TTArtisan has revealed its new $235 50mm F1.4 lens for full-frame mirrorless camera systems.
The new TTArtisan 50mm F1.4 ASPH lens is entirely manual and, according to TTArtisan, able to be used with sensors up to 60MP. The optical construction consists of ten elements in eight groups, including a low-dispersion element and aspherical element.
It uses a 12-blade aperture diaphragm, has an aperture range of F1.4 through F16, offers a minimum focusing distance of 50cm (19.7”) and uses a 49mm front filter thread.
As with TTArtisan’s recent lenses, this one follows a clearly Leica-inspired design, complete with white and yellow markings in a Leica-like typeface. The lens features a clicked aperture ring and is rather compact. The lens measures 68mm (2.68”) long, 57mm (2.24”) in diameter and weighs around 430g (15.2oz), with slight variations between the different mounts.
Below is a gallery of sample images captured with the lens:
The TTArtisan 50mm F1.4 ASPH lens is available for Canon RF, Leica L, Nikon Z and Sony E mount camera systems. It is available to purchase through TTArtisan’s online store for $235.
The dawn of the era of china's cheap lenses copying Leica's optical formulas and the "How is this even possible" question. I don't see a problem, Leica has always been 80% brand, 20% actual value. As long u have that red badge there, u paid for that 80% .
This Lens is optically really nice for the asking price - but i am wondering, due to price reduction (vs. the Leica M Mount Version perhaps) whileas that Lens Barrel became much longer, and the Lens Design into general more ugly.
The M-Mount Version does look so much better, for real.
The mirrroless version is simpler to make since it doesn't need a rangefinder coupling. It also has to be longer in order to reuse the same design on lens mounts with shorter flange distance.
I thought about the Rangefinder coupling before, but not about the flange distance. Somehow, it does look missplaced on anything, but Leica M is perfect from the Lens design. :)
I agree - the M-Mount version ( a stunning lens for the price) looks great on a rangefinder. I suspect it would look a little strange on a Z-mount camera with an M-Z adapter....possibly even a little stranger than this native Z-Mount version. I think that, unless I really needed the M Mount version for use on a rangefinder too, I'd go with this native Z-mount version and enjoy a slightly cleaner look and cheaper price, largely because of the absence of a rangefinder coupling I suspect.
With the cost of legacy lenses increasing and and no need for an adapter there is a growing desire for this. Also mechanical focus and no click (not on this one) aperture ring are very useful for video shooters. The Voigtlander models with the collar that allows a choice of detents or continuously variable are great.
This lens tries to be a cheap legacy style lens for modern camera mounts? Otherwise it makes little sense to spend over a grand to a camera body and then gimp it with a cheap soft flary lens.
What you mean by it tries to be a cheap legacy style lens, it is cheap and legacy styled, have you even used legacy lenses? They are soft as people's egos.
Excellent images here. This is a nice optic (from the samples) in terms of rendering and subject isolation. A bargain at this price - we are spoiled in this age of photography.
it really is a great lens for the price. Many people overlook the options for mirrorless (mostly Sony) from Voigtländer, Laowa, TTArtisan because they have no AF lenses. But MF is so easy and precise today with IBIS, focus peaking/magnification all in the EVF (especially because those lenses have real helicoids).
mick232 I have shot tennis with my TTArtisan manual lens at f1.2. If you get used to it, it's not impossible to shoot moving subjects with manual focus. Of course you will miss more shots than you would otherwise, but most people buy these lenses for portraits anyways, so it doesn't matter that much there.
@mick232 At the risk of sounding cliched, people managed to shoot moving subjects with manual focus for a long time. Of course the hit rate is lower, but high burst speeds and not having the cost and limitations of film more than make up for that.
much easier than one might think coming from an OVF and bad focus by wire implementation. That IMO is the main reason why people overlook those new lenses -- many have never used a helicoid lens and think manual focus is impossible judging from the experience they had with focus by wire.
