TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 ASPH

für LEICA M & all mirrorless cameras

Sample Images   Introduction

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Compatibility   Specifications

Performance   Compared   Recommendations

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 ASPH für LEICA M und all mirrorless cameras (shown in black, also comes in sliver, metal 49mm filter thread, 13.9 oz./395 g, 2¼'/0.7m close focus, $449). bigger. I'd get mine at Adorama in black, at Adorama in silver, at Amazon in black, at Amazon in silver, at B&H in black, at B&H in sliver or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay. You may also be able to find it in gold at eBay.

This all-content, junk-free website's biggest source of support is when you use those or any of these links to approved sources when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Thanks for helping me help you! Ken.

 

August 2021   Better Pictures   LEICA   LEICA Lenses   Zeiss   Canon   Sony   Nikon   Fuji   Hasselblad   All Reviews

LEICA SUMMMILUX-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH FLE (2010 ~ today)

LEICA SUMMMILUX-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH (1994 ~ 2010)

LEICA SUMMILUX 35mm f/1.4 (1960 ~ 1995)

 

Sony vs. Nikon vs. Canon Full-Frame

Why Fixed Lenses Take Better Pictures

How to Shoot Film

 

Sample Images       top

Sample Images   Introduction

Good   Bad   Missing   Format

Compatibility   Specifications

Performance   Compared   Recommendations

More samples throughout this review at Bokeh, Distortion, Macro, Spherochromatism and Sunstars.

These are just snapshots; my real work is in my Gallery.

 

At f/1.4

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 Sample Image File

Canary Palm, 1:22 PM, 16 August 2021. Canon R5, TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 ASPH on basic mechanical adapter at f/1.4 at 1/800 at Auto ISO 100, +0.7 stops exposure compensation, Perfectly Clear. bigger, full resolution or camera-original © NORMAL JPG file.

Very little of this is in focus. Don't confuse lack of depth-of-field at f/1.4 with lens softness. The only part in focus is just some of the central ball of the palm.

 

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 Sample Image File

Ceiling Lamps, 12:02 PM, 16 August 2021. Canon R5, TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 ASPH on basic mechanical adapter at f/1.4 at 1/40 at Auto ISO 100, Perfectly Clear. bigger or camera-original © NORMAL JPG file.

Only part of the light on the top left is in focus. This is more a study in bokeh than sharpness.

 

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 Sample Image File

Fun Art Supplies, 8:06 AM, 19 August 2021. Canon R5, TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 ASPH on basic mechanical adapter at f/1.4 at 1/100 at Auto ISO 100, Perfectly Clear. bigger, full resolution or camera-original © NORMAL JPG file.

Very little of this is in focus, don't confuse lack of depth-of-field at f/1.4 with lens softness.

 

At f/8

Much more is in focus at f/8, but still far from everything:

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 Sample Image File

Fun Art Supplies, 8:06 AM, 19 August 2021 Canon R5, TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 ASPH on basic mechanical adapter at f/8 hand-held at 1/5 at ISO 100, Perfectly Clear. bigger, full resolution or camera-original © NORMAL JPG file.

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Introduction       top

Sample Images   Introduction

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Compatibility   Specifications

Performance   Compared   Recommendations

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This TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 ASPH is a very well-made manual-focus lens. It's a cosmetic copy of the LEICA SUMMMILUX-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH FLE (2010 ~ today), but sells for less than one-thirteenth the price and it's sharper at large apertures than my LEICA SUMMILUX 35mm f/1.4 (1960 ~ 1995).

It's all metal, with even more metal than my $6,000 LEICA SUMMILUX-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH FLE, and feels, handles and looks almost the same. Its silky-smooth, zero-play focus and click-stopped aperture ring feel the same, and this TTArtisan lens has a metal focus tab and solid metal front cap rather than the plastic focus tab and crappy plastic front cap of my LEICA SUMMMILUX-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH FLE, and the TTArtisan has an easier-to use focus ring.

Compared to the expensive plastic rubbish dumped to China by Nikon and Sony, this is a gem of domestic Chinese precision at a bargain price. This lens is like a breath of fresh air after reviewing countless high-priced throwaway plastic lenses from the big names. This TTArtisan lens should last at least a lifetime; there's nothing to break or go obsolete.

In addition to being very nicely made, it has great Bokeh and Sunstars.

