Hands On - Sirui Aurora 85mm f/1.4 - the perfect introduction to portrait photography?
With the new Aurora 85mm f/1.4, Sirui has launched a new, fast portrait fixed focal length on the market that is well worth a look. Mike Suminski took a closer look at the new Lens for us and tells you what this lens can do and, above all, how it can be used for photography.
Sirui Aurora 85mm f/1.4
- Full frame Lens
- high lens speed of F1.4
- fast, precise and noiseless autofocus
- ideal for portrait shots
- perfect for natural face shots
- Close-up focus: 0.85m
- Filter thread: 67mm
Table of contents
The first impression
What is immediately noticeable when looking at the Lens is its really compact size (for an 85mm f/1.4). The comparatively low weight of around 540g is also really worth mentioning. Siuri's new Aurora 85mm f/1.4 also has many other features that we want from a good Lens: A click/declick switch is included, as is a freely assignable AFL button. At this point, however, a second button would be desirable - especially for a portrait lens - which is also easy to reach when shooting in portrait format.
As you would expect from Sirui, the Lens has a high-quality finish and is of course also protected against dust and splash water. In addition, the front lens is coated with anti-fouling fluorine, making it even less susceptible to dust and oil stains.
Image quality +amp; technical details
The inner values of the new Sirui Aurora 85mm f/1.4 are also impressive: Thanks to the built-in aspherical lens, chromatic aberrations are significantly reduced, 2 ED glass elements ensure good light transmission; together with the three HRI glass elements, which further reduce stray light.
Also on board is a fast, precise and quiet autofocus, which helps you to reliably track your subject. The bokeh is also really impressive - especially for a Lens in this price range - and is beautifully soft and round, as you can see in the sample images in Mike's video.
Conclusion
If you want to get into portrait photography or are looking for an 85mm with a really good price/performance ratio, you should definitely take a closer look at the new Sirui Aurora 85mm f/1.4. The Lens is built to a high standard and is definitely impressive in terms of image quality. Admittedly, this lens does not deliver perfect sharpness down to the last pixel at the maximum aperture of f/1.4, but in view of the comparatively low price, we think that's absolutely fine.
The Aurora 85mm definitely doesn't have to hide in terms of size and weight either - which also makes it a good choice for videographers.
