Nikon 85 1.0 or Samyang 85 1.4

[doublemint76]

Down to the last £250 of my lens budget and cannot decide between these. I'll be using a D300 as the body.

If the Samyang had af then it would be a no brainer but i was just wondering if anyone on here had experienced using both of these lenses?
I've never had a manual focus lens before - is it really that much of a problem? Especially at 1.4?

So close to pulling the trigger on the Samyang as looking around Flickr etc at peoples images its amazing....... then i think 'but it's manual'....decisions decisions!

 

[antihero]

Totally depends on what you shoot. If its kids, you'll find the samyang a touch frustrating at time but highly rewarding when you catch the shot you want. The samyang is soooo sharp, even wide open. Just sold mine to pay for another lens but I'm regretting it already

 

[doublemint76]

Totally depends on what you shoot. If its kids, you'll find the samyang a touch frustrating at time but highly rewarding when you catch the shot you want. The samyang is soooo sharp, even wide open. Just sold mine to pay for another lens but I'm regretting it already

I do shoot my children alot (that sounds awful), although they are very good at posing well most of the time anyway. I thought kids would be the hardest thing with manual.

I'm looking at this http://www.ukdigital.co.uk/samyang-85mm-f-1-4-aspherical-if-lens-nikon.html

Is this the latest one with the chip that will meter/change aperture on camera or is it the older one without? i dont know how you can tell

 

[Sir SR]

I, ahem, also shoot my kids a lot with the Samyang. There's a whole thread on this lens here but here is a quote from the thread with examples of kids shots. I rarely manual focussed before this lens. It's great when you get the shot bit be prepared to miss a few more than if you had af. I got the same one from uk digital. I think it's a steal.

Am really loving this lens - testing with the kids, but worth it for the price!

Have taken a few shots with this lens now - can be seen here:

samyang

Taken on a D90 by a new togger who's become reliant on AF!

 

[Beagletorque]

If it says AE it is chipped. Not sure about the Nikon F1.0, never heard of it!

 

[Mountaineye]

Assuming there is a typo and you mean Nikon 85mm F1.8? Get the Nikon, even the AFD version has fast and accurate autofocus. Frequent supply on Ebay and usually good nick as owned by thoughful people.

 

[TCR4x4]

Ive had both.. In fact I sold my Nikon 85 not long after I got the Samyang.
I dont shoot kids, so cant comment, but its still by far the sharpest lens Ive ever owned, including the Nikon 24-70, 70-200, canon 100mmL IS and many other top lenses.

Its a bloody bargain.