MarkDphotos
Okay, so here’s the deal. If you’re starting out and need a budget wide angle lens, great. It will even capture stars and the Milky Way with its 2.8 aperature. I’ve heard quality control being an issue but after purchasing 2 of these, I got good copies both times for my Nikon. Here’s the downside and my biggest gripe: distortion. The center of your photos will look awesome. Nice and sharp if focused correctly, but the left and right sides of the frame (I’d say about 15% on each side) will look distorted/stretched. Some software adjustments in Lightroom can help a tiny bit, but you won’t get rid of it all. The edges are also very prone to getting blurry and out of focus. Many budget wide angle lenses will have this problem, so let’s not kill Rokinon for it. Just know that flawless edge to edge sharpness isn’t going to happen here. Nonetheless, it’s a great lens to learn on for many types of photography. I’ve used it for real estate, landscapes, astrophotography and long exposure work. I would NOT use it for group portraits though. People on the edges will look stretched. All in all, you get what you pay for with glass. This is a solid lens to learn on and use in the right scenarios. Just don’t expect it to be flawless at this price point.