Irix announces the 21mm f/1.4 lens for Canon EF, Nikon F and Pentax K
Mar 11, 2022
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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Well, I didn’t think we’d have to wait long after January’s Irix Cine 21mm T1.5 lens announcement before we’d see its photography counterpart, the Irix 21mm f/1.4. Now, the company has officially announced the new lens for Nikon F, Canon EF and Pentax K DSLR mounts. As with all of the Irix lenses, the optical makeup is identical to that of the cine version, although its exterior housing is quite different.
Like the T1.5 cine version, the f/1.4 variant is also a manual focus lens, in line with the rest of the Irix lineup, containing 15 elements in 11 groups with four ultra-low dispersion elements, four high reflectance elements and two aspherical elements. Irix says that the optical construction minimises distortion as well as coma, for you astrophotography types.
The lens offers a fast f/1.4 aperture that can stop down to f/16, and as part of the Irix Dragonfly range of lenses offers reinforced internal structure made mostly of metal, a scratch-resistant finish, an “anti-skid” focus ring and engraved markings with UV-reactant paint to help you see them more easily in the dark. Despite being a manual lens, it does have some electronic capability in order to pass along EXIF data to the camera you’re using so that it knows what you’ve got mounted to it.
| Focal Length | 21mm |
| Maximum Transmission | f/1.4 |
| Minimum Transmission | f/16 |
| Lens Mount | Canon EF, Nikon F, Pentax K |
| Format Compatibility | Full-Frame |
| Angle of View | 79.4° (Full-frame) / 65.6° (Super 35mm) / 57°(APS-C 1.53x) / 54° (APS-C 1.62x) / 43.2° (MFT) |
| Optical Design | 15 Elements in 11 Groups |
| Diaphragm Blades | 11, circular |
| Focus Type | Manual Focus |
| Image Stabilization | No |
| Filter Size | N/A |
| Weight | 816g |
Electronic communication also allows for aperture control via the camera. As such, it has no dedicated aperture ring, so if you were planning to get the F mount version of this to stick on your old FM2, you’re out of luck. But, you’ll get full aperture control with the command dials on all Nikon DSLRs or Nikon Z mount mirrorless cameras using the F to Z adapter. The lens is weather sealed to prevent the ingress of water and dirt into its interior and there’s a gasket around the mount to seal it tight to the body and eliminate potential light leaks. As with just about all Irix photography lenses, this one also comes supplied with a dedicated hard case for maximum protection during transport.
The Irix 21mm f/1.4 is available to buy now on the Irix website for around $900 in Nikon F, Canon EF and Pentax K mount options.
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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6 responses to “Irix announces the 21mm f/1.4 lens for Canon EF, Nikon F and Pentax K”
this was to be expected with irix’ MO – Cine first, then photo. Now please release something between 65-80mm and im a happy lad!
Yeah, weird how they switched it around. It used to be photo first then cine, hah.
No Sony love? :(
Why does it need it? You can adapt pretty much any of these to Sony (or any mirrorless mount) easily.
Why not make just a Canon mount and adapt it everything else? Because Sony is now a major player, granted is is MF so doesn’t matter too much, but still I don’t want to buy an extra adapter.
Why not do exactly what they’ve done? One of them is Canon EF mount. And you can’t adapt it to Nikon F or Pentax K which is why there are also Nikon F and Pentax K mount versions.