Brightin Star 55mm F1.8 Full Frame Manual Focus for Nikon Z Mount Mirrorless Cameras,MF Large Aperture Prime Standard Fixed Focal Lens, Fit for Z-6II, Z-7II, Z5, Z50, Z9, Z50, Z-FC, Z30(Black)

I really love the texture, feeling, material of this solidly built lens. Really love the feeling of manually adjusting the parameters. The huge aperture, nice, great, I love the depth of field. However, the chromatic aberration of this lens does make me annoyed. Considering its price, I am still giving it a 5-star, but for now I will only use it for B&W mode. I will leave some sample images for your reference.

Something this ridiculously wide angle is a very unusual specialty lens. I wouldn't recommend it as a second or even seventh lens for most photographers. There are very few situations to use something like this. For the price you could purchase so many other more frequently used lenses. For the size and weight you could similarly carry one or two more useful lenses in your bag. But if you want this extreme ultra wide rectilinear look then this is the lens you are looking for! With that out of the way, this is a very well executed lens design. For such an extreme wide angle lens the edge and corner performance is very decent. I'm typically using it for landscape stopped down to F/8 which of course helps the corners and edges. I strongly recommend reading some of the thorough online reviews of this lens and the nearly identical 7Artisans version to set proper expectations (look especially for bastiank's review on Phillip Reeve's site). There will be significant vignetting. Often color shifts near the edges are an issue with these kinds of lenses depending on the camera used. Also be aware that assembly tolerances on these ultra-wide lenses tend to be extremely tight and hard to maintain. I'd definitely order from someplace with an excellent return policy like Amazon for that reason. I had to return two copies of the 7Artisan's version. I don't necessarily think Brightin Star has better manufacturing control than 7Artisans, probably I just got unlucky with 7Artisans and lucky with Brightin Star this time. Rather, just assume some of these very ambitious designs from off brands are likely to need to be checked upon receipt and potentially exchanged or returned. With that in mind, I can mention there is a somewhat smaller 9mm F/5.6 lens of a different design from Laowa. I was never able to get a copy of that lens that didn't have a fairly bad optical defect. I know they must exist because there are a few good reviews of that Laowa lens, but I tried two copies with no luck. By comparison, the two 7Artisans lenses of the same design as the Brighin Star that I returned only had minor defects compared to what I experienced with the Laowa. So again, don't purchase any of these kinds of lenses without a generous return/exchange policy! Compared with the 7Artisans version the Brightin Star version is unique having the rear mounted filter. I'm surprised how well the rear mounted filter works optically. Usually introducing glass behind the lens can result in severely degraded corners in ultra-wide-angle designs, but it seems to work fine here! One nice surprise with this lens (and the 7Artisans) is that they perform quite well on IR converted cameras. The other alternatives out there are fisheye lenses. The TTArtisan 11mm F/2.8 Fisheye is quite a bit less expensive and in my experience fisheye designs are for some reason far more tolerant to manufacturing tolerances. The 11mm is razor sharp. You can "defish" the TTArtisan to give a rectilinear projection and because it is such a sharp lens this actually works surprisingly well. The biggest problem with this is composition however. It is extremely difficult to visualize the final "defished" composition when shooting. With the Brighin Star 9mm you see what you are going to get. Also, the TTArtisans 11mm Fisheye is actually a 15mm Fisheye. They call it "11mm" because when defished it has the same field of view as an 11mm rectilinear lens. This goes to show just how extreme the Brighin Star 9mm design is, it is actually a wider field of view top to bottom than a full frame fisheye! I was torn as to whether this really deserves five stars. Compared with typical photographic lenses it is most definitely not five stars. It is not the most useful focal length, the design is very sensitive to manufacturing tolerances, many cameras will see color shifts on the edges, vignetting, manual focus only, and so on. But it wouldn't be fair to compare to a "normal" lens. There is very little else like this out there to compare to. Just the 7Artisans of the identical optical design and the Laowa 9mm of a very different optical design. I've tried all three and this was the only one I ever got that actually delivered on the promised optical performance. It is still a bag of compromises, but any lens of this design would be. So maybe this is "five stars for effort" understanding all the compromises that one should just expect with such a lens.

I love the detail it can capture. It is manual which is not what I am use to but I still love it so much.

This little lens is packed with crisp, perfect photos every time! If you're comfortable using manual settings and are looking for a nice compact lens, this is the lens for you. The photos are incredibly sharp! I wish Brightin Star would make more Z mount lenses for Nikon. Fabulous lens at a fantastic price!

Sorry, but this is by far the worst wide angle lens I’ve ever used. Way too soft at f2.8 and corners are soft all the way down to f16. The only good thing about it is that Chromatic aberration was minimal. Luckily, I used a tripod for interior shots but wow I had to get that shutter speed way slow to get the sharpest picture you can get at f16. It’s a shame because the build quality and feel are superb. But what comes out of this lens is not worth your time or money…unless it was priced at around $75 then maybe.

Im sorry but this lens is not sharp as you are led to beleive with all the youtube videos, has very poor performance. Dont be fooled by the Full-Frame marketing this is not built for full frame, not only dark corners, but black at each corner from the obstruction of the outer lens glass ring. I know, before you say it or comment, its a very inexpensive lens. But to be honest, my reguar Nikon Z 24-70 f/4 lens with a +2 diopter outperforms this lens and has autofocus! I boght it because I was sold on the 2x, but comparing my cropped images from my 24-70 w/diopter, far outperforms it. This lens was only mounted on my camera for 7 minutes and returned the same day I reveived it. For the record, I am a commercial beauty and fashion photographer, so I am not new to lenses and photography

You will get a ring around your photos. The reviews are true. But, I can tell that the photo quality is great..!

This has to be the best all metal fast lens for the money. It’s all manual so when shooting wide open it’s best to use live view and zoom in to nail focus. Stopped down the lens is surprisingly sharp for a fast lens!

Per ciò che costa ottimo, da anche una sensazione di robustezza.

Sharp and a lot of contrast even wide open. Build looks really nice. If can live without auto focus this lens is a no brainer.

Excelente el lente, el problema es abrir la tapa protectora de platico, muy difícil de abrir estaba trabada, al fin logramos. Muy contentos con el producto.

Preso dall'entusiasmo di alcune recensioni l'ho acquistato ma e stato una delusione fin dal primo utilizzo. Le cose estremamente negative sono la resa cromatica che abituato ai colori delle buone lenti nikkor questo mi ha deluso molto. Per non parlare della nitidezza...meglio lasciare perdere. Poi voliamo parliamo della MF ? Possibile che inserendo un filtro perda tutti i parametri ? Poi non è un nove mm ma un 10 ! Unico lato positivo si ottengono delle belle stelle con le sorgenti di luce.....ma non lo trovo un buon motivo per acquistarlo.

BEFORE YOU BUY THIS LENS, PLEASE NOTE: there is an error in lens description. THIS IS NOT A FULL FRAME LENS. It is ASP-C LENS. Good built quality, good optics, very bright (F0.95!) and not expensive. I am using it wit Nikon Zfc. Designed to be used in MANUAL (M) mode which means you have to set focus, aperture, shutter and ISO on your own to obtain desired results using your camera light meter. Works also with other camera settings, except Auto, but don't forget to register non CPU lens in your camera settings.