Pergear 14mm f/2.8 Mark 2 lens review

Pergear's developers have been working hard, and their recent 14mm lens for full-frame mirrorless cameras gets a nice upgrade here. Check it out.

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All pictures taken by me on a Sony a7R III camera.

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[kaminobatto]

Excellent work from Pergear here! I love the lens democratization of Chinese manufacturers. Most have excellent build quality and the optics keep improving. There are some creative options here and there too! It's good news for every photographer/videographer!

[boristahmasian]

Dustin just named this as his surprise lens of the year. I had to see an actual review with samples and you are my goto guy for that. Thank you. I have a Tamron 17-28 which is my wide angle choice for landscape work. There are times that I wish I had a wider lens. I think this lens fits the bill. The lack of distortion is unreal. I have never shot a lens that had no distortion. Thank you Chris.

[boredgrass]

I remember when 15mm lenses cost 8000 $ and only the leading lens makers "dared" to build one! The tech really has come a long way! Kudos to all the engineers who made that possible! 💐🤗💐

[goldwolf]

Thank you so much for this review. I love how you test the sharpness and flaring of the lenses you test, also I was waiting for so long for this lenses review.

[ritrattoaziendale]

Wow, I'm always SUPER critical about "Chinese junk" lenses, as I call it, but this time I've to admit that the lens, flare aside, it's pretty amazing on its own, and for that price is really a steal, if you use it stopped down and can accept to focus manually. One of the very few times where I really enjoyed the lens, no reasons to hide it, great job Pergear! And the hood with the filter thread is pure gold!
It's not my kind of lens (I do portraits and weddings, so I need AF, and rarely shoot anything under 35mm), but for people that cares for this kind of thing, that's one of the best choices I see around.

[przybylskipawel]

ATTENTION!!! I bought this lens and I have a problem with it. At f/2.8 it looks 1EV darker than other lenses with a similar angle of view. It looks (by eye and histogram) like f/4 on Sigma A 12-24mm and Canon RF 16mm f/2.8
Moreover, aperture mechanism is malfunctioning. It starts to close only between f/3.5 and f/4 on the scale. Before that, nothing happens.
Update: they have sent me a mark 1

[ogjbot]

Shockingly good performance! Did not expect that!

[joerg_koeln]

Impressive, how much smaller lenses became. I have an AF-D Nikkor 14mm f/2.8 which is like a little pineapple or coconut, and filters can only be attached at the back end of the lens.

[robertfeliciano]

The straight lines had me ready to replace my Laowa 15mm for a specific project.
But the 4+ week delivery would be past my shoot.

[ErikNatter-gy]

Thanks for the review!! A top lens with small irregularities. Mine has no inscription on the aperture ring, but it is very sharp stopped down and shows the characteristics of Mark II, only at f/2.8 there is a clear decentering, which no longer plays a role at f/4. At apertures 5.6, 8 and 11 it is excellent. The lens construction is identical to the 7artisans 15 mm, 4.0, but this only has a close-up distance of 40 mm. Pergear Mark I was probably the first version, then improved by the flare behavior of the 7 artisans and now Mark II, the best version. Aperture 2.8 is in reality 4.0 etc. There is no better 14 mm lens in terms of very low distortion for architectural work! Polarization filter (Master) from B+W works very well with the lens.

[PrimalShutter]

The lens body has a laowa look, surprisingly good quality as well

[stevenmbjones]

When you say ‘make sure to get a good copy’, how would you know? Do you basically test it when it arrives and send it back if it’s decentered?

[praveenkumar-tzys]

thank you. this really helped me decide. 🙏

[obudu_]

What a bargain lens for this image quality! Looks like no brainer for real!

[davidp]

Thanks for the review Chris! It's interesting to see such a good performing lens can be had for such a low price. Even more so as this is a wide angle lens, which often leans into bigger optical defects. Being able to add an 82mm front filter is a HUGE plus.

Q: Did you do the lens flare test with the "sun hood" on, or off? I am often plagued by flares with wide angle lenses, and wonder if the included hood helps.

[Wistbacka]

Isn't this a re-upload? I feel like I've seen this video before and seen these example images/videos before.

[DigiDriftZone]

This is a really enticing option, it's surprising it is heavier than the much faster and larger Sony 14mm f/1.8 (83x100mm @ 460g vs 68x78mm @ 500g), but at 1/6th the price...

[jjchockey]

How would you say it compares to the laowa 14mm and 15MM or sigma 17mm auto focus? I’m looking for the best 14-17MM wide angle for my S5.

[kevc.]

never tried ultra wide mf lens is it easy to manual focus accurately?

[dfj]

Is this lens sharper than the Canon RF 16mm f2.8?