3 years late but just discovered your content. This is great. Nice to see the lenses in context. So nice to see the honesty of where life's at, what you enjoy, etc. Hope the kiddos are still joining you on your journeys

You win me on the first 30sec in the video! It’s a very brave and sincere stance, especially for KZfaq content, to say that for the majority of us (non professionals) any precision glass is basically useless. And you are absolutely right! I spent thousands of € before (mainly due to GAS) for crazy expensive equipment that never made me a betting photographer… I was always disappointed. Now I only use an 8 years old camera (Sony a6000) and a 130€ lens (TTArtisan 23mm f1.4) and I love my photography like never before! Thanks for the content and keep your good work!

Mental note: start budget lens company called SeventyTArtisans.

Actually, 7 Artisans and TTArtisans are kinda one company's two separate child companies for aiming at different levels of markets. 7 Artisans aim more at high-end cameras like Leica and TTArtisans aim more on cameras like fuji or other "budget" APSC systems. They are both "Made in China" btw and it actually doesn't make a lot of difference compares to Japanese-produced lenses nowadays. Being as a Chinese, I think our lens industry has grown explosively these years and companies like Laowa and 7 Artisans really stood up. Chinese companies now need to do better at coating the glasses so that glare and purple shift can be controlled better.

I love your urban decay photos. It is a subject that I like to capture as well. Your video makes me think that there is so much more that I need to capture before the opportunity is lost. I'm very lucky that my kids love taking photos with me. All three of them have their own inexpensive (yet capable) digital cameras, so they can capture whatever they want while I'm capturing images. We all have fun & they often show me new perspectives. Those open & imaginative minds of young children are often able to see opportunities that we may miss. It's great fun & a great learning experience for all of us.

Andrew, happy to see you have had a fulfilled experience doing the 3 things you enjoyed most. I’m sure your wonderful boys will treasured moments like this. Please, continue to do more videos on these dilapidated towns of yore. I could spend the entire day just 📸. I have several 7 Artisans lenses-as well as several Fuji XF lenses-that I enjoyed 📸 with my X-Pro1. This combo really brings, for me, the film 📷 & film experience in a digital format. Great video. ✌🏼

Love this kind of work, shoot what makes you happy and your passion will shine through your images. Thanks for sharing sir.

Own the 7artisans 35mm and the TTartisan 50mm and love them both! I don't care about super sharp lenses so these are more than fine for me. I prefer manual focus these days, because when you nail focus you're much more satisfied. I sold all my Fuji lenses including the beloved 56mm 1.2. I seem to be enjoying photography more these days because of the effort I have to put in instead of just letting AF do the work for me.

absolute joy watching this trip, thanks for sharing!

Lovely trip, man 👌🏼 A lot of nice photos!

Wonderful photography, there is no better way to know how lens perform than this. And thanks for taking us with you in a lovely trip with your boys, great time.

So awesome! Thanks for sharing this view of America that we don't get to see much. Literally, the roads less traveled. So cool your sons enjoyed the time, and that it's so obvious how much of a treat that was for you too!

Love your honest reviews man, and love it that you mention the music used in the videos, much appreciated as a music freak myself! Keep the videos coming 🙏🏽

A pleasure to watch, as ever, Andrew. I made the same statement about my sons last week - lucky to have boys who want to hike with me and take photos, one of whom is becoming passionate about photography and will very soon know more than me. Hope you're well. Keep up the great work. Peter Chelsom.

Nice video (as always). I have to add that those lenses make me value my old, cheap manual Pentax lenses even more. It's a pity that they obviously need an adaptor (otherwise they would be the smallest lenses in my modest collection). Still for people who aren't afraid to manual focus this is the cheapest way to add quality glass to their kit.

I'm glad I watched this video. I felt your good energy because you love what you’re doing!

Enjoyed the video and the images! I love old towns and decaying buildings. I wish I lived closer to areas like this. You've got some great boys there to go along on your trip. I'm sure they will remember trips like this with their dad.

Cool video and a nice look at some lens options. Love the sentiment of being able to and appreciating hanging out with your boys! That's important! Thanks for the info. I have the Funleader Cap Lens (F/8, 18mm) and it's not quite confidence-inspiring so was most interested in the fisheye cap lens, but alas!

When you do these videos they are inspirational to me... thanks!!!

