Aspheric/Samyang/Rokinon 85mm 1.4 Lens for NIKON, are they any good?

intotherainbow

intotherainbow

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Came across those when searching for the creamy machine (Nikon AF 85mm f/1.4D), I'm wondering are they any good :thinking:?

I know they're manually focus lenses, but their prices are surely cheaper (about £220-250 each) than the nikon's or Carl Zeiss' one :shrug:


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Aspheric-85mm...sFilters_JN&hash=item5ad9d11c11#ht_2021wt_913

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Samyang-AE-85...Filters_JN&hash=item5192888dac#ht_5023wt_1042

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Rokinon-85mm-...mera_Lenses&hash=item19bd810c03#ht_5217wt_913

ROKINON85mmasphericallens4834nikonhood.jpg


Samyang_85_NikonAE-6.jpg


85mmf1k4.jpg
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Generally, the more you pay for a lens, the better it is. I cannot see how this lens will give good IQ as it is just too cheap. If it was good, I am sure people would be all over the web saying how good it is. It is not far off the cost of the Nikon 1.8 85mm, which will AF and is a beauty of a lens.
 
You have to be desperate to get a manual focus lens. I doubt they would perform any better than Nikon 85mm f/1.8 Af lens, particularly if you constantly miss the focus. Have you got a special matte focusing screen for fast lenses? If not don't even think about it.
 
I've already got my 85mm f/1.8D, and to be honest, I will never chose a manual focus lens, but these lenses look really good and they're really cheap!!! I'm just wondering if anyone has bought it before :thinking::thinking::thinking:
 
Tried but I can't find any, and the `30 secs` interval is really irritating :bang:
 
http://www.photozone.de/canon_eos_ff/483-samyang_85_14_5d

That's a review of the Canon one (on a 5D2 so the lens will appear "better" on pretty much every other camera).
Samyang lenses appear to be rather good, excellent build quality and pretty good/very good IQ.

Personally though I'm not sure I'd go with a manual lens at that focal lenght... I'm considering the 8mm fisheye they do, again manual focus but there isn't really a need to focus at that length. :lol: I've had a play with that and it's a stunning lens.

EDIT: And as for the cheap lenses being not very good a new review just popped up on PZ of a 14mm f/2.8 Saymang prime http://www.photozone.de/canon_eos_ff/532-samyang14f28eosff First lens I've seen that essentially out resolves the 70-200 IS II :p. Massively impressive!
 
cambsno said:
If it was good, I am sure people would be all over the web saying how good it is.
Click to expand...

That's exactly what people are doing? :cuckoo:

Prime lenses are not particularly complicated and you are paying for the brand with big name lenses.

It's fairly well documented that the Samyang/Rokinon 85mm 1.4 is sharper than the Nikon when wide open.

The Nikon is sharper stepped down, and has autofocus.

However, in my oppinion, an 85mm 1.4 with no autofocus is of limited use. Unless you plan to shoot from a tripod a lot, consider giving this one a miss. You will really, really, reaaaallly struggle to nail that waifer-thin DOF by hand without going into liveview and zooming in constantly.
 
I have got one and optically very good. AP reviewed it a couple of weeks ago and said it was marginally optically superior to the nikon. Focusing is a pain
 
daugirdas said:
You have to be desperate to get a manual focus lens. I doubt they would perform any better than Nikon 85mm f/1.8 Af lens, particularly if you constantly miss the focus. Have you got a special matte focusing screen for fast lenses? If not don't even think about it.
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you've obviously not tried the new ziess lenses in nikon/canon fit. INCREDIBLE!!!
 
depends how you shoot, and if you have a focusing screen. Also depends on your visual acuity and the environment. I really wouldnt fancy a MF anything on a camera with no decent focussing screen on a bright sunny day. however, on a tripod, in a studio, with all day to tweak - hell yea
 
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