Finally a budget Super Telephoto that worth buying - TTArtisan 500mm f/6.3 (FF E/Z/RF/L)

[@TheRealRichardWong]

Do you think it's a super telephoto lens that's worth buying? What's the longest lens you have in your camera bag?

[@parranoic]

Honestly seeing the quality and the mount selection I doubt it

[@carlosandreviana9448]

@@parranoic mount selection??

[@MASSHOOVY]

100% This looks like a very fun lens to use, but also a pain to use. I have a makinon 300mm mirror lens and i think it will be a similar experience but different form factor!

[@MichaelSchagen]

I have the Panasonic 70-300. It's three times the price but it is a much more practical lens, much easier to use I think. The price suggests that the ttartisan is a "beginners" lens but I think it actually requires more skill to get good photos with it than a more advanced lens. The Panasonic also looks better when cropping or using multishot-highres mode I would think, so I would guess I can get to 500mm equivalent with similar final quality.

[@d_r_e_g]

I believe that the target audience may be landscape photographers who may occasionally need a super telephoto lens for full manual shooting. Maybe astrophotography, but I don't know much about it. As for wildlife, once the customer has more money, he will not be interested in this product at all. And they most likely will, since it makes no sense to buy a lens for these purposes that is much cheaper than the camera itself and not the other way around. I have nothing against manual lenses but I believe they need something that sets them apart from competitors other than price. Like if it has even more reach or faster aperture. I would pay twice as much as it would still be cheap. Otherwise it will always be just an affordable worse alternative to 600mm zooms.

[@Durio_zibethinus]

Ornithologist with tight budget will love this. Manual focus is no problem.

[@boredgrass]

In these times of 1. something lenses for thousands of dollars, Photoshop fees of hundreds of dollars per year, that require computers of 600 to a thousand dollars, products like this one tell a lot about a company! I think it reveals a mindset beyond making money that wants to contribute to the art of photography itself, guided by the understanding that art lives through the participation of everyone and needs to begin with the young! That makes this lens an important contribution, indeed a statement, we should all support.

[@csound55]

Thanks for the review. Recently received mine and generally impressed with the image quality and build quality considering the low price.

[@TheRealRichardWong]

Great to hear!

[@yervantparnagian5999]

Excellent review. TTArtisan makes a high quality lens at a very fair price. This 500mm is excellent for someone on a budget who occasionally needs this focal length.

[@ttbirds1082]

If they released a more compact version for M43, I would buy it. Seems like a good value.

[@TheRealRichardWong]

Yes agree. a more compact version for APSC/m43 would be great! This lens is a bit too big for m43.

[@alexandr_ko]

compact tele for aps-c... dreams dreams

[@p4ul.f708]

​@@TheRealRichardWongDo you happen to know if ttartisans is planning on bringing a tel or super tele sometimes in the future for apsc?

[@RM-ud2cm]

MFT version would be sharper. and give 1,000mm equivalent focal length. MFT version would not be any smaller though.

[@trym2121]

​@@alexandr_kocrop sensor won't have compact tele lens. The reduction isn't really substantial unless they go with the crop factor meaning 500mm FF is 300ish mm APSC or 250mm MFT. Otherwise they will be the same bonkers in length and just reduction of some mm in width. Physics can't be broken

[@dabateman642]

Excellent review. But I will stick to adapting my Canon 100-400mm ii lens to all cameras. Croped it might be just better than this lens. However if Ttartisan is thinking about telephoto lenses, than a F/8 800mm lens I might be interested in at an affordable price. That may not be too hard for them as a 1.4x teleconverter with this lens would be 700mm f/9. Moving that goal to F/8 800mm might not be too hard, especially if the image quality is good.

[@ansonmychannel2235]

new subscriber from Malaysia here, thanks for your amazing explaining on this new TTArtisan 500mm F6.3 super telephoto lens I recently joined the Mirrorless world with my Lumix G95 m43 camera, but after that, I couldn't have more budget to get a nice AF prime lens for it, so I keep studying and watching other PROS' review videos to find out my best alternative and TTArtisan strikes into my brain. I currently own 50mm, 17mm, 8mm TT lens, I'm a young bird on using Manual Focus Lens but with the Focus Peaking advantage, I didn't feel any trouble or problem to make a good focus photo with it, very accurate and high success rate. TTArtisan really is my money saver on having those affordable and useful lenses. I can't wait to see TTArtisan will release a m43 mount of this or other upcoming super telephoto lens

[@TheRealRichardWong]

Thanks for the sub Anson!

[@Vinterloft]

F11 optimal sharpness kills this for the newly announced Fuji version, because diffraction already kicks in at F11 on the 40MP sensor. Shame they couldn't make it better at F8.

[@Chorge1972]

Would be interesting to see, how it is corrected for stars when using it DeepSky! It’s no APO, so I expect a lot of color fringing due to wavelength shift… But would be awesome, if Someone proofs me wrong!!

[@hansboon3353]

Would be great to compare this lens with the Oshiro 500mm f/6.3 preset lens

[@jondemetrius]

Just got one from Amazon for moon shots.

[@PavlosPapageorgiou]

Pretty good. I have the affordable Canon 600mm f11 and this one seems like an alternative proposition: Brighter and cheaper but big and less usable.

[@KonicaHexanon]

Less usable for you if you lack the required technique. More useful for others as this lens gives 2x more light compared to Canon's atrocity.