While native to the timeless (1953-today) LEICA M mount, it's trivial to adapt this lens to every mirrorless camera, and in some cases, even add autofocus when used on Nikon Z!

As a LEICA M mount lens, of course it's manual-focus only.

I'd get my 35/1.4 ASPH at Adorama in black, at Adorama in silver, at Amazon in black, at Amazon in silver, at B&H in black, at B&H in sliver or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay. You may also be able to find it in gold at eBay.

 

Good       intro       top

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Sharper at large apertures than my LEICA SUMMILUX 35mm f/1.4!

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Great Bokeh.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Great Sunstars.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com All-metal construction. Even the focus tab is metal, which is only plastic on the LEICA SUMMILUX-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH FLE!

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Great felt-lined solid billet aluminum front cap. The LEICA SUMMILUX-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH FLE only has a crappy plastic front cap.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Feels and shoots very similarly to the as the real LEICA SUMMILUX-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH for one-thirteenth the price.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Precise, smooth focussing with zero play — just like a real LEICA lens.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Same-colored engraving and similar cosmetics as a real LEICA lens.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Same half-stop clicks as a real LEICA lens.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Similarly obvious red mounting-index ball as a real LEICA lens.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com 10-blade diaphragm.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Keys the proper 35mm viewfinder frame on LEICA M cameras.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Comes with a great felt-lined metal front cap — not the crappy plastic one LEICA includes with their $6,000 lens!

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com $5,546 less expensive than the LEICA SUMMILUX-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH FLE!

 

Bad       intro       top

red ball icon © KenRockwell.com Not really a LEICA lens.

red ball icon © KenRockwell.com While the optics give similarly excellent results on B&W film, this TTartisan lens is nowhere near as sharp and free from lateral color and distortion as the LEICA SUMMILUX-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH FLE and other LEICA 35mm lenses if you're splitting pixels in a laboratory or shooting high-resolution digital— but people working in laboratories rarely create interesting pictures.

red ball icon © KenRockwell.com Moderate barrel distortion.

red ball icon © KenRockwell.com 49mm rather than LEICA-standard 46mm filters. The only LEICA lenses that take 49mm filters are the current APO 75/2, the 1980-1998 90/2 and the current APO 135/3.4. This means for Shooting Film you'll need to carry another set of filters in this 49mm size since you won't be able to use your 46mm set that fit pretty much every other LEICA lens.

 

Missing       intro       top

gray ball icon © KenRockwell.com No autofocus; manual-focus only like all LEICA M lenses.

gray ball icon © KenRockwell.com Keine Stammbaum (no heritage, no pedigree and no bloodline).

gray ball icon © KenRockwell.com No "6-bit" code; I set the lens profile manually to 11883 on digital LEICA.

gray ball icon © KenRockwell.com The included integral screw-on hood looks cool, but just like the similar hood of the LEICA SUMMMILUX-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH FLE (2010 ~ today), it does absolutely nothing to keep stray light out of the lens.

gray ball icon © KenRockwell.com No image stabilization. (Real men don't need image stabilization.)

gray ball icon © KenRockwell.com No case included. So?

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 ASPH für LEICA M und all mirrorless cameras. bigger.

 

Format       top

Sample Images   Introduction

Good   Bad   Missing   Format

Compatibility   Specifications

Performance   Compared   Recommendations

I'd get my 35/1.4 ASPH at Adorama in black, at Adorama in silver, at Amazon in black, at Amazon in silver, at B&H in black, at B&H in sliver or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay. You may also be able to find it in gold at eBay.

This is a full frame lens and I'm reviewing it as such.

It also works great on APS-C cameras, on which you may make the usual inferences.

 

Compatibility       top

Sample Images   Introduction

Good   Bad   Missing   Format

Compatibility   Specifications

Performance   Compared   Recommendations

I'd get my 35/1.4 ASPH at Adorama in black, at Adorama in silver, at Amazon in black, at Amazon in silver, at B&H in black, at B&H in sliver or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay. You may also be able to find it in gold at eBay.

This TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 ASPH has a LEICA M mount. Focus and metering work perfectly on every LEICA M camera, from 1954's LEICA M3 through today's newest LEICA M-A, LEICA MP, LEICA M10 Monochrom, LEICA M10-P and LEICA M10-R.

It cannot mount on any LEICA screw-mount camera.

This TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 ASPH is a completely manual lens, with manual focus and manual aperture setting. It has no electronic communication to anything.

