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Archive 2014 · Samyang/Bower 14mm f/2.8 Ultra Wide-Angle for $299

  
 
Joe Garner
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p.2 #1 · p.2 #1 · Samyang/Bower 14mm f/2.8 Ultra Wide-Angle for $299


jim bennett wrote:
Is there any lens in the canon or nikon line up that even comes close to the value and quality ratio of this lens? Trying to decide if I should be looking at other lenses besides this one. These always seem to be quite highly regarded.


Sure. 35/2 IS, 85/1.8, 70-200/4 to name a few. Some would add "fitty pity" to the list, but I've never been one of them.



Apr 09, 2014 at 12:17 PM
mihind24
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p.2 #2 · p.2 #2 · Samyang/Bower 14mm f/2.8 Ultra Wide-Angle for $299


This is on par for sharpness with my 24 TS-E II, which is amazing. The only portions that are not mind boggingly sharp are the very extreme corners. I don't see this as a problem, because usually the sky is in 2 of the corners, so I only have to deal with softer corners on the bottom, and even then, it's just the extreme corners, and my subject usually is not placed only there. I have never found this to be an issue in real world shooting. I've done the actual pixel peeping tests out of sheer curiosity.

I can't think of a better bargain. If you ever do landscapes, I feel like you have no excuse to not have this lens in your bag!



Apr 09, 2014 at 02:09 PM
skibum5
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p.2 #3 · p.2 #3 · Samyang/Bower 14mm f/2.8 Ultra Wide-Angle for $299


kiddik wrote:
Optically these lenses are superb but mechanically they are garbage. I live in Iceland and I know a large group of photographers who use these lenses for the northern lights (myself included), as they are ultrawide and wonderfully sharp wide open for nighttime photography, and 1/8 of the price of a Canon 14/2.8L II. Everyone loves his/her Samyang. However, after a certain while many Samyang/Rokinon/ProOptic/Bower 14mm lenses simply "pop out of focus", they can no longer focus to infinity, and can't get past ca. 1.5-3 meter focus distance. I'm a bit handy and unafraid to open up lenses, and just
...Show more

Yes, but you'd have to have it break like 7 times before it added up to the cost of the Canon version! So even if it is cheaply constructed.... whatever.

Knock on wood but so far mine is fine after a couple years.



Apr 09, 2014 at 02:29 PM
skibum5
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p.2 #4 · p.2 #4 · Samyang/Bower 14mm f/2.8 Ultra Wide-Angle for $299


Joe Garner wrote:
Sure. 35/2 IS, 85/1.8, 70-200/4 to name a few. Some would add "fitty pity" to the list, but I've never been one of them.


I think the canon 50 1.8, 18-55 IS, 55-250 STM are pretty hard to beat for value to quality.
And this Samyang.



Apr 09, 2014 at 02:32 PM
skibum5
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p.2 #5 · p.2 #5 · Samyang/Bower 14mm f/2.8 Ultra Wide-Angle for $299


mihind24 wrote:
This is on par for sharpness with my 24 TS-E II, which is amazing. The only portions that are not mind boggingly sharp are the very extreme corners. I don't see this as a problem, because usually the sky is in 2 of the corners, so I only have to deal with softer corners on the bottom, and even then, it's just the extreme corners, and my subject usually is not placed only there. I have never found this to be an issue in real world shooting. I've done the actual pixel peeping tests out of sheer curiosity.

I can't
...Show more

Yup, same exact here. One disturbing thing is I took a few shots of the Christmas tree this year using this lens and some fancy L (big rep L at that) and I casually peeped (100% view) at the first shot and I was like wow man these top Ls are sharp! ....and it turned out to be the Samyang shot! And then I flipped to a fancy L shot and.... hmmm is this even as sharp?

The only thing is that, for some reason, fine branches against very bright white skies can seem to make a sort of veiling flare over those fine details seemingly more easily than with many other lenses so those details can look not quite so remarkably sharp at all, but in every other case, man oh man!!!!

This lens also has barely any CA, even FF edges! And it's 14mm!!!! Of course that is probably explained by the fact that they apparently did no distortion correction on it at all so that probably makes it easier to get low CA and sharp to the edges for a reasonable price. When you get what you pay for it's really a difference between reasonably distortion corrected or not remotely distortion corrected and that's about it.

It can cast a bit yellow compared to most Canon lenses (maybe even compared to old sigma ), but whatever.



Apr 09, 2014 at 02:35 PM
billsamuels
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p.2 #6 · p.2 #6 · Samyang/Bower 14mm f/2.8 Ultra Wide-Angle for $299


I have a couple of questions about this lens. First, I have the Canon 17-40mm L and I'm wondering how much of a difference is there in wideness between 14mm and 17mm, especially with a FF Canon? Is it really noticeable?

