I never would have dreamed there would ever be a new M42 mount lens. Thanks for sharing.

All you describe is simply the nature of the Tioplan/Cooke Triplet design. The new Meyer Optik company offers a similar 100mm f/2.8 Trioplan lens today but it is 5 times the price of the TT Artisan lens.

Meyer Optik is working on new M42 lenses too. The Biotar is probably one of the best M42 lenses in the world. It‘s expensive but the quality is outstanding. I‘m using it with my Pentax Spotmatic. Even my Leica M3 and Summicron are collecting dust right now. PS: I have a Praktica MTL 5B too, but mainly use it with Helios lenses. The 40-2 is a monster, perfect for portraits. :)

I think it was genius of TTA to release this in m42. Easily adapted to almost any camera.

Perhaps could have been more accent on its advertising point: bobble bokeh. Nevertheless, you shared some important details with us, and thx for that.

This must be a sign of the increasing popularity of film.

I don't think you mentioned the price. Here in the States, it's $155 plus shipping. At that price, I think it's a must have!

I have this lens and it works very well. Very easy to get the effects out of it. Similar methods to the helios swirl well produce the sharp edge bubbles

Would love to see a comparison between the TTArtisan and the 3 times more expensive Meyer-Optik Trioplan 100mm. The glowing softness of the TTArtisan kinda bothers me.

Cheapest 'Triopan' you can get.

I'm quite excited by this one. A new M42 at a usable size? For around £150ish? Sign me up! Not keen on it having chromatic aberrations, but the kind of photos I tend to take at that focal length, it probably won't be a deal breaker.

Thanks for an excellent review, as usual! I'm very excited about this lens. I ordered one of the first available; as I wanted a lens with the dynamics of the Trioplan; but without the high price of the new Meyer Optik Gorlitz ii. I've used it for about a month now, and this is one of the best buys I've ever made. There is a vast difference between blobby bubbles and soap bubbles in the bokeh. I wanted this one especially for its soap bubbles. And they are wonderful! Silvery and almost translucent; with a clear white line at the circumference. And this I get without the dust particles in old lenses that can ruin bokeh bubbles...

Excellent review. Even the best M42 vintage lenses at 100mm and 135mm have CA at f2.8 and most have that bleaching. It's rarely ignored online in reviews and on social media as folks want to push how wonderful their lens choices are by posting images that avoid that effect. They pretty much sort themselves out from f4 to f8.

I believe it has 13 aperture blades. I’m getting mine today in the mail… it’s in out for delivery status lol😊. I’ll let you know otherwise.

It just so happens that I procured a spotmatic with a28mm f2.5 lens in the last week or so. I have a test roll of film in the camera now. I may just have to pick this new lens up! Thanks for the video!

Great video as alway! How would this lens compare to the equivalent Pentax m42 100mm f2.8?

Hi Nigel, one thing I don't think you mentioned is that this is a triplet lens after the style of, but not quite the same, as a Meyer Trioplan which of course is now a rather expensive cult lens. That might explain why it has many of the characteristics of a vintage lens. Another review said that contrast wide open is low, but improves considerably when stopped down to f4. Did you find this? I already have this lens on order, so I am eagerly waiting on its arrival in a couple of weeks. I will also be using it on a Sony A7.

Nice electric mando in the background!

hey nice video. iam waiting for the arival. bought it directly from the homepage. greetings

Curious about this on Micro Four Thirds. Also curious how that electric uke sounds cranked up through a nice amp 😊

As a life long Nikon SLR/DSLR user, I'm looking at getting a mirror less camera body so I can play with all the great vintage lenses that I can't use now. Thinking Fuji...... Thanks Zenography!

My one regret of opting to go for Olympus (om1 and om4), is that I can adapt m42 lenses to them. m42 just seems to have the widest range out there.

Can also adapt to a canon film camera with m42 to fd adapter 👌🏼

I am using this lens with an helicoid adapter on my Sony cameras mostly with f/2,8 for chrisp macro shots! Even there is no distortion visible at f/2,8! I am very please with this lens! 👌👍

A vintage 100mm 2.8 lens that is sharp wide open is the 'cheap' Nikon 100mm 2.8 Series E. It's sharper than Nikon's legendary 100mm 2.5. However, stopped down, it doesn't have the nice round bokeh balls like this TTArtisan.

