p.6 #1 · Samyang AF 18/2.8 FE officially announced
Jonathan F wrote:
Again, it comes down to size. Plus I don't care about the extra focal lengths. If I'm going to pay more money for a lens, I'd want wider than 17mm. It's the same reason why the Tamron 28-75mm 2.8 doesn't appeal to me either. Plus I don't know why Zeiss 18mm and Tamron 17-28mm owners seem so inclined to defend their lens purchase? Who cares!
I'm not defending anything. I don't care what you buy. It just seemed like an odd statement saying the the 17-28 is not wide enough but 18 is. Knock your socks off with the Sam, at least with 18mm 2.8 AF will not be a problem
p.6 #2 · Samyang AF 18/2.8 FE officially announced
Dultimate wrote:
This is me to a T. I'm going with the exact combo for the exact reasons.
I'm not a landscape shooter so I just want a light, small prime for when I do have a need to shoot landscape. The Tamron 17-28 seems like a great landscape lens that is giving you a 17/2.8, 21/2.8, 24/2.8 and 28/2.8 for those that want it. If you do a lot of photographs in that range I'm sure it's worth it but for someone like me that would like to do the occasional landscape its's $500 more for a lens that I would primarily use for one focal length whenever it is that I rarely use it. ...Show more →
This is also the size difference between the other options. The Samyang is downright small and puts it in the same league as APS-C sized lenses with FF coverage.
p.6 #3 · Samyang AF 18/2.8 FE officially announced
Jonathan F wrote:
My take is that I'm not a landscape shooter, I prefer the small and compact size of the Sam 18mm 2.8 and for less money I can pair the 18mm with the Sam 45mm 1.8 lens which is incredibly sharp and gives me a very nice two lens street combo. I value compactness more for my style of shooting. The Tamron 17-28mm 2.8 doesn't appeal to me, because it's neither wide enough, nor gives me much zoom on the long end.
you will be surprised when you use the 17-28, it's wider than the 18 and whatever your 18 pairs with, it's likely within that range, so it's like a dual prime. It's very small, and I find it difficult to use other lenses in the range because it's small enough and useful enough to be a single lens solution. It also doesnt extend, so it feels small at all times, where the 28-75 feels significantly bigger. In a perfect world, 18 + 35 would be great for me, however the size of the two lenses is essentially the same as the zoom and then with missing focal lengths in the middle. In the past I couldnt have the 18 + 35 because small variants didnt exist, and I'm thankful that they do now. I was shooting the CV 21 and FE 35 combo for a while, it's around the same size, but I wanted AF, and no thanks to batis, that unsightly design, forget about it.
in a way, the 17-28 has been a game changer for me in practice, it's so durable, weather sealed, and practical. I'll order the 18 WHEN the price drops. The SY 24 started at 399 as well, and I snagged it new for 250? it didnt seem to take that long to get there. Who knows, THIS might be the lens that excites me to using small primes again, and I'm thankful there's a company like SY that's willing to make the small designs. 85/105 f2.8, I would welcome if it came in the 200g mark, I'm open to slower and smaller, please bring them!
p.6 #5 · Samyang AF 18/2.8 FE officially announced
fuzzykeys wrote:
Great shots! Are you an east sider Angeleno as well?
Thanks! Yep, mainly stomping around the NELA area! I rarely go westside nowadays unless it's for the beach or flying out of LAX! Most of my food spots are situated on this side of town anyways.
p.6 #7 · Samyang AF 18/2.8 FE officially announced
Jonathan F wrote:
This is also the size difference between the other options. The Samyang is downright small and puts it in the same league as APS-C sized lenses with FF coverage.
Even this picture does not come close to doing justice to how diminutive this lens is. It weighs nothing. I can attach it to the front of my A9, and not feel a statistically significant difference between body only and body+lens. I used to leave my 20mm 1.4, 14mm 2.8, and 16-35at home all the time because it was just something else to carry. This thing fits in the spot I keep extra lens caps in my bag. AND it has great IQ.
