According provided by AstrHori 85mm F2.8 Macro lens (R 85/2.8 TS TILT) many thanks to the company AstrHori.
AstrHori 85mm F2.8 Macro TILT. increase.
Navigation
- In short
- Main Specifications
- Assembly
- Focusing
- Image quality
- Sample photos (Full Frame + APS-C)
- My experience
- Price
- Video review
- Results
- User Comments
- Add your review or question on the lens
Please note that the AstrHori 85mm F2.8 Macro lens is available in different mounts. This review shows the AstrHori 85mm F2.8 Macro version for mirrorless cameras Sony E / FE. At the same time, the AstrHori 85mm F2.8 Macro is also available with mounts Fujifilm x, Canon RF, Nikon Z, Leica l.
In this review, the AstrHori 85mm F2.8 Macro lens (TS TILT R 85/2.8) I will call it AstrHori 85/2.8 Macro for short.
AstrHori 85mm F2.8 Macro TILT
In short
AstrHori 85/2.8 Macro is a modern macro lens for full-frame mirrorless cameras with the ability to tilt and rotate the optical axis. It is possible to shoot with a maximum magnification of 1:1. It has good image quality. Unique of its kind (there are a few macro lenses that allow you to tilt/rotate the optical axis for mirrorless full-frame cameras).
Very important: AstrHori 85/2.8 Macro on full-frame cameras can only work as a regular macro lens. When using tilt at any focusing distance, at any aperture value and at any rotation, irreparable vignetting always appears. As the focusing distance decreases, vignetting decreases.
Very important: It is advisable to use optical axis tilt only on cameras with an APS-C sensor (or in APS-C mode).
AstrHori 85/2.8 Macro is very good at short focusing distances. AstrHori 85/2.8 Macro has very tight focus and aperture rings, which interferes with comfortable work.
The tilt of the optical axis is very useful for shooting in macro mode; it helps to significantly increase the depth of field without changing the shooting point:
DOF without axis tilt (normal mode) and with optical axis tilt
Also, by tilting the optical axis, you can perform various creative manipulations with the depth of field, creating, for example, the effect of a toy world or a miniature effect.
Useful:
AstrHori 85mm F2.8 Macro TILT
Main technical characteristics of AstrHori 85mm F2.8 Macro (R 85/2.8)
| Review Instance Name | Near the front lens: R ⌀55 mm 85/2.8
Mount side: E-Mount + serial number On body: AstrHori 85mm F2.8 Macro |
| Basic properties |
|
| Front Filter Diameter | 55 mm for lens hood |
| Focal length | 85 mm |
| Zoom ratio | 1 X (this is a fixed lens, it does not have a zoom) |
| Designed by | Option from the review for full-frame mirrorless cameras Sony E.
This lens exists with mounts: |
| Number of aperture blades | 12 rounded petals |
| Tags |
|
| Diaphragm | f / 2.8 to f / 16, controlled by aperture control ring. There are labels for F / 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16. The ring rotates without clicks, smoothly. Any intermediate value can be set. |
| MDF | 0.25 meters, maximum magnification ratio 1:1
working distance about 11 centimeters |
| The weight |
|
| Optical design | 11 elements in 8 groups, the scheme includes 1 HRI element and 2 ED elements.
|
| Lens hood | Bayonet type. Not included in delivery. |
| Manufacturer country | Made in China (there is no data on the country of manufacture on the lens itself) |
| Period | Announced summer 2023 |
| Price |
Often such lenses are used not only for macro photography, but also for a variety of creative photography. Unfortunately, convenient portrait photography with the AstrHori 85/2.8 Macro is difficult due to the tight focusing ring and its small pitch at the corresponding focusing distances.
AstrHori 85mm F2.8 Macro TILT
Assembly
AstrHori 85/2.8 Macro is very well built. The lens has bayonet mount metal and the lens body itself is completely made of metal. The markings on the lens are engraved and filled with paint.
The tilt mechanism has a lock. The tilt mechanism clicks in the zero position.
UPDATED: over time, the retainer cap broke (photo1, Photo 2).
The rotation mechanism also has a lock, which is very inconvenient and does not fix the rotation angle well. There are also faint clicks when turning.
It's important: AstrHori 85/2.8 Macro cannot be installed on Sony cameras a3000 и a3500. The lens rests with a rotation lock against the 'beak' of the built-in flash.
