Double Samyang/Rokinon 8mm fisheye lens review.
Not Sony only but also Samyang is rumored to announce new E-mount lenses in September. These will support AF and electornic aperture control. For now Samyang released one manual lens only, the cheap and nice Samyang/Rokinon fisheye lens that got reviewed by two well known testers:
Kurtmunger: “The Rokinon 8mm F/2.8 fisheye lens performs superbly; there’s nothing negative to say about it other than sun flare is strong at times, but that may enhance your image depending on the feeling you want to present to the viewer”
ePhotozine: “The exceptionally low price of £270 for the performance this lens delivers makes this lens a simple choice for those in the market for a fisheye lens for their Sony NEX”
This lens can be purchased at Amazon (as Samyang) and again at Amazon (as Rokinon). And on eBay (as Samyang) and on eBay (as Rokinon).
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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 eBay (Click here). In Europe the name is Samyang and you can find it on eBay (Click here) and with the name Wallimex again on eBay (Click here).
2) The 85mm f/1.4: You can get for $274 on Amazon (Click here), branded with the name Rokinon on eBay (Click here) and branded with the name Samyang on eBay (Click here).
Sky_walker
10 months ago |First samyang with AF?
This might be interesting….
shamb
10 months ago |Well, they won’t challenging the new AF much if its the 8mm
Sky_walker
10 months ago |yea… well… everyone need to start somewhere.
CTPhotographX.com
10 months ago |Don’t think this is AF… I could be wrong, but I don’t think it is. I believe it simply works with the AF sensor for focus confirmation.
I’d like to be wrong on this. Please tell me I am.
EDIT: from the article…
“…metering is performed by stopping down the aperture and focusing is performed manually.”
Richard Saunders
10 months ago |It doesn’t matter much, with fisheye lenses, the depth of field is extremely large so manual focusing is really easy.
I have the Rokinon 8mm 3.5 for Canon mount, and it is definitely a winner. Might have to pick this one up for my NEX…
Denis
10 months ago |This one is better optically (sharper, less CA) than that SLR monster. This is the case when shorter flange distance works.
Alec Berry
10 months ago |I have the Rokinon branded Alpha mount fisheye. I can’t emphasize enough what a great lens this is… the optics are superb and the manual operation is not an issue with a fisheye and focus peaking.
steven k
10 months ago |Unfortunately,
This lens was not test on the NEX 7, and from what I have read it does not perform well at all, and you have to buy the Nikon version and use an adapter for good results on the NEX 7
Can anyone confirm this
Amit Zinman
10 months ago |I own the Samyan 35 1.4 but I use it less often since it doesn’t have AF which limits it’s use. Initially I thought that I would use this wide lens when covering demonstrations but this proved extremely difficult, and of course it is kind of heavy
That said, it provides much more detail than my Sony 50 1.4 in crowd shots.
Back to my Sony 50 1.4 I made a music video for the Sigur Ros competition, if you want to support my effort. Shot with Sony Alpha 580. You can see that there a lot of issues with the night shots, but I used the creatively to create atmosphere.
Chris K.
10 months ago |The 85mm f/1.4 is a very nice Alpha lens as well (look up the analysis on DXOMark, yikes it’s sharp). Built like a tank and some big glass. Only complaint is the lens hood can’t be removed while the lens cap is on.
Bruce Bachand
10 months ago |Coming out with an 8mm lens seems a strange choice when we could have used a 35mm f1.4 or a 50mm f1.4 lens.
That having been said, I absolutely love using my Rokinon/Samyang 85mm f1.4 as it is the single sharpest lens I have. Yes, it would be great if it were an AF lens. But to be honest my manual focusing skills have sharpened wince using it.
Rokinon/Samyang embody excellent build quality and really do have superb optics. I plan on buying their 35mm f1.4 next for my SLT-A55.
T
10 months ago |I own the Rokinon 35/85 on my NEX7. I’m not sure how anyone can complain about manual focus lenses with NEX peaking. The Rokinon 85 is the bargain of the century.
Denis
10 months ago |Peaking works quite OK for longer FL, not for shorter ones.
Jon Adams
10 months ago |I just got one of these 8mm 2.8. Seems like there are plenty of lenses from 20-50 for the Nex Give me some ultra wides. Would really like a rectilinear version of this.
Pablo
10 months ago |Well… I had the Samyang 85/1.4 for a while, but the best thing about it was, when I finally got rid of it. That took just one day. Just one day after I got the Zuiko 85/2 MC version. I made several photo comparisons and oh man, was I relieved, when I finally found a sharper, contrastier and FFS, LIGHTER AND SMALLER,AND WITH A MUCH BETTER MF EXPERIENCE than that Korean tank lens!
Since then I am just not interested in Samyang glass as such.
For wide shots I pretty much prefer the CV 15/4.5 Heliar, which doesn’t make such fish-eye distorted shots..
Mando
10 months ago |I bought this lens, and the first when I’m holding the lens my fingers from holding the camera shows up!
Rhyacaus
10 months ago |This is a great lens (I recently purchased myself) however a word of warning for NEX-7 owners which I have not seen many reviews touch on. It has awful purple fringing when used with the NEX7. This can be fixed with the correct skills and a copy of Cornerfix however. Many though, will find this annoying. No issues on the NEX 5 series or 3 series though.
Example and fix here:
http://www.dkloi.co.uk/?p=721
All4Sony
10 months ago |Off topic. I’m not sure if this information was posted here already but this is just a confirmation that the Nikon D800 uses a Sony sensor.
http://www.sensorgen.info/NikonD800.html
Bye now…
Arnold
10 months ago |Does someone know what the focal length is, once you use a software to correct the image for it to be rectilinear ?
Thank you !
Andrew Steel
9 months ago |I have this lens on a NEX-7 and it performs superbly, check here to see results.
https://www.facebook.com/AndrewSteelPhotography
Rhyacaus
9 months ago |Hi Andrew, Do you have the purple fringing that many seem to have(and have fixed before posting those amazing shots)? If not, what are you doing differently? I shoot in A mode (adjusting Aperture and focus on the lens of course). and all other settings such as ISO set to auto.
Weakling
9 months ago |Haven’t shown up in stores here yet. Hope it will soon. Like to have one.