Soon the Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 SSM lens will hit the market (in late Spring) but for many of us this lens will be too expensive (rumored price is $1600-$1700). If you can wait 12 months more than you might can get a cheaper and still high quality alternative from Samyang! Fotogears (official Samyang Asia partner) worte on their facebook page that a new Samyang 50mm f/1.2 A-mount lens is on the Samyang roadmap and could come in 2014.
Sounds great!!!
—
I like Rokinon/Samyang lenses a lot and I recommend you the following two lenses for Alpha mount:
1) The 35mm f/1.4: 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].
2) 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].
And here are the links to the newly announced Samyang/Rokinon lenses:
8mm f/3.5 fisheye at Amazon, BHphoto,
14mm f/2.8 at Amazon, BHphoto,
24mm f/1.4 at Amazon, BHphoto,
35mm f/1.4 at Amazon, BHphoto,
85mm f/1.4 at Amazon, BHphoto,
71 Responses
Gefällt mir!
would they ever make the 35mm, 85mm, or the new 50mm ever for E-mount? you can always adapt the current ones, but if they can shrink the size like they did for the 8mm fisheye it be a winner!
85mm T1.5 and 35mm T1.5 E mount Rokinon Cine lenses :
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/896977-REG/Rokinon_cv85m_nex_85mm_T_1_5_Cine_AS.html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/896967-REG/Rokinon_cv35_nex_35mm_T1_5_Cine_Lens.html
Too bad Samyang doesn’t do AF. Yet. They might have the potential to shake the market significantly.
With focus peaking this is not really a problem for the A-Mount versions, rather for Nikon or Canon Versions
No AF and razor thin DoF. Useful for pictures of statues. 😀
Or learn how to follow-focus. Autofocus is of rather dubious utility when the depth of field is razor thin anyway.
Good look with that!
luck *sigh*
Agreed.
I have the Sammy 85 1.4 & don’t seem to have that much of an issue focussing even at f/1.4 on my a580 – i.e. no focus peaking.
Not the most amazing shots in the world but http://www.flickr.com/photos/little_al/6214826247/ & http://www.flickr.com/photos/little_al/6239174603/ were both taken at f/1.4 within a couple of days of getting the lens so very little practice – the swans were swimming at a fair pace downstream (think jogging pace) so I only had time to get one shot in after I spotted them & before they disappeared as I was hiding in undergrowth on the riverbank….
The 2nd was at near MFD so razor thin DOF & again on the move.
In both of these situations I would have expected at best 50% of shots in focus with autofocus so going manual got me results that I probably wouldn’t have got otherwise….
Tanglefoot, we can all pick out shots where we have been lucky to get a sharp “action” shot like the cat with narrow DoF, the point is that at f1.2 and manual focus you aren’t going to get consistency.
Good for you Tanglefoo. I had a lot of trouble getting the focus right with my 85mm Sammy. Looking for a split-screen now. Other than that, I really love this lens. Sharp with smooth bokeh.
Lets be like a Frank and just not try.
I too had a Samyang 85mm f1.4 but for the death of me I kept misfocusing on more than 40-60% of the shots depending on what I was shooting.
I reluctantly sold the Samyang and got a Minolta 85mm f1.4 G. Now while the Minolta is no slouch the Samyang simply had better colour, sharpness and bokeh. However with AF my keeper rate has gone much much higher (Maybe 5-10% misfocusing now).
With current EVFs’ image size and resolution, focus peaking is not sufficient for fast and accurate focus. If it has to be accurate, then you need the zoom-in feature, too – but then it is not fast enough anymore. Moreover, focus peaking is ugly, in some situations it actually distorts an image beyond recognition.
So, no, with today’s EVFs there is no real substitute for a decent AF yet.
Probably, but it’s better than standard focusing screen with no aid whatsoever.
Sony’s lens pricing is totally out of control. That lens should not cost more than $US1295. Still very high, but it is a Zeiss after all.
1295? Lol… that couldn’t be any more random number, could it?
I’d personally be ok with 1298, or even 1299
Marvelous.
I hope the bokeh is substantially better than the 24/1.4.
Missed your comment by 14seconds – and agree; the quality of bokeh will be the key factor for me
Show me a large aperture 24mm that has good bokeh.
I also find it funny that people think that AF will help you get sharp photos of moving objects.
The original Canon FD has decent bokeh. I’ve considered picking one up numerous times, but videographers have sent the prices off into crazy land.
If the rumour of the Zeiss price is correct, then I might well consider a Samyang/Rokinon alternative as long as it renders the out-of-focus regions nicely and gives some atmospheric glow to shots.
Samyang should do more, less talking. 10/2.8 now has about year late, TS also like Yeti – all we know, no one can see.
Nobody from Samyang said there could be a 50/1.2 in 2014. The comment comes from someone from http://www.fotogears.com in Malaysia which is just a local distributor. This headline is a joke, seriously.
They are officially working for Samyang Asia. And they do speak for Samyang. And they say it’s on roadmap. Easy 🙂
lol, they are just a distributor, mate. You should know whatever those fellas say means nothing. 😉
Rokinon spilled the beans on both the 24/1.4 and 24 T/S before Samyang did, so clearly they could do a better job at enforcing NDAs.
