The Sirui Sniper Series f/1.2 lens set is fantastic, but not without flaws. The value is exceptional, and they are specialist APS-C format lenses videographers amateur and pro will appreciate.
When I first heard about Sirui, I was still new to the media production industry. I remember the team used a Sirui Monopod at my very first job. At the time, with our rudimentary equipment, it was a huge leap in quality, but for many many years I was left with the impression that Sirui only made high-quality tripods.
As time went on, as I got more into filmmaking, photograpgy gear, I discovered that Sirui had remained a tripod company only in my mind. They now also produce excellent lights, cine lenses, other film accessories.
My first Sirui lenses were the Night Walker series, which I used at work. It was love at first sight. The vintage look and the special imagery that went with it really caught me.
So for another shoot, I asked for Sirui’s Anamorphic lens, buoyed by what I had seen so far. The feeling was the same. “How can this company produce lenses of this quality at this price?” – I asked my colleagues.
Needless to say, when I saw Sirui’s Sniper Lens series, my curiosity was rekindled and I had to try them for myself. Let’s see how these video lenses did when I used them for work.
The Sniper Lens Series was first released with 3 prime lenses: 23mm f/1.2, 33mm f/1.2, 56mm f/1.2. Later, two more lenses were added to the series: 16mm f/1.2 and 75mm f/1.2. In this article, we have taken a closer look at the first three lenses.
With these 3 lenses, we get a versatile, almost all-encompassing lens line. The outstanding f/1.2 aperture and Autofocus make it a unique set.
The lenses come well packed in a storage box. I was particularly pleased with this box as it provides adequate protection for the lenses, is sufficiently cushioned and has a nice feel to it.
The contents won’t roll around either, as there are separate cut-outs for all 3 lenses.
The choice of colors was a big surprise. It is available in Black, Grey and WHITE.
We got the black set for our test, which is a big advantage on set as you don’t get reflected in the set, but it’s less cool than grey and less beautiful than the white.
The professional in me would go for black, the gear enthusiast in me would go for white.
At first glance, the focal lengths look fairly random. However, these lenses are designed for APS-C sensors rather than full frame.
If you take into account the crop factor that comes with the sensor size, you get approximately these focal lengths:
| APS-C | Full Frame Equivalent |
|---|---|
| 23mm | {{column-name-2}}: ~35mm |
| 33mm | {{column-name-2}}: ~50mm |
| 56mm | {{column-name-2}}: ~85mm |
Now these numbers make more sense.
The 23mm f/1.2, 33mm f/1.2, 56mm f/1.2 lenses are identical in size. Even the 58mm filter thread is the same on all three lenses. That’s a huge plus point in the practicality department.
The 56mm sticks out a bit with its longer lens hood, but everything else is identical. This makes it excellent for gimbal use, as you don’t need to re-weight the unit for lens changes.
Speaking of weight, the lenses are almost identical here too, with only a few grams difference between them. You can barely feel any different when holding them in your hands.
Taking the Sony lens mount version out of the box (so the lens cap and lens hood were on the lens) the following measurements were taken:
| Lens | Weight |
|---|---|
| 23mm | {{column-name-2}}: 409g |
| 33mm | {{column-name-2}}: 425g |
| 56mm | {{column-name-2}}: 459g |
You can buy the Sniper Lens Series with 3 lens mounts. Sony E-mount, Nikon Z-mount, Fuji X-mount.
On Sirui’s website, in the Compatibility section, there is a very long list of supported camera bodies. I’m pretty sure if you’re using a current camera, this lens will be compatible with it.
For our test we mounted the lenses on a Sony FX30.
Welcomed feauture is the USB-C port on the mount, which is used to update the firmware of the lenses.
After purchase, be sure to check which firmware version is on the lens. Even if you have received it recently, it may not be the latest one.
Our test set came to us about 1.5 months ago and had firmware version 1.0.7 on them. The latest (at the time of writing) is version 1.1.2, except on the 23mm, there for some reason it’s 1.1.1.
But how do you update the firmware?
According to the Sirui website, carbon fiber, ceramic coating, and aluminum alloy are the materials used. In fact, when the lenses arrived, they were very cold to the touch, which gave them a premium feel.
However, when tapped with a finger, the lower carbon patterned part feels a bit plasticy to me. But that’s the only part that seems a bit cheap looking to me. The rest of the lens has a decidedly good feel and quality.
Even so, scratches are easily collected by the outer coating, especially the part under the carbon coating. After a few days on the job, the battle scares were already visible, even though we were very careful with the test specimens.
The lens hoods are completely plastic, but they do the job. Perfect for what you need them for. Overall, these are very well put together lenses.
