Distortion
Now, let’s have a look at distortion. I shot these two test photos side by side with these two lenses. These two lenses are very similar and have a very minimal amount of distortion. I noticed that the fuji has a slightly wider field of view, but the difference is relatively small.
Now, since I already downloaded the Iridium Developer software, I also use it to check the distortion test file and remove lens profile correction again. You can now see some noticeable distortion with both lenses. The TTAritsans lens has more distortion than Fuji.
You will need to stop down a bit more at the minimum aperture F16, sunstars become sharp, and it looks pretty lovely t my eyes. On the other hand, there are better choices than the fuji lens if you want to have sharp and long sun stars.
Color Quality
Both lenses offer great color quality, but the TT Artisan is definitely more neutral than than the Leica R.
Depending on what you’re shooting, this could give the TT Artisan an edge over the Leica R, since it captures a more accurate and clean look in camera. The Leica R skews a touch green, which is something you might want to correct in post.
TT Artisan – Color
Leica R – Color
That said, color accuracy isn’t always what we’re looking for.
Take the Arri Alexa as an example – its colors are less accurate than many other brands (let’s say Sony), but also far more pleasing to the eye. Color quality is incredibly subjective, so there is no right or wrong.
When I look at the two (unedited) images above side by side, I much prefer the Leica R image. The colors may be less technically perfect, but they feel organic and alive. The colors are more vibrant, and the saturation levels feel more natural too.
TTArtisan 34mm f1.4 Review
TTArtisan, not to be confused with 7Artisans has been rolling new designs for the APS-C mount system.
There are now three lenses for Fujifilm, the 50mm f1.2, which I reviewed here, this TTArtisans 35mm f1.4, and a new TTArtisan 17mm f1.4.
Compared to the other cheaper brands, like 7Artisans, Meike etc, the TTArtisans are a bit more expensive, but also a little bit better.
There are two reasons for this,
They have a little bit better builds, using clickable aperture rings, and overall feel slightly better mechanically. You’ll notice 7Artisans, Meike, Brightin Star, sometimes Pergear will share similar physical designs, sometimes they only mix up the aperture blades, or the coatings. TTArtisan is doing its own thing.
It also almost seems like TTArtisan has access to better optics or coatings. But don’t quote me on this, I’m just some dude on the Internet and I haven’t had any good intel dumps on what these Chinese companies are up to in a while.
I say this because when looking at their other lenses, they sometimes use more advanced optical formulas. Sometimes using ED elements or ultra-high refractive elements. No aspherical elements in their APS-C lineup, at least not yet, but also their coatings seem to be a little nicer than the other brands in this class.
Table Of Contents
See the Price
TTArtisan 35mm f1.4 – Amazon / Pergear
How do the TTAritsan lenses compare to the other sub $100 lenses?
I actually like these the most of all the cheaper lenses now. They just handle better in most situations, both mechanically, and optically when shooting into bright lighting.
This is not to say the other brands are dead to me, they still do have some great characteristics, and they shouldn’t be ignored. I still love the way those Pergear lenses flare and the Kamlan 50mm f1.1 II still has a character that can’t be touched.
But the TTArtisan 50mm f1.2 is probably the most practical 50mm manual focus lens you can buy right now, both in terms of price and performance, and now I think I have to say the same thing about the TTArtisans 35mm f1.4, it’s just great for the price, compared to the other lenses like it. As an example, it does f1.4 well, whereas the Meike 1.4 did not.
ISO 400, f5.6, 1/160
Bokeh & Flaring
The Leica R 50mm has 6 aperture blades, whereas the TT Artisan 50mm has 9. This makes for a big difference in terms of the quality and appearance of bokeh.
Below are two side by side images to compare, one from each lens –
TT Artisan – Boekh
Leica R – Bokeh
The Leica R creates a softer, more nuanced bokeh effect, whereas the TT Artisan appears sharper and more rigid.
In the example above, both lenses were set to F4 for consistency. But at virtually any F-stop you will notice this difference to one degree or another.
I also found that the TT Artisan lens was far more prone to flaring than the Leica R. At the same time though, the Leica R appeared to have a much more beautiful flare when it would catch the light. Here’s a side by side comparison –
TT Artisan – Flare
Leica R – Flare
Final Thoughts
In compiling our three perspectives, I have found it interesting to be able to more directly compare mine and Vincent’s priorities (as well as our review styles). It turned out quite nicely that he only shot film, and it certainly seems that my assumption that the TTArtisan 28mm f/5.6 would perform better into the corners was a valid one.
