| Author: | | Loyal Site Supporter Registered: October, 2016 Location: Euless Texas Posts: 268
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: December 17, 2020 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharp, Low light, easy to focus | | Cons: | no auto focus by design | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Camera Used: K-S2
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This was a Christmas gift from my wife last year. I really wanted a good low light lens and this is it. Manual focus is smooth and there is a long enough focus throw so that you can make small adjustments. Bokeh is sweet. The low light pictures have a nice magical quality to them. Although good wide open if it is stopped down a little the whole frame is wonderfully sharp.
 | | | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: July, 2007 Location: North West UK Posts: 390 | | Review Date: March 25, 2018 | Recommended | Price: $250.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Price, Sharp, control, did I mention Sharp? | | Cons: | Only manual focus, mimimum focus distance of only 1 metre. | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 8
Value: 10
Camera Used: K-1
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It is a ten, but only due to price to ability ratio.
Let me clarify, it it was the same price as the Sigma DG, then it would drop due to the lack of AF. But it is half the price!
But on the other hand, MF from F2.8 is fine, wider you really need to be steady.
Ability though is stunning! this is one superb lens. Yes the hood is a lower grade plastic, but it is the hood. Optics are more important
Contrast, colours and sharpness are amongst the best. You could almost say it is too sharp.
Downside, it only focuses to 1 metre. I was too close a little earlier today with a studio shoot. If it was down to 1.4 feet like most Pentax lenses, it would be fine.
Overall though, it is more than bang for the buck. It is not perfect, but price to ability ratio you cannot get better. Optically it is right up there with the best.
Recommend.
| | | | | Senior Member Registered: October, 2007 Location: Thach, Alabama Posts: 169 | | Review Date: February 28, 2016 | Recommended | Price: $349.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharp, Did I mention Sharp? Good build | | Cons: | Plastic lens shade is cheap. | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: K10D, KX, K7
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The bag this lens comes in is way too small for the lens. I got the Vivitar series 1 version and other than the cheap weak plastic lens shade I would say Samyang knocked this one out of the park. Super nice manual lens for portraits or a walkabout. Very very nice bokeh. A little long on an ASP-C camera but I plan on using it for the K1 FF I have ordered. Should be excellent on it.
| | | | | Senior Member Registered: May, 2014 Location: Galway - Ireland Posts: 213
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: September 23, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $220.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharpness, IQ, build quality | | Cons: | light flare, purple fringing | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Camera Used: K-1, K-3
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WHO IS IT FOR ?
The 85mm is THE lens for portrait in my opinion. This one has an amazing aperture, with a great image quality for a very very low price.
HANDLING
Heavy glass, built like a tank. It is a great quality lens. The only 'cheap' thing about it is the hood. Maybe the focus ring is a bit hard.
FOCUSING
To focus with this lens is not that easy wide open. It is not a surprise but at 1.4 your depth of field is really tiny so beeing in focus is not easy. I used it mainly for portrait shooting in controlled conditions, I don't think it is usable in field conditions.
IMAGE QUALITY
>SHARPNESS
This lens is very sharp. The result is a bit soft at f/1.4, but starting at f/2 the sharpness is impressive. The overall image rendering is on a top level for portrait.
On FF : I am making an edit on this review to include FF feedback. On FF the sharpness is even better. At f/1.6 the results are already mindblowing. see additional pictures below.
>BOKEH
Bokehs are great and soft. Perfect for portrait.
>CHROMA ABERRATIONS
Not flawless wide open (purple fringing and axial), almost gone by f/2-f/2.8. It is normal for such a bokeh monster, the Nikon 85mm f/1.4G is even worse...
>FLARE
Against the sun, there is a lot of flare. In other conditions is it correct.
>COLOR RENDITION
Neutral ! Maybe slightly on the blue side.
>DISTORSION
Nothing to be noticed.
>VIGNETING
A little bit, still acceptable. Should be worse on FF sensor...
COMPARING TO SIMILAR LENSES
>85mm SMC f/1.8 Pentax
Not the same age and technology inside, but usually around the same price tag. The Pentax lens is really softer from f/1.8 to f/2.8. Starting at f/2.8 the image result is really good. The bokeh of the Pentax is slightly better but the Samyang is great too.
The Pentax has the advantage of focusing as close as 85cm while the Samyang is at 1m. It can be usefull !
Appart from this the Samyang provides cleaner results.
>85mm f/1.4G Nikon
I usually don't compare with non K mount lenses, but I tested the 85mm from Nikon during a shooting on a D3X. The Nikon has really more CA than the Samyang. The flare is maybe better controlled. Excepting the MF vs AF issue, both lenses are on the same level in my opinion.
