Rokinon RK12M-FX-SIL 12mm F2.0 Ultra Wide Angle Lens for Fujifilm X-Mount Cameras

This is quite possibly the BEST lens for day-to-day real estate photography. I sold my Sony 10-18mm and now shoot all my interiors with this Rokinon lens. Truthfully, the only other lens that one MIGHT need would be a nice, expensive Tilt-Shift. But for 99% of all the shots you need to take in the VAST majority of all the properties that exists and will be placed up for sale...this lens can handle them just fine. A MAJOR benefit to this lens is....speed. You can set it up so that you never have to focus it for interior/exterior shots. Simply set the focus ring to infinity and then put a piece of tape on the bottom of it to lock it down. Now you never have to check if your shot is in focus or not. Which was NOT the case for my Sony 10-18mm. With THAT lens, few times I needed to duck exposure down QUITE a bit so that the windows were not over-exposed with the intention of adding light back into the interior of the room with flash. What happened though was that the autofocus Sony lens ended up focusing on a sun lit passage further back in the scene! When I got back, the main space that I was shooting was not in focus...but the back hall was! So my Sony camera has a problem with this when underexposing the interior. Sure, you could manually focus. You could bring up the exposure to get the main scene in focus, then lock down the focus, darken exposure to get the windows right, and then take the shot. You could. But WHY? That is way WAY too many steps for a fast-paced shooting situation like shooting the interiors of homes. I need to be able to step in the corner of a room and take the shot and then move to the next location in as little time as possible. I already have to adjust the camera to get it level. I already have to duck the exposure but make sure its not faster than flash sync speed....theres already plenty to check. I want to KNOW that the shot will always be in focus. This Rokinon lens with the tape-down-the-focus-ring trick lets me do just that. I know that wherever I am in a house, that shot is going to come out in focus. And that has been a big benefit to me. The attached images were taken with this lens.

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I bought this lens for astrophotography purposes and this lens does a wonderful job taking images of the night sky. It is nice and wide and there is very little chromatic aberration in the corners of the image. Shot wide open the images are crisp and clear. With my Fujifilm XT-2 Im able to get excellent images with an exposure time of 8 sec, ISO 12,800, F2.0 (the setting for all my night example images). All of these images are JPEG straight out of the camera with zero external editing. I would highly recommend this lens to anyone with a Fuji XT-1 or XT-2 who is looking to get into low light photography. Shout out to Lonely Speck (lonelyspeck.com) for pointing me to this lens. I couldnt be happier with this purchase!

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I was debating between this Rokinon vs Olympus 12 f/2. The main differences are AF and price. I have several Rokinon / Samyang lenses and always found them to be excellent. This one is no exception. For wide angle, AF is not that important. So for less than 1/2 the Olympus, I gave Rokinon a try. Optically, it is excellent even wide open. Sharpness is very uniform across the entire frame. I think this is a consequence of the fact that this lens is designed for larger sensors. It also means that I have much more flexibility in ISO or shutter speed. Like other Rokinon, this lens is well built and substantial. Focus ring is smooth and offers nice resistance. Aperture has clicks and a solid feel. The only minor issue is that the mount is not as smooth as other Olympus or Panasonic lenses I have. Oct 18 2017 update This is an update after using it for a little longer. Attached are some of recent pictures. Sharpness and resolution are absolutely stunning. The first two were hand held with wide open aperture. The last one was on tripod with aperture set to f/8.0. Manual focus was very easy.

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After a year and a half of use, I can safely say that though it has its flaws, this lens is a solid way to get a practical wide into your kit for cheap. Downsides: -Fairly-frequent green/magenta color fringing on both my X-Pro1 & X-T2, though usually easy to remove in post -Quality of optics isnt incredible, and at apertures 5.6+ quality loss becomes *very* noticeable -Manual focus, though not an issue while composing slower shots, has caused me issues in fast & precise scenarios like theatre -Can shift ever-so-slightly while on the camera body... it has no stability issues, though, so this is just a pet peeve Upsides: -A way to have a surprisingly-decent wide lens for less than half the cost of a Fuji autofocus lens -Build quality is solid, focusing & aperture rings still feel sturdy after countless hours of use -f2 is pretty darn fast glass compared to similar autofocus lenses -Focuses very close, and is tack-sharp at minimum distance + minimum aperture, something many Fuji lenses arent Conclusion: Though now Im buying a Fuji wide (10-24mm f4) to have more flexibility & consistency on shoots that need it, I dont regret this purchase one bit. If you have a hard time justifying a larger purchase right now, or simply dont need fast focusing/flawless clarity/higher apertures, this lens may be just what you need.

