Okay. That's enough of a break. Time to get back to the keyboard. Talking about a cheap 75mm f2.0 lens today...

 

I've spent most of this week testing two relatively recent lens arrivals. One is the Thypoch 50mm f1.4 lens and the other is the TTArtisan 75mm f2.0 lens (AF for L mount). It's a little funny that I'm just really getting around to doing a deep dive on the TTArtisan lens since I just bought another 75mm lens as a Christmas present for myself. I guess the TTArtisan was more of a Thanksgiving gift; if that's a thing. The things I've found in my most recent forays with the TTArtisan are twofold: The first is my realization of just how much I like shooting this very "in between" focal length. I often feel that 50mms is not long enough but that 85mm or 90mm is just too long. The second thing is that this lens, which costs, brand new, about $225, is pretty darn good. I mean, not just "good for the price" but good overall. 

With an inexpensive lens I've come to believe that the most rigorous test is how well it can handle being used at the closest focusing distances, coupled with a wide open aperture. The day before yesterday I headed over to South Congress Ave. around dusk to play with the lens. Or to have coffee and a blueberry muffin and stare at the lens, or both. The light was fading and it wasn't a particularly bright and cheery day anyway. 

Yesterday I put the lens on a camera I've been neglecting lately and had an epiphany there as well. The camera was one of the two SL2 models I've used a lot for commercial work. These camera bodies are on the heavier side which I usually don't mind unless I've decided to use them with a big, fat, heavy lens. Putting the Sigma 85mm f1.4 ii Art lens on the front makes the camera somewhat unwieldy. Putting a Leica 24-90mm zoom on the front makes every shoot a weight lifting adventure. 

Now, I'll gladly drag around a big camera package if there is a compelling reason ($$$) or I have an exacting art mission in mind but for casual galavanting around, and occasionally snapping a photo or two, the five pounds of handheld gear can be suboptimal. I also hate feeling like the package is straining at the camera strap or that the lens is gently and subtly bending some part of the camera's lens mount. 

The TTArtisan delivers no such shortcomings. It's a flyweight by comparison and the combination of the 75mm with the SL2 means we're right in a comfortable, average area. The lens itself is smaller and lighter than most current generation 50mm lenses for mirrorless cameras and, so far, it's fine with autofocusing, and the exposures seem to match what I get from the OEM lenses. So, all good on those fronts. 

I've included samples of images taken at f2 and find them to be very good. The sharpness is acceptable all around and while there is some vignetting it's nothing that can't be easily handled in post. My only disappointment is that there are no lens profiles for this lens in Lightroom yet. So, I'm comparing an un-profiled lens with profiled images from other makers lenses. But you know what? It's competitive even without the extra help from software. Pretty amazing for a lens that's about the actual cost of a Leica lens cap...

So, here are some of my tests (below). I wanted to start out with a test of its performance in the close-in range. It's also a great chance to see how the lens handles out of focus backgrounds, bokeh, and such. I find it to be calm, happy and positive, bokeh-wise. The fall off of focus is ... elegant. Almost cinematic. 

Not what I was expecting. But there it is.

I read some other reviews of the lens that mentioned that it was slow to focus and occasionally it missed the actual point of focus. After using the lens for nearly a month now I'm just not seeing that. Here's my review of the reviewers: they might benefit from taking a few courses in how to best focus lenses. And how to leverage all the focusing firepower inherent in their chosen camera system. I was able to bring my camera up to my face and immediately focus on the cute as hell corgis the man in the image just below was "wearing" to the coffee shop. No missed focus on any of the variety of images I took that evening. Just none percent. Zero focusing defects even in marginal light and while using a camera with a stone age, contrast detect AF system (I actually think the Leica SL series cameras always had very, very good and reliable focusing anyway - to be honest). 

The TTArtisan 75mm is the first TTArtisan lens I've used that has autofocus and from what I can tell it works as it was intended. Also, it's the first TTArtisan lens that communicates all of the lens data to the L system camera. That's a big step forward. And a scary thing for their competitors. Especially when you factor in the price.  Everything is getting so good these days. Even the blueberry muffins at Jo's. 

For some unfathomable reason the image of the small table and two chairs just above is one of my favorites that I've ever shot at Jo's. It feels to me as if I caught the scene in between people coming in for coffee and sitting at the foreground table or the community table just behind it. Someday I'll go in for lots of psycho therapy and finally work out why I am drawn to lonely tables caught off center in a  spare frame. Till then? I can just say that I like it...

I was curious to see how the lens would work when used in conjunction with the camera's face detect AF. These guys are S. Congress regulars and Jo's is a hub for local people. They are musicians and are very cordial when I run into them. I hadn't intended to take their photograph but they asked and I rarely turn down honest requests. The camera and lens nailed focus perfectly and I was happy with the photo both as a black and white (monochrome --- for elitists) and in color. The black and white felt best to me.

This final image from Jo's was just a quick grab shot. But it does point to how discreet a camera with a pleasant shutter sound and a lens with a low profile can be in grabbing quick, candid shots. Bigger lenses can look scary and serious. Then you have to come up with a reason or an excuse if someone asks what you are up to. A small lens connotes that you are just playing around. And that helps. Now --- on to the real test! How will the lens fare with the Mannequin Squadron???

I think the mannequins were totally on that day. They delivered

high fashion poses with elan. They were able to hold their poses indefinitely 

which was good because the light everywhere was dropping quickly. 

Poetry reading on the avenue. Loving the way the camera and lens handle flesh tones. 

Looking good at ISO 6400. Even though it's not supposed to...

If I did own cowboy boots I'd want them to be understated, like these (just above). 

A new shop, still under construction, in an alley behind other shops. Now shooting at full nighttime and depending the dynamic range of the camera to "see" into the shadows. And depending on the lens and camera to nail focus. It's all good. 

And, at some point, when all the people wonder off and the weather turns chilly, it's time to go home and play with the files. I post processed 57 shots. I'll share some more on Instagram. 

I needed a break from blogging.  Thanks for waiting around.

I wish people could think about photography, and create photography, in the NOW instead of forever mining the past and styles long dead. But it is what it is and that's the long and short of it. 

I'll edit comments a bit tighter now.