Good video Dave, well worth the wait :) Yongnuo has surprised me a lot too, with flash guns, triggers and lenses. Especially for those pieces of gear that you don't use enough to justify large investments, it's a brand to certainly consider.
Really I am thinking of purchasing the manual lens but don't know if it will be sharp enough for stunning portrait, as I use an APS-C Nikon D3300 body, please what do you think of the sharpness of your lens the Samyang 85mm f1.4 manual focus?
I have the Sony 85 1.8 and love it. It's become a very useful landscape lens to get that nice compression effect, especially for woodland photography. Ialmost went for the Samyang instead because of the 1.4 in low light or when I do street photography. Having to spend more money on a dock if I wanted to update the firmware however turned me off from it. Sometimes I think I should've gotten the Viltrox instead, especially knowing it can be tricked into being an f/1.6 lens. (I dunno if that goes for the v2 or not though.)
So I got the Yongnuo v2 and it's just fantastic. 100% perfect? No. But so good wide open. Sharp with good character. The autofocus is really good (but not perfect) in continuous mode. They replaced the plastic outer shell with a metal barrel. For $250-$280 it's great.
@@hushni Nice! Don't know if the prices changed but that was directly on the manufacturer website. It's possible there are resellers with lower prices.
I have the Samyang AF 85mm f1.4 and think it's a fantastic lens for the money. Only drawback: you have to go through a couple of copies to find a really good one, variance is big. But the one I found is really sharp in the middle wide open and even corners are already really clear at 1.4. Also the bokeh is really smooth and pleasing
Really interesting that you mention the hood of the Samyang as not attaching very firmly... Could that be wear? Or copy variation? Because mine actually fits really tight and takes a bit of effort to click into place. Rock solid.
Much thanks for the exhaustive comparison! In your comparison of F1.8 vs F1.4 portrait @25:00, I actually preferred the F1.8 aperture over F1.4, where the ear was blurred out so much, that it didn't seem to belong to the head anymore. I realize you can mitigate that by changing other variables besides the aperture, but yeah, I wouldn't even want to get close to anything that's part of the subject's head turning into Boke. Maybe I should just get a 50mm F1.4 instead of the 85mm . . . . what do you think?
Well done for showing that budget gear doesn't have to be totally awful. To be fair to the Chinese manufacturers they have been improving their own stuff recently.
The Yongnuo is listed for $250 US right now on B&H. That's a great price for an amateur to the semi-pro photographer! I recently bought a used Sigma 85mm 1.4 and I love it, but if not this would be my lens to use for now.
I bought that same viltrox lens last November and my only complaint with it is that it would not connect to my computer. I thought it would be a problem, but I havent had any issues with performance with my a6400. Hell, maybe I would have even better performance if I update the firmware, but man its a beast already and I haven't even thought about it until now
I have the manual Samyang 85 1.4 which I believe is the same optical construction as the newer version. I use it on my full frame Canons and think it is excellent and an absolute bargain.
Good comparison. However in my country the sony is only around $480 ,the Samyang is around $640 and the Viltrox v2 at around $350. I will definitely pick the Samyang if the price difference is only $20-$50
@@DaveMcKeegan I love the Sigma glass and I would consider that as a budget lense. Maybe my own viewpoint is skewed a little but I don't believe in owning a top end camera and putting shite glass on it. 3x A7s111 on order and Im building my glass as we speak.
I agree with having good glass for a good sensor, however I would say there is a difference between a lens being a budget lens, and being within your budget. I.e. if you look at all the 85mm's available for the E-mount, the GM is right up at the high end of the list and the Sigma isn't that far behind them, so no doubt great lenses but certainly on the higher end of the price spectrum against the competition and probably out of many people's price range
If you check out Peter Lindgren review of the samyang 85mm f1.4 he actually believes that the samyang is sharper wide open than the Sony 85mm GM lens. I have used the 100-400 GM and done direct comparison while using my sigma 150-600mm sport, and honestly can't justify the extra £1400 as the image quality is not that much better. Also used a Canon 400 f2.8. Think a lot of these big expensive lenses are very overrated in my opinion.
Good video, yes the lens hood is very flimsy. I have used the lens at a car track day and was not to bad. Plenty of static car images on my Instagram taken using the samyang 85mm f1.4 if people want to have a look. CSKnowles Photography
They'd also rumoured in May it would $100 🤣 I believe the only official mentions of price at the time were for the Asian market, probably in the local currency as well and the rumour sites have estimated the price based on exchange rates
I'm a bit late to the party, but I'm really happy to see a very complete comparison to these 4 lenses… I've got a Sony ZV-E10 and in the market for an 85mm lens, but was surprised to see how well all of these perform overall. So thanks for making this video :) One question though: with the Samyang, Yonguo and Sony, they have an MF/AF switch on the lens, but there's no such button on the Viltrox… I was a little confused that it has AF, but álso an MF-ring. Is there a switch somewhere else on the Viltrox lens by any chance?