We also encountered another strange phenomenon. The lens back cap on one of the lenses, in our case the 33mm, is slightly wobbly.
At first we thought that we must have mixed them up (even though they have the same lens mount). But after trying all the combinations, the back lens cap was wobbling in the same way. This was slightly concerning.
As I mentioned, the tech enthusiast in me is a sucker for the white version, but on closer inspection the black version is also full of clever design solutions.
Starting with the subtle carbon pattern on the bottom of the lens. The feel of the focus ring is very comfortable. It’s instantly fathomable even in darker conditions. The little blue design stripe at the end of the lens is also ingenious.
Unfortunately, one thing we do not have is weather sealing. There is no rubber ring on the bayonet to keep out stray raindrops. So, use this series in drier weather and don’t go shooting in the rain with it.
I might add that during one shoot it rained a little and a few drops fell on it, but no harm done. So you don’t have to keep it in a glass case, but keep an eye on the weather report.
Our testing has led us to the following conclusions. This set will not be known for its perfectly sharp, clear images. Halation is quite present in all three lenses, but is strongest in the 56mm.
The 23mm lens is the sharpest of the three. The 33mm came second and the 56mm third.
All three lenses are specifically blurry at f/1.2. The 23 and 33 improve a lot already at f/1.8 but the sharpness of the 56mm only arrives at f/2.8.
The 56mm is also special in that it was sharper at f/1.4 than at f/1.8, which is a strange phenomenon.
The loss of sharpness is most noticeable in the corners, but the 56mm is also has noticeable blur in the centre when using the problem apertures.
Chromatic aberration is a lens distortion in which colours fray or separate along high-contrast edges, creating unwanted colour fringes (often purple or green) around objects.
This happens because different colours of light don’t all focus in the same place after passing through the lens, especially at the edges of the image.
This phenomenon is very noticeable with all three lenses, especially at f/1.2. The 56mm had the strongest chromatic aberration of the three we tested.
The 56mm also behaved strangely in this case. While at f/1.2 or f/1.4 it had reddish-purple aberrations, at f/1.8 these disappeared completely and were replaced by a blue-green pattern. This anomaly did not occur with the 23mm and 33mm lenses.
Around f/4-f/5.6 the signs of chromatic aberration almost disappear completely under test conditions.
The distortion of the 23mm lens is the most noticeable of the 3. The test chart shows a barrel distortion, which is not that surprising at this focal length and price range. In fact, you’ll find this even with more expensive lenses.
The 33mm lens is almost distortion free, with lines remaining remarkably straight.
With the 56mm lens, a very slight pincushion distortion was noticeable. Not as noticeable as the distortion of the 23mm barrel, but if you pixel peep in Lightroom, it’s certainly there.
The 23mm has the largest vignette, as it has the largest angle of view. As we narrow inwards, the darkness fades more and more.
This phenomenon is most noticeable at f/1.2, if you close the aperture the vignette improves a lot.
Thanks to the 11-blade arrangement, the bokeh is distinctly rounded, but not uniform due to the aforementioned distortion.
Personally, I don’t find this a problem, in fact many people are looking for unique bokeh effects like this.
The best example of this is the fan base of the Helios 44 lens. This kit doesn’t give as much distortion as that famous lens, but it is sufficiently special.
All are heavily distorted at the sides, with sufficiently rounded bokeh circles in the middle, but squished towards the edges. The phenomenon of chromatic aberration also occurs, but not as noticeable as in the daytime photos.
I first noticed these lenses because of their AF capabilities, and I was very curious to see if they were as good in autofocus as they claim on the product page. The answer is yes!
Important: All the lenses had the latest firmware updates, so AF performance was at max.
I read in early tests that the AF was quite unreliable, jumped back and forth a lot, didn’t lock the target, etc. With the updated firmware, something miraculous must have happened because in daylight conditions, focusing was smooth and reliable.
We tried it with slower settings (AF Transition Speed 5; AF Subj. Shift Sensitivity 3) and also with fast ones (AF Transition Speed 7; AF Subj. Shift Sensitivity 5).In each case, he kept the focus perfectly.
Of course, the slower setting for the run test also made the focus slower to respond (but still kept it sharp), but setting it to faster made it follow the subject in real-time.
In darker scenarios there were times when focus was hunting, but that is the “weakness” of the camera body not the lens.
Basically if you have your subject lit or well exposed in darker scenes then the lenses will definitely find the focus and hold it.
The 33mm and 56mm lenses are almost identical in terms of color, but in our tests, the 23mm gave a slightly warmer effect, leaning a bit greener.