[@proo5396]

This is exactly my dilemma. I would like take pictures of wildlife, but the TTArtisan is large and bulky compared to the rf 600mm it also doesn’t have autofocus unlike the 600mm, but it’s cheaper and has a much better aperture. I find it really hard to decide, please tell me if there is something I’m not considering.

[@dylan.1776]

Insane deal. TTArtisan is getting better and better

[@dylan.1776]

Looking forward to seeing their camera

[@Durio_zibethinus]

They need rectilinear ultra wide lens and their primes will be a completed set.

[@Jefferson-ly5qe]

​@@Durio_zibethinusthey have a rectilinear 10mm f2 now. Tempted to get one myself

[@Peregrinate0626]

Im still torn what would be the area or subject i would like to pursue in photography. I mostly do videos and currently have an a7iv with 35-150 tamron lens. It is both good for photos and videos. But, im searching for a super telephoto zoom. So far, for the past 1 year, i find myself enjoying taking photos of the moon. The 35-150 is not enough for me. Is this TTartisan 500mm a good and enough lens for moon shots and some astro deep space? Im not a professional, its more of a hobby. I can spend a little more for lenses that are videocentric. But for photo, i am on a tight budget. Thanks to anyone who can enlighten me with this.

[@TheRealRichardWong]

Because it is a manual focus lens, this lens is best for shooting static scene so it's great for landscape or moon photo. There aren't too many budget telephoto lens that can give you 500mm+ focal length and reasonably good image quality.

[@kaspermord1519]

Would an aluminum travel tripod by Rollei be too unstable for this lens? I'm not sure which tripod and mounting head I should use.

[@TheRealRichardWong]

Hi there sorry I don’t have an answer but you need a steady tripod for 300mm+ focal length

[@ericaceous1652]

Very intriguing! But not for m43?

[@TheRealRichardWong]

No unfortunately not Eric. You cannot adapt it from any of the available mounts either because of flange distance. But even if you can, this lens might be a bit too big and heavy for m43 cameras

[@shock0413]

So sad, I really need the cool gear.

[@ericaceous1652]

​@@TheRealRichardWonghopes of a budget 1000mm equiv lens dashed 😅 cheers Richard

[@TheRealRichardWong]

@@ericaceous1652 haha actually I would like to see a smaller version of this lens for APSC/M43, even at the same price could be very attractive as there aren't many (any?) affordable super-telephoto lenses with acceptable image quality.

[@trym2121]

IQ is borderline going to soft with FF and you want m43? It will be Vaseline like image. F8 is already diffraction in m43

[@thee31]

Since they make manual focus lenses, it boggles my mind that they don't release an M-mount version for any of them.

[@tauritaal]

What is the weight? Homepage states "Around 307g", seems like a mistake?

[@tonyferrell3456]

He says in the video, but I don't remember the exact number. It is closer to 1500g

[@TheRealRichardWong]

that's a mistake, the weight is around 1.5kg / 3.3lb

[@davidmeredith2458]

What's the dimensions the lens?

[@chillnature4397]

This lens seems good, I may buy one

[@malcolmcog]

Will there be an MFT version of this excellent lens !

[@TheRealRichardWong]

Not that i heard of so far

[@ballashoes]

Richard can you please try some astrophotography with this lens

[@TheRealRichardWong]

I don't have any star tracker so i might be a bit hard ?

[@liamfinch4129]

An honest review from a competant photographer - thanks! Comparing this lens with any autofocus high end telephoto lens utterly misses the point and adds nothing to the discussion (pixel peepers shouild leave now!). This unpretentiousTTArtisan 500 manual lens appears to offer acceptable images for very little money - period!

[@TheRealRichardWong]

thank you very much :)

[@mitchellwnorowski6747]

Yes mft please !

[@parazaurolofek]

Too bad you didn't mention weather seals.

[@TheRealRichardWong]

I don't think there is any weather seals for this lens.

[@parazaurolofek]

@@TheRealRichardWong Thank you

[@basujayanta1]

Shooting birds in flight with a manual focus lens! Best of luck!😅

[@davidmeredith2458]

Because no one was photographing birds in flight in the days of manual focus

[@janjamesramos247]

I think it should be a little bit cheaper since no AF... Will buy this for 250 usd 😅

[@JittikMieger]

Too bad. No Fuji X...

[@TheRealRichardWong]

I have just confirmed with ttartisan, Fuji X version is coming soon

[@JittikMieger]

Thanks for the heads up, Richard! This might replace my aging Tokina 400mm f/5.6 MC that I adapt on my Fujis. @@TheRealRichardWong

[@shang-hsienyang1284]

I will pay double for autofocus

[@KonicaHexanon]

Not gonna happen. Autofocus requires a complete interior, exterior and optical redesign. Obviously the lens would become much, much bigger, heavier and 5X more expensive. Thank TTArtisan for not choosing Canon's route of mediocrity and laziness in favor of shareholders satisfaction.

[@shang-hsienyang1284]

@@KonicaHexanon I have a Tokina 400mm f/5.6, it has autofocus, sharper than the Tamron 50-400mm at 400mm, weights 990g, and I got it in a garage sale for NT$1000 ≈ US$31. Sure, a new copy would be much more expensive, but it's definitely possible at double the price TTArtisan is asking now.

[@officialtiimo]

Give it AF, weather sealing, OIS, and shave a few hundred grams off and i will buy it for $1200

[@djxcel23]

No fuji I have to leave the video

[@harknesswoo3043]

will be

[@TheRealRichardWong]

Ttartisan has just confirmed they will release it for Fuji X soon