Video: Just how good is a $500 500mm prime lens?

Just how much do you have to spend to get into wildlife photography? Potentially not as much as you think, at least according to this quirky video from Olle Nilsson, who has been testing TTArtisan's recently announced 500mm f/6.3 lens.

The manual focus-only prime comes in Sony E Mount, Leica L Mount, Nikon Z Mount, and Canon RF Mount flavours, and will set you back just $329 USD ($510 AUD).

Surprisingly, and despite the low cost, the results Olle gets are actually quite good, and the lens has a vintage aesthetic (and a blatant rip-off of the Leica font) that gives it a certain rudimentary appeal. 

In the video above, Olle breaks down some of the positives and negatives of the cheap optic, and although you can probably already guess its not going to replace a modern autofocus enabled telephoto zoom lens, the results are definitely quite interesting.

You can see more of Olle's videos on his youTube channel. 

Cover image: TT Artisan