Samyang 24mm f/1.4 Review

[dr croubie]

... it's up at Photozone.

Given how well their 35mm f/1.4 performs (especially considering the price), i'm interested to see how well they do a bit wider. (yes, I posted this link before reading the review)

 

[dr croubie]

(my) Conclusions, vs the Canon 24mm f/1.4 L II:

Canon barrel-distorts less.
Canon has better centre performance.
Samyang has better border performance (at least wide-open on FF).
The loss-of-contrast in the Samyang wide-open can put me off shooting wide-open (it's bad on the 35mm, i rarely use that one wider than f/2)
Samyang has slightly less CA.
Canon has better Build Quality (I can certainly vouch for that, based on my Samyang 35mm), and Weather Sealing.
Both vignette pretty badly, but I never mind that.

The Samyang is $700 at B+H. The Canon is $1700. Guess which one i'm picking?

(neither, until I can get a used Samyang for $400)

 

[pakosouthpark]

do they both have automatic focus?

 

[dr croubie]

Not sure if that was sarcastic or rhetorical.
So add in the line:
Canon has AF, Samyang has MF.

Anyway, seeing as f/1.4 isn't really usable on the Samyang from the contrast aspect, Hyperfocal distance on FF at f/2.0 is about 10m, where everything is sharp from 5m to infinity. So AF at this wide-angle is really a moot point...

 

[cliffwang]

do they both have automatic focus?

No. I bought the 35mm F/1.4 weeks ago. The IQ is good; however, I hate the manual focus. I am not so familiar with MF, so I always takes a lot of time to focus my objective. Now, that lens is just seating on my shelf and eating dusts. I will get an AF confirm chip to see that will help me or not.
By the way, anyone knows a cheap and good ultra wide prime (like 14mm)? Manual focus is fine for me since I will use that one for landscape.

 

[skitron]

do they both have automatic focus?

No. I bought the 35mm F/1.4 weeks ago. The IQ is good; however, I hate the manual focus. I am not so familiar with MF, so I always takes a lot of time to focus my objective. Now, that lens is just seating on my shelf and eating dusts. I will get an AF confirm chip to see that will help me or not.
By the way, anyone knows a cheap and good ultra wide prime (like 14mm)? Manual focus is fine for me since I will use that one for landscape.

Definitely try a programmable AF chip for this lens. I have this setup and it is actually fun to shoot with and works very well. I use it in aperture priority mode and then put the body at f1.4 and [usually] evaluative metering. Then just manually adjust the lens to whatever aperture you want to shoot at and twist focus till you get the confirmation. This works pretty good up to f5.6 or so then the metering starts to give over exposed results (but you can compensate with neg exposure if you want to shoot f8 or whatever)

As for the talk of low contrast at f1.4, that is somewhat true but very easily corrected in post by altering the black point level rather than adjusting contrast to compensate. My experience has been that amping up the black point a little gives a natural looking fix for the slightly washed out look when shooting this lens wide open. JMO and YMMV...

 

[risc32]

i'm not so sure i'm feeling that hyperfocal stuff. for my exp, focus does matter, even at 24mm. Does the samyang operate in 1/3 stops, 1/2? whole stops or some weird mix? very often setting my aperture precisely is of great importance, and i'm not talking about for DOF's sake. I for one don't care to screw around with anything but 1/3 stop increments everywhere. it's the only real complaint i have with my fuji MF rangefinder. 1/2 stop aperture, full stop shutter speed, what BS. then again running with no batteries and having as fast as 1/500th synch speed is sweet.

 

[dr croubie]

i'm not so sure i'm feeling that hyperfocal stuff. for my exp, focus does matter, even at 24mm. Does the samyang operate in 1/3 stops, 1/2? whole stops or some weird mix? very often setting my aperture precisely is of great importance, and i'm not talking about for DOF's sake. I for one don't care to screw around with anything but 1/3 stop increments everywhere. it's the only real complaint i have with my fuji MF rangefinder. 1/2 stop aperture, full stop shutter speed, what BS. then again running with no batteries and having as fast as 1/500th synch speed is sweet.

Not sure about the 24mm, but my 35mm Samyang has clicks at f/1.4, then f/2.0, then half-stops to f/11, and f/16.
I started out by pulling it apart and gouging a bit to get a click between f/1.4 and f/2.0, but then I gave up and removed the ball-bearing, so now it's clickless...

I know it's annoying having only 1/2-stop lenses and 1-stop shutter speeds, it's the same on my P6/K60 and lenses. But then, even on my 7D and EF-lenses the exposure's never 'exactly' right, pushing/pulling a digital file up to a stop doesn't ruin much (unless your highlights are blown, but that happens a lot more often in digital than film)