It has no 6-bit code; I set it manually to the LEICA SUMMICRON 35mm f/1.4 typ. 11883 in my M9's menus.

It's easy to adapt to any mirrorless camera because LEICA invented the 35mm full-frame format over 100 years ago. As the Master Mount for all 35mm cameras, it's easy to get a passive $15 mechanical adapter to go from LEICA M to your mirrorless camera, and you're good.

If you want autofocus on Nikon Z, the Megadap MTZ11 autofocusing adapter has its own built-in autofocus motor. Bravo!

 

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 ASPH on LEICA M7 0.85×. bigger.

 

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 ASPH on LEICA M7 0.85×. bigger.

 

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 ASPH on Canon EOS R5 with $15 M-to-R passive adapter. bigger.

 

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 ASPH on Canon EOS R5 with $15 M-to-R passive adapter. bigger.

 

Specifications       top

Sample Images   Introduction

Good   Bad   Missing   Format

Compatibility   Specifications

Performance   Compared   Recommendations

 

I'd get my 35/1.4 ASPH at Adorama in black, at Adorama in silver, at Amazon in black, at Amazon in silver, at B&H in black, at B&H in sliver or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay. You may also be able to find it in gold at eBay.

 

Name       specifications       top

TTArtisan calls this the TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 ASPH ∅49:

    ASPH: One Aspherical element to help control spherical aberration for sharper pictures at f/1.4.

    ∅49: 49mm filter thread.

 

Optics       specifications       top

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4

TTArtisan 35/1.4 ASPH internal optical construction. High refractive index and Aspherical elements.

10 elements in 8 groups.

1 Aspherical element.

3 High refractive index elements.

Unit focussing (no floating elements).

Multicoated.

 

Filters       specifications       top

Metal 49mm filter thread.

 

Coverage       specifications       top

Full-Frame (24 × 36mm), 35mm film (24 × 36mm) and APS-C (16 × 24mm).

 

Diaphragm       specifications       top

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 ASPH für LEICA M und all mirrorless cameras. bigger.

10 blades.

Stops down to f/16 with 1/2-stop clicks.

You may set any intermediate aperture.

 

Focal Length       specifications       top

35mm.

When used on an APS-C camera, it sees the same angle of view as a 50 mm lens sees when used on a full-frame or 35mm camera.

See also Crop Factor.

 

Focus       specifications       top

Traditional unit focus.

 

Focus Scale       specifications       top

Yes.

 

Infinity Focus Stop       specifications       top

Yes.

 

Depth of Field Scale       specifications       top

Yes.

 

Close Focus       specifications       top

2¼ feet (0.7 meters)

 

Maximum Reproduction Ratio       specifications       top

Not much, probably about 1:12 (0.08×).

 

Reproduction Ratio Scale       specifications       top

No.

 

Image Stabilizer       specifications       top

None.

 

Caps       specifications       top

Includes a superb all-metal, felt lined front cap and a regular plastic rear LEICA M cap.

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 ASPH für LEICA M und all mirrorless cameras. bigger.

 

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4

Felt-lined, solid alloy cap. bigger.

 

This cap is marvelous if you don't use a filter, but may not fit or stay on if you do use a filter.

 

Hood       specifications       top

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4

Integral Hood. bigger.

 

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4

Hood Mounting Threads. bigger.

 

Case       specifications       top

None included. Tough.

 

Size       specifications       top

2.24" ø diameter (excluding focus tab) × 2.32" extension from flange.

57 mm ø diameter  (excluding focus tab) × 59 mm extension from flange.

 

Weight       specifications       top

14.020 oz. (397.5g) actual measured weight.

Rated 14.1 oz. (399g).

 

Quality       specifications       top

Made domestically in China.

 

Announced       specifications       top

2020.

 

Included       specifications       top

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 ASPH für LEICA M und all mirrorless cameras. bigger.

Includes lens, caps and paperwork.

There's a weird brass thing on the upper right of the lens in the box; I have no idea what that is.

 

TTArtisan's Model Numbers       specifications       top

A01B (black) and A01S (silver).

 

Price, U. S. A.       specifications       top

August 2021

$449 at Adorama in black, at Adorama in silver, at Amazon in black, at Amazon in silver, at B&H in black and at B&H in sliver.

