Honestly, I bought the TTArtisan 7.5mm f/2 Fisheye for one specific purpose: shooting aurora time-lapses.
Last year, we had two incredible geomagnetic storms in May and October — and northern lights were visible much further south than usual. Both times I tried capturing them with my TTArtisan 10mm f/2, but it just wasn’t wide enough to catch the whole action.
So I decided to give the 7.5mm a try. Based on my good experiences with TTArtisan lenses in the past, it felt like a safe bet. Was that a mistake? And is the “Fisheye” distortion a dealbreaker? Let’s find out.
Build Quality
No surprises here:
As always with TTArtisan, the lens is fully made of metal and feels solid in hand.
My copy has a very tight focus ring and a stiff aperture ring. The aperture ring has clicks, but they could be more pronounced. Especially when shooting at night (often with gloves), I sometimes missed a stop without noticing. Not a big deal — just something to be aware of. The stiff focus ring actually helps with precise focusing using Fujifilm’s focus magnification.
Size, Front Element & Lens Cap
Due to its oversized front element (typical for fisheyes), the lens feels a bit front-heavy despite its compact size. Because of that bulbous front, you can’t use regular lens caps. TTArtisan includes a metal cap that slides on — not locking into place.
Fun detail: The center of the cap can be unscrewed. On full-frame cameras, this creates a kind of circular fisheye effect. On my Fuji APS-C, though, it just gives dark corners — not a real circular look.
Image Quality of TTArtisan 7,5mm f2
To be honest, my expectations weren’t super high. I mainly wanted this lens for time-lapses — where images get downscaled anyway, and a bit of softness or lower contrast isn’t a problem. But after testing it during a regular photo walk, I was genuinely surprised.
Ultra Wide = Ultra Fun
It’s easy to forget how fun ultra-wide lenses are. The fisheye distortion didn’t really bother me — as long as I kept the horizon near the center of the frame, distortion wasn’t too noticeable.
Move the horizon closer to the top or bottom? Yeah, then things start bending like crazy. But sometimes that’s exactly what makes these images fun and unique.
Sharpness & Optical Performance
Stopped down to f/5.6 or f/8, sharpness is surprisingly good — almost all the way to the edges.
Wide open at f/2? Not so much.
Chromatic aberrations are well controlled.
Flares can be an issue when shooting into bright lights (even if the light source is outside the frame). But contrast stays pretty solid — even shooting directly into the sun.
Vignetting? Much less than I expected. I actually added some manually during editing because I liked the look.
Close Focusing & Bokeh
Another fun surprise: The f/2 aperture combined with the short minimum focus distance creates a surprisingly pleasing (if tiny) bokeh zone.
Is it technically perfect? No.
Is it fun for creative close-ups? Absolutely.
The Real Test: Northern Lights
Of course, I took the lens with me on a trip to Denmark — even though the weather forecast looked awful. But as luck would have it, the clouds broke up during the first night, and aurora activity spiked. Perfect conditions to test the 7.5mm in action!
My Experience Shooting Aurora with This Lens
While the light show didn’t last very long (about 2 hours) and wasn’t as intense as previous events, I was super happy with the lens’s performance. Thanks to the extreme field of view, I was able to capture the entire northern horizon in one shot. Even if the horizon bends a lot when tilting the camera up, it’s a trade-off I’m happy to take — especially if the aurora is dancing directly overhead.
Mission accomplished.
Final Verdict of TTArtisan 7,5mm f2
This lens did exactly what I hoped — and more.
- Super wide field of view
- Surprisingly good image quality
- Compact and solid build
- Budget-friendly price (under $200)
It’s definitely not a lens for every situation — but for those special moments (aurora, Milky Way, creative ultra-wide shots), it really shines.
If you’ve ever wanted to dip your toes into the world of fisheye photography without breaking the bank — this is a fantastic place to start.
