IRIX 11mm f/4 Review
By Václav Bacovský 39 Comments
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IRIX 11mm f/4 Review
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wow this is what i was looking for after using Sigma 12-24 for many years ! …. lovely performance result
if Sigma 12-24mm is not wide enough for you, then you are most likely going to love the perspective of 11mm
To my knowledge, the widest rectilinear lens for full-frame is currently the Voigtländer 5.6/10. You probably meant for full-frame SLRs.
Václav, your sample pictures are amazing! Very nice compositions, truly inspiring.
Maybe I was reading the review a bit superficial, but I like to add (at the risk you already mentioned it): There’s an interesting opportunity to get ND filters working with this lens: a small slot at the rear element takes little bits of film. You can get a plastic bag of 3 × 5 filters for like 20$ They work alright, with not too much of colour shift. Alone, the use is cumbersome: Dismount the lens, get a filter without too much fingerprints out of it’s simple bag (scratches, dust and whatever …) and fiddle it into the slot. Mount the lens, try to compose and shoot.
Else than that, it’s mechanically well made. Optically? Well… my copy is pretty blurred in the corners. You already mentioned the CA, I’m not used to that amount of it. Neither form Sigma 20/1.4, 14/1.8, nor from Nikkor 14-24/2.8. But apparently the corners of your pictures look better than in mine, so I might ask the dealer to check the lens.
But there are a couple of other goodies, imo: I was pleased about the whole package. Front cap which clicks in (no more loose caps in tight bags when pulling the lens out). Rear cap in a very different design (I found another spare in the box). The hard-shell case is unique, I think. The rest of the boxes – one made of cardboard, another one inside made of tin) is a bit an overkill, but anyone who likes unboxing parties…
I’m still waiting for Nasim’s article on best practice in manual focusing ultra-wides, but apparently you already know how to do :)
Joachim, thank you for your kind words!
As for the filters – I mention that in chapter 3, but thanks anyway for confirming what I have written there (I mean how cumbersome it is – I have only read this, having no personal experience).
And yes – the packaging, rear cap and some other details are really well done, good design and a touch of Swiss precision I would say.
V.
Thanks for the review.
In the summary page you write “At the time being, it is the widest rectilinear lens available”. I think there is Vogitlander 10mm f5.6 and Canon 11-24mm f4 L also.
Irix is a very good and reasonably priced though.
Very well done overview.Aside from its manual control feature,I am not a fan of third party lenses,due to sample quality issues that I had previously.My Nikon PC-E 19 mm f/4 prime, 20 mm f/1.8 prime,plus 8-15 mm & 14-24 mm f/2.8 zoom lenses cover most of my astro-photography,architect, & landscape works/needs on my D850 body,even when printing on 40×60 inches canvas.Nikon 14 or 16 mm primes are not good in terms of IQ to be considered a perfect candidate.Sigma new 14 mm prime is also not very good on D850 for astro-photography,but for landscape works well:If there are enough light,Sigma shines in terms of sharpness;but in dim light,color saturation,tonality,and dark/grey shadow areas are seen better over Nikon aforementioned lenses.
Huh, I can only envy your wide angle lenses line-up – no wonder that you can cover all your needs with that ;)
Note that, technically, the widest rectilinear full frame lens is the Voigtländer 10mm f/5.6, even if it is only available in Leica M and Sony FE mounts.
That’s now the third mentioning of this Voigtländer lens… Notabene: The Irix lenses are made for Canon, Nikon and Pentax K. The Voigtländer only for Leica and Sony E. And nobody can adapt it to Canon, Nikon, Pentax.
So it’s pretty fair to state that the Irix-supported mounts will never see the Voigtländer in front of them as the flange distance is far too short. And btw. there’s also a Laowa 9/2.8, also rectilinear but only APS-C
Good review, but why not consider Tamron 15-30 F2.8 another competitor to this lens?
15mm and 11mm is really quite a big difference, it is like comparing 24mm lens with 35mm lens, you can do it, but….
Once I review the Irix 15mm f/2.4, I will definitely put Tamron as one of the main competitors.
How does it compares to the Canon and sigma uwa zooms?
