Samyang teases 'summer blockbuster' lens announcements

Not the same how? Different optics? I bet it is the same lens design with a few features for video such as clickless aperture. All it takes to implement that by the way is to omit a tiny metal ball that enables the clicks.

Interesting that XEEN's website doesn't even reveal the numbers of lenses/groups of this 135/T2.2. If they are the same as the 135/F2, then there is a high probability that they are based on the same optics.

Xeen 85/1.5 video lens - 9 elements in 7 groups
Samyang 85/1.4 photo lens - 9 elements in 7 groups

Although the claim is: "Rokinon's Xeen 85mm T1.5 Lens for Sony E-Mount is built specifically for use as a cinema lens, and is not a modified still photo lens."

Ouch!
Well, thanks anyway.

I haven't found the press release (not sure there is one), but here's a link to the product page:
http://www.samyanglensglobal.com/product/detail.do?SQ=46

It is a cinema lens, focussing is done with external gearing.

http://www.newsshooter.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/xeen-IMG_9629-600x444.jpg

Note the OP was asking about autofocus, not about cine lenses.

Called it ! :(

Still I was hoping I was wrong in this instance and Samyang would have surprised me. :( :( :(

I wish they'd come with some zooms...

Brokinon: see DDD - rrr comment below and search posts on dpreview. Their poor manufacturing or QC has been discussed in many forums here and elsewhere.

UWA manual zoom is not a bad idea

Pentax lenses are the worst in terms of QC. I saw someone bought and returned 3 copies before give up.

I have one Samyang (under name of Bower) fisheye for my Olympus, and it seems fine for now, but as far as I know from other travelers who says Samyang (or whatever the other name Samyang uses) lenses are not very durable (Decentered easily) as they are cheaply made.

To "fatdeeman": Unfortunately, lens sample variation is a "fact of life", regardless of brand or price - although with a "ton" of Nikkors I've checked on film (see: http://www.david-ruether-photography.com/slemn.html ), there was far less variation than I've encountered with Samyang lenses on MFT. In the above, I didn't have the space to add the one (terrible!) sample I also tried of the 8mm f3.5 Samyang. Among many Panasonic MFT lenses, I've found a bit of generally mild sample variation, but nothing like what I've found with Samyang lenses. Still, some of the Samyang lenses, with good samples, are really excellent - and, given the prices, they can be worth the trouble of sample-checking to get "the good ones"...
--DR

@Mike FL: Of ten bought-as-new Pentax lenses that have passed through my hands, only one did not give me joy, and that was a plastic kit lens - you can get these from any OEM and they're all more or less terrible. So in that sense, it was according to specification (but Pentax' metal ones are astonishingly good in my experience). I'm wondering what lens it was that had to be returned three times without getting a good one.

I've got the Bower version of the 7.5mm fisheye for MFT, and it is impressively sharp and contrasty, even with the sun in or at the edge of the frame. An absolute bargain at the <$200 CDN I paid. I've also used 6 of their CINE DS lenses from 24 o 135mm, and they are all very good, with the 85 and 135 being exceptional. For video and studio use they are great, but much too large and heavy for my typical uses, so I prefer vintage lenses or native MFT. I believe the 7.5mm is the only MFT native lens they have. A compact 17mm 1.8 would be interesting.

The consolation is that Sony has even worse quality control of the FE lenses. Of the 5 that I had (bought new, not second-hand) only 1 was good, the other 4 required multiple buys in order to secure versions with agreeable quality. I ended up buying returning buying 13 lenses in order to find 5 that were as they ought to be. that's an awful waste of time and resources. the others had various quite significant faults 1 the AF stopped working, 5 were substantially misaligned, 1 had clearly visible dust between elements, the rest never had the sharpness to be expected. The consumer zooms you can't expect too much sharpness, but these had misalignments = soddy on one side. Regardless of price-range / type - this should never be put to market. The only Sony lens that performed as expected out of the 1:st box was the FE 24 1.8

So, bottom line, Samyang may have QC issues but not any more than one of the giants trying to convince its users their gear is worth so much more.

A nifty fifty is $100-$200. A 50mm f/1.4 is around $350 in most systems. The Samyang lenses are decent, but they're a nice prime, not a state-of-the-art prime. Comparing to Canon lenses, Samyang generally comes out behind in reviews. The advantage is price. The Samyang 24mm TS is very decent for $750. The Canon is better, but $1900.

If Samyang is able to add AF and keep prices as is, they'll sell like hotcakes. If prices go up by a couple hundred bucks, people will likely look to the major brands instead (even if those couple hundred bucks pay for improved IQ). With Sigma in the mix, the market for $600-$2000 lenses is pretty saturated. It's also likely Samyang will take 1-2 generations to get AF fast and reliable.

