Samyang 14 mm f/2.8 lens available now

[markus_keinath1]

<p>Hi!<br>

My Samyang 14mm F/2.8 IF ED MC Aspherical lens has arrived yesterday.<br>

The mechanical quality is good - I think not as good as that from old manual lenses (or Zeiss ZF), but the same as the Canon EF 50/1.4. And much better than the Canon EF 50/1.8 II plastic bomber.<br />It fits good on the EOS mount, the last lens did not prorotrude behind the EF mount.<br>

Image Quality:<br />I photographed with an old EOS 5D. The images are sharp and contrasty - but I have the impression that the edges are only sharp with closer objects, with objects in infinity they seems to be less sharp.<br />Even at 2.8 I could get sharp images - I like the possibility to work with 2.8 at close distances, and to get an blurred background. Bokeh seems to be aceptable for that angle (the blurred light circels are even illuminated, no bright borders).<br />The moustache distrotion is a problem - it is very strong. One of my pictures was sent to PTLens, probably that programm can correct the distortion.<br>

My pictures are here:<br />http://www.4photos.de/test/Samyang-14mm-2.8.html<br>

What are your experiences with that lens - or are few only very people in USA bought that lens up to now?</p>

 

[carbon_dragon]

<p>The name is vaguely familiar from the old days -- one of those brands that sold a lot of strange lenses that were kind of interesting to play with. Who actually makes the lens? What country does it originate in?</p>

[bueh]

<p>Brutal distortion! Looks almost like a fisheye...</p>

<p>But interesting lens -- I didn't know about this one.</p>

[markus_keinath1]

<p>Samyang is a Korean optical manufacturer:<br />http://www.syopt.co.kr/eng/product/manual_zoom.asp<br />In German photo boards the company is better known - because of the cheap 85/1.4 lens Samyang sells and cheap fisheye lenses for crop DSLR cameras.<br>

The 14/2.8 is new - I think the first samples of the series production are deliverd last week. There are pictures of a preseries around, the had prolonged the series starts some months (half a year something).<br /><br />The lens has this moustache like distortion - and there are perpective distortion which I think all 14 mm lenses on 24x36 have.</p>

[bueh]

<blockquote>

<p>The lens has this moustache like distortion - and there are perpective distortion which I think all 14 mm lenses on 24x36 have.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>This goes without saying. But my Pentax DA 14mm f/2.8 is a very decent lens without this severe barrel/moustache distortion. After all, full-frame 20mm lenses are pretty decent, too.</p>

[jean_yves_mead]

But this is a full-frame 14mm f/2.8. The performance seems pretty good, especially for the price.

[markus_keinath1]

<p>Now the Samyang 14 mm lens is in the PTLens database implemented, so there is a method to correct (as I understand not 100%) the distortion - that would be ok for me, because I do not photograph mainly architecture and such things.<br />http://epaperpress.com/ptlens/index.html<br />You could see there<br /><a href="http://www.dslr-forum.de/showpost.php?p=6546941&postcount=255" >DSLR-Forum</a><br />a corrected image.<br />Here is the original image with the moustache distortion<br /><a href="http://www.4photos.de/test/Samyang-14mm-2.8.html" >Samyang 14 mm site</a></p>

<p> </p>

[markus_keinath1]

<p>[Had problems with the hyperlinks and allowed correction time]<br /><br />Now the Samyang 14 mm lens is in the <a href="http://epaperpress.com/ptlens/index.html">PTLens</a> database implemented, so there is a method to correct (as I understand not 100%) the distortion - that would be ok for me, because I do not photograph mainly architecture and such things.<br /> <br />You could see in the <a href="http://www.dslr-forum.de/showpost.php?p=6546941&postcount=255">German DSLR-Forum</a> a corrected image.<br />Here on this site <a href="http://www.4photos.de/test/Samyang-14mm-2.8.html">Samyang 14 mm site</a> is the original image with the moustache distortion</p>

[shambrick007]

<p>I was considering this lens, but that horrendous moustache distortion is a deal breaker. </p>

 

[markus_keinath1]

<p>Yes, that distortion is a real problem. I think I would need correction only for few images (I photograph not so much architecture and so on). The images I would like distortion free, could be corrected with PTLens, a sample is on my <a href="http://www.4photos.de/test/Samyang-14mm-2.8-en.html">website</a><br>

It is good, that only minor border area is lost through the correction - but it is clear, that the image resolution is less after correction.</p>

[ashleypomeroy]

<p>The distortion is a shame. The odd thing is that early samples of the lens were not distorted in the same extreme way, e.g. as per the comments in this blog post from September last year:<br>

<a href="http://www.photographyblog.com/news/samyang_14mm_f2.8/">http://www.photographyblog.com/news/samyang_14mm_f2.8/</a><br>

