You can find my detailed hands-on review of the TTArtisan 11mm f/2.8 fisheye lens separately. This larger collection of sample images is designed to go along with that review.
While fisheye lenses have a fairly narrow range of uses, they can be a fun creative addition to your kit. From cramming massive amounts of scene in grand interiors, to immersive action, to spherical panoramas, there are some things they can do very well.
Nikon doesn’t yet make a Z-mount fisheye, so I’ve been trying out some of the interesting options put out by third-party manufacturers. All of those so far are manual-focus, as this one is.
In brief
The TTArtisan 11mm f/2.8 fisheye is all-mechanical with no electronic components, meaning no EXIF communication with the camera and no autofocus.
The metal construction feels solid and old-school. I’ve been happy with the images I get with it — they’re sharp and bright, and the f/2.8 maximum aperture is useful for on-the-go shooting.
My least favorite thing is how stiff the focus and aperture rings are. They’re surprisingly hard to turn, making fine-tuning focus more difficult than it should be. The aperture ring has no click stops. Despite this, I found this lens more reliable for achieving sharp focus than the AstrHori — there’s less play in the distance focusing, which translated to more in-focus shots.
There’s no image stabilization, no filter thread compatibility (standard for fisheyes), and the minimum focus distance is 17 cm. The optical design uses 11 elements in 7 groups.
Sample images
I included some of these images in my review, but here’s a larger collection of sample images I’ve taken using this lens.
All were taken with a Nikon Z8 and shot in RAW. They were lightly processed in Lightroom, but I haven’t applied any of Lightroom’s optical corrections to these (and there’s no built-in lens profile even if I’d wanted to). Because no EXIF data is communicated between lens and camera, the aperture of each of these was unrecorded.
You can click on each image for a full-size version for a closer look.
Price & availability
The TTArtisan 11mm f2.8 fisheye is available in versions for Sony E, Canon RF, Canon EF, Leica L, Nikon F, and Nikon Z mounts. I’ve been using the Nikon Z version. The MSRP is very attractive at $235, making it a pretty low-risk proposition to try out.
Check current price and availability at:
