Is this the best affordable portrait lens for the Fujifilm X-E5?

When I first got started with Fujifilm as a system, one of the lenses I really, really lusted after and really wanted was the 90 millimeter F2. Probably because everybody online says just what a high performing lens it is and how good it is and how for portraits it gives a little bit of a different look due to the compression. And so I really, really wanted it. But in those early days, I wasn't making much money, right? I was, you know, I had a lowly X T1 and XT2. And I think back then I really was kind of put off by, you know, the form factor of that lens is a little bigger. And then of course, that focal length was that like 130 some odd millimeter equivalent. It just wasn't right for me at the time. And so I ended up getting the 56 millimeter and I started a journey with that lens, which I still love to this day. It's one of the best lenses on the Fujifilm system. But over time I've still kind of thought like, is it time to go get that? Like, should I go buy that lens? But luckily I. A couple months back, TT Artisan was nice enough to send me and let me keep this 75 millimeter f2 lens for Fujifilm. And this lens, just to get a quick little look at it there is super exciting to me because a couple different reasons, because the young Dylan would have loved to get this lens for 199, which is what it retails at. He would have loved the fact that it does have an aperture ring, which is really helpful. And he would have also loved the fact that it's got a 62 millimeter filter thread, which if you know anything about Fujifilm, that matches the 18 millimeter F1.4 and some of the other lenses. So really good front element here. And it's a pretty cool focal length because it's kind of the intermediary between the 56 millimeter and the 90 millimeter. So again, when I zoom out, I think about, man, this lens is super exciting. And if it's sharp and it works and it makes sense, maybe it is a good buy at $199. But I think even if it wasn't that sharp, and even if possibly it didn't have the performance that it does have, it would still be worth the buy at $199. So without further ado, I think the real question on this lens isn't the focal length or if ttartisan is a good company. They're an incredible company. They make unbelievable lenses for the money. And I think understanding this lens starts with the sharpness, starts with where they have some trade offs. And those trade offs are the things that you probably can guess because most cheaper lenses have to trade something off. But if the sharpness is there and the image quality is there, this is going to be a no brainer pickup for anybody who has Fujifilm. So really, with that being said, let's just jump right into Lightroom and take a look at some photos. All right, so let's jump into some photos and I thought, you know, versus taking a bunch of, you know, brick wall photos, we'd actually look at some real life photos and do some pixel peeping and see where this lens does well and where it maybe struggles a little bit. So first shot here we're looking through a really dirty window. And again, 75 millimeters, kind of this cool focal length. It's around 113 millimeter equivalent. And this lens being 330 grams is pretty nice because it's, it's definitely a good size. But if I zoom in here at 100%, you can see there's a little bit of haloing going on. And that's partly due to the dirty window, that's partly due just to how the lens kind of renders. But there's not really a ton of chromatic aberration. And we're at f5, ISO 250 on the x e5 here, which by the way, it pairs very well with. And it's a great photo. I think it's sharp enough. I think because of that window and because of some of the other elements there, it doesn't look as sharp as it could. But I think when you take pictures a little more or up close, even at f2.8, which spoiler again, this is the sweet spot for the lens. So here's my daughter crying because we were leaving the house. She wasn't happy about something. But you can see here at f 2.8, I mean, it's incredible, right? The sharpness on this lens really punches above its weight. I know that's a really cheesy phrase, but I think it does a really good job here. The Bokeh looks pretty good for F2. 8. You could say it's a little bit busy and not fully round at f 2.8, but I think for me on an APS C sensor, that's plenty good enough. Shooting through my car window here, my car windshield, rather like. I think this is a great measure of sharpness here. I think we can see some really Good sharpness across the frame. We're at f 2.8. Again, from a moving vehicle. You can see definitely in the center of the frame. We're really sharp and like you can probably expect a little bit softer in the corners, even though these are the out of focus areas. But I think even more so if I zoom into. Let's do 200% here. You know, in the corners you're going to lose a little bit of detail. But at f 2.8 from a speeding car was probably going 70 miles an hour at this point. I mean, it's pretty good image, right? And I think again, that's kind