this lens is a no brainer. it really has a very special colour rendition comparing it with my other lenses. Other third-party lenses like Samyang ones have a very weird kinda yellow cast, that I personally don't like so much. this TTartisan 50mm has a lot of character, flares beautifully and paired with my xe3 is an excellent performer (not for pixel peepers though). good job reviewing this little and cheap gem

I always love the vibe of his reviews of budget products. The combo of his voice and presentation basically says, "it's not great, but it's fine, and fine is probably good enough, right?" Stiff upper lip, carry on, save some money

Got mine last week and just started to use it. As we’ve all been saying for the price is a nice lens to have. I’ve noticed it really shines using the Acros and Monochrome film simulation.

I've been a working photographer for fifty years. After I bought my first TTArtisan lens I bought another and another and another. I now have eight of them on Fuji X-Mount, Leica R-mount and Leica M. Every one of them has been superb in its' own way. My full frame M Mount TTArtisan 35mmf1.4 lens is so good I sold my beloved Leitz 35mm f2 (German) lens on eBay for $4500. Nobody influenced this comment aside from owning these lenses. This 50mm lens is a gift from The Photo Gods.

Mine just arrived yesterday, £87 on ebay. It's a nice lens, paired with xt30 takes nice pictures. For a cheap manual that takes nice portraits with good build quality you can't go wrong.

Got the TTartisan 50mm f1.2 on the X-E2s today. Works exactly as you describe, word for word. Thank you for the review and recommendation, Damian.

Have one for about a month now. Build quality is pretty darn good. Soft at anything under f2 but quite lovely bokeh. I'd say 10/10 pure value wise.

Loved the "history lesson." I have the lens, I think your review was right on all counts. Great value.

Thanks Damian, to he honest without pixel peeping ( which I don't really do much anyways) it looks like the lens performed pretty well. I think most people would not be able to tell of the images were taken on a cheap or more expensive lens. Hope it's not too cold in the UK. Cheers from Oz.

I own the Fujicron 50mm already, but wanted to try my hand at a manual lens and this one looked like a good one to start with. Thanks Damian...

I really wanted the Kamlan 50mm f/1.1 mk 2 but at this price and only being a tad slower than the Kamlan, I think this is the option for me :) Nice review as always.

Great review as always. Thank you for what you do Damian, very much appreciated.

I bought this lens 1 week ago and I can’t get enough of it....it’s a beast for the price...i took some very interesting and beautiful photos...you get a little bit of chromatic aberration with it, but with some editing in photoshop, you can solve the problem.

I thought the images looked nice and clear and crisp where needed. Portraits looked great. Incredible to think you can get a new production lens with this character and quality for the price. Thanks for the review and sharing the photos.

Been waiting for this!

Hard to argue with the price and speed of this one!

Great review. I was going to get the 35mm but this video sold me on this lens. I'm not a big fan of wide apertures, and damn you're a good photographer so I can finally see the actual potential of this lens. Not all reviewers take good pictures.

Thanks for the review of this, I picked one up after watching a few reviews like yours, I paid £65 which is a steal and absolutely love it. Like you say not amazing close up at 1.2 but move back a bit and it is realy sharp! Love the feel of the focusing and after just a little bit of practise its easy to nail focus on still subjects. Next challenge is moving subjects!!!!!

Wonderful vintage images. Great job.

I've got one on order. I did a best offer on eBay and got it for £60+tax. Regarding the aperture ring position, Olympus Zuiko lenses have used this configuration for years without complaints as far as I know.

I used the lens for street on the weekend and loving the results! Thanks for the review Damian :)

Great lens for black & white photos and it’s best to buy a lens hood separately, nice review

No bullshit !! You always speak of things very nicely. I am a fan now Damian. BTW I bought the Fuji 16mm f1.4 . Still an amazing lens in 2021.

I like the vintage quality of the images. Reminds me of shots by Cartier-Bresson.

I got a fuji xt3 almost a year ago and a 23mm f2 with it. have really enjoyed the camera and lens and all my outings with it and have been itching to pick up a second lens to try some different stuff. I have been torn between the fuji 56f1.2 and going for something more zoomy. I think im going to give this a shot because honestly ive spent 100 bucks on worse things and every article and video of this lens I have liked the images from it. I described it to my mum as like taking photos through a dirty pane window that you tried to clean and for some reason i just like it. Still plan to get the fuji version later this year

I like the screw caps

Damian, thank you for your reviews

Just bought one, btw. Really looking forward to trying it

This looks realy nice. Thanks for the review! Could be a nice budget lense could be a cool match for the meike 35mm 1,7

Who wants a razor sharp portrait lens??? Like this lens a lot - nice bokeh, sharp enough. Wish the close focus distance was around 20cm, but otherwise, great.

I was seeking the new Leica Noctilux 50mm f:1.2 Asph in KZfaq and that TT it is quite cheaper... LOL

This Lens is not clinically sharp. With that said, It gives me the most film like look of any lens I've used on my Fuji camera. It really shows mostly in print. I would recommend it to anyone.

Excellent video. Please make more. I'm from Cairo, Egypt.

Nice video I'm from Tucson AZ in the usa

I love the TTArtisan 35 f1.2, and have been thinking about the 50mm. Thanks for the info. I like the manual focus, but the focus by wire on Fuji lenses, is not usable to me, so I gone to these Chinese manual lenses.

I bought it from B&H with $98 USD !!! Hard to understand why price is cheaper in US while UK is closer from China

Nice review and interesting lens! Would you recommend the TTArtisan 50mm f1.2 or the Viltrox 56mm f1.4?

I really like those lenses. The thing is, do you need it, if you already own a similiar AF lens? It is so much more convenient to have AF, espacially in a fast lens, so in my experience the manual lenses mostly keep sitting in the closet...

Great video. The aperture ring goes in half clicks, at least up to F8

Hello from Portugal. Really appreciate your videos. May I ask which you'd recommend more for a cinematic look and in general? This or the Meike 50 mm f1.7? Thanks in advance.

It looks pretty good to my untrained eye. I'd be quite happy with it.

So glad I left UK, so depressing. Good review!

Hi Damian, I'm a retired photojournalist who really enjoys and generally agrees with your reviews and perspective on lenses. On this one however I have to disagree. I had one for a couple of weeks and REALLY wanted to like it if for no other reason than the clicked aperture. What I discovered however was that at anything past wide open with any kind of lights of highlights in the background, the bokeh is extremely ugly and geared looking. I presume this is a result of the strange blade design that seems to be on all of their lenses that I've seen. It's very decent wide open, but pretty useless for anything above about f/2 for any type of general shooting that I'd do. Best regards and keep up the fine work.

Have you tried 7artisans 55mm f1.4? Curious to see the comparison of both lenses. Image quality out of my 7artisans is soft

Do you use in camera sharpening on the xt4 and if you do can you shot videos in the future without it? Doesn't represent real sharpness of the lens :)

Would you choose the meike 50mm f0.95 or 50mm F2 over this one?

Ill get one rigth now thank you sir

Hi .. I have a food blog, is this lens suitable for photographing food ? thank you very much

Great review, but what about a lens hood?

I have the TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 for Fuji (also a Sonnar) and love it. Sure, it vignettes and has meh corners, but it's sharp enough in the center, less glow-y than an adapted Sigma 30/1.4, and just a tiny dream to use. Nice clicked aperture, smooth focus, lovely small size. Just a joyful land fun lens. My only qualm for this 50mm is the not-that-short minimum focus distance. It it was 35cm or so, I'd have ordered this already.

How does this compare to the 7artisans 55mm f1.4? Thanks

can you put on a 52mm filter?