It’s not fairly a pancake lens, however the TTArtisan 50mm f2 lens is nearly compact sufficient to be known as one. Just a little greater than an artisanal macaron, the lens doesn’t really feel low cost in any method to maintain. With a full steel physique and clicked aperture ring, you’d be shocked to know that the lens retails for lower than $80. However can it carry out in addition to it appears to be like and feels?
Subscribers get some candy perks and are routinely entered into contests! Obtain our app for iOS, iPad, and Android and get no banner advertisements for $24.99/12 months.
Once I opened up the lens bundle and noticed what was inside, my thoughts instantly thought – “hmm… is that lens totally made from plastic?” A thought that was shortly dismissed as soon as I picked up the lens. It felt extremely effectively made for one thing that, at first look, appeared like a toy. The physique was all steel and by no means felt low cost. The TTArtisan 50mm f2 Z mount lens that was despatched to me had an incredible chilly steel contact. I might even go as far as to say it felt premium in some methods. It’s an f2 aperture manual-focus lens about half the scale of my Nikon Z 50mm f1.8 S lens. A number of the different lenses from this model are a bit unconventional in design, however this one appears to take inspiration from Leica’s Summicron mannequin.
The Massive Image
Professionals
- Compact and light-weight
- Good construct high quality with a premium really feel to the physique
- Nice value at simply USD $79
- Is available in a spread of lens mount choices for mirrorless cameras
- Correct coloration rendition
- Clicked aperture ring
CONS
- Not too sharp beneath f4
- Photos don’t have a lot distinction when utilized in common to vibrant daylight
- Handbook focus and aperture rings have switched locations in comparison with conventional Nikon F-mount handbook focus lenses. Seasoned Nikon handbook lens customers will take a while to regulate to this
- No lens hood
- The lens cap is a screw-on mannequin that makes it cumbersome to shortly cowl or open your lens
- No digital contact factors for transferring EXIF knowledge to your digital camera
It’s a type of lenses the place you may’t complain a lot about a number of optical flaws for its fantastically low value and compact measurement. Photos can lack distinction even when stopped down when taking pictures instantly into daylight, or if there’s intense gentle from both aspect. As with all handbook focus lenses, it takes some time to know the candy spot for sharpness. In case you’re a zone focus fanatic or professional, you’ll take advantage of this lens. Cease down the aperture previous f5.6, set your digital camera to Auto-ISO, and take it out to the streets for time. However in any other case, be ready to take care of comfortable particulars exterior the principle focus areas.
Not so sharp but additionally not unusable at wider apertures, the lens will be enjoyable to make use of for those who don’t anticipate the world from it. I’m giving the TTArtisan 50mm f2 lens three out of 5 stars.
Gear Used
I used the TTArtisan 50mm f2 Nikon Z-mount lens with a Nikon Z6 II. We’re allowed to maintain the lens and the Nikon Z6 II is a earlier buy of ours.
Improvements
None to report. Until you think about that poker-chip sized lens cap as modern
Ergonomics
The aperture ring has stable clicks once you flip it (half stops from f2 till f5.6, and from then on, full stops till f16). The main target ring isn’t stiff however doesn’t flip too quick once you need to go from infinity to the closest focus distance. You’ve bought focal distance markings on there, but it surely’s not one thing I paid a lot consideration to whereas utilizing it. Most of the time, I used to be nearly centered at infinity to get the topic in higher focus. I really feel that photographers with greater fingers than me may not get pleasure from focusing utilizing this tiny lens.
The lens cap actually shouldn’t have been a screw-on sort. I typically prefer to cowl the entrance ingredient of my lenses with the lens cap after I’m strolling in crowds, particularly when there’s no lens hood. With this lens, it was simply an excessive amount of of a problem to unscrew the cap every time I wished to take a photograph. I made a decision to depart it off all through my out of doors checks. It’s additionally made from the identical steel high quality as the remainder of the lens exterior and has corrugated edges for straightforward gripping. It’s solely useful after I need to stow away the lens in my bag. A lens hood may need been useful for some sort of safety in opposition to bumps whereas utilizing outside, however that may have elevated the already apparent vignetting within the photographs (extra on that later).
Construct High quality
You wouldn’t anticipate this type of high quality from a sub-100 USD lens, and I definitely wasn’t ready for this lens’s ending high quality. I used to be anticipating it to really feel gentle, nearly hole, however the density of this tiny lens was spectacular.
The lens mount felt stiff after I tried to mount it to my Z6 II, but it surely does click on into place fairly audibly. General, for this value, the lens feels actually value it in terms of the standard of supplies used and the general really feel of the lens in your fingers.
Ease Of Use
As a Nikon person, I discovered the swapped positions of the aperture and focus ring complicated to make use of. The aperture ring is closest to the physique on all my Nikon handbook focus lenses. In the course of the first day of utilizing the lens, I typically turned the aperture ring after I supposed to regulate the focal distance. This took a number of hours to get used to, but it surely’s not one thing that I’d think about a deal breaker if I wished to purchase this lens.
Handbook focusing with this lens is far simpler once you use your digital camera’s focus peaking characteristic. However for no matter purpose, I discovered it robust to nail focus at f2, even when the main target peaking indicated that the topic was in focus. At f2, something even barely exterior the world of focus appeared comfortable upon shut inspection. It’s a lens that wants loads of endurance to work with to know find out how to get one of the best out of it.
Neither does TTArtisan’s product web page state something about climate sealing/resistance nor would I actually anticipate that at this value vary. There don’t look like apparent locations the place mud may seep in and attain your digital camera’s sensor. My sensor remained as clear after utilizing this lens because it was earlier than I first mounted it onto the digital camera.
