TTArtisan AF 75mm F2 lens review - a match made in Nikon Zf heaven
Disclosure: TTArtisan sent me this lens at my request free of charge and allowed me to keep it. My review was not shared with TTArtisan before publication and they had no input on content.
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Since the release of the Nikon Zf, there has been a strange gap of missing lenses that feel tailored to the smaller, more nostalgic body of the Zf. Adapting F-era lenses can be frustrating, as the F to Z adapter thickness can add 50% more length to classic, smaller lenses. Nikon has released two lenses that seem somewhat bespoke for the Zf, the 28/2 and the 40/2. However, those lenses feel crudely constructed out of low grade plastic, akin more to toys from a Cracker Jack box than camera equipment.
2024 saw a surge of several Chinese companies who saw this gap and are now attempting to fill it with high quality budget lenses that are more size-appropriate to the Zf. TTArtisan is one of these companies delivering high quality lenses at highly affordable prices.
After buying the TTArtisan 75/1.5 (reviewed here), I was shocked at how well built and interesting it was, and I started paying attention to other products that TTA are producing. They quietly released an AF series of lenses for several mounts, lenses that aim to deliver a solid, modern looking metal construction lens with native mount support in addition to nice-to-haves like an aperture ring and lighter-than-native weight. Luckily for me, the Z mount was included in this lineup.
What results here is a value proposition that Nikon themselves have not yet matched. A 9 blade aperture delivers character in the bokeh, and a 10 element/7group design provides excellent sharpness from 2.8 and beyond. Wide open, you get a unique bit of glow character like other TTA lenses.
What I loved:
Lightweight (340g)
Metal body
Aperture ring
Well balanced towards the mount
Buttery smooth manual focus ring
Lens can be firmware updated via lens cap USB port
Less than $200 USD
The not so good:
Cheap feeling plastic bayonet petal hood
Aperture ring can be bumped easily, no lock when in “A” mode
Back lens cap doesn’t fit well
On Nikon Z, there can be hard vignetting in some instances requiring you to crop corners out
As mentioned above, the aperture ring, while nice to have, can be moved quite easily by simply grabbing the camera, pulling out of a bag, or bumping during operation. I wish the detents were a bit stiffer, and that there was a lock when in the Automatic setting. In practice, you get used to double checking your aperture setting every so often in the EVF to make sure it’s what you think it should be.
One issue I ran across was some hard vignetting. This is often due to a lens not completely covering the camera’s sensor with light. It’s a bit hard to replicate and only seems to show up in certain circumstances. It does not improve by stopping down, so the way around this is to simply crop in a bit to get rid of the corners of the photo (examples in review video). I have spoken to others with this lens who report they’ve never seen it, so it could be copy variation, or it could be an issue on the Z design. I’m reaching out to TTA to see if they have any info and will update here if I hear anything.
The two major detractors for build quality are the cheap feeling petal hood and the rear cap that contains the USB port for firmware updating. The former is a sad design that should have never shipped with the lens. I strongly suggest you spend $10 and buy the JJC screw in aluminum hood to replace the stock hood.
Image quality has consistently impressed me…colors are vivid and interesting, the bokeh has some character without being distracting, and center sharpness does not disappoint. This lens fits squarely between a vintage character lens and a modern ultra sharp prime.
75mm has been a refreshing focal length to work with, even though I wasn’t quite sure what to expect for day to day shooting. 85mm has always felt a bit long indoors, so losing 10mm has unlocked new use cases for this, and it pairs with my daily driver 35mm perfectly for two distinct lengths that serve very different purposes. I often shoot from my car while driving around looking for interesting things, and 75mm has proven to be a very useful length for this application.
Overall, this has been a lens that I reach for day after day while shooting, one that disappears when mounted on the Zf and delivers consistently pleasing results both in the field and during post. Had TTA not graciously provided this lens, I would have been more than satisfied if I had paid retail. It represents a surge of innovation from Chinese companies that are stepping up to do what the first parties are seemingly unwilling to, and everyone wins with this level of high quality budget competition. Great job, TTArtisan!
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