[shoplink 7453 ebay]
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Kurt Munger (Click here) reviewed one of my favorite lenses, the Samyang/Rokinon 35mm f/1.4 lens: “Optically speaking, the Rokinon 35mm F/1.4 is excellent, with very high sharpness at almost all apertures, low distortion, minimal light fall-off at F/2, and no coma, even in the far corners at F/1.4! Probably the biggest drawback for most people is the fact that it’s a manual only lens, meaning there is no communication between the lens and camera (Sony models)”
To find the lens you have to search for the different brand names! In US you can find it as Rokinon at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and on [shoplink 7453 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. In Europe the name is Samyang and you can find it on [shoplink 7380 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and with the name Wallimex again on [shoplink 7831 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
The real bargain is the 85mm f/1.4 you can get for $274 on Amazon (Click here), branded with the name Rokinon on [shoplink 7456 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and branded with the name Samyang on [shoplink 7454 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
16 Responses
I am preparing to buy such a lens. What alternatives do I have?
The Sony 35mm f/1.8 and the Sony 35mm f/1.4G
I have one of these, but be prepared, manual focusing isn’t particularly easy on the SLT cameras (unless you have an external monitor with peaking)
Manual focusing on an A900 isn’t too bad, though. 😛
The 35/1.4 adds to the difficulty by having quite a bit of spherical aberration wide open, making the focal plain harder to pick out. The Samyang and 35DT are probably easier to manually focus.
“manual focusing isn’t particularly easy on the SLT cameras (unless you have an external monitor with peaking)”…
Actually it’s quite the opposite, the EVF makes it pretty easy nailing focus with a 85/1.4 @ 1.4, and by definition a 35/1.4 is much easier due to the much wider DoF. Tried both 🙂
Well I guess I’ll have another go-around with it. I guess I’m more used to the ground glass in an SLR
its too bad MF lens!
admin,
any rumor of launch date? hehe 😀
Yeah, you will here more on Monday!
Monday it is then! Will wait gladly.
Much thanks Andrea 🙂
Nice!
Being a MF lens is a great thing.
The 700g weight is what kills it.
I still not clear how the loss of an optical viewfinder will work for me and my manual lenses.
I need to shoot quickly; focus, adjust aptitude and speed on the fly while looking though the viewfinder and do this no matter what the ambient lighting condition is. I find working using a screen on my camera difficult in bright lighting and shooting using manual settings.
I can’t want to try the a77 so I can start getting an idea of the practicality of losing the bright optical viewfinder found in professional cameras and using a lens like the one in this rumor.
In some ways it should be EASIER to use a MF lens with an electronic viewfinder
You might be able to zoom in on a portion (a bit like the current manual focus check liveview on a 500/550/560/580)
And basically this lens is only worthwhile on full frame. For APS-C users, the 35 1.8 is fantasticly good. The built quality sucks, but it’s so cheap you can just buy another if it breaks. The image quality is great, focus is accurate and even the bokeh is pretty decent.
Sony really needs a new 35 1.4, and a mid-range 35/2 too for full frame users
I thought it would affect as well.
For the first time I used a A35, A33 and A55 (ok in a shop) and for the first time i set the viewfinder properly, and wow, my original thought of the drawbacks of EVF totally disapeared.
it is sharp and genuinely usable in manual focus.
I am sure they can add the focus peaking in EVF as well which would be awesome.
Plus you get the visual of the final shot (exposure end DOF).
now I think unless you have a focusing screen, OVF is not that great.
I guess as a working professional, I’m still skeptical about a camera without an optical viewfinder and the ability to do everything that needs to be done and do it in a fully manual mode using a lens like this in all ambient lighting conditions.
Ask a working professional of 100 years ago what they thought about cameras with no viewfinders; light sensitive materials equivalent to a sensor with ISO of less than 1; no automation; and a ton of other challenges.
You guys have it too good…
So the lens costs around $499… why not just get the Voigtländer 35 f1.4? You can get it round $599 lwaa or more on ebay… it’s small and boy the IQ on this is sweet. 🙂