I am left wondering about copy variance though. In part, I am reassured that I can’t see any obvious signs of tilted or decentered optics in either mine or Vincent’s copy – this is a common issue with Chinese low-cost wide angle lenses. That said, he has been all praise for the mechanics, and I am a little less certain. Perhaps, I am just a bit more picky than he is.
Ultimately though, whilst I hope you will glean a good bit of value from mine and vincent’s more technical perspectives, it is Dave’s perspective that best sums this lens up. It’s cheap, and it does what he wants from a 28mm. If you don’t need a fast 28, and don’t want to spend too much cash, for the money, the TTArtisan 28mm f/5.6 has a lot going for it!
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Vignetting, distortion, coma, colour shift
Let’s start with vignetting: pretty heavy wide open, but gone for all practical purposes by F2.8. I haven’t found a fast 50mm prime lens that doesn’t vignette heavily wide open yet. I’m happy with the performance here.
There is no colour shift at all. I have shot this lens with no profile. This is really good news, I was worried after seeing the prominent colour shift with the TTArtisan 50mm 0.95.
Distortion is of the pincushion kind, but very easily corrected if intrusive. I noticed it only when shooting on purpose to test for it, but if you shoot a lot of architecture you might want to correct it.
Coma: wow! Personally, I would shoot astrophotography with this lens. There is some coma at the edges wide open, but I find it almost negligible. Blimey!
Last but not least: sunstars appear at F2 already, but they become really well defined at F5.6. They can be quite beautiful, with 12 points.
Dustin Abbott
July 28th, 2021
My first experience with a fisheye was actually with another TTArtisans lens, in this case the TTArtisans 11mm F2.8 Fisheye I reviewed in 2020. Fisheye lenses are unique and far from traditional, as typically we are looking for minimal distortion while the fisheye effect is really all about distortion. That does provide a lot of creative opportunities, but it also means that a lot of traditional subjects don’t really work well with a fisheye lens. The TTArtisans 11mm F2.8 impressed me with a nice build, excellent price, and an optical performance that exceeded my expectations, and I gave it a positive review. That positive experience left me open to the idea of looking at TTArtisans new APS-C fisheye lens – the TTArtisans 7.5mm F2 Fisheye. While there are a lot of similarities between the two lenses, the new lens has a couple of extra features that I’ll detail in a moment. I enjoyed playing with the TTArtisans 7.5mm F2 on my Sony a6600 along with my Sony Alpha 1 in APS-C mode. I’ve tested the Sony E-mount version, but it is also available in Nikon Z (APS-C), Fujifilm X, Canon EF-M, Canon RF (APS-C mode), Leica L, and Micro 4/3rds. On most of these mounts the crop factor is 1.5, which gives an 11.25mm full frame equivalent angle of view, or 180°. On Canon EOS M, that is 12mm, while on M4/3 that becomes a 15mm angle of view.
TTArtisan 7.5mm F2 Fisheye Review (…
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TTArtisan 7.5mm F2 Fisheye Review (APS-C)
One of the unique features of the 7.5mm is that it comes with threading at the rear of the lens along with a good quality ND1000 filter (my kit also had an ND64 filter in the box). The ND64 gives you 4 stops of reduced light, while the ND1000 gives a full ten stops of reduced light, allowing you to get some killer long exposure shots, like this one:
The good news is that the optical glass in the filters is good, and the results look great. The other unique feature is that you can screw out the middle portion of the lens cap to get the keyhole look with a mechanical vignette (a black circle). This also gives a unique creative look.
To me, the $150 USD price point of this lens makes a lot of sense. I doubt many photographers are interested in an expensive fisheye, as the types of photography you can do with one are limited. But this price point makes it easy to add the TTArtisan 7.5mm F2 Fisheye to your kit even if you don’t reach for it all that often. Check out my full video review below for all the details, or you can just check out the photos in the galleries below.
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Thanks to TTArtisans for sending me a review copy of this lens. As always, this is a completely independent review.
