Samyang releases updated &#39;MK2&#39; versions of its popular 14mm F2.8, 85mm F1.4 lenses

This is now listed in B&H for $499. Nikon Mount has an AE chip as usual but the early product images do not reflect that.

2 months agopermalink

Malli

I do own Samyang 14mm f2.8 AE Manual Focus ( Nikon Mount). This lens has two major flaws, though image quality parameters and lens built quality are very good.

1) Infinity Marking do not reflects actual Infinity Focus. Lens reaches infinity focus at marking of 3 ft on lens barrel, which is much before Infinity marking. This same flaw is reported by many lens owners.

2) Wavy Distortion ( This issue can be fixed with Samyang Lens correction plugin )

I hope MARK II has fix for above two.

2 months agopermalink

I think the focus lock option in MK II is a workaround for the infinity focus issue that you mentioned. I am still planning on getting the MK I for my needs.

2 months agopermalink

Malli

Focus lock feature seems to lock the focus to avoid any inadvertent manual focus changes by Photographer.

Anyway, not clear at this point of time to know whether this new version has fix for the mentioned two flaws .

2 months agopermalink

Oiche

How can the 14mm Mkii have a fix if it uses the same optical formula as the original? I have the 14mm and only use it for astro, the moustache distortion is truly horrible.

2 months agopermalink

Malli

Yes, 14MM Mark ii literature states that it has same optical design of previous version, but there are POSSIBILITIES that product developers may fix some flaws.

As usual , in product literature, manufacturers do not say anything negative about previous version, but simply try to fix the flaws of previous version in the new version.

2 months agopermalink

Only some of the mounts (Nikon F/Canon EF) in MK 1 had the AE chip. The MK 2 doesn't seem to have the AE in any of the mounts. But we will have to wait for the official product details for each of the mounts.

2 months agopermalink

The Nikon version is called "AE" and is USD50 more expensive than the other mounts here https://www.cyberphoto.se/sok?q=Samyang%20MF%2014%2F2%2C8%20Mark%20II

It seems logical that is because there's an auto exposure chip in the Nikon mk ii version, just like in the mk i.

Equally as there's no "AE" or higher price for the Canon EF version the mk2 would as you indicate not seem to be endowed with electronics, no aperture control from the camera body as the last version of the mk1.

2 months ago*permalink

Looks like the MK I is on campaign offer in cyberphoto.

2 months agopermalink

I am more interested in hearing if the manual focusing action is now made with focusing helicoids. So far Samyang has used simply tubes inside tubes where a nylon brushed post moves inside a slot. That is pretty much like how zoom in zoom lenses work, so the Samyang lenses feels like you are zooming a manual focus prime.

That feel is terrible and major reason why I am not personally using any Samyang mf lenses.

2 months agopermalink

I've had no issue with the mf feel of the Samyang 12/2 (a little stiff but not unpleasantly so), the 16/2 (rather nice), nor the 8/3,5 fisheye for Sony A (quite light, not unpleasant).

I've handled two Praktica B lenses, both had a rather iffy feel to the mf ring. Lots of Sony A AF lenses had a rather unpleasant mf experience as well. Can't say I've had any very unpleasant zoom experiences either and zooms come in all sorts so "like how zoom in zoom lenses work" isn't a viable reference to me.

2 months agopermalink

You can see what focusing helicoids look like, in this article for example: https://richardhaw.com/2018/03/25/repair-nikkor-85mm-f-1-4-ai-s/

Between is a grease specifically made for camera lens helicoids. The feel is incomparable to anything else.

In all Samyang lenses I've seen they don't have focusing helicoids. Instead they have tubes inside tubes and a post which moves inside a slot. It looks just like the mechanism zoom lenses use when zooming... and feels the same.

There are photos of a samyang 85/1.4 focusing mechanism here: https://www.dyxum.com/dforum/samyang-85-1-4-dissasembly-diy-tutorial_topic76615.html

I understand it is probably hard to imagine the difference if you have not used a real manual focusing lenses. Well some people drive with front wheel drive cars and do not think anything is wrong, so people can get used to all kinds of stuff.

It is a lot more expensive to machine helicoids so Samyang just skips that part...