The truth is that it was never easier to manual focus and its a lot of fun, definetly a process i recommend because you feel direct control over DoF which may help your creativity.
pff... do you care about what you can achieve with a lens or how well the camera body gets WB/exposure right? check out this review of the M-mount version if you want an unbiased opinion: https://phillipreeve.net/blog/review-ttartisan-50mm-1-4/
after seeing the full-size samples on Flickr... this lens has the most beautiful rendering of all 50 mm lenses. not clinical sharp .... you don't need a black mist filter on it anymore. for more arty portraiture, this might be the lens
Oh paleeeeeze... the completely bland and milktoast focal length of 50mm... bore me to tears. BUT... if they can produce F1.8 versions of 85, 105, or 135... NOW you're talkin about somethin worth buyin... ;)
one of the reasons this is relatively cheap is because it doesn't have floating element (compared to the Leica Summilux ASPH and which can result in uneven optical performance depending on what is on focus.
I will probably try the M-mount at some point, but I tried their 90/1.25 and it's not a good lens at all: not sharp at ANY aperture and very flare-prone and the RF focussing mechanism is a joke.
I think Mitakon will launch a more reasonable 90mm 1.5. There is a picture of it on Philip Reeve's website. Perhaps that might perform better. The TTArtisan is not that bad for its specific use case: studio shots. Nobody can do street photography with that bulk, nor focus comfortably handheld. Most of its flaws are not a big issue for interior portraits. It is anyways at the optical limits of the smaller mount and longer flange distance. Could even be calibration issues, as is the case with all these Leica mount lenses.
I have the 35mm f0.95 for Fuji and it also has poor quality at all diaphragm apertures. I bought it to have a 0.95 but, at that diaphragm it is unusable.
I just got my first TTartsian 50 1.2 lens I can testify to the fact these lenses make a tough argument for spending thousands more on manufacturers fast / exotic offerings - unless of course you need AF.
It will flare, almost certainly, but use it creatively and you’ll love it. I have 7artisans 50mm 1.05 and optically, centrally at leat is stellar m, flares easily but it looks fantastic
how can one judge lens performance , which is claimed to be designed for 60MP sensor , by sample images of 2.5 ? forget about it's been only manual , mounted on high performance AF bodies ...
Likely story that it’ll be extremely sharp in the centre and never quite perfectly sharp in the corners but getting there. And you don’t need autofocus to make a good picture
The review linked by Johan Borg, above, shows full size drops from an A7rII. The lens seems to be pretty sharp in the center at f2.8 and to the corners by f5.6. Not shabby at all for a $235 lens.
I don't know about this particular lens but I have two TTArtisan lenses that I am quite happy with. The fact that I only spent $73 for one (35/1.4) and $67 for a like new, used version of the other (50/1.2) helped lower my expectations. So perhaps it was easy to exceed my lowered expectations. I've spent more for old SLR lenses to adapt, that weren't as good. These are native mount; I like the images they produce; they have tight but smooth components; the handling is good. No quirks that I've seen like others of the relatively new 3rd party manual focus lenses from Chinese brands.
If its the same Lens optically, like this into 2020 released TT Artisan 50mm F1.4 ASPH, then it's not literally 100 $ cheaper, but the same optical quality. (build quality looks better on the Leica M Mount version, though)
Pro If its the same optical formula, like the M-Mount version, that could be the best bang for your buck
Contra build quality not the same like the M Mount version Leica Lens design doesn't suit Canon RF/Nikon Z & Sony E Mount so well manual focus only (good for me - but turn off for some people)
Its a waste of money spending thousands of dollars on what amounts to be a chunk of computer engineered glass. What TTartsian is demonstrating is how incredibly overpriced glass is.
Yes. It is sharp. Look at MTF chart. We can't judge corner sharpness from portraits. There are no brick wall shots here, but they will eventually appear in reviews and will likely be fairly sharp.
When looking at the MTF I have doubts. It is sharp in the middle on the edge no so much It is flares like hell According to TTartisan it can resolve 60MP but I don't believe it. It looks like milk bottle bottom to me when looking at the MTF at 30l/mm and when compared to other lenses.
I don't know how you all are reading the MTF chart, but it's actually quite decent. At f/5.6 it's very good and wide open it's ok but exceptionally even across most of the frame -- not your classic old fast fifty "great in the center, lousy off axis" MTF chart. Take a look at the 1977 Pop Photo tests of 32 normal lenses: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nesster/5326310543/ -- this lens isn't awesome, but MTF resolution isn't really the weak point
Those first three example photos are terrible examples! There are strange reflections in the 1st and 3rd and the 2nd has heavy flare. Ignoring those shots, it looks pretty good for a sub-$300 FF lens. The online store link has the usual MTF chart, which shows around 60% contrast for 30 lp/mm until the corners -- worse in the center but more even across the field than most fast 50s, including the (even cheaper) Sony FE 50mm f/1.8. Higher contrast than most old fast fifties, but poorer bokeh.