Photos taken with the TTArtisan 7.5mm F2 Fisheye
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Keywords: TTArtisan, 7.5mm, F2, TTArtisan 7.5mm F2, Fisheye, F2, TTArtisan Review, 7.5mm Fisheye Review, TTArtisan 7.5mm F2 Fisheye, TTArtisan 7.5mm F2 Fisheye Review, Dustin Abbott, Dustin Abbott review, Sony, Leica, Canon RF, Nikon Z, Sample Images, Video, Video Test, review, Video review, Real World, Wide Angle, Sony a6600, Sony a6400, Sony a6100, Portrait, Sharpness, Resolution, Bokeh
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Build and feel
Lately there have been two rising stars on the Chinese lens manufacturing scene. One is 7artisans and the other is TTartisan. While their name is VERY similar, they”re NOT the same company as far as I’ve been told. They both get their optics done by DJ OPTICAL, but they each do their own lens designs.
The optical-, as well as the build quality of the lenses from both companies are amazing. It’s getting better and better. 7artisans makes incredibly well built lenses, of which I currently own the M-mount 75mm f/1.25 as well as the new X-mount 35mm f/0.95 (review here).
The TTartisan M-mount line might be even better built than the 7artisans lenses. The TTartisan M-mount lenses feel so much like their Leica lens counterparts that it’s almost scary.
A very cool thing is that this amazing build quality from the M-mount lens line has been carried across to this 50mm f/1.2 lens. It really is built to a very high standard.
One thing that put a BIG SMILE on my face when I unpacked the lens is the fact hat it has…. and this is a big one….
A CLICKED APERTURE RING!!!
I simply cannot stress enough how much I love this feature. For he longest time all the lenses to come out of the various Chinese manufacturers have been with de-clicked aperture controls. Something that is probably quite nice for videographers, but for me as a photographer it is so annoying that I have a hard time putting it into words! – So this fact alone is enough for me to recommend his lens today, tomorrow and forever!
And the aperture is not just clicked, it has the same amazing feeling to the clicks as its M-mount counterparts. It has just the right amount of resistance and click. It’s perfect!! Each aperture stop steps are half-stops, with marking on full stops from f/1.4 to f/16.
Speaking of the aperture, this lens has 10 aperture blades. They’re double curved, looking a little like the Summilux 50mm f/1.4 aperture blades. It makes for nice looking bokeh even stopped down, but around f/2.8-5.6 the out of focus areas will sometimes have a bit of uneven edges on the specular highlights.
The focusing ring is also very smooth and has about 120 degree focus throw from 0.5m to infinity. Very fast to focus, yet precise as the closest distances. The grip on the focus ring is not rubber, it’s ribbed etched metal. It feels perfectly smooth with nice dampened stops at each end of the spectrum.
The markings on the lens are painted, but not etched in. Time will tell if they wear off or not.
The lens and mount is made from metal, and it feels really sturdy. Build quality is excellent with his lens!
Shot on GFX50R | GF120mm f/4
объектив Гелиос-94 обзор
Нормальный светосильный объектив с просветлённой оптикой для дальномерных фотокамер.
Производился на Киевском заводе Арсенал. Точные годы производства мне неизвестны, но это район 70-71 годов. Был одним из двух штатных объективов на фотоаппаратах Киев-5. Второй штатник на этот аппарат — это Юпитер-8НБ.
Гелиос-94 выпускался только под внешний байонет Contax-Киев.
В положительных линзах Гелиоса-94 используются лантановые сорта стекла.
Оптическая схема:
Фокусное расстояние: 50 мм Угол поля зрения: 45° Размер кадра: 24×36 мм Количество линз/групп: 6/4 Рабочий отрезок — 34,85 мм Относительное отверстие: 1:1,8 Пределы шкалы диафрагм: 1:1,8–1:16 Количество лепестков диафрагмы — 9 Регулировка диафрагмы — с фиксацией и с промежуточными значениями Предустановка диафрагмы — отсутствует
Ближний предел фокусировки — 0,9 м. Соединения: объектива с камерой — внешний байонет Contax-Киев для ввинчивающихся насадок — M49×0,5 для надевающихся насадок — ∅53 мм Расположение крепления для светофильтров: переднее Разрешающая способность по ТУ (центр/край): 42/24 линий/мм Коэффициент светопропускания: 0,8
Вес — 230 г
Просветление передней линзы имеет фиолетовый оттенок.
Гелиос-94 — объектив довольно крупный для дальномерного. В целом, по дизайну он уже мало чем отличается от зеркальных объективов. Только защелка байонета выдает его родство с байонетом Contax-Киев, и, следовательно — дальномерный объектив.
По сравнению, например, с Гелиосом-103, 94-й выглядит весьма громоздко.