2 months ago*permalink

aidaho

Can we finally get an adjustable infinity hard stop in a 3rd revision? Pretty please.

2 months agopermalink

Tarek Ahmad

I wish all 3rd party manual focus lenses would offer electronic contact to support camera features like: Focus peaking, focus magnification, f-stop value, EXIF/data.

2 months agopermalink

Amin_AA

Exactly. I am perfectly happy to consider manual focus lenses but I am not prepared to accept not seeing my f-stop value in the view finder or not having EXIF shooting information during processing.

2 months agopermalink

It increases costs and complexity. These lenses are made with the lowest possible cost in mind. Even the lenses are non-adjustable so you get whatever the loose factory tolerances put together. There is huge sample variation in Samyang lenses because they don't bother adjusting their lenses at factory. You just get "something" which may be anything from a lemon to an excellent sample.

Better, pricier manufactures usually have much less sample variation thanks to adjustability and better QC.

Edit: proof of huge sample variation is in the first chart in this lensrentals blog: https://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2019/04/just-mtf-charts-rokinon-samyang-lenses/

2 months ago*permalink

PuigMAmb

I have Viltrox 20mm f1.8 for Sony FE without any electronic contact and the focus peaking works perfectly. I am very very happy with this lens for such a price!

2 months agopermalink

matsonfamily

I agree, but focus peaking isn't a feature of the lens, AFAIK. Some of EXIF data (e.g.: F-stop value, focal length, lens IS on/off) are, however, and I'd love to have that in camera. I couldn't find an example of a lens offered in both AF & MF, so don't know the cost difference. My assumption from viewing a lens teardown is that the cost of putting the tracking mechanics into the assembly would be greater than the cost of the electronics involved. I would assume that all but the cheapest MF lenses would only be a modest increase. I would pay the difference for electronic communication of F-stop and other lens information.

2 months agopermalink

Samyang has electronic communication in their "XP" series of manual focus lenses. But they are like 3x more expensive...

2 months agopermalink

saiko

Focus peaking is not a feature of the lens, it's the feature of the camera.

2 months agopermalink

IamJF

Why do they include a big emphasis to the declickable aperture and make a super shallow aperture ring so it will be super hard to mount any geear rings or even use it direvtly at a shoot?

Otherwise I like the design. I just never liked the original 85/1.4 ;-) (Good for a vintage manual lens - far from a modern lens)

2 months agopermalink

Maybe they want to sell their Xeen lenses instead? They have a 14mm Xeen T/3.1 cinema lens with factory geared aperture and focus rings for $1800 at BHphoto. The 85mm T/1.5 Xeen is also $1800.

It is financially not wise to provide too much value in a cheap product, especially if the same company sells a more expensive alternative.

2 months ago*permalink

Richard Murdey

The aperture ring - on the previous versions at least - was OK for manual use on the EF mount version. On the F-mount version it kinda sucks, because the ring is made smaller than the body diameter, so now its both thin AND recessed.

The 85/1.4 is alright, performance-wise, considering the price. It's VERY bloomy, but that's kinda part of the charm.

2 months agopermalink

I like the focus lock idea. I'd love that in my current street lens.

2 months agopermalink

kobakokh

Focus lock is extraordinary great feature of any lenses, number one motivation for many photographer to buy this or that lens, including me.

2 months agopermalink

matsonfamily

I've tried a manual Rokinon (same as Samyang) on both APS-C and MFT, and both times it was a full-frame DSLR lens that has a flange added to the rear to make it connect without an adapter. Not only is it slightly heavier and longer than i would expect, but the weight is carried further forward and is so much more noticeable. Note that above, the photos of these compact lense are likely of the full-frame mount, not of the APS-C (or MFT) mounts. I found better prices and enjoyment out of DSLR lenses adapted to my cameras. If I'm not looking for a bargain, it's so much nicer to use lenses that are designed for the mount.

2 months ago*permalink

On the whole I agree. The ergonomy can be good anyway if handholding the camera-lens combo but it is less fun to put the camera on any kind of tripod. Less fun to try to stuff it into a smaller bag too.

2 months agopermalink

Ilia Snopchenko

Samyang has a slew of dedicated mirrorless lenses (probably E-mount only though), from 14 to 85mm.