Like you, I love to find old decaying or abandoned buildings, towns, industrial sites and shoot them. It's exciting to find these places so I understand your passion for them.

I agree with shooting buildings side on. Here in Australia the buildings side on often have old ghost signs or advertisements of yore. Its great not just to photograph the facade but the side too. Superb video!

I don't mind "shooting with affordable optics"... cause that is all my wallet can afford ;) But we can argue that it can add an 'artistic style' to your photography.

I actually love your pergear shots with your boys on the bikes! They looked pretty sharp to me. Or my eyes are playing tricks on me

i like your shots Andrew! , America rural landscapes and scenes looks so far away from here but your images brings it much closer to me (Poland) :) thanks! btw. best wishes to your family !

I love that you combine interesting budget lens reviews with travel and your art project. Also very nice pictures!

You are the first youtube channel/photographer that has the does what I find intresting , "urban decay "the first time I've heard that terminology but at least I've sort of "found my people " in the common abstract or journaling the history

Thanks for making this video , I love it.

One of my favourite videos so far. Thank you.

Great review and message! Family, photos and life fulfillment

Good afternoon from the UK. Cheers for the video. Looking forward to trying the 50mm f1.2. Fuji X100v has the lugs on the side of the app rings. Be lucky stay safe.

thanks for the effort and the sharing. wild to see your kids get bigger! i am an appreciative subscriber. stay well. thumbs up.

Nice video, some really cool shots. Also, really enjoyed the music choices, for me they really matched the moods of the locations you shot.

Dude..... I loved this video and review... These 2 things that you do are also my fave!

Your energy is great !!! Seem to be a genuine dude👍🏾 just subscribed

What a cool video! Great example of a great photographer getting the shot with whatever he / she had with him 👍🏻 Love the locations and that urban decay thing - yep, that! 😃

Great video! If you ever want to shoot epic landscapes, I'll happily watch that too, but KZfaq doesn't really need another landscape photographer :). The urban decay and family stuff you do now I find much more interesting and meaningful, personally. Keep up the good work!

I don't know about you but your photos tells me that you're a good person, IDK why. It feels light, raw, natural, and makes me calm. Love your creative vision man! :)

I like these rural stuff a lot and I understand you fully. way more treasures buried here then in the the famous landscape locations.

Love my ttartisan ( without the S at the end! As in your description ) 50mm 1.2 it is a rather small but very high quality manual lens for just about everything, especially portraits with great bokeh.

I could not care less about the lenses. Your trip with your boys and your photography inspire my trip from Indianapolis to Chicago later next month for sure.

Really interesting video. I ordered the Pergear after watching, looks like it could be fun.

If I remember correctly, my Voigtlaender Norton 40mm (M-Mount) did have a similar 'grip' on the aperture ring. So maybe that was their inspiration. I actually really liked it as I always new my aperture without having to take the eyes from the viewfinder :-)

Bravo. Très belle vidéo et photos. Merci

This was a really fun vlog. Surprised how much you liked the 7Artisians and the TT Artisians lenses. Noticed your images were very pastel or desaturated. No complaint, I really liked it. I was curious what film sim or recipe you were using with your Fujifilm?

Great video, what an awesome trip out.

Great video. I like the 7artisans at 35mm but ended up getting it in 25mm instead. For the price and the shooting I do on my Xt-10, I didn't want anything more expensive for it.

Consider reviewing the kamlan 21mm 1.8. very underreviewed lens, but those who have used it really liked it for it's performance and close focus distance

16:30 I was going to ask you how you manage manual focus with making sure to get the eyes in focus but you covered that. I might need to try that myself. I really enjoyed using manual focus but I quickly got upset when I kept missing shots because I just couldn't tell for sure if I was focused on the eyes using either the viewfinder or screen.

Treasure this time with your boys and maintain at least 1 channel of communication with them (biking, photography, exploring)...it usually doesn't last past their late teens!

I like seeing this type of photography. There’s enough landscape photography out there. Not much of this :)

Cool outing! Happy that you put fulfillment before clicks!

You should try the new Viltrox range - 23mm, 33mm and 56mm All f1.4 with STM autofocus. They also have 'dual mode' aperture control, 'A' for automatic control via the camera or manual control on the lens. The only drawback for you is that the aperture rings are de-clicked. I have the 33mm version on my Canon M5 and love it (even without IBIS).

