There are so many cheap lens manufacturers that I’m starting to lose numbers. What I didn’t notice, however, was how strong the quality had become.
I’ve talked about macro photography many times on Fstoppers, and I didn’t expect it to stop. Less often, but still, I will praise the many independent lens manufacturers – mainly in Asia – who are making glasses extremely fast for a fraction of the price we used to pay for it. .
The trade-off is always that you don’t get autofocus. I doubt that one day that will change any time soon, but with many lenses, if removing autofocus would drop the price by 50-75%, I’d probably be interested. That said, it can make some genres much more difficult, although the one where it very rarely happens, is macro.
Macro photography is a genre I’ve shot deep into the 6-figure frame, and most – even the insects – are in manual focus. I find it much more believable to move myself instead of the camera trying to figure out the scene. So when you can get a nice and sharp 40mm f/2.8 macro but no AF, I’m intrigued; especially when the price drops to $99! That lens – the lens in the video – is TTArtisan 40mm f/2.8 Macro Lens for Sony E
