Samyang 85 1.4 vs canon ef 85 1.8 - which one to choose?

[ELK]

I have Canon 85mm f1.8. It's a very nice lens with only maybe one flaw - purprle fringe in bright spots, like water under sunshine, very contrasty edges. I remeber photozone.de also mentions this. Sometimes it make me nervous in pictures. Otherwise it's fine. And it would be really difficult with manual focus sometimes, if you pick the Samyang.

 

[sweetcancer]

Well, i only hear good things about the Eg-s focusing screen, so i'm giving it a try!

I really like the cheaper price + bokeh of the samyang.

 

[pwp]

Samyang 85 1.4 vs canon ef 85 1.8 - which one to choose?
Here's the answer, it's the Sigma 85 f/1.4. No question.

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Sigma-85mm-f-1.4-EX-DG-HSM-Lens-Review.aspx
http://www.sigmaphoto.com/shop/85mm-f14-ex-dg-hsm-sigma

Paul Wright

 

[DB]

Have any of you guys used the Samyang 14mm f/2.8?

I really need a wide angle lens for my 7D and these guys pop-up all over eBay. This stream on the 85mm f/1.4's is very interesting. I could live with MF, but the real draw is the price (<$400) which is less than one-third of the Canon offering.

 

[Nick Gombinsky]

I cant's speak for the Canon 85mm, but I can for the Samyang (being somewhat of a Samyang enthusiast). It's an awesome lens, build quality and optical quality are up there next to Carl Zeiss or Canon L (I've shot side by side next to the same camera with a Carl Zeiss kit for an "AT&T" commercial, the difference was only visible to the most trained eyes, and still the difference was very little).

In my opinion, it comes down to: AF or better optical quality?

 

[sweetcancer]

Samyang 85 1.4 vs canon ef 85 1.8 - which one to choose?
Here's the answer, it's the Sigma 85 f/1.4. No question.

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Sigma-85mm-f-1.4-EX-DG-HSM-Lens-Review.aspx
http://www.sigmaphoto.com/shop/85mm-f14-ex-dg-hsm-sigma

Paul Wright

I'm more than sure that there's nothing wrong with the Sigma, but where I live, I can pick up both the samyang and the canon + the eg-s focusing screen for less than what Sigma costs. And as I don't get paid for photographing, the samyang is a logical choice.

 

[wickidwombat]

the eg-s is ok but dont expect miracles
i just replaced the eg-s screen in my mk2 with a brightscreen
http://www.brightscreenstore.com/store/

and the difference is more like oh my god vs the eg-a to eg-s difference which is ho hum on lenses f2.8 and faster and oh my god in a bad way on f4 or slower lenses especially in low light. that reminds me i need to sell that eg-s screen

 

[NormanBates]

Have any of you guys used the Samyang 14mm f/2.8?

I really need a wide angle lens for my 7D and these guys pop-up all over eBay. This stream on the 85mm f/1.4's is very interesting. I could live with MF, but the real draw is the price (<$400) which is less than one-third of the Canon offering.

the samyang 14mm is a very interesting lens, but again not for everyone (as with the 85mm, it's only manual focus, but with such a wide-angle lens this is not so much of a problem; there's another reason in this case)

on APS-C, it's reasonably sharp, corner to corner (on fullframe, the corners are softer than I'd like to bear, even stopped down)
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/ISO-12233-Sample-Crops.aspx?Lens=769&Camera=453&Sample=0&FLI=0&API=0&LensComp=454&CameraComp=0&FLIComp=0&APIComp=0
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/ISO-12233-Sample-Crops.aspx?Lens=769&Camera=453&Sample=0&FLI=0&API=3&LensComp=454&CameraComp=453&SampleComp=0&FLIComp=0&APIComp=3

but I say "not for everyone" because of the distortion

if you're shooting architecture, the tokina 11-16 is a bit more expensive but has much less distortion (at 14mm, it's basically distortion-free)
http://www.photozone.de/canon-eos/666-tokina1116f28eos?start=1
http://www.photozone.de/canon-eos/533-samyang14f28eosapsc?start=1

but if you're shooting people, because it has *more* distortion, the samyang will appear to have less distortion than the tokina (crazy, I know, but check the samples)
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?281994-I-need-a-cheap-wide-angle-lens-Recommendations

in any case that's all for aps-c; on full frame, nasty mustache distortion appears on the samyang
http://www.photozone.de/canon_eos_ff/532-samyang14f28eosff?start=1

more here: http://www.similaar.com/foto/equipment/us_lensc.html#samyang

 

[dickgrafixstop]

No brainer - choose the Canon 85 f1.8. Great lens, autofocus and the extra stop shouldn't make any difference.

 

[NormanBates]

^ let me guess: you have a canon 85mm f/1.8 but you've never seen a samyang 85mm f/1.4

 

[sweetcancer]

got my lens + focusing screen yesterday. Thoughts: Lens hood is flimsy and the mount isn't as tight as with canon lenses. The lens front cap is also a bit of a pain. Lens itself is well built and the manual focus ring a pleasure to use. The focus screen was very easy to install, even though i had never done it before, and focusing with it is easy at f/1.4. Lens makes absolutely beautiful images.

I have one question now: when stopping down to f/22, i can see a white dot a little up-left from the center AF point in my viewfinder. Is this normal, or do i have a defect somewhere? same thing with both this lens and my canon 50mm 1.4.