I’m just really excited about this. I’d pay double for the lens if I had to.
p.6 #8 · Samyang AF 18/2.8 FE officially announced
nhsonyshooter wrote:
I'm not defending anything. I don't care what you buy. It just seemed like an odd statement saying the the 17-28 is not wide enough but 18 is. Knock your socks off with the Sam, at least with 18mm 2.8 AF will not be a problem
Again I said it on this thread previously, the Sam 18mm hits a very nice size/price/focal length combination, that isn't addressed on any other system. If you don't know why you'd use a prime wide angle lens with a 58mm filter thread, weighing-in at 145g and utilizing a silent STM motor...well the lens probably isn't for you.
p.6 #9 · Samyang AF 18/2.8 FE officially announced
nhsonyshooter wrote:
I'm not defending anything. I don't care what you buy. It just seemed like an odd statement saying the the 17-28 is not wide enough but 18 is. Knock your socks off with the Sam, at least with 18mm 2.8 AF will not be a problem
I didn't take what Jonathan F said as equating to 17mm not being wide enough. Instead, I understood his statement to mean that if he is going to spend more money/increase size/weight for a zoom lens, then he would want it to offer more than 17-28mm offers in the focal range department.
Personally, I tend to agree. If I'm going to spend any more than a few hundred bucks and go up in size/weight, I might as well go all the way and get max everything. I've applied this mentality to my 35mm selections in that I went with the Samyang 35/2.8 along with the Sigma 35/1.2. Small and cheap, or large and the best you can get depending on what the day calls for. Everything in between is much less desirable for my tastes.
p.6 #10 · Samyang AF 18/2.8 FE officially announced
Jonathan F wrote:
Again I said it on this thread previously, the Sam 18mm hits a very nice size/price/focal length combination, that isn't addressed on any other system. If you don't know why you'd use a prime wide angle lens with a 58mm filter thread, weighing-in at 145g and utilizing a silent STM motor...well the lens probably isn't for you.
"If you don't know why you'd use a prime wide angle lens with a 58mm filter thread, weighing-in at 145g and utilizing a silent STM motor...well the lens probably isn't for you. "
Kind of a stretch don't you think? Look have fun with the Samyang. I like small lenses as well. That's part of the reason I got rid of the Batis. It was optically great but just felt like I had a satellite dish mounted on the camera. I probably would have tried the Samyang if it came out first. But it didn't. So I have been happy with the Tamron. I don't go past 24mm a whole lot anyway but it's nice to have.
p.6 #11 · Samyang AF 18/2.8 FE officially announced
Small. light and cheap mean compromise in an UWA. Just a question of where the most compromises are made. I would rather have a bigger/heavier zoom that allows instant lens “selection” than carry the weight of 3 smaller lenses and hassle changing them.
I have the Nikkor 17-35mm F2.8 which adapts and AFs well as a place keeper. Not so small or light but extremely well made. It’s an older lens design, so at F2.8 it’s not always so sharp and contrasty (reminds me of these 18mm samples). However, it works well as a traditional PJ two body/lens combo of 17-35 and 70-200.
If I want ultimate UWA IQ then I have my Batis 18mm or the wide end of the Nikkor 14-24.
p.6 #12 · Samyang AF 18/2.8 FE officially announced
SoundHound wrote:
Small. light and cheap mean compromise in an UWA. Just a question of where the most compromises are made. I would rather have a bigger/heavier zoom that allows instant lens “selection” than carry the weight of 3 smaller lenses and hassle changing them.
I have the Nikkor 17-35mm F2.8 which adapts and AFs well as a place keeper. Not so small or light but extremely well made. It’s an older lens design, so at F2.8 it’s not always so sharp and contrasty (reminds me of these 18mm samples). However, it works well as a traditional PJ two body/lens combo of 17-35 and 70-200.
