The Samyang clearly has less swirly proper circular shaped bokeh wide open almost all the way to the edges of the frame where as the Sony has very defined football shaped bokeh just off center. Honestly this is an instant choice for me as its one of the major factors that pushes me away from certain lenses. That football shaped bokeh ball swirl pattern is very distracting particularly in video and panning shots where it looks like the subject is warping space around them like a black hole. Will wait to see Dustin's review and comparison but this may well be the choice for me.
Great video, thanks for the comparison! I expected the Samyang to hold up really well to the Sony, and I was not disappointed. One quick comment regarding music tho. As an ESL person, it's easier to understand what people say if the volume of their voice is noticeably louder than the volume of the background noise or music, and in this case, the music was a bit too close in volume which made it difficult to understand some of the words. Fantastic video otherwise!
Thanks for the kind words. As for the music volume comment - this is something we always struggle with - I guess it also depends on o which device you listen with (if you listen with headphones it will sound very different than quality speakers on a desktop. If you have a suggestion of what volume to typically play the music (say below -30db) we can do that in the future although every background music we choose is obviously not the same.
@@IddoGenuth Yeah, it is indeed a tough one! Thanks a lot for the reply, it's super cool that you responded. I'm not sure how much quieter would have worked for me. I was listening through laptop speakers, but they sound pretty good and clear, they're definitely not cheap ones. In my own videos, I don't use background music, but I often adjust the volume for specific parts and remove pops and glitches in post. If using background music, I'd go by ear and opt for "very subtle". Yours wasn't overwhelming by any means, just to be clear, but at times it did compete with your voice.
@@wandererstraining PP has an option to automatically adjust the music gain over the audio - I don't trust it so I usually adjust globally (typically with some changes in the intro/outro). Finding music that will not interfere is always a challenge, and what volume to choose is another challenge. Without some sort of music, the video feels "empty" to me and it can also help mask some minor audio issues and connect parts when there is no audio (we don't typically have much of those but if you want to show sample images, for example, it is nice). I can try and reduce the audio more next time but it is possible that it will be almost inaudible on some systems (I am editing using high-end production monitors and a pair of DT700 PRO X headphones - if you listen on a smartphone it will not sound anything like what I am hearing...).
@@IddoGenuth Oh yeah, definitely keep the music! Thanks a lot for discussing it with me. If you do try reducing the audio, it really doesn't have to be by a lot, just enough so that the louder bits aren't quite as loud as the quieter bits of your speech. I hope you have an excellent day!
this vid taught me to save money and get the sammy. it's sharper in the corners based on images shown and arguably exactly as sharp in the middle, rounder bokeh wide open(it wasnt a tie)
The Sony is a great lens but it's very hard to get away from its price tag. Samyang was able to create a very compelling option. My only concern was the AF. In our testing, they were neck in neck. We ended up buying the Samyang and it is great although it does miss focus on occision which is annoying but from testing the Sony I am not sure it would not have missed on these situations.
Samyang definitely has less longitudinal chromatic aberrations in your test mages. Sony is no slouch either and both lenses perform well enough that what matters in the end is your subject & vision
Correcet. Its two buttons with one functionality. In theory, I think Sony can turn it into two buttons via firmware - maybe I will suggest this to them at some point.
Thank you for the thorough and interesting review. One question: the target you use to assess the image quality at close range, is it perfectly flat? I ask because the image sharpness at the frame edges in your video seems to be quite a bit better with the Samyang (at close range only). But perhaps it's just my impression.
Hi Lorenzo. This is not just your impression. Actually, this issue is more complex and more problematic than what you suggest. The target is flat. That is not the issue. What you need to understand is that when dealing with such tiny depth of field (135mm at 70cm is really shallow) if the target is even a fraction of a degree off (i.e. if the sensor is not 100% Parallel to the target) the corners will not be in focus (either one or both). I honestly don't know how to solve this from a technical perspective (I talked to engineers about this and it's a very complex problem). This is even a problem with some fast lenses on our regular sharpness testing (there the problem is even more complex to solve due to the distance although the DOF is wider). For close-ups, the only solution that I can think of is using a very high-quality copy stand but even with that, there is no way to make sure the camera is exactly parallel to the base (unless you can lower the camera all the way to the base where the lens touches the target). Sadly good copy stands which are very high (over around 100cm or more for these tests with some lenses) are hard to find and very expensive (and again I am not sure if they will even solve this issue completely). This is why we said in the review - "the corners are very hard to judge because of the close-up nature of the test and the extreme shallow depth of field."