Ahhh, a "doh" moment… that makes total sense :) Thanks for clearing that up @DaveMcKeegan, I had no idea that that option was working on AF/MF lenses (still got the kitlens here, and just getting into photography a bit more recently).
Very useful review, thank you. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I would assume that all of the auto-focusing instructions between the camera and the lens comes from the camera. Obviously, how good the lens' firmware and speed of the focusing motor(s) ability to respond is what separates one lens from the other. The implication is that Sony makes their lens to perfectly(?) respond to those instructions and much of that is proprietary.
The lens has software inside as it needs to be able to take what the camera is asking it to do and rely that to the motors etc Hence why lenses have the ability of firmware updates, not just the cameras For some cameras the lens manufacturers have to physically reverse engineer the cameras autofocus software to try and make the lens compatible
For running they were set to AF-C (with priority set to focus) - focus area set to "wide" with eye-AF enable For the dog I switched the focus area down to "zone" and switch eye-AF from human to animal
Amazing review I'd be super interested in having something similar for the 35mm, sigma, sony, samyang etc... However i'm.a bit confused between the samyang and yongnuo when you said they're best value for (non moving) portraiture.
With regards to portraiture, the Samyang is priced very similar to the Sony but the big advantage for the Sony is autofocus where as the Samyang has better image quality, so if your subject is static then the Samyang is the better option in my opinion However if your budget doesn't stretch that far then between the Viltrox and the Yongnuo (again where AF isn't a big factor) then the Yongnuo is almost as good as the Viltrox but is significantly cheaper, which for me makes its the better value option
I have the viltrox 85mm mk1 and agree it’s reasonable but did you do the firmware updates it has re focusing and taking it down in aperture down to f1.6 I think ?
Yes it has the new firmware to improve the focusing The F1.6 isn't an official firmware improvement but rather a glitch you can force into the lens during a firmware up, however it's unknown if there are any potential side effects of doing this
The Viltrox version II is an amazing lens, especially for the price. I recommend it. And they regularly update the firmware.
Good video Dave, well worth the wait :)
Yongnuo has surprised me a lot too, with flash guns, triggers and lenses. Especially for those pieces of gear that you don't use enough to justify large investments, it's a brand to certainly consider.
18:50 - The images we were waiting for :-)
I have the samyang manual lens 85mm F1.4 it’s a great lens, for a year now been thinking of upgrading to a af
Really I am thinking of purchasing the manual lens but don't know if it will be sharp enough for stunning portrait, as I use an APS-C Nikon D3300 body, please what do you think of the sharpness of your lens the Samyang 85mm f1.4 manual focus?
@@Miracle_chiedozemake some search now new available zenitar 85 from Russia.
I have the Sony 85 1.8 and love it. It's become a very useful landscape lens to get that nice compression effect, especially for woodland photography. Ialmost went for the Samyang instead because of the 1.4 in low light or when I do street photography. Having to spend more money on a dock if I wanted to update the firmware however turned me off from it. Sometimes I think I should've gotten the Viltrox instead, especially knowing it can be tricked into being an f/1.6 lens. (I dunno if that goes for the v2 or not though.)
As far as I understand, this does not apply to the second version
I love the manual focus ring on the viltrox mark 2! And this one has weatherseal. +Update possibility on the lens.
So I got the Yongnuo v2 and it's just fantastic. 100% perfect? No. But so good wide open. Sharp with good character. The autofocus is really good (but not perfect) in continuous mode. They replaced the plastic outer shell with a metal barrel. For $250-$280 it's great.
Really? In my region, that lens is cost like $120 if brand new.. $90 if used, depends on conditions ofc..
@@hushni Nice! Don't know if the prices changed but that was directly on the manufacturer website. It's possible there are resellers with lower prices.
I have the Samyang AF 85mm f1.4 and think it's a fantastic lens for the money. Only drawback: you have to go through a couple of copies to find a really good one, variance is big. But the one I found is really sharp in the middle wide open and even corners are already really clear at 1.4. Also the bokeh is really smooth and pleasing
I got a bad focusing turd :P
I didn’t know this was an issue. I guess I got lucky. Mine is great.
@@pixiedust1273 yup, luck. I sold mine and got the sony 85/1.8. AF suddenly works perfectly.
