Samyang/Rokinon lenses

[msbarnes]

Anyone have experience with these lenses?

I'm looking for a fast manual focus, F-mount, 85mm lens. I'm mostly deciding between a Nikkor 85mm f1.4 AIs or a Samyang/Rokinon 85mm f1.4.

I'm mostly concerned with the Samyang/Rokinon build/durability. Are they durable lenses? They're considerably cheaper, so I would expect the lenses to be more plastic. Also, is there a difference between Samyang and Rokinon? Is it just a label?

 

[Jake Mongey]

Anyone have experience with these lenses?

I'm looking for a fast manual focus, F-mount, 85mm lens. I'm mostly deciding between a Nikkor 85mm f1.4 AIs or a Samyang/Rokinon 85mm f1.4.

I'm mostly concerned with the Samyang/Rokinon build/durability. Are they durable lenses? They're considerably cheaper, so I would expect the lenses to be more plastic. Also, is there a difference between Samyang and Rokinon? Is it just a label?

They are great on sony and yes they are just labels. Go check out christopher frosts reviews on youtube ( he uses canon but same lens)

 

[fireblade]

Excellent lenses.

 

[daveywaugh]

I own the 12mm and 35mm and really happy. You're probably right to question the build - there's definitely a little bit of wobble in both lenses. They're not as 'solid' as others, but they still feel nice overall. Optical quality is excellent though. Bang for buck is 5 star.

 

[newst]

I used to own the Rokinon 85mm in Sony E mount. It was an excellent lens sharp, smooth bokeh with modern coatings. Focusing and aperture control was smooth. I didn't experience any wobble with my lens.

I would buy it again if I thought I needed another 85mm.

 

[Rick Waldroup]

I own the Rokinon 12mm f/2 lens in the micro 4/3 mount. It is a superb lens optically for the price. For the kind of stuff I shoot, I pre-focus the lens at about 1 meter and never worry about the focus too much after that. Great lens.

 

[Steve M.]

I had the Rokinon 85 1.4 in Nikon mount. Shot one roll, then sold it. The bokeh was very nice, but the lens made images that were sort of dull and boring. It had no character. I like a classic look, and bought a used first design Leica R 90 2.8 Elmarit w/ the money and put an R to F mount adapter for shooting in stop down metering mode. BIG difference! Wow. Nikon really doesn't make an 85 that I am fond of, so the Leica was always my default short tele/portrait lens. Worked great on an FG, EM, N8008s and Nikkormat FT2. The build quality was in another league, just like the shots.

Bower made the 85 1.4 lenses too, or at least put their label on them. They're all the same lens except for minor trim on the cosmetics. Build quality is fine, but it isn't near the Leica's. What is? Many of the R 90 Elmarits have haze or fungus, so ask questions before buying. I got the rear element out of mine easy enough to clean it up, but the rest of the lens is beyond my (or most people's) skill set. The thing was built like something NASA made.

 

[narsuitus]

I needed a fast lens that was wider than my 16mm Fuji f/2 and a fast lens that was more telephoto than my 56mm Fuji f/1.2.

For the fast wide lens, I selected the 12mm f/2 Rokinon. It does not handle flare as well as I would like, it is light weight, and its plastic material does not inspire confidence. For the price, however, I have so been satisfied with the Rokinon's image quality and workmanship.

On the other hand, the one thing that really bothered me was the focus ring rotating in a direction opposite to my Fuji lenses and my Nikon lenses. However, since a pre-focus setting of 1-meter and an aperture of f/8 gave me enough depth-of-field to get all my subjects in focus, I did not worry too much about fast manual focusing. This technique worked well with my 12mm wide angle lens but it would not work well on a 135mm Rokinon telephoto. I therefore decided not to get the Rokinon 135 but instead purchased a 135mm Zeiss f/2 in a Nikon F mount. I have been very pleased with the Zeiss which is well built like a Fuji or Nikon and has a focus ring that rotates in the same direction as a Fuji or Nikon.

In addition to the 85mm Samyang, Rokinon, and Nikon lenses, I would also consider the Zeiss.

 

[pvdhaar]

I've got the Samyang 85/1.4 AS IF in Nikon mount. Build quality is fine, no problems there. The only downside I can think of is the minimum focus distance, it's 1 meter. A bit longish for my taste when going for close-ups.

Positives are plentiful. The most amazing thing about this lens is the extremely low amount of coma. Some may equate that to lack of character. But for something like astrophotography, where you shoot (almost) wide open and need distortion free images all the way to the edge of the frame, it's a godsend. I'll add character in postprocessing if I need to.. Another plus is out of focus rendering, which is most times very good, especially behind the plane of focus. Closer than halfway between front of the plane of focus and the camera, it's sometimes a bit busier, but that's expected.

The only caveat when going for the Samyang, is that you need to be absolutely sure that you're comfortable with manual focus. Depth of field at 1.4 is incredibly shallow, and focusing accurately takes time. If you're more a point and shoot type of person, get an AF Nikon instead, even if it's only a 1.8..

 

[J enea]

i bought a bower 35mm 1.4 for nikon and think its a great lens and a fabulous value. i tried every 35mm lens nikon made and the bower beat em all as far as im concerned. yes maybe the build is not up to the old AI/AI-s build and maybe the focus is not quite as smooth, but it beats the the newer plastic build of many new g and d nikon lenses for build and focus, manual focus that is. for 85mm i still prefer the ai-s 85mm f2 lens.

the main negative for me is that there is no calibrated hard stop for infinity focus. it will focus past, so unlike a nikon where you can just turn it all the way, you have to actually focus on a distant point

 

[rogue_designer]

I use the Rokinon cine lenses for Canon EF. They are built quite nicely, no concerns on that front at all. I have not compared with their standard photo lenses though.

 

[Rico]

I recent bought the Rokinon/Samyang 135/2, and the optical performance is a revelation, meaning it hangs with the best primes I own (e.g. Leica Apo-Telyt-R 280/4). Build is plastic, which fine when Nikon or Sigma do it, but Samyang's implementation needs work. Focus action is too tight, but reliable and free of slop: I think the helical is plastic. The aperture ring is nasty, but the F-mount version has aperture control via the body. In summary, I overlook the flaws to enjoy the image quality.

 

[Fixcinater]

I had the Rokinon 85/1.4, the signature is rather like the Sigma non-ART 50mm f/1.4 EX DG. Very smooth bokeh, modern levels of sharpness and good but not extremely high flare resistance.

It was solid in the time that I owned it. I have an M42 SMC Tak 85/1.8, a Super Tak 85/1.9 and when I can convince myself to sell the 1.8 (if ever), I would buy another Rokinon/Samyang in a heartbeat.