[vizjerei]

When you read something stupid like this it makes me wonder if reading a review is worth the effort. Another serious shortcoming: Turning the focus ring can also cause the viewfinder to get blurry!

I have to go there to read that every morning to brighten my day

[elkarrde]

They apparently skipped that last one too — there's a review of the Canon version just up on photozone.de, and it notes that turning the aperture dial actually darkens the viewfinder.

yes, that's because canon, sony and olympus mounts require digital connection between the lens and the camera - lens aperture is activated without any mechanical links, it's triggered by digital signal. so, without electronics of any kind, lenses in EF, FT and MA mounts cannot have aperture automation.
on the other hand, nikon F and pentax K mounts have mechanically linked aperture lever - no problems with lens automation whatsoever.

as far as i know (somebody on this forum have Polar-branded 85/1.4 lens), samyang lenses are KA lenses - like pentax-A, Voigtländer K-mount, and Carl Zeiss ZK lenses.

[Ben_Edict]

Samyang 14 mm f/2.8 IF ED MC Aspherical - sample shots - Lenstip.com

The example photos show a very poor performance at f/2.8 with an improvement in center sharpness at f/4 and acceptable performance at f/8 - that's at least my opinion. The borders and especially the corners are never really sharp. At f/8 the old Sigma 10-20 performs noticeably better.

Ben

[cousinsane]

Seems to me the sharpness is quite decent even wide open. Keep in mind that they are testing this lens on a 24MP camera. So pixel level sharpness might not be as good as that on a 14MP camera.

The geometric distortion looks pretty severe to me. I'm not saying that it's more than on other equivalent lenses since I haven't used any, but that looks unusable in my eyes. Of course it's the equivalent of less than 10 mm on APS-C.

[Alfisti]

What struck me is the BEATING those 24mp files can take, considering they are jpg's ... i mean wow.

I re-scaled to 14*10 and sharpened .... and sharpened ... and sharpened ... jebus i was at redius of 1 and smart sharpen 200 and still no artifacts.

YIKES!

[asdf]

When you read something stupid like this it makes me wonder if reading a review is worth the effort.

Not everybody who uses the Canon system is aware of how stone age lenses function on their cameras. The Canon mount is 100% electronic with no mechanical couplings and the Canon mount Samyang has no couplings whatsoever. So the photozone reviewer is pointing out something that may not be obvious to every reader.

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Last edited by asdf; 02-06-2010 at 03:20 AM.

[asdf]

Do you think this site can use wide-angle lenses in right way?
It's funny. They don't know simple rules how to use 14 mm lens.

Well, to be fair, judging by a photo in your gallery, you don't know that usually in landscape photography, you want to keep the horizon level.

[Laurentiu Cristofor]

Pro-Optic now has announced a fisheye (manual focus only) for 289.95 $US, available exclusively through Adorama. Source: Shutterbug, March 2010, page 34.

I've seen that ad disguised as an informative article too. That lens has been available for months under brands like Bower, Phoenix, Vivitar, Rokinon, and I think even Pro-Optic.

The example photos show a very poor performance at f/2.8 with an improvement in center sharpness at f/4 and acceptable performance at f/8 - that's at least my opinion. The borders and especially the corners are never really sharp. At f/8 the old Sigma 10-20 performs noticeably better.

The lenstip review came last year and used the prototype version of the lens. Probably due to those results, the lens went back to the drawing board and changes were made (mentioned in the news release on dpreview). The new model appears to have improved border resolution and also better resistance to flare due to new coatings - we need to see a new set of sample shots for it - there will probably be a new review on lenstip.

[GoremanX]

I've seen that ad disguised as an informative article too. That lens has been available for months under brands like Bower, Phoenix, Vivitar, Rokinon, and I think even Pro-Optic.

Ironically (and to keep the thread on topic), that's a Samyang lens too. They manufacture that fisheye lens for a lot of companies, and it's been around for a long time. It's also a well-loved lens for the price.

[GoremanX]

The example photos show a very poor performance at f/2.8 with an improvement in center sharpness at f/4 and acceptable performance at f/8 - that's at least my opinion. The borders and especially the corners are never really sharp. At f/8 the old Sigma 10-20 performs noticeably better.

Shocking, that... a more expensive lens getting better optical results.

I bet we see that Samyang 14mm at a street price of $249 or less from different companies very soon (ie. Bower, Vivitar, Rokinon, etc.)

[Ben_Edict]

Shocking, that... a more expensive lens getting better optical results.

I bet we see that Samyang 14mm at a street price of $249 or less from different companies very soon (ie. Bower, Vivitar, Rokinon, etc.)

You miss the point: the Samyang is a prime lens, the Sigma a complex zoom with a much wider FOV at the short end. So it is really a surprise that it perfroms better than the Samyang, as the Sigma is cheap for such a zoom.

Ben

[Steve Beswick]

AF isn't really necessary when you get that wide IMO.

No kidding. I read a forum thread somewhere else where someone was complaining that the Samyang 8mm was manual focus. I thought to myself "they bothered putting a focus mechanism in that thing?"

[attack11]

af is far more useful than mf in a wide angle, tiny dof is not awesome on a tiny vf.

[GoremanX]

af is far more useful than mf in a wide angle, tiny dof is not awesome on a tiny vf.

erm... I think you may have things mixed up a bit there. Wide angle lenses have a huge depth of field. The wider the lens, the deeper the field of focus. A 14mm lens has a huge depth of field, even wide open. Focusing becomes almost a non-issue. That's why manual focus on this lens isn't a drawback at all.

Telephoto lenses have a narrow depth of field, when keeping the distance from subject constant.