Samyang Encroaches on Sigma’s Canon Market with RF Play

Samyang will be putting out a 135mm f/1.8 in RF, among other mounts; becoming only the third company to be able to pull off such a design. A few years ago – before Sigma first launched its equivalent – this lens was thought not to be possible with reasonable size and cost. In the intervening period, Sony came out with an even better one, but Canon shooters had to buy Sigma if they wanted this sort of massive light collection at that focal length. Astrophotographers loved it. Samyang has been steadily moving up-market to fill the need.

But as Canonites move to the RF system, they’ve had to adapt older Sigma glass. Sigma itself has repeatedly hinted – for years – that it may jump into the RF market. They can do this by simply employing the EF mount protocols they currently use, essentially throwing an adapter between their existing designs and a Canon R body. But they haven’t done so. This may be because their manufacturing plants are producing at maximum capacity as it is. It may also be that they wish to better implement the actual RF autofocus and other communication protocols, which may include stabilization information and other channels.

Whatever the reason, Samyang – also known as Rokinon in some markets – appears to be jumping in feet-first where Sigma and Tamron have held back. Samyang’s 85mm f/1.4 lens is very respected, having image quality close to that of Canon’s own f/1.4 options. They recently launched a 50mm f/1.4 as well. Back in the summer of 2021, The company stopped selling RF mount glass under its Samyang name in the summer of 2021, but Rokinon continued the sales unabated.