 

 

Performance       top

Sample Images   Introduction

Good   Bad   Missing   Format

Compatibility   Specifications

Performance   Compared   Recommendations

 

Overall   Focus   Breathing   Bokeh   Distortion

Ergonomics   Falloff   Finder Blockage   Flare & Ghosts

Lateral Color Fringes   Lens Corrections   Macro

Mechanics   Sharpness   Spherochromatism   Sunstars

 

I'd get my 35/1.4 ASPH at Adorama in black, at Adorama in silver, at Amazon in black, at Amazon in silver, at B&H in black, at B&H in sliver or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay. You may also be able to find it in gold at eBay.

 

Overall       performance       top

The TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 ASPH is better-made than the plastic rubbish offered by Nikon and Sony, and is sharper at large apertures than my LEICA SUMMILUX 35mm f/1.4.

It looks and feels 95% the same as my LEICA Lenses, and only costs about 8% as much as the LEICA SUMMMILUX-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH FLE it can replace for people who actually shoot rather than work in a laboratory.

While Bokeh and Sunstars are first class, Sharpness at most apertures, Distortion, Lateral Color and Flare aren't up to LEICA standards if you're picky.

 

Focus       performance       top

Manual focus is fantastic. It's silky-smooth and has no play. The ring glides smoothly with two fingers, or with just a fingertip with the focus tab. It feels just like my LEICA Lenses!

It's smooth and perfectly damped and easy to turn, and has no play. It feels so nice it's hard not to just fiddle with it all day.

It has a wider focus ring than my LEICA SUMMMILUX-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH FLE so it's easier to focus more precisely than the LEICA; the LEICA lenses have only a focus tab because the LEICA focus rings themselves are too narrow to offer any grip.

BRAVO!

 

Focus Breathing       performance       top

Focus breathing is the image changing size as focused in and out. It's important to cinematographers that the image not breathe because it looks funny if the image changes size as focus gets pulled back and forth between actors. If the lens does this, the image "breathes" by growing and contracting slightly as the dialog goes back and forth.

As a conventional unit-focus lens, the image grows a bit as focussed more closely.

 

Bokeh       performance       top

Unusual for an aspheric lens, the bokeh (the feel, character or quality of out-of-focus areas as opposed to how far out of focus they are), is excellent. Backgrounds melt away.

Here are photos from headshot distance wide-open.

Click any for the camera-original © NORMAL JPG files.

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 Sample Image File

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 Sample Image File

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 Sample Image File

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 Sample Image File

Made-in-U. S. A. Davis 6250 weather station, 16 August 2021. Canon R5, TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 ASPH on basic mechanical adapter at 1/8,000, 1/5,000, 1/2,500, 1/640 at Auto ISO 100, Perfectly Clear.

Click any for the camera-original © NORMAL JPG files.

 

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 Sample Image File

Iceplant, 10:17 AM, 16 August 2021. Canon R5, TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 ASPH on basic mechanical adapter at f/1.4 at 1/3,200 at Auto ISO 100, Perfectly Clear. bigger or camera-original © NORMAL JPG file.

 

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 Sample Image File

Iceplant, 10:35 AM, 16 August 2021. Canon R5, TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 ASPH on basic mechanical adapter at f2.8 at 1/1,600 at Auto ISO 100, -0.7 stops exposure compensation, as shot. bigger or camera-original © NORMAL JPG file.

 

As always, if you want to throw the background as far out of focus as possible, shoot at f/1.4 and get as close as possible.

 

Distortion       performance       top

The TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 ASPH has moderate barrel distortion, which is much worse than any of LEICA's 35mm lenses.

Use a correction factor of +2.20 in Photoshop's lens correction filter for shots made at 10 meters (30 feet), otherwise you'll see this sort of distortion:

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 Sample Image File

The Cove, 11:37 AM, 16 August 2021. Canon R5, TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 ASPH on basic mechanical adapter at f/8 at 1/80 at Auto ISO 100, Perfectly Clear. bigger, full resolution or camera-original © NORMAL JPG file.

 

Ergonomics       performance       top

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 ASPH. bigger.
TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 ASPH. bigger.

All lenses should be this good. There are only two controls: silky-smooth focus and the aperture ring.

The aperture ring feels just like those on my LEICA lenses, bravo!

