Lens First Impressions: TTArtisan AF 75mm f/2; Far Better Than It Has Any Business Being.

Lens First Impressions: TTArtisan AF 75mm f/2; Far Better Than It Has Any Business Being.

Spoiler alert. Let me get the one weak spot out of the way.

It will flare and show haze if pointed directly at the sun.

That is it. Everything else?

Pretty great.

I am a bit stunned by this lens. First off, how? How does this lens exist? I have had good experiences with TTArtisan lenses before but this lens is on a different level. All prior lens offerings were manual focus. This is their first full frame AF lens. Which is surprising honestly. Perhaps their experience crafting vintage themed manual lenses allowed them to approach AF lenses differently? I am unsure how exactly they got here but I am glad they did. My take so far:

• Premium look and feel.
  • All metal build.
  • A good looking piece of kit.
• Aperture ring.
  • Very nice touch.
• Small size.
• Good AF performance.
  • Not as fast as the best native lenses, but a match for most of the very good third-party lenses I have used.
• Great IQ.
  • I really like the way this lens renders a scene.
  • Little to no aberrations I can see.
  • Minimal pincushion distortion that would be easy to fix in post if I did see it.
  • Same goes for vignetting.
• Sharp.
  • Good wide open, even better slightly stopped down.
• Very nice bokeh.
  • A nice creamy background.
• $199 or less.
  • The biggest surprise.

That last bullet. How?

For comparison’s sake let us look at it compared to my prior favorite full frame 75mm Sony mount AF lens, the Rokinon/Samyang 75mm f/1.8.

I really like that lens. Excellent image quality.

As I stated in a recent post…

So.. Rokinon/Samyang… Here Is Some Unsolicited Advice You Need Like A Hole In The Head.

…I have considered purchasing it again, but hesitated. Worth every penny but more than I was willing to spend.

Then in walks TTArtisan with the AF 75mm f/2 that was just what I was looking for. A perfect form factor, aesthetic, and operational match for the A7C series.

So for less money than the Rokinon/Samyang I get:

• Better build.
• An aperture ring.
• Comparable IQ.
• An included lens cap with a USB-C port instead of requiring me to spend more money on a dedicated adapter like Rokinon/Samyang did.

My intention is not to pick on Rokinon/Samyang here. Up to this point they were the best deal in town. Other options like the SIGMA 65mm f/2 Contemporary also have an all metal build and an aperture ring but cost far more. Other 75mm manual focus Sony mount lenses? They cost even more than the Rokinon/Samyang and TTArtisan AF options.

This is not a this lens is better than that lens discussion.

This is more of a TTArtisan is doing a whole new thing here.

Bringing a manual focus vintage lens build and aesthetic to modern AF mounts at a lower price than anything on the market. Somehow managing acceptable modern levels of sharpness, even wide open, with a bit of a vintage aesthetic and glow. All for much less than a high end memory card. Amazing. A similar conclusion was reached in this review I watched just before making the purchase.

And this is their first full frame AF lens. I hope there is more to come. If so it will really bust up my multi tier lens hierarchy model stated in that post linked above. I outlined more evidence along those lines in another recent post.

Welp. First 24 hours with the lens. Images. Took some. Like to see them? Here they go.

Thoughts.

Even after saying so much I have more. But I will try to keep it brief.

How?

How have they done this for so little of a price.

I barely touched any of these photos. Slight color tweaks, minimal contract and lighting adjustments. No pincushion, vignetting, nor aberration adjustments at all. Focusing was quick enough for my purposes. Accurate focusing. Great IQ.

Out of habit, I took safety shots. Something I do with untested or inconsistent lenses. But this lens focused so consistently that I ended up with duplicate pics, not throwaways. Any pics that I deleted were duplicates or were a product of user error.

This lens feels like a gift to photographers.

Great for those just starting out, those with tight budgets, or looking for an every day portrait lens. Great for anyone that appreciates a great piece of glass actually.

A win all around for camera gear customers.

One more closing thought. When put to use above IQ this lens is a pleasure to use. Feels great in hand. Looks good while doing it. We can pretend it does not matter, but it does… to me anyway.

It puts me in the mind of high end gear from companies that pride themselves on aesthetics and experience. An experience that typically costs far more than $199.

Well done TTArtisan.

Some product pics after the close.

Happy capturing.

-ELW