TT Artisan 25mm f2 Manual Focus Lens Review
A while ago I was looking to get a manual focus lens for my Fuji XT5. Having used my mates old Minolta in Venice, I really wanted my own one however I didn’t want to spend loads of money before knowing for sure a manual lens is for me. Having looked online I found a lens by TT Artisan for £70. It’s a 25mm f2.0 pancake and on paper it looks perfect! Considering how affordable it is, I decided it’s worth experimenting and grabbed it. Worst case scenario manual focusing isn’t for me and I haven’t wasted £600 on a Voigtlander. In this blog I will share my thoughts having used it for a couple months.
Build Quality
The build quality is really good and I don’t just mean really good for a £70 lens, I mean really good in general. The entire body is made from metal, the aperture dial is nice to use and the focus ring is well damped and consistent throughout the range. There is no weather sealing but that’s to be expected. No other complaints or issues.
Ergonomics
The major negative is that the distance markings are off. Infinity is not really infinity and all the other markings just don’t line up to the actual distances they represent. This means that I 100% had to rely on the in-camera manual focus tools like peaking. Secondly the focus ring can be hard to turn in a comfortable way especially with gloves on. Thankfully this is an easy fix with some stick on focus tabs from Amazon as pictured. The lens is small and compact which makes it great as a pocketable daily and it really suits the XT5.
Image Quality
To be honest it’s not terrible for the price. It’s pretty sharp and wide open it doesn’t go all crazy like the 27mm f2.8 TT Artisan. Sure it’s not tac sharp and the corners do soften up a fair bit, but it’s not a total potato either. Just like the other lens by TT Artisan, I found the colours to be a little off. I can’t quite put my finger on it but they seemed dull, lifeless and with a strange hue. The contrast was also weird that resulted in the image looking a little flat. Of course shooting raw this isn’t an issue and it can all be fixed in editing, just something I noticed.
Summary
If you’re toying with the idea of getting a manual lens or just what to experiment shooting without autofocus, this lens is a perfect starting point. Couple that with the a stick on focus lever / tab it’s easy to manual focus as long as you don’t rely on the markings. At £70 it’s cheap enough for experimenting without risking a large sum of money. Worst case scenario you can keep it as a fun lens for more abstract shots when you’re bored. Personally I sold mine as I ended up getting the Voigtlander.
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