Rokinon 85mm 1.4 + NEX6 good combo for (non-stationary) Photography?

I am looking at purchasing the Rokinon 85mm 1.4 lens to use on my NEX-6. I'd love something with PDAF on the LAEA2 obviously, but unfortunately the cash isn't there. I need best I can get for the lowest price.



How well does this lens work for non-stationary photography? (which would be landscapes, portraits etc.) because of its lack of OSS and AF. The first time I've ever used a manual lens was about 3 years ago when I first bought my NEX-5; needless to say I still need some practice getting quick, accurate focus.

I would plan to use this lens for concert photography. I'm the band photographer for a couple local bands and this is primarily where I'd be using this lens. I already use my (MF) Minolta Rokkor-X 50 1.7 for exactly this, but the reach still wasn't long enough for a lot of shots. Any input or feedback?

Elite83 said:

I am looking at purchasing the Rokinon 85mm 1.4 lens to use on my NEX-6. I'd love something with PDAF on the LAEA2 obviously, but unfortunately the cash isn't there. I need best I can get for the lowest price.

Click to expand...

How good are you at manual focus?

Elite83 said:

How well does this lens work for non-stationary photography? (which would be landscapes, portraits etc.) because of its lack of OSS and AF. The first time I've ever used a manual lens was about 3 years ago when I first bought my NEX-5; needless to say I still need some practice getting quick, accurate focus.

Click to expand...

With an 85mm lens I would try to keep the shutter at 1/160 or faster. Since NEX doesn't have a minimum shutter speed, put the lens at desired aperture and set mode to S and set shutter to 1/160 or whatever you need.

Elite83 said:

I would plan to use this lens for concert photography. I'm the band photographer for a couple local bands and this is primarily where I'd be using this lens. I already use my (MF) Minolta Rokkor-X 50 1.7 for exactly this, but the reach still wasn't long enough for a lot of shots. Any input or feedback?

Click to expand...

Not sure what your budget is, but if AF is important to you, you might be able to pick up a used Samsung NX 85mm f/1.4 and a Samsung NX20 body inexpensively (but still probably $1000 US for both), and have fast and accurate AF. Also wait for new 85mm f/1.8 or whatever Sony has in store this year, but who knows how much that will cost

If you are okay with the Rokkor X 50mm f/1.7, then the Samyang 85mm f/1.4 should be fine. the shallower depth of field might give you a little trouble with focusing peaking, and you might have to zoom in to check focus. Probably just lower your hit rate. The lens is a good lens image quality wise, and a really good price.

Eric

Does anyone know why this lens isn't listed on Rokinon's website? Also, was there a hardware revision? I am finding two different pictures of the same product online. One where the 1.4 appears to be a larger, longer lens with a "built-in" mount adapter, and a smaller, shorter copy of the lens:





--
-Matt

A bit difficult to shoot moving things wide open. I've got it on a NEX-6 with a Speed Booster, and it's my favorite lens out of everything I own/have owned. The bokeh is amazingly creamy, the lens is sharp enough wide open, and sharpness becomes amazing stopped down.

I think the only revision was adding a focus confirmation chip on the newer models, but even on my D7100, the older version works with the focus confirmation dot.

BlueBomberTurbo said:

A bit difficult to shoot moving things wide open. I've got it on a NEX-6 with a Speed Booster, and it's my favorite lens out of everything I own/have owned. The bokeh is amazingly creamy, the lens is sharp enough wide open, and sharpness becomes amazing stopped down.

I think the only revision was adding a focus confirmation chip on the newer models, but even on my D7100, the older version works with the focus confirmation dot.

Click to expand...

Just curious, what is the date that you purchased this lens? (Going off of the photos I posted above) do you have the larger version of this lens? Or the smaller one?

I own this lens and use it on my Nex7 and A7. It's very bright. It's a bit different in that it's a cine lens. has gears on the aperture and focus rings. the aperture has no click stops so exposure can be varied discretely. It's also easy to accidentally change aperture.

has some moderate chromatic aberration.

