TTArtisan 35mm f1.4 X Mount Review
I have now been the owner of both extremes on the Fujifilm X Mount 50mm equivalent spectrum.
There’s the Fujinon 33mm f1.4 for around 800€ and now this little fella for around 80€. When I bought it from the shop, the seller said “Oh cool! A lens for 80 bucks.” Well how cool is it?
Manual Focus Glass
The lens in question is fully manual. No AF. No contacts for metadata. Nice clicky aperture ring that is satisfying to the touch and a thoughtfully dampered focus ring. Is there demand for manual glass in the age of Phase Detect AF? Why would anyone want do so more work? For me, when shooting for myself and there’s not much of a subject to work around, I like the satisfaction of nailing focus. In the current age of AI, we might be forgetting that we want to do the work because the act of doing the work is what makes us feel good.
So yes. It’s quite niche.
30 Day Fully Manual Challenge
It’s not something I’ve done before and I don’t know if it’s a “thing” but I wanted to take it a step further and to be as close as possible to the analogue experience without actually being analogue. Here’s the rules:
Expose and focus manually
LCD disabled
Exposure preview disabled on viewfinder
Set the ISO at the start of the day then leave it (as if loading film)
In either case, it will be a great way to test what the TTArtisan can do.
Week 1: Size
Immediately I felt more comfortable going to do my regular street photography. When I first got into the Fuji X system, I started with a relatively large lens for street, the Fujinon 33mm f1.4. I got it because it was the best of the best and I’m not having any compromises, damn it!
Now I’m a bit more into the game, I realise there will always be a compromise. It’s a question of what is the photograph of.
Is it an interesting moment or are you trying to show the beauty which exists? For the former, it’s more the moment which is happening that matters and not the most optically accurate representation. If the latter, then you want to capture as much of that initial beauty that you first saw.
When it comes to street, the physical dimensions of the TTArti work for me. It’s 178g and sticks out 44mm from your lens without a filter.
Week 2: Low Light
Most people like a nice wide aperture. I can tell you that I learned to never go down to f1.4 unless my subject isn’t going to move until I can release the shutter. When you do though I find the bokeh quite nice. You won’t find the micro-contrast 3D pop that Leica or Voigtländer are known for but you were never hoping for that at this price range. Speaking of
Week 3: Handling
It’s very metal. I’ve heard people complain that the lens cap is screw on rather than click on, but it won’t be all metal if it wasn’t click on. For me it took no time at all to unscrew and it feels satisfying and reliable (you’ll never have the lens cap accidently fall off.)
The lens body gives the impression it could be handled roughly. Similarly the focus ring is a pleasure to use by it’s appropriate dampening and focus throw. The aperture ring clicks nicely. And best is, if you do handle it roughly - it’s no big deal. It’s a 80€ lens.
Week 4: Manual Focus
If you’re coming from AF, it’s unavoidable it will take some time getting used to. If you’ve been spoilt by a particularly good phase-detect and face detection, you’ll learn it’s not always necessary to shoot wide open.
MF offers people an opportunity to put a bit more thought and become more involved in the image making process.
Conclusion
You won’t get high end image quality but how important is it for your photos? You will have to do more work but is that permissable (or even desireable) in the situations you are shooting? It’s a great gateway to the world of manual glass.
I’ve decided not to keep mine, although it’s my favourite field of view. I find that the focus units on the barrel are off with the actual focus. When shooting without looking down the EVF or LCD, which I often do - it makes the job of getting focus that much harder. Sure, I could learn how off it is and always make that adjustment.
In the end, I’ve decided to sell the TTArti 35mm f1.4 - why? Because I got myself the Voigtländer 27mm f2.
In the end, it seems manual focus won.
