Brightin Star Announces the MF 14mm F2.8 Wide Angle Lens

[Canon Rumors]

Brightin Star has officially announced the MF 14mm F2.8 wide angle lens for the RF mount. This is a manual focus lens as you’d expect for the Canon world. At 14mm, autofocus becomes less important due to depth of field, and you can zone focus this focal length quite easily. Brightin Star is known for […]

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[Malm]

Sorry, but that isn't a new lens! That is just a known lens with a different label!
I saw it first as a Pergear 14/2.8 lens, afterwards as 7Artisan 14/2.8 (with a different desgin of the lens barrel) and now as Brightin Star 14/2.8. The optical construction - 13 elemenst in 9 groups - and the special glass elements are always the same. I have the Pergear 14/2.8 and the 7Artisan 14/2.8 (for astro photography) and don't see any difference. The optical quality is good (low coma for astro!), but the vignette is a little bit high. There is a more in-depth review of the Pergear 14/2.8 by phillipreeve.
It would be interesting to understand the structure behind these 'different' brands! Is it just one company which is just moving the lenses around from A to B to C or what??

 

[Tom R5R7]

I'm still chugging along with my Bower EF mount 14/2.8 which has 14 elements in 12 groups. A different optical design, of course, given that the lens is designed for EF. As often as I use it, which is almost never, I'm fine with what I have.

It'll be interesting to see what this Brightin Star/7Artisan/Pergear lens is like compared to the EF 14/2.8. Price and feature-wise, they're in the same ballpark.

 

[Canon Rumors]

Sorry, but that isn't a new lens! That is just a known lens with a different label!
I saw it first as a Pergear 14/2.8 lens, afterwards as 7Artisan 14/2.8 (with a different desgin of the lens barrel) and now as Brightin Star 14/2.8. The optical construction - 13 elemenst in 9 groups - and the special glass elements are always the same. I have the Pergear 14/2.8 and the 7Artisan 14/2.8 (for astro photography) and don't see any difference. The optical quality is good (low coma for astro!), but the vignette is a little bit high. There is a more in-depth review of the Pergear 14/2.8 by phillipreeve.
It would be interesting to understand the structure behind these 'different' brands! Is it just one company which is just moving the lenses around from A to B to C or what??

I'm happy to learn about this stuff. I can't dive deep into everything. For me, Brightin Star are just nice people. These don't sell like hotcakes, there really isn't a revenue stream. I tend to promote the nice ones.

I might dive a bit deeper down the road. I have enjoyed their 50 f/1 and 9mm 5.6. not claiming optical excellence!

 

[Malm]

I'm still chugging along with my Bower EF mount 14/2.8 which has 14 elements in 12 groups. A different optical design, of course, given that the lens is designed for EF. As often as I use it, which is almost never, I'm fine with what I have.

It'll be interesting to see what this Brightin Star/7Artisan/Pergear lens is like compared to the EF 14/2.8. Price and feature-wise, they're in the same ballpark.

Bower is also sold as Rokinon (US) or Samyang (EU). We call them the 'Samyang lottery' due to their poor quality control. Many lenses are decentred, but the 'good' ones are well suitable! Therefore I only use their premium line, called Rokinon SP and Samyang XP which has a better quality control. So I can only compare the Brightin 14/2.8 against the Samyang XP 14/2.4 and I use them only for astro photography (mostly polar light): The Samyang is more heavy, more expensive, has slightly less coma and less vignette (and is slightly faster). The Pergear/7Artisan/Brightin 14/2.8 is lighter, cheaper (!), has slightly more coma (but I would still call it low), and a strong vignette. I tested several Pergear and 7Artisan 14/2.8 lenses and they have a similar quality control as the Samyang XP serie. That means most lenses are well centered. The Brightin Star/7Artisan/Pergear 14/2.8 seems to have problems with flares from strong light sources.

 

[Tom R5R7]

Bower is also sold as Rokinon (US) or Samyang (EU). We call them the 'Samyang lottery' due to their poor quality control. Many lenses are decentred, but the 'good' ones are well suitable! Therefore I only use their premium line, called Rokinon SP and Samyang XP which has a better quality control. So I can only compare the Brightin 14/2.8 against the Samyang XP 14/2.4 and I use them only for astro photography (mostly polar light): The Samyang is more heavy, more expensive, has slightly less coma and less vignette (and is slightly faster). The Pergear/7Artisan/Brightin 14/2.8 is lighter, cheaper (!), has slightly more coma (but I would still call it low), and a strong vignette. I tested several Pergear and 7Artisan 14/2.8 lenses and they have a similar quality control as the Samyang XP serie. That means most lenses are well centered. The Brightin Star/7Artisan/Pergear 14/2.8 seems to have problems with flares from strong light sources.

I probably got a bit lucky with my Bower. It's not a perfect lens by any stretch but it is good and consistent. Yes, I recall it also being sold as Rokinon and Samyang. Same exact lens basically. Glad I got a decent one - I had really poor luck with a Sigma 20 mm f/1.8 many years ago, maybe around 2004 or so. That Siggy was severely decentered. Center and one side in focus, other side way out. If you nailed focus on the one side, the rest was way out. A trip to Sigma for repair netted NO change.