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Stunning image quality, excellent for night landscapes and astrophotography. There is minimal distortion for such a wide lens and you get really nice sharp images throughout the frame. Great build quality, smooth focusing and aperture action. Great match for traveling with my little Fuji X-M1 camera. See images attached...

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PRO: I love how wide this lens is without distorting too much. Its great for landscapes and portraits (especially when you dont have much physical space to use less wide lenses). I think its fun to use a manual lens when you have lots of time to make sure your subject is in focus or not. CON: However, Ive noticed its hard to tell if my photo is in focus or not when under bright sunlight and since my camera screen is pretty small (lumix g7) I was bummed to find out that a lot of the photos I thought were in focus were not in focus when I got home. I recommend you only use this manual lens for photoshoots that let you have lots of time to check the focus. Another con I would say compared to my other two lenses (lumix 45mm and 25mm), the photo quality isnt as great. Its obviously less clear and as others mentioned, theres a lens flare (which I dont mind since I think it looks cool often times) + you see chromatic aberration at some angles looking towards the light source (sun). CONCLUSION: I got this as I needed a wider angle lens for my purposes and it works great for indoor and outdoor shoots ONLY when I have lots of time. When in rush or to capture moments, its not a good camera lens. You probably need a lens with auto focus for the latter purpose :) I think I could recommend this wide angle lens for those who dont want to spend too much money but want a 12mm lens but if you have a bigger budget and want better quality, I recommend you get other lenses (like from Panasonic or Olympus)

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I got this for the EOS M5. The pictures are awesome. Sharp, low coma, little distortion, even wide open at f2. This lens works great for astrophotography with that big aperture. The milky way is a composite of three landscape taken wide open with ISO of 1600 and for 20 seconds, in the Mojave desert on a clear day but a bright moon was located off to the right. The Joshua tree was taken with aperture of 2.8, ISO of 1250, and a 20 second exposure. I cannot recall the aperture for the others, but they were taken around f5.6 - f8 (the stream was shot with a ND-10 filter) This lens transformed my EOS M camera into something I did not believe was possible. The M series is not know for good dynamic range and low-light performance, yet with this lens low aperture, it performed well in dark situations. Absolutely love this lens, and it is cheap! I bought mine used from Adorama and it is in great condition.

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I use this lens with an Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II camera. I love it. I dont know if it is because of the camera, but I have not noticed any distortion issues with this lens. This lens takes crisp pictures and is good in low light. Because it is 12mm, it can easily handle slow shutter speeds like 1/20 without camera shake. They say this lens is not good at taking pictures of people. I have not found that to be true at all. People will be distorted if they are very close (within a few feet) or there can be distortion in a corner(s) of the photo when using less than around f8. If I have to use around f3 or 4, the lens is so wide that it is easy to keep subjects out of the corners. To avoid distortion with people, I try to allow at least nearly 8 ft. between myself and persons in the photo. And I never have a problem.The pictures do appear further away, but cropping will bring the persons closer and with more detail. I have also found it very easy to take motion pictures with this manual lens. Of course, motion pictures require faster shutter speeds to avoid blurring. Focusing is never a problem with this lens. You can use the focus peaking or focus magnifier on the camera to make sure it is set. Focusing is far too easy to justify paying a lot more money for auto focus. I can set the focus on infinity and walk around snapping pictures (far and near) all day without even looking through the camera. I am amazed at how much width this lens gives even when close up. This lens allows me to take nice pictures of people when I want to capture the background clearly, without the blurred bokeh effect. Group shots in tight spaces are a piece of cake with this lens. This lens shines when capturing people in their environment. I always use this lens when the occasion requires me to take fast pictures on-the-go. For me, this lens is best for walk-around or street photography - any event that requires walking around. It is great for zoos, amusement parks, parties, festivals, museums, vacations, tours, close up environments, outdoor events, etc. It goes without saying, it is good for architecture, landscape, and astro-photography. The lens attachment takes an initial twist to get it properly attached to the camera. It is no big deal, but a better adapter is needed.

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I use this lens on my Fujifilm X-T3. All the reviews about it are true, both good and bad: Good: 1. Very sharp 2. Easy to focus -- focus peaking works great. 3. Focus ring resistance is smooth, nice. Bad: 1. Lens hood is abysmal -- wont lock into place and easily comes on/off.

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My go to for wide angle landscapes and this F2.0 aperture saves my astrophotography for my XT1 camera. Focus ring is tight and wont knock out of focus easily. Tip: Learn how to switch to (shoot without lens mode) in the menu quickly and this lens will serve you well.

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