Samyang 14mm - any opinions ?

[DibblyDobbler]

I have just about bought (and sold) also most every lens known to man over the last few years but I think I am nearly there now - the one thing I am lacking is an ultra-wide. Just occasionally my 24-105 (which I absolutely love) is not wide enough. I am on full frame so the obvious choice would be a 17-40, or maybe a 16-35 mk2, or just maybe a Samyang 14mm. The Samyang reviews very well and using hyperfocal focusing I am not too concerned about the lack of autofocus. The wide maximum aperture would also help with star shots.

Any thoughts or experiences to share ?

TIA

[Fordo]

Cracking lens, ad long as you don't mind manual focus and aperture.

It's tack sharp, and very solidly built. Feels as solid as zeiss ze lenses.i bought the vdslr version, so declicked iris. The dampening on the focus is lovely too.

Has a good minimum focus distance too. Flair control is reasonable. They've got proper coatings on the front and back elements.

Only critism I have, is the petal hood is fixed on the front- so you can't screw on filters.


If your thinking of Astros stuff, what about the samyang 21mm- it's super fadt, f1.4 I think. 21mm is plenty wide on full frame, and maybe just wide on a crop

Also, for a super wide, the tokina 11-16 is pretty hard to beat and isn't much more than the samyang 14mm

[Fordo]

Forgot, the tokina doesn't cover full frame!

[DibblyDobbler]

Thanks Peter

I can't seem to find anything on a Samyang 21mm - are you maybe thinking of the 24mm ?

Sorry - what do you mean 'declicked iris' ?

Ta

[Fordo]

Ah yes, your right, it is 24. No idea where I got 21 from!

Declicked- the iris has no click stops, so it turns completely smoothly like cine lenses do.

[RobDickinson]

The sy14 is sharp and a good lens I'm considering one myself.



Downside is distortion and poor build quality. Plus the filter issue.

[DibblyDobbler]

Thanks Gents

I don't imagine I'll use it that often so splashing out on 16-35 (again!) would seem daft so maybe this is the answer.
Re the build quality it's odd as some reviews say it's great but others poor...

[RobDickinson]

Roger over at lensrental says its plasticky and poor but not frail, also that its cheaper(to buy) than paying for a repair to a nikon 14-24 so dont worry...

[Fordo]

The build quality must be different in the vdslr version - mine isn't plasticky at all (apart from the petal hood).
Feels solid and has a good weight

But then it does cost a bit more than the normal version.

[LongQ]

At the price I paid I think it's a great lens. The manual everything really doesn't matter at all once you get your head around estimating distances and then settling on what you need.

It does, apparently, have some "moustache" distortion but up to the 1.3 crop on my 1D3 it's a hard thing to spot. (See Photozone.de) I guess architectural is the biggest issue for that. Very sharp though - you may recall my balloon shots from last year and the very sharp result from a tiny centre of frame crop. Most decent lens adjustment programs will resolve any problems with non-linear lines in the mojority of usage cases.

Filters may be an issue - but I don't have a set worthy of note so I go with what it offers "naked".

Otherwise the only things to be aware of are that during handling it's not at all impossible to inadvertently adjust focus and exposure values so you need to get into the habit of check settings regularly. Your "Engineering" shots would probably not be a problem. Using it for "Street" shooting on the hoof might suggest a closer attention to the position of things.

Overall (and certainly in terms of bang for bucks) it's a great lens to have on a body. Mine tends to live on the 600D (which was purchased with the intention of getting some significant resolution for manual lenses to live with) for my "field" projects.

Edited by LongQ on Friday 12th April 20:44

[DibblyDobbler]

Thanks LQ I was hoping you would chip in

Quite fancying one of these now - I'm not expecting I would use it that often so buying something a bit cheaper but still super sharp makes sense. Which would be a nice change for me

[LongQ]

DibblyDobbler said:

Thanks LQ I was hoping you would chip in

Quite fancying one of these now - I'm not expecting I would use it that often so buying something a bit cheaper but still super sharp makes sense. Which would be a nice change for me

I had thought about observing that the initial price and potential resale value were both low enough that the temptation to 'repurpose' the investment was likely to be low. But I thought better of it ... at the time. However, now you mention it ...

Not tried it on FF though. And of course on the 600D it's really only about 21/22MM equivalent. About 18/19mm on the 1D3 but it doesn't get many outings on that since the whole point of the 1D3 is the AF tech and shot rate. Other lenses make better use of that.

[DibblyDobbler]

Right that's mine ordered

Mrs DD is getting me one for my birthday

(Fourth of May - can't wait!)

[markmullen]

I just picked up a cheap Sigma 14mm f2.8 on TP. Thought it might be a useful thing to have in my bag, and worth a punt for star trails, Milky Way etc. It arrives with me Wednesday so will report back.

[DibblyDobbler]

I had a look at that myself Mark - hope it works for you