The weight of the AstrHori 85/2.8 Macro lens itself is just over 700 grams. The lens feels like a premium lens in your hands.
The diaphragm consists of 12 petals and forms a round hole at any value; in photographs in the blur zone, fairly round discs of blur are obtained. The diaphragm can only be controlled manually using a special ring. The aperture ring rotates smoothly, no clicks and fixed values, you can set any intermediate value in the range F/2.8-F/16, which is very useful when shooting video. The aperture control ring is located on the front of the lens, which is very convenient.
It's important: The focus and aperture control rings are very tight and difficult to rotate. The rings are metal, ribbed, and do not have rubberized inserts.
AstrHori 85mm F2.8 Macro TILT
Focusing
AstrHori 85/2.8 Macro can use manual focus only.
The focusing ring is very wide, metal, with small diamond ribs and notches. The ring only rotates 120 degrees. Focusing is smooth, but very tight and uncomfortable.
The focusing ring is poorly 'stretched' in the range from half a meter to infinity, which is why it is extremely inconvenient to focus in this range of distances. The slightest touch of the focusing ring in this range will noticeably change the focusing accuracy.
AstrHori 85/2.8 Macro uses internal focusing.
On the ring there is a scale with a focusing distance in meters and feet, a depth of field scale and a scale with a magnification factor.
The minimum focusing distance is 25 cm and the maximum magnification ratio is 1: 1. The working distance when shooting at 1: 1 magnification is about 11 cm (distance from the front of the lens to the subject).
The 'Focus Breathing' effect (changing the viewing angle while focusing) is weakly expressed, which is very good and very important for macro lenses.
Focus Shift (shift focus, changing the focus distance due to iris) is missing.
The AstrHori 85/2.8 Macro focusing ring has a huge infinity span.
Important: focus peaking with AstrHori 85/2.8 Macro on camera sony a7 III works good.
AstrHori 85mm F2.8 Macro TILT
Image quality
The AstrHori 85/2.8 Macro cannot be completely considered a full-frame lens. If we consider it as a regular macro lens, then it has high optical performance and works wonderfully on cameras with a full-frame sensor (Full Frame). First of all, the AstrHori 85/2.8 Macro shows high resolution at short focusing distances across the entire field of the frame. At long focusing distances, the lens suffers from excessive chromatic and even spherical aberrations (example), but vignetting at F/2.8 is low.
With maximum tilt and horizontal orientation on MDF, you can barely put up with vignetting (example on f / 5.6).
If the AstrHori 85/2.8 Macro is considered as a tilt lens, then on full-frame cameras it creates absolutely dark edges and corners on one side of the frame at the maximum tilt of the optical axis (example). The manufacturer itself recommends using tilt only on cameras with an APS-C sensor. But still, on cameras with an APS-C sensor, the tilt function (TILT) gives noticeable vignetting when shooting at medium and long focusing distances.
In any case, the lens creates pleasant bokeh, behaves well in backlight and side light, and has almost zero distortion.
AstrHori 85mm F2.8 Macro TILT
Examples of photos on Full Frame (Sony a7m3)
Camera used sony a7 III (24 MP Full Frame Exmor R BSI CMOS sensor). All photos in this review are shown without processing, according to the principles ZEROJPEG. The standard snapshot management method is unchanged (0,0,0). It's important: the manufacturer does not recommend shooting the way I did (with maximum tilt on a full-frame camera).
Original photos c sony a7 III in JPEG format you can view / download this link (60+ files, Google Drive gallery).
Sample photos on APS-C (Sony NEX F3)
Photos for this review helped me prepare Anna Anuttara. All photos in the review are shown without processing. The camera used was a Sony NEX F3 (16 MP Sony Exmor APS-C HD CMOS sensor). All photos in this review are shown without processing, according to the principles ZEROJPEG.
Source photos from Sony NEX F3 in JPEG format can be view / download this link (40+ files, Google Drive gallery).
UPDATED: materials shot with AstrHori 85mm F2.8 Macro TILT and sony fx30 shared by Alexander Cooper. You can see here (Google Drive Gallery).
