Originally posted by Zav I would be curious to know if it's the old Samyang in a new shell
I don't think so. Samyang had a 14mm f2.8, but it was 14mm (and possibly marketed as Vivitar 13mm at some point) and f2.8, so there are two differences immediately. And it only has 6 aperture blades. And no DoF scales are labelled on it.
The Samyang 16mm f2 is a APSC design, not FF.
And why would Samyang invent a new company name, Irix, when Samyang is currently enjoying a good reputation? I think Samyang is even slowly phasing out all the many rebadges (Vivitar, Rokinon, Bower, ProOptic, Falcon, etc.) because it is doing so well on its own.
But it is possible that there is some connection, I guess. Maybe some suppliers, factories for Irix will be the same ones that Samyang has. Its not that uncommon for lens designs and production has some "cooperation" between different brands