If I want ultimate UWA IQ then I have my Batis 18mm or the wide end of the Nikkor 14-24.
I don't understand the urge that drives a person to come into a thread for an item they haven't used or seen, only to disparage it or assume that it's compromised simply because of price. A lot of my files end up on a wall or in print, so I'd be the first to toss this lens out of the window if the quality were not up to snuff. The image quality is not just good enough. I would argue that it is *excellent*, even more so when you consider what's been achieved at this size and weight. Reminder that this lens is the size of my Godox X-Pro controller.
Below two wide open SOOC examples. The first is a shot of outside the church. Besides the typical perspective distortion from me shooting upwards, please tell me what the grand compromise is. The second is a 300% (!) crop of that same photo in the extreme corner, where it retains contrast and sharpness. And this is on an A9. The last photo is from the A7R3 showing what the lens is capable of.
Again, if you don't want the lens that's fine. But as a prime shooter who would always leave behind my ultrawides because of size and weight, this thing is a godsend. The only compromise for me is that I haven't shot an f/2.8 lens in forever. Everything else I own is f/1.4 or f/1.2, with the exception of the 135 art at f/1.8.
p.6 #13 · Samyang AF 18/2.8 FE officially announced
I made that post because it is one of so many that appear before each compact or “budget” lens is issued. More accurately it is difficult if not impossible to make most inexpensive compact lenses and have top the tier results we have come to expect. The case is even more difficult for UWAs.
Even with the big, heavy and expensive UWA lenses there’s some compromise at the extremes and severe vignetting too. One expedient is to buy that, large, heavy expensive F1.4 or F1.8 lens and stop it down to F2.8. Similarly, you can buy a lightweight budget F2.8 lens and stop it down to F5.6 often with fine results.
As to the idea of carrying three and use one WA/UWA then I confess I went afield in playing devil’s advocate to carry a zoom and get all the FL in it’s range.
p.6 #14 · Samyang AF 18/2.8 FE officially announced
grahamgibson wrote:
Anyone compare this lens to the CV15? Love these tiny lenses, although I agree the Tamron 17-28 is fantastically small for what it offers as well.
I have the CV 15mm 4.5 ver. II in Leica M-mount. Unfortunately I haven't used either the ver. III in either M or E mount. Saying that, I find the CV (like most Voigtlander lenses) has very good contrast and excellent light points. Since I'm using the M-mount version, the Sam 18mm has far better corners, but it doesn't have the same center sharpness of the CV 15mm. The 18mm has far better uniform sharpness across the frame though. Also 15mm is quite wide, 18mm is wide but with less corner stretching if that makes sense. I like the Sam 18mm enough, that I've posted my CV 15mm II lens for sale on the B&S.
p.6 #16 · Samyang AF 18/2.8 FE officially announced
I guess it might be in my head, but I feel the more I use my Samyang 18mm 2.8, the better it's become! I have no problem shooting at f/2.8 all day long.
p.6 #18 · Samyang AF 18/2.8 FE officially announced
Dultimate wrote:
Nice pictures Jonathan. Really appreciate you posting them and showing the capabilities of this lens. Waiting for mine to ship.
From the very beginning I kept saying this lens is better suited for those that value a lens with uniform sharpness, small size, fast focusing and affordable price. Of course there are sharper, wider, more versatile lenses, but all of those are above a certain price and physical size ceiling. It was just kind of odd many wrote this lens off without considering the criteria of others. Also I'm rather picky about what I shoot with and I feel Samyang created a winner with this lens (and the 45mm 1.8 as well).
p.6 #19 · Samyang AF 18/2.8 FE officially announced
I recently received the 45 f1.8 and I can agree that it's a special little lens, especially for the size and price. I actually prefer it over the 55 f1.8 I had. it's just as sharp but the wider fov makes it a little more useful as a walkabout lens.