2 months agopermalink

SonyOB

I had a 12 mm f/2.0 Rokinon Sony E.
Or was I dreaming?
It was pretty cool in available light with the A6000.
I am sure I had one and I gave it to my son.
He makes promos for his recordings. Unlikely but true.

2 months ago*permalink

Ilia and SonyOB:
Yes?
No one disputes that there are native Samyang mirrorless lenses. What matsonfamily said and I kinda agreed with is that these specific lenses are not made for mirrorless and as such relatively bulky. Samyang has manual 85 1,4 or 14 2,8 that is mirrorless native that I know of, only AF variants.

2 months ago*permalink

sportyaccordy

No standard electronic communication? Come on Samyang get with the program

2 months agopermalink

JE River

That makes it especially annoying when doing a lens test for a review. I just went through the process on another manual lens and it drive me bonkers. Had to shoot a notepad with aperture settings written down. haha

2 months agopermalink

Photoman

Voigtlander do it on their E Mount lenses.

2 months agopermalink

sportyaccordy

I know they can do it because I have a chipped 14/2.8. Works great. Takes a lot of extra steps out of adapting to a MILC body. Chip can't be more than $20.... no brainer

2 months agopermalink

Companies skimp on additons that cost 50 cents which would make the product a lot better. There is no way Samyang would ever spend such a ridiculous amount like $20 to their basic lenses. Their bean counters have surely calculated how much it saves to leave the chips and related R&D off from their basic mf lenses.

I mean they think they can't make the money back by investing in making chipped lenses. Samyang thinks it is not worth the effort. They seem to have the capability which their AF lenses prove. If they thought that they'd make more money by selling chipped lenses instead, of course they would then sell chipped lenses...

2 months agopermalink

Richard Murdey

The previous version of the 85/1.4 was chipped (for F mount at least), so I have no reason to think the mark 2 wont be.

2 months agopermalink

sportyaccordy

@lhmemies Samyang already makes chipped manual lenses in their standard and XP lineups

On the standard lineups the AE chip is usually like $40 or so more. Even if that's 90% markup I think it's worth the premium and would sell a lot more lenses, particularly to MILC shooters.

2 months agopermalink

The Nikon F version of these two lenses is described as 'Nikon AE' and commands a higher RRP: €499 vs. €459 for the 14mm f/2.8 and €449 vs. €419 for the 85mm f/1.4.

2 months agopermalink

Welsh

I have a fully-manual Laowa 12mm which doesn’t communicate with the camera at all. On my Canon EOS R, I simply use the star ratings as code for my aperture settings. Works for me...

2 months agopermalink

JE River

"I have a fully-manual Laowa 12mm which doesn’t communicate with the camera at all. On my Canon EOS R, I simply use the star ratings as code for my aperture settings. Works for me..."

That's actually a pretty good workaround!

2 months agopermalink

JE River

The most important feature for the 14mm lens is if they can reduce the number of copies you have to go through to not get a lemon. I would be happy with an 8 copy purchase fiasco reduced down to a 1-2 copy system. :)

Looks like they added a bit of weight to the 14mm as well. I wonder if the weight is from an extra layer of quality control forged into the design? One can only hope...

2 months agopermalink

That's where quality comes in as it is understood in industry QA. It's not about, where it's made, if it's plastic or metal or how sharp it is. Quality is about variation. It's about knowing that only maybe 1 in 10,000 is a lemon. If you can achieve that, you don't need expensive repair facilities. You throw the lemon away and give the guy a new one.

2 months agopermalink

dqnielg

I came here to say this. The 14mm is a great lens if you get a good copy. But getting a good copy is very tough.

If they solved that with this iteration then it'll be an even bigger hit.

2 months agopermalink

It would probably be too expensive to QC the lenses to tighter tolerances (=less sample variation). So for better QC you have to spend the cash for Nikon or Canon or Leica. Or waste your precious time with buying, testing, returning, buying...

2 months agopermalink

chaimav

There is a fancy name for this, its called Six Sigma https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Sigma

2 months agopermalink

dqnielg

Ihmemies

I don't think that's true, though. Many of their models, which are still very affordable compared to the first party offerings, don't have the same QC issues.

