Hoping Sigma can make a 35L alternative

[wickidwombat]

good to know, i can never afford the 85L or the cream machine from Nikkor

the sigma 85 f1.4 is so good i've almost stopped shooting with my 70-200 f2.8L IS II
at f2 its considerably sharper than the zoom is at f2.8 so now i'm considering selling my 70-200 an getting the canon 200 f2L since i only use my 70-200 these days when i'm chasing 200mm

[skitron]

I've said it before and i'll say it again:
If you can get away without AF (like for landscapes, or anything about f/4 is hyperfocalled anyway), you can't do better than the Samyang 35 (although yes, the Samyang optical quality plus AF would be killer if it were less than $500)

+1000

I have the "Rokinon" branded Samyang and it is a very cool lens. I put a programmable autofocus confirm chip on mine and it's a joy to use. Put the camera in "A", half-depress the shutter and twist the focus ring until the camera confirms focus then press for the shot. Caveat is aperture needs to be open enough to allow enough light to focus...otherwise you have to focus at f1.4 then stop it down on lens.

[MK5GTI]

any info on the AF confirmation chip? does it has to be retrofit, as in taking the lens apart?

[wickidwombat]

any info on the AF confirmation chip? does it has to be retrofit, as in taking the lens apart?

stuck on the back apparently, you could use the same chips edmika puts on his FD-EF adaptors
you have to program the info into them so they report lens focal length and aperture correctly to the camera

[dr croubie]

any info on the AF confirmation chip? does it has to be retrofit, as in taking the lens apart?

stuck on the back apparently, you could use the same chips edmika puts on his FD-EF adaptors
you have to program the info into them so they report lens focal length and aperture correctly to the camera

I have and did.
It's easiest to line the chip up in the correct posistion either by pulling the rear mount off the lens (4 screws, not a big deal), or by lining up the pins on an extension tube (kenko or canon, as long as it's an extension tube with pins). Being able to see where the pins line up makes it so much easier, if you're trying to line up the pins on the chip using the lens on a camera, you won't be able to see anything and it's almost impossible.

The chips edMika uses come from ml-gvalt on ebay (in lithuania or something). Same as the chips from peleng8.com.
They're a bit weird to program, have to half-unmount the lens and whatnot, but after installing 3 chips i'm getting better at it...

[skitron]

It's problem of that Samyang is not losing AF, it's about losing AE. Manual focus? Fine, manual focus + manual metering? That's way too much hassle for me.

It's not so bad. Just put the camera in "A" and set lens aperture where ever you want and leave body aperture setting on f1.4. The body will then adjust shutter as needed so all you have to mess with is focus.

The caveat I found is that as you stop down on the lens, the body metering tends to overexpose no matter what mode its in. By f11 it over exposes about a stop and a half best I can tell. But I tend to shoot mainly f1.4 thru f5.6 and its manageable in that range.

[haring]

I would love to have the Sigma 35mm as well! The Canon is just too expensive! My 24-70 covers the 35mm range though...