View Full Version : The secret bargain lens brand now at B & H....


Jon Braeley
June 21st, 2011, 01:09 PM
Well not really a secret but this brand is not well known in the states - but boy are they a bargain!!

They are Rokinon brand in the USA but known as Samyang in Europe. Made in Poland.

But these lenses - the primes are pin sharp and very accurate - I cannot tell the 35mm from any Nikon or Canon L .... seriously. They are usually very fast - F1.4.

I just saw for the first time that B&H are now selling them - I just added the 85mm F1.4 to my collection. It is stupid not to own at this price - and it has Sony A-mount.

Rokinon (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Rokinon/Ntt/Rokinon/N/0)

Jean-Philippe Archibald
June 21st, 2011, 01:24 PM
You are right. These lenses are great for video. I Own the 35mm and the 85mm. In canon mount since I use them on the 7d but will use them on the FS100 via a dumb adapter when the camera arrive in a few days.

Extremly sharp and fast, perfect focus ring, and a manual iris ring. I was told by Rokinon that a 24mm 1.4 is comming this fall for about 550$.

Now, they need to make a set optimized for video, with a decliked iris. I am sure that with the advent of these new large sensor "affordable" cameras, there is a market for a cheaper alternative to Zeiss CP2

Brian Drysdale
June 21st, 2011, 03:14 PM
They are Rokinon brand in the USA but known as Samyang in Europe. Made in Poland.


They are a Korean company, which seems to have their manufacturing plant in Korea, although they do have a Polish office.

Samyang Optics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samyang_Optics)

Jim Michael
June 21st, 2011, 03:55 PM
Check the lens image sample archive on photography-on-the.net for examples from those lenses. Pretty nice.

Jon Braeley
June 21st, 2011, 04:22 PM
The label on my Samyang says Made in Poland but could well be Korean origin.

I posted them here because with these are made for manual use and with all the dumb adapters these fit the bill for the FS-100.

I paid $265 for my 85mm F1.4 and $400 for the 35mm - they are amazing quality - solid build and super sharp. The 8mm is also worth getting.
I wish they would make some zooms that equal these primes.

Brian Drysdale
June 21st, 2011, 04:41 PM
The review I checked said the 85mm was less good wide open - suitable for portraits was their term.

Samyang 85mm f/1.4 Aspherical (full format) - Review / Test Report (http://www.photozone.de/canon_eos_ff/483-samyang_85_14_5d)

However, with the smaller sensor on the FS 100 the drop off in edge sharpness could less of an issue.

The review was positive about the construction of the lens.

Jean-Philippe Archibald
June 21st, 2011, 06:12 PM
The review I checked said the 85mm was less good wide open - suitable for portraits was their term.

Samyang 85mm f/1.4 Aspherical (full format) - Review / Test Report (http://www.photozone.de/canon_eos_ff/483-samyang_85_14_5d)

However, with the smaller sensor on the FS 100 the drop off in edge sharpness could less of an issue.

The review was positive about the construction of the lens.

According to this review: Samyang 85 mm f/1.4 Aspherical IF review - Image resolution - Lenstip.com (http://lenstip.com/166.4-Lens_review-Samyang_85_mm_f_1.4_Aspherical_IF__Image_resolution.html) this is quite the contrary on APSC sensors:

"Good news to start with: the image at maximum aperture is fully usable since the obtained resolution slightly exceeds 30 lpmm. This result surpasses both the Nikkor and the Zeiss, whose images at maximum aperture were very ‘soft’."

I have this lens for 2 years and in practice it is damn sharp at 1.4, WAY sharper than my nikon 50mm 1.4, on par with the canon 24mm 1.4 II (I can't compare with other lens like zeiss, since I don't own them. For 300$ it's a steal.

Brian Drysdale
June 22nd, 2011, 12:41 AM
Indeed quite a few lenses are soft wide open, the more expensive fast lenses do start concentrate on giving performance at the wide apertures. For example, the cine lens manufacturers have put a lot of effort into this.

