I purchased this lense because I needed a decent, affordable, fast and lightweighted 50mm to be used for photography. I am personally happy with my copy. For me, the focus is ok: neither silent , nor noisy, and, the bokeh is beautiful, as you said Christopher. I would recommend this lens if you pay something like $700, the price I paid ($900 is too much).
I'm glad it's as good as it is _in comparison_ to the older version. That one was so famously bad on full frame that it's part of why people were so impressed by the original 35mm f/1.4 AF lens. I'm just curious what Sigma plans on doing with their eventual 50mm f/1.4 DN.
I have been using it for 5 months, mainly shooting cats at f1.6-2.5 which are very good. I think it is slightly better than the 55 1.8 (an excellent Sony small standard lens for a long time) and also has f1.4 (about 1/3 a stop faster). In my opinion - the best Sony standard prime is 50 1.2GM (even the best AF 50mm I have ever used) --> Samyang 50 1.4 --> Sony 50 1.4Z --> Sony 55 1.8Z (long time favourite and first fast FE prime) --> 50 1.8 (the worse Sony standard 50mm prime, slow AF and poorer quality - usable but not recommended).
"A mardi gras of beautiful but false color" is my new favorite description of longitudinal chromatic aberration. Some added warmth in the foreground -- coolness in the background -- bokeh can be quite nice in some contexts and distracting in others.
honestly if someone was on a budget just get the frequently on sale sony FF 50mm f1.8 soft bokeh not the best build quality but sharp when stopped down & it has nice colors imo and for $250 you can’t best it unless your on aps-c of course
Did I hear someone sing "Smoke Weed every day" at time marker 1:27? Did a couple of rewinds and sure it sound that way. Cooler than I thought you were Mr. Frost :)
I love mirrorless for compactness. Very happy with image quality and size of my Zeiss f1,8/55mm. I just miss a focus hold button. @Sony, can you make one, just like your f1,8/35mm?
Thanks. I owned the first versions of the 35, 50 and 85 1.4 lenses. All were terrible with eye AF wide open, so many missed shots. They need to be stopped down to at least f2 which defeats the purpose of owning a 1.4 Sold them all and got the 35, 45 and 75 1.8 lenses. Cheaper, smaller, lighter and much better AF performance. Mark II doesn’t seem much better from what I’ve heard.
I bought it and returned it right away because of the auto-focus. As a video-shooter it was really lacking accuracy and speed. I really like samyang lenses, but this one disappointed me.
@@hardywoodaway9912 while thats true and the recent sony lenses are insanely fast, Samyang has made some really great lenses in the past months for sonyE with fantastic price / performance. sadly this isnt one of those an affordable 50mm alternative would have been great
Buy sony 55mm 1.8 you can trust in the auto focus I use with a7iii and a6500 the only downside it's the minimal focus distance. But you get sharp images
I think this is a good lens for the price. I have it and like it especially for real life photos without pixels peeping. I concider it to be better than the 55 for its ergonomic and the 1.4. It is also half the weight and price of the zeiss 1.4 and third the price of the GM. So it is very justified for non super professionals
@@midou9260 of course you have some extras but I think the main its have good Af it no make sense you have a sony body with near excellent af and you get a sharp lens but hunting in video . And 1.4 to 1.8 its not too far but I think for photo its a very good lens that samyang!
Is this similar in image quality to the Samyang 50mm f/1.4 AS UMC (MF)? Also is the Samyang FE f/1.4 FE same, similar, or equivalent to the Samyang AS UMC f/1.4 you both reviewed? I base my purchases on your reviews.😍
None of the sample photos were particularly pleasing from this lens. The longitudinal chromatic aberration is quite visible in the sample photos too. I think Samyang missed the mark on this one, personally. Thanks for reviewing it though!
How blind am I, then? I read this before watching the video and watched it full screen on a 27-inch monitor and couldn't see a thing even with my nose against the screen. Except for the actual LoCA test, anyway.
@@RealRaynedance For example, at 7:07 you can look at the bottom edge of the black book to see LoCa from purple to blue. The eyes of the fish at 0:44 also might count, but that could just be the painting itself ^_^
@@rusinsr Fair, I did miss that one. But that's also something I've been able to correct in Capture One with two clicks. Suppose maybe another editing program might not make it that easy, though.