Oddly the aperture ring is so thin that it offers no grip or ribbing, and instead has but two small focus tabs. Instead of being able to move the aperture from any position along the ring as with my LEICA SUMMMILUX-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH FLE (2010 ~ today) and LEICA SUMMMILUX-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH (1994 ~ 2010), it only has tabs like my LEICA SUMMILUX 35mm f/1.4 (1960 ~ 1995).

Focus is either with two fingers on the ring for precise setting (something that no LEICA 35mm f/1.4 offers), or with one finger on the solid alloy focus tab for fast work.

Designed and built in China, the focus tab is slightly small for American fingers. Its inside radius is slightly tighter than LEICA's, which is only apparent if you also have the real LEICA lenses and notice that there is more room for a full-sized finger in the LEICA focus tabs.

The red mounting-index ball is visible in low light, and easy to feel in total darkness. Every lens should be be like this, but too many others hide the index marks or don't make them feelable, as if they're deliberately trying to hide these very important marks.

Bravo!

 

Falloff       performance       top

Falloff is minor to invisible as shot on a LEICA with a profile like the 11883 profile I choose. It's barely visible at f/1.4 and goes away as stopped down.

I've greatly exaggerated the falloff by shooting a gray field and placing these on a gray background; it will not look this bad in actual photos of real things:

 

Falloff on full-frame mit 35/1.4 ASPH (11883) profile on LEICA M9.

f/1.4
f/2
TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 falloff
TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 falloff
TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 falloff
TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 falloff
f/2.8
f/4

© 2021 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved.

 

Turn off the manual correction on LEICA, or shoot it on film or another brand of digital camera lacking LEICA lens profiles and you'll see some falloff at f/1.4 and none as stopped down. Again, shooting gray-on-gray greatly exaggerates this:

 

Falloff on full-frame, no profile on LEICA M9.

f/1.4
f/2
TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 falloff
TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 falloff
TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 falloff
TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 falloff
f/2.8
f/4

© 2021 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved.

 

Finder Blockage       performance       top

Finder blockage is moderate. You can't see the bottom right side of the image when shooting this lens on a LEICA:

TTArtisan 50 1.4 finder blockage

Actual view through LEICA M9 finder. bigger.

 

Flare & Ghosts       performance       top

This lens' coating aren't quite up to the standard of better lenses and there is a bit more flare than in other lenses. It's worst wide-open at f/1.4.

I'm exaggerating the flare in these extreme examples. Click any to enlarge:

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 Sample Image File

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 Sample Image File

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 Sample Image File

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 Sample Image File

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 Sample Image File

Click any to enlarge.

More examples at Sunstars.

 

Lateral Color Fringes       performance       top

There can be lateral color fringes, as well as spherochromatism, which is a different aberration in a different dimension.

There is no in-camera correction of lateral color, although Nikon Z cameras may correct a bit.

 

Lens Corrections       performance       top

LEICA digital cameras may have a lens profile, which do some minor corrections for falloff and corner color shading for LEICA's lenses, and that's it. I use the SUMMILUX 35mm f/1.4 ASPH (11882) profile on my LEICA M9, which works fine.

No camera corrects for distortion or other aspects of this lens.

 

Macro Performance       performance       top

This lens does not focus closely. It has no macro ability. For macro, use the LEICA SUMMICRON 50mm f/2 mit near-focussing range or the LEICA MACRO-ELMAR-M 90mm f/4.

This is as close as it gets on full-frame:

 

At f/1.4

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 Sample Image File

Casio G-Shock Solar Atomic Watch at close-focus distance, 16 August 2021. Canon R5, TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 ASPH on basic mechanical adapter at f/1.4 at 1/8,000 at ISO 50, Perfectly Clear. bigger or camera-original © NORMAL JPG file.

 

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 Sample Image File

1,200 × 900 pixel (6.7× magnification) crop from above. bigger or camera-original © NORMAL JPG file.

If this 1,200 × 900 pixel crop is about 3" (7.5cm) wide on your screen, the complete image would print at 8⅔ × 13" (22 × 33 cm) at this same magnification.

If this 1,200 × 900 pixel crop is about 6" (15cm) wide on your screen, the complete image would print at 17⅓ × 26" (44 × 66 cm) at this same magnification.

If this 1,200 × 900 pixel crop is about 12" (30cm) wide on your screen, the complete image would print at 35 × 52" (0.9 × 1.3 meters) at this same magnification.