Second, if I took two pictures, one with this lens and one with my Canon and put them side by side, both AV around 8 to keep the sides sharp, would one be noticeably sharper than the other, given the 70-40 is still an L and the other is a cheap lens?

I'm trying to figure out if it's really worth getting this lens. I've been wanting to get an extra wide lens, BUT I'm just not sure if 3mm makes that big of difference. Thanks.



Apr 09, 2014 at 03:43 PM
Dustin Gent
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p.2 #7 · p.2 #7 · Samyang/Bower 14mm f/2.8 Ultra Wide-Angle for $299


the difference between 17mm and 14mm is huge, especially for landscapes. When I was thinking of picking up the Sammy 14mm, I was a bit hesitant. I had shot with a 17mm Tokina for a few years. However once i got the 14mm, I never thought it was too wide - and it was my only lens for a year.

The PTLens profile works wonders and cost like $25. You get a trial to test it. I actually never really corrected the images



Apr 09, 2014 at 08:07 PM
skibum5
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p.2 #8 · p.2 #8 · Samyang/Bower 14mm f/2.8 Ultra Wide-Angle for $299


billsamuels wrote:
I have a couple of questions about this lens. First, I have the Canon 17-40mm L and I'm wondering how much of a difference is there in wideness between 14mm and 17mm, especially with a FF Canon? Is it really noticeable?

Second, if I took two pictures, one with this lens and one with my Canon and put them side by side, both AV around 8 to keep the sides sharp, would one be noticeably sharper than the other, given the 70-40 is still an L and the other is a cheap lens?

I'm trying to figure out if it's really
...Show more

3mm is a decent difference at the wide end 3mm is a big percentage of 17mm compared to say 3mm of 300mm.

if you apply full correction the difference probably goes down sicne it has a ton of distortion, but you can get away with leaving it as for some types of shots, i haven't actually used the corrections yet



Apr 09, 2014 at 08:37 PM
Eric Gottesman
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p.2 #9 · p.2 #9 · Samyang/Bower 14mm f/2.8 Ultra Wide-Angle for $299


In for one. I didn't consider this lens since it said it's for crop. It's good to know other full frame users like it. I've wanted a wide lens for a while.


Apr 10, 2014 at 11:34 AM
Stryker 2.0
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p.2 #10 · p.2 #10 · Samyang/Bower 14mm f/2.8 Ultra Wide-Angle for $299


I took the plunge. It's a good cheap way to get my skills up, then if needed I can save up the big $$$.


Apr 10, 2014 at 11:57 AM
OntheRez
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p.2 #11 · p.2 #11 · Samyang/Bower 14mm f/2.8 Ultra Wide-Angle for $299


I got one a while back on the $249 special. As far as I can tell the three different brands are all the same lens. (Caution: I've only seen the Samyang and the Bower at the same time and they looked the same.)

I wouldn't even begin to suggest that a $250 lens is as durable or probably useful as the Canon that is about 8X more expensive. OTOH, I don't do architecture where the lens's limitations might be important. Mostly I'm doing night sky work so a lot of the issues don't even come up. I have found something this wide requires a whole nother way of looking and thinking about things. Wouldn't say I've mastered it yet.

As for the question of how much difference there is between 14mm and 17mm - it's huge. Digital-picture has a nice comparison of various UWA lens's field of view. Very instructive.

At $300 if you have any interest in very wide view, this is a good deal.

Robert



Apr 10, 2014 at 01:07 PM
kevinsullivan
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p.2 #12 · p.2 #12 · Samyang/Bower 14mm f/2.8 Ultra Wide-Angle for $299


When I poked around on the B&H web site a while back, I tried to see if I could find differences between the 14mms that were labelled as optimized for APS-C (even though they'll mount on full frame) and those that weren't. Most of the specs looked exactly the same. However, as I recall, the lens designs were actually different. Click on "specification" and look at the lens design schematics. Unless I'm mis-remembering, I do believe you'll find differences. If I'm correct, and if you're shooting full frame, you might want to avoid the ones labelled as optimized for APS-C. I'm open as always to being corrected.

Regards,
Kevin



Apr 10, 2014 at 09:15 PM
skibum5
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p.2 #13 · p.2 #13 · Samyang/Bower 14mm f/2.8 Ultra Wide-Angle for $299


kevinsullivan wrote:
When I poked around on the B&H web site a while back, I tried to see if I could find differences between the 14mms that were labelled as optimized for APS-C (even though they'll mount on full frame) and those that weren't. Most of the specs looked exactly the same. However, as I recall, the lens designs were actually different. Click on "specification" and look at the lens design schematics. Unless I'm mis-remembering, I do believe you'll find differences. If I'm correct, and if you're shooting full frame, you might want to avoid the ones labelled as optimized for APS-C.
...Show more

I got the one labelled optimized for APS-C and all I can say is it does better on my FF than any FF-optimized 24-105L ever has .