of the theme of this lens is that it does really, really good. Taking a look at another Image Here, F 2.8, a little bit different shutter speed. Let's let this load real quick so we can see here. Again, I think I have a little filter on here, so you'll see a little bit of grain, but no sharpening going on here whatsoever. But we can see some pretty good detail. Again, F2.8 moving car Focus maybe wasn't there. It's Fujifilm, right? You never really know. But some really good detail, right. And I think even as you get to the soft edges of the frame, again, we're shooting through a windshield. It looks pretty good onto a picture of my daughter. This is at F2. So this is wide open. I think this is very sharp. And of course sharpness I feel like is. Is. You know, some people think it's got to look this way and sharpness to other people could look this way. But I think at F2, wide open at a pretty close. This is probably close to minimum focus, to be honest with you. I had the camera kind of right in her face. It did a really good job. The out of focus backgrounds look pretty good. I don't see a ton of chromatic aberration. There might be a little bit here. No loca that I can really tell. That's super evident. I didn't do one of the chain link fence photos for you guys, but I think even if there is some, it's not that big of a deal. But again, I think that's kind of a nice way to look at it. Another photo of her at F4. So I really think again, the sweet spot for this camera, or excuse me, for this lens is 2.8 to f4. So if you're shooting in that range, you're going to get unbelievable shots. So we can see we're at 100%. Let's go to 200 like the sharpness on her hair, which, you know, hair renders pretty well on these modern cameras. Like, it looks great. I can even see some of the chocolate I had given her earlier. But my beautiful daughter here, she's got some good sharpness thanks to this lens. So again, very, very cool. If we go outside again, we're at 4 low base ISO here. I think again at 200%. I mean, this is plenty sharp. I think again, it's not going to win any awards for sharpness, but I think even despite that, it's really, really good. You can see the out of the focus backgrounds look pretty good. I'm pretty happy with that, to be 100% honest with you. And even some motion here, you can see we're at 1 over 500, so we're not going to get total freeze frame here. But even on the shirt there's a good amount of detail and it looks really, really good. So, yeah, four, I think that's a really good photo. Now I want to point out where maybe it doesn't do so well. So I've got a photo here of her a little bit further back. And this is at 1950 at F2. So we're wide open now, a little bit higher ISO at 250. And you know, this could be a Fujifilm focus thing, but you'll notice it's relatively soft here. Now, I took this photo a few times with her as the focal point, and either it's a little bit soft at this range, which is fine wide open and that's kind of to be expected, but if you stop down a little bit, you'll get a much better image. And again another one just here at F2. Again, a little bit soft for the subject, but it looks pretty good. And at 100%, it's going to, it's going to really impress. If we go to some other photos here towards the end, I want to show you what it would look like again in F2. You'll notice in this part, she's more off center than she was before. So she's in kind of that more softer zone. And you can see there's definitely some softness there. It looks like the focus maybe isn't perfect on that as well. But again, I was shooting multiple frames here we look at one last photo here. So if we take a look here at this one, she again, maybe the focus got missed, maybe it's behind her, but it's still a little bit softer towards the edges. So if you're going to be shooting people you definitely want them in the center of the frame. But I think overall, again, as a 75 millimeter lens, it's pretty, pretty good. So I've been really happy with it. And then just one last photo for you. Up close, wide open, you can see again, a little bit softer shutter speed or slower, rather, where it's going to create more of a soft image because they're, you know, kids, if you know them at all, they just constantly move. But I think this is a really good way to look at this lens. I again, incredible shots up close. Very good shots, I would say, from further away and wide open. Unless I had to, I probably wouldn't keep it wide open. I'd always keep it at F2.8, especially because this lens has this really, really cool, you know, aperture ring, which is great. But yeah, I think it's a great lens. For $199 to not have to purchase the 90 might be worth it. I don't think it's the most incredible performer wide open. But having said that, at F2.8 to F4, which is totally respectable, you're going to get some amazing shots. So, yeah, just my quick impressions of the TT Artisan 75 millimeter F2 lens. It's definitely going to be in my bag for some longer shots and I'm really happy with it. So, yeah, thanks for watching and we'll catch you in the next one.