Hi pro man. I used viltrox 85 and its the best in budget😋😋.Collaborate with you in future😍
I bought the Viltrox Z mount 85mm for my Nikon Z5 it cost me £275 new, a no brainer!!
Samyang came out with a 75mm f1.8 - not an 85, but could be a great alternative. Image quality is supposedly high, weight and price - low :)
Love your videos, keep it up. Good to see Yongnuo offering more choice (value) esp. for the hobbyist, Viltrox has been on my radar already
Oo, I want that 2/3 stop of extra speed, the Rokinon/Samyang.
Exactly the review I needed. So torn given that I need reliable auto-AF for moving subjects but not willing to splurge on the Batis.
Really interesting that you mention the hood of the Samyang as not attaching very firmly... Could that be wear? Or copy variation?
Because mine actually fits really tight and takes a bit of effort to click into place. Rock solid.
Much thanks for the exhaustive comparison!
In your comparison of F1.8 vs F1.4 portrait @25:00, I actually preferred the F1.8 aperture over F1.4, where the ear was blurred out so much, that it didn't seem to belong to the head anymore.
I realize you can mitigate that by changing other variables besides the aperture, but yeah, I wouldn't even want to get close to anything that's part of the subject's head turning into Boke.
Maybe I should just get a 50mm F1.4 instead of the 85mm . . . . what do you think?
Well done for showing that budget gear doesn't have to be totally awful. To be fair to the Chinese manufacturers they have been improving their own stuff recently.
The Yongnuo is listed for $250 US right now on B&H. That's a great price for an amateur to the semi-pro photographer! I recently bought a used Sigma 85mm 1.4 and I love it, but if not this would be my lens to use for now.
I bought that same viltrox lens last November and my only complaint with it is that it would not connect to my computer. I thought it would be a problem, but I havent had any issues with performance with my a6400. Hell, maybe I would have even better performance if I update the firmware, but man its a beast already and I haven't even thought about it until now
I I had the same problem with te Viltrox tried 4 different usb cables and with the last one it connected to my computer. Updating was a breeze.
@@thefamzijlstra6797 oh alright, I'll have to give it a shot again. Thanks
samyang.. ever since I got first gen 85 never looked to other lens maker
Excellent review. Very rich in data.
I have the manual Samyang 85 1.4 which I believe is the same optical construction as the newer version. I use it on my full frame Canons and think it is excellent and an absolute bargain.
Good comparison. However in my country the sony is only around $480 ,the Samyang is around $640 and the Viltrox v2 at around $350. I will definitely pick the Samyang if the price difference is only $20-$50
I wish they have meike 85mm too because it's super cheap
12:45 The images from the Samyang seem yellow-ish, compared to the others, is that your WB-setting?
13:48 - Never mind. Spoke too soon :-D
hi where is Russian zenitar and Helios 85mm f1.5 new
Got the Samyang for £400 last Black Friday. Love it
Sigma have just released the new 85m f1.4. That peaks my interest. Either that or the 85 GM.
Both look like great lenses however aren't really what you'd consider 'budget' 😊
@@DaveMcKeegan I love the Sigma glass and I would consider that as a budget lense.
Maybe my own viewpoint is skewed a little but I don't believe in owning a top end camera and putting shite glass on it. 3x A7s111 on order and Im building my glass as we speak.
I agree with having good glass for a good sensor, however I would say there is a difference between a lens being a budget lens, and being within your budget.
I.e. if you look at all the 85mm's available for the E-mount, the GM is right up at the high end of the list and the Sigma isn't that far behind them, so no doubt great lenses but certainly on the higher end of the price spectrum against the competition and probably out of many people's price range
If you check out Peter Lindgren review of the samyang 85mm f1.4 he actually believes that the samyang is sharper wide open than the Sony 85mm GM lens. I have used the 100-400 GM and done direct comparison while using my sigma 150-600mm sport, and honestly can't justify the extra £1400 as the image quality is not that much better. Also used a Canon 400 f2.8. Think a lot of these big expensive lenses are very overrated in my opinion.
Good video, yes the lens hood is very flimsy. I have used the lens at a car track day and was not to bad. Plenty of static car images on my Instagram taken using the samyang 85mm f1.4 if people want to have a look. CSKnowles Photography
Great video! Now let's do the 35 1.8's ;)
Thanks for the thorough review- would love if you added to a comparison to the DG DN Sigma 1.4 lens as well :)
I probably will if I'm ever fortune enough to get hold of the Sigma 😊
@@DaveMcKeegan thanks :)
Tokina 1.8/85
I just checked out the Yongnuo site and they seem to have a firmware update already.
