I have completed quite a bit of \"nerdy\" testing of the 85 1.4 Rokinon over the past 24 hours and here are some observations. My results seemed to mostly mirror those from other tests fairly closely (which means perhaps there is little sample variation).
First some observations:
-Amazing sharpness+Bokeh wide open at 1.4 when shot at close distances. I don\'t know that I have ever seen a fast lens perform this good at 1.4. Performance drops after that approaching infinity - just as Paul found.
-Resolution really does not improve that much between 1.4 - 2.8, at least with my copy. CA is actually less wide open than at 2-2.8. Additionally, lens contrast stays about the same between 1.4 - 2.8. Both results I found odd compared to how most lenses perform. Somewhere between F4-5.6, resolution and lens contrast both increase and CA all but vanishes. After that, there is not much improvement in the center of the frame. Tests I performed at around 10 ft in the studio did show a noticeable increase in corner sharpness up to F11. Resolution/detail does not match the best lenses I have used when stopped down (just as Lenstips found) but the performance is better than you might expect. Keep in mind, this is on a 24MP camera. I did find very slight barrel distortion at 10 ft with my lens(using a precise, gridded chart).
-Color and contrast overall seems to be ever so slightly on the muted/soft side. If you are used to the pop from Zeiss color/contrast, this lens might not be for you. It is close to some of my Minolta lenses (I compared to a 50 2.8 Macro) but less than my 50mm 1.4 Takumar.
Here is a sharpness/bokeh test shot taken wide open at 1.4 that was underexposed slightly. There was some curves tweaking (which is partially to blame for the grain). Sharpening was at the default setting of Raw Developer.
