TTArtisan has announced that its TTArtisan 50mm f/1.4 full-frame tilt lens is now available in Fuji mount, Canon RF mount and Nikon Z mount versions. Previously, you could only get it with Sony E and Leica L-Mount.
What is a tilt lens?
A tilt lens is also known as a tilt-shift lens. A tilt-shift lens has a mechanism to tilt the optical elements in relation to the camera’s image sensor. With most tilt-shift lenses, you can also rotate the lens. Tilting or rotating the lens changes the focal plane of the lens, which creates interesting artistic effects. For example, you can make the sides of your image out of focus while keeping a large depth of field in a vertical strip in the middle. Alternatively, you can simulate an artificially shallow depth of field to make the real world seem like a miniature model.
Optical construction
The TTArtisan 50mm full-frame tilt lens is constructed with seven lens elements in six groups. These include some high refractive index glass elements to control distortion and spherical aberrations, which give improved sharpness. The minimum focus distance is just under 20 inches (50 cm). If you use the lens on a camera with an APS-C-sized sensor, the equivalent focal length is 75 mm. Because of the tilt mechanism, tilt-shift lenses are always manual focus lenses.
Aperture
The TTArtisan 50mm tilt lens has a wide f/1.4 aperture is great for low-light shooting and achieving a shallow depth of field. The iris also has 12 blades which should give a smooth bokeh in out-of-focus parts of your image. The minimum aperture is f/16. The TTArtisan 50mm tilt lens is a fully manual lens, so the iris is controlled by a ring at the front of the lens.
Tilt and rotation
You can tilt the TTArtisan 50mm tilt lens by up to 8 degrees. You can also rotate the lens up to 90 degrees. These numbers should mean you can create some great tilt-shift effects in your video.
Build
The TTArtisan 50mm tilt lens weighs just under 16 ounces (452 g). It has a filter thread size of 62 mm. The focus and aperture rings both have standard gears for use with a follow-focus mechanism.
What we think
Tilt-shift lenses can be a very effective part of your lens arsenal for creating eye-catching and unusual videos. You can also use the TTArtisan 50 mm tilt lens as a regular 50 mm lens if you don’t use the tilt or rotation features. If you are looking for a tilt-shift lens, then the new offering from TTArtisan is worth checking out.
Availability
The TTArtisan 50mm f/1.4 full-frame tilt lens is available now from pergear.com. The lens costs $199.
