I didn’t shoot this under optimal conditions (right before dawn, and there were some clouds forming), but I saw that stars along the edges do exhibit some comatic distortion, which is rendered a bit more obvious by the fringing. The following example illustrates how close you can get to the subject, in this case a CompactFlash card. Why you can trust Digital Camera World Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.

The full range of mount options is available for many of the full-frame compatible lenses, even where the camera system only features crop-sensor bodies.

If you purchase the lens through one of these affiliate-links I get a small compensation with no additional cost to you. For enhanced focusing accuracy, the lens also features built-in electronics that activate the focus confirmation lamp in the viewfinder. This communication with the lens means that while the lens does not autofocus, it still needs to be accurately calibrated for proper manual focus operation. I had one video where the AF did some pulsing and hunting, but I discovered that the problem lay in that I had Animal Eye AF selected rather than Human Eye AF. It has the potential to be intensely sharp, and creates nice environmental portraits for a relatively small budget.

Close-up lenses, extension tubes, teleconverters or any other optical devices will not faze the 50mm. The quality of both sharpness and bokeh is excellent, helped by the inclusion of four HR (High Refractive index) elements and one ED (Extra-low Dispersion) element in the optical path. Relatively compact and lightweight for this class of lens, the FE-mount edition is very straightforward with no onboard controls apart from the focus ring. In addition, the lens lacks a rubber gasket on the lens mount, which means that dust and other debris could potentially end up in your camera if you do not keep the lens mount clean. As always evaluating flare is a complex matter since you can get any lens to look bad if you push it hard enough and a slight change of scenario will affect results a lot.

As a manual-focus lens, it is a relief that the Samyang’s manual-focus ring is a dominant part to the lens exterior and comfortably reached. When you look through the viewfinder, you will see that the camera will tell you which way to move focus to get proper focus using left and right arrows. Slightly surprisingly, lateral chromatic aberration is also visible as blue/yellow fringing towards the corners of the image in both JPEG and raw, even when in-camera corrections are applied.

In summary, if you want a large aperture prime for selective focus work or shooting in low light, but are on a limited budget, the Samyang AF 35mm F1. Many lenses at this focal length show a similar level of distortion, and most of this can be controlled in-camera or through software with distortion correction.It’s also worth noting that while the lens’s construction feels strong and durable – not least because of its size – it doesn’t have weather-sealing, so it’d be worth thinking twice before you take it out into really rough conditions. DSLR lens was awarded Gear of the Year Best Budget Lens by Digital Photo/Practical Photography (UK). Even pointed directly into the sun (I have my blind neighbor do this for me), ghosts are still nearly nonexistent.

Samyang also makes cine lenses but, for now, let’s take a closer look at some of the most popular lenses in the autofocus, premium manual, crop-sensor manual and full-frame manual lines. The lens has very good handling and image quality when used on full-frame bodies as a standard prime, and is also a good choice for portraiture on crop-sensor bodies, where the effective focal length ranges from 75mm to 100mm for APS-C and Micro Four Thirds cameras respectively. There’s a long rotational travel in the focus rings, and a pleasant fluid feel to the movement, enabling smooth and precise focusing.FE II will appeal to street photographers and it’s also ideal for anyone who likes a modestly wide viewing angle coupled with a wide aperture for maintaining quick shutter speeds under low lighting conditions and gaining a tight depth of field in close-ups. Full-time manual focus override is also available, but there's no distance and/or depth of field scale. Between them, these aim to maintain cross-frame sharpness at large apertures and suppress colour fringing due to chromatic aberration.