Samyang/Rokinon 12mm/f2 X Mount

[Avotius]

I just got the lens in the mail and stuck it on my XE1 and here is what I think so far.

Build quality is pretty good. Lens feels light but very solid. I was worried about how big the lens would be as the point of having an XE1 is to have a compact high quality camera but now my fears are gone. Also probably glad I didnt go for the 10mm f2.8 because that thing looks positively massive. Aperture ring is nice and clicky, very positive feeling click stops, better than the Fuji 35mm lens I have. Shooting a few images around the house and it seems that the lens is more resistant to blowing out in high contrast areas than my Canon 17-40 for instance dark indoors with bright windows you dont see the bright windows light intruding into the dark walls nearly as much as the Canon. It's overcast today (in Washington? Now way!) so cant test flare yet.

I will take this little thing and give it a good working through and post something in a couple weeks, but so far so good.

 

[FrankS]

Avotius, could we see a pic of the lens on the camera to judge its size, please?

 

[Avotius]

I see RFF still crushes images during its attachment process :bang:

 

[Avotius]

Ok so the weather is being typical Washington so its grey and drizzly out. Not a best time to get out and play with a new lens, I was confined to my yard for about 5 minutes before it started dumping on me again so you have to do with test shots of flowers. I wanted to see how the f2 and DOF would behave so I turned the focus ring to its closest (0.2m) and tried it out. Most are wide open, the ones that are not were probably 5.6 or 8 and I had my XE1 set on Velvia and these are SOoC.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wf4zika00wgdlo9/AABkQhTp6WlLdxsr8ykftbl8a?dl=0

You can right click on the images and view the original BTW.

Things I noticed. The lend hood is not the tightest, nothing a drop of nail polish wont take care of. Something less easy to fix, the lens mount to the camera is not as tight as a Fuji lens so there is a tiny bit of play. This is most noticeable when trying to focus the slightly stiff focus ring. but that said it is better than every lens adapter I have so not the end of the world.

 

[Avotius]

I love mine!

Here are a couple.


Vancouver Christmas Trip Dec 26, 2014 by Mick Orlosky / Redfishingboat by Redfishingboat (Mick O), on Flickr

This place looks a lot like one of my favorite fishing holes in the Olympic Mountains

 

[MikeWebb]

I'm enjoying mine. The all manual isn't proving to be a huge problem to me and for you RF guys no problem at all 🙂

Seems well balanced and not too big. Lens hood seems OK



Bear in mind I stupidly focussed on the gargoyle.

Mike

 

[FrankS]

I'm surprised you even have to focus this lens. DOF must be huge.

 

[RMPoole]

I'm surprised you even have to focus this lens. DOF must be huge.

I find focusing really easy, as you say dof is huge. Great all-round lens. I use it for landscapes, interiors, street.

There are quite a few examples on my Flickr page in my sig. Here's a couple of recent shots though. Fuji xe1, RAW, pp in light room. The first one using a tri-x preset from vcso film.

Should'a been a cowboy by Robert Michael Poole, on Flickr

I wondered lonely... by Robert Michael Poole, on Flickr

 

[FrankS]

Again, I'm surprised (and happy) that you can get limited DOF effect with this lens.

 

[Avotius]

Again, I'm surprised (and happy) that you can get limited DOF effect with this lens.

Yeah I think it does a pretty good job on that front. I am also surprised that the DOF is pretty decent. I looked it up and the hyperfocal distance for this lens is about .8m so I just set it to the 1m mark and f8 and you basically don't have to focus at all.

I think this lens might be the gem in Samyang's portfolio, feeling happy that I didn't go for the 10mm, or at least I will be right until I try to shoot a bunch of interior shots! 🙂