[Music] Hi I'm Dustin Abbott and I'm here to Give you a review today of another Inexpensive lens from TT Artis that is Surprisingly good uh it is an Autofocusing 56mm f1.8 lens and it's the Second lens in a series of similar Lenses that started with the 35 MIM f1.8 Autofocusing lens that I reviewed a few Months back TT Artisan when they Approached me about this lens said that They had improved on some of the flaws Of the 35mm lens that I had pointed out With some of those areas including an Improved minimum Focus distance and thus Maximum magnification reduced vignette a Little bit less uh chromatic aberration And also some reduced flare now this Lens I'm reviewing on Fuji X mount it Will will be available at least Eventually on both Sony E Mount along With Nikon zaps C mounts as well so 56 Mm when you apply it to the 1.5 times Crop factor of those cameras is roughly An 85 mm focal length so a very very Popular focal length for things like Portraiture the price point is going to Be roughly $150 as as of the day of this review it Has not been finalized but that's the Ballpark that I've been given so the Question is is at a price point of Around 150 bucks is this a lens is worth Checking out let's find out as we dive
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Larger which is why the weight is a Little bit heavier though 236 G is still Very very easy to pack along you won't Notice that you have it with it this Lens is much nicer in its overall feel The feel of the materials and the build Than what the price points suggest every There feels like a lot of metals in the Construction here it has an anodized Black finish really like the little bit Of a scallop that is there towards the Edge as it approaches the mount that not Only uh looks nice but also it is a nice Ergonomic place for your fingers to rest As you support the Lens now there is no bells and whistles On the outside here there is no aperture Ring there's no switches of any kind uh What we do have is basically just the Manual focus ring folks fortunately that Manual focus ring is nicely damped and Has a good feel to it everything moves Nice and focuses well there inside we Have nine aperture blades that do a Reasonable job of maintaining a circular Shape now included is another one of These quirky lens hoods like we saw on The 35mm lens in that it it when going On it almost looks like a box for an Anamorphic type um design and it is a Little bit of an impractical Hood in That if you have the hood on you cannot Use filters this does have filter Threads along the front and a common 52
Mm size but if you have the hood on Obviously you're not going to be able to Put on any of those filters because this Needs to Bay it in place and it obscures The filters so I don't love the hood Design it is a look and maybe you'll Like the look of it but it it's not Particularly practical this design also Means that you cannot reverse it for Storage and so for the most part I just Kind of leave it on and that's the Permanent look of the L lens itself Another feature that we have here is a Lens cap with a USBC Port built into it It has electronic contacts and it's so You can do firmware updates I do prefer The implementation of the USBC port in The lens itself as some other Manufacturers do but it is a nice option At again at this quite low price to Where at least you can be supported and Get fir more updates as things move Ahead now one of the things that TT Artis highlighted that they wanted to Improve was the minimum Focus distance And they have done that minimum Focus Distance here is 50 cm so that compares Very favorably to the 60 cm that was Required on the 35 mm lens you combine That with a longer focal length and we Move to a more competitive 0.14 times Maximum magnification by the way that's About standard with the Fuji and sigma 56 mm lenses and a little bit better
Than what you can get from manufacturers Like vrox or toen and so as a byproduct Means that even though this doesn't have As large a maximum apture as say the vro 56 mm f1.4 in some situations you Actually have an opportunity to produce A little bit more bouquet because you Can get closer to your subject so I Appreciate the Improvement here and Certainly it opens up some additional Avenues for the making of images that I Appreciate so overall what we have here Even if there's not a lot of bells and Whistles it is nicely executed Ed so how About autofocus this employs an STM or Stepping motor like the 35 mm it is Quiet in operation though if I put it Near my ear I can hear a very light Worring in operation but fortunately There isn't a lot of things like Clacking of aperture blades and stuff That really adds to the noise and so in Operation uh autofocus Works nice and Quiet the autofocus speed as you can see Here is is good but it's not great There's a little bit of that Split-second pause while inertia builds Before Focus changes take place and so It is not the fastest autof focusing Lens that I've seen but neither is it Slow it's what I would call about Average in its overall Operation Focus accuracy was good even Here on Fuji I'm I don't always love
Fuji's autofocus compared to some of the Other brands that I test but it is Getting better and this lens seems to Work just fine in terms of giving me Good Focus accuracy if seemed to work Well and I got good accuracy for kind of General purpose shots shots in the Church setting uh even in portrait type Work and some of these shots taken by my Son who is far from a professional Photographer he took some shots of me as A subject and uh autofocus caught my eye Every time every one of them is Accurately focused so you know good Marks when it comes to the accuracy now On the video side of things I found that There was some improvement over what I Saw with with a 35 Mm Focus pools are reasonably confident So you though you can see some minor Steps towards the end of the cycle Unfortunately that is still fairly Common on Fuji so it may be a little bit Better on either Nikon or Sony I haven't Tested uh those mounts or on those Cameras there is about what I would call An average amount of focus breathing It's there but it's not severe where I Definitely saw an improvement over the 35 mimer uh review is that I found that The focus confidence and when I did my Hand test was much better and and so It's very good in making those Transitions from the hand to the eye and
Vice versa so there does to me there is Some growth that I'm seeing already in More confident autofocus I would still Say that this is not necessarily Reactive enough for very fast action for Either Stills or video but for most People in most situations I think Autofocus is going to get the job done And so there's some growth there and Overall for the money this is a nicely Executed little Package so finally let's talk about the Image quality this is an optical design Of 10 elements in nine groups and while The MTF chart uh is maybe a little bit More consistent than the 35 mm on paper It doesn't look quite as good Fortunately I actually found that my Real world results were better with this Lens and what I saw with the 35mm lens And I think that there's a very specific Reason for that now I'm going to give You a quick overview here of optical Strengths and weaknesses if you want the Detailed breakdown you can check that Out that comes at the end of the review Or you can jump ahead in the timestamp In the description now when it comes to Real world performance I will say this And that is I think this is the most Impressive results that I've seen from a Cheap lens on the 40 megapixel Fujifilm Sensor which is the most demanding thing That I review on at the moment this is
Fairly impressive and that this is an Entirely usable lens on 40 megapixels in A way that most inexpensive lenses Simply are not so breaking down some of These areas there is no measurable Distortion that I found there is some Vignette not as much as the 35 mm but I Required still about a plus 68 to Correct that vignette so that's a little Bit over two stops that's not at all Severe but uh there is some vignette Still there to correct I did find Another area where they were Intentionally trying to prove was when It comes to the fringing and Particularly the longitudinal chromatic Aberration and it is much improved over What I saw on the 35mm lens which is by The way why I think that real world Results are actually better from this Lens and a vacuum uh it might the MTF Chart from the 35 might be better but in Real world results contrast is better Because it's not being diminished by the Fringing that is there and so fringing Is much much better controlled and is Very good particularly for an Inexpensive lens like this Likewise lateral chromatic aberration Near the edge of the frame are minimal And so a very good control of aberration Now when it comes to the sharpness Profile I found that sharpness was Pretty consistently good across the
Frame it obviously steadily gets a Little bit worse as you progress across The frame so the corners are not Fantastic but at the same time I did Find moving away from high magnification On my test chart that real world results I was pretty much satisfied with what I Saw most of the time I didn't see a big Improvement at f2 or Even at f2.8 the big jump comes at F4 And that's when the corners really start To sharpen up better at f5.6 and f8 Though they're never quite as sharp as What the center of the frame is but Again in real world results they're Sharp enough that I didn't really notice A lingering softness that bothered me Boke quality is is good but not Exceptional and that way it reminds me a Lot of the sigma 56 mm f1.4 and that There's nothing that comes across as Being bad about the bokeh but neither is It exceptionally creamy and nice I think That most people will be happy with it But neither is it going to produce like Magical images that you just love Because of the rendering from the Lens now when it comes to the flare Resistance it is improved but it is Still an area of weakness I think that There are fewer flare artifacts and What's there in my opinion is a little Bit more artistic but there is certainly Some blooming there is some various
Flare artifacts some flashing that You're going to see and so there's still Room for improvement on the Coatings That TTR Artis is using but at the same Time I think that the flaring here is Less objectionable and that if you Compose properly I think it can be used In a creative or artistic way and it's Less destructive in that sense but still An area that you need to watch out for Overall this is a pretty decent little Optical performance for a lens that has Such an inexpensive price tag so in Conclud cusion I would say this is a Quite a complete lens at this price of Around $150 they're certainly better lenses and Better lenses at 56 mm but none that are Anywhere near this this price tag in Fact this lens undercuts the vro 56 mm F1.4 but I would say that it in some Ways outperforms it optically and so I'm Quite impressed by what you're getting Here for this price I think that TT Artis has already shown a significant Improvement at mitigating the flaws that I pointed out on the 35mm f1.8 autofocus Lens while retaining a lot of its Strengths and my conclusion is is that This is at least to this point probably The best budget lens that I have used on The 40 megapixel Fuji sensor one that Actually works enough that you're going To be happy to use it there and that
