The Hong Kong located company Jackar Optical just announced a new 34mm f/1.8 Micro Four Thirds lens. The lens has manual and mechanical smooth focus and aperture rings. You can read full specs and more at Snapshooter.jackarlens.com. Image samples can also be found on Flickr. The retail price is $190. It will soon be on sale on eBay. Jackar currently sells many adapters and fisheye lenses on [shoplink 35027 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. For a $190 this looks like a well packaged present!
108 Responses
Apparently f/1.8 is “ultra-fast” according to them. Did someone forget to tell them that there are a bunch of f/0.95 and even T0.95 lenses available for MFT? Would be cool if the lens at least had some communications ability so it could send data about aperture setting and focal length to the camera so it can enter useful EXIF data, though. AFAIK nobody does that yet.
No not ultra fast. A 30mm f1.2 would be much better. Nicely fills the gap between my 20mm and 45mm and a good general purpose lens.
Wow! A nice portrait lens!! 🙂
Lens hood AND leather casing included. Watch out, Olympus 😉
If it was made by Olympus I would be concerned. If it included the hood and case for $190 then the lens cant be worth more than $10!!
Ps Admin : I keep getting a message saying I am posting too quickly-slow down!! Only done two posts.
??? I have to check. ANyway, we are going to install Disquis comment system this weekend!
-1000
Say it ain’t so, Admin!
Cheeses NO! Disqus sucks! It’s so friggin’ annoying!
ONE request:
PLEASE add a navigation bar at the BOTTOM of the page, so we don’t have to scroll up 1/2 a kilometer…
Agreed – I hate Disqus. This is a good commenting system – please leave it as-is.
really? Oh dear…don’t knwo what to do now…
You do a poll.
Yes will do.
My vote is leave it alone as well. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
Admin, please add a list of advantages to such a poll, because people will just blindly vote hate-it simply because they don’t like change.
Many sites go disqus now and it means i have a summary of all my comments (and replies to them) for all sites that have it, on a single page: the disqus dashboard. Even those from far before i had created a disqus account !
Also it simply takes out soooo many bullsh*tters. Not to mention the ease with which to edit typos, or even delete. Collapse whole threads/discussions that don’t interest you. And flag spam, but so far i haven’t ever seen any with disqus. Then there is the like/dislike system with which it also neatly uses to move the worthy comments up even if it was posted last. I think it shows registered users in blue, and ofcourse you can add a avatar in settings, and much much more. Basically makes everything easier for everyone, both user and admin.
Also, i haven’t had to log in or type my username even once since the time i signed up. Unlike i’m doing with each and every comment here now …
I don’t like Disqus either. Is the current commenting mechanism broken? I find that it works just fine. So why fix it?
NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
On Engadget, it seems Disqus only works half the time. The other half it doesn’t even load….
Engadget doesn’t use Disqus. They use LiveFyre
NOOOO, Not Disqus! That’s horrible!
That thing doesn’t accept my login about 2/3 of the time.
That is however better then the current system not accepting session cookies 100% of the time for a number of people…
It is admin’s site, I’ll just use whatever is there if it is usable..
Please don’t install disqus, it doesn’t work very well
From an Admin standpoint, Disqus is dead easy to maintain. It’s definitely what I would use in your shoes, Admin (you’ll notice no one here who’s against Disqus has given any actual reason to avoid it).
Please don’t leave the Disqus decision up to a poll, you probably know which system is best.
I’m already disturbed at the poll results in this post…
Sorry, I meant the future Panasonic lens poll results
I didn’t complain as I seldom post here. Those few comments will however be even rarer in future as Disqus is blocked by my company’s Blue coat webfilter.
Also since Nikon rumors started using Disqus the number of entries in the comment section have fallen dramatically, and maybe now is only 20% of what it used to be.
Sure, the comments there now are more serious. But part of the fun was reading all the crazy spontaneous comments that generated a lot of replies. The need for registration killed the fun for me and I will propably never post on Nikon rumors again unless they change for something else, like the system Mansurovs/Photography Life use, where oe have to do a simple math calculation to post a comment.
Here’s a reason: it’s awful on mobile devices. Takes a long time to load, often doesn’t recognize that you’re scrolling to the point where you want to read comments, is a hassle to log in from time to time, and just adds up to delays for the user all over the place.
I can’t think of a worse decision for if you want to maintain comments on the site. Please stay away from that javascript iframe abomination.
ok! I got the message!
NOOOOOO!
Disqus robs us of our Annonymityyyyyyy
Ok! I have decided to not use it 🙂
Great news! 🙂
I must applaud you for your communication skills in this blog. You truly listen to your readers and engage in the discussions that arises. Also, you do it in a very fluent and natural way.
bokeh not looking too good..
