Return of the Biotar - the TTArtisan 75mm f1.5 M42 in hand
There are a few legendary pieces of glass whose names echo in the halls of photography…the Biotar 75mm f1.5 is one such example. Cut from the same rendering cloth as the venerable Helios 44, the Biotar creates a similar effect of strongly curved gnarly bokeh balls, best when surrounding a center-framed subject at a distance of about 6ft/2m. Sourcing a relatively clean Biotar has become a rarity…they aren’t voluminous and the copies out there are often crippled by fungus after years of neglect.
The Chinese lens market is addressing such matters in interesting ways. In this case, TTArtisan has stepped up and created something of a clone/spiritual successor that seems to slightly improve on the optics of the original while retaining the same character. If you’ve ever shot a Helios 44, you’ll know exactly what kind of character to expect here. For under $300 USD, this lens is well beyond “punching above its weight”, it’s entering a level of value rarely seen in the current camera market.
The one interesting bit is that this lens is currently (as of October 2024) only available in an M42 mount. It’s not a bad thing of course, but it comes with a few downsides. M42 has always been my least favorite vintage mount to adapt, as I never feel confident that the lens is fully screwed on and tight, as most of the lenses don’t have a great surface to grab while tightening. Nothing is so unsettling as trying to tighten a lens and putting a large amount of torque on an aperture ring or focus ring and feeling them groan and move unnaturally past their detents. The other bummer of M42 is these lenses can NOT be adapted to F mount, which is a real shame, given the resurgence of film camera use.
Ok, now that we are past that…
I picked up two Kent Faith adapters (my preferred brand for so-called “dumb” adapters) - one for my GFX camera and one for my Nikon camera. Note that for any M42 adapter, adjusting your lens to the adapter so that it’s right-side-up when mounted is basically mandatory and can be done painlessly with a small Allen wrench.
Build Quality
The good news is, this is a fabulously made lens. It has all the heft and density of a Soviet-era hunk of solid metal and glass, which is precisely what you want from a vintage-inspired lens. The focus ring movement is smooth and confident, the focus throw is reasonable, the markings jump off the barrel, and overall, it’s a beautiful piece of gear. It’s fun to just set it to f/1.5 and peer down into it while on a desk…it seems to be impossibly wide and deep for such a little lens. The aperture detents feel assured and have a lovely little click with each. The lens comes with a metal screw on back cap and thin metal screw on lens cap that uses the filter thread. A hood would be welcome when wanting to prevent the flare that these optics are known for, but I have not yet sourced one.
Image Quality
If there is a single asterisk for this review, image quality would be it…you should know what you’re getting into when you buy this lens.
f/1.5: A smeary mess wide open, as if Vaseline has been smeared all over the front element. Nothing seems to actually be in focus, the bokeh is somehow buttery and jittery at the same time. I tested f1.5 long enough to know it’s not an aperture I will use often. It will be for dreamscape portraits ONLY.
f/1.7: The sweet spot for “character” shots. Focus is starting to tighten up (we can at least objectively say SOMETHING is in focus) and the background still retains that Helios-like swirl in spades. Flares are a little less prominent and contrast improves significantly over wide open.
f/2 to f/4: A middle zone of not great sharpness and not great defining character. Not sure I’d use this zone much to be honest.
f/4.5 to f/5.6: Things are getting much cleaner! Usable for “normal” type shots now.
Jump to f/8 and things are SHARP. Bokeh is looking respectable, and overall sharpness through the frame makes this seem like a completely different lens than the one we tested wide open.
Video samples
I have compiled a video of shots and footage all shot at f/1.7 as an example here:
A gallery of samples is below and are a mix of shots from the Nikon ZF, Nikon Z9, and GFX 100S with Kent Faith adapters. I hope you enjoyed reading this! If you found this helpful, please consider buying me a coffee so I can fuel up and continue to bring you more content like this. Thanks and take care!
