TTArtisan 35mm f0.95 – The Second Fastest Lens

TTArtisan has just announced yet another fast, bright lens. The TTArtisan 35mm f0.95 is the second lens after TTArtisan 50mm f0.95. If you are a fan of TTArtisan or somehow followed them closely, you will notice that they are slowly expanding and differentiating their product line-up. While they focus on compactness and portability lenses like the TTArtisan 25mm f2, they have another product line-up that goes “all-in” by creating the fastest, brightest lens they can. Can this lens do as good as its sibling? Let’s find out.

Before I continue with my sharing, I thank TTArtisan for sending this lens to me. To the readers passing by this blog post, you can rest assured that I give my honest opinions on this lens, similar to the rest of the TTArtisan products that I have shared.

Intro

This is TTArtisan’s second 35mm (or 50mm in full-frame equivalent focal length) lens for the APS-C sensor. This focal length is also one of my favorite focal lengths, especially for street shots and simple portraits, and I believe there are many photographers who love this focal length too.

Design & Build Quality

TTArtisan does a good job of distinguishing its lens design and this design element maintains the same as the TTArtisan 50mm f0.95. The zebra-like design, however, has received mixed opinions among photographers and some discussions are made among the groups.

The aperture ring is as good as the rest of the TTArtisans lens lineup. It gives a very comfortable clicky experience when you rotate the aperture ring. I do enjoy changing apertures because of that even when I am just holding my camera in my hand.

TTArtisan provides screw-in lens cap like most of their lenses. But I do miss the cap-on lens cap found in TTArtisan 23mm f1.4.

When I have this lens, there is no information about its specification and also its weight. So I use my wife’s kitchen weighing scale to weigh. It is 243 grams (258 grams with the lens cap). It is 168 grams lighter than the sibling so it is not the heaviest manual lens.

When you hold this lens, the first thing you will feel is the weight. Secondly, you can also feel how well the full metal and glass built quality are.

Image Quality

The depth of field of f0.95 is really very shallow and thus gives me an issue nailing the shots. When I manage to hit a focused shot, this lens can give a kind of soft and glowing character which gives us a kind of dreamy feel to the photos.

On the other hand, chromatic aberration and vignetting are observable, especially at wide open. This is an expected result (at least to me) but it can fix in post-processing.

In my test, nonetheless, shooting at f2 meets my minimum acceptance of a good level of sharpness and contrast. Again, this is my personal preference and yours might be different from me.

Focusing

The manual focusing ring still gives a very smooth rotating experience with small gentle friction. Honestly speaking, I love it.

The focus throw is approximately 180° which gives an ample amount of “distance” for more precise and easier focus. This really helps a lot, particularly for photographers who are not getting used to manual focus.

Minimum Focus Distance (MFD)

Similar to most 35mm lenses out in the market, the MFD is 35 cm. In my opinion, nothing to complain about the MFD. Shooting at this MFD allows better subject-background separation but if you shoot wide open, you will get to see heavier dreamy soft shots than any other focus distance.

Price Point

Given that it is one of the fastest lenses in the market, at 199 USD, I think the lens is well-priced and also slightly cheaper than its sibling. Moreover, the price is highly competitive as compared to its competitors.

Who is this for?

This lens is a lens you can consider if you are a dreamy and soft photo lover and you know what you want to achieve with this lens. It is also lighter than its sibling, making it a better option if someone wants that fast and bright lens.

If you are a first-timer with manual lenses and you are unsure if you want to invest in them or are ready for the world of manual focusing lenses, then I think you can consider many other TTArtisan lenses that are an even lighter and more affordable option.

if you are like me who prefers the results taken at f2, shouldn’t it make sense for me to choose the other f2 lenses instead of this one? Yes, you can consider that but photographers always say that it is always to have such a lens on standby with you. Because you never know when you will need it.

Conclusion

Both siblings share a lot of common things like image quality, built quality, and the character of the lens. Everything I expect from this lens is within my expectation, which is a good thing. If choosing between the 2 siblings, I will prefer to get this lens over the other, all because of the weight and versatility.

TTArtisan shows no sign of stopping here and I am sure these benefits photographers like us as we have more lens options to choose from. My guess is that they are probably going to launch the 3rd lens for this category and I hope that 23mm will be the one. I am excited and looking forward to what TTArtisan has up its sleeve in the year 2023.

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.

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