 

At f/8

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 Sample Image File

Casio G-Shock Solar Atomic Watch at close-focus distance, 16 August 2021. Canon R5, TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 ASPH on basic mechanical adapter at f/8 at 1/320 at Auto ISO 100, +2.3 stops exposure compensation, Perfectly Clear. bigger or camera-original © NORMAL JPG file.

 

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 Sample Image File

1,200 × 900 pixel (6.7× magnification) crop from above. bigger or camera-original © NORMAL JPG file.

If this 1,200 × 900 pixel crop is about 3" (7.5cm) wide on your screen, the complete image would print at 8⅔ × 13" (22 × 33 cm) at this same magnification.

If this 1,200 × 900 pixel crop is about 6" (15cm) wide on your screen, the complete image would print at 17⅓ × 26" (44 × 66 cm) at this same magnification.

If this 1,200 × 900 pixel crop is about 12" (30cm) wide on your screen, the complete image would print at 35 × 52" (0.9 × 1.3 meters) at this same magnification.

 

Mechanical Quality       performance       top

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 ASPH für LEICA M und all mirrorless cameras. bigger.

This is an very well made lens. It's all metal and very dense. It's a breath of fresh air compared to the crappy plastic that too many people accept today from Nikon and Sony.

 

Finish

Black anodized aluminum.

 

Front Bumper

None.

 

Filter Threads

Metal.

 

Hood

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4

Integral Hood. bigger.

Solid Metal.

 

Hood Mount

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4

Hood Mounting Threads. bigger.

 

Metal male threads with silicon ring seal.

 

Front Barrel Exterior

Metal.

 

Aperture Ring

Metal.

 

Focus Ring

Metal.

 

Focus Tab

Metal. (It's plastic on the LEICA SUMMMILUX-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH!)

 

Focus Helicoids

Brass and aluminum: smooth and silky with no play.

 

Rear Barrel Exterior

Metal.

 

Identity

Laser engraved on ring between front element and filter threads.

 

Red Mounting Index Ball

Plastic.

 

Internals

All metal!

 

Dust Gasket at Mount

No.

 

Mount

Chromed metal.

 

Markings

All engraved and filled with paint.

 

Serial Number

Laser engraved on ring between front element and filter threads.

 

Date Code

None found.

 

Noises When Shaken

Very light clicking.

 

Made in

Made domestically in China.

 

Sharpness       performance       top

Lens sharpness has nothing to do with picture sharpness; every lens made in the past 100 years is more than sharp enough to make super-sharp pictures if you know what you're doing. The only limitation to picture sharpness is your skill as a photographer. It's the least talented who spend the most time worrying about lens sharpness and blame crummy pictures on their equipment rather than themselves. Skilled photographers make great images with whatever camera is in their hands; I've made some of my best images of all time with an irreparably broken camera! Most pixels are thrown away before you see them, but camera makers don't want you to know that.

If you're not getting ultra-sharp pictures with this, be sure not to shoot at f/11 or smaller where all lenses are softer due to diffraction, always shoot at ISO 160 or below because cameras become softer at ISO 200 and above, be sure everything is in perfect focus, set your camera's sharpening as you want it and be sure nothing is moving, either camera or subject. If you want to ensure a soft image with any lens, shoot at f/16 or smaller at ISO 1,600 or above at default sharpening in daylight of subjects at differing distances in the same image.

At large apertures, this TTArtisan lens is significantly sharper than my LEICA SUMMILUX 35mm f/1.4 (1960-1995), but that's because that old LEICA lens is very soft and loaded with spherical aberration at f/1.4. Stopped down to about f/2.8 or smaller, any of the LEICA 35mm lenses are much sharper, if you're splitting pixels. While the LEICA SUMMILUX 35mm f/1.4 (1960-1995) is dreamy with low contrast at f/1.4, even it becomes ultrasharp stopped down; sharper than this TTArtisan, and the ASPH LEICA lenses are much sharper at every aperture — but only if you're looking too close.

If you want the sharpest images for lab use, use a genuine SUMMILUX, otherwise this lens is more than sharp enough unless you're being picky.

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 MTF

TTArtisan's MTF Curve.