By contrast, the 33mm and 56mm have a subtle purple tint. This is something to keep in mind during color grading to ensure a cohesive look across shots if you’re switching between lenses.
In the videographer world, these lenses have become very famous. The affordable price, construction and brightness can be really attractive to cinematographers. But will this set hold its own in the world of video?
In short : yes! A bit longer : it’s not the sharpest lens I’ve ever worked with, but the FX30’s (in my opinion) overly sharp image is helped by this “vintage” look.
The only annoying thing is the chromatic aberration when using the f/1.2 aperture. In most of the test shots, this flaw can be detected. However, once you close the aperture to f/2.8, the chromatic aberration disappears almost entirely.
Of course, we buy an f/1.2 lens to take advantage of this capability. In my opinion, chromatic aberration is not bad at all in this price range.
In fact, the famous Sigma line (16mm, 23mm, 30mm, 56mm), in some cases, produces even worse chromatic aberration (we will want to do a serious comparison test on this in the future).
In low light situations, where f/1.2 is really useful, this is not a problem at all. It only comes into play in a few situations where you’re shooting with your subject’s back to a stronger streetlight. But if someone notices it, the composition is probably too boring, so the viewer had time to look around away from the subject.
Sirui’s claim that focus breath is minimal is indeed true. Based on our test, I can easily say that it is almost non-existent. All three lenses excelled in this test.
The tests were done with manual focus, where the 56mm made us sweat! Be prepared for those who want to pull focus manually, you have to wind a huge distance to pull focus from A to B. These lenses feel more at home in AF.
The lenses are almost identical in size and weight, which is ideal when you’re shooting with a gimbal. They are not exactly the same weight, but a quick lens swap on the gimbal is perfectly feasible without having to adjust the balance as much, or at all.
The autofocus accuracy also makes this kit a must have for gimbal users. And with a focal length of 56mm (equivalent to an 85mm lens), you can capture some special gimbal shots.
In the current market, the price/performance ratio of this lens set is almost unbeatable. At $999 for the 3-lens set (at the time of writing), especially when you consider that SIRUI regularly runs special offers, so you can get them at a discounted price.
SIRUI makes 2 big claims: good autofocus and fast aperture. It delivers on both claims, albeit with small flaws.
During the test period I shot several interviews and used these lenses in a video clip. Even with these weaknesses in mind, I can still recommend them for more professional work.
My colleagues and I laughed at the fact that this series was created for current clip trends, because I’ve been in colorist studios where they added chromatic aberration to Cooke Optics… now it’s one less step!
Jokes aside, I think for beginners it’s an absolutely perfect choice for the price, as you get a high speed and decent build quality.
If you are a pro, plan ahead with these lenses and they will be easy to handle. If you know exactly what to expect, these lenses can still be a reliable, versatile tool for shooting.
In the long run, this set will definitely pay for itself. And if you regularly replace your equipment, an f/1.2 aperture lens will always be a click hunter on the marketplace.
This famous line of lenses can be an excellent choice for those who want to keep the smaller form factor, but don’t want to give up excellent light value and autofocus.
This range isn’t perfect either, you’ll also encounter chromatic aberration and distortion, but their 56mm lens is exceptionally sharp and of very good quality.
At the time of writing, the lenses are priced between USD 440 and USD 529 each.
A new entrant in this category is Viltrox, who are selling their lenses at a very reasonable price. Great aperture, autofocus.
They range from 180 – 300 USD per lens, which can be very affordable for beginner photographers and videographers.
Even though the price is low, Viltrox has managed to put together a very usable and high quality set.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| F1.2 Aperture | {{column-name-2}}: Chromatic Aberration |
| Reliable Autofocus | {{column-name-2}}: Poor Sharpness |
| Affordable Price | {{column-name-2}}: No Weather Sealing |
| Uniform Size | {{column-name-2}}: |
| Zero Focus Breathing | {{column-name-2}}: |
The Sirui Sniper Lens Series delivers remarkable value, combining features like an f/1.2 aperture and fast autofocus at a price that’s hard to beat.
Though not without flaws—such as noticeable chromatic aberration, some halation, and softness at wide apertures—these lenses still stand out in the APS-C market for versatility and build quality.
The uniform size and weight make them perfect for gimbal work, while autofocus performance is surprisingly reliable after firmware updates.
For beginners, it’s an ideal, high-quality starter set, and for pros, knowing these quirks in advance makes the lenses versatile for a range of setups.
Overall, the Sniper series proves to be a well-rounded, valuable toolset despite its minor imperfections.
If you’re ready to add them to your collection, you can buy the Sirui Sniper Series lenses here.
