[Root]

What this decision comes down to is what type of portraits your looking to take. If your thinking of an outdoor portrait lens and want to have an extremely shallow DOF, go for the Rokinon. The large, dampened focus ring and a bright viewfinder makes manual focus fairly easy and consistent after a little bit of practice. However, if your thinking of mostly shooting indoors you may find 85mm on a cropped sensor to be too long for most spaces unless your going for just head and shoulder shots.


On the other hand, if your looking to shoot mostly inside or to take environmental portraits you would probably be better off with the shorter 50mm.


If your OK with manual focus and on a tight budget, I'd seriously consider buying both a Rokinon 85mm f/1.4 and a Pentax-M 50mm f/1.7. Both are inexpensive and provide great image quality for the price.


As far as the focus confirmation goes, the indicator does help. But I've noticed that when shooting at an extremely shallow DOF such as f/1.4 or even f/1.7 there is a small amount of wiggle room where my K-X said that I was in focus. So I'd say to achieve correct focus wide open it takes using your eye as well. As boriscleto mentioned the catch-in-focus is another option, but I never used it much because it only works when the subject is in the center of your composition.

[ClinchShots]

I love my pentax 50mm f1.4 and I think this lens deserves some mention as well

On my K30 it's incredibly sharp, fast, bright, and versatile

[stevebrot]

I find it interesting that people are saying the 50 is more versatile. Given that he's getting the 35 2.4, a 15mm difference isn't really much more versatile than the 35, you'd get a lot more with the 85. But as some have eluded to, focusing by hand on APS-c can be a challenge.

I own all three focal lengths in K-mount (or adaptable to such) and none of my 50s will do what the 35 will do and the 35 is hard-put to do what the 50s will do. The difference is working distance and the effect that has on perspective. (After all, working distance pretty much equals perspective, eh?). My 85 is a little cumbersome for portraiture, though I have used it for such. The required working distance is a bit of a pain.


Steve

[stevebrot]

what about the sigma 50mm f/2.8 DG EX ?

I own this lens and use it mostly for macro and close-up work and almost always using manual focus. My general comments regarding the focal length and manual focus still hold, though I would caution that it is not a petite lens and like most shorter macro lenses working distance is very tight at higher magnifications.


Steve

[stevebrot]

can't i use the light indicators in the viewfinder for the focus confirmation??

You can, though the precision of the AF system may not be adequate at wider apertures. This is one of the dirty secrets of AF that it is hard to do critical focus with longer/faster lenses. I have the FA 77/1.8 Limited and seldom shoot with it wide open using AF. Ditto for my manual focus 85mm using focus confirm.


Steve

[sterretje]

So ... now the only thing that is keeping me from buying the samyang 85mm is the "manual focus" .... is there a solution for this problem?? ... can't i use the light indicators in the viewfinder for the focus confirmation??

• I personally use a mix of the focus indicators and what looks sharp in the VF on my K5 and try to let depth-of-field compensate for my focusing mistakes.
  Be aware that the green hexagon covers a little range meaning that when the camera thinks focus is achieved, you can still turn the focus ring on the lens a little without loosing focus (according to the camera).
  For portraits where one often wants a shallow DOF, letting deeper DOF compensate for focusing errors does not not work (for me).
• You can buy a 3rd party split prism screen (Katzeye, jinfinance and others) or a so called EE screen (search the forum) that will assist in manual focusing. I use this in a K100D. Those might require shimming (calibration); mine did in both a K100D and a K10D.

[cali92rs]

I have the Samyang (Rokinon) 85mm. It is very sharp in the center wide open and has wonderful bokeh. My only complaint is that it has a long minimum focus distance, which can really limit its usability indoors. I have also a Pentax-M 50mm f1.4 and it it is much more useful for me indoorsn

[lguckert79]

Have you given any thought to the sigma 50mm f1.4 from what I hear it is a good lens and only costs 350usd

[Billy Joe]

Am planning on buying two new lenses for my K-5, the smc 35mm f/2.4 AL in addition to the Samyang 85mm f/1.4 or the smc 50mm f/1.8.

Which one do you recommend?

P.S. I know that the samyang 85mm is fully manual lens.

Since you are getting the 35... I would go for the Samyang... It is an A lens so you can control aperture with the dial... I just bought the Rokinon version for $249 US and I am having fun with it...

If you have LiveView on your DSLR it will be should be no problem focusing IMHO... I have the K01 and it rocks. these are my first test shots with the 85 1.4

The first 4 are wide open f1.4 and the other two are stopped down.

[cali92rs]

Since you are getting the 35... I would go for the Samyang... It is an A lens so you can control aperture with the dial... I just bought the Rokinon version for $249 US and I am having fun with it...

If you have LiveView on your DSLR it will be should be no problem focusing IMHO... I have the K01 and it rocks. these are my first test shots with the 85 1.4

The first 4 are wide open f1.4 and the other two are stopped down.

Do you mind me asking where you got it for that price??

[normhead]

Since you are getting the 35... I would go for the Samyang... It is an A lens so you can control aperture with the dial... I just bought the Rokinon version for $249 US and I am having fun with it...

If you have LiveView on your DSLR it will be should be no problem focusing IMHO... I have the K01 and it rocks. these are my first test shots with the 85 1.4

The first 4 are wide open f1.4 and the other two are stopped down.

The bokeh on those first 4 is very smooth, thanks for sharing. Now stop contributing to my LBA.

[Billy Joe]

Do you mind me asking where you got it for that price??

It was on Amazon for a few days... I see it is back up now. The samyang version is still at $269 ---
Amazon.com: Samyang SY85M-P 85mm F1.4 Lens for Pentax: SAMYANG: Camera & Photo

[makhzanji]

Since you are getting the 35... I would go for the Samyang... It is an A lens so you can control aperture with the dial... I just bought the Rokinon version for $249 US and I am having fun with it...

If you have LiveView on your DSLR it will be should be no problem focusing IMHO... I have the K01 and it rocks. these are my first test shots with the 85 1.4

The first 4 are wide open f1.4 and the other two are stopped down.

WOW ... nice samples ... unfortunately, i bought the Pentax smc 35mm & 50mm today. I might have changed my mind and bought the 85mm if seen your reply earlier. Now am going to save some money in order to buy the samyang as soon as possible. I just have a thing for this lens haha.

Thank you all for your responses....

[Billy Joe]

You will enjoy the 35 and 50 just fine... Have fun, and share some pics when you get them.

[ToyTank]

I did not see it mentioned, but the close focus of the samyang 85/1.4 is poor. Many quality macro lenses are in the 90-100mm range so you may want to plan covering that focal range with a macro lens since you've mentioned an interest. Get the 50 now and consider something like the Pentax 100/2.8 Macro or Tamron 90/2.8 Macro

I own the Tamy 90 and the Samyang 85. Only reason I bought the Samyang 85 was sale price was too good not to get it($220). F2.8 on I'd say the Tamron is better in every way

Edit: I'm a dumb ass and did not see second page of comments. I'm sure you'll like the 35 and 50, and you can look forward to that longer macro lens in the future. I think you've made a wise choice