Talking about the 11-24 and art 12-24. Being that the zeiss is a 15mm @ 2.8, I am not sure which would be fair to compare to
Hi Phillip, unfortunately I could not do side-by-side testing and comparison, my possibilities to do so are very limited, so I cannot tell more then what I have written in the review. V.
Great and useful review as always. However, I do believe the information regarding weather sealing is incorrect. The irix 15mm 2.4 Blackstone has front lens element weather sealing, whereas the firefly doesn’t. For the 11mm f4, neither the blackstone or firefly has front lens element weather sealing as stated on the IRIX website. I’ve seen that incorrectly reported on other sites as well when I considered acquiring lens, and checked with IRIX directly who also confirmed: “When it comes to Irix 15mm – Blackstone version has got the additional weather sealing, Firefly version not. Due to the small movement of the front lens during focusing, the additional weather sealing provides better protection.”
So from using the 11mm f4 lens, does the front lens element not move much for additional weather sealing to make a difference?
Vaclav, thanks for the review, but I wonder why you didn’t use a higher res camera, to reveal more about detail and faults – The D810 or even D850? I would have loved to see the results with that combination.
If I may help? sojujo.smugmug.com/Tests…s/Irix-114
Not as nice as Václav’s pics, but you wanted high res. :)
thanks for sharing – I see still quite a very good centre resolution there!
I wish i would have D850, alas, I only own D750…too bad ( I have already overcome my gear acquisition syndrome and decided not to invest my money into buying the high-resolution FX body, at least not yet)
It is interesting how technology is bringing us super optics that would have been unimaginable a few years back, and at reasonably affordable prices. As for this review, and other similar ones, we really need at least one normal image (= 50mm or equivalent) as a reference to get an idea of just how wide this lens, and others of its ilk, is.
So true.
I always wanted a 47mm Super Angulon XL for my 4×5.
The 11mm Irix has a wider coverage angle, and works great on my D810.
No sheet film required
Good point with the progress of the technology, we are lucky guys to live in this period….as for focal lengths comparison: I think there are some online app, or websites (such as this: www.sigma-imaging-uk.com/focal…simulator/) that can show that, the difference between 11mm and 50mm perspectives is so huge that it would be of little relevance, but what might be more surprising is the difference between 11mm and 14mm (it is still quite big)
The Voigtlander 10/5.6 is the widest rectilinear full frame lens.
voigtlaender.com/10-mm…mount.html
Specs for the lens:
10 mm f/5.6 – f/22
Sony E-Mount, Covers Full-Frame
Click-stop: 1/3
Lens construction: 13 elements in 10 groups
Angle of view: 130°
Aperture blades: 10
Minimum focus: 0.3m
Maximum diameter: 67.8 mm
Length: 73.8 mm
Electrical contact: Exif data transfer from lens to camera body for lens correction available
Manual focus assist
Weight: 371 g
Filter size: Built-in lens hood prevents filters
Other: Lens hood (non-detachable), Pressure fit cap, Selective aperture control system
Congrats, Ted, your No. 4 with the Voigtländer. Care to check the available mounts? ;)
What is wrong with available mounts?
The Voigtländer, mentioned 4 times now, is available only for mirrorless full frame cameras such as Sony E-mount or Leica.
The Irix is the right choice for Nikon, Canon, Pentax DSLRs. So, if I don’t want to buy a new camera body, the Voigtländer might be a nice lens – just not for DSLR, therefore the hint of “the shortest focal length is this Voigtländer” is not really helpful. It is not – for DSLRs, that Irix and the Canon 11-24 are the only ultrawides at 11 mm.
Snobbish commentary. I have a LEICA, and the Voigtlander lens would be a nice addition. Photography doesn’t revolve around DSLRs, you know. View cameras? Rangefinders? Mirrorless?
Btw, the statement about the Voigtlander is both factually correct and very helpful. Make that comment #5
Funny. It’s a review about a lens for DSLRs, one of the widest youc an get for this kind of cameras. You’re right, there are loads of others, but except for mirrorless, none of them has any relevance or uses a single lens with such a field of view. There are also other ways to get nice panoramas, most of them will lead to better quality.