На его корпусе 2 кольца. Оба они «на своих местах», управляются комфортно и интуитивно. Оба кольца покрыты классической ребристой накаткой. Ближнее к камере — это кольцо фокусировки. Полный ход геликоида — 270 градусов. Ход очень большой и это удобно.
Дальнее от камеры кольцо отвечает за диафрагму. Переключается оно с фиксацией на значениях шкалы, но между основными значениями есть фиксация на промежуточных.
Лепестки диафрагмы черные, матовые. Их 9 штук. Лепестки не скруглены.
Форма лепестков зачем-то сделана довольно сложной. Если смотреть спереди (фото сделано сзади), то создается впечатление, что лепестки уложены в два слоя, хотя на прикрытой диафрагме видно, что слой на самом деле один. Не очень понятна логика такой конструкции, т.к. на всех значениях, кроме, буквально, f1.8 лепестки образуют выраженные девятиугольники. Меня заинтересовала совместимость объективов под внешний байонет Киева-5 с, например, Киевом-4, или иными более ранними моделями.
Так вот, мой экземпляр Гелиос-94 на Киев-4М не встал.
Смотрите на фото. У Киева-4М, понятное дело, есть и внешний байонет и внутренний.
Конструктив внутреннего байонета довольно далеко выступает вперед. Особенно защелка. Ну и кольцо со шкалой расстояний — тоже.
У классических объективов, рассчитанных на внешний байонет все эти выступающие части помещаются в зазор между юбкой внешнего байонета и кольцом сцепления с внутренний байонетом. Видите, какой зазор глубокий?
У Киева-5 внутреннего байонета нет, следовательно, и нет таких выступающих частей.
Поэтому, у Гелиоса-94 зазор между байонетом и внутренним кольцом закрыт шайбой. Шайба эта подпружинена, но хода ее не хватает, чтобы вместить защелку.
В итоге, Гелиос-94 можно надеть только на Киев-5, хотя формально это просто объектив на внешний байонет.
Обычный переходник с байонета Contax-Киев на какой-либо современный стандарт для этого объектива скорее всего не подойдет. За фабричные не поручусь, а те, которые умельцы делают из байонетов фотоаппаратов — наверняка не подойдут. Из-за этой специфики, отзывов об использовании Гелиос-94 очень мало.
Те, что есть — в основном положительные. Объектив достаточно резкий и контрастный с самой открытой диафрагмы.
Собственно, я и так уже собрался изготовить переходник с Contax-Киев, а теперь, выходит, что для Гелиоса-94 нужно будет придумать что-то персональное. Ну что ж, придется — придумаем.
Поэтому тестовые снимки — ожидаются.
Переход по кнопкам вверху экрана или по ссылкам на странице контактов
Focus Throw
Both of these lenses are really meant for taking stills, so neither one has the long focus throw you might be used to with a dedicated cinema lens.
The Leica R does have a longer throw than the TT Artisan, however. I would estimate it to be about 25% – 30% longer. This is important if you plan to attach a follow focus gear to the lens and use it on a dedicated rig.
For my purposes though, I actually like the shorter throw of the TT Artisan 50mm. Unlike many filmmakers, I don’t plan to use the lens on a rig. In fact, my goal is the opposite – to keep my kit as small and discreet as possible.
And if I’m not using a dedicated follow focus, I would rather have a shorter focus throw to make it easier when pulling straight off the barrel.
Does it focus shift?
Hardly! It really puts on a good show in the focus shift department! I have noticed that the F5.6 and F8 series have a bit less contrast: it was a variable weather day and I think the sun came out when I shot those, so I assume that might be a hint of veiling flare from my window.
Looking at the centre crops the resolution is already high in the plane of focus: even the half-millimetre lines on the right side of the target are clearly defined. At F2 there is a small amount of focus shift, but the target is still in the DOF and the half-millimetre lines still defined. At F2.8 the plane of focus hasn’t moved back anymore, and after that, there is no point looking anymore: fantastic performance in my book!
Mid-frame: wide open there is a slight blurring due to spherical aberration on the writing which disappears at F2. From there it just gets perfectly defined. Nothing more to say I believe.
Corners: there is a definite drop in resolution in the wide-open shot, but it improves at F2 and at F2.8 the definition is there again with the half-millimetre lines clearly defined. At F8 there is even a hint of moire in the same lines! And looking at the corners, the field curvature seems almost absent: the target is always in the focus plane.
