Samyang AF 35mm f1.4 FE Review

While this review is for the Samyang AF 35mm F1.4 - other users of the Canon RF, Nikon Z,etc should take notice as Samyang has officially launched the first AF lens for the Canon RF mount.  This lens is most likely soon to follow.

Features of this lens include;

• E-Mount Lens/Full-Frame Format
• Aperture Range: f/1.4 to f/16
• Two Aspherical Elements, Two HR Elements
• Ultra Multi-Coating
• Linear Super Sonic Motor AF System
• Internal Focusing Design
• Nine-Blade Diaphragm

Gordon from CameraLabs reviewed the Samyang AF 35mm F1.4 and had mixed feelings about the lens, even though it had its problems.  But, it's MUCH cheaper than the Sony version, so as with most things, you get what you pay for.

Good points:

• Very good resolution.
• Good resistance against glare.
• Longitudinal CAs pretty well controlled.
• Low price.

Bad points:

• No weather sealing.
• Resistance against flare and ghosting could be better.
• Field curvature plagues APS-C corner e.g. in landscape shots.
• Weak close-up performance.
• Unreliable focus performance of my copy.

Conclusion;

the Sigma [MR: I assume Samyang here] AF 35mm f1.4 FE left me with mixed feelings. There’s no denying it gives you a lot of bang for the buck: good to very good resolution with little longitudinal CAs or color fringing in a package that is neither too large, heavy nor expensive for its bright f1.4 focal ratio. The Bokeh may not be the smoothest but still has the characteristic of f1.4 lenses, which simply produce bigger Bokeh balls and shallower depth-of-field than lenses with smaller focal ratios. My biggest frustration with my test sample regarded focusing: the autofocus was less reliable than the other lenses I compared it against and the manual focus proved erratic

Read the entire review here