All right, some very early impressions from mine (v.03 on A7R III). Chunkier than expected and thus feels heavier than it actually is - I hadn't realised it uses 77mm filters vs 72mm on the Canon 85L II - but feels very nicely balanced on camera and in the hand. I'm going to be contrarian and say that I don't like too many extraneous dials or buttons or latches or or markings on my lens (GM lenses I'm looking at you), thus I rather like the modern, minimalistic design of the Samyang lens.
I'm going to echo a lot of what others have said in this thread and elsewhere: I LOVE the rendering wide open - clean, punchy, tack sharp. So little CA!!! Basically nothing like the Canon 85L II which I shall best describe as... "dreamy".
AF and Eye AF is not as confident or consistent as I'm used to with native Sony lenses, as expected, with Eye AF especially seeming to struggle in AF-C tracking (toddler coming slowly towards camera). But I need to test this more over the weekend with fast moving toddlers. There's a noticeable drop-off in AF speed indoors even in daylight vs outdoors.
As for my big obsession with bokeh: pleased to report that it looks quite acceptable in relatively tame conditions, but I'll push the lens more in the next few days.
The difference between the two lenses shocked me, and I say this from more samples which I haven't shared. In these casual scenes the bokeh looks more similar than the stark differences in sharpness, but especially contrast. The 85L II looks creamy for sure but to the extent that it looks like there's cream smeared all over it, and I feel that the LOCA is negating small advantages to the Canon's otherwise creamier bokeh.
Again echoing what OP said... I have a feeling the Samyang will be a keeper.
Had another go with it yesterday. Here's a sample at F1.4
I did find that eye-af was often not engaging, presumably not detecting a face. The room was dark asides from the modelling lamp though, did better when I put on the room lights. This was also with a 3-stop filter on the lens. A few instances of focusing on the wrong (further) eye too, although that may be because it was the brighter one?
Anyway, asides from that, I'm still pleased with the sharpness even wide open.
https://i.ibb.co/gTz7ZPv/DSC07940-Edit.jpg
100% crop:
https://i.ibb.co/fML7Yg4/DSC07940-Edit-3.jpg
*Bah. Where do people upload so links actually appear here? I forget every time!*
Not defending the 85 but I don’t know many lenses with a three stop ND that will focus at all with just a modeling light. Have you tried that with other lenses with better results?
jmmaher wrote:
Not defending the 85 but I don’t know many lenses with a three stop ND that will focus at all with just a modeling light. Have you tried that with other lenses with better results?
True... Not really. Deceptive as I set effect off so it looks brighter in the viewfinder. Need the filter to work with strobes
derKoekje wrote:
How’a AF compared to your Canon? I imagine an adapted 1.2 would be even less confident than the Samyang.
You are not wrong. I just tested the two lenses quite extensively today with toddlers walking, running and quad biking (!) at different speeds and in different directions, with a good mix of overcast and strong sunlight. On my A7R III in AF-C mode with real time Eye AF on, the Canon feels snappy and acts as if has confidently locks on, but at short-mid distances quite consistently backfocuses just a hair behind the eyes. It is basically useless with the subject running or even walking towards the camera. In mid-far distances it seems to be much more comfortable in eye tracking especially if subject is moving sideways.
The Samyang performs much better. In good light and especially in mid-far distances there is no wobbliness and is almost faultless in locking instantly and holding onto the eye with a sideways moving subject, and about 60-80% hit rate when a subject coming towards camera (maybe 10% near misses and 10-20% completely out of focus).
Some more IQ tests vs Canon 85L II - cRAW processed with default settings (with minor Exposure adjustments where needed to match exposure) on Capture One 12. I've tested both lenses wide open because that reflects how I would use the lenses, i.e. to maximise background blur.
The Canon clearly has a creamier background, partly with slightly larger bokeh balls and also because the Samyang is simply more contrasty throughout. The Samyang smashes the Canon in terms of sharpness, contrast, CA/LOCA control.
Perhaps pleasantly surprised because I had low expectations, but I have not enjoyed shooting with a new lens so much!
I tested two copies of the Samyang last week, on my A9.
Optically I didn't have much to complain, but the AF really disappointed. Often so hesitant and one copy consistently kept front focusing when using AF-S.
I don't know which firmware they had and how much that may have to do with these quirks.
The 85 GM seems to have more reliable AF.
Here the backlit foliage and metal railings really put the Canon in a bad light (pun intended.) Despite the Canon more successfully blurring out the dark green leaves in top right quarter (4th 100% crop), it falls apart with CA with really ugly bokeh when there is any backlight (2nd and 3rd crops). In particular the foliage bokeh above the man in the Canon shot looks like some unpleasant green/magenta crescents.