What has that to do with the distributor in Malaysia? I think this Facebook message got blown out of proportion.
Rokinon is a distributer in America.
lol, Malaysia is not America. Is it really that hard to understand? 😉
The Minolta 50/1.4 is actually pretty good wide open on the A99. Stop down to F1.7 to F2 and it gets even better. The difference in bokeh and light is negligible. Even the screw-driven AF is pretty fast on the A99.
I really don’t see the point in buying the Zeiss lens.
Minolta’s are becoming a dying breed. although I love them, they can’t be repaired if parts are needed since they can’t be found. If you own them take good care of them because when they get damaged they become expensive paperweights!
You can always get Sony 50 f/1.4 which is essentially Minolta with modern coatings.
You can say that for everything. Why dont you tell that to the leica fanboys as well?
I don’t find that your statement is true about the old Minolta 50/f1.4
I got mine in 1987 and it was fine on my a9000 and okay on my a100 and a700 but on my a850 I see it as unusably soft from my tastes so I never use it below f2.0.
I test everyone of my lenses at least once a year using that Lens-a-line testing system and make adjustments as needed on both of my a850 bodies
The Sony 50mm f1.4 is soft at f1.4, it needs to be stopped down to at least f2. The Sigma 50mm f1.4 is marginally better.
I can’t see the Minolta being better, but then some people see something as being sharp when it’s not.
It’s reasonably sharp in the centre. The corners are a smushy, coma-ridden mess.
I am sure the Zeiss will be extremely sharp even wide open. But I adhere to the 80:20 rule. If I can get 80 percent of the performance for 20 percent of the price, then I go for it. Obviously, it is a personal choice. And for a pro it may be different.
In this case, it might even be 90 to 10. A used Minolta 50/1.4 can be bought for 160€, 1/10th of the Zeiss. Comparing performance is more difficult, but I doubt it will be off more than 10% except maybe at F1.4.
Want to bet against Sigma launching a 50mm f1.2 lens during the next year 18 months?
That’s the best news for me this year! I’m sure the Zeiss 50/1.4 will be excellent, but its price will be unjustifiable. I have both Rokinons 8/3.5 and 85/1.4 and couldn’t ask for better!
hehehe, I’m not so optimistic, but truth is that with Samyang a price of Zeiss f/1.4 will be even harder to justify.
A Samyang 50mm 1.2 would be nice if they include contacts to control the aperture via camera.
(And to get them into the EXIF-Data.)
But actually every Samyang-Lens should get that feature …
My Samyang has electronic contacts. But it’s for Nikon mount, hehe.
Andrea, how do you know for 50/1.4CZ 1600€ sure why the price?!
I got that price info from a Japanese friend that asked it at the SOny booth. It’s an unconfirmed price. But it should be very close to the real final price!
Admin, you said you are a guy. I have searched your name in Wikipedia and it returned most of country that name is for female except Italian, Albanian and Romansh.
You are wrong. Try to lean how to use Google.
I don’t think he’s wrong. But obviously the admin must be from a country where they speak one of these languages.
No. He could be also Spanish or maybe his parents lived in a free world.
MF again? Why do they leave so much money on the table, after all, AF is not that expensive to add (see all those $99 lenses with perfect AF), but would let them play in different league both in terms of price and volume.
yea they could probably double the price if they added AF and it’ll still sell well!
I can’t say that this is the reason or the only reason we don’t see AF third-party lenses from the “smaller” companies, but I understand that Sony doesn’t make it easy.
Perhaps it is costly to obtain a license from Sony and other brands to use their AF code. Sigma allegedly reverse engineer the lens ount chip, hence the reason why their lenses have to be occasionally sent back to be re-chipped.
I have seen a rumor about a planned AF e-mount lens from Samyang. This might come true because e-mount is open so they don’t have to reverse engineer anything. Now that’s interesting.
I’d be happy just with exif data transfer and aperture info being communicated.
Agreed! As well as focal length for SSS. But manual focus is no problem at all for me
Videographers seem to like the fact it’s MF.
Any guess what the Samyang 50mm F1.2 will cost?
I would guess street price 250-500 somewhere
Dollars? Pounds? Weasels? Turnips?
Hi Mr retailer. I have 500 weasels & would like to procure a lens from you fine sir!
Yup, anything above $500 would be a no-go unless it is sharp with creamy bokeh (but I doubt it). In reality, a 50/1.2 is much harder to design than a 50/1.4 but Samyang can’t ask a lot for it.
To me, it seems the cine lens are worth the extra few bucks. Feels like they put a little more love into the glass vs the original ones. The body feels like it came from the 2,000 lens, and the ridges for the focus pull are just perfect when I do photography. I’d wish they make the 135mm 2/ or 1.4 , serious!
Not in the Samyang case. They just simply replace the housing. The mechanical quality is still mediocre. And Samyang can only set the trend in term of price. So they are not going to come out with a 135/1.4, though I imagine you will have to deal with 10% pin-cushion distortion if they have one.
The cine lenses are cheaper.
Will the Samyang 50mm F1.2 be macro?
what Samyang can do just like these: MF and f1.2….. bloody hell!
great news!! 😀
Finally good news.Ask them to build dslr please.
but now they say 50mm f1.4 will come first.confirmed