Talk about ratcheting up the complexity!  I’ve reviewed a number of TTArtisan lenses before, and they have mostly fallen into the categories that are filled by a lot of what I call “Boutique Third Parties”.  These include various manual everything prime lenses with varying maximum aperture sizes.   While engineering for larger apertures (like their F0.95 lenses) are more challenging, their newest lens adds a LOT of new moving parts.  That lens is the TTArtisan 100mm F2.8 2X Macro Tilt/Shift.

Designing a lens that goes past 1:1 to 2:1 macro (2X) takes a lot of engineering.  That’s twice as high of magnification as most macro lenses.  Designing a tilt/shift lens takes even more engineering.  I’ve never personally seen a lens that combines both of these elements before, so this is certainly a courageous move for TTArtisan, particularly since this is designed for full frame mirrorless mounts (I’m testing it on Sony E-mount, but it will also be available for Canon RF, Nikon Z, Leica L, and then smaller sensors like Fuji X and M43).  This is also the longest focal length that TTArtisan has tackled to this point, which makes it a very interesting lens.

There are a variety of things that you can do with both ultra macro and tilt/shift, but it does mean that this is primarily going to be a “tripod lens”.  Trying to do 2x macro work handheld (even with a camera body with IBIS) is very difficult, and all the moving parts of tilting and/or shifting are also going to be difficult to do handheld.  If you take your time, however, you can produce some really unique photos with this lens.

I enjoyed playing with this lens in all the things that it can do, though in some ways its very ambition might be its greatest weakness, too.  The TTA100M maybe tries to do too much, and all of the knobs and moving parts make for some ergonomic frustrations.  At the same time, it must be acknowledged that this is a lot of lens for the money.  This will be the cheapest point of entry for either a 2x macro lens or a tilt/shift lens that any of us have ever seen at about $400 USD, which in my mind makes this more attractive.  You can judge for yourself by either watching my video review below or reading on to get the full picture.

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Thanks to TTArtisan for sending me a pre-release review loaner of this lens. As always, this is a completely independent review. *The tests and most of the photos that I share as a part of my review cycle have been done with the Sony a7IV along with the Sony Alpha 1 which will serve as my benchmark camera for the foreseeable future (my review here).

Images of the TTArtisan 100mm F2.8 2x Macro T/S

Images taken with the TTArtisan 100mm F2.8 2X Macro T/S

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