Samyang 16mm F2 ED AS UMC CS

Construction and Handling

The Samyang 16mm F2.0 holds its own in terms of build quality. It is an incredibly solid piece of glass to hold and has every mark of precision machining and design with intent. For the price, this lens is of excellent workmanship.

77mm filter attachment and front element

The smooth, well-dampened focusing ring offers the perfect amount of roll resistance for focusing in many different situations. Changing focus works well in live-view mode, and in viewfinder as smooth as a Cadillac for fine tuning tripod taken photos.

Focusing ring detail

The plastic petal hood engages and disengages with a crisp snap, letting you know that it is securely in place. As far as stock lens caps go, Samyang’s is faintly hollow sounding to engage, but puts up to abuse as well any pinch style lens cap can.

 
Petal Hood and Front Element

The optics needed to provide this fast, sharp lens take up a bit of space. With petal hood installed, and the 77mm filter diameter, this lens is sure to elicit comments about its size in the field. It is not an obvious attention grabber like a fast telephoto would be, but its red mount ring and wide filter mount certainly grabs the eye.

 
Focusing Ring and Petal Hood Detail

Behind the front element, the focusing ring features a robust no-slip rubber grip that ensures a smooth rotation of the internal mechanices. The rubber ring is wide enough that it would be no issue to operate with heavy gloves on if you're facing inclimate weather.

Front element detail

The engineers at Samyang did a tremendous job on the build quality of this lens. Even after rigorous abuse, it shows no play in the focusing ring.

One would expect a lens of this speed to come with a little bit of heft to it, and this lens is no exception. Weighing in at just over 1lb 4oz (575 grams), it is built to outlast any camera body it could be paired with, and rightfully so with the beautiful images that its optics can produce.

The all metal lens mount is machined to tight tolerances and screws on seamlessly, ensuring a sturdy connection to the camera's frame. The rear element does not protrude from the lens body and moves slightly as the focusing ring is turned

Machined metal lens mount and rear element

Here is a comparative view to the Pentax 15mm Limited.

Pentax 15mm F4 Limited vs. Samyang 16mm F2 ED AS UMC CS

Size, Weight, and Handling

The build quality is much more robust than the 15mm limited, but at the expense of size and weight. The Pentax prime is half the length and a fraction of the weight. Both lens bodies are made of metal, with the biggest difference being the size and function of the focusing ring. The Samyang 16mm has a wider profile along its whole length, and it's large metal external focusing ring adds weight and ease of use as a manual focus lens. The 15mm Limited's focusing ring is lighter and retracted into the body of the lens, both things that help its autofocus performance. The photo below shows a comparative view of the two lenses with lens hoods engaged.

Pentax 15mm and Samyang 16mm with petal hoods extended

The K-mount iteration of the Samyang 16mm F2.0 weighs a hefty 575 grams compared to the 15mm Limited at 212 grams. Paired with a Pentax K-3, the lens makes the camera well balanced, but the duo could become tiresome to carry around if the slower 15mm Limited suits your needs.

Samyang 16mm on a Pentax K-3

The Samyang 16mm handles very well, and is easy to use for both freehand and tripod mounted photographs. The field of view that it offers is matched relatively well by the 15mm Limited, and for a lens that is two full stops faster, it's size is of negligible importance. A K-3 body mounted with a Samyang 16mm lens fits well into photopacks as well as standard sized shoulder slung bags.

Product Photos

Click on any thumbnail below to open a gallery and browse through images of the 16mm.

Verdict

In most all of the areas of construction and handling, this lens excels. It feels like a premium lens, but comes with a budget pricetag. Pentax lenses are known for being small when judged against comprabable offerings from other manufacturers. When compared to the 15mm Limited, the Samyang 16mm is noticeably heavier and more bulky, at nearly twice the weight and and twice volume. Another detractor is the plastic petal hood, which flexes noticeably when attached in the storage position.The petal hood could easily be broken, but our review was not long enough to see any notable damage done.