Samyang Revs Its High Value 85mm F/1.4

Jul 28, 2022 | Lenses, News, Samyang

The Samyang/Rokinon 85mm f/1.4 mirrorless lens that cost only $700, yet had image quality comparable to many of the first party manufacturers, has now been revised to be a bit lighter and faster in autofocus. This comes at the expense of the Mark II version of the lens costing $100 more.

85mm dsThe optical design appear to be almost identical, although the MTF charts for the Mark I and Mark II models show the new lens to be slightly sharper at the sensor’s edges.

The loss of roughly 10 percent of the Mark I’s weight isn’t terribly significant given that the Mark I was extremely light relative to its competition.

Samyang’s mirrorless design 85 f/1.4 was especially notable in the Canon RF mount, as it employed the EF mount contacts to provide decent-but-slower-than-Canon’s autofocus while providing an RF interface allowing the lens to mount to the camera without an adapter while retaining autofocus. That lens’s biggest disadvantage was slower and less consistent (although acceptable for most) autofocus relative to the very best offerings in the market, such as the $3,000 Canon RF 85mm f/1.2.

Pin It on Pinterest