Quick take: After six weeks with the TTArtisan 35mm F1.8 AF II on my Fujifilm X-M5 and X-T3, I honestly couldn't find anything bad to say about it. At about $125, it's sharp wide open, showed no notable purple fringing, has fast and whisper-quiet STM autofocus that works for video, and an aluminum build that doesn't feel cheap. It has no aperture ring and no weather sealing, but if you want a roughly 50mm-equivalent autofocus lens for under $150, it's the front-runner by a wide margin.
Silver or Black
This is my first silver lens, and I think it looks great on the X-M5. It also comes in black. The silver version includes a little lens-shade-style hood, while the black one comes with a standard petal hood. Functionally, I think they're the same.
Value
In the US, it's about $125 in black and $128 in silver, before any tariffs. The Fujifilm equivalent is the 33mm F1.4, so you could buy one of these for yourself, five for friends, and still have money left for an overpriced Arca-Swiss plate.
Real-World Use
I used it the way most buyers at this price would: carried on the X-M5 and X-T3 and shot throughout my day, including family visits and scouting parks for future portrait shoots, ending at Paterson Great Falls. I eventually stopped taking photos and just tried to make it mess up. If you put a Fujifilm sticker on it and told me it was a native lens, I'd never have questioned it.
Image Quality
Lenses at this price are usually soft wide open, show chromatic aberration and purple fringing, and have loud autofocus motors. This one breaks all those rules. In six weeks of photos, punching in to 400-600%, I didn't find any notable purple fringing, though I'm sure it will appear in the right high-contrast scene. The F1.8 aperture helps it stay decently sharp wide open.
The Fuji 33mm F1.4, which trades places with the 50mm F1 as my favorite portrait lens, is a bit sharper. But it isn't six times sharper, and this lens is more than six times cheaper.
Build Quality
It uses STM motors, which are fast, quiet and light. Many first-party lenses still use them for the same reasons. The lens is light but doesn't feel cheap. It's aluminum, not plastic. It's not as robust as Fuji's metal lenses, but it feels more premium than the X-M5's kit lens, which doesn't even come with a real rear cap.
This one does, and that rear cap doubles as a USB-C interface for firmware updates, likely to keep it compatible with future Fujifilm bodies.
There's no aperture ring, so you'll assign aperture to a dial. I like aperture rings on my X-H2S, but it's no longer a dealbreaker for me when everything else is good. There's also no weather sealing, which isn't a big deal on non-sealed bodies like the X-M5.
Why This Lens Makes Sense
The X-M5 is my everyday camera, and this might become my everyday lens. It's great for beginners, and for pros who don't want to lug heavy lenses but still want a roughly 53mm full-frame equivalent for everyday shooting.
Video Autofocus
Fuji video autofocus can still be hit or miss, but this lens tracked me well and would work great for talking-head videos. It complements the light X-M5 in both look and weight. Continuous autofocus held up well, which is harder for video than photos. There's no stabilization, so pair it with an IBIS body like the X-H2S for handheld video, or use digital stabilization (which isn't available in open gate).
The Competition
I recently reviewed the 7Artisans 35mm F1.4 (a different company, despite the similar name), which had autofocus problems at launch. You can read my 7Artisans follow-up. Even accounting for its fix, the TTArtisan is the better value: its motor is very quiet while the 7Artisans' is loud, and it has no trouble focusing when stopped down.
Final Thoughts
I think I've now tested every autofocus lens in this space. Some manual focus options have good image quality and are fun, but the TTArtisan 35mm F1.8 AF II has all of that plus good autofocus. For a 50mm-ish equivalent under $150, it's the one to get.
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