numbertwo
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 p.22 #10 · Official: Samyang AF 85mm 1.4 FE ($699) | |
So here's my summarised experience with the lens:
- My first copy was missing eye af by a bit too often, even in good light with static people. For objects it was fine though. In some pictures it looked like the right side was a bit softer than the left, but when doing far centering tests, it was very well centered and sharp across the frame at 1.4, so I don't know why it was behaving wierdly sometimes (maybe just mis alignment).
- The second copy I only have it for 30-45 min and sent it vac because it had a big white speck inside. The eye af seemed fine although I only tried near subjects, but the af for far objects was missing always, and the dancing squares in af-c looked really nervous and not moving in a logic way (I don't really know how to explain, but the af was like skipping some areas).
- The third copy was working good for eye af and far objects, and very sharp as well but the right edge (like 15% of the frame in the right) was visibly focusing in a different focal plane closer to the rest of the lens. This was annoying for landscapes, if focusing in the center, the right edge was at f5.6 less sharp than the left edge was at f1.4. Of course you couldn't tell at small sizes, but when pixel peeping you could see how high resolution the lens is, and the right side was just bad. When focusing in the right edge, the rest of the picture was visibly out of focus. But for portraits it was OK, and if not doing centering tests, maybe it was difficult to realise.
- my fourth and last copy is well centered, also incredibly sharp for me at 1.4 and it's focusing as the third one.
So, for every copy, the sharpness is about the same, this is my sharpest lens now and the sharpest thing I've tested at 1.4 (but of course I don't have some expensive glasses as some people here).
I love the rendering more than most of the samples I've seen online, maybe because in the light conditions and subjects we're used to, we can compare a bit better with our other experiences.
It has very minimal ca and purple fringing, in some back-lit samples I've found just a bit, and in others absolutely 0, it's impressive.
The color is warmer than Sony lenses, but it's actually similar to my canon 70-200 f4L, and when applying my presets in Lightroom, it actually looks really good.
The af in video is trash, and in photo is still missing some by a bit in af-c, but much better than my first copy.
I'm really loving the lens, sharper in the corners at 1.4 than what my Sony fe 85 1.8 was at f2.8, with much better rendering and bokeh. Still my most used lens will be my sigma 35 for its versatility focal length, but otherwise this samyang could easily become my favourite and most used lens from now on. It's that good.
Pd: it's weird sometimes I feel it has too much depth of field at 1.4, like Luis Gabriel saw in his tests, maybe because it's so sharp? Because it's a real 85 right? And real 1.4...
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The combo of the 85mm and 135 is what I consider a perfect portrait pair and I always carry both.
