Samyang 14mm T/3.1 ED AS IF UMC Lens - vs - Samyang 14mm f/2.8 IF ED UMC Lens

[William W]

I believe Samyang has two lenses in the 14mm category. One is the regular lens and one is the T3.1 cine lens. . .

I think that there are actually three versions of the 14mm in a Canon mount.

There’s a (recent) MkII version of the Cine Lens: some sellers may still have that original model for sale.

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What is the difference?

There are four main differences common to all the Samyang Cine Lenses when those are contrasted to their ‘Stills’ counterpart - viz:

1. Focus Turret is follow-focus geared (to work with follow focus systems)
2. Aperture Ring is not stepped (Stills Version of the lenses have click Full Stops – or Half Stops)
3. T-Stop indications (not F-Stop indications)
4. (usually) reassignment of the aperture and focus scale to the side of the lens (not the top of the lens)

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Can i use Samyang 14mm T/3.1 ED AS IF UMC Lens instead of Samyang 14mm f/2.8 IF ED UMC Lens for still photos with my Canon 6D?

Yes you can.

The reason is that the Samyang 14mm T/3.1 ED AS IF UMC Lens is available for a really good price on one of the on-line shops.

As a far as I know, ALL the Stills/Cine lens pairs share the same optics, so, if you plan to only do Stills work, unless the Cine version is really a lot cheaper than the Stills version, I think you would need to consider the value of using a non-stepped aperture ring for Stills work (considering the likelihood of bumping it) and twisting your head around to look at the side of the lens to read the Aperture Window.

None of the Samyang Cine Lenses seem to be corrected for Focus Breathing, but at FL = 14mm that should not be a big worry for Cine work - and anyway your OP inplies that you want it for Stills work.

I have used a few Samyang "Cine" Lenses (but not the 14mm) and the Focus and Aperture rings are very smooth and for most purposes these Cine Lenses represent very good value for money if a DSLR is to be used as the Cine Camera: I wouldn't buy one for Stills use, though, for all the reason mentioned.

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From what I read, there's not much difference, except the cine lens version is a fully manual lens, meaning you can only use manual setting and need to do your own metering. . .

Not sure what is meant by “fully manual lens” – but for clarity, both the Stills and Cine versions of these Samyang lenses are:
> manual aperture
and
> manual focus

IF you use the Camera’s TTL Metering System, then “Stop Down” metering technique is used.

Typically, for much cine work, hand held metering is used.

WW