I could see distortion then, but it wasn't as bad, it didn't bulge out in the middle so much. I understand the company reworked the design during early production, so perhaps they traded one bad thing for another. The 85mm f/1.4 is optically excellent with the one caveat that it is not especially sharp; in terms of distortion, vignetting, colour fringing, bokeh and so forth it is on a par with much more expensive designs. had hoped that the 14mm f/2.8 would have the same nexus of qualities, but apparently this was too much to hope for.<br>

The distortion can be corrected with software, but that is yet another thing to add to the workflow. I surmise that a company can apply brute force and lots of glass in order to design and manufacture a 85mm f/1.4, but a 14mm f/2.8 requires guile beyond Samyang's reach. What's it like in the extreme corners of a full-frame image at f/8? Is it soft, like a woman? Or sharp, like a fox?</p>

[daniele_m.]

<p>Hi Ashley, I found that Samyang 85 1.4 is blade sharp, look at this shot of mine taken at f/1.4 on 5DmkII:</p>

<p><a href=" 14mm f/1.4</a></p>

<p>and here at 100%:</p>

<p><a href=" 14mm f/1.4 - 100%</a></p>

<p>I just ordered a Samyang 14mm and as soon as I received it I'll test it ;)</p>

[jkaufman]

<p>Greetings All,<br>

I have been following the news on this lens since it was first announced. Before I consider purchasing one, however, perhaps someone can address two questions:<br>

1. Where is the lens available? It appears B&H does not carry it.<br>

2. How does the lens look on a 1.6x crop sensor (e.g., on a 450D)? Has anyone tried this?</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

[ashleypomeroy]

<p>There's a thorough-looking test at Lenstip.com, here:<br>

<a href="http://www.lenstip.com/index.php?test=obiektywu&test_ob=239">http://www.lenstip.com/index.php?test=obiektywu&test_ob=239</a><br>

They evaluate it on a full-frame Nikon D3x, but also consider its worth on a 1.5x crop sensor D200. In the latter case it has massive but uncomplicated barrel distortion - over 7% - but the resolution and other optical properties are very good. On the D3x it has the odd distortion profile noted above albeit that the resolution is still very good. It almost looks as if the company designed it for an APS-C sensor and then stretched out the edges. The colour reproduction looks more accurate than my old Sigma 15-30mm, which gave pictures a strangely yellowy-red cast.<br>

One concern the review notes is that the process of correcting this distortion will compel you to crop off the edge of the image, which gnaws away at the rationale of using an ultra wide angle lens on a full-frame camera. Will a corrected image have greater edge resolution than an uncorrected image from a stopped-down Canon 17-40mm f/4? I don't know. Are all copies built to the same optical standard? Presumably, as with the 85mm, the Opteka, Falcon, Vivitar, Bower, Wolseley, Vanden-Plas, Morris, Austin etc versions of the lens will have different nameplates but will come off the same production line.<br>

As far as I can tell the only places that it can be bought from are eBay, and direct from Samyang's Polish arm.</p>

[jkaufman]

<p>Ashley, thanks for the detailed response. I remain intrigued by the idea of using the lens for landscapes on my Canon 450D. However, the distortion seems like a real problem.</p>

[ashleypomeroy]

<p>Since posting the above - ah, May 2010, heady days, I remember them well - I have got hold of one of these lenses. Mine is in Nikon mount, because I wanted something I could mount on both my Kodak DCS 760 (an ancient Nikon F5-bodied SLR with a six megapixel APS-H sensor) and my Canon 5D. And also the old Canon 10D I have lying around, although it doesn't make a lot of sense as an APS-C lens. I have written about my experiences in the following blog post:</p>

<p><a href="http://women-and-dreams.blogspot.com/2010/05/samyang-14mm-f28-action-time-and-vision.html">http://women-and-dreams.blogspot.com/2010/05/samyang-14mm-f28-action-time-and-vision.html</a></p>

<p>As Mr Keinath points out above, PTLens has a template that will correct the distortion. Otherwise it is not a great choice if there are straight lines in the frame e.g. if you work for an estate agent, and you want to photograph the inside of a property, and you don't have time to mess around with PTLens, it is a poor choice and you'd be better off with a Sigma 12-24mm.</p>

<p>I compared with some old samples I had shot with my Sigma 15-30mm, and the Sigma lens is much less distorted (in fact it's very good in this respect). It's also cheaper on the used market than the Samyang 14mm is brand new. But it has "Sigma yellow" and overall the Samyang lens seems to be sharper around the borders, and is very sharp in the centre when stopped down, and indeed not bad in the centre at f/2.8. It's ropey around the edges at that aperture though. CA is very mild, much less than my Olympus 21mm f/3.5.</p>

<p>At some point I will have to determine the optimum file size and field of view that can be derived from a 21mp 5D MkII original, after correcting for CA and distortion and then cropping off the imperfect borders. I surmise it would produce a flawless 17mp image with something like a 16mm field of view, but I need to work on this more.</p>