Wow, i had already seen some samples from this lens, but your pics (especially #1 and #4) are making me seriously thinking about it ...

Last edited by indianadinos (2009-07-16 19:13:14)

Thanks! Anyone that's after a fast 85 mm lens should look this one up. It's a complete steal, with very few flaws.
The build is actually not bad, sort of like the regular Canon EF lenses, but more dense and dampened. The hood is a joke though, and unfortunately MFD is 1 meter. Not good for closeups, but I intend to try my Nikon 5T closeup lens on it, with a stepring. It is smaller, but since the image circle gets larger at short distances, I think it could work without vignetting.

I'm just playing around so far, since I'm not at all well acquainted with the focal length. But I'm starting to like it!

Oh, come on! Just one crop?

Have a look at the "glow" on top of the pallets. Thats spherical aberration, and I'd say this is very very low for being such a fast lens at full aperture. You can see that the glow has a greenish tint, which is longitudinal chromatic aberration. That, on the other hand, is worse on this lens than with many other. The Sigma 50/1.4 HSM behaves very similar regarding both of these aberrations.

The crop is sharpened quite much, but as you can see, it "holds together" very well. Not much artefacts, except for the noisy background, which is due to ACR's handling of the D700 image files.
Color and contrast is superb, and there's no sign of internal flare or ghosting even in strong light. I haven't tried to shoot with the sun within the frame, but I believe that will show a less pleasant view.

Last edited by Makten (2009-07-16 20:39:02)

Yep, that's the one!

Edit: Here's an other review: http://www.lenstip.com/166.1-Lens_revie … l_IF_.html
Remember the difference between FF and APS-C!

Last edited by Makten (2009-07-16 20:48:47)

You're not kidding about that bokeh, it looks fantastic!

If you often stop down and want AF, yes. But in all other respects, the Samyang seems alot better.

Indeed! And it stays nice even at far distance, which is very uncommon from what I've seen.

As far as I know it comes in Nikon F, Canon EF, Sony and Pentax mounts.

Lovely shots! I agree that the bokeh can sometimes be too smooth, and that was the reason I sold my Sigma 50/1.4. But for my purposes the Samyangs drawing is excellent. For some reason I like the buttery bokeh better at 85 mm than at 50.
The contrast is very good in my opinion. Better than any other lens that I've tried at f/1.4.

I might not have tried as many lenses as some people here, but I'm comparing to modern stuff like the Nikkor 24-70, which is a holy grail concerning bokeh, contrast and sharpness. And seriously, the Samyang is in the same league optically. I find it ridiculously sharp wide open with all aberrations well under control. No distortion, low vignetting, low CA, low SA, and so on.

wow...  Samyang would be a really nice alternative for the expensive 85mm lenses.  Thanks for the post!

Yeup. Contrast is not easy to fix, especially if you're pushed or pulled an exposure, or are doing any sort of post work on it other than a contrast enhancement.

Time for a bump! This lens shall not be forgotten.

All at f/1.4 on FF:

----------------

The more I use the Samyang, the more I appreciate its performance. I'm not at all used to the 85 mm focal length on FF, but I'm starting to like it alot. The possibility to isolate things at quite large distances is fantastic! I find myself walking aroung with a grin on my face.

That's what I say too! As I wrote on a swedish forum; why is the EF 85/1.2 eight times as expensive? Half a stop faster and AF, yes. But from what I've seen, it isn't a bit better optically.
And now two shots from today:

f/1.4:

f/2:

Methinks you maybe right.  Still impressive results.