A newcomer to the world of lenses, Irix is making a splash with its initial release of two ultra-wide primes: an 11mm f/4 and a 15mm f/2.4. And in unique fashion, Irix is splitting its series in two by releasing a “budget” and a “premium” version of each lens, dubbed the Firefly and Blackstone versions, respectively. The Blackstone lenses emphasize a premium build with magnesium and aluminum-alloy housings; full weather sealing, including a seal around the front element of the lens; an anti-scratch exterior; and engraved scale markings with fluorescent UV paint for easy visibility in low light. On the other hand, Firefly series lenses sport a lighter-weight ABS plastic housing with a rubber focus ring, have sufficient weather sealing, and simple, but clear printed scale markings on the exterior of the lens. Beyond these exterior differences, the lenses in the Blackstone and Firefly classes use the same optical design, and both lenses are available in Canon EF, Nikon F, and Pentax K mounts.
Looking closely at the 11mm f/4, this wide prime utilizes a range of aspherical high-refractive index, and extra-low dispersion glass elements to compensate for color fringing, spherical and chromatic aberrations, and distortion to produce clean, well-corrected imagery. A Neutrino coating has also been applied to suppress flare and ghosting. The lens is fully manual focus and the large printed depth-of-field and distance scales benefit working with hyperfocal and pre-focusing techniques. Additionally, the 11mm f/4 has a built-in petal-shaped hood to block stray light, and it can accept 30 x 30mm cut gel filters at the lens mount end.
Slightly narrower in field of view, but with a faster maximum aperture, the 15mm f/2.4 lenses share many of the design elements of the 11mm f/4, including the use of low dispersion, aspherical, and high-refractive index glass to offer improved clarity, sharpness, and color accuracy. Like the 11mm f/4, also, this manual focus lens incorporates a positive focus lock mechanism that allows you to secure your focus position at any point to eliminate unwanted shifting of focus from shot to shot. Additionally, the 15mm f/2.4 can accept rear gels, as well as screw-in 95mm front filters.
