Introduction

TTArtisan has made a new version of its T/S 100mm Macro 2X, which I reviewed almost one year ago. It received only positive feedback for its optical qualities except for its flare resistance, with some reservations about handling and its limited tilt/shift effect. Now, as they had promised, they have come with a variant without any tilt/shift functionality, i.e., a short telephoto with 2X macro capability and the possibility to be used as a portrait lens with nice bokeh, if it is as good as the first version was. Let’s have a look!

I tested this lens on a 46 Mp Nikon Z 7II (Sample images Nikon Z 7 II, Nikon Z fc, and Nikon Z f)
You can see this review as a YouTube video here!

Sample Images

Continue reading Review: TTArtisan 100mm f/2.8 Macro 2X →

Introduction

TTArtisan, one of the Chinese lens manufacturers known for its consistent quality, has primarily produced full metallic, manual focus lenses. However, they have recently released a few autofocus lenses. Their latest creation is the AF 56mm f/1.8 ED, a compact APS-C portrait lens. Let’s take a closer look at it!

Sample Images

Continue reading Review: TTArtisan AF 56mm f/1.8 ED – Small Portrait Lens with Great Potential →

Introduction

We have seen a few exciting lenses from Laowa in recent years, especially in their Argus product line, which seems to be Laowa’s premium line of lenses. The one here, Laowa Argus 25mm f/0.95 CF APO is one of them. A manual focus “standard/wide-angle” lens for APS-C cameras with an ultra-fast maximum aperture of f/0.95. It has an unusual focal length of 25mm (fullframe equivalent of 37.5mm*), between the more usual 23mm and 27mm focal lengths (FF equivalents of 35mm and 40mm*). The 0.95 aperture promises impressive and nice background separation and hopefully a nice bokeh and extreme low-light capabilities. Besides, the APO designation indicates Laowa has used its APO technology in this lens and it should give much better correction of spherical and chromatic aberrations than non-APO lenses. Let’s see how good it is in the real world!

* The fullframe equivalent focal length of 37.5mm is true for Sony, Nikon, and Fujifilm cameras, while on a Canon APS-C, it will be equivalent to a 40mm lens on a fullframe camera.

I tested this lens on a Nikon Zfc
You can see this review a YouTube video here

Sample Images

Continue reading Review: Laowa Argus 25mm f/0.95 CF APO (APS-C) →

As you may or may not know we have several guides on fullframe E-mount lenses:

• Sony FE lenses: The honest Guide for the A7/A9/A1 Series
  

• 9-18mm Ultra-Wideangle lenses for the Sony A7/A9/A1 Series
• 20-28mm Wideangle lenses for the Sony A7/A9/A1 Series
• 35mm lenses for the Sony A7/A9/A1 Series
• 50mm lenses for the Sony A7/A9/A1 Series
• 85-135mm Portrait Lenses for the Sony A7/A9/A1 Series

Keeping these guides up to date takes a lot of time but I nevertheless try to do it on a yearly basis.

That time has come again so I just spent about 3 weeks doing exactly that, this means many new lenses have been added and the prices and also the recommendations for many lenses have been updated.

Continue reading Lens Guides Updated and Upgraded →