I'm not a big fan of the color, but it could just be that one user's post-production. Either way this is a very promising lens. Hopefully we'll have another strong competitor in the 3rd party lens business.
Polar also makes 500mm mirror lenses that are sold in many ebay shops. (Thus it seems that they make cheap stuff...) I wouldn't buy this lens until there are solid reviews showing its performance.
Looks like the lens is deliberately designed with undercorrected spherical aberattion for good bokeh. That aspherical element compensates giving a small amount of bright ring.
...I reckon. Very interesting compromise. Could be a perfect portrait lens.
I often like uncorrected lenses, but I would rather buy old. I just posted some Biotar 75 1.5 in the "admirable blur" thread. That lens is somewhat more expensive than the Polar, but others are less expensive. The Helios should be considered with the polar too. I don't know Russian lenses, but they copied a lot of the old zeiss designs. Probably all kinds of funky bokeh available.
I looked at the polar link. Talk about a Nikon copy! Even the plastic texture. The MTF isn't bad for the price, but I wonder what percent of lenses will be close to those statistics.
How do I join SLRclub? What language do I need to learn? Those guys know how to review lenses. I feel left out.
The design of the Polar/Samyang 85mm 1.4 is not a copy of the Nikon. It is a new design that incoporates an aspherical element in it's optical design. The only other fast 85mm lens that has such an element to my knowledge is the Canon 85mm 1.2 L. Asperhrical elements go a long way in insuring high optical quality at full aperture. The Zeiss ZF and ZE 85mm 1.4 does not use an aspherical element in it's design. The Polar/Samyang lens seems to be a newer more advanced optical design then the current offering from Zeiss and at considerably less cost. The Canon is in a class by itself though at a considerably higher price and weight. The Koreans seem to have finally picked up the mantle in producing innovative professional grade hi-speed 85mm optic at a highly competitive affordable price. We can only hope that this lens becomes readily available at a similar affordable price outside of Korea.
Paul, you can read Hangul, very cool! It seems placing a gold plate on a lens has a history. The first time I saw it was on a Tamron 180mm 2.5 LD SP Anniversary lens I bought many moons ago and have to this day although it is sitting in a closet. Nikon has several lenses with gold plates. I guess gold plates signify a certain "specialness". If I could get a Polar 85mm 1.4 for $275, I have no problem with an added gold plate.
This looks promising. And the IQ in the comparison shot with ZF 1.4/85 is very convincing, despite not knowing the parameters. At the price of $275, this might make me abandon my own promise of no GAS for the next 6 months. I am really looking forward for real world test of production copy. The review had better be soon, as I have friends going back to Korea for the holidays whom I can ask to carry one back to the states.
dcmiller wrote:
I often like uncorrected lenses, but I would rather buy old. I just posted some Biotar 75 1.5 in the "admirable blur" thread. That lens is somewhat more expensive than the Polar, but others are less expensive. The Helios should be considered with the polar too. I don't know Russian lenses, but they copied a lot of the old zeiss designs. Probably all kinds of funky bokeh available.
I have Helios-40 85mm f1.5 (Silver), old version. Along with this, I also own Jupiter-9 85mm f2 Silver (Rangefinder lens, converted to M42 SLR mount, I haven't seen any other like that).
One thing I want to say about these Russian, these are really prone to flare. About Helios, its almost unusable in sunlight, and I am not talking about Sun in the background. The internal reflections make the lens unusable. Still you can get good shot with this lens in outdoor.
About Jupiter (I am talking about old version), again prone to flare.But once in its form... Jupiter is an evil for auto focus crowd...
"P" for Polar, "C" for Carl Zeiss, the new ZF. He's very surprised at the results; so surprised that he tested many times. He was all fluttery when he bought the Zeiss. He's had no problems with it, and he plans to use it happily in the future. But the Polar lens is "making his mind tremble" (kinda like butterflies in your stomach on a first date). The rest is all emotional commentary without mention of lens performance.
wrath: yup, English is my third language, though I did know that it is supposed to be "piqued" instead of "picked". It was just one of those "all typing and no thinking" days.
I did not even realize the error until you corrected me. Thanks.
One thing I have a hard time with is when to use "z" instead of "s" in words like specialize and such. Help me out pleaze.
I wonder what's with that green tint around the guy in the background, newspaper, on the staircase and the cracks in the granite wall. Could that be the camera or the lens?
Silentlight wrote:
I wonder what's with that green tint around the guy in the background, newspaper, on the staircase and the cracks in the granite wall. Could that be the camera or the lens?
An 85/1.4 for USD275 can't be without errors... My guess is we are looking at Longitudinal CA. If it is seen at that low contrast it may be a problem in many images. You can see it in a couple of the other images as well, especially around dark things in the background.
