Sirui expands its premium Aurora line of full-frame autofocus lenses

Sirui Aurora 24mm f/1.4 — (Image credit: Sirui)

Sirui has added two new lenses to its Aurora series of full-frame optics for Sony E and L mount cameras. The new 15mm f/1.6 and 24mm f/1.4 optics line up alongside the existing 35mm and 85mm Aurora lenses.

Aurora 15mm f/1.6

With its wide 109.3-degree angle of view, the 15mm f/1.6 has been designed with landscape photography, astrophotography and interiors in mind. Sirui says optical distortion is around 1.4%, helping ensure natural reproduction of geometric subjects, while a 0.3m minimum focus distance adds extra compositional versatility. The weather-sealed, all-metal lens barrel measures a relatively compact 106.4mm long, 82mm in diameter and weighs 550g. It features full electronic contacts for lens-body communication, along with a physical aperture control ring with iris lock and switchable de-click, plus a customizable function button that can be used as an AF lock.

Inside is a 17-element optical stack arranged in 12 groups, including 3 aspherical elements to help reduce distortion, along with 3 extra-low dispersion elements to control fringing, and a trio of high refractive index elements to further reduce aberrations while also maintaining a compact optical design. An 11-blade aperture diaphragm is said to produce rounder, more natural-looking bokeh. The lens incorporates stepping motor AF for fast, accurate and quiet autofocus, and works with the subject detection and tracking modes of compatible cameras.

Aurora 24mm f/1.4

The Aurora 24mm f/1.4 shares similar handling characteristics to its 15mm sibling; it also weighs around 550g, and is almost the same length. Its slightly longer focal length makes it more suitable for street or still life photography, with the fast f/1.4 aperture meaning the lens should be particularly handy in low light. Its 14-element optical design includes 3 aspherical, 4 ED and 3 HRI elements. Like the 15mm f/1.6, the 24mm Aurora gets stepping motor autofocus with subject tracking and eye-detection capabilities. Sirui also says the lens has been designed with video recording in mind, as it combines low focus breathing, a de-clickable aperture, and quiet, accurate autofocus.

Expect to pay $499/£439 for the E mount or L mount versions of the Aurora 24mm f/1.4, with Z mount and X mount versions reportedly coming soon.

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Ben is the Imaging Labs manager, responsible for all the testing on Digital Camera World and across the entire photography portfolio at Future. Whether he's in the lab testing the sharpness of new lenses, the resolution of the latest image sensors, the zoom range of monster bridge cameras or even the latest camera phones, Ben is our go-to guy for technical insight. He's also the team's man-at-arms when it comes to camera bags, filters, memory cards, and all manner of camera accessories – his lab is a bit like the Batcave of photography! With years of experience trialling and testing kit, he's a human encyclopedia of benchmarks when it comes to recommending the best buys.