TTArtisan’s new 25mm f/2 lens for APS-C mirrorless costs just $55
The all-manual, budget prime is available for no fewer than 7 crop-sensor mirrorless mounts.
After announcing a $69 50mm f/2 mirrorless lens six weeks ago, TTArtisan is kicking off fall with a new $55 25mm f/2 lens. This budget-friendly, all-manual prime is available for a wide range of crop-sensor mirrorless systems (unlike the 50mm, which was a full-frame lens). And you can get one right now from TTArtisan’s online store.
Who it’s for
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With it’s 25mm focal length—equivalent to a slightly odd 37.5mm field of view—TTArtisan’s new lens sits at the wide-end of the “normal” focal range. In the marketing material, the company highlights this, saying it’s “close to the natural field of human eyesight.”
Combined with the manual focus and manual aperture setting, this lens screams street and travel photography to us here at PopPhoto. You can set it to f/8, focus at around the 5-meter mark, and snap away confident that most of what’s happening in front of your camera will be captured sharply. And, if the light starts to fall or you turn down a shady street, open up the aperture and keep shooting away. (I love the now-discontinued Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 for this as well and use it all the time.)
The TTArtisan 25mm f/2 is available for the same lens mounts as its 50mm sibling: Canon RF, Canon M, Fujifilm X, Leica/Sigma/Panasonic L, Nikon Z, and Sony E-mount. Of course, if you use it with a full-frame camera you will need to use crop mode or face heavy vignetting. It’s also available for Micro Four Thirds, which will translate to a handy 50mm equivalent field of view.
Design & optics
Optically, the TTArtisan 25mm f/2 is almost as simple as the 50mm. It uses seven elements arranged in five groups, instead of six elements in five groups. It takes the same 43mm filter thread and the lens can focus as close as around 10 inches. For close-up work, it could be surprisingly impressive.
Everything about the lens is manual. The aperture ring has a range of f/2 to f/16. TTArtisan mentions that the lens is suitable for “pursuing beautiful bokeh” though, with only a seven-blade aperture diaphragm, we suspect they might be a bit choppy. If you want bokeh, the 50mm will give better results.
The focus ring is at the rear of the lens. And it has hyperfocal distance markings, which should make getting those street shots easier.
Though TTArtisan again doesn’t specify, we assume the lens is almost certainly built of plastic and not weather-sealed. That said, the lens mount does appear to be metal which is a big plus. The size and weight vary slightly by mount, though at around 1.2-inches long and 2.35-inches in diameter on all cameras, this thing is pretty tiny. All versions of it weigh less than 7 ounces, so you will barely notice it in your bag.
Price & availability
The TTArtisan 25mm f/2 is a little cheaper than the 50mm at just $55, regardless of which mount you choose. It’s available today for all its compatible lens mounts.
