Samyang AF 85mm F1.4 Autofocus Lens for Sony FE

Product Information

As seen in the photos below, it rather dwarves the full-frame Sony A7 III camera that we tested it with, especially when the large lens hood is attached. A flimsy shallow circular plastic hood comes supplied with the lens. It fits loosely on a bayonet fitting and has a habit of detaching itself, so may be more trouble than it's worth. Flare isn't much of an issue, but contrast does take a hammering when shooting into the light, which may be a good thing if shooting portraits. not corrected corrected F1.4 CA /AC F1.4 crop 100% CA / AC LoCA / AC longitudinales crop 100% F16. Flare – Sunstars – Flare effets d’étoiles F16. Flare – Sunstars – Flare effets d’étoiles crop 100% centre crop 100% corner Coma full view 2.3 Bokeh / Color rendition – Bokeh / Rendu des Couleurs This fully manual lens is designed for the latest, high-tech Canon and Nikon mirrorless full-frame cameras. As well as being manual-focus, you can’t set the aperture from the camera body, so have to use the control ring on the lens itself. As with other manual lenses, the availability of a focus peaking display in the electronic viewfinders and rear screens of mirrorless cameras helps with accurate manual focusing, which can be critical considering that the depth of field can be tiny at 85mm with an aperture of f/1.4. IBIS (In Body Image Stabilization) is available in Nikon Z 6 and Z 7 cameras, if you enter the Non-CPU lens data in the Setup menu. It’s a fun lens to use, great value at the price, and delivers impressive image quality with beautiful bokeh. How we test lenses Not quite as extreme! The good news with telephoto glass is that it is fairly easy to avoid pointing them into direct sun because of the more narrow angle of view. Furthermore, if you position it properly, these aberrations can be used to artistic effect. I would summarize this performance as being fairly typical but certain not impressive.

The manual focusing ring on this lens is peculiarly tight, needing quite a bit of force to move. This can make applying fine adjustments a pain, especially if you're in a hurry. Closest focus is one metre, which is fine for most portraits, but can be a little limiting for general use. The lens takes 72mm filters and as focusing is performed internally, the lens doesn't extend and the filter thread doesn't rotate, which makes this lens ideal for use with polarising and graduated filters.

Samyang 85mm f/1.4 Sample Photos

The Samyang AF 85mm f/1.4 FE is comprised of 11 optical elements in 8 groups, including 4 HR (high-resolution) glass elements and 1 ED (extra-low dispersion) glass element. It features a rounded 9 blade diaphragm which creates an attractive blur to out of focus areas of the image. The Sigma 85mm F1.4 DG DN Art is the worst in term of distortion and vignetting , Samyang are in the middle and the best is the Sony GM

The new Samyang has a fast , quiet and precise AF in most cases but it still has occasional issues with eye AF and in burst mode for difficult subjects (see dedicated chapter). The Sigma 85mm F1.4 DG DN Art has the best autofocus of the 85 F1.4 , very similar to the Sony FE85mm F1.8 Regardless of the brand name and barrel style, the optics are the same. And Samyang sells the 85mm for every major camera system. You can get it for Canon, Four Thirds, Nikon, Pentax, or Sony SLRs, as well as for Canon, Fuji, Micro Four Thirds, Samsung, and Sony mirrorless cameras. The Nikon version of the lens, which we received for review, supports electronic aperture control, but other mounts only support mechanical aperture control. The lens is not optically stabilized, but it's not a feature that's usually found in 85mm prime lenses. Some Samyang lenses come in just one mount, some are available in a couple of mounts, and some are made in every mount under the sun! Surprisingly the new Samyang 85 F1.4 II that I have tested is a bit less good than V1, Surely due to sample variation from one lens to another one. The Sigma 85mm F1.4 DG DN Art stays the king sharpness and has no issues at all with the A7RIV . The Sony FE85mm F1.4 GM is quite behind and less good than the Samyang on the A7RIV and should be limited to 42Mpix maxThe Samyang FE 85mm lens boasts a weather-sealed design and there's a UMC Super multi-layer coating to help reduce flare and ghosting. It has a minimum focusing distance of 0.90m (2.95ft) and a maximum reproduction ratio of 0.11x. The lens also features weather-sealing to provide anti-dust and water-protection capabilities, a nice touch given the low price.

Slowly turn the zoom ring to the left (towards the wide-angle end) while using your upper body and arms to move the camera toward your subject. The wide control ring has multiple functions depending on the mode selected via a switch on the lens barrel. Mode 1 sets the ring for manual focus but to be active the camera needs to be set to MF or DMF, the latter position enabling tweaks to be made to the focus position when using AF. Focusing is down to 0.85m (2.79 feet) which is about what we would expect from an 85mm lens. Maximum magnification is 0.12x. This is not a macro lens by any means, but it does mean that good close headshots are possible, something vital in what may well be used as a portrait lens. AF is driven by a linear STM motor and is fast, accurate and extremely quiet.

Falloff of illumination towards the corners is typical of a fast aperture lens like this. The corners are 2.28 stops darker than the image centre at f/1.4 and visually uniform illumination is achieved by f/5.6. This well-balanced and clearly well-made lens weighs in at a very reasonable 509g. Measuring 83.4mm in diameter and 99.5mm long, it is also fairly compact and certainly suits the camera body in terms of handling. There is a provided round, bayonet-fit lens hood that clips cleanly into place and shows no sign of easily being shifted in use. Within the bayonet mount for the hood is a standard 72mm filter thread. Thanks to various seals within the lens body, its weather sealing offers protection against light rain, snow and dust. It is commendable that Samyang at least offers some degree of explanation of the term “weather sealing”, something which is not always the case. Optical construction is 11 elements in 8 groups, including 4 HR (High Refractive Index) and 1 ED (Extra Low Dispersion) elements. UMC coating is Samyang's own version of Ultra Multicoating. There are 9 blades in the diaphragm, to assist in producing smooth bokeh; the quality and gradation of the out of focus areas in an image. Le Sigma 85mm F1.4 DG DN Art est le pire en terme de distorsion et de vignettage , le Samyang est au milieu, le meilleur étant le Sony GM