Here's a review of a stills Zeiss 85 f1.4 done by the same people for comparison

Zeiss Planar T* 85mm f/1.4 ZF - Review / Test Report (http://www.photozone.de/nikon--nikkor-aps-c-lens-tests/256-zeiss-planar-zf-t-85mm-f14-review--test-report)

Related to this lens and another use of the optics. I've just read on the CML forum that Zeiss limited the max aperture of the new Compact Prime 85mm to T2.1 because they deemed that the performance wasn't good enough for cine work wide open. The original CP 85mm was T1.5 (f1.4) and used the full aperture.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any Zeiss fast lenses reviewed at lens tip. Certainly the Samyang does offer good value for money, although flare would seem to be a weakness.

Jon Braeley
June 22nd, 2011, 05:45 AM
I have been following these lenses for a while but was amazed to find them at B & H - hence this thread.

I think they are a new product for them. Also they tend to go under different names - I only used to see them on ebay under the Samyamg name and shipping from Poland.

But so far I have not seen one bad review - unlike FCPX... had to throw that one in!

Brian Drysdale
June 22nd, 2011, 07:04 AM
I think the choice really depends on what you want to use the lenses for and the characteristics of the image. Perhaps not the lenses you'd go for if planning to rent the camera out, but fine for personal use.

Pat Flores
June 28th, 2011, 09:15 PM
I have been following these lenses for a while but was amazed to find them at B & H - hence this thread.

I think they are a new product for them. Also they tend to go under different names - I only used to see them on ebay under the Samyamg name and shipping from Poland.

But so far I have not seen one bad review - unlike FCPX... had to throw that one in!

I have seen pretty good reviews on the 14mm 2.8 and the 85mm 1.4....thought the 85 would be nice at 1.4 since I am using a 60D I dont think I will be getting it but the 14mm still looks like one to get...I was also thinking about the Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 simply because it is so wide and NOT fisheye...

Louis Maddalena
June 28th, 2011, 11:53 PM
This is an interesting post. I already have some L series primes ( the 50 1.2 and 35 1.4) and had intended on buying some more when the money was there. However, hearing all these praises of these lenses has me wondering if I should be buying some of these as I would not be able to use the Canon's on the 100 when I do get it (I'm using a 5D now).

If you had invested in L series lenses (the primes I had mentioned above and a collection of zooms) what would you do in regards to these lenses being discussed. Would you buy them? Do you think they'll come close enough to cut between two different lenses, and a professional eye be happy with the quality of that.

I ask because this could save me a lot of money, but most importantly save a lot of time for changing the aperture (due to the lack of aperture control in the dumb adapters).

(I'd love to buy the Zeis compact primes but I will not be able to afford those for quite some time)

Jon Braeley
June 29th, 2011, 06:16 AM
Louis, the 35mm Rokinon - also called Samyang has been well known for a while among a few well known DPs... Phillip Bloom posted a blog on this lens alone stating its incredible value.

I have the 85mm 1.4 on my Fs-100 and works very well - like a Nikon - same build and feel. But more importantly a very nice image and super fast at 1.4.

I posted this thread because they were always difficult to find or buy unitl now.

At well below $300 its not a hard decision.

Aaron Nanto
June 29th, 2011, 02:03 PM
This is an interesting post. I already have some L series primes ( the 50 1.2 and 35 1.4) and had intended on buying some more when the money was there. However, hearing all these praises of these lenses has me wondering if I should be buying some of these as I would not be able to use the Canon's on the 100 when I do get it (I'm using a 5D now).

If you had invested in L series lenses (the primes I had mentioned above and a collection of zooms) what would you do in regards to these lenses being discussed. Would you buy them? Do you think they'll come close enough to cut between two different lenses, and a professional eye be happy with the quality of that.

I ask because this could save me a lot of money, but most importantly save a lot of time for changing the aperture (due to the lack of aperture control in the dumb adapters).

(I'd love to buy the Zeis compact primes but I will not be able to afford those for quite some time)

I've been shooting with the 5DM2 and own a few L prime Canon lenses. I originally wanted to use them on my FS100, but after figuring that I'd have to buy a smart adapter like the Birger mount (which is expected to be around $700) to really use my Canon lenses, I bought the 35mm Rokinon. I have yet to shoot anything with it to compare, but everything I've read online is very positive.

