
There are only 2 down side to me. First it’s the weight of this lens. The other being a manual focus lens. If you could live with this; I think I would recommend this lens. At the selling price of USD$329; this lens commands great value. As for me; I think I need to work on my ability to focus well. Cheers and do follow our IG.
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Could you comment on the performances at f/2.8? I understand that’s the hidden aperture setting behind the yellow dot that is in front of “4”. I guess it must be somewhat compromised otherwise the lens would not have been advertised as f/4.
I did try briefly if the shutter speed charge if I turn to the yellow dot. nothing changes. its an F4 lens not an F2.8.