TTArtisan 10mm F/2 Review

A Unique Offering For the Price

By Sam Bugas - Sep 2024

In this post, I’ll be reviewing the TTArtisan 10mm F/2 lens after almost two months of consistent use on the Fujifilm X-T5. TTArtisan did send me this lens to keep, but they did not require me to make this post, they will not review it or see it before it is posted, and all opinions are 100% my own. Let’s get started!

Initial Thoughts

Pick this lens up and you’ll immediately notice that it’s no slouch. It’s hefty for a small lens, and feels like it could be thrown around without taking a bit of damage. Considering it has a price of less than $200 ($169 USD) I was immediately surprised by the quality of it’s build. Furthermore, it’s remarkably low price means that most people who can afford a Fujifilm camera can now afford an ultra wide (15mm full frame equivalent) prime with an F/2 aperture, which is plenty bright for most circumstances. It’s not all roses with this one, and I will explain it’s deficiencies below, so keep reading. That said, if you do stop here, you can leave knowing that this is a lens worth picking up, not only for people on a budget, but anybody looking for a bright wide prime for the X-System.

Build // 4 out of 5

As mentioned above, this lens is built like a tank. It is rock solid with a metal build, and while I haven’t dropped it on any rocks quite yet, I don’t doubt it would leave the rock with a ding and the lens looking like new. With that said, it is not a weather sealed offering, which means that it can take a beating, but not a soaking. I did use it in considerable sea spray and in a couple of drizzles, but I generally find that any lens can survive those encounters. If it were pouring rain, I’d likely leave this one in the bag. The bulbous front element is not too bulbous, and TTArtisan had the wits to include a screw on hood-like system that extends beyond the front of the lens, allowing you to screw on filters. While I didn’t always have filters on, I always had this hood system on because it added a fair bit of protection. The focus ring works great, but the aperture ring is just a little bit small. It makes it a little hard to change apertures, especially if the lens is, regrettably, wet. This has never been a factor that matters much to me, though. To finish, all in all, solid build!

Image Quality // 3.5 out of 5

Image quality is a complicated area, so I’ll break it down into sharpness, distortion, and image effects such as flaring. Starting with sharpness, this lens is not particularly excellent. Wide open, it’s not particularly sharp from the center to the edge of the frame. Stopped down, it’s sharp enough in the middle, and still soft at the edges. I find it never truly becomes sharp at the edges. However, in all my time shooting, I never found the sharpness prohibitive, and I generally see sharpness as the least important variable. I slap on a touch of sharpening in Lightroom and bam, it’s all I need to print large.

TTArtisan claims this lens has very little distortion or bending, and to my surprise, they weren’t wrong! Unlike many other photographers, I sometimes see distortion as a creative opportunity, and therefore it isn’t a reason I won’t get a lens. Still, it’s nice when it’s mostly under control, and it certainly is with this lens.

Last, the other characteristics. First, flaring is a bit crazy. It pops up in a range of wacky ways when the lens is pointed towards the sun, which isn’t uncommon for ultra wides. However, this one is a bit challenging to work with at times. When I can take the time to work with the flare, though, it can actually be used to great creative affect. I love using this lens for video because the flares add a unique visual affect to some frames. I also found that shooting towards the sun occasionally led to some of the frame losing contrast. This wasn’t always the case, but something to consider. Chromatic aberration isn’t amazing when you get cluttered scenes like foliage in front of a bright sky (very few lenses are great at this), but it certainly could be worse. This lens has some character, sometimes good, sometimes challenging, but never truly bad. For the price, this is beyond an adequate performance.

Focusing // 4 out of 5

Well, simply put, this is a manual focus lens. If that bugs you, this is likely a zero out of 5 and you wouldn’t be reading past this point. For me, I have no problem manual focusing and often do it with my AF lenses as well. With this lens, I often toss it on F/8 and put the focus just shy of infinity. With that setup, I’m pretty much good to point and shoot in any scene. The only reason this isn’t a 5 out of 5 is because if I can have the option for AF, I’m always going to prefer that, even if I don’t always use it.

Practicality // 3 out of 5

This metric isn’t one I ultimately weigh into the average for a lens because it’s too subjective. Still, it’s worth considering. Is this a lens that will live on your camera? Likely not. It’s so wide that most scenes become challenging to contain without distracting from the subject. It’s distinctly an adventure, landscape, architecture, and creative lens rather than your normal 35mm walk around. That said, I found myself using it more often than expected over the last two months. It will absolutely be in my bag moving forward because I simply don’t have anything else like this for my Fuji system.

To Summarize // 3.8 out of 5

This is a budget offering that remarkably is one of the only true super wide options for the Fujfilm system that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. It allows people that wouldn’t otherwise be able to shoot these kinds of photos the opportunity to do so. It isn’t perfect, but everything it does, it does well enough to be worth more than what it actually costs. I recommend this lens to anybody that wants to shoot super wide in conditions that aren’t too wet.

Buy It Here —> TTArtisan 10mm F/2

About Me:

I have shot photos for six years, with a consistent focus on capturing moments of action and environment while I am outside. I’ve dabbled in quite a few different genres of photography, and I’ve found that my favorite moments to take a photo are when the wind is whipping, the air is freezing, and I’m far away from home. Over the last year, I’ve come to the realization that taking photos and telling stories are two very different things. My goal is to keep improving as a story teller that can work in the harshest environments and come away with compelling sets of photos and written stories that help me, and others, to relive the essence of an adventure. I am focused on continuing to grow as a visual story teller so that I may leverage my skills to successfully work within conservation, expedition photography, and commercial photography.