@@TigaWould Sharpness alone makes this one better vs. the original, but fair enough, the rest of the issues still are present and you'd think it'd be better than it is. Hopefully when they inevitably do a third version, it fixes that.
I just came across this video and I’m between the samyang 50mm 1.4 ii and the sigma 50mm 1.4 art . Any recommendations that you have picked up over time?
Chris hi,I am following y long time.in short let me ask an ques.i have new 5dsr canon,and looking on some sigma lenses for it.but the only thing holding me back of buying them is fokus issues people are talking about it, especially on DSLR s. Have y any comments about it.how are your experience about it. Ty
Big fan of your channel. Can you tell me where you got your mat/paper for the lens sharpening. Looking for something fot ages, sinply cant find it (bot in your description either)
It seems so far that there is no decently prized 50mm 1.4 for Sony, even though there is plenty of choice for other focal lengths. IMHO, Samyang 45mm 1.8 is still the sweet spot in this range. Image quality is rather similar to this one and I don't think that a 2/3 stop brighter aperture is worth more than double the price/size/weight difference.
I own the lens, using it on the A7IV and I don't find the focusing clunky at all, in fact its pretty reliable for me, so maybe your A7RIII body is responsible for that.
Thanks a lot Christopher for that review ! How good do you think it performs compared to the Sigma Art FE 50mm f1.4 ? Are sharpness and chromatic aberration better at f1.4 ? I'm wondering because the Sigma is bit to heavy in my camera bag...
Аbout the sharpness - this lens suffers from severe astigmatism at shorter distances and gets sharp in the edges when you go closer to infinity focus. This is also the reason why the bokeh is so weird like it is zooming at closer distances... Otherwise - this is the only serious compromise. It is an awesome 50 1.4 which I bought right after I tested it.
I really wish they would have employed the new engines used in the 35/85 lenses. I think they would have had a hit with this lens. As it stands, there is a mountain of complaints about the AF sluggishness and- more importantly- missed eye AF. It tends to grab the brow. Gonna keep on waiting for a Sigma DG DN version 🤞
chromatic aberration and lens correction can be fixed in Lightroom. Sharpness, autofocus and noise are the only thing that matter in the lens these days.
This is the poorest test result from a several Samyang reviews I watched on this channel. And it's not that cheap too. During promotions, the Sony 55/1.8 is pretty much the same price.
Poor image corners, centre contrast, longitudinal chomatic aberration, close-up image quality, focusing - this one's not going down in the history books as a great lens, that's for sure.
Unfortunately Samyang have abandoned the RF mount. At least for now. Even going as far as to remove the old RF lenses from the site, except for the firmware downloads for them. A real shame for Canon RF users.
@@AnthonyTeasdale can third parties even get the official RF mount specifications from Canon? I only know of 2 third-party lenses with AF for RF both are from Samyang
@@DrWurzeli I believe there are some now which do work. Most tend to use the older EF protocol but with the RF mount. I know the Samyang lenses work like this. Just communicating as a EF lens on RF mount. But you do benefit from a mirrorless design lens. Both being the same lens elements as the Sony versions.
Tan malo como la primera versión . Samyang no consigue corregir sus terribles aberraciones cromáticas en estos 50 mm lo cual los hace prácticamente inutilizables . Nadie se compra un 50 F 1,4 para solo poder usarlo a partir de F , 5 . Esperaremos al nuevo Sigma ya que el increible 50 mm F 1,2 GM es inalcanzable .
1:26 came out of nowhere. I love it!
I would have NEVER expected that in a Christopher Frost video. That caught me way off guard! XD
@@rusinsr exactly XD
Lol
I thought I heard that on a different device I had going. Lol Just made a stop at the Fire Station in Washington state!
I thought was something from my facebook page
The 420g smoke weed everyday had me 😂😂
Under the table knowing the meaning of 4:20
Was not expecting that 🤣
Never ever imagined a 420-joke on this channel 😀
You typed my comment for me... lol
420 grams got me haha 😁
Was waiting for this! Really admire samyang for giving us especially me affordable options for sony camera.
