A 50mm lens with a wide aperture is quite versatile, offering a neutral focal length for anything from portraits to events coverage and a lot of pleasing narrow depth of field and light-gathering capabilities. It does not get much wider than f/0.95, and this excellent video review takes a look at one such option, the TTArtisan 50mm f/0.95.
Coming to you from Christopher Frost, this great video review takes a look at the TTArtisan 50mm f/0.95 lens. Though it is designed for the Leica M mount, given that the lens is manual focus only, you can easily use it with the appropriate adapter and not lose any functionality, and given the focusing aids on modern mirrorless cameras, manual focus for anything but fast action is not as hard as it used to be. The 50mm f/0.95 comes with a variety of good features, including:
- One large-diameter, double-sided aspherical element and eight high-refractive index elements for less distortion and increased sharpness
- Two extra-low dispersion elements for reduced chromatic aberrations
- 14-blade diaphragm for extra smooth bokeh
While it does not approach the wide-open performance of Leica's famed 50mm f/0.95, at a price over $10,000 less, the TTArtisan 50mm f/0.95 looks like an interesting option for bokeh fanatics. Check out the video above for Frost's full thoughts.
I haven't shot with this particular lens, but I do own the TTartisan 50mm f/1.2 (Fuji). For such an inexpensive lens, it's extremely well built and has surprisingly good image quality. TTartisan has mastered the art of bringing that legacy lens look and feel into the new era. All at an affordable price. The pros always outweigh the cons with TTartisan lenses.
I have the 25mm f/1.8 and really like its rendering.
Does anyone own the 11mm fisheye?
You could also consider the incredibly inexpensive 7 Artisans 50/0.95 which is an APSC lens but works really well on my A7r4 in APSC mode (26 mps). For around US$150 it's definitely worth splurging for a little fun (mostly metal and a lovely smooth solid feel to the focusing ring). A little soft wide open it gives that 'glow' to portraits whilst stopping down sharpens it up a lot.
I did see a comparison between the lens in the review above and the 7 Artisans lens - the one above shaded it for most but the 7 Artisans wasn't disgraced by any means.