TTArtisan AF 85mm F/1.8 Review: Can A £99 Lens Be Any Good?

I bought this lens out of my own money, and decided to give it a good run-in before giving my honest opinions on this review. I’ve used it for professional portrait shoots and general photography, and I’ve come to a conclusion.

About The Lens

The TTArtisan AF 85mm f/1.8 Neo is a game-changer for budget portrait photography, offering unbelievable value for money at just £99/$99. It punches well above its weight class in sharpness, making fast-aperture portrait Prime lenses accessible to virtually everyone.

It is super-cheap, and you can feel that in its construction, but let us take a look at the specifications to remind ourselves of how this lens is and how it performs.

Key Specifications

• Focal Length & Aperture: 85mm full-frame with an f/1.8 maximum aperture.

• Autofocus: STM stepping motor supporting Eye/Face detection tracking that works flawlessly on my Nikon Z6ii and my Nikon ZF alike.

• Weight: Very lightweight at ~332g. And you can really notice the weight of this lens, by the lack of weight it adds to your camera!

• Mounts: Available in Sony E and Nikon Z mounts.

• Special Features: USB-C firmware upgrade port built into the rear lens cap.

What Works Well

• Impressive Central Sharpness: Even wide-open at f/1.8, the centre of the frame is surprisingly crisp and renders fine details sharply. When stopped down to f/4–f/5.6, it achieves edge-to-edge sharpness that rivals lenses costing five times as much.

• Smooth, Pleasing Bokeh: The bright f/1.8 aperture creates background separation with smooth, soft rendering, making subject separation effortless for portraits.

• Reliable Eye-AF: The autofocus is quiet and holds onto Eye/Face detection reliably for standard portrait sessions and static subjects.

• Extreme Portability: Weighing barely 330g, it won’t weigh down a camera bag or wrist during long shoots.

Key Compromises & Trade-offs

• No Manual Focus Ring: To keep costs down, the outer barrel ring is purely cosmetic and does not rotate. It is an autofocus-only lens (unless forced via camera-body electronic override).

• Chromatic Aberration (CA): High-contrast scenes can occasionally display noticeable purple and green fringing wide-open at f/1.8. You will need to click “Remove Chromatic Aberration” in your software or stop down slightly in tricky light.

• All-Plastic Construction: The body is made entirely of lightweight composite plastic and lacks weather-sealing.

• AF Speed for Action: While great for portraits and casual walkabouts, the autofocus may struggle with fast-moving action or erratic tracking.

Examples

Conclusion

As I’ve said, I’ve come to a conclusion and this is it. The TTArtisan AF 85mm f/1.8 Neo is a phenomenal option for hobbyists, travel photographers, or anyone who wants a dedicated portrait lens without spending hundreds. As long as you can live without a physical manual focus ring and don’t mind fixing a bit of colour fringing in post-processing, it is arguably the best £99 you can spend on a lens.

Unbelievable as it may be, I would not hesitate to use this lens for work and play, it’s output is phenomenal, and I love the way the images look at F/1.8. For me, the lightweight is a positive on long shoots such as portrait shoots and weddings, it is a breath of fresh air to have such a light weight lens.

The 85mm focal length is not for everyone, but at £99 you really can not go wrong in buying this lens for the few times that you might need it. Images taken at 85mm F/1.8 look so much better than any images taken up to 120+mm at F/2.8 if you are after that creamy blurred background look.

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My name is Mark G Adams and I run Photography By Mark G Adams. I am a professional photographer from South Wales, shooting weddings, events and portraits as well as running meets and workshops. For fun I like to shoot landscapes, wildlife and occasionally do street photography. Enjoy my website as I share my knowledge learned over decades of working and having fun in photography. Feel free to like, comment and subscribe!
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