Based on everything I've seen so far (about 400 shots of the both the Samyang and Canon), I'd say the Samyang is cleaner, punchier, and just a joy to use. I have only very rarely come across truly bad bokeh in maybe 1 or 2 Samyang photos in very high contrast (directly sunlit) backgrounds, but many more Canon shots where poor LOCA control ruins any small advantage in creaminess.
This is not to mention AF speed and accuracy. The Samyang is by no means Sony/Zeiss level but certainly usable, and way way better than Sigma MC-11+Canon in AF-C with Eye AF (60-80% hit rate vs 10-20% hit rate..).
All of that plus significant weight savings and a bit of spare change I'd get from selling the Canon makes the Samyang a no brainer for me.
p.25 #11 · Official: Samyang AF 85mm 1.4 FE ($699)
I wonder if anyone experienced the same thing as I did.
It seems that the Eye AF and AF in general is better and more accurate on my A7RII than on my A7RIII. I just don't have any misses with the RII. I tested it using C-AF with and without EyeAF.
p.25 #12 · Official: Samyang AF 85mm 1.4 FE ($699)
zurih wrote:
I wonder if anyone experienced the same thing as I did.
It seems that the Eye AF and AF in general is better and more accurate on my A7RII than on my A7RIII. I just don't have any misses with the RII. I tested it using C-AF with and without EyeAF.
Anybody else experienced this?
Seems strange but that's I've been seeing.
I can't test but I trust you. I think the lens firmware needs an update to work better with the a73/a7r3/a9 latest v3/5 updates, it seems to be tuned for older cameras/firmware. It works better disabling face/eye af.
I remember that the same happened for their 35 1.4. It was working quite nicely in the a72 of a friend, and in my a73 the focus was way off almost all the time. Recently samyang delivered an update that was supposed to address that (I can't test anymore).
So let's hope samyang updates the lens soon and improves things. I love the lens but the focusing issues (eye af in af-c) are a nightmare.
p.25 #14 · Official: Samyang AF 85mm 1.4 FE ($699)
Hello,
I just received my lens yesterday and tried it out. I can clearly hear the auto focus on this lens in video and photo mode. Also I had a few times where it locked up and won’t focus at all. The f stop had nothing on it and just said f. Anyone experiencing this issue?
p.25 #15 · Official: Samyang AF 85mm 1.4 FE ($699)
Snob wrote:
Hello,
I just received my lens yesterday and tried it out. I can clearly hear the auto focus on this lens in video and photo mode. Also I had a few times where it locked up and won’t focus at all. The f stop had nothing on it and just said f. Anyone experiencing this issue?
Hi, I got lock up once or twice within the first 50 or so shots but couldn't reproduce it. Please us know if you come across it again? Thanks
p.25 #16 · Official: Samyang AF 85mm 1.4 FE ($699)
I will use it some mire to test if it locks up again. Does yours make loud af noises? I hear reviews saying they don’t hear much unless they bring it to their ears, but I can hear and feel mine af.
ryanli wrote:
Hi, I got lock up once or twice within the first 50 or so shots but couldn't reproduce it. Please us know if you come across it again? Thanks
p.25 #17 · Official: Samyang AF 85mm 1.4 FE ($699)
ryanli wrote:
Hi, I got lock up once or twice within the first 50 or so shots but couldn't reproduce it. Please us know if you come across it again? Thanks
I've had 1 lockup as well, that last day in the beach. The lens suddenly stopped focusing. The camera was working but the lens was not focusing at all. I don't remember if I switched the af mode or I turned off/on the camera and then it continued focusing normally.
I still have some misses in af-c with eye-af, and near 100% good shots disabling eye af or shooting in af-s (with both eye-af on or off). It's interesting since for my sigma 35 1.4 (adapted from canon) it's the opposite, it works better in af-c than af-s...
p.25 #19 · Official: Samyang AF 85mm 1.4 FE ($699)
Same identical problem, no f stop registering just an f, takes a few pictures then freezes up. Returned lens second one seems to be working.
Snob wrote:
Hello,
I just received my lens yesterday and tried it out. I can clearly hear the auto focus on this lens in video and photo mode. Also I had a few times where it locked up and won’t focus at all. The f stop had nothing on it and just said f. Anyone experiencing this issue?
p.25 #20 · Official: Samyang AF 85mm 1.4 FE ($699)
I can’t seem to replicate the issue. It was only the first night that I had the lens. Not sure what to think of this yet. Size and weight vs the Sony 1.8.
Sonym3 wrote:
Same identical problem, no f stop registering just an f, takes a few pictures then freezes up. Returned lens second one seems to be working.
