TTArtisan AF 40mm F/2
A few weeks ago, TTArtisan asked if I wanted to review their new 40mm F/2 lens, and after reviewing their 75mm F/2 lens earlier this year, I was happy to hear they were coming out with a lens with a focal length more up my alley, so I agreed.
With that said, I received the lens in exchange for this blog review. All thoughts are my own and TTArtisan does not get to preview this blog before I publish it.
TTArtisan AF 40mm F/2 for Sony E
FEATURES
This full-frame autofocus lens comes has a budget-friendly price tag of$168, and it is available for both Sony E and Nikon Z mounts.
The construction is all metal, which is really nice considering the price point — there are lots of expensive lenses out there that are made of plastic. It has a metal lens hood, a clickable aperture ring, and the rear lens cap comes with a USB-C port for firmware updates — a feature I’d love to see become more mainstream with other lens manufacturers.
This is a really small lens (weighing 176g) with a pretty fast aperture of F/2, which is very suitable for a lot of street/portrait photographers.
MY EXPERIENCE + THINGS I LIKE
I got the lens just before I left on a trip to France and Switzerland for 2 weeks. Now even though the trip was focused around the outdoors and hiking in the alps (where I didn’t really use this lens), I brought it out with me when I was going out into town to get dinner or buy groceries in order to use it in a more “street photography” setting, where I felt I could get a better feel for it.
There are very few 40mm autofocus lens options out there — aside from this lens, there is the Sony 40mm F/2.5 ($798) and Viltrox 40mm F/2.5 ($168). With this TTArtisan lens, you’re getting a budget lens that has a faster aperture than both of the other options. I gravitate towards focal lengths between 28 and 50mm, so I was stoked to see TTArtisan go with a focal length that’s a bit “less popular”.
As a street photographer, I absolutely love compact lenses. They are a bit more discrete than zooms or even just fast 1.2 or 1.4 primes, and my neck/shoulders thank me whenever I choose to bring out this lens on my A7IV instead of something heavier.
I had this lens out with me in the towns of Chamonix, France and Frutigen, Switzerland and in all honesty, I wasn’t really prioritizing shooting in the same way I would if I was on a dedicated street photography trip so I didn’t get to shoot a ton with it — but I was able to get a few images that I really like.
The feel of this lens is pleasant. It has a nice balance in the hand on my A7IV, and if you’re someone who likes using aperture rings, this one has 1/3 increments from F/2 to F/16.
After reviewing the images and being able to get a closer look at them, the sharpness is solid, mainly in the center of the images. Honestly, most of what I wrote about the 75mm F/2 applies to this lens. The only real difference is in the slight size difference due to the different focal lengths.
THE DOWNSIDES
When you’re buying a lens at this price, you can expect a few bad things. There are two things I noticed pretty quickly — vignetting and AF hunting.
Slower/less accurate AF isn’t really a surprising thing when it comes to budget lenses — it’s something you learn to work around, and you know what scenarios will work when using this lens. For a slower pace of shooting, I think the AF performance on this lens is definitely usable. However, there was an instance where I was trying to focus on something in the background of an image using the touch screen on my A7IV, and the lens just couldn’t seem to lock onto it for some reason. At times, it would also hunt when trying to lock in on a clear subject, which can be a bit of a headache.
I also noticed a very slight delay of the photo being taken after pressing the shutter button, and that can be a hindrance when it comes to very fast, fleeting moments.
The vignetting on this lens is pretty strong, which is a bit surprising given its 40mm focal length. It’s more noticeable wide-open at F/2, but it’s still visible even when you stop down to F/5.6. Because TTArtisan does not have lens corrections in Lightroom, you’ll have to correct this manually (or you can keep it, which gives you a bit of a vintage look).
Corner sharpness isn’t the best either, but honestly that’s not much of an issue for me as the other two things I talked about. I’ve read other reviews mentioning flaring and chromatic abberation, but I don’t have any example where I was pointing this lens directly into a light source to show you.
This lens isn’t weather sealed either, so don’t expect to use it in rainy conditions (the rainy photos I showed above were shot under an awning, and then I had to put the camera under my shirt).
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
I’m really glad TTArtisan decided to release a 40mm prime lens because it’s a focal length that doesn’t get a ton of love. The options (for Sony) are limited, so if you want a compact 40mm AF lens, you’re either paying $168 for a Viltrox lens that is a bit slower in regards to aperture, or the Sony lens that — although is much better in many aspects — is almost 5x the cost. The build quality on this lens is better than some lenses I’ve seen that are 5x the price of this one, so when it comes to lens construction, TTArtisan doesn’t miss the mark.
I think this lens is a really nice “daily” carry lens for a slower shooting pace. You can also use it in more low-light scenarios with its F/2 aperture. It has its flaws, but if you’re able to look past those, you’re still getting solid value.
