Rokinon AF 35mm f/1.4 Auto Focus Wide Angle Full Frame Lens for Sony FE Mount, Black (IO3514-E)

I wanted to try something new and move on from a 50mm "Nifty Fifty" lens with my Sony A7III. This lens has about just as good performance and runs for below $700. It does have awesomely sharp shots in the center and perfect for those who is into portrait photography. I wouldnt recommend this as an all around lens for travel but thats exactly what I did when I took it to Hawaii (see pictures attached). At f/1.4, it is of course extremely fast, lets a lot of light in for when I shoot past 7pm and the build quality of this is superb! One small thing I did notice nor liked was the sound of the Auto-Focus, it does do the jello effect when searching for a focus, but the loud noises it makes is not so annoying, unless you will be using the audio for when you do videos. Highlights: - Fast Auto-Focusing - Eye-Auto-Focus works like butter - BOKEH is AMAZING! - Super Sharp in the center if you want to move the viewers eyes there, but if in correct settings, you can get sharp shots all around. - Shoots well in dark light - Cheap priced compared to competitors - E-MOUNT for Sony! - Perfect for Portraits! - Build quality is robust, heavy lens and its metal. Cons: (THIS IS THE BUT) - Noticeable, but not annoying noises as the lens looks for focus points. Definitely not good for a filmmaker if they need the audio. - Its Heavy! Overall, this is a great lens more intended for portrait shooters, casually 1 lens travelers who want to travel light and I would recommend this to everyone who cant budget an extra $1000 for a better lens.

Show more

Purchased this 2 months ago, and finally got around to testing it. Out of the box, the focus would hunt, and then get stuck. I could hear the motors trying to focus, but nothing would happen. The only way to fix it was by turning it off and on again. Thought it may have been a one time thing. I took it to a small event, and it did the same thing. This time it wouldnt lock focus, again-the only way to fix it was turning it off. Luckily I had other lenses. The Sony lenses never had any issues during my testing. I hope that this is an isolated issue. But until I try another copy, I cant recommend this lens.

Show more

This lens is awesome. It’s sharp, creates an amazing creamy bokeh. The AF is quite, fast and most importantly very reliable. Not like the 50mm which tends to focus all over the place. I love this lens I recently shot a wedding using this lens in my Sony a7 ii and my a6500 I can’t tell how much pleased I’m with the lens. Update: I have updated the lens to the latest firmware version using the samyang lens station. Now its even better, faster focusing in low light enviroment. You cant go wrong with this one!!!

Show more

Overall, I really enjoy this lens. I use it on my A7RII for stills and A7SII for video. Tack sharp at the center. Great bokeh. Pretty fast AF. Solid build quality. The sound the AF motor makes is somewhat noticeable, but I use a shotgun mic so it doesnt matter to me. The only issues Ive run in to are the chromatic aberration and the autofocus when I shoot at 120fps on the A7SII. The chromatic aberration isnt bad, but if youre pixel peeping (hard not to do with the A7RII) you will notice it. Lightroom doesnt have a profile for it yet but with your own tweaking, can fix it quickly. The only thing keeping this from 5 stars is the fact that it will not autofocus properly when I shoot at 120fps on the A7SII. Its as if its trying to focus on something 3 inches in front of what I need it to. It focuses just fine in 4K and at 1080 60fps. I tested this issue on the A7RII at 120fps (the A7RII does 120fps at 720, not 1080) and it worked better, but still not perfect. My lens came with v.02. I changed the focus area to everything available to no avail. If I wanted to use manual focus, I would have bought its cheaper counterpart. Besides that, its a great lens for the price. EDIT: I talked to the people at Rokinon and there is no fix for the inability to focus at higher frame rates. Their response was, "The 35mm F1.4 AF lens isn’t made for video and manual focus is normally recommend..." I still recommend this lens, just be prepared to use manual focus at the high frame rates.

Show more

I love this lens. It is sharper than I was expecting. Focusing is fast and fairly accurate, hunts a little in low light but nothing out of the ordinary for a wide aperture prime. I like how it renders bokeh and colors. Very nice for portraits in low light. The only drawback is that it is a bit loud when acquiring focus, so for video shooters it might be an issue, but for me it is perfectly fine so the 5 star rating stands. It is a great lens for the money and I would recommend it if you are looking for a budget 35mm 1.4. You cant go wrong with this lens for photography.