Beautiful shots! Just curious what film simulation you used (or was it a variety of different ones?) Absolutely love the look and feel!

I’m really curious about your final thoughts on the lenses. I keep going back through the video but I’m having trouble finding it.

Keep coming with the small town decay photography. Epic landscapes are much less compelling IMO.

Timely video!. I enjoy shooting with manual lenses on my Fuji. I am currently renting a Leica MP 240 and I love it. Although I prefer manual focus I get spoiled with autofocus. So I am trying to decide If I should just to go with Leica, or keep my Xpro3 and buy more lenses like these.

One thing the 10mm fisheye has going for it is that there aren't many sub-$100 budget lenses out there that are actually-wide angle lenses (25mm f/1.8 isn't wide enough, IMHO). Plus, the tiny size means I can throw it on an X-E2 and put it in my jeans pocket, and that's fun. ~e~ Lack of sharpness also bothers me less in a Fisheye. If I'm spending $300-$500 for a sharp lens, I probably want something with less distortion.

I liked your photos. They have certain mood about them. As they say, photos about something, not of something. And the lenses - amazing for the price, really.

I have a Voightlander 21mm with tabs on the focus ring & aperture ring.

Woigtlander. that grip on the aperture ring of the 50 1.2 is voigtlander inspired. The 7artisans 35 1.2 seems to be the first which has that, copied from an old voigtlander 35 f1.4. they look great

Very nice video thanks for sharing, I thought the 8mm lens was surprisingly okay , The 1.2 for me I think though, just seemed a nicer lens.......

Your is very interesting approach to the lenses and cameras. You don't hear often "we can do very well with very affordable cameras and lenses, we don't need expensive ones", and this is refreshing. I wonder what's your take on kit lenses (some say they are quite ok, others say they are quite bad and that one should buy only the body and a separate lens). Also wonder, have you tried Yongnuo lenses? They seem to have the reputation of best most affordable lenses from what I gather. I'm now in the process of choosing my first camera and lens. Trying to figure things out, this is how I stumbled upon one of your videos.

I understand absolutely what you mean by 'fulfilling' if i understand it correct. Photography gives me so much fun and relaxation. Nice video. I like urbex-photography, although it is difficult to find here. Grtz, Marco from the Netherlands

Have you done video on Fuji 27mm 2.8 - I just got it this week and curious as to what you guys thought about it - thanks

I bought my first Fujifilm camera which is X-T1 ($400) and I'm trying to find a cheap lens. I'm glad you reviewed these lenses.

Hello, please recommend a few essential lenses that work for both photography and videography for the xt4.

Nice picture, you actually inspire me with your decayed photography. We dont have that many left buildings, vehicles etc., on the other hand everything is much more muddy and nasty :-)

Aren't you in Utah, saw so many people riding bikes on the road near Monument Valley. The scenery is nice i got to say. I rode down Moki Dugway by accident. Our GPS took us down that road, and I had to ride down the dirt road to see if our rental camper van can actually make it. All the warning signs got us scared we might be stuck midway thru. Would love to see more landscape shots in your area, was glad to do a 1 week road trip in Utah before the pandemic, absolutely amazing.

Dear hello, your videos are so instructive!!!! I would like an advise: I am behind two lenses, but I have multiple doubts to choose the right ones between these next options: the 35mm f/1.2, the 50mm f/1.2 or f/0.95 (from 7Artisans), the 75mm f/1.2 and 85mm f/1.8 (both from Viltrox). I want to pick two which don't repeat features. I'll use them for modeling and occasionally street photo. My camera is a fuji X-H1..... could you help me? thanx

The only 50mm lens I have for my Fujifilm X-T1 is the Industar 50-2 50mm F/3.5 so the TTArtisans 50mm F/1.2 lens looks really appealing to me as a second option to get until I eventually get a 50mm Fujinon lens.

In your opinion, Which mechanism is more Handy or user-friendly . If you have to choose one between the TT vs 7 artisan. Thank you for the review

Great video

i really like the soft colors of your pictures, did you use a jpeg recipe or you edited raf files?

Smashing mate 👍

Hasselblad. Is most sufficient for wild and fashion photography!

Great video. I am keen to get into using manual focus lens, but I would like to know if focus peaking still works with lenses such as these? Thank you.

Came for the lenses, stayed for the really great photos and tour in a photogenic setting. Cheers 👍🏻

very beautiful pictures, i like the crop. is there a way to crop the 65:24 in the camera (Fuji)?