@@LensVid thank you for your comprehensive answer. Btw I am very well aware of complex nature of the problem, perfect alignment is very difficult to achieve.
@@lorenzogattaldo3764 Indeed. If you or any of our viewers have any suggestions for better techniques for future sharpness testings - we will be happy to hear them.
Why only 11k subscribers, deserves to be million+, hope u achieve soon. I did my part. Such an awesome comparison, I'm buying samyang for astrophotography but didn't know it's great for portraits too.
This is actually one of the better and more objective reviews and like your honesty in the short falls of test. That said the Samyang look like a great lens for the budget… the most annoying is the need for the mount adapter to update it.
Many thanks for the kind words. Yeah, I agree the lens station is a bit annoying to have to use but any other way might be much more complex for Samyang to implement and it is not very expensive and seems to work well.
How often do you need to update? I have been using my Samyang AF50 II and 135 for over half a year and nothing needs to be updated. I am looking forward to buying the 35 / 85 II soon.
@@wingcreator So far I updated the 135mm (which we ended up buying after the review) once. It's good to have and not that expensive although I prefer the approach Tamron has with its recent lenses with USB-C on the lens itself.
@@IddoGenuth I actually don't like Tamron's approach as it opens to the problem of moisture. How often do you do firmware updates with bodies and lenses? Yes, there would be a small extra cost for the adaptor.
It's the problem of Nikon and Canon not opening the new mounts for third-party lenses (the main reason I can think of is being greedy?). Recently, Nikon also launched Z 28-75mm 2.8 which is properly a Tamron-assisted built Nikon Z? Sony A7 series is very clever being open mount from day one as it didn't have many native lenses when launched - it had one 35mm f2.8 on launch and shortly 55mm f1.8!
I have the Sony 135mm 1.8 GM, I always use the AF/MF button and the aperture ring a lot. I will be interested in a new 135mm 2.8 that are lighter and more compact, still with superior images quality.
"Superior quality" to what - superior to the current GM? I doubt it - this is one of the sharpest Sony lenses in the lineup. If you are talking about just a high-quality lighter 135mm lens - I don't see Sony making one - but maybe a 3'rd party manufacturer of sorts (although to be fair - I don't think that Sigma will do a slow 135mm - if anything they will make a quality f/1.8 or f/2 that will be priced above the Samyang and below the Sony from their Art line - this will be a great lens for sure). In theory, Tamron can make an f/2.8 lens that will be lighter - they are good at these things - will it be optically stunning - I don't know, possibly - it is not that hard to make - there are currently no rumors about any of these though.
@@LensVid I will like to see Voigtländer make a 135mm 2.8 APO Lens, I have the Voigtländer APO-Lanthar 35mm 2.0 Aspherical and the Voigtländer Macro APO-Lanthar 65mm 2.0 which are excellent Lenses with outstanding performance. I do not like the way Sigma designs their Lenses which are too much dependent of software corrections.
@@cameraprepper7938 Since we also own the Voigtländer Macro APO-Lanthar 65mm 2.0 (see our review) I can attest to how good that lens is. We actually tried to convey to Voigtländer that they need a wide angle macro like the 65mm but so far it didn't do much. As for a Voigtländer 135mm - personally it makes no sense to me - it would be very sharp but as a portrait lens the AF is of the highest importance to us (unlike macro lenses where we want full MF control) so no it is not what we personally look for - but if you like MF with super thin depth of field on moving subjects...
I’ve been looking at the samyang 135mm f2 lens but struggling to find information that it will fit my sony a6000 camera? Any help would be much appreciated.
