| Latest Review Posted | Samyang 24mm F3.5 ED AS UMC Tilt/Shift
I give this lens a high overall rating and high value rating because it is the only wide-angle tilt/shift lens available for K-mount, it is about half the price of comparable Nikon and Canon offerings, and it is a good performer if you work within its limitations. I have long wanted a tilt/shift lens, so when the street price on this model dropped below USD1000 I bought one immediately.
First, some functional limitations. The flash/prism hump on some Pentax bodies interferes with the lens movements. On the K10D upward shift is limited. No issues with the K-5. The lens is of course completely manual; it is not practical to have an aperture coupling or actuator on a lens that tilts and shifts away from the lens mount axis. However, as a pre-set lens you can use it in Av mode, and of course you can also meter with the Green Button. Note that if the lens is shifted this will affect metering accuracy. Unfortunately, on an aperture-coupled manual body (e.g. Pentax MX, KX) the Rokinon's mount is not designed correctly to allow metering. This design defect means that these older bodies are tricked into thinking that the lens is fully stopped down, perhaps even beyond the smallest actual aperture of the lens (f/22). It would certainly be possible to modify the lens to restore correct behavior on these bodies—the slot on the lens mount where the aperture coupling would normally go just needs to be mostly closed off, as it is on fully manual K-mount extension tubes.
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