Deal: Samyang RF 85mm f/1.4 UMC $249 (Reg $399)

I have to admire anyone with good manual focus skills. This lens, and those like it, really appeal to me because of the price and they hearken back to simpler times. I have loads of MF lenses. The problem is that I am horrible at focusing them and getting a sharp photo, even with focus peaking.

Before anyone does consider this they've just released the AF version, albeit higher price. Thinking of picking an AF one up myself to put on R.

would love a great 85mm 1.4 AF for EF mount but all still pricey. Tamron, Tokina and even Yongnuo still haven't touched the 85 1.4

CanonFanBoy said:

I have to admire anyone with good manual focus skills. This lens, and those like it, really appeal to me because of the price and they hearken back to simpler times. I have loads of MF lenses. The problem is that I am horrible at focusing them and getting a sharp photo, even with focus peaking.

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The magnify option can make this a lot easier. I use it in poor light with small stationary subjects because DPAF can struggle sometimes in those conditions.

EOS R has a really handy manual focus assist feature.

djack41 said:

EOS R has a really handy manual focus assist feature.

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Not with manual focus only lenses that do not have the electronics to communicate with the camera. I own the R and more than 40 mf lenses. The only focus assistance available is focus peaking, but the green mf focus assist tool does not work with any of those lenses. The lenses do not have the electronics required to accomplish that. This lens is no exception to that rule. Focus peaking helps, but it is no substitute for the focus assist tool.

CanonFanBoy said:

Not with manual focus only lenses that do not have the electronics to communicate with the camera. I own the R and more than 40 mf lenses. The only focus assistance available is focus peaking, but the green mf focus assist tool does not work with any of those lenses. The lenses do not have the electronics required to accomplish that. This lens is no exception to that rule. Focus peaking helps, but it is no substitute for the focus assist tool.

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Hmmmm. Focus Assist on my EOS R works perfectly with my manual focus Rokinon 14mm F2. But that lens has a chip which allows communication with the camera.

djack41 said:

Hmmmm. Focus Assist on my EOS R works perfectly with my manual focus Rokinon 14mm F2. But that lens has a chip which allows communication with the camera.

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Try as I might, I can't find a Rokinon EF 14mm f/2 manual focus lens anywhere with a google search or at ebay. I'd be interested in such a lens. I have had M42 to EF adapters with a focus assist chip mounted on them to get the "beep" confirmation (the chips all eventually fall off).

The above mentioned Samyang 85mm f/1.4 UMC Manual Focus Lens has no electrical contacts. No mention of any chip either, which would require electrical contacts to function with the camera's focus assist feature.

Did you mean to say you have the 14mm f/2.8 pictured below? I'll be taking a good hard look at getting one. Thanks!

CanonFanBoy said:

Try as I might, I can't find a Rokinon EF 14mm f/2 manual focus lens anywhere with a google search or at ebay. I'd be interested in such a lens. I have had M42 to EF adapters with a focus assist chip mounted on them to get the "beep" confirmation (the chips all eventually fall off).

The above mentioned Samyang 85mm f/1.4 UMC Manual Focus Lens has no electrical contacts. No mention of any chip either, which would require electrical contacts to function with the camera's focus assist feature.

Did you mean to say you have the 14mm f/2.8 pictured below? I'll be taking a good hard look at getting one. Thanks!

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Sorry for sending you on a goose chase. My bad. It is a 14mm F2.4.

For those of us old enough to to have used manual focus cameras for many years before auto focus came around, I can say that now having used both for a long enough time, that auto focus cameras simply don’t work well with manual focus lenses. Back then, the split image rangefinder and micro prism ring, usually both being present, offered a bright, easy and fast method of focusing. I rarely missed a shot because of manual focus. But auto focus cameras, with every alternative technology intended to help manual focus, just doesn’t come close to those manual focus cameras when manually focusing.

in today’s Digiloyd ramblings, he notes the problems with Hasselblad’s manual focus assist with their mirrorless camera. it’s not a unique problem. I find that focus confirm for manual isn’t always correct. And magnify mode, and others, quite frankly, are a pain in the ass.

Is this a native mirrorless design or based on the 2008 design?

Trey T said:

Is this a native mirrorless design or based on the 2008 design?

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I believe that it’s based on the old design, from a discussion here.

CanonFanBoy said:

I have to admire anyone with good manual focus skills. This lens, and those like it, really appeal to me because of the price and they hearken back to simpler times. I have loads of MF lenses. The problem is that I am horrible at focusing them and getting a sharp photo, even with focus peaking.

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Manual focus used to be not all that hard. It horribly difficult now because one has to go waaaaay out of one's way to get a split microprism focus ring in the viewfinder, if such a thing is even available for one's camera model (and usually it isn't).