The Samyang has better Bokeh in every comparison video I've watched so far. Check out Dustin Abbots bro thorough video... If you're only going to check one.... Samyang wins the Bokeh contest.... The edge and corner contest wide open. The Sony has a bit more contrast in a tiny bit more sharpness in the center wide open. Under most circumstances they both are excellent for autofocus. The Sony does have better autofocus for sports and fast moving subjects. The Samyang is a no-brainer for almost everyone.... Unless they need the prestige, resale value, for need slightly faster auto focusing for fast moving subjects.... say.... runway models or something. I definitely prefer the look of the Samyang for portraits. And that creamy Bokeh. This is the only lens where they have beaten everyone for E-mount. On my opinion. Awesome lens. Their 85mm f1.4ii is also a very good performer. For fast aftermarket glass in the 35 lmm or 50mm range though... The new FE Sigma lenses are the better option by a good margin.
The Samyang clearly has less swirly proper circular shaped bokeh wide open almost all the way to the edges of the frame where as the Sony has very defined football shaped bokeh just off center. Honestly this is an instant choice for me as its one of the major factors that pushes me away from certain lenses. That football shaped bokeh ball swirl pattern is very distracting particularly in video and panning shots where it looks like the subject is warping space around them like a black hole. Will wait to see Dustin's review and comparison but this may well be the choice for me.
I managed to grab this lens for $635 dollars thanks to a sale Amazon had on it today. I can't wait to use it.
Excellent!! Definitely more thorough and rigorous than most other lens reviews.
Excellent comparison in stressful real life scenarios. Thanks!
Wtf only 10k subscribers you deserve much more
Great video, thanks for the comparison! I expected the Samyang to hold up really well to the Sony, and I was not disappointed. One quick comment regarding music tho. As an ESL person, it's easier to understand what people say if the volume of their voice is noticeably louder than the volume of the background noise or music, and in this case, the music was a bit too close in volume which made it difficult to understand some of the words. Fantastic video otherwise!
Thanks for the kind words. As for the music volume comment - this is something we always struggle with - I guess it also depends on o which device you listen with (if you listen with headphones it will sound very different than quality speakers on a desktop. If you have a suggestion of what volume to typically play the music (say below -30db) we can do that in the future although every background music we choose is obviously not the same.
@@IddoGenuth Yeah, it is indeed a tough one! Thanks a lot for the reply, it's super cool that you responded. I'm not sure how much quieter would have worked for me. I was listening through laptop speakers, but they sound pretty good and clear, they're definitely not cheap ones. In my own videos, I don't use background music, but I often adjust the volume for specific parts and remove pops and glitches in post. If using background music, I'd go by ear and opt for "very subtle". Yours wasn't overwhelming by any means, just to be clear, but at times it did compete with your voice.
@@wandererstraining PP has an option to automatically adjust the music gain over the audio - I don't trust it so I usually adjust globally (typically with some changes in the intro/outro). Finding music that will not interfere is always a challenge, and what volume to choose is another challenge. Without some sort of music, the video feels "empty" to me and it can also help mask some minor audio issues and connect parts when there is no audio (we don't typically have much of those but if you want to show sample images, for example, it is nice).
I can try and reduce the audio more next time but it is possible that it will be almost inaudible on some systems (I am editing using high-end production monitors and a pair of DT700 PRO X headphones - if you listen on a smartphone it will not sound anything like what I am hearing...).
@@IddoGenuth Oh yeah, definitely keep the music! Thanks a lot for discussing it with me. If you do try reducing the audio, it really doesn't have to be by a lot, just enough so that the louder bits aren't quite as loud as the quieter bits of your speech.
I hope you have an excellent day!
@@wandererstraining Sure thing - and thank you for the feedback.
this vid taught me to save money and get the sammy. it's sharper in the corners based on images shown and arguably exactly as sharp in the middle, rounder bokeh wide open(it wasnt a tie)
The Sony is a great lens but it's very hard to get away from its price tag. Samyang was able to create a very compelling option. My only concern was the AF. In our testing, they were neck in neck. We ended up buying the Samyang and it is great although it does miss focus on occision which is annoying but from testing the Sony I am not sure it would not have missed on these situations.