I purchased this lense because I needed a decent, affordable, fast and lightweighted 50mm to be used for photography. I am personally happy with my copy. For me, the focus is ok: neither silent , nor noisy, and, the bokeh is beautiful, as you said Christopher. I would recommend this lens if you pay something like $700, the price I paid ($900 is too much).
i got it for sales for 400, it is worth that? I notice that the sharpness at f1.4 is not enough. any tips on that?
Always appreciate the reviews of smaller third party companies!!
I love u
I'm glad it's as good as it is _in comparison_ to the older version. That one was so famously bad on full frame that it's part of why people were so impressed by the original 35mm f/1.4 AF lens. I'm just curious what Sigma plans on doing with their eventual 50mm f/1.4 DN.
I have been using it for 5 months, mainly shooting cats at f1.6-2.5 which are very good. I think it is slightly better than the 55 1.8 (an excellent Sony small standard lens for a long time) and also has f1.4 (about 1/3 a stop faster). In my opinion - the best Sony standard prime is 50 1.2GM (even the best AF 50mm I have ever used) --> Samyang 50 1.4 --> Sony 50 1.4Z --> Sony 55 1.8Z (long time favourite and first fast FE prime) --> 50 1.8 (the worse Sony standard 50mm prime, slow AF and poorer quality - usable but not recommended).
The most balance in price, AF, IQ, price, and build quality standard lens for Sony FE.
"A mardi gras of beautiful but false color" is my new favorite description of longitudinal chromatic aberration. Some added warmth in the foreground -- coolness in the background -- bokeh can be quite nice in some contexts and distracting in others.
Did Chris Frost drop a 420 reference?
I had to check that the 420 grams reference was not me imagining things :')
honestly if someone was on a budget just get the frequently on sale sony FF 50mm f1.8 soft bokeh not the best build quality but sharp when stopped down & it has nice colors imo and for $250 you can’t best it unless your on aps-c of course
Did I hear someone sing "Smoke Weed every day" at time marker 1:27? Did a couple of rewinds and sure it sound that way. Cooler than I thought you were Mr. Frost :)
I HEARD IT
idk how I'm supposed to edit the description for you... (7:34)
lol great video as usual
I love mirrorless for compactness. Very happy with image quality and size of my Zeiss f1,8/55mm. I just miss a focus hold button. @Sony, can you make one, just like your f1,8/35mm?
Isnt the speed of manual focusing is customizable with samyang lens station?
Hey there!
Love your videos. Would you be so kind to do a review on them sigma 70-200mm 2.8 Sports? Thank you so much
I hope your getting paid somehow from doing these videos!!!! This is the BEST channel for lens reviews 👌👏🙌
You can support him on patreon ;)
Thanks. I owned the first versions of the 35, 50 and 85 1.4 lenses. All were terrible with eye AF wide open, so many missed shots. They need to be stopped down to at least f2 which defeats the purpose of owning a 1.4 Sold them all and got the 35, 45 and 75 1.8 lenses. Cheaper, smaller, lighter and much better AF performance. Mark II doesn’t seem much better from what I’ve heard.
Great review! Interesting lens.
I bought it and returned it right away because of the auto-focus. As a video-shooter it was really lacking accuracy and speed. I really like samyang lenses, but this one disappointed me.
they never delivered the same consistency as the sony lenses
@@hardywoodaway9912 while thats true and the recent sony lenses are insanely fast, Samyang has made some really great lenses in the past months for sonyE with fantastic price / performance. sadly this isnt one of those an affordable 50mm alternative would have been great
Buy sony 55mm 1.8 you can trust in the auto focus I use with a7iii and a6500 the only downside it's the minimal focus distance. But you get sharp images
“Wang your camera”…..fair play Chris. I enjoyed that one.
I think this is a good lens for the price. I have it and like it especially for real life photos without pixels peeping. I concider it to be better than the 55 for its ergonomic and the 1.4. It is also half the weight and price of the zeiss 1.4 and third the price of the GM. So it is very justified for non super professionals
For phography I think is one of the best option but for video it's better the great 55 1.8
@@NAM3L3555 what about focus breathing and clickless aperture ring?