Agree bokeh is not good, but if we look price on lens is the ok.
Black version?
The black version is on eBay for about $32, but not in as pretty packaging nor with hood. Search for Fujian.
But compared with the superb and cheap Oly MFT 1,8/45mm?
Does anybody need this lens in a MFT-System? For video-use?
If we talk about 190$ for that beautiful lens is not bad.
On their website (Q/A) they write: “Although quite a lot of similar products are available on the market, they are usually sold at thousands of dollars. The Jackar Snapshooter is worth around 1,000 dollars only but offers comparable functionality and handling.”
Inflation isn’t what it used to be.
This dollar scheme they talk about is Hong Kong dollars which tends to say a lot higher than equivalent amount in US or Canadian dollars.
nice price! I could find a use for this one.
Jackar is only an “s” and and an “e” away from a marketing disaster. 😉
Haha nice one!
Doesn’t look any better than the $30 c-mount lens I have and its nowhere near as good as the $300 45/1.8. Pass.
Where is this $300 45mm 1.8 people talk about? All i see is a $400-$450 one with taxes…
$300 is a bit of a stretch. $320ish is easy enough to find though, either refurbished in the US or imported new from Korea.
Here it’s CAD$458 for a new one with taxes. VERY far from $300.
At $300 USD/CAD i would snag one RIGHT AWAY!
“$260” in Japan… 26,000yen. That is to say, our daily rice ration didn’t suddenly jump in price when the dollar fell apart. The best m43 lens bargain by far.
That’s insane… ship me one over 🙂
Not sure about the optical quality but it seems like nicely presented product (hood, case, box). In a way the Fujifilm’s X series appear.
What ? Bokeh is not good ?
17mm is not my favorite focal length , with bokeh is not impress , definitely will skip on this lens . Better save for 42.5 , pana lens .
Nitpicking aside, this is a nicely presented lens for sure, imagine if Oly or Pany packaged lenses like this…Anyway, even if the bokeh snobs don’t approve of this lens, you gotta admit, for $190 you get a nice lens hood and a nice lens pouch, that’s more than I can say for Olympus lens hood and packaging…sigh
I hope they receive a nice response from consumers, I would like to see more from them, something like an alternative to the 12mm or maybe a 10mm prime, I would gladly buy one of their products in those focal lenghts
Slr Magic 35mm F1.4 seems a much better value.
Yep. The Voigtländer Nokton Classic 35mm f1.4 is damn nice, too @ 3x the price, but it’s quite small. The similar 40mm f1.4 is a bit lighter and $100 less.
The whole package looks good, but actual IQ judging by the galleries is on par with $20-50 TV lens.
Altogether would be a decent deal around $100.
The lens is very soft wide open – http://www.flickr.com/photos/jackarlens/7984700796/in/photostream
Bokeh looks weird on some pictures – http://www.flickr.com/photos/jackarlens/7984699568/in/photostream , http://www.flickr.com/photos/jackarlens/7984694466/in/photostream
But could be a fun lens for the price.
I’m speculating that this is a rebranded Fujian lens.
optyczne.pl has tested the m.zuiko 17mm 1.8
http://www.optyczne.pl/280.1-Test_obiektywu-Olympus_M.Zuiko_Digital_17_mm_f_1.8.html
Agree… Smart marketing. And you even get a free lens hood!
Not really, you pay $170 for the hood and the ‘genuine leather’ case.
If you want a crappy fun lens, just buy the Fujian 35mm f/1.7 and a C-mount adapter. Judging the samples from the Jackass lens it looks almost exactly the same.
Oh dear! It’s worse than I thougtht. That means for me OM-D: Panny 20mm for ever! Ant next lens 75mm.
Here the link to the English version:
http://www.lenstip.com/357.1-Lens_review-Olympus_M.Zuiko_Digital_17_mm_f_1.8_Introduction.html
Friends from Poland: Thanks for the good job! I like your testing-method pretty much! Greetings from Germany!
It’s not so good as I hoped, but I’m trading my 17/2.8 to the new baby.
Next, dear Olympus, make a 400mm 5.6 about 250mm long, weight around 700-800grams, quality like 75 1.8, weathersealed if possible!
I’ve seen far worse bokeh than that. Doesn’t look great in the Lamborghini shot but quite smooth in some of the others.
Hopefully it isn’t generally as soft wide open as the little girl shots. Those remind me of my fungus infested Pentax 50/1.4 wide open.
Great! I got a purpose for that lens… 🙂
¿A cctv lens?