Here's some shots.




a7




a7




a7







--

Canon 40D. Canon 50mm f1.4, canon 135mm 2.8/soft focus, Canon 70-200 f4L, Canon 24-105L. Sony Nex-7. Sony a7

Elite83 said:

BlueBomberTurbo said:

A bit difficult to shoot moving things wide open. I've got it on a NEX-6 with a Speed Booster, and it's my favorite lens out of everything I own/have owned. The bokeh is amazingly creamy, the lens is sharp enough wide open, and sharpness becomes amazing stopped down.

I think the only revision was adding a focus confirmation chip on the newer models, but even on my D7100, the older version works with the focus confirmation dot.

Click to expand...

Just curious, what is the date that you purchased this lens? (Going off of the photos I posted above) do you have the larger version of this lens? Or the smaller one?

Click to expand...

I don't think there's a "smaller version". AFAIK, the only Samyang lenses (under whatever brand) that are designed for mirrorless systems (ie. without the "built-in adapter") are the 8/2.8 Fisheye, and the newly released 12/2.

Those pictures are probably of one of the DSLR mounts, they're not very good at always showing the exact variant in the product photos.

Juhaz said:

Elite83 said:

BlueBomberTurbo said:

A bit difficult to shoot moving things wide open. I've got it on a NEX-6 with a Speed Booster, and it's my favorite lens out of everything I own/have owned. The bokeh is amazingly creamy, the lens is sharp enough wide open, and sharpness becomes amazing stopped down.

I think the only revision was adding a focus confirmation chip on the newer models, but even on my D7100, the older version works with the focus confirmation dot.

Click to expand...

Just curious, what is the date that you purchased this lens? (Going off of the photos I posted above) do you have the larger version of this lens? Or the smaller one?

Click to expand...

I don't think there's a "smaller version". AFAIK, the only Samyang lenses (under whatever brand) that designed for mirrorless systems (ie. without the "built-in adapter") are the 8/2.8 Fisheye, and the newly released 12/2.

Those pictures are probably of one of the DSLR mounts, they're not very good at always showing the exact variant in the product photos.

Click to expand...

This. The size between the first and second versions for Nikon, at least, were the same. Everything pretty much looked the same, minus the contacts on the mount.

i am interested to agree this lens to my nex 5r, can anyone of us post a photo of your camera with this lens attached?. I read the image quality of this lens is very good, any diferences between versions? What version would you recommend me to buy? Sorry if i asked a lot, jeje and sorry for my english , I´m spanish.

Thanks!

Elite83 said:

Does anyone know why this lens isn't listed on Rokinon's website? Also, was there a hardware revision? I am finding two different pictures of the same product online. One where the 1.4 appears to be a larger, longer lens with a "built-in" mount adapter, and a smaller, shorter copy of the lens:

--
-Matt

Click to expand...

They are the same lens. Exactly the same. As different cameras have different registration distance, they add an fix "adapter". IT is not an adapter, I know, they extend, the same way as if you added an adapter.



So, the button one is for a dslr, for instance, a canon DSLR or a nikon DSLR.

The top photo is of the version for a Mirrorless camera. As the difference in registration camera is generally between 15 and 25 cms, they add that to the lens.



IT would be the same to buy a version for DSLR, and add the adapter yourself. This has pros and cons:

pros: you can use it on many cameras. If you have, for instance, a nikon DSLR, you can get the nikon version, and buy an adapter from E-mount to nikon, and use it on both cameras. Or if you plan on changing cameras (for instance, to a fuji-x system) you simply get a different adapter.

Cons: there is always a bit of play with adapters. IT can be noticeable, or not. So you may need to get more than one till you get one that fits perfectly.



So if you have more than one camera, or you are someone that likes changing cameras, it would be wise to get a DSLR version and get the adapters. If not, if you have an e-mount camera and have no interest in the future on changing it for something different or adding something different, just get the e-mount version.