An exceptionally worthy review, spoken well to photographers willing to explore for the joy of shooting for fun and artistic exploration. I also appreciate your explanation of benefits and drawbacks, all while displaying well-chosen, high-quality images. Thank you.
Yeah and shooting at f.95 full frame your subject is going to be center focused anyway and easy to correct with a lens profile since the vin isn’t “mechanical” as Dustin explains. It’s manual focus anyway and in this day and age of taking pictures, I think the product speaks more to the artistic photogs that are familiar with more editing processes than editorial, sports and typical commercial photogs looking for speed and consistency. So doing the post process should be a non-issue for the bulk of those photogs that seek the thin depth of field. However, we are also getting past the “uncanny valley” of over the top hdr and cheapp looking computational “pho”keh or fake- bokeh. No matter how much some of us hold on to the camera we know of the past, the old ways will never catch up with the new technology. We are starting to get believable high resolution “out of focus” with natural light fall off using software and fairly quickly. This means that the artist can shoot starting with their very sharpest lens or favorite autofocus lens or at f11 and still achieve the same out of focus effect with greater i focus area detail and resolution. As for using it in low light conditions… with today’s mirror-less full frame high dynamic range cameras you shouldn’t have a problem. These giant glass manual lenses were created during a time when more glass meant more light and less noise for dark light conditions. Cameras have changed since film. We are in the digital age. We can get sharp glass down to 1.8 at reasonable prices and 2.8 is pretty much standard for events. If someone is having problems getting low noise images with a full frame modern camera they are probably digital age babies that don’t remember that we would always find the light to produce images rather than blame the lost shot on the inadequacy of the film or camera technology. All the best and I clicked because I love these reviews even if it’s a lens I’m not going to buy. This channel is humble and objective. Not over the top opinionated like myself and others that enjoy photography. It’s refreshing to watch thank you for producing these product reviews - especially the lens reviews, great stuff.
Fantastic review again!!👌 I’ve got this lens and it’s a fun lens to produce artistic images and it’s no where as good as my Voigt lenses especially my Voigt 50mm f2 apo lanthar lens but for a cheap gun budget lens it carnt be beat
love your work Dustin thanks for such a thorough review on this awesome chunk of glass, your philosophy behind it was right on the money IMO. this is an amazingly artistic lens for the money, and it looks like an absolute joy to shoot around with. im really impressed with how much it actually covers on the full frame sensor, might have to add this to the collection of fast manual e-mount glass, as an alternative to my rokinon 50mm f1.2 (i absolutely love that lens, it doesnt cover a full frame sensor quite as well as this TTArtisan, but its darn sharp wide open).
The finest Sony-related reviews on UA-cam. I always come here for a balanced and broad perspective on gear. I suffer from being too concerned with image quality, but this review convinced me to buy this lens in an effort to break out of that "bourgeois" concept (cf. Cartier-Bresson!).
Excellent work, as always, Dustin. Thank you. I am having fun with the Brightin Star 50 0.95, which you reviewed ad well. How do the two lenses compare in your opinion? I guess the performance feels similar. Have a nice day.
Third-party lenses are little difference in performance. Depends on what lens-looking style you prefer. And the TTArtisan lens can be used on full-frame. Very price worth.
Hi Stefan. A lot of these inexpensive F0.95 lenses are fairly similar in performances. The 7Artisans 35mm F0.95 was a bit sharper than some others, but it was also only APS-C
@@DustinAbbottTWI Hi Dustin, I mean the 50mm 0.95. That one is full frame. It has a lot of imperfections, as you have seen during your review, but I still enjoy it. It is quite versatile and stopped down it is absolutely modern.
Can you review the RF 85MM 1.2 DS and maybe compare it to the regular RF 85MM 1.2? I’m planning on buying it before my brother’s Birthday so I can get some lovely portraits.
Have you also reviewed the 7artisans 50mm f1.05? It seems to be a sharp lens with a modern look and is comparable with other fast fifties from ttartisans, laowa and Meike.
Thank you, for the informative review! I ordered this lens for my Leica SL2-S (L-Mount Version) but didn´t thought about the APS-C version, because I saw a review for the M-Mount which is a full frame lens. But I will use t for portraits or artistic images, so it doesn´t really matter, that it is not sharp on the corners. For the cheap price, it is a good lens!
It seems that the focal plane of this lens is extremely bent outwards, when the background is blurred for most part, in the edges, it weirdly cones into focus.