2 months agopermalink

chaimav:
You are dead right. I worked in Six Sigma, you probably guessed, but I didn't want to confuse people with terminology.

2 months agopermalink

phatgreatwall

Guess they forgot the rf and z mount, or do they know something we dont

2 months agopermalink

blackcoffee17

They simply changed the plastic "micro" pattern on the focus ring and added weather sealing. Kept the same optics, everything. RF and Z mount would need a redesign.
Besides, you can just use the RF filter adapter and have drop in filters. Much better.

2 months ago*permalink

blackcoffee17:
But they have it in MFT so why would RF and Z need a redesign?

2 months agopermalink

MikeRan

Why would they need a redesign? Flange distance is similar to e-mount. They just need to reverse engineer the mechanical mount since there’s not even any electronics to worry about.

Should definitely be doable without a ton of effort.

2 months agopermalink

Ilia Snopchenko

There's supposedly a Samyang _AF_ 14mm lens for RF mount. If it's already shipping, you can get it.

2 months agopermalink

Heh, what about Panasonic/Leica/Sigma L-alliance L-mount lenses? Nearly no one makes third party lenses for that system...

2 months agopermalink

The Samyang MF 14mm f/2.8 RF and MF 85mm f/1.4 RF were launched in February 2019.

The Samyang MF 14mm f/2.8 Z and MF 85mm f/1.4 Z were launched in April 2019.

There is also the Samyang AF 14mm f/2.8 RF (autofocus), launched in October 2019.

2 months agopermalink

Ken60

I had a feeling there was a 14mm 2.8 manual focus version that had electronic contacts for EXIF transmission. Do we see this again as version 2.2 later on ?

2 months agopermalink

Jeff Greenberg

> Both lenses available Canon EF, Nikon F, Sony E, Fujifilm X, Canon M and MFT...

a. Camera companies struggling.
b. Camera companies losing revenue to off-brand lenses.
Crikey, could solution to (a) & (b) be any more obvious...?

2 months agopermalink

Max Iso

If it's priced well i might get the 85 for my M50. In EF mount of course. Why? Im glad you asked, bc i still love DSLRs and will sooner than later pick up an EF body to share my EF glass with my M50, plus i can freely buy RF bodies and use the same glass.

Gone are my days of lenses locking me into one system.

2 months agopermalink

Dima_467

I had this lens, and it really soft wide open for aps-c. It give nice, nearly "135 2 look" if you look pictures on instagram on phone, but even on full hd monitor you can see, that there is very low sharpness and contrast on 1.4, and because of that - not much separation from background . But lens is well built, and focus ring is amazing !

2 months agopermalink

AriesII

These lenses were great, specially when I saw how close in performance they were compared to the 14-24 Nikkor and Zeiss 15mm.

2 months agopermalink

matthew saville

People like to scoff at the image quality of the original, but the reality is, it's really quite sharp, the distortion corrects quite well with a profile, and really the only major downfall is corner vignetting, but even then it's only a serious problem when you shoot at high ISOs because the vignetting profile correction reveals excessive noise; at lower ISOs on most cameras with decent dynamic range, (shadow recovery) vignetting is a non-issue again.

TLDR, if you want a 14mm this "tiny" for your DSLR, this is it. All other 14mm's are utterly massive and most are rather pricey. Your next-best option is the Roki-Yang 14mm f/2.4 SP/XP, and it's quite a step up in every regard, from image quality to weight and price. (Still, it beats the Sigma 14 1.8 in the corners in every respect except vignetting!)

For those who are skeptical, here's my review of the three big options: https://www.dpreview.com/videos/8819057562/astrophotography-lens-shootout-samyang-14mm-f2-4-vs-sigma-14mm-f1-8

2 months agopermalink

The Name is Bond

great review thanks

2 months agopermalink

gaul

As a Canon EF user who is more into portrait than extra-wide, the Samyang MF 14mm F2.8 MK2 is tempting on this « extreme » at least for me focal range

I still have to be convinced to go for 3rd party for 50 or 85mm.. Let’s see reviews about this Samyang MF 85mm F1.4 MK2

2 months agopermalink

gaul

Nice for users of the Canon M system who were not given exactly top priority in the roadmap of Canon or 3rd party lenses manufacturers

2 months agopermalink

quiquae

These are just EF optics designs with EF/EF-M adapters glued to the back. If I were in the market for one of these, I'd just buy an EF version and use it with an adapter.

