Samyang SY14M-E 14mm F2.8 Ultra Wide Lens for Sony E-Mount

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Before providing my opinion on this Samyang Lens, I would like to describe myself as a middle aged advanced amateur photographer. I am not a pro but photography has been a hobby of mine for 20 years and in the last 10 years, I have been lucky to be able to purchase some professional L lenses and primes. Therefore, I feel I have some experience that I can draw upon to compare this ultra wide angle Samyang with other lenses in my camera bag. First off, I want to mention at the time I am writing this review (10/12/2013), the product photographs in the Amazon listing is incorrect. They have a 35mm focal length Samyang sitting in as the Canon version of the 14mm lens. I took a chance with Amazon and the lens that arrived at my door is the correct 14mm lens. Therefore, no worries you will get the right lens sent to you. Second, and unfortunately for me but perhaps fortunately for you ... The Samyang SY14M-C 14mm f/2.8 ED AS-IF UMC is optically identical to the Rokinon FE14M-C 14mm f/2.8. Unfortunate for me because the same lens branded with the Samyang name is or was at the time of my purchase about $60 more expensive. Had I known both lenses were identical, I would have gone for the Rokinon branded lens and saved some money. So if you could avoid the mistake I did, go for the Rokinon. Same manufacture, same factories, same workers make both lenses. But its just not worth my time to send the Samyang back and get the Rokinon to get the extra $60 back. Perhaps the prices and photos will be corrected by the time you read this review. Now for the lens. This lens is incredibility sharp and I am quite impressed at how sharp it is on my Canon 5D Mark 3. The closest lens I have to compare it to is the newer Canon 24-70 f/2.8 L Mark 2 and the Canon 50mm f/1.4. This lens, in terms of sharpness really can hold its own along these other lenses. I bought the Samyang lens to get something wider than the 24-70 and I am very happy I did. The lens is sharp from edge to edge on the 5D Mark 3 full frame body. The focus ring turns very smooth with long travel to obtain precise focus. The aperture ring feels solid and has no lose play in it. When you set the aperture, it stays put with confidence. The mechanics of the entire lens really gives the impression of quality just as much as the more expensive L lenses but in a plastic body of course. But the plastic doesnt feel cheap. Lens distortion can be easily corrected in Light room and Photoshop by installing the appropriate lens profile for the Samyang. Download the "Adobe Lens Profile Downloader" from Adobes website and then filter the profiles by your camera body (eg. Canon 5D Mark 2) and download the appropriate RAW profile. Google "Markus Keinath - Samyang 14 mm / 2.8 IF ED MC Aspherical" for detailed instructions. Even if your particular camera body isnt listed, if you know your camera body is a full frame, pick another full frame model, if your body is a crop sensor body, then pick another body with a APS sensor body and it should work just fine. My one gripe about the lens and it has more to do with me than the lens. If your eyesight is less than perfect, it is almost impossible to manually focus this lens looking through the viewfinder. Everything in the viewfinder seems like it is in sharp focus no matter how the lens is already focus. Using a magnified LiveView becomes essential in getting this lens in sharp focus. But you might also encounter additional problems both in bright sun and low lighting. Sometimes the bright Sun just washes out the LED on the back making the job of focusing the lens much more difficult. In low lighting condition, you will probably either have to temporary open up the aperture to let more light into the camera to be able to focus or decrease the shutter speed. Then remember to correct the exposure again before taking the picture, otherwise you will end up disappointed with over exposed photos. Because it is completely manual, you will not receive any focus confirmation beeps, chirps or indicators from the camera body or its viewfinder as you would using a Canon AF lens in manual mode. Focusing with this lens is exactly like trying to focus it when the camera body is off; there is zero assistance to guide you to getting a sharp image. It will be 100% on you to get the lens as focus as necessary. The plus side of this, because the lack of AF will slow you down, it will force you to think about composition within the frame. I think that is a great thing. In addition, this is definitely not the right lens to shoot fast moving subjects unless you have plenty of light that you can choose a small aperture setting for a deeper DOF. This is a great lens if you have patience, but if you do not, it will aggravate you quickly. I also recommend checking out some of the other views here on Amazon listed under the Rokinon brand name. Moreover, visit some of the popular photography forums on the net including Dxomark review. Best of luck. ===== UPDATE JULY 10, 2014 ====== I came back to my review today to pass on some helpful information that I uncovered this summer using my lens. Bright sunny days will be a challenge when you try to focus this lens outdoors. The glare from the sun off the back LCD will frustrate almost anyone, myself included. I began to have some fun with a firmware hack called "MagicLantern" popular with videographers. Google it to find the website and see if your particular camera body is supported, not all Canon bodies are supported. MagicLantern gives Canon bodies extra features that are not normally available. Among the many features is "focus peaking", basically a tool to help you focus a lens manually. Sony Alpha shooters are already familiar with this feature but MagicLantern provide this cool feature to Canon users. A second feature in MagicLantern is "Trap Focus". When Trap Focus is enabled in the MagicLantern menu, you can have your camera body trigger the shutter button when an object/subject comes into focus. I enable Trap Focus with AF ON button on the back of my 5D Mark III to prevent premature firing of the shutter. It will only fire if I am holding the AF ON button on the back and the subject comes into focus. Something else you might want to consider buying is a rear LCD hood loupe. There are many available, some more expensive than others. I personally chose the hoodman hoodloupe, but do your own research to find out which one is best for you. A hoodloupe improves viewing the rear LCD by blocking out the sun. Combining MagicLantern Focus peaking, Trap Focus and a LCD hood loupe will significantly reduce frustration in focusing this lens and it works well for recording video as well. I hope this information proves helpful for your photography. Best of luck.