I'd say the lack of resolution and contrast on open aperture makes focus peaking too problematic and demotivating. That's actually a disaster from the practical stand of potint. Since the lens is manual you'll run into plenty of misfocused shots. I've never seen a 0.95 lens (well, Nikon Noct apart) that would have satisfactory level of resolution for convenient focusing or enough IQ of portraits shot on them. That said, there are decent analogs of 1.1-1.2 max aperture lenses with my favorite being Smyang 35 mm 1.2 and Kamlan 50 mm 1.1 mk ii. Surprisingly, the difference in background bluring is negligible, but in turms of resulution it's two different worlds.
@@DustinAbbottTWI - excellent review with your inimitable fairness. Perhaps if you've only got a nifty-50 and this 50 f0.95, a man could be happy with that? But then surely a man can have several 50's without them stepping on each other's toes, can they not? All my 50mm lenses have something going for them: even the old Canon LTM f1.4 is a beautiful renderer, as is the Takumar 58mm F2 (sonnar) for portraits, as is the pre-aspherical Summicron which is better, or the zm sonnar f1.5 for a characterful soft punch; my walkabout 50mm is the Loxia (a bit clinical but better than the Sony Z 55 F1.8), etc. I'm currently saving for a Voigt 50mm f1.2. GAS I guess 😉 Thank-you sir for your expert advice, especially the giving of due consideration to the rendering aspect and ideal use case of each particular lens.
An exceptionally worthy review, spoken well to photographers willing to explore for the joy of shooting for fun and artistic exploration. I also appreciate your explanation of benefits and drawbacks, all while displaying well-chosen, high-quality images. Thank you.
You're welcome, Eric
This is a lens with character. The vignetting when covering the full-frame is a kind of feature too!
It does create a unique look.
Yeah and shooting at f.95 full frame your subject is going to be center focused anyway and easy to correct with a lens profile since the vin isn’t “mechanical” as Dustin explains. It’s manual focus anyway and in this day and age of taking pictures, I think the product speaks more to the artistic photogs that are familiar with more editing processes than editorial, sports and typical commercial photogs looking for speed and consistency. So doing the post process should be a non-issue for the bulk of those photogs that seek the thin depth of field. However, we are also getting past the “uncanny valley” of over the top hdr and cheapp looking computational “pho”keh or fake- bokeh. No matter how much some of us hold on to the camera we know of the past, the old ways will never catch up with the new technology. We are starting to get believable high resolution “out of focus” with natural light fall off using software and fairly quickly. This means that the artist can shoot starting with their very sharpest lens or favorite autofocus lens or at f11 and still achieve the same out of focus effect with greater i focus area detail and resolution. As for using it in low light conditions… with today’s mirror-less full frame high dynamic range cameras you shouldn’t have a problem. These giant glass manual lenses were created during a time when more glass meant more light and less noise for dark light conditions. Cameras have changed since film. We are in the digital age. We can get sharp glass down to 1.8 at reasonable prices and 2.8 is pretty much standard for events. If someone is having problems getting low noise images with a full frame modern camera they are probably digital age babies that don’t remember that we would always find the light to produce images rather than blame the lost shot on the inadequacy of the film or camera technology. All the best and I clicked because I love these reviews even if it’s a lens I’m not going to buy. This channel is humble and objective. Not over the top opinionated like myself and others that enjoy photography. It’s refreshing to watch thank you for producing these product reviews - especially the lens reviews, great stuff.
Neat review, as usual Dustin. Thank you. I am charmed by the image of your cat.
Cheers.
I liked that one, too.
Fantastic review again!!👌 I’ve got this lens and it’s a fun lens to produce artistic images and it’s no where as good as my Voigt lenses especially my Voigt 50mm f2 apo lanthar lens but for a cheap gun budget lens it carnt be beat
That's fair.
love your work Dustin thanks for such a thorough review on this awesome chunk of glass, your philosophy behind it was right on the money IMO. this is an amazingly artistic lens for the money, and it looks like an absolute joy to shoot around with. im really impressed with how much it actually covers on the full frame sensor, might have to add this to the collection of fast manual e-mount glass, as an alternative to my rokinon 50mm f1.2 (i absolutely love that lens, it doesnt cover a full frame sensor quite as well as this TTArtisan, but its darn sharp wide open).
The Rokinon 50mm F1.2 was definitely quite good for the money.
The finest Sony-related reviews on UA-cam. I always come here for a balanced and broad perspective on gear. I suffer from being too concerned with image quality, but this review convinced me to buy this lens in an effort to break out of that "bourgeois" concept (cf. Cartier-Bresson!).
Hope it opens up your creativity.
Excellent work, as always, Dustin. Thank you. I am having fun with the Brightin Star 50 0.95, which you reviewed ad well. How do the two lenses compare in your opinion? I guess the performance feels similar. Have a nice day.