Lastly, longitudinal chromatic aberration (LoCA), or spherochromatism, is definitely visible in these shots. I haven’t seen it in my real-world use, but it is there. Many fast lenses have it, and this performance is about average I would say.
Again, I have to say that I am thoroughly impressed. This performance is spectacular for the price. Actually, scrap the price caveat: this lens is really, really good in the resolution and focus shift departments.
Vignetting
light falloff
| f/2.0 | 3.3 EV |
| f/2.8 | 2.7 EV |
| f/4.0 | 2.2 EV |
| f/5.6 | 2.0 EV |
| f/8.0 | 1.8 EV |
| f/11 | 1.7 EV |
With a lens this small I am expecting high vignetting figures and this is what we get. Stopping down steadily reduces the vignetting to average values in the corners though.
TTArtisan 50mm 2.0 FE
It is recommended to have a look at this article first to get an idea how this brightness graph works.
optical vignetting
Fast and at the same time compact lenses usually show a significant amount of optical vignetting. Without going too much into technical details optical vignetting leads to the truncation of light circles towards the borders of the frame.
In the center of the frame almost every lens will render a perfect circle, but only lenses with very low optical vignetting will keep this shape in the corners.
So in the following comparison we move from the center (left) to the extreme corner (right) and see how the shape of the light circle changes.
The benefit of short lenses like the TTArtisan 50mm 2.0 is that the amount of optical vignetting is usually low and this is also the case here. There are also no aspherical elements being used so the out of focus highlights are clean without any onion ring structures.
The lines running through the circles are due to the glass I used as a mirror to take these pictures and are not a feature of the lens.
color cast
Sony A7III | TTArtisan 50mm 2.0 | f/2.0
As is often the case when using lenses with strong vignetting on the later Sony sensors there is a slight buish teint in the corners visible. This is more pronounced at wider apertures and it is rarely noticeable in real pictures, but you might still be able to spot it in one or two of the sample pictures.
Conclusion
good
|
average
|
not good
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The TTArtisan 50mm 2.0 is a lens I didn’t even think was possible. At home I have a shelve with some old (mostly broken) analogue cameras and among those is a Nikon FE with a Series E 50mm 1.8 lens. I sometimes look at that lens thinking “for SLR cameras such small yet fast 50mm lenses were possible, too bad this isn’t the case for mirrorless cameras anymore because of the missing mirror box”.
The thing is, that old Nikon lens is about the same size as the TTArtisan lens being reviewed here, but the TTArtisan lens does not need a bulky adapter to be used on a mirrorless camera.
As we are used to from TTArtisan/DJ-Optical the build quality is nice and solid. The narrow aperture ring is the only thing I could nag about, but in the end this is also the price we have to pay for the small dimensions.
The small number of lens elements and the absence of aspherical elements means we don’t see record breaking sharpness figures at the maximum aperture in the corners or perfectly corrected Coma. But is it really needed for a lens like this? I don’t think so.
The sharpness and resolution is sufficient at f/2.0 over most of the frame. Stopped down to f/8.0 to f/11 the across frame performance is also good enough for the lens to be used for architecture or landscape shots.
The bokeh quantity will not break any records of course, but we get mostly even (thanks to low optical vignetting) and undistracting bokeh without onion rings – thanks to the absence of aspherical elements. In the forest or at night the strong Coma in the corners can be a bit distracting though.
The achilles heel of the TTArtisan 50mm 2.0 is the bad flare resistance. If a light source is anywhere close by, you can be pretty sure to catch some artefacts. With the sun outside the frame shading the lens with my hand helped very often, but this isn’t always a solution and it shouldn’t be.
I saved the best for last though: the TTArtisan is only $69. This is less than you usually pay for a semi-decent 40 years old SLR 50mm f/1.8 lens with bulky adapter these days.
For that price it is a great option to bring next to your big zoom lens as an alternative if you want to travel light or need a bit more speed every now and then.
You can buy this lens from TTArtisan | Amazon | ebay.com | B&H for about $69 (affiliate links)
Build Quality
Regarding its build quality, TTArtisans is decent. It feels solid and has a metal lens mood; again, it feels very similar to the Fuji lens. However, Fuji is a weather resistance lens, but the TTArtisans is not. I have used the TTArtisans lens under a bit of rain without any issues, but Fuji is probably a better choice if you plan to shoot under bad weather regularly.