I'm actually liking the fisheye lens

I agree with you 1,000 percent a lot of KZfaqrs as we know are sponsored by a lot of these big name brands and or spend a lot of money on high-priced gear to get views, but then that makes anyone and everyone think that the only way to achieve great photography is by going bankrupt in the process.

Ever tried a Meyer Optik lens? The newest version not the vintage one. If you have the opportunity it would make an interesting video

I wish these videos was properly color graded so we could see the actual performance if the lenses...

Can’t just set to infinity end and forget it. With lever all the way towards the infinity mark the lens is focus too short, past infinity. (At least on my sample.)

Hey man !I bought a ttartisan lens for my Sony a6000 and I’m getting the “ camera error turn power off then on” message … I tried all measures to get the issue resolved and no luck .. what should I do ?

So, 2 out of 3, with the pergear as 3th? Right??

What do you think of the 17mm from TTartisans?

I'd much rather watch a video of you doing what fulfils you than you doing something for likes. That's why I'll keep watching! Thanks for another good one!

Doing photography in a certain way just because that makes you happy? WHAAAAA? :)

MTB + Photography= subscribed

So -- you made a comment in this video that piqued my interest. Since I own both the TTArtisans and 7Artisans lenses that you describe in your video, I though I'd do a little test of light-gathering with these lenses. I set ISO and shutterspeed to fixed values, point the camera at some object in my livingroom from some fixed distance, with constant light, and I observe what my camera's light-meter reading is when I throw around the aperture ring. I used spot-metering so that the difference in focal length between 35mm and 50mm wouldn't affect the measured light (hopefully, and I think that it didn't). It's not a 100% reliable and scientific test though as my light is not uniform enough, but some observations are quite repeatable. Now with the available light I have at this moment when doing this test, and the settings I have, it so happens that with aperture set to f/1.4 there is about 2 stops of over-exposure on both lenses. A bit hard to be sure with the 7Artisans lens since it has a clickless aperture ring, but I consistently get this result when moving the aperture ring about and moving it back to about 1.4 position. With both lenses, with I close down the aperture to f/16 the exposure reading of the camera is -5EV. That's 8 stops different, so that's correct, as expected. So far, so good. Now I did notice that consistently, the 50mm TTArtisans, when going from f/1.4 to f/2 the EV changes from +2 to +1 1/3, so that's only 2/3s of a stop decrease, it's not a real f/2. From f/2 to f/2.8 goes down to +1/3 EV so that's a full stop again, and from there down to f/16 at some point it will be "proper" full stops again. But the light meter of the camera starts to become a bit uncertain and unreliable, my light is not strong and uniform enough. I started at f/1.4 and the lens opens up to f/1.2 it claims, and sure enough, my EV changes to +2 1/3 EV, so that absolutely works "as promised". However with the 7Artisans 35mm I noticed that although at f/1.4 I get the same EV reading as at f/1.4 with the TTArtisans 50mm, when I open up the aperture to its maximum my EV is... +2 1/3 EV. I should have gone up more than a full stop in EV, but it's only 1/3 of a stop more! And that is a repeatable observation when changing settings to have a different EV reading at f/1.4 as well. So what's going on here, I wonder?

Wait, I was told sometime in 2018 before I purchased my Sony A6300: Glass, Glass, Glass! Good lenses matter way more than the camera body. For my purposes the 35mm would be nice (streetphotography).

I actually prefer your Pergear 10/8 photos over the others.

I've got both the TTArtisans 50mm f/1.2 and 7Artisans 35mm f/0.95 and I like both of them quite a lot. Another cheap manual prime I've enjoyed a lot recently is the 7Artisans 7.5mm f/2.8 fish-eye. Really nice. (Oh and the lens-cap on the TTArtisans, I don't like it either. I've replaced it with the lens cap of another lens with 52mm filter thread :D )

You'll get an extra AstrHori 50mmF1.4 TL if you want

Hi Andrew! What You like is called „wabi sabi“ in Japan... Google it, its a whole world!! Greetings from Germany !! Martin

Your camera man needs to lay off the coffee 😂

I started watching to hear which one is the one that is not excellent.

Compare bokeh 7art vs Ttart

The purple fringing on the 50 is a big oof.

Speak for yourself! I need only the best for my Instagram feed!!! 😂😁