I don't believe Samyang ever went through the expense to design one for aps-c and one for FF.

They did used to make an older variety of 14mm, an inferior one, AFAIK it was FF too, but it was a worse design. Maybe you saw schematics for the old, old version and compared them to the ones for the new version?



Apr 10, 2014 at 09:30 PM
kabraxcis
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p.2 #14 · p.2 #14 · Samyang/Bower 14mm f/2.8 Ultra Wide-Angle for $299



People are comparing to the 12-24. Canon L doesn't mean much when you mean a zoom wide angle that's old.
billsamuels wrote:
I have a couple of questions about this lens. First, I have the Canon 17-40mm L and I'm wondering how much of a difference is there in wideness between 14mm and 17mm, especially with a FF Canon? Is it really noticeable?

Second, if I took two pictures, one with this lens and one with my Canon and put them side by side, both AV around 8 to keep the sides sharp, would one be noticeably sharper than the other, given the 70-40 is still an L and the other is a cheap lens?

I'm trying to figure out if it's really
...Show more



Apr 11, 2014 at 11:44 AM
pointbob
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p.2 #15 · p.2 #15 · Samyang/Bower 14mm f/2.8 Ultra Wide-Angle for $299


https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1280415

everyone should read this is you buy the 14mm



Apr 11, 2014 at 03:29 PM
jim bennett
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p.2 #16 · p.2 #16 · Samyang/Bower 14mm f/2.8 Ultra Wide-Angle for $299


AnthonyRay wrote:
The only thing that could be better about this lens would be AF.
The fact that people even mention it in the same sentence as the Nikkor 14-24 - as in they finally got a 14-24 to replace it tells you all you need to know.

I'm still coming to grips with mine. While I'm pretty familiar with UWA lenses, a fully manual one isn't quite as easy as I was lead to believe. Then again I'm pretty picky. For landscapes though I don't see how you could do much better. Too bad the best filter system available for it costs more
...Show more
Thanks for your reply. I was just reading the specs and it states there are no filter threads? What kind of filter system would you use for this? I have a knockoff Cokin P series setup with tons of different thread adapters but doesnt look like I can use that with this lens.



Apr 14, 2014 at 05:51 PM
jim bennett
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p.2 #17 · p.2 #17 · Samyang/Bower 14mm f/2.8 Ultra Wide-Angle for $299


Joe Garner wrote:
Sure. 35/2 IS, 85/1.8, 70-200/4 to name a few. Some would add "fitty pity" to the list, but I've never been one of them.


Oh agreed on the values of the above lenses, I should have added "at this focal length"





Apr 14, 2014 at 05:55 PM
markd61
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p.2 #18 · p.2 #18 · Samyang/Bower 14mm f/2.8 Ultra Wide-Angle for $299


I have to agree with the fans of this lens.
I got one when they were last on sale and I am very impressed.
I use a 17TS-E for my architecture work but I have started using this lens when I need the additional AOV.
It is sharper than the Canon and I use a lens profile in LR that really solves the distortion problem.
The corners may be a tad less sharp but with an UWA I don't squint at corners much and they are far sharper than the Sigma 12-24 I used to own. It is indispensable for those shots that need the AOV that this lens provides.

I usually set it at infinity and just shoot away at between 5.6 and 11 and get tack sharp results. F 2.8 does show vignetting but it disappears at f4. LV does not work well with this lens except in AV. All other modes show a very dark preview. I shoot manual after making a test in AV and transferring the settings. I can then just point and shoot with perfect confidence.

I don't expect it to be a robust lens but as it has already paid for itself several times over if it breaks I will get another.



Apr 14, 2014 at 10:12 PM
pointbob
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p.2 #19 · p.2 #19 · Samyang/Bower 14mm f/2.8 Ultra Wide-Angle for $299


markd61 wrote:
I have to agree with the fans of this lens.
I got one when they were last on sale and I am very impressed.
I use a 17TS-E for my architecture work but I have started using this lens when I need the additional AOV.
It is sharper than the Canon and I use a lens profile in LR that really solves the distortion problem.
The corners may be a tad less sharp but with an UWA I don't squint at corners much and they are far sharper than the Sigma 12-24 I used to own. It is indispensable for those shots that need
...Show more


Could you provide a link to the " a lens profile in LR"? thx



Apr 16, 2014 at 02:51 PM
dalite
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p.2 #20 · p.2 #20 · Samyang/Bower 14mm f/2.8 Ultra Wide-Angle for $299


kabraxcis wrote:
People are comparing to the 12-24. Canon L doesn't mean much when you mean a zoom wide angle that's old.
billsamuels wrote:
________

What brand lens? Are you referring to the Tokina 12-24mm lens?



Apr 18, 2014 at 12:45 AM
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