Samyang definitely has less longitudinal chromatic aberrations in your test mages. Sony is no slouch either and both lenses perform well enough that what matters in the end is your subject & vision
Its basically one programable button on the Sony, its just two physical buttons but with the same function.
Correcet. Its two buttons with one functionality. In theory, I think Sony can turn it into two buttons via firmware - maybe I will suggest this to them at some point.
I just sold my GM 135mm. I guess the guy who purchased my GM 135mm didn't know of the existence of that new Samyang 135mm.. lol
Poor guy 😅
Why would you sell the GM to buy the Samyang?
@@markwildphotography Apparently the Samyang is just as good.
@@johnadams3038 But if you already have the GM why would you sell it to but a Samyang?
@@markwildphotography Cause at the end of the day if the results are the same then why do I really need it?
Thank you for the thorough and interesting review.
One question: the target you use to assess the image quality at close range, is it perfectly flat? I ask because the image sharpness at the frame edges in your video seems to be quite a bit better with the Samyang (at close range only). But perhaps it's just my impression.
Hi Lorenzo. This is not just your impression. Actually, this issue is more complex and more problematic than what you suggest. The target is flat. That is not the issue. What you need to understand is that when dealing with such tiny depth of field (135mm at 70cm is really shallow) if the target is even a fraction of a degree off (i.e. if the sensor is not 100% Parallel to the target) the corners will not be in focus (either one or both). I honestly don't know how to solve this from a technical perspective (I talked to engineers about this and it's a very complex problem). This is even a problem with some fast lenses on our regular sharpness testing (there the problem is even more complex to solve due to the distance although the DOF is wider).
For close-ups, the only solution that I can think of is using a very high-quality copy stand but even with that, there is no way to make sure the camera is exactly parallel to the base (unless you can lower the camera all the way to the base where the lens touches the target). Sadly good copy stands which are very high (over around 100cm or more for these tests with some lenses) are hard to find and very expensive (and again I am not sure if they will even solve this issue completely).
This is why we said in the review - "the corners are very hard to judge because of the close-up nature of the test and the extreme shallow depth of field."
@@LensVid thank you for your comprehensive answer.
Btw I am very well aware of complex nature of the problem, perfect alignment is very difficult to achieve.
@@lorenzogattaldo3764 Indeed. If you or any of our viewers have any suggestions for better techniques for future sharpness testings - we will be happy to hear them.
I noticed that too.
Why only 11k subscribers, deserves to be million+, hope u achieve soon. I did my part. Such an awesome comparison, I'm buying samyang for astrophotography but didn't know it's great for portraits too.
Many thanks - we are doing our best :)
This is actually one of the better and more objective reviews and like your honesty in the short falls of test.
That said the Samyang look like a great lens for the budget… the most annoying is the need for the mount adapter to update it.
Many thanks for the kind words. Yeah, I agree the lens station is a bit annoying to have to use but any other way might be much more complex for Samyang to implement and it is not very expensive and seems to work well.
How often do you need to update? I have been using my Samyang AF50 II and 135 for over half a year and nothing needs to be updated. I am looking forward to buying the 35 / 85 II soon.
@@wingcreator So far I updated the 135mm (which we ended up buying after the review) once. It's good to have and not that expensive although I prefer the approach Tamron has with its recent lenses with USB-C on the lens itself.
@@IddoGenuth I actually don't like Tamron's approach as it opens to the problem of moisture. How often do you do firmware updates with bodies and lenses? Yes, there would be a small extra cost for the adaptor.
@@wingcreator moisture? what moisture? do you get moisture on your smartphone which has USB-C?
I emailed Samyang about a Nikon mount version,.. they never replied.
It's the problem of Nikon and Canon not opening the new mounts for third-party lenses (the main reason I can think of is being greedy?). Recently, Nikon also launched Z 28-75mm 2.8 which is properly a Tamron-assisted built Nikon Z? Sony A7 series is very clever being open mount from day one as it didn't have many native lenses when launched - it had one 35mm f2.8 on launch and shortly 55mm f1.8!
