TTartisan 17mm f1.8 AIR lens review – X mount

Yes! a third party lens have saved the day again. Today, I’ll be reviewing the affordable, neat looking, good performing wide-angle prime lens from TTArtisan – the TTArtisan 17mm f1.8 AIR. I’ve been wanting a wide angle prime lens for my Fujifilm X-E3 for a long time now but I just couldn’t get myself to buy the Fujifilm 18mm f2. Not that it isn’t a good lens, but because of price. Especially now that the second hand market for Fujifilm lenses are at an all time high. Plus, I already have a Fujifilm 18-55mm f2.8 which is a fantastic lens, even at its widest focal range. And that is enough for me to hold on a purchase… until now.

The TTArtisan 17mm f1.8 is part of TTArtisan’s AIR series of lenses. Which is their affordable and compact autofocus prime lenses. It’s funny because Viltrox came up with the AIR name first and the direct rival to this lens is the Viltrox 15mm f1.7 AIR. The TTArtisan is cheaper at $140 (PHP 8500) vs Viltrox at $195 (PHP 12,000), and that is enough reason for me to go for the TTArtisan.

Like any other TTArtisan lens, the TTArtisan 17mm f1.8 AIR has a solid build quality. Made with metal and hard plastic, it’s hard to believe that this lens is in its price range. The lens is also compact and feels very light. When it comes to the design the lens looks clean and minimal. I only wished it had a physical aperture control ring. That would’ve made this lens looked more badass, plus it’ll fit more the style of the retro looking Fujifilm cameras.

The wierdest thing about this lens (or any AF TTArtisan lens) is the mount cover which also serves as a usb dock. For some reason the cover won’t thighly lock when used and you risk having no way to update your lens firmware when you lose your cover/dock. Still, this is just nitpicking on a rather nice lens.

I find the 17mm focal length (25mm full frame equivalent) to be up my alley. I used to shoot the with a Nikon DSLR and the Nikkor 17-55mm f2.8 and remember to have shot some of my favorite photos at 17mm. I have a feeling that this TTArtisan 17mm f1.8 AIR will be my new favorite walk around lens.

The challenge with shooting with a wide angle lens in the streets or when you use it for documentaries is that you need to get closer to your subject. But an advantage is that you get more in your frame. Whether its more elements or context I really find this focal range more natural to my eye rather than a 50mm field of view. Another thing this lens will will shine is shooting landscpaces, or cityspace in this case.

I also liked how this lens renders colors. Very natural and with good contrast. The images looks sharp as well! Autofocus is good although I always use single point on all my lenses/cameras for better control and results.

By the way, I almost forgot to mention that this lens has a large aperture of f1.8. This allows you to shoot at low light situations with descent shutter speeds making this lens very versitile. Ofcourse, image quality isn’t the best wide open, but stop down a bit then the image quality improves. I’d say the sweetest spot is at f5.6, but we don’t pixel peep here. 😉

And there you have it, another third party lens that I would highly recommend. I haven’t tried the Viltrox 15mm AIR but I think you would be happy with either.

As always, thank you for reading and please check more of my blogs and socials. Salamat