I gave the little Sirui 24mm Night Walker a run today. Similar circumstances, bright, low wind, same subjects.
I had high hopes, because this lens has been used before to good effect, but I struggled to get excited.
Sharpness.
Not convinced in comparison with the Hope 25 or 50.
At f2, with clear focus confirmation, this is the best of four attempts.
Extreme manual close focus accuracy, hand held is always problematic, but this was doable yesterday with both Hope lenses.
I backed off a little and used a friendlier angle. Nice Bokeh and colours.
Still not convincing up close. It is likely the lens is not happy this close.
A more normal range.
Better at slight distance, nicely “cinematic” as they say. This is much the same as the lack-lustre 16mm Hope I sent back, that feeling of being near, but never on target until you realise you have been trying too hard for too long and other lenses just get there.
This from the Hope 50 is sobering. The light is slightly better, but still, the Sirui is not a macro champion.
Handling.
This lens has very, very light in focus and aperture rings. It is the only lens I have that requires a focus pull rig to help give it some resistance!
The aperture ring is so light, I do not trust it for fast application. The combination of the super fast aperture (T1.2 of f1.1) and no ability to turn your back on it (it seems to shift on its own some times), means it is only really good for calculated work, not run-n-gun. Taping it down at f2 or 2.8 is an option I may need to apply.
The lens is otherwise light and tight and pleasant to have on the camera. I really want to like it and nearly bought the 16mm when the Hope failed based on that feeling, but I am glad I held off (and there were none around) and went with the anamorphic.
Bokeh.
Blurring is gorgeous, but that has to weighted against sharpness.
It has more “character” than the Hope lenses, for better or worse. There is a feeling of excitement, but not one of control.
For video, where smoothness, contrast and good transition trump sheer sharpness, it is pleasant enough.
Wide open it gets “impressionistic”, which is cinematographer code for mostly useless.
3D pop.
There is lovely separation and a feeling of snappiness at normal distances, although the Bokeh is a little Ni-Sen (cross-eyed) looking in the branches.
For video and even stills, this is great visually, which I guess is all that really matters.
Flare.
Like the two Hope lenses, it handles flare well.
Hello Sun, my old friend.
Nice control of this hellish situation. No clue why the leaves top right corner are sharper than most of the rest of the out of focus frame?
I think a fair test needs to be at distance as this lens performs poorly in close, but seeing as it will be used as a letter-boxed pseudo-anamorphic portrait lens (roughly 48mm width and 70mm height) to compliment the true Sirui anamorphic, it may be fine.
The Hope pair are seriously good lenses, reliable, resistant to issues and pleasant to use.
The Night Walker is less so all around, it is more of a character lens, reliable within limits, but it will have a place in my kit, especially when whimsical uber-Bokeh is wanted.