TTArtisan has announced a new low-budget lens. This one, though, is a little different to all the short focal length f/0.95 lenses. This one’s at the very opposite end of the spectrum with a 500mm focal length and max aperture of f/6.3.
It comes in a variety of mounts, including Sony E, Leica L, Nikon Z and Canon RF. Yes, those last two confirm what you suspect. As with most other TTArtisan lenses, this one’s a manual focus lens, too.
I have to admit, given that this lens is manual focus and almost certainly has no electronic communications with the camera, I’m a little disappointed there isn’t a Micro Four Thirds version of this lens.
Tor those shooting Sony E, Leica L, Nikon Z and Canon RF – none of which are adaptable to Micro Four Thirds – you’re in luck. It’s not going to be the lens for everybody. There are reasons some 500mm lenses cost $10K+, and this one costs… well, not even close to $10K.
But it looks to offer a lot of versatility for a very good price. If you’re a beginner just thinking about your first long lens, this may be one worth considering. Honestly, if there were a Micro Four Thirds version, I’d probably be thinking of picking one of these up to play with myself!
A super-telephoto for all occasions
The company touts the lens as being ideal for everything from sports and wildlife to landscapes and astrophotography. It comes with a cap for both ends, as well as a metal (screw-on?) hood. It has a built-in tripod mounting collar.
Disappointingly, the foot doesn’t appear to bear the Arca Swiss profile, so it doesn’t look like you’ll be able to clamp this straight in your tripod head. This might just be a me thing, though. I was spoiled over a decade ago when I bought a 3rd party replacement foot for my Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR. I’ve since designed it into some 3D-printed custom tripod collars. And I love it when it’s built into the tripod collar foot.
Geared for your convenience
The lens appears to be geared – and presumably 0.8 MOD – which makes it not only useful for filmmakers, but anybody who needs remote manual focus control. Remote manual focus control can be fantastic for things like astrophotography or wildlife, where you’re not always sitting right next to the camera.
As well as being handy when you’re not physically around the camera, wireless remote control can prevent issues like camera shake. If you’ve ever touched your super long lenses to manually refocus them, you’ll have noted how long they take to settle!
Sample Photos
Sample photos created by the lens on a variety of cameras seem to show pretty great results for such an inexpensive lens. Again, it’s manual focus, so tracking moving subjects will be tricky-to-impossible, but for static scenes, or where you have more patience that the wildlife, it looks to be a decent option.
Price and Availability
The TTartisan 500mm F6.3 full-frame manual focus lens is available to buy now for $369 in Sony E, Leica L, Nikon Z and Canon RF mounts. Lenses begin shipping in the next couple of weeks.
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