Focusing
It gave the impression to be in focus, and the main target peaking indicators on my Z6 II would say that it was, however I typically noticed that the main target was off within the remaining picture. And this wasn’t simply at f2; I noticed this all the way in which till f4 even. With each different handbook focus lens I’ve used on this digital camera, even at f1.4, the main target peaking was correct. Even when the depth of area was shallow, it was all the time correct. If it was off, it was both as a result of the topic had moved out of the focal aircraft or I did. Now at f2, I used to be prepared guilty myself for not being regular sufficient to nail the main target. However when there was adequate focal vary at apertures like f4, I used to be stumped over why the main target could be off.
It didn’t matter if the topic was near me for portraits or far-off within the distance. I noticed the main target to be off in over 1 / 4 of the photographs I took with the TTArtisan 50mm f2 lens. Whereas I’m prepared to take the blame for a few of these photographs, I really feel there are different contributing elements too. If you get the main target proper, it’s acceptably sharp all through the middle and solely barely drops off on the corners. However getting it proper typically wasn’t one thing I managed throughout my checks. It was so much simpler getting the give attention to the tremendous shallow Laowa 45mm f0.95 lens. Perhaps I simply obtained a foul copy of the lens.
Picture High quality
In case you’re affected person with handbook focusing for shallow apertures or simply cease down the aperture for extra depth, you’d get some fairly first rate photographs out of this lens. Simply bear in mind to avoid rays of daylight, in any other case your pictures will lack distinction for essentially the most half. Most autofocus mirrorless lenses today produce photographs which are good and contrasty. I noticed none of that when utilizing the TTArtisan 50mm f2 lens outside at noon. When there’s a little bit of shade and no daylight hitting the lens, the general really feel of the pictures this lens produces is rather more spectacular. However I typically needed to maintain reminding myself that it’s meant to be a funds lens, and I have to dial down my expectations from it. And after I did, I believe I used to be extra glad with what I bought out of it.
The standard isn’t gentle years away from what I get within the photographs taken with my Nikon 50mm f1.8 S lens. I’ve seen worse picture high quality from costlier lenses, and TTArtisan has managed to place some good optics right into a low-priced lens that feels costlier. The heavy vignetting wasn’t one thing I used to be anticipating although. It’s fairly evident even when taking pictures at f2, and that’s odd contemplating I didn’t have a filter or a lens hood on the lens.
Bokeh
The standard of the bokeh that this lens produces is nice.
Shade Rendition
So long as you don’t overexpose and keep away from direct daylight, you’ll discover the colours produced by this lens to be correct. Do anticipate the often washed-out picture, such because the one beneath. These can simply be saved with the Dehaze characteristic in your post-processing software program of selection. The shadows appear to retain higher colours than the highlights for many of my photographs.
Lens Character
Numerous flare when stopped down and pointed on the solar.
The shortage of purple fringing is phenomenal for a lens at this value level. I used to be anticipating to see loads of this, however I hardly noticed any. No matter lens coatings they’ve utilized in listed here are controlling the fringing effectively.
Picture distinction is unquestionably decrease than what you’d see on competing 50mm lenses within the mirrorless class. It’s simply corrected throughout enhancing however be ready to need to take care of this in loads of the photographs you’d take utilizing this lens.
Vignetting is noticeably heavy on the corners, even at f2. In case you managed to get a screw-on hood for this lens, it’d in all probability be method worse.
Sharpness
If you handle to get your focus proper, the sharpness is definitely good. The sharpness falloff can be fairly cool once you lookup shut. Sadly, getting the main target proper on the lens I obtained wasn’t as simple as I believed it could be. I might typically take a shot and examine it, then discover out it wasn’t centered accurately on the topic. When repeated takes would miss the main target this manner, I might cease the aperture down for higher outcomes.
If pin-sharp photographs are one thing you chase, keep away from this lens please. It’s not which you can’t get them utilizing it, it’s simply that you just’d spend method an excessive amount of time making an attempt to get it with this lens.
Further Picture Samples
From day one, The Phoblographer has been large on transparency with our viewers. Nothing from this evaluate is sponsored. Additional, a number of people will put up opinions and present a number of enhancing within the pictures. The issue then turns into that anybody and everybody can do the identical factor. They’re not displaying what the lens can do. So we’ve a bit in our Further Picture Samples space to indicate edited and unedited pictures. From this, you may make a choice for your self.
Unedited
Edited
Who Ought to Purchase It?
In case you’re contemplating getting a quick 50mm lens for his or her mirrorless digital camera and are prepared to tackle the challenges of handbook focusing and a little bit of picture softness at a very inexpensive value, go for this. Like most handbook focus lenses, the TTArtisan 50mm f2 has its personal traits. These should be wholeheartedly embraced as you get to know its flaws intimately. However getting this construct high quality at such a low value looks like an actual cut price. And the photographs you get from this aren’t unhealthy in any respect. If you actually nail the main target correctly, loads of the pictures are keepers. It’s a superb walkabout, day by day out of doors images lens. Keep in mind that you’ll be correcting distinction typically and sharpness often.
tech Specs
These have been taken from the Pergear product itemizing web page:
Focal Size: 50mm
Most Aperture: f/2
Minimal Aperture: f/16
Lens Mount: X-mount
Angle of View: 45°（Full Body）; 32°(APS-C)
Minimal Focus Distance: 1.6′ / 50 cm
Optical Design: 6 Components in 5 Teams
Diaphragm Blades: 10
Focus Kind: Handbook Focus
Picture Stabilization: No
Filter Dimension: 43 mm
Dimensions (ø x L): 60mm x 35mm
Weight: 190-212g
The Phoblographer might obtain affiliate compensation for merchandise bought utilizing hyperlinks on this weblog put up.
