Ultra-wide-angle lenses tend to be bulky, and many are incompatible with filters – but TTArtisans has just launched a new budget ultra-wide that mixes a compact design with a metal build and a removable filter holder.
The TTArtisan 14mm f/2.8 ASPH is a manual-focus-only full-frame lens that’s available for Sony E, Nikon Z, Canon RF, and L Mount camera bodies.
Like many ultra-wides, the glass at the front that makes it possible to capture that wide 114-degree field of view is curved. Many lenses with curved front glass don’t support filters at the front, with a few exceptions. Some support drop-in filters at the back, and some companies make third-party accessories to adapt the lens for front filters.
TTArtisan includes a front filter holder with the lens, which accommodates 77mm filters, solving a common issue with ultra-wides by adding filter compatibility in the box. That feature will likely open up the lens to more effects with filters (although an adapter won’t fix other issues with using filters on ultra-wides, like cross-hatching on polarizing filters). The filter holder appears to accommodate filters that are wider than the lens itself, which may help prevent some vignetting.
The lens itself is built from 13 elements in 10 groups, including aspherical elements. The aperture uses eight blades, which will create eight-point starbursts when using narrower f-stops. That optical design is wrapped up in a metal body with a clicked aperture ring and focal distance scale.
The lens’ ultra-wide focal length and bright aperture bring astrophotography to mind, particularly since it’s a manual focus lens anyway. But TTArtisans says the lens is also good for landscapes and environmental portraits as well. The lens’s manual focus also allows for focusing on subjects as close as .2m / 7.9 inches from the front of the lens.
The lens is expected to retail for $196, which converts to about £145 / AU$302
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