Means that it should look even stronger Optically on Lower resolution models Where it's not being pushed to the same Kinds of limits but the very fact that a Lens at this price can perform Reasonably well on this incredibly Demanding sensor is a big win for TT Artisan if you want more information you Can look in the description I do have my Full text review there there's also Linkage to an image Galler along with Some buying links as always thanks for Watching and have a great day and let The light [Music] In we'll start by taking a look at Vignette and Distortion here and so you Can see looking on the left the Uncorrected raw image that there is some Obvious vignette but basically no Distortion so on the left side we have The manually corrected version you can See here I've done nothing to correct Distortion because there wasn't anything I've dialed in a plus 68 on the vignette So a little over two stops to correct Vignette now what's interesting is that If I click correct enable profile Corrections I'm not quite sure what the Lens designation here MJ 56 MIM f1.8 X Da DSM that doesn't sound right but what I will say is that it seems to do a Perfect job it's not mesing messing with The Distortion and it is correcting the
Vignette appropriately so bonus so as Noted previously one of the significant Improvements over the 35mm f1.8 is when It comes to longitudinal chromatic Aberration you can see it's actually Really nice and clean both before after The plane of focus that means that even In situations like this I find often That the imprinting on lenses is a Really a trigger point for chromatic Aberration and you can see very very Neutral here no issues with that uh Here's another one where you can see as We start that transition towards defocus Just a tiny little bit of fringing there Up on this shiny reflective area the Tiniest bit of fringing but very very Well controlled so what the that means Is we actually end up with better than Expected kind of micro contrast out of This lens on this 40 megapixel sensor as A byproduct because the fringing is so Well controlled allows the textures to Render really nice and crisp I mean look At the detail that's there and so this Is a better than expected result in my Opinion and you can see that even in This very bright area there's no haloing Or fringing around it so this image Really impresses me one final one here With a lot of reflective surfaces and Then uh specular bokeh highlights you Can see again very very neutral there's No fringing that you can see in these
Reflected areas and you can see that the Bokeh itself is very nice and neutral Now likewise with lateral chromatic Aberration I can see just the very very Faintest amount here at this very high Level of magnification it's low enough However that I actually can't see it in Real world results so that does Translate into slightly better than Expected Optical performance and uh Better than what I think the MTF chart Suggest out in real world use now for Chart testing here at 200% magnification This is on the 40 megapixel xh2 you can See that in the center of the frame Looks really really good good detail um Good delineation of the various textures Even in the text here it's not Flawless But it is very good we can see if we Scroll up this way that everything is Still quite good in the mid-frame and Finally if we pop down to the corner Corners are soft Particularly when it comes to a little Bit less contrast but there actually is Still a pretty decent amount of detail There and the lack of distortion means That there's no stretching of things That also helps so while the MTF Suggests that the 35mm might have a Little bit of an advantage we can see That in my actual test my real world Comparisons that's just not the case at All uh I even in the center of the frame
I find that the 56 mm looks better in The mid-frame you can see there's better Contrast and more detail there there and Even into the corners while there's uh Maybe less of a difference in the Corners I still feel like the lines are Cleaner and there's actually more detail In the like in the fine areas that are Showing up and so to me this is a win All across the frame I'll also note that At a just a more typical 100% Magnification I put the subject right Over here in the corner to the area that I wanted to focus cuz I wanted to see How the corner looked and frankly that Looks just fine to me it looks quite Good really without any kind of serious Drop off it's not low contrast I'm Really impressed with this performance Likewise with this shot at f1.8 I kind Of shot from the hip this dog's walking By and I thought he was interesting Looking and uh and so I shot quickly as He went by and as I punched in here and Looked at it on the detail level again I I'm quite pleased with the amount of Detail I'm getting this like I've said Before this sensor is so incredibly Demanding that a lot of lenses look soft On it and I just don't find that to be The case with this really inexpensive Lens now stopping down from f1.8 to F2 There's not any kind of real noticeable Improvement though I do think there is