Cheap lenses have major holes. Samyang could easily fill those.

True, but I'm not sure we need more complex formulas. The nifty fifties do very well. Samyang is a price leader, but is limited to a niche of advanced/low-budget photographers due to lack of autofocus. Adding AF would make it usable for most beginners. A set of ~$100-$200 autofocus primes from 12mm to 200mm starting at f/1.8 for wide angle, going up to maybe f/2.8 around 135mm would be a game changer, especially if it included a basic macro lens, like the old Vivitar 100mm f/3.5. A beginner could buy a Pentax for $350, spend another $650 to get a 12mm f/1.8, 24mm f/1.8, 85mm f/1.4, and maybe a 100mm f/3.5 macro, and have a very decent and complete set of equipment (well, maybe with tripod and flash) for just north of a grand. Lenses in Samyang's price range -- $300ish -- would have a pretty big impact too. A beginner could get the 24mm and the 85mm f/1.4, and have a pretty decent set of equipment.

Another competitor to Sigma, Tamron, Tokina, and others would be a bit of a yawn.

Actually, the real game changer is AF with manual lenses:
http://techartpro.com/product/techart-pro-leica-m-sony-e-autofocus-adapter/

This tech will only get better and more available....

That focusing method only works if you don't do much compensation for spherical aberrations. It's perfect with a simple lens. With a modern lens with a complex optical formula, I'd expect you'd trade off unreasonable amounts of image quality. That's speculation based on my limited knowledge of optical design.

I think the phrase you were looking for is "unit focusing lenses" -- as opposed to floating element designs. There is some degradation, of course, with floating element designs... however, that degradation is tiny if the focus shift is small. Thus, approximately focusing manually and having the AF tweak that can work great. In general, that's how this works: it perfects an approximate manual focus.

Manual focus + AF unit focus would be fine. That's not actually what those units do. You focus at infinity. They do the rest. For beginners, especially, I'm not MF+fine tune is practical.

On the other hand, simpler lenses are fine for most purposes.

Nifty-fifties don't do well, they rather suck at IQ, IS, build quality, AF.

>>>> "Perhaps Samyang saw a business opportunity and will take advantage of it?".

Sure, and then Chinese will step in too as "a business opportunity and will take advantage of it".

Here is just one example of you can get Yongnuo 50mm f/1.8 for Canon for $40 with free shipping all the way from China. BTW, the $40 lens has AF too.

http://petapixel.com/2014/12/25/first-review-40-yongnuo-50mm-f1-8-nifty-fifty-clone/

Optically, the $40 lens is better than Canon even Canon is nothing write home about. Take a look:

http://petapixel.com/2014/12/27/comparing-optics-40-yongnuo-50mm-f1-8-125-canon-50mm-f1-8-ii/

My 12mm f/2.0 is branded Rokinon as well.

There's also the 8mm f/2.8 under various brand names.

The 12mm f/2.0 is a great lens. 18mm crop value, f/2, excellent IQ....for $300. Also weighs in at 10 ounces (300gm.) Good thing I survived the film era when all lenses were manual focus :).

Don't forget the 100mm macro lens

Babart,

I do not own th Samyang/Rokinon 100mm f/2.8 macro. I know it is metal, manual focus with aperture ring, and comes in several different camera mounts including fuji. Check BH for the 100mm macro by either name, they are both the same lens

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?atclk=Fixed+Focal+Lengths_100mm&ci=17912&N=4196380428+4099560882+4261208110

Personally, i use the Tamron 90mm f/2.8 adaptall version 72B (most recent but discontinued in 2013). Adaptall is manual and has no camera mount so for a small price one buys the adapter for the mount making it versatile to work with any camera mount. I was waiting a long time for th Fuji 120mm OIS macro but they decided to scrapt it and start again with an short 80mm FL so not interested at all. I might even switch to Olympus next year so I can stalize the lens on the camera and get a longer effective reach. Fuji wants their lenses to be short and hip and not long which is far more useful for closeup nature work.

Thanks. I noticed the Rokinon macro, and wondered if it wasn't super sharp and flat in image......because it seemed rather expensive for a manual focus lens. The Tamron 90 is no slouch and does sub as a 135mm auto focus lens when needed.

Changing systems can be expensive, but it's difficult to go too wrong with any camera system today. One just needs to choose according to one's priorities and shooting habits. And to some extent bankroll :).

Agreed. All systems offer great results these days. An experienced shooter knows what he likes to shoot and matches the tool to the job with his choice tempered by his bankroll. I like nature and architecture, so i lust for more DOF and shoot mostly at low ISO. High ISO bodies and shallow DOF are the more expensive tools that I can easily live without. Love to hike so less weight is always welcome.

Samyang doesn't make any zoom lenses. Cheap, optically great manual focus lenses have been their trademark so far.