Review on 📷 Irix IL-11FF Firefly Ultra Wide-Angle Lens: Discover the Unmatched 11mm F4 Experience by Jen Jensen

Well, 11mm! That pretty much sums it up. But here's the rest. I'm thinking of the Firefly version, the plastic version. The Blackstone version is the metal version and I suspect it's better finished albeit with identical looks. Summarizing this lens is pretty easy. So here it is: THE GOOD: 1) It's really, really wide! I believe the claimed 126 degree field of view and its 11mm designation are both legal. So far my ultra wide angle lens has been the AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm F2.8G. Irix 11mm is definitely noticeably wider. 2) Distortion is well controlled. There is some barrel distortion but it's not very bad 3) It's a fairly sharp lens wide open at F4, sharp at F5.6 and very sharp at F8.4) Good lens mount. Fast, clean, reliable, correct lens setup 5) Electronics work well so far. The lens is correctly identified as an 11mm F4 lens. F-number is displayed exactly in the EXIF data. The range finder's focus indicators show the correct direction of rotation, unlike Sigma lenses where the arrow points to the right when the ring should be rotated to the left, and vice versa. 6) Build quality is pretty good. Most of the lens appears solid. But about the hood, see below. BAD: 1) The focus ring is too tight. I tried running the focus ring while sitting with the lens when it arrived and rotated it a few hundred minimum focuses to infinity and back by turning the ring. It didn't really help much and focusing is too tiring and you can of course forget about one finger focusing. At least for a little more than a few millimeters of rotation. 2) The rubber focus ring doesn't feel great, and the bump on it, which seems randomly placed, is distracting and odd. I'll admit that sometimes I use that hump to have more leverage to turn the focus ring because it takes so much effort to turn that ring. A better rubber with a more traditional grip pattern (like Nikon and almost all other lenses) is welcome. But first it is necessary to drastically reduce the force when turning the ring. Using this lens at work is exhausting and frustrating, and it makes you wonder if you really need the extra field of view compared to Nikon AF and 14mm. 3) The focus lock ring is VERY poorly implemented. It's too thin so it's difficult to grab it. Also, it's just thin corrugated plastic that's not tough at all. Also, it's so tedious to tighten the retaining ring that you spend a lot of time locking focus, all the while pressing your thumb and forefinger against the lens hood where the ring rests. It also takes more than 1/4 turn to actually lock the focus due to the thinness of the ring, and so aggressive effort for the last 2cm of rotation required to tighten it is inevitable that you'll end up turning the focus ring while attempting to lock the focus ring. I only manage 1 out of 4 tries. In short, this feature is so difficult to use that it not only defeats its own purpose but also wastes a lot of time using it. This is great if you're trying to lock focus at infinity so you can shoot the sky all night or something. But for real estate interior shots, for example, it's generally impractical to try to set focus for every angle. Also, this is an unnecessary feature as the focus ring is so difficult to turn that the retaining ring is simply not needed except for astrophotography. I only tried this feature while holding the camera on my lap just to get a feel for it and it was awful and I ruled out using it. I can only imagine trying this while actually composing the frame. I would like future versions of this lens to remove this unnecessary feature and make the focus ring wider. 4) This lens has strong vignetting. Irix has an easy-to-download Adobe Lightroom lens profile (works for Camera Raw I think) that you can use to quickly correct distortion and vignetting. However, unless you're using LR or PS, you'll have to think about the extra workflow and whether you're willing to deal with that amount of vignetting when you don't typically spend much time posting. . Also, this can be a problem for movies. 5) The lens cap and built-in lens hood look REALLY cheap! Cheaper even than Sigma! No kidding, just as I was pulling my camera (with lens attached) out of my bag for this test, the right spring tab that "holds" the cap on the hood popped out. I figured I'd have to apply for the warranty for coverage. Luckily, I was able to easily reattach this spring tab, but once you see the design of these tabs, you, like me, realize that these tabs will break for good in no time. I already have the game on the right tab and its days are numbered. I've only used this lens on three separate occasions, not counting now. I think the workaround I'll probably do now is to remove those protrusions, wrap black tape around the resulting holes, and put some thin felt or cork on the inside of the cap to create friction-like retention. similar to how the Nikon 14-24mm cover stays in place. The focus locking ring, which I recommend you completely loosen and never use, also seems very cheap and very slippery. 6) A fine adjustment of "AF" was necessary for my copy. My copy has noticeable back focus. I pressed -7 AF fine tune and now the rangefinder readings in the viewfinder are pretty accurate. However, I have found that I often "focus properly" on objects up to 10 feet away with the lens pointing at infinity. There is a focus calibration screw on the underside of the hood, but I haven't messed with it yet. I think it's time to try it. 7) Colors are not as accurate as Nikon 14-24mm. This lens tends to yellow. Pretty easy to fix in one post, but it's still lame. And if you're shooting on film, this can be a hindrance, especially since you can only use gel filters on the back of the lens. 8) This lens usually underexposes. This leads me to believe that this is not actually an F4 lens. It's more like a wide-open F5, maybe even F5.6ish. Or maybe it's T5 or T5.6 for you techies. CONCLUSION: This lens is really really wide and it's pretty sharp and it's pretty straight. It lets you take stunning photos that no other Nikon-compatible lens can (although the Canon 11-24mm and Voigtlander 10mm straight lens for the Sony FE can). But it's not the best lens. Shooting is no fun. Shooting with this lens is a pleasure. Because of this, I don't feel inspired to go out and shoot things where this lens would be excellent. I just received it and I still have it in my pocket. But relatively speaking, it's cheap and powerful. Time will tell if it will hold up, that is, if I'll ever use it. I believe it's a tool that can create specific photos. I will use it when appropriate. But I'm not happy with it at all. To be honest I'm really looking forward to someone else coming along and making a better version. Let's hope Samyang makes a straight 11mm FF, or better yet a 10mm if that's physically possible. I'm seriously considering returning this lens and buying a Voigtlander 10mm for my Sony a7rII. But I really hate shooting that body so lol it's a very difficult task.