Matt Davis
July 3rd, 2011, 10:01 AM
I've bought the 35mm f1.4, and can't wait to shoot a proper interview with it. I promised my wife I wouldn't publish my initial tests of her shot with it, but it's got 'expensive' written all over the image. It has a fairly long throw for focus, and it has a 'real' iris ring which I may have de-clicked by The Lens Doctor. Feels a lot better to work with than my Sigma 50mm f1.4.

In a perfect world, it would be Zeiss CP2s, but this camera's going out where an EX1 would have gone before, and clients are not going to pay extra for proper cinematic glass.

Based on the 35mm experience, I guess I'll just have to go for the 85mm too.

Jon Braeley
July 4th, 2011, 06:20 AM
I think you will find the 85mm the best choice for interviews.

Thats what I use mine for specifically.

Matt Davis
July 4th, 2011, 06:48 AM
Yes, traditionally longer lenses are flattering and flatten perspective, but the one thing I enjoy about cams like the FS100 is the ability to shoot interviews a little wider, putting the interviewee into their environment, whilst still enjoying the selective focus that's near impossible with a smaller chip camera.

The 85 is quite long on the S35 sensor, good MCU but just recently there's been a penchant for MS and wider. The 35/1.4 acts like a FF35 50mm, and the 50mm comes in as a 85mm.

But the price is such that I'll have all three focal lengths at 1.4 soon. :-)

John Vincent
July 19th, 2011, 05:20 PM
What adapter are you guys using for these lenses?

Jean-Philippe Archibald
July 19th, 2011, 07:36 PM
I bought the 85 and 35 in canon mount (to share with the 7D) and using a dumb fotodiox adapter. Great!

Matt Davis
July 20th, 2011, 03:41 PM
Funnily enough I did the opposite. I have a Nikon to Canon adaptor, so the lens is primarily for the FS100 but can still be used on the 550d. I have an MTF Nikkor to E-Mount.

Jean-Philippe Archibald
July 21st, 2011, 11:33 AM
I never liked to work with nikon to EOS adapter when I was shooting primarilly with the 7D. They are so thin and I never been able to find a good one with no play That's why I purshased the samyang / rokinon lenses in Canon mounts. Anyway since they are all manual, I see no point in buying them in Nikon. I will never use them on a Nikon body.

The adapters for the e mount, even the cheap ones like the fotodiox I am using are much tighter. Might be because they are easier to build.

Matt Davis
July 21st, 2011, 11:42 AM
I purchased the 16-9 adaptor, which has been, and continues to be ROCK SOLID:

Nikon G - Canon EOS Adapter (http://www.16-9.net/nikon_g/)

Zero issues with it. I assumed (in my early naivete) all adaptors were like this, but have since been exposed to the types you have perhaps tried. Which is why I bought the MTF.

Jon Braeley
July 22nd, 2011, 09:14 AM
The Rokinon lenses are available in Alpha mount as well so you can just use the Sony adapter.

Jean-Philippe Archibald
July 22nd, 2011, 10:14 AM
Yes but the sony adpater is a lot pricier than the fotodiox one, and add nothing to the usefullness of the lens since it's all manual.

Jon Braeley
July 22nd, 2011, 01:28 PM
Yes but there are many shooters using only the Sony A-mount adapter because they wish to use Alpha lenses which enable auto-iris shooting and-or control of the iris from the camera itself ... this includes the Sigma A-mounts which do not have aperture control on the lens itself. So its good to know Rokinkons are also in A-mount.

Duncan Craig
July 24th, 2011, 04:08 PM
Matt, did you find a decent UK supplier?

Duncan.

Matt Davis
July 25th, 2011, 02:21 AM
This is where I bought it - very quick dispatch. (http://www.360tacticalvr.com/fisheye-lenses/samyang/samyang-35mm.html)

Duncan Craig
July 25th, 2011, 02:31 AM
Thanks Matt.

Does anyone have online footage shot with these lenses?


Duncan.