Both lenses have an aperture ring and free clicks per stop to adjust the aperture precisely. The aperture ring on the TTArtisans lens feels very nice, but the Fuji lens’s clicks feel slightly better. This is a very subtle difference between the lenses, but Fuji feels slightly more satisfying when turning the aperture ring. The Fuji lens has a lock button for the aperture ring, so if you have moved the aperture range to a position, you need to press the lock button to move it back to the menu aperture control.
When it comes to Fuji lens has two separate lens caps that come with the lens. One is for you to use with the lens hood, and one is without the lens hood. While with the TTArtisnas lens, you can still use the original lens cap if you fit the lens hood. So, I think that that’s a more user-friendly design.The TTArtisans rear cap is a USB dock to update the lens firmware. When I reviewed TTArtisans 27mm AF lens, I asked them why the lens used a micro–USB Port and I said it really should use a USBC port instead. So I’m glad to see this time, the TTArtisans lens uses the USBC connector instead if you’re wondering whether TTArtisans would provide firmware updates if you go to their website.
Additionally, TTArtisans 27mm F2.8 lens has better autofocus performance. What impresses me the most is that the autofocus operation is quiet and smooth. It is quieter than the Fuji lens, which sounds like it is pumping air when focusing.
However, the TTArtisans are quieter in terms of autofocus noise. Its aperture is noisier compared with the Fuji. The autofocus speed is also reasonably fast, definitely faster than TTArtisans’ first autofocus lens. I’m very excited that TTArtisans has matured its autofocus implementation a bit. Maybe that means shortly. We will see some faster or longer focal-length autofocus lanes from TTArtisan. One day, we know an autofocus version of the F0.95 lens that would be amazing.
TTArtisans lens can focus down to 35mm, which is not bad at all and even when you are shooting at the minimum focus distance and maximum aperture F2.8At maximum aperture F 2.8, the photo is still sharp. Now, the Fuji film’s minimum focus distance is supposed to be slightly closer at 35mm when I test that it is the opposite. The minimum focus distance appears to be about 1cm or so further away than the TTArtisans lens. That gives me a slightly lower maximum magnification ratio. In the photo from fuji, the fuji lens is very sharp, even shooting at F2.8. I was a bit surprised when I first heard TTArtisans was going to announce this lens.
Image Quality
Now, let’s get into the important part, shall we? How does this thing render?
The TTartisan 50mm f/1.2 is not a jack-of-all-trades kind of lens. As with any 50mm APSC lens (75mm full frame equivalent) it’s mostly geared toward portraiture where the photographer would want a little bit less compression than if using an 85mm equivalent lens.
I also enjoy using this focal length on the street, when I want to single out details or just go closer during these CoVid times where people are very aware of keeping interpersonal distance.
Some landscape photographers might want to use this focal length for a bit of compression, but they usually go longer.
All in all, a lens like this is of course optimised for portraiture, and hence should excel in bokeh rendering as well as sharpness wide open at close distances. The corner sharpness, vignetting and resolution at f/8 at infinity are less important traits for this type of lens.
TTartisan 50mm f/1.2 @1.2 – Missed focus on the eye a little bit.
This is not to make excuses about poor image quality traits, it’s just to remind you that you need to think about these things before making a purchase.
Sharpness
The TTartisan 50mm f/1.2 definitely has decent sharpness. Even wide open. It’s by no means the sharpest lens I’ve ever shot, nor is it the softest either. It has a bit of that Sonnar feel when shot wide open, but it lacks that gloom seen an highlight areas typical of the Sonnar design. Wide open it really looks good at closeup distances when shooing skin, since it lessens the appearance of blemishes and skin irregularities.
Even at medium distances of about 5-10 meters it actually performs quite well at f/1.2. I wasn’t expecting this.
Stopping down to f/2 the sharpens up quite a lot and becomes a lot more contrasty. As is to be expected. Optimal sharpness is achieved at f/5.6-f/8, but who on earth buys a 98USD 50mm f/1.2 lens to shoot it at f/8?….. yeah…didn’t hink so either!
Corner sharpness is decent. Even wide open. Again, I wasn’t really expecting that.
Shot wide open at f/1.2. Uncropped frame. Cornersharpness is decent even at long ranges.
Bokeh
The out of focus rendering of this lens is really really smooth! Wide open the specular highlights (or bokeh balls….merry Christmas ) look absolutely amazing. Round, clean, no harsh edges and no onion rings. Just amazingly clean looking bokeh!
