I tested the 7Artisans 35mm F1.8 AF on the Nikon Zf for two weeks to find out how such an affordable full-frame autofocus lens performs in real-world use.
35mm isn’t necessarily my favorite focal length, but it’s versatile enough to work well for everyday photography, street photography, and portraits. And that’s exactly what I wanted to find out: How much performance do you actually get for your money?
Build Quality and Handling
Right out of the box, one thing was clear: this doesn’t feel like a cheap plastic lens. The body is made entirely of metal, including the focus ring, aperture ring, and lens mount. The design is simple and very similar to the other autofocus models from 7Artisans, such as the 24mm, 50mm, and 85mm.
One thing I noticed is that all the lenses in this series are roughly the same size, whether we’re talking about the 24mm or the 85mm. This creates a consistent design language, but it also makes the shorter focal lengths feel a little bulkier than necessary. I’m probably spoiled by APS-C lenses in that regard, but I would have preferred a genuinely compact 35mm.
The aperture ring turns smoothly but is clickless, which I personally still prefer over having no aperture ring at all. The aperture markings are a little unusual because they aren’t spaced evenly. More useful is the dedicated AF/MF switch, and there’s even a customizable function button that can be assigned to different functions if you need it.
The autofocus was another positive surprise. It works reliably without any noticeable hunting. It’s certainly not the fastest AF system out there, but for a lens in this price range, it’s more than reliable enough for portraits or street photography. At close focusing distances, the hit rate drops slightly, but that isn’t particularly unusual for a fast 35mm lens.
Image Quality
Now for the interesting part: image quality.
At F1.8, sharpness is decent, particularly at medium and longer focusing distances. At close range, there’s a slight glow effect that makes the image appear somewhat softer even when focus is accurate. Stop the lens down to around F2.8 to F4, however, and fine detail improves noticeably. At that point, the lens produces genuinely clean and sharp results.
Towards the edges of the frame, things become visibly softer at F1.8, which isn’t particularly surprising for a lens at this price point.
The bokeh is a bit of a mixed bag as well. When shooting close to your subject with plenty of distance between the subject and background, the rendering can look beautifully creamy. At medium distances, however, the background can become somewhat busy.
Small onion rings are visible inside specular highlights, while highlights towards the edges of the frame take on an oval shape. I’d describe it more as “jelly bean bokeh” than traditional cat-eye bokeh, because it doesn’t really look like cat eyes to me. Stopping down improves the rendering considerably.
Backlight and Chromatic Aberrations
One thing I genuinely didn’t expect was the almost complete absence of chromatic aberrations. Even in challenging backlit situations, color fringing is practically nonexistent. That’s extremely rare in this price range and makes the 7Artisans 35mm F1.8 AF something of a hidden gem in this regard.
Vignetting is also reasonably well controlled and can easily be corrected if necessary. Lens flares only become noticeable in particularly extreme situations, which is another positive result for such a fast lens.
Conclusion: 7Artisans 35mm F1.8 AF
The 7Artisans 35mm F1.8 AF positively surprised me. It’s well built, autofocus is reliable, and chromatic aberrations are almost nonexistent, which is genuinely impressive at this price point.
The bokeh will come down to personal taste, and edge sharpness could certainly be better. On the other hand, this lens costs considerably less than many Nikon primes. I see it as an affordable all-rounder for anyone looking for an inexpensive 35mm autofocus lens for Nikon Z and who is willing to live with a few quirks.
For around €300, you get a solid, well-built 35mm lens that makes getting into full-frame photography more affordable and leaves me curious about what 7Artisans will release next. There’s definitely plenty of potential here.
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7Artisans AF 35mm F1.8 Full Frame Lens
