TT Artisan 250/5.6 Mirror Lens - Why you need one of these!

[@Lingo_Trixnut]

great review! and i love the shot at 05:48! you used that donut ring bokeh fully to your advantage

[@tomscameras]

Many thanks for your feedback, I really appreciate it and I'm glad you like that shot!

[@rpieranti]

Good pictures,, good expanation, good concepts and good sugestions...👏👏👏

[@L.E.Santo02]

Very useful, excellent review. Thanks Tom!

[@tomscameras]

Many thanks and you're welcome, of course! :)

[@ArminHirmer]

interesting and pretty sharp indeed. Thanks for showing. I only tried once an old 500mm and was quite disappointed (of my skills I guess) :D

[@tomscameras]

It takes some practice to get good shots with any mirror lens. And it is really much easier to focus if using a mirrorless camera and the screen magnifier. Back in the day when I only had SLR cameras I thought all mirror lenses just suck. 😅 well some really do, but as you can see some are pretty good!

[@mikrokosmfotos]

I shot an outdoor event with this lens, mounted on a Fuji X-Pro2 with a focal reducer, on the weekend. Hand held, no IBIS, at shutter speeds of 1/80 to 1/500. No problems (but I have been shooting manual focus lenses for 50 years). Use your feet to get the OOF working to good effect. I really like it.

[@tomscameras]

Thanks a lot for your comment! You shot an outdoor event with the TT Artisan 250mm mirror lens? Wow ... that's unusual! It's a really long focal length for an event!

[@mikrokosmfotos]

​@@tomscameras At an outdoor event spread out over a large area I typically have two cameras. One with a long lens (generally a 70-300mm zoom rather than this mirror lens) and one with something shorter, around 50mm. APS-C. The mirror lens was great with it's shallow DOF and funky OOF to get some striking long distance shots of individual scenes in the crowd. I'll use it again like that for sure.

[@danj2235]

Great review, I like the close-up shots! I have a Bower 300mm f6.3 mirror lens with Fuji X mount (I believe Samyang/Rokinon/Bower produce the same lens), and never tried close-up shots before. I'll try it!

[@tomscameras]

Give it a try! It might be somewhat softer and also hard to focus at close distance ... so prepare for some frustration. But as I said, there might be some really unique keepers in-between! :)

[@jcphenix1]

Spot on review ! I've got the Minolta, bought cheaper than the TTA back then. The TTA seems easily as good if not better but is heavier.These lens breathe better on Full Frame @250mm imho. Very powerful ratio/size on crop sensor but, yes, don't ever think about wildlife!. The Tamron 350mm is also very good, but forget "small & light" ;) Keep on the good work !

[@tomscameras]

Thanks a lot for sharing your experience with the mighty Minolta 250/5.6 lens! I do have the Tamron 500/8 55BB and yes it is very good for a mirror lens ... the 350/5.6 06B is still missing in my collection. :)

[@jcphenix1]

@@tomscameras the 350 is really better (low prices currently) ;)

[@carlosandreviana9448]

Great review. Can you compare it with the NiSi?

[@tomscameras]

Would be interesting and maybe I will get the chance to try out the Nisi. It was announced earlier than the TT Artisan but apparently went on sale later … and for some reason no one seems to review it at all!

[@maircraft4079]

The review I am waiting for compares this lens to the Minolta 250mm reflex.

[@WVMUSIC_NL]

Always like your reviews Tom! I skip this lens because i practically have all the lenses i would like to have and this one has a weird bokeh i don’t like.

[@larsltj]

I have a Soligor 300mm f/5.6 that I love, but I'm tempted to test the Ttartisan to compare it to the Soligor...

[@tomscameras]

I never tried the old Soligor 300/5.6. I do have some other 300/5.6 mirror lenses and once also did a KZbin review of one … it was clearly inferior to the new TT Artisan though.

[@williamaungleyraud]

I've got a t2 to M42 adapter for my Tokina 400mm f8 mirror lens, it is the size of a step-up ring. Both mounts use 42mm the difference is on the thread pitch which differ the 2. I also use a speedbooster to recover 1 stop of light which is a big deal especially when using the 2x teleconverter I just lose 1 stop of light instead of 2.

[@tomscameras]

Yes, T2 is different in the threat pitch but also in the register distance ... you can convert a T2 lens to really about EVERY 35mm camera that was ever made, that was the idea of the whole mount back then. The idea with the speed booster sounds great! I didn't think about that but also I don't have a speed booster at hand ;)

[@jcphenix1]

The speedbooster principle has long been used on mirror lens, in particular on the famous Russian Rubinar 1000/10 (and others) making it something more usable like 700mm f/7.1...and sharper ! (AstroPhoto) Yes, a good idea on crop sensor : If you don't have a FF body. (Or perhaps we should try the speedbooster also on FF? etc...)

[@meta4101]

Using this lens on a crop sensor without IBIS is certainly a "lens challenge."

[@tomscameras]

😅 … I would recommend using a camera body with IBIS, yes!

[@diegopendinorodriguez4829]

when for canon EOS and EOS R?

[@gavinjenkins899]

The point of it being M42 is you can adapt it to anything, this IS for EOS.

[@tomscameras]

Exactly! Just get an M42-EOS adapter, they’re dirt cheap! M42-RF adapters are also available!

[@gavinjenkins899]

A pentax takumar M42 200 5.6 is almost the same lens but not mirror, similarly lightweight, has an actual aperture control, and much cheaper. For the mirror effect for its own sake, I'd love to see some sort of 80mm f/2.8 mirror lens or something more standard length, that'd be neat.

[@R8135003]

A modern take on the Minolta Rokkor RF 250mm f5.6 mirror lens. I own the Minolta and it is my daily carry. Be lucky stay safe.

[@tomscameras]

Yes it’s a new incarnation of the same idea. A bit more heavy but with fantastic optics! Thanks for your comment!

[@chuckratcliff]

Its an appealing concept in terms of street photography since it’s not big enough to draw attention. I wonder about the practicality, esp if the bokeh effect would get in the way. Anyone use this for street?

[@astrodoug]

Thank you?

[@kiwipics]

The title isn't necessarily true, as Rokinon already have a modern day reflex telephoto lens. Why buy a new one when you can second hand 500mm reflex lenses with a T mount for way under £100 or even £50 ?? My 500mm becomes a 1000mm on my M43 Lumix and Olympus bodies.

[@tomscameras]

In my opinion that’s exactly one of the problems with most vintage mirror lenses: what do you want to shoot at 500mm or even 1.000mm … maybe wildlife, but for this any modern lens is much better? 500+ mm is pretty extreme, 250-300mm is much more versatile in my opinion for the type of photography that you want to use a mirror lens for today. And the choice of vintage mirror lenses with 300mm or less is extremely limited … plus they’re definitely not as good as the new TT Artisan in terms of optics. Maybe the Minolta 250/5.6 is … but it’s very expensive today. I have a review of an older 300/5.6 mirror lens on my channel. I much prefer the new TT Artisan over that lens. Sure the old one is fun for 50-70 Euros, but that doesn’t mean it can make sense to spend more on a new lens that is much better overall …

[@AntonT]

MC RUBINAR 4,5/300 MACRO

[@tomscameras]

Yes that fast 300 Rubinar is definitely a very cool mirror lens!

[@reinervenegas875]

Never unscrew any m42 mount lens with your camera pointed up.

[@tomislavmiletic_]

Because of shimmering air on hot days, you should shoot far away distances with long lenses (mirror or not) only early in the morning when that effect is not so much pronounced. Or, shoot it durning cold days. If you do not, you will fail. Course physics always win...