TTArtisan 50mm 1.4 ASPH

[jsrockit]

Anyone using this with their film M mount cameras? How are you liking it? It is basically the cheapest new 50mm M mount lens you can get... but seems to have decent reviews. I was thinking of it as a fast lens option for my Bessa R2 since the only other 50mm I have is the Voigtlander 3.5. I do not use film enough to want to spend a lot more.

The problem with used is I live in Chile. The supply is very thin here. Import fees make expensive lenses a lot more expensive. My other choice is to wait to go to the USA again (no plans right now) and buy the latest Voigtlander 50mm 1.5, which I really like a lot.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I tried one for a couple days. I'm a member of the Leica Users Group, and the guy who distributes the TTArtisan lenses in the USA offered to send me one to try if I'd write a review. It was decentered so I sent it back and he never sent me another try (which he had promised to do).

I can say that the lens was very sharp in the center, even wide open, and stopped down a stop or two it became very sharp in the center and one side of the frame. The decentering the sample I tried exhibited made the other side of the frame slightly soft; a good copy would have probably been superb across the frame. The big question is whether their quality control is good enough to make getting a good one a possibility.

This isn't unique to TTArtisan or other Chinese makers. I've noticed that just about any new lens I have bought has had a large number of severely decentered examples, even rather expensive lenses like the Olympus 12-40mm f2.8 Pro ($1000) and 7-14mm f2.8 Pro ($1400) lenses. Because manufacturers have zero quality control now, I refuse to buy any lens online anymore. I drive to Indianapolis to buy lenses because the store there will let me test them and pic the good one. When I got my 12-40mm Olympus, I rejected eight before finding a good one.

 

[jsrockit]

The big question is whether their quality control is good enough to make getting a good one a possibility.

Yeah, the lack of quality control seems to be how they can price lenses the way they do. Sending it back to China or wherever from Chile would not be cheap. Thank you for giving me something to think about. I might just wait to go to the USA and buy a Voigtlander 50mm 1.5. It is what I really want anyway.

 

[GLL]

Quality control issues aside (and they may be significant), i’ve enjoyed mine quite a lot. The main downsides are the size — it’s quite large — and, on an R2, the difficulty of focusing wide open with the smaller rangefinder base.

A few shots from mine attached.

 

[jsrockit]

Thank you GLL.