Third-party lenses are little difference in performance. Depends on what lens-looking style you prefer. And the TTArtisan lens can be used on full-frame. Very price worth.
@Gomez - The Brightin Star is a full frame lens, rather than an APS-C lens that fills the full frame image circle without mechanical vignette.
@@acouragefann Yes, it is funny that it fills full frame quite well.
Hi Stefan. A lot of these inexpensive F0.95 lenses are fairly similar in performances. The 7Artisans 35mm F0.95 was a bit sharper than some others, but it was also only APS-C
@@DustinAbbottTWI Hi Dustin, I mean the 50mm 0.95. That one is full frame. It has a lot of imperfections, as you have seen during your review, but I still enjoy it. It is quite versatile and stopped down it is absolutely modern.
Have you reviewed the Nikon Noct yet?
I haven't - I don't really review Nikon.
"(APS-C and Full Frame)" FF in the title is confusing here, while they have 50mm 0.95 FF lens.
I'm not trying to create confusion, but there's only so much space in the title box
Hey Dustin,
Very informative review, however for portrait type lens it would be nice to see some portrait image samples instead of landscape.
Fair enough, though right now I am working about three full time jobs and just didn't have time for any portrait sessions.
Exactly, it was used for the wrong application so the review isn't useful.
Excellent review and I can't wait for availability at my country
Hope you enjoy it!
Hi, greetings from Jakarta. How's this lens' perform when paired to Canon EOS RP full frame?
I didn't test in that application, but it shouldn't be radically different. The lower resolution will make lens flaws less obvious.
Can you review the RF 85MM 1.2 DS and maybe compare it to the regular RF 85MM 1.2? I’m planning on buying it before my brother’s Birthday so I can get some lovely portraits.
I haven't spent time with the DS version, but that may be a possibility in the future.
@@DustinAbbottTWI Thank you. 🙌🏼
This lens results reminds horror movie shots (unsharp corners, weird effects wide open)
It definitely has a lot of character.
Have you also reviewed the 7artisans 50mm f1.05? It seems to be a sharp lens with a modern look and is comparable with other fast fifties from ttartisans, laowa and Meike.
I just took a quick look, and I don't think that I have
Primary designed for Leica M.
Perhaps, but since I don't have an M mount body....
@@DustinAbbottTWI hhh same as Chris
Thank you, for the informative review! I ordered this lens for my Leica SL2-S (L-Mount Version) but didn´t thought about the APS-C version, because I saw a review for the M-Mount which is a full frame lens. But I will use t for portraits or artistic images, so it doesn´t really matter, that it is not sharp on the corners. For the cheap price, it is a good lens!
Exactly.
It seems that the focal plane of this lens is extremely bent outwards, when the background is blurred for most part, in the edges, it weirdly cones into focus.
Sometimes odd things happen with these lenses.
I'd say the lack of resolution and contrast on open aperture makes focus peaking too problematic and demotivating. That's actually a disaster from the practical stand of potint. Since the lens is manual you'll run into plenty of misfocused shots. I've never seen a 0.95 lens (well, Nikon Noct apart) that would have satisfactory level of resolution for convenient focusing or enough IQ of portraits shot on them. That said, there are decent analogs of 1.1-1.2 max aperture lenses with my favorite being Smyang 35 mm 1.2 and Kamlan 50 mm 1.1 mk ii. Surprisingly, the difference in background bluring is negligible, but in turms of resulution it's two different worlds.
There's some truth to this, though the plane of focus is so thin that it is easy to see a focus overlay.
You never found a f.95 lens without optical flaws because you don't review the Z system
Hmmm, perhaps.
Looks like ugly for that price. 😒
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder...;)
So they lens is shit.
That's not what I would say, but it isn't for everyone.
@@DustinAbbottTWI - excellent review with your inimitable fairness. Perhaps if you've only got a nifty-50 and this 50 f0.95, a man could be happy with that? But then surely a man can have several 50's without them stepping on each other's toes, can they not? All my 50mm lenses have something going for them: even the old Canon LTM f1.4 is a beautiful renderer, as is the Takumar 58mm F2 (sonnar) for portraits, as is the pre-aspherical Summicron which is better, or the zm sonnar f1.5 for a characterful soft punch; my walkabout 50mm is the Loxia (a bit clinical but better than the Sony Z 55 F1.8), etc. I'm currently saving for a Voigt 50mm f1.2. GAS I guess 😉
Thank-you sir for your expert advice, especially the giving of due consideration to the rendering aspect and ideal use case of each particular lens.