TTArtisan 100mm f/2.8 2x Macro Tilt Shift lens review

Price: US$389.

As if 2x macro lenses weren't already cool enough, this one throws tilt-shift functionality into the mix! (although admittedly, tilt-shift isn't as effective on telephoto lenses). Its price is reasonable, too, so let's check it out.

All pictures taken by me on a Sony a7R III camera.

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[dude]

I've used a tilt adapter with a macro lens before. It has some advantages for macro but it's very difficult to get right. With macro, the typical depth of field is just a few mm and that's if you're lucky. At high magnification this makes it very challenging to get much of your subject in focus. The solution in a studio is to focus stack, but in the field with moving subjects such as insects, shooting freehand with a flash makes some subjects impossible to stack unless they are kind enough to keep completely still for you. With a tilt shift you can reorientate that slender depth of field along more of the subject for more in focus. It's not easy to get right, but it's easier than trying to focus stack an ant!
I've never seen a macro lens with the tilt adapter built in though. Admire the boldness of it.

[jlwilliams]

Tilt/shift on a 100mm macro is actually a great idea. When I ran a market-research photo studio for a big food manufacturer, my go-to lens for close-ups was the Canon 90mm tilt/shift. Why? Because when your field of view was only about the size of a couple of strawberries, it was REALLY hard to frame precisely by moving the camera up and down on its stand; shifting the lens made it much easier to get the exact framing you want. Same with the tilt: making minor tweaks in the plane of focus could be done much more precisely by tilting the lens than by trying to re-angle the camera. The main downside to the Canon lens was that while it focused pretty close, it couldn't handle really small subjects such as individual mushrooms... I wish I had had this TTArtisan lens back then!

[sabamacx]

When it comes out this February? Phew, that's a long lead time.

[quiteenough]

There's also Astrhori 85mm tilt-shift macro lens, but I believe it's only 1x macro. The main trick with macro tilt-shift lenses it's the fact that you can shift your focus plane so it appears much wider thus allowing you to use much wider apertures. It's a bit sad that Christopher didn't tested image quality in 2x macro when lens is shifted to we can see is there any notable results for macro.

[banditalley]

Tilt shift for macro is to enable a bigger DOF at a lower aperture. It works really well on this kind of lens and focal length, as 100mm gives very shallow DOF normally, but shifting it will give focus depth over a greater distance. Great for people who don't have a camera body that does auto focus bracketing.

[Skipsul]

The shift function is also amazingly useful for perspective correction that doesn't necessarily involve straightening lines. For instance, I use it often in product photography to mitigate reflections or glare, or in architectural work to make shifts to correct for things like objects in the line of sight, where simply moving the whole camera left or right would radically alter the composition, while shifting the lens solves the issue without composition shifts.

The tilt function on a macro is critical when you start trying to correct for the very shallow depth of field on tricky surfaces, or objects slightly tilted away from your normal plane of focus. For instance, it is incredibly useful on things like snowflakes, where you might not have caught a flake completely flat - that razor thing DOF gets you a blurry flake, while a tilt lets you get the whole thing sharp. That tilt on a macro works wonders whenever your subject is not parallel to your focus plane. Combined with shifting and you can reduce the need for stacking or stitching.

[TrilobitesRTasty]

It’s great to see Mr. Frost is one of the very few reviewers who describes some of what tilt-shift functionality is actually used for. Too many videos incorrectly describe tilt-shift as a novelty feature.

[JeDxDeVu]

It actually makes sense to have a tilt shift marco. It will be a bit of a fiddle but with practise you wont have to stack anymore.

[DynamixWarePro]

I love macro photography and video and macro lenses. Interesting to see a tilt shift on a macro lens. I don't think I have ever needed that on one. I don't think I have seen focus breathing that bad before. 2:28 When it comes out this February? It must have taken you a long time to get this review published!

[GordoFriman]

A truly specialiced lens. Thanks for the review.

[jamesquinn]

I don't think the lack of weather sealing hurts this lens very much. I mean how often do you see people doing macro photography in the rain or under extreme weather conditions?

[grat]

Your wife does a lovely job of selecting subjects for you to photograph. You do make a great team!

[olesbadio]

Thank you very much for the great review and tests. Finally, Canon's tilt-shift optics have at least some competitor.

[stevetqp]

Great review as always, Christopher! And thank you for answering my Big question...regarding the sharpness between it and the Laowa 100 f/2.8 Ultra-Macro lens. I have the latter on my Z8, and the sharpness obtained from it is stellar. Though I love and appreciate the tilt/shift functionality of the TTArtisan, (coming from a view camera background decades ago), I just can't sacrifice image sharpness for the pleasure. Thanks again!

[ZeLoShady]

Did you do any tests with the tilt function at 1:1 or 2:1 macro? I would have loved to see how much of an effect it would have and what the sharpness would be like in that scenario.

[nicolasouin]

Perfect, one year's since i'm waiting this lens with tilt shift fonctionnality 🤩

[senseofeverthing]

I was hoping that you are soon going to make a review of this lens! Thx!

[keithspillett]

Great video, as always. As an M43 user, I was absolutely fascinated to hear they're going to produce an M43 version of this lens. That's going to make it an effective 200mm 2x macro lens which is rather extraordinary!

[-.]

IS IT APS-C only when shifted or tilted? 90 % of these lenses are. I guess I will find out somewhere in the video.

[Bruno_Berger]

If you start to use a tilt/shift (especially tilt) lens for macro work you will never go back (as long as you don’t need autofocus). You can set the depth of field exactly in that angle as you need and therefore „extend“ it by ease. I looove my Canon 135 TS /E macro lens wich makes my daily life much easier. So this TTArtisan is a very interesting lens for a bargain.