[shoplink 20647 ebay]
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Over a year passed without Olympus announcing any new Four Thirds lens. At least Samyang announced that nice 35mm f/1.4 manual focusing lens with 43-mount. There is a last minute surprise. Samyang added a red ring and an useful focusing scale to the lens. And they announced the final price which will be 389 Euro. All Samyang lenses for Olympus can be found on eBay only and under seven different brand names (Click on it to see all Four Thirds lenses from the specific brand!):
[shoplink 20647 ebay]Samyang [/shoplink]
[shoplink 20684 ebay]Walimex [/shoplink]
[shoplink 20649 ebay]Rokinon [/shoplink]
[shoplink 20650 ebay]Opteka [/shoplink]
[shoplink 20651 ebay]Falcon [/shoplink]
[shoplink 20653 ebay]Vivitar [/shoplink]
[shoplink 20652 ebay]Bower [/shoplink]
Unbelievable or not? đ
Click the link to read the press release:
“KrakĂłw, 4th of March 2011 r. â Delta company, the sole distributor of Samyang products for Europe proudly presents the final version of the long-waited for Samyang 35mm 1:1.4 AS UMC. Our new lens comes with utterly new design, with its distinguishing mark: a metallic red ring.
A new concept version of Samyang 35mm 1:1.4 AS UMC was officially introduced during Photokina 2010 fairs held in Cologne. Since then, we have carried out intensive works to improve optical qualities of theproduct and devise its unique and exceptional design. The conducted works have allowed us to bring you the final version of the lens. Due to your recommendations we decided to add the focusing scale and diminish the overall dimension of the product.
Samyang 35mm 1:1.4 AS UMC is an optically sophisticated 35mm f/1.4 wide-angle lens, which was designed for fullframe reflex camera. Nevertheless, it may be also used with APS-C/DX and Four Thirds cameras. The lensâs optical construction was based on two lenses made of the quality glass with high refraction factor, which made it possible to minimize its weight and dimensions. Moreover, we used an aspherical lens was to prevent the horizontal chromatic aberration. Owing to the high-quality, dense anti-reflexive layers, the lens produces stunningly high contrasts and perfectly reflects the natural colors. Samyang 35mm 1:1.4 AS UMC also takes advantage of the so called gliding lenses allowing to minimize the focusing distance.
The lens will be available for sale with the following mounts: Canon, Four Thirds, Nikon, Pentax, Samsung NX and Sony Alfa. The recommended retail price for the microprocessor was established at EUR 379 gross. You will have a great opportunity to take a close look on the new Samyang 35mm 1:1.4 AS UMC on Sunday, during Focus on Imagining fairs in Birmingham in Great Britain. Please, donât hesitate and visit Samyang stand located in the 10 hall, sector Q12.“
28 Responses
It all looked great till the part about the price. The appeal of these lenses was you got so much for so little, this one is just averagely priced.
This lens is not for m4/3 users unfortunately.. At least it doesn’t use any of m4/3 benefits: short flange and small sensor. This lens is few hunded gram of glass to much, and design which add some useless air box between camera and the lens. Forget about compactness. What a pity..
> All Samyang lenses for Olympus can be found on eBay only and under seven different brand names
What the deal with all the names? Can’t they just pick one?
At least they have added a focusing distance scale. Am I the only the one who would like to see a focussing distance scale on more Oly and Panasonic micro four thirds lenses? I find it handy.
I agree with Andy.
If the Panasonic f1.4 25mm is the high end equivalent on the 20mm f1.7 then it would be nice i it had focus distance scale, a focus ring that stops like old lenses at close and infinity, and an aperture ring.
Absolutely correct about the focusing scale – particularly with a manual focus lens. A lot of cameras that might be adapted to use this lens have only LCD screens to focus with (pretty much useless in bright sunlight) – or have a substandard optional EVF (lookin’ at you GF-1).
A proper focus scale makes a manual focus lens usable in these conditions. Its not like including one costs a lot of money to manufacture either…
Yes, it would be good to have focusing distance scales on Olympus and Panasonic lenses.
It’s about the same price as a Voigtlander 35 f1.4 M mount, which looks a bit more suitable for micro-four thirds given that these lenses are both manual focus. Would be interesting to see these two lenses against each other in image quality.
Still waiting for a 24mm equivalent prime for m4/3… I know there’s the 12mm Voigtlander but I hope to see something optimised for m4/3 and minimal perspective distortion, I’d really like to see Tilt-Shift (shift most imp) but I know the market for that on m4/3 is probably 5 people đ
For every country an other name. In germany they called it walimex. it is the label from foto walser “WALser-IMport-EXport”…
Well, what’s the fuss about focusing scale – any old lens has one… But red ring… That’s so cool man. Now this IS a really new feature. Canon L lenses have one, but it is much narrower and can hardly be visible from a distance.
Ha ha +1 for making me laugh and spit out my coffee.
I think that I might just paint red rings on all my lenses…………
Most are missing the point, the real news is that this lens has a standard 4/3 mount (not m43). Very interesting, why make it in a 4/3 mount when Oly has not made a 4/3 lens in what seems like eons.
+1
On m43 they should compete with the Voigtlander Nokton 35/1.4. Which is smaller and lighter therefore fits better to any m43 body than this huge FF SLR lens.
Could be that Samyang have spotted a gap in the market and intend to fill it.
You can also add a red dot on the camera body. Available in sheets from any stationary shop. When they get a bit worn you just replace ad infinitum.
Could be a problem for red bodies though. Ah! I have the answer: black dots on red bodies.
the last Olympus own FourThirds lens was the 12-60/2.8-4 which DPReview reviewed in April 2008 and on 25-Apr-08 there was the TIPA award:
http://www.olympus-global.com/en/news/2008a/nr080425tipae.html
so, that is like, nearly 3 years ago since that review and award
Making the Samyang 35/1.4 a lot more recent than Oly’s own optics. And significantly cheaper than the Canon/Nikon own 35/1.4 (of course minus the AF!)
Pretty hot for anyone still clinging on the FourThirds system.
The latest released lens were the FT 9-18mm and the 25mm Pancake both in 2008.
They are not the latest. They are the last.
So, I’ve owned Samyang crap before. Beware. Less quality than Sigma, at just under Sigma prices, but without AF.
If you buy one of their lenses, you’re getting hosed.
Why, oh why can’t Tokina produce their brilliant inexpensive lenses for Four Thirds?
Don’t mind the size and wait and speed of the lens, but who shoots at 70mm equivalent focal length? The 40mm is a great lens, but I’d love to see faster normal or wide primes for the m43 system.
weight* :/
What is the point of using a retro-focus full-frame wide-angle lens on a (m)43 camera? A native m43 lens could be made being only a quarter of its size.
Why not release Hasselblad lenses with a (m)43 mount.
+1
not all lens manufacturers can afford to design a native m43 lens.I am sure even Hasselblad would not spend the effort to make new designs just for m4/3, let alone 43 Just see this as a “legacy” lens for which you don’t need a seperate adapter. Keep in mind that even native designs like the Nokton 25 0.95 are huge.
Are you sure there isn’t CAD software, which can just design and test a new lens design? They have software for shoes.