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A night sky photographers dream lens. Affordable, sharp (even in the corners wide open), no coma, and f2.8. It adds up to a must have in the bag if youre shooting the milky way, static stars, or long exposure Polaris swirls with a full frame. The one tip I can give relates to the completely incorrect focal distance graph. Disregard it, and do a few test shots to nail down infinity (my lens is in focus skyward between 2m and 3m on the graph. Once youve established true infinity (which wont be the listed infinity on the graph!), mark with a bit of paint or nail polish, and youre set.

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Real estate review here for you! So far so good. A few things you should think about before buying this: - Its not auto focus. Pay more if you want this feature - Not as sharp as the sony/zeiss 14-35 but would do you expect for close to $1000 cheaper - Decently sharp for most used especially if you arent looking for large phots - Its way cheaper than anything else out there for this focal length Ive used it for a couple of real estate shoots and I cant complain. Clean up any abnormalities in post with lightroom. If you arent shooting huge million dollar homes you should be able to use this on most of your shots in bedrooms, bathrooms, etc. Compose correctly with getting a straight shot the first time and youll have less fixing to do in post :)

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The second one of these I got is awesome. So far I have used it only for night shooting as it is famous for overcoming coma aberration. It lives up to its reputation with flying colors. MAJOR WARNING HERE: When you get your lens you must test it in the daylight. This lens has no auto focus so it is totally manual. If you are planning to do any night shooting you MUST find the ideal focus setting on the lens for infinity before you go out. It is PROBABLY NOT at the infinity setting marked by the manufacturer. On the first lens they sent me the true setting for infinity was actually just barely below the 10 mark. Amazons amazing return policy and procedure allowed me to get a new one and even it requires me to set it about 2/3 of the way between the 10 mark and the Infinity mark. However, Im told that that is pretty standard on this lens. Once you get that figured out though it is one dang fine lens. Why five stars even with these issues? Because this is not only very inexpensive, once you figure out the focus settings, it is a really sharp and great lens. OBTW, in case you dont already know by now YOU CANNOT put a filter on this lens.

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This is tough. The image quality on the copy I received was very good. With that part, I am pleased. But focusing on my copy was near impossible. The focus ring has 20-30 degrees of lash when changing directions. I am returning this copy and trying another (the lens is a great value if I can get a better copy). Hopefully the next copy is better with the focus, and isnt a dud in terms of image quality..Ive read a bunch about de-centered lenses. Worth noting that it has really funky distortion. I guess its called "mustache distortion". I think this is remedied pretty easily in LR or other editors with the proper profiles. For example, Id start focusing, slow it down when nearing the correct focus, and then over shoot a tiny bit because its difficult to tell when focus has peaked. But when turning the focus the other direction, it takes 20-30 degrees of rotation to start moving focus again and theres nothing really in the feel to tell you that youve caught the focus mechanism again. In those degrees, you can move the ring back and forth and no focus changes. So basically it was just this "overshoot focus, turn the focus ring back 30 degrees, go too far and undershoot focus, try going the other direction again" dance until you give up and live with being off a bit. I know it isnt a huge deal with this focal length, but its still a really annoying experience. If the focus ring was more tactile, and didnt have quite so much delay between physical movement and actual focus change, this would be a home run. For a manual focus lens, it shouldnt have a wonky focus system.

