Weird lens reviews: Funleader 18mm f/8 'Cap Lens' (Full-frame & APS-C)

The mostly hotly anticipated lens of the century has finally arrived. Well maybe not but still, it was interesting to test out.

All pictures taken by me on Sony a7R II and Sony a5100 cameras.

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Music:
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

[tommihommi]

if you want phone quality pictures on your mirrorless camera, this is the lens for you!

[Spicy_chef]

Finally! I can get that "Disposable Camera" look.

[rebbel]

"Welcome to another of my weird lens reviews!"
I don't think your lens reviews are weird at all ~

[lorenzogattaldo]

This brings a whole new meaning to “junk lens".

[TWX]

That unusual inconsistent sharpness to the right of center is disappointing.

[dgaijin]

2 years on from your original review of the Funleader 18mm f/8 Kickstarter lens I bought one in Leica M mount mainly to use on my Ricoh GXR-M mount camera and my Sony A6600. The M mount version is not fixed focus. It has a toggle switch that allows close focusing to 0.45 meter with a click stop at 1.0 meter and a stop at infinity. A much more useful version of the Funleader Cap Lens. I have not tried it on my full frame Leica M, no need to since I have other small lenses for that. But on the Ricoh GXR-M and the Sony A6600 it is a very good performing lens for what it is. Center is very sharp and out to the edge it is more than satisfactory. Slight purple fringing on high contrast subjects such as tree branches against a bright blue sky towards the edges, but again, it is more than tolerable. For B&W it is rather outstanding for street photography in reasonable light, or bump up the ISO.  

If you haven't yet, you might want to get a production sample in Leica M mount to test.

[ivanrebic]

Aaaa the old building test again, oh the nostalgia :D

[aerob]

Might be usable for video work, although I'd imagine most modern smartphones would outperform the results you'd get. Perhaps if you need something cheap, ultra-lightweight and unobtrusive and are trying to match footage, like for a travel photography situation where you can sometimes bring a larger lens but sometimes need something pocketable? Really racking my brain for use cases, here.

[philfyphil]

Chris' videos are like my favorite magazine (SoundOnSound), I look forward to every next release!

[deniselisboa]

This lens makes any expensive full frame camera worse than my phone lol

[mwojciak]

I had so much fun with Olympus 15mm lenscap! Sure, such lenses don't make any sens, any smartphone takes better pictures, but the whole process is fun enaugh to give it a shot.

[AnthonyAntTony]

I got one of these also. My copy doesn't show the poor sharpness (or lack thereof) that yours does. I quite like it. It's a great, unobtrusive, street photography lens that immediately gives "a look" Vignette is easily fixed in processing if you so desire.

[gur]

I've seen people adapt the olympus9mm f8 to apsc. Would be awesome to see that and the 15mm f8 tested on fullframe and apsc. Including info on whether the edges are pure black from mechanical vignette or just pretty dark but correctable. Also I'd love to know whether sharpness of the fun leader might be better at 1m or3?

[alexmesel]

Hey Chris, so great you reviewed this lens, thanks!

[lokilawliet]

Did they just make the smart phone glass into a E mount lens...lol?

[j-trainn]

Perfect allround lens to carry with you for studio and nature landscapes. It always comes with me. xD

[alun]

Interesting! The way to test the out-of-focus rendering would be to use a (very) short extension tube. Though I am not sure such a thing even exists for the FE mount...

[BowndsyMedia]

That lens glare was very interesting..

[chrislj]

Well that was a waste of money, but I did enjoy seeing that lovely old apartment building again.

[TazawaTanks]

This has the image quality of a camera phone from 2004.