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

Most of the sample images in this review and many more can be found in higher resolution here.

Specifications

Disclosure

TTArtisan kindly provided this lens for test and review purposes.

Variations

There has been a Tilt/Shift version of this lens that looks almost identical, except the tilt/shift mechanism. You can see the review of it here.

Handling

TTArtisan 100/2.8 Macro 2:1 is built entirely of metal. The lens is completely manual; manual focus and manual aperture setting on the lens, with no electric contacts. It comes with a metallic lens cap that fits securely over the front. There is no lens hood included though. The lens looks beautiful and seems to be designed beautifully when you hold it in your hands. But when attached to my Z camera it has some small play and wobbles on the camera a little, it is a bit annoying, which was the case with the previous tilt/shift version too. The lens is as long as its tilt/shift sister, the tilt/shift mechanism is just replaced with a hollow helicoid. So, this lens is as its T/S sister a little front heavy.

There is no weather sealing. The aperture ring has variable distance click stops at every half a f-stop from f/2.8 to f/11 and only full-stop clicks between the three smallest apertures f/11 to f/22. The focusing ring has only 100 degrees throw. This is a too small throw for a macro lens even with a 1:1 magnification and it is way too small for a 2:1 macro lens, however, focusing at such magnifications is not done by the focus ring, you set the focus ring at the magnification you want and then move the lens and camera fort and back until the subject is in focus. This makes focusing at closer distances a challenge. I found the focusing ring not as stiff as it was on the T/S version, could be sample variation, but it feels that it has just enough resistance.

All markings on the lens are engraved and filled with paint, aperture values, distance in meters and feet, depth of field markings and the lens name.  There is also a scale for magnification, which runs from 1:2 to 2:1, a useful feature for times you know a certain magnification to be used.

There are four female screw holes at the front of the lens barrel, near the front lens element (over, under, to the left, and right side of the barrel), where you can attach an included flash cold shoe for special macro arm lights or small led lamps, a very nifty and nice feature, pity that there is only one shoe included though.

Optical Features

Sharpness (Infinity)

For the infinity sharpness test, we look at three areas of the image, center, mid-frame, and corner, see highlighted areas in the image below!

Excellent sharpness right from f/2.8 in the center, it gets marginally better at f/4 and f/5.6 is perfect, at f/8 we have the same level of sharpness. At f/11 it gets a negligible dip due to diffraction and at f/16 it becomes a little softer and f/22 shows the softest image of all apertures.

In the midframe, the sharpness is a little less at f/2.8 but improves a lot at f/4 and is excellent at f/5.6. F8 demonstrates the best sharpness here and then it starts to slightly become less sharp at smaller apertures.

The sharpness is a little better in the corner than the midframe wide open. Most probably due to the field curvature, as the MTFchart also had suggested that.  It gets better at f/4, and much better at f/5.6, and at f/8 it is very good. F/11 is the peak performance for the corners. At f/16 and f/22 it gets a little softer.

Sharpness (Portrait)

Let’s look at the points of interest for portraits at the portrait distance: the very center, the center’s inner periphery  (1/3 rule intersection), and the center’s outer periphery (1/4th intersection).

F/2.8: Center sharpness is good but lacks contrast but inner periphery and outer periphery sharpness are very good with very good contrast. At f/4 the sharpness and contrast are excellent in all three test points.

Sharpness (Close-up)

The sharpness is excellent from f/2.8 (max aperture). It is excellent up to f/8. f/11 sees a small dip in sharpness due the diffraction and it becomes more obvious at f/16 and f/22. I would use the lens at f/11 with no hesitation and even at f/16, where you have a very good sharpness.

Full image for the 1:1 magnifcation.

100% crop for the 1:1 magnification.

Full image for 2:1 magnification.

100% crop for 2:1 magnification.

Lens Distortion

Normally short telephoto lenses have the best distortion correction and this one is not an exception. This TTA lens has negligible pincushion distortion, so small that I wouldn’t bother to correct it even in architecture photography.

Vignetting

This TTArtisan performs very well in this test with very low vignetting. The vignetting is negligible already at f/2.8. This is partly due to the fact that the lens covers a much larger circle than enough for a fullframe sensor, as it is the same optical design as for the tilt/shift version, which require a larger area to cover. Also, keep in mind that the exact same lens is sold with GFX mount, a medium format camera with larger sensor, so the dark corners are excluded on fullframe sensors.

• F/2.8: 0.8 EV
• F/4.0: 0.8 EV
• F/5.6: 0.7 EV
• F/8.0: 0.4 EV

Focus Shift & Aberrations

No focus shift or color fringing in out-of-focus areas, which means no spherical or longitudinal chromatic aberration.

The chromatic aberrations are surprisingly very well controlled. Normally macro lenses at this focal length suffer more or less from the longitudinal chromatic aberration, but this TTAratisan is not one of them. Very good.

Flare Resistance

As with earlier T/S version, moderate to severe veiling flare, lens flares, and ghosts. Just try to avoid the sun at any cost! Fortunately in this lens’s applications the sun very seldom is included in the frame, so in 95% of cases you will not need to worry about it.

Coma

Coma’s correction is irrelevant to this lens and its applications and you should not worry about it. For consistency’s sake I have looked at  it anyway. This lens, like its T/S sister, suffers from a mild coma, which gets better by stopping down, at f/5.6 it’s almost gone and by f/8 it is completely gone. Here are 100% crops of the corner of test images taken with a 46Mp sensor.

Sunstars

It seems that in this section we see a change from the previous T/S version as sunstars have become much better. Maybe TTArtisan has refined their aperture blades alignment a little as we get good 12 pointed sunstars from f/5.6 and they get very nice from f/8 and smaller aperture openings.