 

Spherochromatism       performance       top

Spherochromatism, also called secondary spherical chromatic aberration or "color bokeh," is an advanced form of spherical and chromatic aberration in a different dimension than lateral chromatic aberration. It happens mostly in fast normal and tele lenses when spherical aberration at the ends of the color spectrum are corrected differently than in the middle of the spectrum. Spherochromatism can cause colored fringes on out-of-focus highlights, usually seen as green fringes on backgrounds and magenta fringes on foregrounds. Spherochromatism is common in fast lenses of moderate focal length when shooting contrasty items at full aperture. It goes away as stopped down.

It has a moderate amount of spherochromatism, with green-tinged out-of-focus highlights in the background and magenta-tinged highlights in the foreground. With green vegetation, this actually helps bokeh. Here's a shot wide-open at f/1.4:

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 Sample Image File

Porsche Panamera Turbo typ. 971, 7:50 AM, 19 August 2021. Canon R5, TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 ASPH on basic mechanical adapter at f/1.4 at 1/160 at Auto ISO 100, Perfectly Clear. bigger or camera-original © NORMAL JPG file.

 

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 Sample Image File

Crop from above. bigger or camera-original © NORMAL JPG file.

 

Sunstars       performance       top

Its 10-bladed diaphragm gives 10-pointed sunstars on brilliant points of light at most apertures.

Ignore the the vertical smears at large apertures, this is is a sensor artifact called interline transfer smear and not a lens defect.

Likewise ignore the crazy colored polka-dots at small apertures, this is a color filter-array artifact.

Click any to enlarge:

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 Sample Image File

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 Sample Image File

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 Sample Image File

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 Sample Image File

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 Sample Image File

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 Sample Image File

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 Sample Image File

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 Sample Image File

Click any to enlarge.

 

Compared       top

Sample Images   Introduction

Good   Bad   Missing   Format

Compatibility   Specifications

Performance   Compared   Recommendations

 

I'd get my 35/1.4 ASPH at Adorama in black, at Adorama in silver, at Amazon in black, at Amazon in silver, at B&H in black, at B&H in sliver or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay. You may also be able to find it in gold at eBay.

 

I've been making comparisons to the LEICA SUMMMILUX-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH FLE throughout this review. Here they are together; the LEICA is a little shorter but the TTArtisan uses its extra length to add a ribbed focus ring better for precise focus while on a tripod:

 

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4

LEICA SUMMMILUX-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH FLE (2010-today) und TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 ASPH. bigger.

 

While the TTArtisan is a little bigger than most modern 35mm rangefinder lenses, it's much bigger than the original LEICA SUMMMILUX-M 35mm f/1.4 (1960-1995) and much smaller than autofocus SLR lenses, of which the Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L (1998-2005) is among the smallest:

TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 compared to LEICA and Canon EF

LEICA SUMMMILUX-M 35mm f/1.4 (1960-1995), TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 ASPH und Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L (1998-2005). bigger.

 

 

 
LEICA SUMMILUX 35mm f/1.4
TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 LEICA SUMMILUX-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH FLE
Anni
1960-1995
2020-
2010-
"6 Bit" Coded?
no
no
Yes
Hood

Screw-in, metal

Filter change possible with hood attached

Screw-in, metal

Remove hood to change filter

Filter
49mm*
46mm*
Focus feel
Glides smoothly
Glides smoothly
Glides smoothly
Focus ring style
Thin metal ring with plastic tab only
Ribbed metal ring with metal tab
Thin metal ring with plastic tab only
Internal diagram
LEICA SUMMILUX-M 35mm f/1.4 internal diagram
TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 Internal Optical Construction
Internal Diagram, LEICA SUMMILUX-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH
Optics

7 elements in 5 groups

Unit focus

10 elements in 8 groups

1 Aspherical element

3 High Refractive-Index elements

Unit focus

9 elements in 5 groups

One aspheric surface

One floating group

Actual Focal Length
Standard
Seems a tiny bit longer (narrower) than the LEICA 35mm lenses
Standard
Diaphragm
10 blades
10 blades
9 blades
Sunstars
10 points
10 points
18 points
Construction
Mostly metal with plastic focus tab
All metal w/metal focus tab
Mostly metal with plastic focus tab
Sharpness
Lower contrast at f/1.4 and f/2.8, superb from f/4.
Good Enough
Superb
Distortion
Markings
All engraved and filled with paint
All engraved and filled with paint
All engraved and filled with paint
Made in
Canada (only a few commemorative editions were made in GERMANY)
China
GERMANY
Included case
genuine leather
none
genuine leather
Weight, with hood

7.1 oz.

201g

13.9 oz.

