This 50mm f/1.2 Lens for Sony APS-C Cameras Costs Only $98

Metal-bodied, manual focus third-party lenses have exploded in the last year or two. This review checks out the new 50mm f/1.2 lens from TTArtisan made for Sony APS-C cameras.

If you love a shallow depth of field and image quality isn’t a prime concern, there’s a wealth of options available — and at very affordable prices. This 50mm f/1.2 from TTArtisan (the full frame equivalent of 75mm) is just $98 and at that price, you’d be forgiven for assuming that sharpness would be severely compromised. As this review from Arthur R shows, that’s not the case.

With the arrival of so many new affordable lenses, quality has improved dramatically, though more expensive lenses will offer significant improvements when it comes to corner sharpness and controlling chromatic aberration. Chromatic aberration occurs as a result of light traveling at different speeds through the elements of the lens which can create color fringing in areas of high contrast. More expensive lenses use low dispersion glass to avoid the phenomenon as much as possible, and then multiple elements to try and correct it where it does occur. There’s an excellent article on the B&H Photo website if you want to learn more about different types of optical anomalies and how lens designers overcome them.

Are you tempted by the TTArtisan 50mm f/1.2? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Andy Day's picture

Andy Day is a British photographer and writer living in France. He began photographing parkour in 2003 and has been doing weird things in the city and elsewhere ever since. He's addicted to climbing and owns a fairly useless dog. He has an MA in Sociology & Photography which often makes him ponder what all of this really means.

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3 Comments

Yeah, no thanks... Give me an adapted Canon nFD 50mm f1.4 in mint condition for less money along with an FD-NEX flocked adaptor and get WAY more creative and pleasing results, or an SMC Takumar 50mm f1.7 8-element with REAL PREMIUM build quality, not this Chinese junk.

I agree .I am saving for a new R camera then use my large superb library of R, FL and FD lenses. Including the 58mm f1.2 and other unique 1st party super lemses Including L lenses.

You say Sony, but it also comes in versions for other APS-C mounts such as Fuji X-mount. And m43 too, I believe.

It's all manual, so no electronic contacts that allow recording of aperture. It's not for pixel peepers, but for less than $100 I've been having fun with it.