Yes. I bought yet another lens. But it sure is good. And cheap. And good.

I'm into the first days of trial and error with the Fujifilm GFX50Sii camera and I wanted a longer lens than the two I initially paired with the camera. The camera I bought came with Fuji's compact 50mm f3.5 and just for added flexibility I bought a new 35-70mm f4.5-5.6 Fuji lens. Both are really fine lines. Both are capable of very high sharpness. At reasonable apertures both are sharp and contrasty all across the frame. Modern lenses. Happy lenses. AF equipped lenses. And both of them are fairly lightweight. 

But I'm an incorrigible portrait guy. A traditionalist about focal lengths to use in the pursuit of revealing human beauty and dignity. So, of course, I needed a lens with a longer focal length and, if possible, a bit more speed in the aperture realm. I know Fuji makes a 110mm f2.0 lens that's terrific but it's also about $2500 and before I start to hemorrhage hard cash I want to make sure the GFX system and I are a good match. I was looking for something less.... spendy. 

In my sporadic and diverse reading across the web I became aware a while back that TTArtisan had come out with a 90mm f1.25 lens. Initially it was only available for the Leica M mount. Then it became available for the L mount cameras and finally it has been offered in a GFX mount version (and others). I hemmed and hawed at $550 for the lens (no AF, no other automation... weird product specs) but when I found an almost new one from a trusted vendor for $400 I jumped on it. And I think I'm pretty glad I did. The lens has its faults but it's also got a lot of "checks" in the plus column. It's just eccentric enough to lure me in but just well enough designed to make me end up appreciating it. And keeping it.

The lens is stout and heavy and a (small-ish) chore to use. Because of the weather I've had few opportunities to sport it around town and show it off to the ladies and gentlemen of the sidewalks and cityscapes. But I have spent some time aiming the lens at things around the house just to see where its strengths lie. 

The weight of 2.2 pounds will have the weak-willed lighting their hair on fire and screaming: DEAL KILLER, DEAL KILLER, DEAL KILLER. But pay them no mind because the would scream the same if they also thought the lens was too light or too black or not black enough. I've learned there is no pleasing the deal-killer kult. Any longer than normal lens with a maximum aperture of f1.25 is bound to be heavier than the plastic kit lens on a Canon Rebel. Right? Then it's just a matter of degrees --- or ounces. 

But come. Let's ignore the Camaro and Minivan driving I.T. crowd and dive a bit further into this 90mm lens. 

The image just above was shot in the studio. The camera is the GFX 50Sii and the lens is the TTArtisan 90mm. This shot was done with the camera and lens handheld. The f-stop was almost certainly f2.0 or f2.2. The point of high focus is the knurled ring on the Leica ballhead near the center of the frame. If you click on the image it should get big enough for you to see the detail and sharpness of that object. It's pretty much state of the art as far as I'm concerned. And the fall off in focus is charming. 

If the lens can do this when used nearly wide open then it's impressive. And it can. I also note, across every review I've read (and in my own limited experience) that once the lens is stopped down to f5.6 it is nearly flawless across the frame. 

Speaking of frames. I think the lens was originally designed to cover the 35mm frame (24x36mm) but the marketing people discovered that it just, just, just about covers the 33x44mm frame of the Fuji GFX cameras and so they have created this version with a dedicated GFX mount and marketed it to us. I use it with the camera set to the square format so in my work there is no vignetting. Set to the full gate of the sensor there is a quick bit of vignetting in the far corners of the frame. It's not mechanical vignetting so you can do a lot of correction in post but true believers in the other cult: of perfect imaging might be devastated to find a 2% degradation in corner resolution when the images are corrected in post. It's sad but true. There is, I guess, no free lunch.  If you've got to have that last bit of sharpness in the far corners then you'll want to pony up for the Fuji brand 110mm lens. It's well behaved. 

Me? I'm happy using the crop tool in post to shave off any small shortcomings that might catch my attention. Saving $1800 in the process.

The lens has a massive focusing ring which is very well machined and as smooth as a super model's smile. The clicked aperture ring is at the same level of quality. They are a joy to operate. 

Below are other sample shot handheld with the lens. I used it around the house. Still rounding up talent for a more fun shooting experience...

 You don't need to rush out and buy one. But you might want to. Who else makes a lens in this focal length and speed ball park? Why Leica does. It's a bit slower at f1.5 but it's also a 90mm and comes in a native M mount. The price? If you have to ask.....oh hell, it's $14,900 US Dollars. 

No thanks. Too rich for my blood --- like that chorizo and bacon smoothie I had before swim practice this morning. 

There are lots of fine bargains out in the photo world, if you can work around some of their compromises/inefficiencies. Most are just pared off operating features like no AF. When you are used to it and then have to work with a lens that doesn't feature nanny-focus it can be disconcerting for a while. Get out more. A manual work methodology is more fun, more challenging and makes available cheaper solutions to photographic challenges. Or something affirmative like that. 

Punch in on that last image and take a gander at the detail in the blue pillow. Not bad at all....