TTArtisan AF 27mm f2.8 – The First

TTArtisan had been teasing us about their very first autofocus (AF) lens since September 2021. While there was very little information shared about the 32mm f2.8 lens, the only thing we know is that it will be available for various camera systems.

However, the much anticipated AF lens did not arrive in many systems except for the Nikon Z mount. What I have understood from TTArtisan is that they faced some challenges in the process of manufacturing it and they did not share more in-depth about it. Nevertheless, I am glad they have finally announced their first AF lens and release for sale!

Before I share my experience with this lens, I would like to thank TTArtisan for sending this lens for my review. I appreciate their support to make this post a reality.

Intro

I believe this focal length has caught almost everyone by surprise and that’s including me. Why TTArtisan released this 40mm full-frame equivalent focal length as their first AF lens for Fujifilm and not the 35mm or 50mm equivalent focal length?

According to TTArtisan, they are focusing a lot on portable and compact lenses. Considering the size of this lens, it suits well with the retro style of Fuji camera bodies and together in a smaller package for easy to carry around for street photography.

Design and Build Quality

Just like the other TTArtisan lenses, it comes with a metal-built body (made of aviation aluminum). But I have to say that when I first hold it, it feels very light. Unlikely the usual weighty lenses, this lens is unbelievably light. According to my wife’s kitchen weighing scale, it weighs at 89 grams only (and 93 grams with the lens hood).

Considering how compact the lens is, the build quality is good. Over here, TTArtisan does not take a shortcut, it does come with a clickable aperture ring and a manual focus ring. The click, however, seems to be stiffer than the other TTArtisan manual lenses. But I accept it since it is so compact.

On the other hand, the manual focus ring is buttery smooth as usual.

One interesting thing to note, TTArtisan has finally come with a lens hood and it is a light small metal piece of protection like the one found in XF27mm.

The lens cap is no longer metal built and unlike screw-in types like 50mm f0.95 or capped-on types like 23mm f1.4. Now it is the pinch-to-release type and it is made of plastic. The good thing is that it can cover the lens with and without the lens hood on.

For a note, it comes in 2 colors: Black and Titanium. From the official post, I think the Titanium looks good.

Image Quality

At wide open, you will notice the heavy vignetting at the corners and it is more obvious when focusing at infinity. It seems to be inherent in the same characteristic as many other TTArtisan lenses. But it can be easily corrected via post-edit.

If you know me, I usually increase 1-stop of the aperture instead of using the widest aperture on most of the TTArtisan manual lenses. But the image quality results from this lens at f2.8 are actually nice, sharp, and totally usable.

Focusing

This lens comes with Stepper Motor (STM) which is also stated to adopt the “STM+leading screw”. I am unsure what that actually means, but to my surprise, this lens has a very silent and smooth focusing system. But how fast is this lens performing?

Based on my test with 2 camera bodies (X-E3 and X-Pro 3), this lens’s autofocus (AF) speed is very much dependent on the camera bodies. On X-E3, its AF is quite slow as compared to X-Pro 3. After all, the camera body does play a part in the lens focusing speed. So to be fair to the lens, it performs pretty decently fast and it is internal focusing!

Minimum Focus Distance

The Minimum Focus Distance is 35 cm. In real life scenario, it is not as close as I thought it would be. In spite of that, it does help to separate the main subject from the others very well.

Side By Side

This lens shares a lot of similarities with the XF27mm, so I decided to do a small breakdown.

First, XF27mm’s micromotor AF system is noisier than TTArtisan’s but the AF speed are comparable between the two.

Second, XF27mm weight is slightly lighter at 84 grams.

Third, TTArtisan is actually a tad taller than XF27mm.

Fourth, this lens has a very similar MFD to the XF27mm WR.

Lastly, the TTArtisan lens hood can fit on the XF27mm because both of them are 39mm filter threads.

Others

This lens comes with a unique rear lens cover. It is actually a dock with a built-in USB C port (yeah!) connection that allows firmware upgrading in the future. That’s sweet.

My suggestion is to leave the rear dock cover at home and use another rear lens cover to cover it or just stick it with the camera body.

Oh yes, this lens is not weather resistant but given the price of this lens, I accepted that.

Who is this for?

It is a street lens. Having said that, I could recommend everyone to get one. Especially one who wants to try out what a 40mm focal length is like, use it as a lens cap, give this manufacturer’s lens a try or gift your photographer friends (the Christmas season is around the corner).

Conclusion

With the release of this lens, it means TTArtisan is the latest manufacturer joining other manufacturers like Sigma, Tamron, Tokina, Viltrox, and Rokinon/Samyang in offering third-party autofocus lenses for the Fuji X-mount system.

At the price of 149 USD, I can’t help to think it is the cheapest option to get as an AF lens in the market. It is, even more, cheaper than the XF27mm f2.8 WR which costs 399 USD. I mean I cannot find any reason not to recommend this lens to everyone. It is a nice small and compact lens that can go easily with any Fuji camera.

TTArtisan really makes a bold move in this and this is a good start. I am happy to see them onboarding into this X-mount journey and giving us photographers one more option to choose from.

As I mentioned earlier, TTArtisan is working toward portable and compact lenses. It’s a good hint of what will be TTArtisan’s next AF lens to be there for us in the near future. I am hoping for an 18mm f2 lens (or similar), what will be your wish lens?

Thank you for reading.

Disclaimer:
1. All the shots taken here are shot by me.
2. Most of the shots are straight out of the camera with some shots edited via In-Camera Raw Processing.
3. The opinions are based on my experience. If there is any mistake, please kindly drop me a message and I will gladly make the amendment.
4. I reserve ownership of these images, if you wish to use my images, please notify me.
5. Thank you Ivan Wong from Lightsmith Co for lending me the X-Pro 3.

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