A very interesting lens indeed, Nigel. It would be good to see how it compares to the iconic Nikon 105mm f2.5 that was used in the famous National Geographic "Afghan Girl" photograph. Both lenses cost roughly the same money, yes the Nikon is second hand while the TT Artisans is a brand new one, but the comparison has to be made, in my opinion. The TT Artisan lens is not one I'd be tempted to buy, I have the Viltrox 85mm f1.8 in native FX mount giving full auto, and then all the other vintage medium zooms, and some really good 135s as well. Chromatic aberration in a modern lens should not be apparent, I was surprised to see it in a kit digital Nikon zoom lens that came with the early D50, it was really bad. CA is the first thing I look for when checking a lens, of course when shooting B&W it doesn't play as big a part but it's a sign of a well designed lens if there is none. All my opinion of course. George

Hmmmm -- but it does not have the M42 'Auto' aperture feature -- right? (I still shoot vintage M42 cameras) No automatic stop down when shooting or metering -- all manual, even on a film camera? Not sure that it's really any better than a clean 135mm, f2.8, M42 'Auto' lens -- which are not too terribly hard to find....

Did you try the tilt/shift version of this lens?

Will Pentax's new film camera have a K mount or M42 ?

I'm not sure what to make of this lens. I'm a bit surprised, and not entirely convinced of the wisdom of making it in an M42 mount. Any of the existing mounts, yes. But how many will want to shoot it on an old camera, with all the baggage that entails? Although, if they've set out to design an old school lens, they have certainly succeeded.

You didn't say if the lens gives full 35 mm frame coverage on a film camera. You make the point that the lens is physically 'slim'. So is it designed to a modern format like micro 2/3rd?

What's the closest focusing distance?

Does it have the apperture pin on the back ?

Nice thought this new lens...... Hey don't agree a 135mm lens is to long like you said no Siree.... what about a 200mm what would you say to that......??

Me: I should buy this lens. Also Me: You have a Canon FD 100mm f2.8 Crome Nose, Nikkor 105mm f2.5 and a Canon EF 100mm f2.8L IS Macro Me again: Yeah but bubble bokeh. 🤣

I also bought it and like it so far. For a triplet design that old it has really good sharpness. But it also means edges and corners won't be sharp.

I was that kid.

"uuu great, new zenography video" 10sec later "oh crap, its about new TTArtisan 100mm.." 15min later "hmmm...quite ok, something i would expect..." I definitely would like to see more new (&cheap) versions of old lenses - it should, hopefully, bring the price down of old glass :) personally, would I buy this one? yeah, second hand, once available. In meantime, i'm waiting for good deal on Diaplan 100/2.8 so i can scavange it's rear glass to fix my fungus destroyed Trioplan 100/2.8. Also, in meantime, it's interesting to figure out how good replacement are Triotar 135/4 and Bonotar 105/4 triplets

nice

This for aps c lens…? No?

This lens is a copy of MOG Trioplan, it's a triplet, and it's not supposed to be sharp or "modern" in any way. It's exactly what it's supposed to be, so people don't pay 1000 eur/usd/etc. on new version of Trioplan, but just a fraction of the price. And it's not sharper than vintage 100mm lenses (of more complex design), far from it. Canon or Olympus 100mm F2.8 for example would be much sharper wide open than this stopped down. Again, that's not the point. Speaking of sharpness, it's not all about the center of the image. You should always consider the whole frame when making judgement (as this lens is terrible in the corners wide open, and pretty bad even at F8 and below). But that's Trioplan's way, and people don't mind, because they are buying this for bokeh only (and really, only for that, the "soap bubbles"). Considering that it's practically a close up lens for most people, it's good that it's M42, so it can be used with helicoid adapters. Sadly, 0,9m is not ideal mfd, but helicoid is a must for bokeh addicts anyway.

You bought a new lens! Disgraceful. You ought to be ashamed of yourself 😂