Shot wide open this lens has some of the best looking bokeh I’ve seen in a long time. Taking the price into consideration this shouldn’t even be possible. It’s really that good.
It exhibits a little bit of optical vignetting, so you can get a bit of swirl at the right distances, and the shape of the Christmas…sorry…bokeh balls will look a bit more cat-eyed towards the edges of the frames.
When stopped down the specular highlights will have a more irregular shape because of the way the aperture blades are created. It starts at f/2 and goes away by f/8. In that aperture range you will get star shaped specular highlights, just like when using the old Japanese Summilux, The Canon 50mm f/1.4 LTM.
The star shapes at f/4
Vignette, Flaring and distortion
There is a little bit of vignetting wide open, but not too much. I would say about 1/3 exposure stop. It goes away at f/2. It is to be expected, so no surprises there.
The lens coating handles flaring really really well! Whereas the 7artisans 35mm f/0.95 flared quite a lot (although looking really nice if you’re into that sort of thing), this TTartisan 50mm f/1.2 doesn’t really seems to flare. We havn’t had much sun these past weeks, but when we did get some sun I tried all the tricks in the book to get flaring. – I simply couldn’t make it flare! So if backlit portraiture is your thing, this lens should fit right into your arsenal of tools!
Simply couldn’t get the damn hing to flare. But images are wide open with direct sun at a slight angle.
The TTartisan 50mm f/1.2 exhibits some barrel distortion a close distances. Nothing heavy, but it is there. I didn’t feel the need to correct it in post, but it can easily be done since it’s very minute, so the need to crop while correcting is a non issue.
Alternatives and final words
There aren’t many alternatives besides the ones previously named (Leica APO ASPH, almost $7000USD and Voigtlander APO, $1000USD). The TTArtisan 35mm F/2 APO ASPH is not far off half the price of Voigtlander which gives a very strong point in favor of the TTA. You can’t beat the price / performance ratio of that lens which is simply amazing.
As to whether or not this lens is for you, you need to think what you are looking for with an M mount lens. Basically, if you like high megapixel pictures (above 24mp), often pixel-peep, or print very large pictures, this lens will most certainly be interesting for you and you might therefore be less bothered by the size. If you, like me, use film cameras and low megapixel digital cameras, or simply like a bit more character in your lenses, you might also consider getting a smaller lens that will better suit your M camera size and handling. In short, I think this TTArtisan 35mm APO ASPH is definitely a specialty lens that will be liked by many and hated by others because they are simply not the targeted photographers of this product!
I hope TTArtisan are now trying to make another 35 (again, I know, but this is my favorite focal length), more in line with their previous 28mm f5.6, i.e. sharp and portable. A 35mm f2 of the size of the summicron-m 35mm version 4 priced under 500USD would be hugely successful I believe, so please do that TTA!
If you want to see more of my personal pictures, you will find my instagram account there and of course, my Kamerakraft website where I propose my Leica cameras handles.
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The bokeh! The bokeh!
Obviously, we can’t talk about a fast 50mm prime lens without mentioning the quality of the bokeh, and the TTArtisan 50mm 1.4 produces a pretty good bokeh in my opinion.
Close focus yields a sweet bokeh in my opinion. Nice and smooth. The further away the focus, the more nervous the bokeh becomes, but never too obnoxious levels. The highlights in the branches show spherochromatism in this case, with greener outlining and magenta centre, but you really have to magnify to 100% to see that.
I find that light spill peculiar. I haven’t seen it before personally (at least not as pronounced) and I’m not sure of its cause. That shiny plastic from the diaphragm rails again? But it shouldn’t be uniform like in the first crop on the left. If anybody has an explanation please chime in! It seems to affect the very bright highlights, much less the more subdued ones.
The point is: does it affect the final image? Not in the least in my opinion. Unless you are a bokeh fetishist and don’t care about the subject, just the background. I still find the overall bokeh beautiful.
As soon as you stop the aperture down from wide open a ninja-star bokeh shape appears. This is caused by the inwardly curved profile of the diaphragm blades. Although I don’t like it very much, I have a pretty eminent example of this behaviour in mind: the 12 times more expensive Leica Summilux 50mm 1.4 ASPH. It does exactly the same. I might justify it on such a cheap lens as the TTArtisan 50mm 1.4, I still can’t fathom it on the Leica lens. I accept compromises at this price, not at Leica prices.