Samyang 14mm

amtaylor

amtaylor

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As 35mm is my widest lens I would like something wider but don't want to spend the money on the 14L. The samyang seems to get good reviews apart from by his royal Rockwell but the mustache distortion is of concern. Are the homemade lightroom profiles good enough to sort it out? Also do they come with af confirm chips for Canon now because I remember hearing it was better getting a nikon one with an adapter?
Are there any other alternatives like m42 lenses etc I could pickup that would be decent quality without being hugely expensive?
 
I've got one.

I shoot with 50D so get only barrel not mustache - so can't advise on lightroom profiles, I use barrel distortion slider to fix. Also PTlens program has a profile for this lens and it works perfectly.

They come without AF chip... But I've never felt a need of one, I just set focus scale to hyperfocal and shoot away.
 
I am also toying with the idea of getting 14mm samyang as it's so cheap and apparently sharp. This would come very useful mainly for the northern lights (when I finally brave it) and some architectural work. The profiles can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/samyang_14mm/discuss/72157624414467540/
As far as I know there is no AF confirm, but really there is no need of it for 14mm even at f/2.8 - 2m setting will pretty much cover everything; move it slightly closer and stop down if you are trying to include something a couple of inches away.

The alternatives are the old (and expensive-ish) Sigma EF-mount 14mm, ancient Tamron 14mm. Then there is the excellent Tokina 11-16mm which will work fine at 16mm and perhaps 15mm if pushed. 12-24mm f/4 is great down to 18mm - and I guess I am re-purchasing one of those for how good they are in comparison to Canon wide faiL glass.
 
Why not get the Canon 10-22 on your crop body, it's the best UWA Canon setup!
 
because it's not nearly as sharp, one stop slower and costs three times as much. Yes it's wider - it's the only gain. I couldn't care less about zoom - with samyang's sharpness and 50d's pixel resolution I can crop without IQ loss at all.
 
I have to say that 14mm on FF is very very wide. It's by no means an easy lens to use, and I would hesitate to recommend it as an only wide-angle lens for anyone mustache distortion or not. You really need to get up close and personal to get something as a foreground interest. I think this shot was taken from 40cm or so!

http://www.smugmug.com/photos/1249791419_EdcqX-XL.jpg

I'm looking forward to the Samyang 24/1.4 that they've announced, my 14/2.8 is not really getting used tbh. For wide-angle it's 7D + 10-22 or the 8/3.5 fisheye mostly. On my 5D, the widest I usually use is 35/1.4L and the Samyang tends to stay home.
 
gunnar said:
because it's not nearly as sharp, one stop slower and costs three times as much. Yes it's wider - it's the only gain. I couldn't care less about zoom - with samyang's sharpness and 50d's pixel resolution I can crop without IQ loss at all.
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The Canon 10-22 is one of the sharpest lenses Canon make. As for being a stop faster, I find I used UWA's at fairly tight apertures anyway...

And there's far less distortions .

Just a suggestion!
 
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Samyang is still sharper esp corners wide open. Yes, you're right the nature of this lens suggests it will almost always be stopped down... but not always. Here at F2.8

002.jpg


And the main point - it's three times cheaper and it's FF compatible.
 
odd jim said:
Why not get the Canon 10-22 on your crop body, it's the best UWA Canon setup!
Click to expand...

OP uses FF, and so do I and others interested in this thread. Agreed 10-22 is better for crop, but no good on FF.

...and I am definitely looking forward to seeing an affordable and sharp 24/1.4 or 24 TSE.

P.S. If you shoot northern lights or night sky you will need f/2.8 AND high ISO.
 
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Thanks for your comments so far. It would be good to get a response from someone that's used the lr profiles as I don't really want to use another program as well. The 24 sounds good too. When is that coming?
 
The op uses a 50d as well (iirc from other threads) which is the only reason I brought up the 10-22 though I can appreciate he'd rather buy for the FF.
 
manualfocus-g said:
I have purchased this for my 5D and it's VERY sharp. I'm off to NYC shortly and will post some samples on my return, hopefully with corrections made for distortion!
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Thanks. I look forward to seeing the results. Let me know when you are back and have put them up. Before and after correction would be useful if possible
 
odd jim said:
The op uses a 50d as well (iirc from other threads) which is the only reason I brought up the 10-22 though I can appreciate he'd rather buy for the FF.
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You are indeed right about the 50d but I won't be buying any more lenses for crop as I'm intending to get another ff body and use the 50d only for telephoto stuff.
 
Can you post one before you corrected the distortion (ie the one with taxis queuing) ?

I tried one on the d300 in case I need to replace my tokina 11-16 (had an accident). Seemed very nice although I only took two shots inside the store. Still 250ukp ish was a decent price (manchester "london camera exchange")
 
MFG - how close does it focus and what's it like for flare? I use a Sigma 14mm, which is one of the sharpest lenses I've ever used but it flares up like a good 'un... still, it focusses down to about 1.5 inches, which is what I need for portraiture and editorial work....
 
I have to say that I am often the first to think, crappy name, unknown, rubbish, BUT, a clum member has three of this make and believe me, first impressions are very good indeed, though they are not cheap lenses anyway, however they do get good reviews in the mags.
 
What do you mean not cheap? When the canon version is about 6 times the price and is arguably not particularly better in image quality I would consider that to be cheap.
 
Where are folks purchasing Samyang lenses from, not seen many stockists (other than eBay)? Interested in the 24 and 35, they seem stunningly sharp.
 
ShrubMonkey said:
Where are folks purchasing Samyang lenses from, not seen many stockists (other than eBay)? Interested in the 24 and 35, they seem stunningly sharp.
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24 ain't out yet. Next month I think. There are a few places if you do a Google search but I ain't really heard of them so not sure what to suggest
 
amtaylor said:
24 ain't out yet. Next month I think. There are a few places if you do a Google search but I ain't really heard of them so not sure what to suggest
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Thanks yes I can search, just wanted to hear from folks who had already purchased them ;)
 
ShrubMonkey said:
Thanks yes I can search, just wanted to hear from folks who had already purchased them ;)
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I didn't mean that. What I meant was they come up on a search but they could be based anywhere so eBay might be the best bet. That's probably where I shall buy mine from.
 
I've got one too.. It really isn't an easy lens to use on FF, 14mm is beyond wide and if you're used to 17 or even 16mm on the wide end those couple of millimeters make a big difference.

Here's one..

1249791419_EdcqX-XL.jpg


This was taken with the lens at maybe 50cm or even less from the girl's face.. That said, there's NOTHING wrong with the IQ!
 
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