This is the first of a mini series of short reviews that I’d like to get completed before they all start to stack up and I begin to forget the original experiences. As with all the reviews I do, I’m under no arrangement or pressure to produce a favourable view. I bought this lens at full price and have no potential eanings from any sales. The current cost is between about £160-199 depending where you buy.
The path of lens buying has diverged over recent years. In my younger years, photographers simply balanced sharpness against budget. You bought the best you could afford.
Over the last decade and, I would argue, especially since the arrival of the Nikon Z system, things have changed. Sharpness can now be guaranteed without the need to sell parts of one's body. Some lenses have brought sharpness to a clinical level and photographers have begun to talk increasingly about other aspects of the way a lens performs. When I started out in the 80’s I never heard anyone mention the word ‘Bokeh’ for instance. They talk about the way out of focus areas are presented and the overall way a scene is rendered. They talk positively about aspects of lens performance which realistically come under the heading of imperfections. For some photographers the pendulum has swung back a little away from clinical sharpness to artistic ‘sub perfection’. One might use the term ‘alternate perfection’ Such photographers are seeking something different from a lens other than every last drop of sharpness, contrast and control of aberration.
Some have exploded the market for vintage lenses. Old 1970/80’s Japanese and German lenses that 30 years ago were being sold by weight are now holy grails commanding outrageous figures. Other markets have opened up for brand new, retro, premium lenses giving a contemporary retro experience. One can have a metal body, manual focus for more than the current Autofocus equivalent. In return the buyer gets a thing of beauty that evokes a sense of the great days. In the right hands such lenses do wonderful things.
There is however another route to similar end points and that is one by which I am intrigued. The last few years have seen a huge expansion in the independent lens sector coming out of China. These began mostly as modest manual items often with legacy designs but we are now seeing fully fledged AF lenses giving at least consumer quality output and in some cases genuine pro level specs. Amongst all this are the ‘interesting’ lenses. The ones that seem to have a chance of sitting in and around the vintage classics. The trick here is for the lens to be generally good or excellent and for there to be no horrors anywhere. Beyond this, whatever imperfections there are, need to resolve in an overall look that pleases some or many people. In my case, I'll settle for it pleasing just me.
This brief review looks at the recently released TTArtisan 75mm f2 Full Frame lens, currently available in Sony E and Nikon Z mounts. The main features as as follows:
75mm Focal Range
F2.0 Max Aperture
F16 Minimum Aperture
Filter Thread: 62mm
Max Format: 35mm FF
Weight: 340g / 0.75 lb
Dimensions(øxL): 68mm x 69mm
Min Focus Distance: 0.75m
Max Magnification: 0.13x
Released in September 2024
This little lens is an absolute delight. A fraction of the size and weight of the Nikon Z 85/1.8. AF is quick and accurate and the optical performance is way above the price point and I was more than happy using it at f2. Wide open it does not have the clinical sharpness of the Nikon of course. A couple of stops down things are much closer. In my bookshelf tests, it wasn’t quite as sharp as my 85mm f1.4 Nikkor at any aperture but again it was close enough for me to be happy to use.
I very much enjoyed using this lens and on the basis of either weight or cost I think it deserves a close look. As a great all round portrait lens to flatter the subject, its probably close to ideal and for landscapes and woodland I found it a pleasure to use. It’s pretty sharp wide open and improves further on stopping down. It handles flare well and there is comparatively little CA. After trying out such lenses I tend to sell them on and I did so with this one. Very occasionally I have second thoughts and I may well reinvest at some point in the future.
