Had not seen a thread devoted to the Samyang 14mm so I though I would share some of my test shots with this lens. Wow! This is a very sharp lens – even at f/2.8. I’ve only had the lens a few weeks but what I am shooting so far is exciting and I believe it will be a great lens for landscape photography.
Although there is a fair amount of vignette at f/2.8, I’m impressed with its wide-open performance. I was a little concerned with the manual focus but if you shoot tripod (which I do) and just set the focus to 3 feet and f/16 - then everything is in sharp focus from 1’3” to infinity. Not bad!
I have my Samyang 14/2.8 since April. I think the optical quality is high, but the mechanics and the quality control at Samyang is bad. I have made a site with my conclusions about the Samyang / Walimex / Rokinon / Bower / Vivitar 14 mm / 2.8 lens.
I use it primarly on my EOS 5D, but sometimes on a Rebel XT crop camera for infrared photography.
CVickery - Starry night pics is exactly one of the reasons I wanted this lens. Can’t wait to put it to such use.
Markus (ZoneV) -Thanks for the link to your very interesting review and photos. Its just proving to me this lens has exciting potential – especially for us non architectural types. You said you bought yours in April – is that the MC or newer UMC version? It sounds like the UMC version has worthwhile improvements.
The link you have comparing the Samyang to the Canon 14mm L II and 16-35 L II was an eye-opener. It’s amazing how such a cheap lens is so superior on corner sharpness and controlling chromatic aberrations.
Edd - I’m happy to see PTLens has software to correct its distortion. That will be a no brainer decision to purchase.
But do not forget the bad mechanics!
The focus of my lens was far off - at ~0.7 m I had infinity. But that is not a real problem, there are two ways to handle that, one is to change someting inside the front of the lens (link on my test site) the other I did is to take the mount part away, and screw it back with some small washers under the mount ring itself.
A bigger problem is, that the mount screws are screwed into plastic.
I my version there are only 3 screws - I thought that this is not good for such a heavy lens. And now there are 4 screws - suppose Samyang tought the same after some testing / repairs?
A second problem is, that a part of the barrel gets loose - the front of the lens wobbeled. I "repair" that with fastenting the three screws. But after a while the wobbel was there again. Could solve that with a bit longer screws - but now the iris has problems to close - and some weeks afterwards the lens wobbels again :-/ So I did not made a good repair on that. Have to open the lens, and look what is wrong.
If you are willing to take special care for that lens - like for a baby - it will be fantastic. But if your euipment is a kind of tool for you - more like a hammer ;-) - you better not buy that lens.
Because of the bad mechanics I will most probably not buy the Samyang 35/1.4 - but a Canon FD 24/1.4 and modify that to EF mount.
I have the newer UMC version. Bought it via Ebay some weeks before it was shipped. Suppose I was one of the first 100 users that got this lens.
Wow - you have a problem. I mounted mine on my 1DMk4 (using live view at 10X) and checked infinity, 7 feet, 3 feet and 2 feet (measured with tape from the subject to where the glass is on the protruding lens) and in all 4 measurements it was spot on to what was marked on the focusing ring.
I checked where the mount screws are screwed into the lens barrel and yes there are 3 screws but as far as I can determine by tapping and examining under strong light and magnify glass they seem to be screwed into a metal barrel - not plastic.
Not sure what to say - but it sounds like our versions are very different. Mine is the Rokinon version for Canon purchased mid December. I'm wondering if they made additional changes to the lens other than just the new UMC multi-coating?
Dave
I've had the lens for a coupe of weeks now and I really like it. I got the Nikon mount for Canon 5DMkII and use a Nikon-EOS AF-confirm adapter - simply because I did not want to glue anything on the mount itself. It gives very sharp images, except in the extreme corner which is clearly visible in the second image below right. I dont know if this is just my copy - or if it is general. The distance scale is a joke, I wonder why they even print it on the lens. Dispite that, I find the build quality and overall feel really good.
EDIT, I post them again here even though they were already posted in the alternative image thread, hope you dont mind:
wfrank wrote... The distance scale is a joke, I wonder why they even print it on the lens. Dispite that, I find the build quality and overall feel really good...
It looks very promised. Thinking about getting one. Not sure how is the lens mounted onto the 5D. Is any kind af adaptor or modification needed ? and is it only for manual focus ?
Thx
Nothing else needed - just mount, focus (manually) and shoot. Since the 14mm has such a large depth of field, I just use standard hyper-focus settings. For example if I just set the focus on 3 feet and f/16 – then I'm shooting everything in focus from 1foot 3inches to infinity! Set focus on 7 feet and I'm in focus from 1 foot 8 in to infinity. However, if you are trying to focus close distance at f/2.8 - that is a major challenge unless you use live view.
wfrank: Your not late with answering - I wrote that only 9 hours earlier.
If you don´t understand I suppose my bad english is the reason:
You have to determine how thick the washers are, that you will need:
For that you have to focus on an "infinity" object. Which distance shows the distance scale?
All in millimeter!
Best is to search at first some washers with this thickness - better a bit to thin! To thick is bad!
Shake the lens - and remember the noise (I think no noise).
Now open the three (or four on newer lenses) screws, take the mount near by the lens - best with the orientation as it had on the lens.
Now place the washers with needed thickness onto the screw holes of the lens.
Place the mount careful back to the lens - the screw holes have to fit directly.
Screw the screws in.
Shake the lens - same noise as before? Otherwise the washers are probably not there were they are supposed to be.
I think I will check this proceeding this evening and optimize my website - so better wait until you start!
Definitely worth more than $400