I’m not married to DSLR, but it’s like talking about a van and 5 commenters need to tell, there’s a sports car which is faster (it just has only space fo two persons). Which is fine, but none of the first three or four people mentioning the Voigtländer did care about waht others alredy stated :)
Sure, my opinion is also the most important. For me :D
Oh, and the best part which increase my already big grinning even more, was calling my comment snobbish and go on with “I have a Leica…”. Some people would call that brand snobbish as well :)))) Lucky us, we’re not belonging to them.
I own this lens in the Blackstone version.
I don’t have the author’s sophisticated testing equipment, but I do believe the tested results and mine are very similar.
In short, I am delighted with this lens for its intended use.
The severe vignetting that is inherent with this lens type is problematic for banding issues with panoramas.
I avoid banding problems by using a normal focal length macro lens, and more images.
The added benefit of this is increased sharpness in the corners of each image.
I am entirely pleased with the Blackstone version of this massive lens. Yes, it is indeed very large and heavy.
Manual focus is a non-problem for me.
I would buy this one again without any hesitation.
Thanks for sharing your personal experience, I am glad you mention the issue with taking panoramas, I would also avoid this lens for stitching multiple photos for the reasons you mention. On the other hand: just corping one frame often yields a kind of panorama on its own, don’t you think? V.
Another thought is using a full frame fisheye combined with Imadio Fisheye-Hemi plugins for Photoshop.
I added this one to my PS6EE and am astounded at how well it converts the image back toward rectilinear.
This combination makes dandy infinity panoramas, when shot with careful attention to keeping the sensor plane truly vertical.
The downside is the relatively small single image compared to the 2×8 images I stitch using my 55mm Micro Nikkor.
My primary use for the 11mm is using it for true verticals with buildings.
The D810 image size is sufficient that I can crop out the lower portion of the image and still capture the top of the building without leaning back.
Thanks to to many readers here for commenting on the possibility to use Voigtlander 10mm f/5.6 on (some) mirrorless cameras. I have updated the first paragraph to avoid any confusion, as you are right that the Irix lens is the widest available rectilinear lens only in the DSLR segment.
Available in Italy from www.mastromediapix.it/1545-irix
Thanks for this detailed review. Examined the 11mm and 15mm at the NEC, Birmingham UK last weekend. And the landscape images of Irix Ambassador Isabella Tabacchi sure does justice to these ultra-wides. The Blackstone is indeed a fine optic. I really like the click stops and illuminated labelling that’s engraved into the body.
The term “illuminated” is as misleading as one of the product pictures on the Irix website.
Illuminated usually means a light source (inside the lens. That’s not existing. I already thought, the engraving would be like phosphorescent like the points and hands in a analogue watch. As these are radioactive, a Geiger-counter would get nervous by approaching an Irix lens.
Iris themselves state: “Easy operation is achieved in all lighting conditions thanks to our engraved fluorescent markings…” I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t carry around an extra UV-torch – that’s what “fluorescent” means: You need a special outside light source with a certain spectrum of emitted light. This doesn’t mean I don’t like the engravings as they are made, it’s a lot petter than peeking through a tiny plastic window. But not as cool as the OLED of the Zeiss Batis types. ;)
Yesterday I took the IRIx to a little bike ride in the mountains, getting some waterfalls (and using the gelatine filter holder). Knowing Václav Bacovský’s excellent picture samples I was hoping to get also some nice ones. And I did, but halfway through I could not set the aperture anymore. One of the springloaded contact-pins wasn’t returning in his original place, therefore no more contact on pin 3. Also, only open aperture possible (useless for waterfalls and huge DoF).
The IRIX became a dead load in my bag – and of course, I only had one UWA with me.
Putting the ND filter in the designated holder is also no fun without tweezers.
Hi Joachim, thanks for your impressions, what a bad luck with that pin! To not be able to set the aperture value is very unfortunate…Did you try to complain about that with the seller?
I got the Nikon mount version for my architectural photography, adapted to my Sony A7R. It’s just so awesome! Wish they have a mirrorless fullframe version soon which I reckon will be much smaller and lighter.