Jonas B wrote:
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.
Got any link for the $275 deal? It's $400+ on ebay from HK dealers last I checked (under the name Samyang, not Polar). And the dealer emailed me back and said there is no aperture coupling between the lens and camera in the EOS mount. Have to use it the old fashion way.
The lens is priced at 380,000 Won (Korean Currency).
At current exchange rate (as of today), it's $281 USD.
The exchange rate in Korea has been a coast ride recently.
About 3 weeks ago, this would have been about $255.
Wow! I haven't come across anyone using Limeys on a forum before. I know who they are, but it's just so strange to see someone using the word correctly. You should also add add Canucks, Kiwis, and Aussies to that argument.
Anyway, here are some more image samples I dug up:
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?
Today I visited some photo stores in Seoul. Only one of them had the Polar 85mm 1.4 and it was in a Pentax mount. I use a Nikon camera, so there was no way for me to test it out. And even if I had had a Pentax, I wouldn't have been allowed to mount the lens on my camera (or so one of the shopkeepers told me).
From what I saw and felt, I can tell you that it is a nice lens. It's light, it's got a gun-metal finish (it is a metal barrel), and it is multicoated, though I saw more of an amber tint to the glass than anything else.
What impressed me the most was the build quality. It felt like a good lens--smooth focus, great aperture clicks, and light, even though it was a metal body. So much different than the Nikkor 85mm f1.4 AIS--that lens is fantastic, but heavy and it dwarfs my DSLR.
I think the Polar 85mm f1.4, at least body-wise, is more comparable to the Nikkor AF 85mm f1.4. As for the IQ, well, I'll keep looking for a chance to compare the Nikkor 85mm f1.4 AIS and the Polar.
I joined SLR club, but have yet to find anyone with a Polar lens in a Nikon mount. I am itching to compare it with my Nikkor 85mm f1.4 AIS. Anyway, I did a bit of searching and found these sample images:
hi,
yesterday i recieved mine, directly from korea for 203 euros.
its EOS mount without anything. but it seems to be easy to glue a confirm chip.
handling is very nice, smoth focusing. but hood is a little flimsy.
first shoots are very promesing, bokeh seems to be very nice, without
outer lightrings.
of course,
my colleauge is korean, we went home for xmas.
than he did go in a shop and bought it for me,
went back, i gave him the money and he gave me the lens.
he told me that the korean photo people a very
proud of the their first high class lens, made in korea.
you can also buy it at US ebay, but stupid expensive.
i also did post a link here:
All righty! I have permission from the Mrs. to buy this lens so that I can compare it to the Nikkor 85mm 1.4 AIS. I will post the review as soon as I can.
jsv_20 wrote:
All righty! I have permission from the Mrs. to buy this lens so that I can compare it to the Nikkor 85mm 1.4 AIS. I will post the review as soon as I can.
Make sure to push pause on the player so that you can take your time reviewing the images. I'll upload the full size images to Flickr later (that will be for those pixel peepers amongst our ranks).
Man, I wish I had known about this lens before. I paid about the equivalent of 247US for it. That's about 1/2 of what my AIS lens cost me. And it feels like it weighs about half as much as the AIS, too!
I'll post a full review over the weekend.
Alt glass lovers...watch out, this lens is just the beginning...there are rumors the whole Vivitar Series 1 line is going to be redone...what awesome timing, now that FX is on the horizon for us mere mortals!