CONCLUSION
If you love portrait, buy this lens you will really enjoy it (focus peaking and catch in focus options should help you with focusing, don't be afraid). For other applications (landscape, journalism...) it will not fit, but it is normal.
Edit : On FF, the lens field of view is natural for portraits and the lens just feels great together with the K-1. The combo delivers amazing results with great sharpness and details.
SAMPLE PICTURES
APSC
https://www.flickr.com/photos/134793426@N02/21030098414/in/album-72157656665255184/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/134793426@N02/21641166812/in/album-72157656665255184/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/134793426@N02/21030018694/in/album-72157656665255184/
https://500px.com/photo/120310689/sweet-lavander-by-tcognard?from=user_library (Bokeh testing)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/134793426@N02/21030266854/in/album-72157656665255184/ (Night shot testing)
FF
https://500px.com/photo/170959659/desperation-by-t-cognard?ctx_page=1&from=u...er_id=15710727 (f/1.6)
https://500px.com/photo/171764739/let-it-rain-by-t-cognard?ctx_page=1&from=u...er_id=15710727 (f/1.8)
https://500px.com/photo/170288157/on-the-coast-by-t-cognard?ctx_page=1&from=...er_id=15710727 (f/1.4)
| | | | | | | Senior Member Registered: July, 2009 Location: London Posts: 212 | | Review Date: August 2, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $300.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Excellent value for money | | Cons: | focus stiffer than I would like | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 8
Handling: 8
Value: 10
Camera Used: K-S2
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First a general comment, given the price, the build quality and performance are excellent. Now for the picky things. Weight, at 500g this is about right for this type of lens. The focus ring I did find a bit stiff, maybe the plastic engineering, not really sure, but I would have preferred that the be easier. Due to the aperture ring being recessed, made it a bit difficult to move when on the camera. The lens hood could have been petal as it has a non rotating front lens. Found the best technique for securing the lens hood on and off, was NOT to put my hand across the hood twist; this action just seemed to lock the hood in place. But to use a few fingers to grip both inside and outside of one portion of the hood and pull or push to go over the clip.
Can't say I found focusing difficult, the AF indicator showed when it was correct. Overall given the plastic engineering of the lens I was very impressed with Samyang. Taking this as example of their quality I would not hesitate to purchase another. This version of the 85mm had the A pin setting, thus allowing the use of Av and Tv modes other than M.
| | | | | Site Supporter Registered: March, 2014 Posts: 10 | | Review Date: July 20, 2014 | Recommended | Price: $199.99
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Gorgeous bokeh | | Cons: | I need to work to get better focus wide open, but it will definitely be worth it... from what I've seen. | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 8
Value: 10
Camera Used: Pentax K-30
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 [IMG]
I just recently bought this lens, in the Rokinon version, at a terrific price, primarily because I love smooth, creamy bokeh and had read so much about how this lens delivers at a small price compared to equivalent lenses. I've just started experimenting and know I need to work on focus, especially when the lens is wide open, but the grass in my backyard, which leaves a lot to be desired, was magically converted into a dreamy background, which is exactly what I was hoping for. I know my dog's face could have been in much better focus, but this is straight out of the camera and I'm new at this, so I look forward to improving my skill with this lens as I think it's just about perfect for what I was looking for, as a bokeh addict, at a decent price.
| | | | | New Member Registered: February, 2012 Posts: 2 | | Review Date: March 9, 2014 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Sharp Sharp Sharp!! Price | | Cons: | Nothing! | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: Pentax K5
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Fantastic lens! Super sharp from F2.8. Perfectly usable at F1.4.
I love it! It produces fantastic colours and it is really sharp. A great portrait lens for only £300. I sold the Pentax 70mm limited to get this. I don't regret it at all!!!
| | | | | Site Supporter Registered: November, 2010 Location: California Posts: 2,223
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: June 17, 2012 | Recommended | Price: $279.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Everything is wonderful about this lens | | Cons: | None (I am a MF guy) | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
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One image is worth 1,000 words (I have 15 more images that you can see in FLickr, just follow this link). Check my flickr account to compare why I have this lens.
