Rokinon - Samyang - Bower

[supermodel159]

I finally picked up the Rokinon 14mm 2.8 lens for my Canon 5D. I had been on the fence for a while, but I really didn’t want to drop over $2300 for the Canon 14mm prime, so I picked up the Rokinon.

After a few test shots around my house last night, I can say I was surprised with the overall quality of the images. Edges were sharp and great color contrast throughout the image. The barrel distortion is easly fixed in post. The lens body is plastic, but for under $400, I really could care less. On the bright side, the lens is very light.

I started this thread for others mags to post their experience with these lenses. I have heard good things especially about the 85 1.4.

[advres]

Love love love my 85. I'm kind of indifferent to my 8mm. Not that there is anything wrong with it, but it's very rarely that you're gonna lug around an 8mm. Really thin at some point I'm gonna grab the new 35. Some 85 snaps. Nothing special but I likes em.

[Lonnie]

Love love love my 85.

That one comes very highly regarded in many circles.

[Chainsaw_Willie]

Love love love my 85. I'm kind of indifferent to my 8mm. Not that there is anything wrong with it, but it's very rarely that you're gonna lug around an 8mm. Really thin at some point I'm gonna grab the new 35. Some 85 snaps. Nothing special but I likes em.

Got nothin' to say about those lenses but that pic... damn, how depressing.

[advres]

Got nothin' to say about those lenses but that pic... damn, how depressing.

Man, I had so many questions running through my head when I saw the scene. I was wondering if that was now his daily routine at his age looking for friends that passed. I wondered if he knew someone while reading. I never read obits but maybe down the road that will be where I look first? It really just spoke to me.

[advres]

That one comes very highly regarded in many circles.

I think for $269 bucks it was the single most cost effective photography purchase I have made.

[smmokan]

Damn, why did I have to read this thread? Now I want that 85mm f/1.4.

[supermodel159]

Do you guys buy these from Amazon?

[Edgnar]

That is a very striking image. I was going to ask if you noticed what he was looking at when you took the shot, but it appears you did. Its a sad image, but it speaks volumes.

[advres]

Do you guys buy these from Amazon?

I got my 85 from Amazon and my 8 from Buydig

[Lonnie]

Overstock.com also has them.

With the new manual focus peeking firmware updated for the NEX, I need to pick one (several) of these up...

[smmokan]

Hey Advres, can you post some more examples of shots you took with the 85mm f/1.4 that show ultra thin DOF?

[advres]

^Sure.... My copy has some pretty crazy CA but I think it adds character to the lens.














This one really shows how the foreground and background melt. The lens is truly amazing for the price. Less than $300 for an ultra fast prime with that kind of IQ????


Just so you know... As has been said a million times over, you absolutely need to use live view with the 85 to pull accurate focus wide open. This isn't a "look through the viewfinder and focus" that is for sure!!! But super shallow wide open and tack sharp stopped down.

[advres]

If you need more examples I have a few hours between work and when I need to get ready to leave tomorrow. Maybe a shot of a yardstick?

[advres]

Was packing up my gear before heading to bed and thought I'd take a snap for smmokan. Sorry this isn't to my flickr with exif but it was taken at 1.4 , ISO 800 at about 4' (closest distance for focus). Nothing special again but it should give you a good approximation of the DOF this lens achieves.

Zero manipulation done. This is raw, just resized saved to jpeg.

[Dromond]

The out of focus areas are seriously nice on that lens. Surprising! About the same FOV as the 50mm on a crop, too. Could someone make 5DMkIIs not cost $2500, please?

[advres]

that is on a crop....

[Fuzz]

My copy has some pretty crazy CA but I think it adds character to the lens.

As far as I know, this is a feature of most (all?) super-fast lenses.

[smmokan]

Thanks Advres... perfect.

[Dromond]

that is on a crop....

All of the images or just the last one?

[advres]

All of them. I only have a 7d.

EDIT - Shit, after rereading your first post, I misunderstood what you meant. Thought you said DOF not FOV, My bad.

[smmokan]

Hey advres, do you use a tripod with this all the time?

[advres]

I've actually only had it on a tripod a handful of times. The only one above shot on a tripod is the bird. The only reason I did was because I was waiting for a sunset so I had the tripod already setup.

My "technique" is rather weird. I look through the viewfinder to roughly compose the shot. Since it's a real long lens on a crop it usually takes some moving of the feet to get you to where you want. Then once I'm standing where I want the picture, I leave the camera where it is and pull my head back to use live view. After I pull focus using the 10x zoom, I pull my head back to the camera, recompose the framing and take the picture. I could do it all in liveview I suppose but I feel more steady with the camera pressed to my face. I suppose a tripod would be easier but then you got to carry it

[Lonnie]

Hijack alert...

Overstock.com also has them.

With the new manual focus peeking firmware updated for the NEX, I need to pick one (several) of these up...

My "technique" is rather weird. I look through the viewfinder to roughly compose the shot. Since it's a real long lens on a crop it usually takes some moving of the feet to get you to where you want. Then once I'm standing where I want the picture, I leave the camera where it is and pull my head back to use live view. After I pull focus using the 10x zoom, I pull my head back to the camera, recompose the framing and take the picture. I could do it all in liveview I suppose but I feel more steady with the camera pressed to my face. I suppose a tripod would be easier but then you got to carry it

This is why I'm stoked on the focus peeking. It makes all that stuff you talk about unnecessary. Basically, when using manual foucs, the rear display of the camera highlights (in the users choice of red, yellow or white) the areas of the frame that are in sharpest focus. Folks have been having great success shooting in Raw+jpg with creative style being B&W with focus peeking set to red. The raw image is recorded in full color for later PP work.

Here's a quick video of it in action...

[advres]

That's pretty sexy. But you still have to use live view. What would be awesome was if they could put that technology into a digital viewfinder. THAT would be love in my eyes.