You people complain as if this lens was priced $500, it even comes with a lens hood and pouch! what more do you want ? this is far more than what other third party adapted lenses offer (SLR magic 12mm for $549? are you F*ing kidding me ?) .Everytime some small company tries to venture into m4/3 you shoot it down as if they were attempting to compete with leica glass, these are not performance lenses, they are meant for leisure and day to day shooting, not pro work, think about the long run, this is their first attempt, in the future they might even deliver good optics, just look at SLR magic, they were pretty criticized here but they’ve come a long way, even rivaling leica to some degree. So far, as a package, this looks good. My only complain is the focal length, it’s not interesting enough…give us a 12 or 10 prime and we’re talking
You nailed it, but remember… most people here are idiots that can’t see past their computer screen.
I wish that company a LOT of luck and good fortune. For $190, it’s a nice little x-mas present to myself, for a fun lens. Heck, stick the OM-D in art filter B&W and shoot away for some nice ‘old style B&W’ shots. It could be a fun little project for… $190.
Metal build, metal lens hood (with black interior), nice Pouch, that’s pretty nefty.
+LOTS on that one. Except that, from what I can discern, some people can’t even read their computer screens. I look forward to what they might be able to achieve in the future as their expertise evolves. And considering the slew of $800+ lenses recently, albeit of high quality, it’s nice to see someone make an affordable MFT lens again.
Yupp!!! It’s a start from them, and it’s a pretty good start if QC is good.
True, true. People whine about everything.
The more companies making lenses, the better off we all are.
Although that’s true, and good luck to them, this lens (and most 3rd party lenses) are based around APS-C, they whack the M43 mount on it to get some more business but really we’re a second thought. I bought the SLR Magic 35mm f1.7 yonks ago, it was fun for about a week, never used it since, it might come in handy one day, so this lens doesn’t do it for me, attractive packaging though it might be.
It’s great companies try to do this, and I know (was it SLR Magic who canned their M mount lenses?) some companies have been put off by stuck up attitudes but there are real reasons why some lenses don’t work so great as others, if this lense is anything like the SLR 35mm f1.7 we’re talking specialty funhouse effects unless stopped down a fair way.
I’m pretty sure this is based on the fujian cctv lens although possibly tweaked optically. The construction around the front element looks very similar and the images have a similar look too especially highlight bokeh at the edges of the frame.
Also the just slightly different specification, would anyone really set out to make a 34mm lens?
It’s very well presented though.
+1. Could be, yes.
Not bad at all for $190.
This is much larger than the fujian 35mm cctv lens – the front element alone is significantly wider. Also, the resolution on this lens noticeably exceeds that of the fujian. If there is any truth to their statement that “Both the lens barrel and the lens set are designed specially for mirrorless cameras”, it’s not just a rebranded C-mount lens.
Exactly. I searched the Fujian lens, and it looks different and produces images differently from ones by this lens.
Seriously? 34mm vs 35mm you can’t see how obvious they changed that just to obscure the truth? This is the fujian lens wearing a groucho marx disguise.
http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/new-jackar-34mm-f1-8-lens/
pfff, another lens in the 12-50 range, boring…
Who will finally make a 9 mm f2.8 (or even f4) tack sharp weathersealed prime in order to take crisp wide landscapes ? I know there is the 7-14 but it’s expensive, not weathersealed and with no filter thread…Until that, I’m using my 9-18 which is good but not excellent…
Not sure where the $190 comes from but if you look at the Q&A section of the website it says that the lens is $1000
You see, with Disqus a comment like this would be on top in no time. 😉
——————————————————————–
There are assorted m4/3 / NEX lenses available on the market. What makes the Jackar Snapshooter different?
Although quite a lot of similar products are available on the market, they are usually sold at thousands of dollars. The Jackar Snapshooter is worth around 1,000 dollars only but offers comparable functionality and handling.
——————————————————————–
Seems you’re right …
Hi, well it the actual quote is
‘Although quite a lot of similar products are available on the market, they are usually sold at thousands of dollars. The Jackar Snapshooter is worth around 1,000 dollars only but offers comparable functionality and handling.’
i dont know if thats US $ or if thats just value they’ve place on the lens..
It looks exactly like the Fujian CCTV as many said. 1000 is probably Yuan so thats around 190 US dollars
…It really looks like a CCTV lens, and the pictures too. Do they think, we are all stupid?… .
Don’t you see it comes in a suede box ? 🙂
There’s a difference between ¨value¨ and ¨price¨…it would be kinda dumb to make that first ¨…they are usually sold at thousands of dollars…¨ statement regarding other companies offering and then just do the same and price it at a thousand dollars themselves. IMO this is just marketing talk saying ¨our lens is as good as a $1000 lens for much less¨. In any case it would be good to hear a confirmation from Admin to where he got the $190 price, `cause if this is indeed a us$1000 then it changes the whole deal and I’ll have to join the nitpickers.