395 g

11.6 oz.

328g

Price, 08/2021

* 46mm is standard across many LEICA lenses, so one 46mm set of filters will fit all your lenses. Filters are important when Shooting Film, but less so for digital. If a lens takes a different size, you now have to carry another set in that size just for that one lens - however the TTartisan 50mm f/1.4 ASPH also takes 49mm if you field a set of them instead.

 

Recommendations       top

Sample Images   Introduction

Good   Bad   Missing   Format

Compatibility   Specifications

Performance   Compared   Recommendations

I'd get my 35/1.4 ASPH at Adorama in black, at Adorama in silver, at Amazon in black, at Amazon in silver, at B&H in black, at B&H in sliver or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay. You may also be able to find it in gold at eBay.

This is a great little hunk of a lens. It's good enough optically and built like a Swiss tank — just like LEICA.

While it's trivially easy to adapt this to any mirrorless camera, even with autofocus on Nikon Z, adapted manual-focus lenses like this never work as well as native ones on any of these brands.

While the resulting all-metal combination feels rock-solid, sadly this lens doesn't perform as well on mirrorless as any native mirrorless lens, or as well as a DSLR lens on an adapter.

Nikon's AF-S 35mm f/1.4G on an FTZ adapter is sharper than this lens as shot on a Z camera, and autofocuses and handles so much better. Adapted lenses are kludgy at best, and the autofocus LEICA to Z adapter is more of a science experiment than anything for practical shooting.

For Nikon Z, get the AF-S 35mm f/1.4G or AF-S 35/1.8G on an FTZ adapter, or the Z 35/1.8.

On Canon EOS R, get the superb RF 35/2 IS Macro or any EF 35mm lens on an EF to RF adapter.

On Sony, stick with any of the Sony or ZEISS 35mm lenses.

While its very similar photographically and ergonomically to the LEICA SUMMMILUX-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH FLE and costs about the same as just the sales tax on the SUMMMILUX FLE, no one buys LEICA to take pictures. LEICA is a lifestyle, not a brand. Our iPhones, Canons and Nikons take much better pictures than any LEICA does. LEICAs are baubles for men who like nice things, not for people who want to take great pictures.

Men buy the LEICA to establish dominance. Owning LEICA is tangible proof of a man's superior vision, inimitable taste and superior level of accomplishment. LEICAs, instruments of the immortal, are a plaything for the talented. We own LEICA because it is who we are, not because we need to take pictures. LEICAs haven't been about taking pictures since they went obsolete back in the 1960s. LEICA lenses cost what they do because they are well made and use very high grades of glass (for instance, you have to pay a lot for better homogeneity grades as LEICA does), but most of the price is paying for intangibles like bloodline and heritage. Oskar Barnack's martyrdom isn't free.

While this TTArtisan lens is great for taking pictures, it isn't right to use it on a LEICA camera, since this lens lacks bloodline or heritage, and certainly doesn't confer any sort of prestige. It just takes pictures. If you have to worry about price, you should not be playing with LEICA. Sit down and let the big boys play if you can't afford genuine LEICA lenses for your LEICA camera.

I use a clear (UV) protective filter instead of a cap so I'm always ready to shoot instantly. I only use a cap when I throw this in a bag with other gear without padding — which is never. The UV filter never gets in the way, and never gets lost, either.

The very best protective filter is the Multicoated Hoya HD3 49mm which uses hardened glass and repels dirt and fingerprints.

LEICA faithful use the LEICA 13 035 49mm UVa II filter.

For less money, the B+W 49mm 010 is an excellent filter, as are the multicoated B+W and the basic multicoated Hoya filters, but the Hoya HD3 is the toughest and the best.

Filters last a lifetime, so you may as well get the best. The Hoya HD3 stays cleaner than the others since it repels oil and dirt.

All these filters are just as sharp and take the same pictures, the difference is how much abuse they'll take and stay clean and stay in one piece.

I'd get my 35/1.4 ASPH at Adorama in black, at Adorama in silver, at Amazon in black, at Amazon in silver, at B&H in black, at B&H in sliver or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay. You may also be able to find it in gold at eBay.

This all-content, junk-free website's biggest source of support is when you use those or any of these links to approved sources when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live.

Thanks for helping me help you!

Ken Rockwell.

 

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17-20, 24, 26 August 2021 (04 January 2021, 19-23 December 2020)