Great work! Cheers!
Great review.
Solid review
Cat eye bokeh is so hideous and distracting, how could Sony let that slide and charge 2k+ 🤦🏽♂️I love my G lenses but this is a huge turnoff
show me a modern lens with 85+mm focal lenght that has round bokeh up to the edge without stopping down...
Well done! Two great lenses.
$663 Amazon Cyber Monday deal!
Just got mine!
Mazal Tov ;) enjoy it.
Indoor High School sports in crappy poorly lighted gymnasiums!
I can’t wait to get it!
Yep me too. Way too good a deal.
Got it for that price … amazing
I have the Sony 135mm 1.8 GM, I always use the AF/MF button and the aperture ring a lot. I will be interested in a new 135mm 2.8 that are lighter and more compact, still with superior images quality.
"Superior quality" to what - superior to the current GM? I doubt it - this is one of the sharpest Sony lenses in the lineup. If you are talking about just a high-quality lighter 135mm lens - I don't see Sony making one - but maybe a 3'rd party manufacturer of sorts (although to be fair - I don't think that Sigma will do a slow 135mm - if anything they will make a quality f/1.8 or f/2 that will be priced above the Samyang and below the Sony from their Art line - this will be a great lens for sure).
In theory, Tamron can make an f/2.8 lens that will be lighter - they are good at these things - will it be optically stunning - I don't know, possibly - it is not that hard to make - there are currently no rumors about any of these though.
@@LensVid I will like to see Voigtländer make a 135mm 2.8 APO Lens, I have the Voigtländer APO-Lanthar 35mm 2.0 Aspherical and the Voigtländer Macro APO-Lanthar 65mm 2.0 which are excellent Lenses with outstanding performance. I do not like the way Sigma designs their Lenses which are too much dependent of software corrections.
@@cameraprepper7938 Since we also own the Voigtländer Macro APO-Lanthar 65mm 2.0 (see our review) I can attest to how good that lens is. We actually tried to convey to Voigtländer that they need a wide angle macro like the 65mm but so far it didn't do much. As for a Voigtländer 135mm - personally it makes no sense to me - it would be very sharp but as a portrait lens the AF is of the highest importance to us (unlike macro lenses where we want full MF control) so no it is not what we personally look for - but if you like MF with super thin depth of field on moving subjects...
I’ve been looking at the samyang 135mm f2 lens but struggling to find information that it will fit my sony a6000 camera? Any help would be much appreciated.
Should work fine like any FF on Sony crop cameras.
@@IddoGenuth thanks for that, still an amateur- what does FF mean?
@@EmilijaKrenc-te8ip Full Frame.
vid seemed to show the samyang focussing faster 😅
I love reading the comments & all the snobbery haha... Samyang all the way , their lenses have character unlike Sonys
Why doesn't this video have more views?
Because RUclips sucks😂😂my videos get like 5 views lmaoo
@@FreddyGMedia I left you a like and I gave you a view 😝
Maybe people aren't looking for a 135mm.
The Samyang has better Bokeh in every comparison video I've watched so far. Check out Dustin Abbots bro thorough video... If you're only going to check one.... Samyang wins the Bokeh contest.... The edge and corner contest wide open. The Sony has a bit more contrast in a tiny bit more sharpness in the center wide open. Under most circumstances they both are excellent for autofocus. The Sony does have better autofocus for sports and fast moving subjects. The Samyang is a no-brainer for almost everyone.... Unless they need the prestige, resale value, for need slightly faster auto focusing for fast moving subjects.... say.... runway models or something. I definitely prefer the look of the Samyang for portraits. And that creamy Bokeh. This is the only lens where they have beaten everyone for E-mount. On my opinion. Awesome lens.
Their 85mm f1.4ii is also a very good performer. For fast aftermarket glass in the 35 lmm or 50mm range though... The new FE Sigma lenses are the better option by a good margin.
the samyang 135 is slow for sports😢