Hank doesn't have seen the Link i've posted twice from the TTArtisan 50/1.4 ASPH vs. the Comparsion to the Leica Summilux 50mm F1.4 ASPH...and no, that cheapskate Sony 50/1.8 AF Lens can't compete with either of these lenses in terms of bokeh and build quality.
marc petzold: That's for the Leica M version, which is more expensive, but looks optically the same... or at least they apparently used the same MTF chart for both. That review also praises the center sharpness, which in fact is poorer than many old or new fast fifties (especially since the MTF chart here is the theoretical performance, while for most of the others I'm looking at measurements of actual lenses). It's the off-axis sharpness that the MTF charts show to be unusually good, which is honestly a little suspect in that there's no indication that they've tweaked the different versions for microlens/cover glass differences between brands. The flare performance is definitely not good.
Bottom line: Like the cheap Sony FE 50mm f/1.8, this looks darn good overall for the price as a new lens. I don't think it's particularly compelling if you already have a good fast fifty, but if you want a new manual fast fifty, it's a good option.
PS: And no, i'd never buy that cheapskate Sony 50/1.8 for my A7, no offense. YMMV. ;-) It's okay to have another Opinion, but don't compare that cheapskate Sony plasticky AF Lens with the TTArtisan.
FYI, i'd take my manual focus Minolta MD III 50mm F1.4 always, anytime, over this cheapskate Sony 50/1.8 AF Lens. Because it matters, i love manual focusing, unlike you it seems..and it's rendering style, bokeh quality is different, way smooth, and a joy to use on my XD7.
marc petzold: The only thing I saw in that video that impressed me was the adjustment mechanism on the M-mount version. I'm a huge fan of manual focus, personally owning over 200 manual focus lenses including a few dozen fast fifties -- and I've actually done extensive formal testing of the optical performance of nearly all of them. (BTW, that Sony is one of the few AF lenses I have, and I agree with the Sony review that it's a "mixed bag" -- but I don't take off so much for slow AF.) Overall, I don't think I'd swap any of my old manual f/1.4 lenses for this TT Artisan, and certainly not my Minolta MC Rokkor-X 50mm f/1.4 (despite it only costing me something like $20).
As I said: This TT Artisan seems a very good deal for a new, FF, manual, $200 fast fifty. However, that flare is a deal-breaking defect for me. Maybe they'll fix it in the next revision?
Yeah. I really like my TTArtisans 35mm and 17mm on APS-C, but they were $70 and $120 respectively, and equivalent AF lenses are significantly more expensive. Meanwhile, losing less than a stop of maximum aperture to gain electronics at a cheaper price seems worth it.
I've seen a lot worse onion ringing tbh, but getting almost none of it on a modern fast lens usually means paying a GM/L or CV APO-Lanthar premium, it's not like the average f1.8 prime is totally devoid of it (50mm or otherwise)...
Even the excellent Nikon 50/1.8 S has some traces of it...
It's not a controversial opinion, but I do think MILC AF 50s are all over the place as far as prices, complexity, and design choices go in general...
That's besides the point, if you want to see no onion rings whatsoever in the bokeh of a lens mounted on a modern high MP body then you're gonna have to pay for a more complex lens with pricier polishing techniques, or settle for something that doesn't resolve quite as well, or both.
Or y'know, just live with a little onion ring that you still have to zoom into to notice, I've got lenses on both sides of that equation. /shrug
" Compared to Nikon's legacy F mount 50mm primes, the new Z 50mm F1.8 S belongs to a new generation of optics, and not only in terms of sharpness, but coma and LoCA too, both of which are exceptionally well-controlled. " -DPR
Yeah it's no $150 DSLR nifty fifty, but even something like a SY 45/1.8 is still worth the extra premium over those old 50s IMO, YMMV. I actually think the 50/1.8 is one of Nikon's better priced primes (one of the few that undercut Sony's at all, tho the Zony 55/1.8 is pretty overpriced).
When a first party tries to do a modern MILC nifty fifty at a low price point we get stuff like the Sony 50/1.8 or Canon's RF 50/1.8 STM that make you question whether AF is worth it at that $200 or less price point, so I can see why stuff like the TTartisan finds a niche even beyond the subjective rendering preferences.
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