That said, I'd choose neither for EF-M. For the 14mm, I'd rather use Sigma 16mm F1.4; it is designed from the ground up for mirrorless mounts, and is autofocusing. For 85mm, I'd rather use Canon's 85mm F1.8 and live with the loss of 2/3 stop because AF becomes much more of an issue at longer focal distances.

2 months agopermalink

pj1974

Yes, I'm glad that these lenses have also been produced in Canon M mount options. Both these new lens versions would work quite good as options for the Canon APS-C mirrorless cameras, e.g. the Canon M5, Canon M6/mkii and M50.
Having written that, the best lens option for Canon EF-M cameras for nightscapes (i.e. 'wide astrophotography') is the Samyang / Rokinon 12mm f/2. I have this lens and its bright, sharp, has decent (low) coma and is small and light. Even wide open it has really decent image quality.
Lens quality control can be an issue though... so be aware some copies of this lens are not as sharp / aligned, etc as others. Thankfully I got a pretty good one in the first purchase.
While this lens is fully manual, I mainly shoot nightscapes with it - so full manual is fine for me anyway. Every mm of (ultra!) wide angle is important. :)

2 months agopermalink

Tibor1

It's a shame that the lens is not available for Pentax K mount.

2 months agopermalink

JensR

Exactly! And I fear it might be a sign of things to come and Samyang might drop Pentax support for more lenses in the future.
I own two Samyang PKA-mount lenses and would seriously consider these updated lenses, with their weather sealing they fit well onto the sealed Pentax SLRs.

2 months agopermalink

Jonathan Mac

With the rumoured price of the new Pentax 85/1.4 said to be $2000 or more, A more solid offering from Samyang could be a good seller.

2 months agopermalink

https://www.samyanglensglobal.com/en/product/product-srch.php?category=C&camera_type=&sensor_size=&lens_type=&mount=&best_for=&mount%5B%5D=206

Including the original 14mm f/2.8 ED AS IF UMC and 85mm f/1.4 AS IF UMC replaced by these Mk2 versions, there are currently 13 Samyang lenses available in Pentax K mount.

The latest one is the 100mm f/2.8 ED UMC Macro announced in August 2016, almost four years ago.

Since then, not counting mount variants Samyang have announced 13 new lenses, of which 5 manual focus lenses. None of them is available in K mount.

2 months agopermalink

JensR

Mistral75 - You are right, but many (most?) of these new lenses are mirrorless, so I was not too surprised that there were no new SLR lenses from Samyang for Pentax in the recent years.
You have to admit: Developing a new lens is more difficult than updating an existing one. Therefore their decision to drop Pentax support from a lens they already had in Pentax mount is a more significant sign of the times than not developing a new one.

2 months agopermalink

For the sake of precision: the above-mentioned 13 lenses include six new SLR lenses, of which two autofocus lenses and four manual focus ones.

2 months agopermalink

JensR

Cheers for that detail!
I have to admit I had not realised that Pentax had fallen off the Samyang train that clearly already :(
I still think that Samyang effectively removing Pentax support from an existing lens is adding to the bad signs...

2 months agopermalink

> I still think that Samyang effectively removing Pentax support from an existing lens is adding to the bad signs...

i completely agree.

2 months agopermalink

Swedish retailer Cyberphoto have it listed with price in SEK:
https://www.cyberphoto.se/sok?q=Samyang%20MF%2014%2F2%2C8%20Mark%20II

It's still an SLR design so quite large on Sony E bodies but the price cannot be beat (~470USD), that is less than half the price of the Laowa 15/2 (and twice the volume perhaps : p ). I quite like the new aesthetics. The old MF 14/2,8 had a bit of a bad rep as far as qc went, decentering etc, lessope this new one is better in that regard.

(If this were a Tamron lens the U.S price would be listed as USD600 and I would be whining over the price in Sweden which would be ~USD 1000 :) )

2 months ago*permalink

S_Connor

Sony and Canon users can buy the Samyang 14mm AF lens. It's only 50 more expensive and I would never buy a manual focus lens if AF is available.

2 months agopermalink