Ever so slightly more detail in the text That is there still even if it's a Mild Improvement it is uh a little bit of one And so that is worth noting in the Corners not really any kind of uh Improvement there yet likewise I don't See any major Corner improvement from F2 To f2.8 contrast is a little bit better And obviously the corners are Brightening a bit more if we look over At the other side about an equal result There and up into the opposite corner Again you can see maybe a little bit More of improvement here at f2.8 over F2 But fortunately what we are seeing is a Nice centering performance I would say This upper right corner is maybe the Weakest of them moving from f/2.8 to F4 You can see in the corners there's still Only a slight bit further performance Improvement and if we compare the other Opposite corner again it's about the Same there a little bit more Improvement At F5.6 but again for perspective here's a Real world landscape shot and if I punch Into a 100% magnification pixel level Looking through here I'm not at all Unhappy with the detail and if I move Right off to the edge of the frame yes It is a little bit softer here than what It is here but neither is it mushy it's Still what I would consider usable and Right up here into the corner it's not
Pin sharp but neither is it unacceptable Now moving from f8 to f11 you'll see a Little bit of softening due to Defraction it comes really early on this Highresolution body and that's going to Be worse still when you move to the Minimum aperture of F16 now as noted Before we have a competitive minimum Focus distance and maximum magnification For this focal length and we can see That the up close performance is just Fine even at f1.8 detail is holding up Contrast is good that just makes the Lens even more useful now the bouquet Quality is as I said in the summation it Is okay it's not exceptionally good but Neither is it bad either it's just it's About average we can see here that again At f1.8 I like what I see as far as the Contrast there and the fact that there's No fringing or bleeding off blooming on The textures the this is a little bit More of a busy background and you can See that it renders a little bit busier Now when you have more specular Highlights again I'm impressed by the Control of aberration and so the amount Of detail I can get here and the bouquet Highlights they look good you know not Amazing but good you can see that there Is definitely some geometric deformation Going into a little bit Kinder real World shot where the background's a Little bit busier the detail looks good
The Boke quality looks a little bit Nicer here another similar type shot Again with more space to the background And you can see that there's maybe a Little bit more outlining than what I Would like here so it doesn't have that Feeling of being like like really really Creamy but at the same time it's not Objectionable either so for portrait Work this lens actually works quite well As a budget portrait lens uh you can see That the amount of detail there is good The overall scene and the colors look Fine and accurate another shot here and You can see once again uh Focus my son Was taking these shots and so he's not Necessarily being intentional so the Focus uh actually picked the far eye That wouldn't have been my preference I Would have preferred the the four eye to Be the one that's in Focus but you can See the amount of detail here is good Skin textures and colors look good and As a bonus you have nalas tail that's Sticking out from behind there one other Thing that I did test just because I saw A clear night it's like well why not and So I went out and took a look at the Night sky and some Astro so the plus is Are obviously this is a little bit Higher magnification of some of the Celestial bodies uh fringing is well Controlled with these bright areas so That's good as we move towards the edge
Of the frame there is some coma you can See it comes the star points become a Little bit more Triangular it's not a terrible Performance either and so you know Certainly usable if you want a lens to Point at the stars now the flare issues Have as have already been documented you Know they tend to they're definitely There now this case this is actually a Really artistic look I've added this This effect to a lot of images in times Past and so I'm not impartial to that at All particularly because my detail is Holding up nicely there images like this You can see this kind of blooming flare Effect again that's a very artistic look It's it's a flaw and and I'm not trying To sugarcoat it but at least is an Artistic one and as you can see with the Panning back and forth there is a Variety of effects that you get wide Open and then also if we look stop down I prefer a lot of the effects wide open They're softer and the good news for That is if you're wanting to shoot Portrait type work I think you can Actually use a lot of these artistically And so again I I'm not necessarily Hugely turned off by this because it's An inexpensive lens but also it adds Some character to the lens that can be Used creatively overall this is a really Really impressive Optical performance
For such a demanding platform and such An inexpensive Lens For
