Olympus 12mm Vs Samyang 12mm Video Test from Pier-Yves Menkhoff on Vimeo.
Pier Yves sent us the following Olympus 12mm F/2.0 Vs. Rokinon 12mm F/2.0 comparison:
Before everything, I would like to thank Hervé Danes for the loan of the Olympus 12mm F/2.0 lens. It was not possible with Olympus France. Jonathan Lang and Martina Beckman did not deign to answer to our request of loan. It was the same thing with Marc Rabuteau of Samyang France. This happens frequently in France !!!
In theory and often in practice, there is a difference of quality between a lens at 800 € and another one at 330 €. However, we are not in California. Where is the difference when you live in a gray city ? When we are in the rain in Lyon in winter ? Will we see a real difference ? The shot was made with a Panasonic DMC-GM1 camera on a tripod. I only alternated the lenses for each plan. Recording at 1 080p. No correction at the editing.
When we place side by side the Olympus 12mm F/2.0 and the Rokinon 12mm F/2.0 lenses, the difference is huge. The first is compact, the second is massive. Among the advantages of the Olympus, perfect aperture and autofocus synchronization with Olympus and Panasonic M43 cameras. We note a difference of framing between the two brands. Olympus offers a tighter framework. The Samyang present an alternative advantage: its price. Nearly half of the Olympus. But the difference has a cost. No electronic contact with the body of the camera. All controls are manual. Another aspect can be disabling for every user. The focus ring of the Rokinon lacks flexibility. It is firm. Very firm. The Olympus is dedicated to those for whom AF is a major asset.
At the light of the above pictures, you can decide whether to invest € 320 or € 799 for a 12mm F/2.0 lens. It’s up to you !!
Enjoy…
27 Responses
Good contribution from Pier. I wish he could also include in the comparison the 12-40mm f/2.8. Though 1 stop slower, I believe it has noticeably better quality at 12mm than either of the other lenses.
Yes, good comparison.
It would be interesting to see the oft forgotten SLR Magic Hyperprime 12mm T1.6 compared, as well. It’s smaller, faster and falls in the middle of the two in price ($599).
It looks like the Rokinon is marginally wider and has (to my eye) slightly better IQ. I own the Oly 12mm, and I love it. Ninety percent of my shots are taken with the Oly 12. I might pick one of these up for portrait work. Lack of autofocus won’t be a big deal for that type of work.
Yes the Samyang/Rokinon 12mm f/2 has definitely a wider field of view than Olympus 12mm f/2.
Glad you could confirm that, it’s good to have some great pro telling us how to pee. Keep up the great job!
Yeah to me the Olympus looks a bit softer than the Samyang/Rokinon. Interesting how much a difference there is between 2 lenses claiming to be 12mm though – can anyone with a bit more knowledge explain this? Makes me wonder how much you can trust the different manufacturer’s measurements. However I’m thinking it has something to do with crop factor, as the Oly was built specifically for MFT while Samyang/Rokinon basically adapt the same lens to different mounts.
It’s because of big distorsion corrected by cropping of image in-camera.
Aha! Thank you both…I do believe it is the distortion correction, something the Rokinon doesn’t have or need. According to ePhotozine, the Rokinon has marginally more distortion (uncorrected obviously) than the Oly (corrected). I think I will take the uncorrected Rokinon.
That and the distortions. Olympus corrects distortion even for video while Samsung is left off. So you get narrower view with Olympus. I got same look that Samyang was little sharper but can be about exactly distortion correction.
Yes, I was also wondering if this could be something like 11.4mm vs 12.4mm. I thought the IQ difference, if any visible at all, would certainly be negligible (but possibly the olympus is 1.2% better in the corners and 0.9% better in the center 😉 BTW I paid less, and I think I’m not trying to justify the price).
Paid for new 12mm Olympus only 299€… It was a steal deal so it was screaming to get in peoples bag.
But then sold it when 12-40mm Pro came. Only place where I miss it, is night photography for stars as one stop is big difference is exposure 15s or 30s.
I’m sure you made profit. I wouldn’t sell mine though, IQ is definitely sufficient, size and weight matter more to me than a possibly better IQ of the 12-40.
Wish I could have paid that!
You paid more? It is in the nature of things: a fool and their money are soon parted…
strange… this review said Rokinon has less viewing angle
The Olympus has more micro-contrast and looks clearer, but I like the softer footage shot with the Samyang. It’s a matter of taste, I suppose.
The so called “Micro-Contrast” is a fancy way to sound educated (like “Full-Frame”) while it is only about sharpness and contrast together. A sharp optics with high contrast and there is nothing else.
i think optics with high contrast means their micro contrast is good too.
Where could I learn this things online? thanks
just google on micro contrast is my laziest answer i can give sorry…..
you could try out in Adobe Photoshop the local contract slider in the raw import window, to see the effect of the micro/local contrast.It’s a good way to get some more detail when you work with an older manual focus lens which seems to lack sharpness, but this mostly due to its lower contrast and glow effect when used at open aperture….the local contrast can be upped a bit to see if you get more info/detail…depending on your final image you can choose for low or higher values(for screensize you can use the higher values, since the resizing will make the resulted arftifacts look less obvious)
And in image manipulation software you can learn that sharpness and contrast are tied together. Photoshop just does the combination behind the scenes when you move sliders.
There is nothing to learn, it is the usual forum tripe. Nothing scientific about it, and nothing to do with photography. Don’t waste your time.
LOL
The Olympus looks more artificial and less crisp, probably an effect of the software correction, and extra unsharp mask smuggled in. It gives the impression of an inferior product that was tarted up in software.
Thanks PY. The Samyang looks better to me, probably because it does not require software correction. High distortion with software correction is a hallmark of M43 lenses and a ko criterion for demanding photogs.
You could also check how these lenses behave with bright light getting in. Many M43 lenses fall apart with backlight, too.
Then we would have to be sure to what extent it’s better to use either optical elements or software or both to correct distortion. I don’t think more glass is always better.
You are not going to make many people happy here coz you forgot to compare extreme corner sharpness wide open at 400 % magnification. Which is what it is all about 🙂