AstrHori 85mm F2.8 Macro TILT
My experience
A very interesting, unusual, strange lens. There are few alternatives, only the new one comes to mind TTArtisan 100/2.8 Macro 2x Tilt-Shift, as well as old mirror solutions:
- Nikon N PC-E Micro Nikkor 45mm 1: 2.8D ED
- Nikon PC Micro Nikkor 85mm 1:2.8D
- Nikon N PC-E Micro Nikkor 85mm 1: 2.8D
- CANON LENS TS-E 50mm 1:2.8 L MACRO
- CANON LENS TS-E 90mm 1:2.8 L MACRO
- CANON LENS TS-E 135mm 1:4 L MACRO
- Fujifilm FUJINON GF LENS 110mm 1:5.6 T/S MACRO
AstrHori 85mm F2.8 Macro TILT
Price
AstrHori 85/2.8 Macro is in the area 320 dollars. The easiest way to find is AstrHori 85/2.8 Macro from the official seller of AstrHori on Aliexpress at this link.
AstrHori 85mm F2.8 Macro TILT
Appearance
Video review
Results
AstrHori 85/2.8 Macro is a very unusual and controversial lens, with many strengths and weaknesses. But the budget TILT MACRO is very interesting.
10 main advantages
- a rare combination in the lens of simultaneous tilting of the optical axis (TILT) and 1:1 macro photography (MACRO)
- very high quality assembly (highest level of workmanship)
- there is a scale of depth of field, focusing distance and magnification
- twelve aperture blades that always give a rounded opening
- the aperture ring rotates smoothly, without intermediate values (useful for video)
- tilt 8 degrees down/up + the ability to rotate the lens 360 degrees around its axis
- ability to shoot 1:1
- internal focus
- Tight focus and aperture control rings prevent accidental changes in shooting parameters (useful for studio work)
- very high resolution at close focusing distances
10 main disadvantages
- big weight
- very inconvenient rotation lock + unreliable rotation lock
- very tight focus ring + very tight aperture control ring. The rings are so tight that they can rotate the lens around its axis, especially when the axis rotation lock is poorly secured). Perhaps the problem is exclusively with my copy from the review; other users do not complain about similar behavior
- small pitch of the focus ring, it is very difficult to focus at medium and long focusing distances (portrait and landscape photography turn into torture). Great 'infinity flight'
- After a certain period of use, the tilt lock broke
- There is no bayonet hood included in the package and its type/marking is unknown
- The lens cannot be installed on Sony cameras a3000 и a3500 (engineering mistake)
- the aperture closes only to F/16 (usually macro lenses close to F/22-F/32)
- on full-frame cameras, the tilt function (TILT) at maximum tilt always produces dark edges on one side of the frame
- poor optimization of the lens for working at long focusing distances (excessive chromatic aberration and mediocre resolution at F/2.8)
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Material prepared Arkady Shapoval. Training/Consultations | Youtube | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Telegram
Vega-12B + tilt adapter + macro ring. It’s 2 times cheaper that vikoristannya on a full frame without boundaries.
Yes, medium formats are the best for TILTA
Or maybe it would be better to have a good tripod with the ability to place the digital control unit not only on top of the tripod on a rotating head, as usual, but also to mount the digital digital control unit at the bottom of the tripod, or even with a slide for moving the digital digital control unit?
There will be a different shooting angle, sometimes it is very difficult to replace TILT
What does this have to do with a tripod?
Tilt gives an inclination of the frame plane relative to the sensor plane.
A tripod is simply a way to hold the camera in place.
Excellent solution with a minimum aperture of 16,0. This does not apply to the surface of the mechanical diaphragm.
I’ll still write my stupid comment, which I’ve been wanting to write for a long time and forgot.
The Chinese have already made the second strange tilt-shift. The first was tArtisan 50 1.4, now this is a macro lens. The first one, at least full-frame, was without reservations, if memory serves, but what’s wrong with this miracle? The optical design in appearance should allow at least 44x33 to be covered, but the mechanics were designed either by idiots or jokers - you don’t need to be Einstein to understand that with such a movement to shift and tilt the axis, the rear lens will be blocked by the guts of the lens and a vignette will appear!
The lens is simply not needed at all. Because the same Chinese make a tilt-shift adapter for $100-150, which can be used without problems with the same crop, and you can even literally cut the adapter to a full frame and work with absolutely any lenses as with tilt-shift lenses, moreover, having both a shift option and an option to tilt the optical axis. If you buy some Micro Nikkor 60 2.8 D on the secondary market and take a TS adapter, then, most likely, you can completely cover the range of tasks that the lens from the review solves. And there are also MacroPlanars 100/2 and 100/2.8...