I kind of like the “edgy” bokeh — reminds me a bit of the 50/1.1 Nokton, which I also like. If it stays under US$ 200, I’d be tempted to buy one — primarily for video, especially if the aperture ring omits click-stops.
If they are smart, they can price themselves at like $159 or $149 and rip the benefits.
There’s already the SLR Magic 35mm f1.7 which is also manual focus (with video-friendly stepless aperture) and produces excellent images.
Not very interested in this one…
There are so many fast 35mm choices. I too have the SLR Magic. But there’s also Rikonon, Nikon AIS, Zeiss, this new Jackar, and maybe others such as Voigtländer or old Canon FD.
Next time I shoot a video interview I can use the Lumix 12-35 or SLR Magic, but ultimately I’d probably settle on my declicked Nikon 50 ƒ1.2 AIS. Fast portrait lenses for m43 is a very crowded field.
I consider that a blessing
I have the SLR Magic 35mm f1.7, you say excellent images? I say funhouse images, I can see it being maybe useful in video because no clicking but for stills it’s pretty funky, $80 for fun for a week, then shelve it.
Though if we had focus peaking i’d probably stick it back on a few times.
I’m more interested in the lens bag, wonder if they sell the bag on it own.
Buy the package, sell the lens. 🙂
Jackar:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jackarlens/7984699568/sizes/l/in/photostream/
Fujian:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fatdeeman/6532554515/sizes/l/in/set-72157628471562833/
Pay attention to the highlight bokeh…
What’s your point? Try looking at the swirling out of focus areas on the Fujian and extremely soft around the sides (or anywhere that isn’t the very centre) and try to tell me they are the same lens. There may be similarities but they are definitely not the same lens.
So you’re saying the Lambo shot is sharp at the edges? Not to mention the fujian sample is taken with an APS-C camera and the Lambo shot with m43 which uses more of the sharp central part of the lens and cuts outs more of the softer periphery……
For those of you who are complaining about the $1,000 price tag, note that it is a Hong Kong site. Therefore my guess is that $1,000 is referring to HKD.
As for those who simply like to complain no matter what, go get a life! Or grow up! If you’re that good, why don’t you go make some lenses yourselves and sell it at a price where people like you won’t complain?
http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/new-jackar-34mm-f1-8-lens/
Indeed HKD ~5:1 vs USD hence $190/1000 Looking at the picture galleries, as some have said. I think too this is a repackaged Fujian optic core.
Fujian CCTV lenses are true bargains in their own right. You don’t get the detail finish on the barrels and the grips look cheap, but they work just fine. And their price can’t be disputed. And the come in black … I have both the 35mm & 50mm CCTV primes that means C-mount adaptor, which is no big deal. They retail below $50 each, so the same glass for a lot less. And you don’t get a leather case and hood for $50, if that is important? (The front element is very deep on the 35mm to start with.)
The Bokeh in these lenses is set toward video/TV use that is the centre is sharp and the edges are very soft for the most part. Note that the website doesn’t show off the Iris, if it did you’d be able to ID it as a Fujian. The Iris is rectangular on a Fujian, and closes to a slit. It also shuts down completely if you want to, “fade to black with the aperture”.
While the Fujian bokeh is rather extreme, on the other side of things it has a massive wide DoF at the high number aperture end. You will get sharp focus at 3m as well as 300mm, right through the centre, the edges will vignette blur. These lenses are made for larger video sensors, so you don’t get bad light vignette as in some c-mount lenses.
It’s a very nice street prime with hyperfocal use. The 35mm is better than the 50mm and a nice focal lenght at ~70mmFF
So the Jackar in that sense is like the SLR-Magic offer. A cosmetic repack. Is it worth the extra? QC could be a factor? Still, $50 for a Fujian, prime optics in a metal tube, with very nice coatings and they bloody black!
Praise the Lord and pass the Black Lenses!
It’s the same CCTV 35/1.7 lens in a different package for additional $160. Watch out!
It seems a little bit different with CCTV Lens. The thread and lenses size is larger. It is 37mm thread but CCTV doesn’t.
Also, it costs $190, I think the QC and lenses of glass must be better than CCTV Lens.
I love that cool outlook matching with my OM-D.
So, I may buy one for my Christmas present when they start to sell worldwide. lol
I pretty sure it is the inexpensive Fujian 35/1.7. great that most of you guys already figure it out. Slight change on outlook and a pouch whether it is justified. It is rather personal decision; For me, I would rather buy 2-3 orginal version and gave to friends to enjoy the manual shooting experience.
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