Another lens from China

Here is the “Bubble Bokeh” 100mm f2.8 lens from TT Artisan. And what an interesting lens it is too!

If you want to see the video I made on the lens then here it is. And scroll down as I go over the photographs I shot using the lens.

Straight into the “Bubble Bokeh” effect. Here it is. Sort of! I found it hard to find the ideal situations to achieve this effect. And the above was looking over a stream at some water grass shimmering in the sunlight. Here is the scene.

So there are two elements to make the photo work. A background that is shimmering very brightly and a subject in the foreground so you can focus close on the foreground subject, shooting wide open at f2.8 and a distance between the two enough to throw the background into oblivion out of focus!

Another example. This is close up on a car with another car in the background. Again, at f2.8.

And another with a Holly bush shimmering in the background and some tree moss in the foreground.

But I will be brutally honest. I don’t think this is for me. But I do think you could get some amazing night time city scapes. And for the price of the lens, less than £200, I wanted to see how it performs normally without the Bubble Bokeh effect. And it didn’t disappoint!

I shot these with apertures of f8, 11 and 16. This is where I wanted to see the quality of the lens.

Build Quality

You won’t be disappointed in the build quality either. It feels good with a full metal contraction, three elements in three groups and 13 aperture bladed. And the focusing is nice and smooth with a clicked aperture selector and the lens is small and compact too!

You can read more on the lens on the TT Artisan Website.

• f2.8 – f22
• Closest distance is 3 feet
• 13 Aperture Blades
• 3 elements in 3 groups
• Full Metal Body
• Fits M42 Mount and also M Mount
• Focal Length 100mm
• Filter Size 49mm
• Weight is 307g
• Clickable Aperture Change

Uses

I can see this lens fitting into some of my photography especially portraits! And I will take advantage of the Bubble Bokeh if I stumble across an opportunity but I wouldn’t go looking for it with a model. My usual lens for woodland is a 50mm, 55mm and a 28mm. So using a 100mm in the woods I did find myself thinking more about my compositions. Street photography also! It’s not an intrusive looking lens and could make for some interesting stealth compositions! And if you are into macro photography I am sure you can get even closer with extension tubes! I didn’t try this. Usually I reverse a 50mm lens on an extension tube. Whatever your photography subject I am sure you would find a 100mm lens useful and the price is the start of this lenses attraction. Less than £150 for a brand new M42 Screw fit lens.

And here are a couple of photographs I took with a Canon 6D DSLR camera. You can see the quality is very good.