ROBIN WONG : TTArtisan 56mm F1.8 Mini Review

TTArtisan sent me their 56mm F1.8 lens for Sony E-mount, and I tested it on my old Sony NEX-6 camera. Full disclaimer - I do get to keep this lens after review, but I made it clear to TTArtisan that I get to be 100% honest about my opinion written here (as well as in my YouTube video). For $129 that TTArtisan is a lot of bang for the buck, and a stellar performer. I shall share what I like and dislike about the lens here, after shooting many sample photographs, including an event coverage, multiple street photography sessions and a few portrait and food shots.

$129 only, TTArrtisan 56mm F1.8 is excellent value for money

Although the TTArtisan 56mm F1.8 is a budget lens, I was surprised to find out that it has metal body construction. TTArtisan claimed they used aluminum for the lens barrel, and the lens does feel sturdy and reassuring in hand, with no creaky parts. The lens is still relatively small and light, weighing 245g only and is definitely suitable to be paired with smaller camera bodies, such as the old Sony NEX-6. There is only one control on the lens itself, the manual focusing ring, which keeps things simple and straightforward. The autofocus performance of the lens on Sony NEX-6 was as expected, it was good enough, but not blazing fast like modern cameras or lenses.

TTArtisan claimed that the 56mm F1.8 lens is comprised of 10 elements in 9 groups lens construction and the use of special glass includes 1 extra low dispersion lens and 2 high index lenses. The images coming out from this lens were really sharp, detailed and high in contrast, even when shooting at wide open aperture. Sharpness improves a little when stopped down, but I would not hesitate to use the lens wide open whenever I want. The bokeh rendering is very good, you get smooth, creamy background that is free of nervousness. The bokeh balls are round at most parts of the frame, except at the corners, and the buttery smooth blur background coupled with sharp rendering of subjects in focus combination makes this a great lens for portrait shooting. The corners are also very well managed, yes there are hints of vignetting and corner softness shooting at wide open, but that quickly disappears when stopping down aperture to F2.8 and further.

There are several things that I dislike about the TTArtisan 56mm F1.8 lens. The lens is extremely prone to flaring, when shooting against strong sources of light. There is a veil of blurriness that covers the entire image which lowers useful contrast, and at extreme situations you do encounter large ugly blobs of light and ghosting which can be destructive to the image and may not be easily fixed in post-processing. The chromatic aberration can be a problem in high contrast situations, shooting at wide open purple fringing can be prominent at edges, but this can be minimized or solves by stopping down the aperture to F4 or F5.6. I wish the lens has closer minimum focusing distance, at just about half a meter, there is not much you can do to shoot close up subjects. Having closer minimum focusing distance can open up more opportunities and surely make the lens more versatile.

For a cheap lens selling at $129 full retail, there really is nothing much to complain about this lens. The issues I have mentioned in previous paragraph are non-dealbreakers. I am amazed that TTArtisan used metal to make the lens barrel, and the optical performance was also quite impressive for such a budget price tag. If you are like me, actively hunting for older cameras just for the fun of it, and do not want to spend a fortune on lenses, such budget options from TTArtisan is the way to go without breaking the bank, yet we can still get to enjoy high quality output.

The third-party budget lens makers are getting better and better, and I can't wait to see what TTArtisan is making next.