Perhaps that will correct the moving subject issue.
Thanks Stan I'll take a look into this and see what version the lens was sent to me with.
@@DaveMcKeegan And did it fix the AF problems?
@@mexmax1657 Unfortunately not it seems, even with the firmware update the lens is still slow to react to moving subjects
@@DaveMcKeegan ok. So the Sony it will be for me. Thanks. :)
@@DaveMcKeegan any changes by now?
Photorumours (Aug 25, 2020) had pegged the price of the Yongnuo at a price of $200 USD
They'd also rumoured in May it would $100 🤣
I believe the only official mentions of price at the time were for the Asian market, probably in the local currency as well and the rumour sites have estimated the price based on exchange rates
@@DaveMcKeegan Wow, $100 would have been too good to be true LOL,
I've been looking at 85mm len3s for my nikon 1 via an adapter many thank for this video fingers crossed I can invest soon in 1 of the lenses
I'm a bit late to the party, but I'm really happy to see a very complete comparison to these 4 lenses… I've got a Sony ZV-E10 and in the market for an 85mm lens, but was surprised to see how well all of these perform overall. So thanks for making this video :)
One question though: with the Samyang, Yonguo and Sony, they have an MF/AF switch on the lens, but there's no such button on the Viltrox… I was a little confused that it has AF, but álso an MF-ring. Is there a switch somewhere else on the Viltrox lens by any chance?
@@Joram0611 You can put the Viltrox into MF through the camera menu - on the list to select AF-C, AF-S etc, there is an option for MF
Ahhh, a "doh" moment… that makes total sense :) Thanks for clearing that up @DaveMcKeegan, I had no idea that that option was working on AF/MF lenses (still got the kitlens here, and just getting into photography a bit more recently).
Very useful review, thank you. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I would assume that all of the auto-focusing instructions between the camera and the lens comes from the camera. Obviously, how good the lens' firmware and speed of the focusing motor(s) ability to respond is what separates one lens from the other. The implication is that Sony makes their lens to perfectly(?) respond to those instructions and much of that is proprietary.
The lens has software inside as it needs to be able to take what the camera is asking it to do and rely that to the motors etc
Hence why lenses have the ability of firmware updates, not just the cameras
For some cameras the lens manufacturers have to physically reverse engineer the cameras autofocus software to try and make the lens compatible
New yongn...very outstanding image sharpness and at 272 dollars kills giants
Alex Caruso?
very helpful video Thank You
Brilliant work, ta.
Thanks Mikey :)
Thank you very much for this compairison!!!
You're welcome, hope you found it useful 😊
This was helpful. Thank you.
You're welcome, I'm glad you enjoyed it
just bought yongnuo online for 202 euro :) looking forward to trying it
Bargain, hope you enjoy it :)
Id rather have metal focus rings as rubber loosens in time
First time watching.....SUB from me!!
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
In your af test. Which autofocus settings did you use with the running and dog?
For running they were set to AF-C (with priority set to focus) - focus area set to "wide" with eye-AF enable
For the dog I switched the focus area down to "zone" and switch eye-AF from human to animal
Can i use this Meike 85mm on Blackmagic 4k ?
test tokina atx 85?
Thank you for actually making some real recommendations and not acting like an equivocating nancy-boy like most other reviewers.
Would you take the samyang over the Sony 1.8 for wedding?
I'd probably favour the Samyang over the Sony for the more pleasing rendering, although the Sony AF has been useful during weddings for me in the past
Sigma art 85mm is best
Amazing review
I'd be super interested in having something similar for the 35mm, sigma, sony, samyang etc...
However i'm.a bit confused between the samyang and yongnuo when you said they're best value for (non moving) portraiture.
With regards to portraiture, the Samyang is priced very similar to the Sony but the big advantage for the Sony is autofocus where as the Samyang has better image quality, so if your subject is static then the Samyang is the better option in my opinion
However if your budget doesn't stretch that far then between the Viltrox and the Yongnuo (again where AF isn't a big factor) then the Yongnuo is almost as good as the Viltrox but is significantly cheaper, which for me makes its the better value option
fantastic
I have the viltrox 85mm mk1 and agree it’s reasonable but did you do the firmware updates it has re focusing and taking it down in aperture down to f1.6 I think ?
Yes it has the new firmware to improve the focusing
The F1.6 isn't an official firmware improvement but rather a glitch you can force into the lens during a firmware up, however it's unknown if there are any potential side effects of doing this
Every lens test should involve a dog.
Very Well done! Thank you.