Samyang appears to have ceased production of RF mount lenses

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dominic_siu

R5, 1435, 2870, 100500, 28, 100 Macro , 135 (RF)
Aug 31, 2018
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Canon may not have the responsibility to test thrid party products, but if Canon is aware there is third-party gear out there then, at least assuming it is not some really rare piece of gear, in my opinion it doesn't say much for Canon if they stick their heads in the sand so far as checking if what they are doing is breaking compatability with the third-party gear. I have no idea whether Canon does or doesn't worry about breaking compatability with third party gear, but if they don't, I blame Canon at least as much as the third-parties for the problem. I am convinced the existence of third-party gear helps attract buyers to a system. I know I won't move to RF unless and until we start seeing good third-party lens support (I'll move to another mirrorless system).
I bought EOS R then changed to R5 because of Canon RF lenses.
 
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The Rokinon RF lenses are still listed. I'm thinking this is more of a branding and cost savings exercise. It never made much sense to sell the exact same lenses under two brands. There were also markets around the world that didn't sell both brands. I'm hoping this is just a streamlining of Samyang's business.
Rokinon is not a brand in Australia - only Samyang. I can't find any Samyang RF lenses available locally now.
It does sound like a patent issue when all products for a mount are no longer available
 
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I've got a EF Samyang 16mm F/2.0 designed for APS-C which is un-chipped, you change the aperture on the lens itself. I'll never get firmware problems with it (y)

Unfortunately buying third party lenses that need the chip for AF and aperture is a bit of a risk.

A workaround could be to tape up the chip and use manual focus and shoot at the widest aperture all the time, it's better then nothing.
 
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jd7

CR Pro
Feb 3, 2013
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I bought EOS R then changed to R5 because of Canon RF lenses.
If the RF lenses appeal to you then sure, go for it. It seems that most of the RF lenses are fantastic lenses. On the whole they don't appeal to me though (as a hobbyist). I have no interest in paying Canon's asking price for the L series RF primes (eg the RF 85L is the best part of A$4000) and even if the price was better I don't really want primes which are that big and heavy. On the other hand, from what I've seen, I don't feel overly impressed by the cheaper, lighter non-L RF lenses. So for me, overall, the lenses available in other systems (particularly for the Sony system) are more attractive. For example, I would take lenses such as the Sony 35mm f/1.8 or Samyang 35mm f/1.8 or Sigma 35mm f/2 (all for the Sony system) over the Canon RF 35 f/1.8 for my use. I won't go on, but the point is other systems offer a wider range of lenses to suit different buyers than you can get for Canon RF. (Yes, I know you can adapt EF to RF, and that's great, but it doesn't allow you to get some of the benefits of mirrorless).
 
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Glad I got my 14mm RF AF recently from a b&m store in Sydney.
AF works really well on my R and R5. A great lens for the price.

As is common in intellectual property dissagreements, the guilty party has to withdraw all offending stock ASAP.
Not doing so will make their fines and retribution even higher.
 
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My guess is that it was triggered by nothing more nefarious than poor sales.

It is very unlikely that Canon would make legal threats over reverse-engineering the mount: Canon is currently going through a lawsuit in Japan with a reused ink cartridge vendor over antitrust allegations, and it would make them look Really Bad in that lawsuit if they go around suing lens makers for being uppity enough to make compatible lenses.

Additionally, the speculation about Canon changing the camera behavior with firmware updates to hurt Samyang does not explain the fact that Samyang pulled the MF RF lenses as well, which had no electronic connection to the body at all.

Meanwhile, the RF mount’s share of installed bodies is only recently beginning to pick up--R5 and R6 are doing well, but they’ll need to remain best-selling bodies for several years in order for the RF mount to reach anything resembling E mount’s market presence. It would have only been a big surprise if the Samyang RF lenses didn’t sell poorly. Look at Sigma’s Yamaki-san comment in a recent DPR interview: Sigma can make RF lenses if they wanted to, but he doesn’t feel the market is ready. If the market isn’t ready for Sigma, it isn’t ready for Samyang either.
 
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