Rokinon85-1.4@f-1.4-Bougainvillea1-1 by Palenquero, on Flickr
Rokinon85-1.4@f-1.4-HojasdeParra1-1 by Palenquero, on Flickr
| | | | | New Member Registered: February, 2012 Posts: 14
2 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: June 14, 2012 | Recommended | Price: $230.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Very sharp, Cheaper than other primes at its class, Very nice bokeh, Sharp at wide open | | Cons: | Heavy, Hard to nail subject due to very shallow depth of field, Hard (or its me) focusing ring, Lens cap cannot be placed without removing the hood | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 9
Value: 9
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Enjoyed so much using this lens. I find it hard to nail at first but when you get used to it, its magic in every shot. Nice color redention but sometimes the background tend to be too bright or over exposed. Not for sports type of lens. Best for portraits. Most of the time it will take 5-10 seconds to focus your subject. One thing I like with this lens, it gives you so much detail. Occasional CA/PF in wide open.
Here are my takes:
 | | | | | Veteran Member Registered: March, 2011 Location: Maryland (Right Outside Washington DC) Posts: 2,902
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: July 8, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $329.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Tack Sharp @ 1.6 and above, Outstanding IQ, Bokeh, Build Quality | | Cons: | None Really (Maybe Lens Hood) | |
There is two other threads rating this lens and referring to the samyang variants (bower, rokinon, etc..), I figured I would post my review here as I have the Vtar Series 1.
Starting rant in ... 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...
First, I see reviewers on the other two threads marking the lens as a negative for being manual focus and not auto - how on earth could these guys mark it as a negative when they bought it as a manual focus lens? Quite a bit silly if you ask me.
Second, a few marked it as a negative for being hard to focus because of the shallow depth of field, again - how on earth could these guys mark it as a negative when they bought a 1.4 max aperture lens? Again, Quite a bit silly if you ask me.
Ok, that is out of the way, now for my take on this lens.
Since I got this piece (almost 2 months ago) it has quickly jumped to the top as one of my main lenses. Everything about this piece has well exceeded what I had hoped for when I originally purchased it; outstanding image quality, super sharp from 1.6 and above, absolutely superb portrait softness at 1.4 for low light portrait work, fantastic build quality, looks and feels great (cosmetics of the Vivitar branded one is much more appealing than the others), and absolutely perfect focus ring tension (others call it tight, IMHO it is actually perfect). Here are a couple shots:
Indoor night shoot, Shot @ 1.8 using K-X
Outdoor, Shot @ 3.5 using K5
The only thing bad I can say about this piece thus far is the hood, very thin plastic - other than that, a phenomenal lens for it's price!
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| | | | | Inactive Account Registered: November, 2008 Location: Canada Posts: 188 | | Review Date: February 27, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $275.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | very sharp wide open | | Cons: | MF | |
As mentioned above - VERY sharp wide open. It does not have the dreamy look of FA50/1.4 wide open - it's just cleanly sharp!. The only trouble is hitting the focus point at razor thin DOF  . For this reason (and only for this reason), when not on tripod, I shoot it mostly at F2.5. Split image viewfinder highly recommended.
Very nice bokeh.
I can see how skilled photographer in a studio could do wonders with this piece of glass.
Unbelievable value at this price point  | | | | | Junior Member Registered: August, 2009 Location: Lexington, KY Posts: 30 | | Review Date: January 2, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $250.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Performance wide open, price, internal focus | | Cons: | No AF | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 9
Value: 10
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My copy is Opteka branded and came with a hood.
Image quality at f/1.4 is technically the best of any fast lens I've ever used wide open, with excellent sharpness and no serious defects. Amazing performance, especially for a lens selling new for around $250. Although stopping down improves sharpness somewhat, it only is class-leading up to about f/2.8, after which most competitors improve more dramatically and can slightly outresolve it.
Bokeh are exceptionally smooth, better than the cult classic SMC Takumar 50mm f/1.4 and approaching the Minolta/Sony STF. A simple, yet amazing, example (a corner of a white brick wall) is:
Manual (internal) focus is smooth and build solid compared to modern AF lenses, but both are markedly inferior to old manual focus lenses. This also is not a particularly close focusing lens. On extension tubes, it gives a pleasingly smooth transition from an extremely narrow focus band, but background bokeh are poorer than expected.
I really wish they made this in either T or M42 mount, or included electronics.
That said, I think the reviewers here complaining about how hard this is to focus have missed the point. This isn't a low-light-grab-a-shot lens; it was designed to give a tiny DOF, so of course focus is very touchy. If your focus screen isn't perfectly aligned, you'll miss every time with this lens. By far the easiest way to focus this is using the "focus peaking" on my NEX-5, which works reliably and quickly. If you don't have that, at least use a magnified live view or a 3rd-party focus screen with a split. You'll still miss on focus sometimes because of slight subject distance changes between when you focus and when the image is captured. This is the kind of lens for which trap focus was invented, so I'd strongly recommend that on Pentax bodies.