Summary: AstrHori 85/2.8 is a poorly designed toy that is unable to perform its intended functions. And if you really want to play with tilt, but not with the help of toilet corrugation and helios, then it is better to take a tilt-shift adapter, which is useful in macro/subject matter, and in toy landscapes, and in portraits.
Rodion, with all due respect, write about what you held in your hands.
Speculation is not a very reliable thing.
Take a couple of these adapters and play around.
I took it, played around, and ended up renting Canons as needed.
Pusho is shit.
The screws are either wedged or loose, the fixation is either wedged or loose, the bayonet is either wedged or loose...
To set an intermediate angle is a stupid cry, or maximum, or nonsense.
The material is incomprehensible, one screw broke after a couple of runs - good, an analogue was found, but do you know how the Ketais like to sculpt proprietary threads?
Everything takes time.
You don’t remember the kit legs from 20 years ago, but I remember – flimsy, shaky crafts, with crooked legs, burrs on the fasteners and screws falling out.
Since then they have learned, yes, but for the format I will always take gitza, it’s stupidly more convenient - well, that’s how it worked out.
M.b., and they will learn how to do tilts, in a few years.
For now, it’s a fuss.
Oh yes, one more question:
What the hell are you going to put on it?
For old mirror accordions of full manuals with really good macro - 1:1, with a suitable resolution - hell yes.
Are the Zeiss old? Yes, I wouldn’t say that technically they are at the level of their current analogues.
All sorts of Olympus takumars are entirely 1:2, and the resolution is not very good.
Today's Chinese? So, taking into account their price and the price of the adapter, it turns out that some TS-E 90 thread on rings is quite interchangeable, only the Canon will be more convenient.
Well, it's not even funny. I have been using a Chinese tilt-shift adapter and an American shift adapter for more than a year now. They certainly have their drawbacks, and the screws on the American one broke, which caused a lot of trouble. However, there are reviews about both adapters on this site)))) What can be installed on them, etc. - see for yourself. Specifically, there are a lot of options when it comes to macro milking. Your verbiage, including about the price of MP-E, you are, of course, far from the truth.
You didn’t even read what I wrote, you immediately started being rude.
“I’ve had a Chinese tilt-shift adapter for over a year now” – seriously? Already the whole one?
And on this basis you make sweeping generalizations?
And you, of course, can tell which adapters it makes sense to order?
Brands? Sellers? Links?
Your experience does not confirm mine, alas.
It makes sense to play this lottery if you have nothing to do, but if there is a work need for progress, rent a TS-E and work.
Regarding the price: read what I wrote. Where did you see MR-E, I’m also interested.
“Fabulously a lot” - well, in general, yes, that’s exactly what is “fabulous” :)))
Can you list “a lot”, at least approximate?
You're surprised. Do the Chinese even have a lot of tilt-shift adapters? A couple of versions with SF on the mirror, a couple of versions of tilt-shift with FF DSLRs on the BZK (it is assumed that on the crop BZK). Actually, you talked about a “pair of adapters” - I literally have a “pair”, with adjustments.
Your experience is your experience. For some reason, you don’t provide specific links and brands when you talk about problematic adapters. Both of my adapters (I repeat: their brands and exact names are given in the reviews) have no problems with assembly, except, perhaps, for the rather weak screws mentioned (and even then, the adapter broke due to an accidental side impact, by the way, and not under the weight of the lens). It is not clear what your need was, what problems needed to be solved. That a well-designed specialized solution represented by TS-E will be better for the tasks for which it was designed is obvious. However, if this solution is illiterate, like this lens from the review, the adapter will be a much more interesting purchase, because there is a considerable range of optics that can easily work with the adapter, especially in the macro range: let’s take at least the entire range of f/u optics Nikon, Rodenstock, Schneider. Or a homeless version: Vega-11U, oddly enough. And if we consider reverse fit, schemes like a microscope with an endless tube - there are generally a lot of options, at least 1:1, or even larger.
And yes, I misspelled it, TS-E. And one way or another they will be much more expensive than the adapter. And there are a lot of inexpensive lenses for an object adapter, see above. Yes, any TS-E is more convenient than an adapter with a non-specialized lens, and it’s unlikely that a pro will fool around with an adapter without any special need. But you can put anything on the adapter, and that’s its point. In terms of creative possibilities, the adapter gives a lot of room for experimentation.