Focus Breathing

This TTArtisan, like all macro lenses, suffers from heavy focus breathing, and being a 2:1 macro it suffers particularly a lot.

Bokeh

The bokeh is soft and pleasant. At macro distances it cannot be softer, and at portrait distances it is also quite nice, in my eyes at least.

Also note that the bokeh balls do not get exagerated cats eye shapes towards the corners, but remember, that the lens covers a larger area than the fullframe sensors’.  On fullframe sensors the corners are cropped out. You may possibly see more cats eyes in the corners of images from a GFX camera.

Conclusion

Well, this is the same lens as I reviewed last year, at least it seems that it optically is identical to that one, except the sunstars that are much better from this one. The conclusion will be more or less identical too. This is a very sharp lens with tremendous macro capabilities. As a macro lens, it is great optically with remarkable 2:1 magnification and fantastic sharpness, it is even excellent for portraits with very nice bokeh, no distortion or vignetting, but the handling is not the best.

If you want a pure macro lens, with 2:1 magnification this is a great candidate. It is very budget friendly and huge value for money for such a lens at only about $320.

If you are interested in buying this lens or any of the lenses in the Alternatives section you can support our efforts by using the links below or given under each lens. It won’t cost you a penny and it won’t affect the price but helps us a little. You can buy this lens from the manufacturer’s online shop via this link.

Writing articles like this one is both time-consuming and costs us a lot of money. If you found this article helpful and decided to buy one of these lenses, please consider using one of the affiliate links.

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Alternatives

Laowa 90mm f/2.8 2x Ultra Macro APO
Completely manual as the TTArtisan, with very good optical qualities and sharpness. You can get it in Nikon Z, Sony FE, Canon RF, and L-mount.
Buy from: Manufacturer’s shop $499 (Affiliate link)
or from: Amazon.com, Amazon.de, amazon.co.uk, Amazon.fr for $ (Affiliate links)
Buy used: ebay.com, ebay.de, ebay.co.uk, ebay.fr, ebay.com.au  (Affiliate links)

Venus Optics Laowa 100mm f/2.8 2X Ultra Macro APO

Completely manual, with no AF, no camera-controlled aperture, and no EXIF data. Normally not a  big issue for macro photographers. Magnification power 2x  (2:1). Winner of the TIPA World Award 2020 for best macro lens. One of the sharpest macro lenses with the lowest LoCA and with 2x magnification power (2:1). You can buy it with Nikon Z, Sony FE, Canon RF,  and L-mount directly from the manufacturer’s  online store or one of the other affiliate links.
Buy new: Venus Optics, amazon.com, amazon.de, amazonco.uk, amazon.fr for $499 (Affiliate links)
Buy used: ebay.com, ebay.de, ebay.co.uk, ebay.fr, ebay.com.au  (Affiliate links)

Laowa 85mm f/5.6 2x Ultra Macro APO
Completely manual, with no AF, no camera-controlled aperture, and no EXIF data. Normally not a  big issue for macro photographers. Magnification power 2x  (2:1). I included this one also because of its tiny size. With a size of only 53mm x 81mm, it is the smallest and lightest of all 2:1 lenses for full-frame cameras. It is two stops slower than all the other lenses, which is 4 times less light, It also means it is not a dual purpose lens like the others as f/5.6 is hardly an aperture most people use for portrait photography.
Buy new: Laowa Venus Optics,  amazon.com, amazon.de, amazon.co.uk, amazon.fr for $499 (Affiliate links)
Buy used: ebay.com, ebay.de, ebay.co.uk, ebay.fr, ebay.com.au  (Affiliate links)

Astrhori 120mm f/2.8 Macro 2X
Completely manual, with no AF, no camera-controlled aperture. and no EXIF. 2X magnification, it has a little longer focal length at 120mm., but it is even larger and heavier than the reviewed TTArtisan and costst about $50 more.
Check Price at: Pergear Store, Amazon, B&H (Affiliate links)

Gear used

LED Lamp: TTArtisan Mini LED Light (Affiliate links)
Camera: Nikon Z7ii (Affiliate links)
Small Tripod: Sirui travel tripod (Affiliate links)
Small flash: Meike (Affiliate links)
Powerful flash: Godox (Affiliate links)
Camera L-Bracket: 3 Legged Thing (Affiliate links)
Speedlight cable: Cable (Affiliate links)

I used Nikon’s speedlights and cables myself but I have suggested more generic products, useful for more people than only Nikon users.

More Sample Images

Most of the sample images in this review and many more can be found in higher resolution here.

Further Reading

• What camera gear and accessories do I use most frequently?
• Review: TTArtisan 100mm f/2.8 Macro 2x TS – A Jack of All Trades
• LAOWA FFII 90mm F2.8 CA-Dreamer Macro 2X: Getting Close!
• Revies: LAOWA 85mm 5.6 2:1 Macro
• LAOWA 100mm F2.8 CA-Dreamer Macro 2X: A Review

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Martin

Martin M.H. lives outside Stockholm, Sweden. He is a M.Sc. in Computer Technology but he has been a passionate photographer for over 45 years. He started his photographic adventures when he was thirteen with an Agfamatic pocket camera, which he soon replaced with a Canon rangefinder camera that his mom gave him in his teenages. After that he has been using Canon SLR, Nikon SLR manual focus and Autofocus, Sony mirrorless crop sensor, Nikon DSLR and Nikon Mirrorless. He has photographed any genre he could throughout the years and you can see all kind of images in his portfolio. During the later years though it has been mostly landscape, nature, travel and some street/documentary photography.

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