Samyang 14mm F2.8 ED AS IF UMC A-mount lens review by szupinglee

szupinglee#10447 date: Aug-11-2012
sharpness: 4.5 color: 4 build: 5 distortion: 4 flare control: 4 overall: 4.3	tested on: film camera: APS-C: 6MP; 10MP; 12MP; 14MP; 16MP; 20MP; 24MP full frame: 12MP; 24MP; 36MP; 42MP; 61MP
ownership:	I own this lens
compared to:	18-55 kit Minolta 28 2.8
price paid:	390 USD(new)
positive:	center sharpness coverage (FF and APS-C) value build
negative:	Incorrect focus ring marking focuses way beyond infinite
comment:	This review is for the updated Samyang/Rokinon 14mm 2.8 I bought this lens for shooting landscape and in certain indoor architectural situations. This is great value considering it has FF coverage. This lens has great sharpness in the center. The edges are certainly not bad considering the price. This is a full mechanical lens, so no metadata. The build is solid, smooth focus ring, but one glaring problem - focus markings are labelled WAY off. On my copy, infinity is between the 1-2m markings. If you are new to this lens, you need to do some testing to find your sweet spot. Going beyond focus gives terrible results wide open(obviously). Stopping down to f11 widens the in-focus range, but still, infinity marking is beyond infinity and never comes in-focus, except if you shoot at f22. Other than this, the lens is a staple for my shooting.