35mm F0.95 APS-C Large Aperture Manual Focus Mirrorless Camera Lens,Compatible with Sony ZV-E10, A7IV, A6400, A7II, A7SIII, A7III, A7C, A6600, A6100, A7RIV, A6000, A7RIII

I enjoy using budget manual lenses, so I took the chance to try out the Brightin Star 35mm F1.2 even though there were no reviews available, in hopes of finding a new gem. While the lens has its particular qualities, especially with the background blur and rich colors, the softness of the image quality keeps this from being my new favorite budget lens.The lens is weighty feeling for its size, signifying the all metal build. The focus and aperture rings are nicely damped, though a bit scratchy out of the box. The aperture ring is declicked, which is good for those shooting video. The primary reason you get a fast lens like this is to blur out the background (bokeh), and this lens certainly does a good job of this, with soft creamy bokeh in garden shots that bring out the main subject. The colors are rich and vibrant, and this is one of the primary strengths of this lens. I’ve included multiple images taken with the lens as samples.Unfortunately, the lens also exhibits softness in the image quality when you look more closely, especially with high contrast lines. There is some fringing that limits the resolving power and causes fine details to get lost. You can see this in some of the indoor close-up photos I’ve included. This can give subjects a “dreamy” feel, which some might appreciate. But a clinically sharp lens this is not.And that’s one of the things with cheap manual lenses: they have personality, and part of the fun is learning the personality of the lens and seeing what kind of shots it works well, while understanding that it will have limitations that make it not work so well with other shots. So hopefully this review gives you a sense of what the “personality” of this lens is like, and help you in deciding whether to add it to your kit.