Samyang 14mm f/2.4 hands on

[basketballfreak6]

so i had a chance to play with the new samyang 14mm today...and walked away quite impressed

this was shot handheld manual focused through viewfinder on my 5d4 (which was tricky at 14mm) so focus may just be that tad off, but gives you idea

impression: build was zeiss like, focus ring super smooth bit over "dampened" for my taste, though that would allow very fine tuning of focus, distortion pretty well controlled for something this wide (gone is that horrible moustache distortion in the old samyang 14mm, just simple barrel now), sharp to the extreme corners even wide open at 2.4, coma i obviously didn't test there is a review (gippsland images i think it was) that showed wide open it is basically nil coma

this may be the ultimate night lens many are looking for...

raw exported through lightroom with zero editing:
Samyang 14mm f/2.4 test shot by Tony, on Flickr

post editing:
Samyang 14mm f/2.4 testing part 2 by Tony, on Flickr

[wayn0i]

Looks good what the price


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[basketballfreak6]

Looks good what the price


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

retails for 1299 i believe but my mate is going to do it for a price that i am struggling to ignore...lol

[wayn0i]

Ouch


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[basketballfreak6]

Ouch


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

yea definitely on the expensive end...but in saying that again build is zeiss like super solid and yea IQ is simply impeccable

[wayn0i]

I sold my old 14mm Samyang due to the awful distortion, but at that price ill have to wait for the 2nd hand market to become a reality me thinks


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[basketballfreak6]

I sold my old 14mm Samyang due to the awful distortion, but at that price ill have to wait for the 2nd hand market to become a reality me thinks


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

yea i have the old 14mm too and will definitely be putting it up on the market, really no comparison to this new one

[Cage]

Looks like a seriously good bit of kit Tony.

I have the Tamron 15-30mm f2.8 VC on my wish list. I like to do a bit of architectural stuff and the VC would be a big help for those times when you can't use a tripod.

[basketballfreak6]

Looks like a seriously good bit of kit Tony.

I have the Tamron 15-30mm f2.8 VC on my wish list. I like to do a bit of architectural stuff and the VC would be a big help for those times when you can't use a tripod.

hey Kev yea it's looking like the real deal this lens want to have it purely for milky way landscapes...really want to see what the sigma 14mm 1.8 brings but it will mean i won't have it for my NZ trip end of this month...so i think i will cave and get it at the price my mate's going to do me for lol

that and i know this lens will have amazing coma performance...still a bit of unknown in that area with the new sigma coming out

worse comes worse i can (hopefully) sell it pretty much without much hit in hip pocket when i come back if the sigma does turn out to be that extraordinary hahaha

and i've read and seen great things from that tamron too...makes perfect sense for what you want to do with it

but just a heads up too...since it's for architecture have you thought about looking at the laowa 12mm 2.8? the lack of distortion for something at that focal length is really quite stunning...they have an 100mm filter adapter ready so you can actually use standard 100x150mm filters for landscape!

[Cage]

but just a heads up too...since it's for architecture have you thought about looking at the laowa 12mm 2.8? the lack of distortion for something at that focal length is really quite stunning...they have an 100mm filter adapter ready so you can actually use standard 100x150mm filters for landscape!

I was actually reading about that lens today. I have to get back to a FF camera first as I was not happy with the noise on the D800 and moved it on. I'm looking for a D600/D610 to have astro modded and saving for a D810 too.

[basketballfreak6]

I was actually reading about that lens today. I have to get back to a FF camera first as I was not happy with the noise on the D800 and moved it on. I'm looking for a D600/D610 to have astro modded and saving for a D810 too.

nice...i just picked up a 760D myself planning to get it modified for astro as well when i am in taiwan in may this year

what about a D750? from all that i've read it is an awesome camera with one of the best FF sensor on the market today

[Cage]

Tony, I don't see enough difference between the D600/D610 and the D750 to pay the extra bucks. The D750 has a later processor but in a lot of other respects they are similarly specced.

Plus this old pensioner has to watch his spending.

[shanemg]

I would love to try this lens out for some astro shots, especially if it has some nice stars in the corners @ f2.8. I just modified my D750 for astro, so far I am pretty stoked with the results!

[wayn0i]

retails for 1299 i believe but my mate is going to do it for a price that i am struggling to ignore...lol

Basketballfreak,

Did you end up getting lens?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[basketballfreak6]

Basketballfreak,

Did you end up getting lens?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

hey yea i did! but there was slight prob with mine (top right corner was soft even at f/8) so ended up returning it since i couldn't get replacement in time before my new zealand trip...i spoke to the supplier at he said he could probably have gotten me a copy in time but he had a lot returned all with problems so he believe there was some QC issues with the batch he received and didn't want me end up with another dud

so for now i am holding out to see what the sigma 14 1.8 brings...but otherwise the samyang was every bit as good as advertised

[wayn0i]

Thankyou for the reply, id be interested to hear your thoughts on the sigma when you test it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[basketballfreak6]

Thankyou for the reply, id be interested to hear your thoughts on the sigma when you test it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

no worries, i wonder if my copy was an issue where certain elements were misaligned or something like that, coz i can get the corner in question looking sharp at the expense of others, so plane of focus is not flat/uniform

i am waiting to see coma tests on the sigma 14 1.8, but from the lone image that was floating on the web showing stars in the corner it looked quite decent, not perfect but seems acceptable (and you can still step down a whole stop before it's 2.4 like the samyang)

[wayn0i]

Yes i agree you would expect uniform focus at that distance. The coma issue is a big deal particularly where your looking to stitch astro images to the corners. That said f1.8 would mean quicker shutter speeds so the stars have moved less from one end of the pano to the other


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Cage]

Hi Tony,

I wondered why I hadn't seen any posts from your new you-beaut Samyang 14mm f2.4.

What a bummer.

Quality control seems to be a bit hit and miss with some manufacturers, although the way Samyang talked up their new XP line you would have thought that they had made an effort to get it right.

It will be interesting to see how the Sigma srcubs up.

[basketballfreak6]

Hi Tony,

I wondered why I hadn't seen any posts from your new you-beaut Samyang 14mm f2.4.

What a bummer.

Quality control seems to be a bit hit and miss with some manufacturers, although the way Samyang talked up their new XP line you would have thought that they had made an effort to get it right.

It will be interesting to see how the Sigma srcubs up.

hi Kev that's it, i read that the original 14 2.8 while a stellar lens for the price too had a bunch of QC issues (de-centering) to begin with as well, it's a shame because the new 14 2.4 really is top notch otherwise

in other news i got my 760D modified while i was in taiwan, the guy that did the modification is a real pro, awesome dude stayed in touch with me through out the whole modification process, even gave me a dvd showing test shots and scans he did under the microscope etc and gave me back the original low pass filter that was removed for the mod too instead of keeping it himself for spare parts, only cost me about AU$225 all up as well, dying to find opportunity to give it a real test now lol