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I’m a retired professional photographer, which begs the question, why would I buy this lens? Since I don’t have a need for a super wide lens on a regular basis I have other things I would rather spend money on and since the Sony options are 6X the cost I decided to give it a run. The build quality is better than I expected, feels solid and the focus ring is smooth, so I give the build quality high marks. I’m old school, which means I’m old enough to understand the concept of manual focus and aperture settings. Actually, it’s kind of fun to be back in the drivers seat. These days I’m shooting with a Sony ar7iii. I don’t mind the weight of the lens when paired with the ar7iii. Let’s talk about sharpness and focus: like most super wide lenses there is considerable wide focus depth, so your long shots should be easy enough to achieve the best sharpness this lens will provide, and btw, so far I find it very acceptable. Now getting close to your subject or a close-in with a long view like two of my sample shots is another matter. One of my samples I have difficulty even finding the focus spot, but that could be operator error too. Time will tell, and I will update later. Close in subjects are tricky and take practice to achieve the sharpness you will want, all I can say is “bracket”. Bottom line: For the money it is perfectly acceptable, but be prepared to work on your technique. If you are of the auto focus and auto exposure generation this may not be your lens unless your willing to make the effort.

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I give it 5 starts, not because its perfect, rather because its a bargain for what you get and it was perfect for what I needed it for. I am not a professional, just a long time serious amateur. I sometimes need a fast wide angle, but not often enough to spend a grand or more. I didnt need perfection, just good to very good. This lens hit the mark for me. Truth is in the circumstances I used it performance was comparable to lenses costing many times more than it. I use it for casual interior shots and for astro photography. It works great for either. It interfaces with my D750 Nikon perfectly with the camera giving me accurate focus and exposure focus It produces good colors and clear pictures. It does all I could expect from a lens, especially at this price point. I could not expect, nor ask, for more for this amount of money. I have read that some people get a "bad copy". Well, maybe I got a "good copy", I dont know, but I do know that the one I have works very well and I would not hesitate to buy it again if I needed another one. That all said, it is not without its weaknesses. Accurate focus can be an issue if you are locked into using the focus scale on the lens. When using this lens I would go out and get some practice before taking any critical photos. Learn how to adjust its focus, dont trust the camera to do everything for you. This lens is great fun to use

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First off, this is the wrong picture! The real thing is longer but has the same built in hood and giant front element. This lens is very cheap in comparison to other lenses of similar image quality for a number of reasons. Its sharp and produces excellent photos if you get a good copy. Ive had very mixed experiences with owning Rokinon/Samyang lenses, with 2 out of 5 living up to the promise of high image quality. Ive made a number of returns. The distortion is quite strong. If you shoot interiors or architecture where straight lines really need to look straight, this lens will disappoint you, shell out the money for a Zeiss. If you shoot landscape, the distortion is less of a problem, and if you shoot astrophotos, distortion is almost not a problem. This lens is cheap because its manual focus, manual aperture, lacks image stabilization, has strong distortion, and getting a good copy is a gamble. If none of these bother you and your willing to deal with making a return or two, this is the best ultra wide lens to buy without paying a fortune. I would give this lens three stars for the quality control and distortion, but that price is hard to argue with. I recommend this lens, but know what youre getting into and be prepared to hunt for a good copy. My good copy is an excellent lens - except for the distortion.

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picture quality is better than expected..for $264 i assumed there would be at least one major flaw but so far i have no complaints. the only reason its cheap is because it doesnt have autofocus and you cant change the aperture on the camera, must manually use the dials on the lens. which is fine. everything works great and its hard to find any good lens that works on sonys full frame for under $500. so yes i would recommend this to anyone who isnt trying to pay around $600-750 for the same lens but with autofocus. it does astrophotography as well but ill have to wait til the summer months for the milky way..captures stars perfectly though. no star trails, no blur. looks nice.

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This lens is way better than it has any right to be for the price. I was initially concerned about the full-manual nature of it, but in reality it hasnt been an issue at all. For typical landscape work just set the aperture to a typical f/11 or so, focus to infinity and fire away. I typically shoot in manual with this lens, by you can use aperture priority instead if you want (just be sure to tell the camera what aperture you have it set to). The image quality is fantastic, its well built (and not too large/heavy) and that front element always gets some appreciation if you show it around! Only negative is how hard it is to put a CPL in front of this thing. There are options but they end up costing more than the lens. Oh - and if you use lightroom it does come with correction profiles for this lens, you just have to manually select them in the develop module.

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