Show more

This lens offers incredible value for a 35mm f/1.4 native e-mount lens. I bought it for my recently purchased A7iii, and I have been very happy with it so far. AF is fast and accurate, and eye AF works perfecy. AF works well both in AF-S and AF-C. Image quality is great for what I bought it for (environmental and indoor portraits of my toddler). Its sharp, and the bokeh is pleasing. Build quality is great. Its built like a tank. The front lens cap is a bit finicky, but everything else is great. The hood fits really well. My lens came with firmware version 02, which is the latest version. I believe Samyang released a newer firmware ( ver 03), but it was withdrawn due to some issues. I bought the Samyang lens station (dock) to update the firmware if a newer version is released in the future. The only con I can think of so far is the weight and size. Its a big and heavy lens, but so are the other 35mm 1.4 lenses. If this is your only lens in this focal length, I would recommend picking up a smaller lens like the Samyang 35mm 2.8 for occasions where you need the smallest package for portability. I ended up picking up the Sony 28mm F/2 FE lens. Its not as small and light as the Samyang 35mm 2.8, but its small enough. Overall, Im very happy with my purchase and would recommend this lens to fellow A7iii owners looking for a bright 35mm lens that doesnt break the bank.

Show more

This lens takes amazing photos and the af is deadly accurate. It has a very smooth bokeh and is tack sharp at the same time. At f 1.4 it is a touch soft in the focused areas, but stop down to f1.6 and it is completely sharp. The transition from sharp to blurry is very slow and smooth like Zeiss, not hard and abrupt like Canon Ls. There are some some downsides. The materials are good, but not Canon L or Zeiss good. More like standard Sony. The AF is a bit slow and the lower the light the worse it gets. It still focuses fine at lighting requiring 12,800 ISO....it just may take a quarter second to get there. In good lighting it is much faster. It can do eye af without issue. Lastly, the AF motor is noisy like Canon aps-c lenses....not distracting or audible if in quite room really, but it will be picked up in an internal mic if shooting video. Despite the minor shortcomings, this lens is well worth it for the price. The images it takes are stunning.

Show more

Its a decent lens for sure but it wasnt for me. Im shooting with an A7RII which has OK focus speeds. I found in lower light, where I tend to use a fast prime most, the AF hit rate wasnt that great for me. Sure it focused basically as fast as Zeiss FE 35 but I didnt find it really sharp until f/2. Im used to shooting with the Sigma 35 Art and it has its compromises as well but sharpness, especially near wide open, the adapted Sigma is much sharper wide open or slightly stopped down. Considering how sharp the 24-70GM is wide open, and how this needs to be stopped down to f/2 to get a prime quality sharp image, I see no need to add this to my gear bag. Other things to consider: Video was pretty nice with pretty quick and accurate AF but you can hear the AF motor if not using off camera sound. The lack of AF/MF switch is a huge bother for me as I use the AF/MF/AEL switch on my A7RII as my Eye-AF button. This means switch from AF to MF or back requires multiple steps. That was actually a bid deal for me that I didnt consider. There are workarounds but why do I need to change? Id rather change my gear for my style of shooting. Finally, the chromatic aberration is terrible. Lets be honest, the Zeiss FE 35 is too but you get the Zeiss "pop" with that lens that straight out of camera, this lens does not have.

Show more

I liked the picture quality coming from this lens paired with the a7III. The downfall is the autofocus of the lens. Its great when it works, but it does hunt and focus breathing is present with continuous autofocus. The autofocus motor is also loud that it can be heard through video. Reliability is probably not its best feature. I definitely wouldnt take it to an event where I need the autofocus to be at the high 90% success rate. The lens is well built and with the f1.4, it is nice for lowlight. There are definitely noticable CA in high contrast areas of photos taken. I wanted to like this lens but with its flaws and shortcomings, Ill probably stick with my current gear at this time. Maybe I received a bad copy? Rokinon/samyang are definitely going in the right direction with their AF line. Maybe by next year, theyll come out with lenses with more reliable autofocus and have the motor be silent.

Show more

Tack sharp. AF works, although not quite as fast as I would hope for. UPDATE - I got the Sony Zeiss, as this AF motor is far too noisy for video. If you just need stills this works great, otherwise... dont bother

Show more