Overall, I don't know how anyone could rate this lens as optically less than 10. Mechanically, it's a 10 in terms of using internal focus, but more like an 8 in smoothness. That said, I don't find myself using this lens as much as I expected; it is a little long for informal portraits using APS-C and I hit the close focus limit too often. In a studio or formal portrait/fashion/wedding shoot, this lens would be perfect.
| | | | | Junior Member Registered: August, 2009 Location: Lexington, KY Posts: 30 | | Review Date: November 12, 2009 | Recommended | Price: $225.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Outstanding IQ at f/1.4, easy to focus | | Cons: | Dumb mount manual focus, closer focus would be nice | |
I have the Opteka-branded version (which differs from the other Samyang versions only in the text on the little nameplate).
After a couple of months trying to get a Takumar f/1.8 or f/1.9 85mm for a sane price and never seeing it go for less than $250, I decided to get this brand new lens for $225 (including shipping, using a discount coupon). Wow!
This lens was designed for use wide open, and IQ is spectacular at f/1.4 -- this is easily THE BEST wide-open f/1.4 performance I've ever seen. Sharpness wide open and general lack of artifacts is 10/10. Stopped down, it's nothing special... but I have other lenses that are easier to use when f/3.5 or higher will suffice.
Manual focusing is fairly easy with this lens, and the weight of the lens, internal focus, and feel of the focus ring all give a very positive impression of the construction quality... although the feel certainly will not be mistaken for that of an old Takumar. The lens shade is the usual piece of functional, but unimpressive, plastic; actually, the front element is recessed enough so that the shade is more like an extension, and hence the removable part is a bit shorter than one might expect.
I happen to have the Sony mount version, and the bad news there is that it is a completely dumb mechanical mount: not even enough electronics for the camera to realize a lens is mounted. I knew this before buying it, and I figured I would eventually spend $40 to glue a chip on the back, but now I'm not so sure I need to.... More about this issue and some samples after I've had time to play with it.
Ok, I've had enough time. I spent $20 on a double split + microprism surround focus screen instead... money very well spent! This is truly a great lens. The only downside is that I've slowly realized I usually care more about close focus than aperture, and this doesn't get close enough. I think the real potential for this lens is on full-frame sensors, where it is a virtually perfect portrait lens; however, I'm shooting APS-C these days.  | | | | | New Member Registered: November, 2018 Posts: 1
3 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: December 24, 2018 | Recommended | Price: $200.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharpness; price | | Cons: | weight; heavy focus ring; soft at f1.4 | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 8
Value: 10
Camera Used: K-70
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Everything as professional and customer reviews said, I have no regret buying this lens! Sharp across the whole field. Image is soft at f1.4 but improves from f2.0 and achieves maximum sharpness at f3.5. Minimal CA only in high contrast situation. Focus ring is a bit heavy.
The most amazing thing I discover it that it works with my Pentax AF 1.7X teleconverter perfectly! The lens have "A" setting on the aperture ring which works with the TC and camera - I can control aperture in Av mode. AF works flawlessly - with this autofocus teleconverter, you need to roughly pre-focus manually before letting the autofocus function of the teleconverter determine the precise focus. This works better in longer distances (> 10 ft) because you practically don't need to do fine adjustments after you set the manual focus to close to (but not at) infinity. The TC does not degrade image quality, and you get a maximum aperture of f2.8. Image quality improves from f3.2 and achieves best result from f5.0. With this 1.7X TC, I get 145mm focal length (or 217mm in FF), at f2.8 (3.5 for useful images). The coolest thing is that the TC converts the manual lens to an AF lens.
| | | | | Site Supporter Registered: September, 2015 Location: Berlin Posts: 128 | | Review Date: August 28, 2018 | Recommended | Price: $180.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | sharpness, F1.4, IQ | | Cons: | no autofocus | |
I have the 16mm, the 35mm and the 135mm also and this one I take it with me if the 135mm is to heavy for me.
It is a nice Portrait tele lens with Incredible bokeh. For no autofocus ist easy to use if you have some experience with Manual Focus.
Autofocus will be nice to have but its not a must have.
I really like the sharpness and the Image-Quality. I often use it for Portrait Shootings of Children (of my Family) on the playground.
If I have to decide which one is better the 135mm or the 85mm I would not think About that Long...it will be the 135mm F2.
BUT: If you Need a lightweight lens to low light Portrait I would recommend this lens.
If you just take one Portrait lens with you it must be the 135mm F2
So thats why I can not give it a 10, its even just a 9....a good 9
Greetings,
Milka
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