Rokinon FE14M-E 14mm F2.8 Ultra Wide Lens for Sony E-mount and Fixed Lens for Other Cameras

UPDATE: the lens seems to degrade a bit over time, with softness in the corners getting more pronounced. Changed my score to 3 stars. The good. -Widest Sony E mount full frame (for alpha series cameras) lens available that is NOT a fish eye as at Jan 2016. 14mm is ultra wide and is more than enough for most people. -Sharp under good lighting conditions. (Only F2.8, which becomes more of a factor under poorer light) -Made for Sony, so runs well with Sonys alpha series cameras, (but no autofocus) -Relatively cheap, compared to say, Sonys 16-35mm FF lens. (Around $US1100). -One can play around with a relatively inexpensive, ultra wide angle lens, such as for specialised landscape/architecture and astrophotography, for not too high a price. -not a fish eye lens, which isnt everyones taste. The Bad -No autofocus (which doenst matter much unless you shoot closer up, which is not what this lens is for) -Only F2.8, not great, but not too bad either. -Some moderate mustache style distortion (i.e. mid level horizontal lines arent completely straight, but its only recognizable on some styles of photography) -Large and difficult to clean the lens -Relatively heavy and bulky -Not as sharp as some other E mount full frame fixed focus lenses (becomes noticeable compared to, say, Sonys 55mm/1.8 lens, especially in lower light). -A little lower pixel resolutions than other full frame lenses. All in all, not too bad at all for the price, at around $US300. The images you generally get are not QUITE (but pretty close) the same high sharpness and quality as some of the other Sony E mount full frame fixed focus lenses, and which also have lower F stops (such as the Sony 35mm/1.4 and the Sony 55mm/1.8), but for what its worth, it does pretty well, and it stacks up well against other similar ultra wide angle lenses of other camera brands (e.g. Nikon, Canon) which exhibit similar slight limitations.

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This lens is amazing for astro, landscape, and even architecture with the right program to correct the crazy distortion. The very first copy I received was decentered and I returned it to receive a perfect copy of this lens. I used it for about a year, but very sparingly (mostly due to its huge size and weight). I recently noticed that its become softer in the corners and decentered. Check out how much worse the coma on the right side of the astro photo I attached is. I will add that I am probably at fault for this lenses rapid degradation, as I am really hard on my gear. Specifically, Ive definitely dropped this lens and had it bounce a good 10 feet down a mountain side. I also trail run with it in my bag almost every time it goes out with me. That being said, I will add that so far none of my other lenses have experienced malfunctioning in spite of similar abuse. If you arent hard on your gear, this may be the lens for you, but I am in the market for a higher quality ultra wide.

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