@@midou9260 of course you have some extras but I think the main its have good Af it no make sense you have a sony body with near excellent af and you get a sharp lens but hunting in video . And 1.4 to 1.8 its not too far but I think for photo its a very good lens that samyang!
Is this similar in image quality to the Samyang 50mm f/1.4 AS UMC (MF)? Also is the Samyang FE f/1.4 FE same, similar, or equivalent to the Samyang AS UMC f/1.4 you both reviewed? I base my purchases on your reviews.😍
Could you do a review on Samyang f 1.4 35mm mark II
Can you please review sony 24-70 f2.8 II?
None of the sample photos were particularly pleasing from this lens. The longitudinal chromatic aberration is quite visible in the sample photos too. I think Samyang missed the mark on this one, personally. Thanks for reviewing it though!
I agree. Especially since it's not particularly affordable at 700 bucks...
How blind am I, then? I read this before watching the video and watched it full screen on a 27-inch monitor and couldn't see a thing even with my nose against the screen. Except for the actual LoCA test, anyway.
@@RealRaynedance For example, at 7:07 you can look at the bottom edge of the black book to see LoCa from purple to blue. The eyes of the fish at 0:44 also might count, but that could just be the painting itself ^_^
@@rusinsr Fair, I did miss that one. But that's also something I've been able to correct in Capture One with two clicks. Suppose maybe another editing program might not make it that easy, though.
@@TigaWould Sharpness alone makes this one better vs. the original, but fair enough, the rest of the issues still are present and you'd think it'd be better than it is. Hopefully when they inevitably do a third version, it fixes that.
it seems that a second hand sony zeiss 55mmf1.8 is a much better choice.
nope, this one is better
I just came across this video and I’m between the samyang 50mm 1.4 ii and the sigma 50mm 1.4 art . Any recommendations that you have picked up over time?
Chris hi,I am following y long time.in short let me ask an ques.i have new 5dsr canon,and looking on some sigma lenses for it.but the only thing holding me back of buying them is fokus issues people are talking about it, especially on DSLR s.
Have y any comments about it.how are your experience about it.
Ty
Big fan of your channel. Can you tell me where you got your mat/paper for the lens sharpening. Looking for something fot ages, sinply cant find it (bot in your description either)
does anyone know why samyang stopped making lenses for the RF mount
I can totally see you cruising in a Lada Niva, wearing a english golfers hat, smoking a rollie! 😂
Hi Christopher. Is it in your schedule to rest the Zeiss Loxia 21mm 2.8? I would love to see your review on that lens
It seems so far that there is no decently prized 50mm 1.4 for Sony, even though there is plenty of choice for other focal lengths. IMHO, Samyang 45mm 1.8 is still the sweet spot in this range. Image quality is rather similar to this one and I don't think that a 2/3 stop brighter aperture is worth more than double the price/size/weight difference.
Can you test the Nikkor 70-200mm 2.8S. I looked through your list and couldn't find it. I trust and enjoy your reviews of all lens. Great work!!!!
Will it fit Sony a6600
I own the lens, using it on the A7IV and I don't find the focusing clunky at all, in fact its pretty reliable for me, so maybe your A7RIII body is responsible for that.
I was not expecting the "smoke weed every day" part, good one.
1:26 made me cackle like an idiot.
Hey frost loved your video. can you please review the Samyang 35mm 1.4 mark 2 ? Thank you
Thanks a lot Christopher for that review ! How good do you think it performs compared to the Sigma Art FE 50mm f1.4 ?
Are sharpness and chromatic aberration better at f1.4 ? I'm wondering because the Sigma is bit to heavy in my camera bag...
That "smoke weed every day" just killed me! XD Love your chanel Chris, you rock!
when I heard the more weed every day jingle I thought another video started playing in the background
Аbout the sharpness - this lens suffers from severe astigmatism at shorter distances and gets sharp in the edges when you go closer to infinity focus. This is also the reason why the bokeh is so weird like it is zooming at closer distances... Otherwise - this is the only serious compromise. It is an awesome 50 1.4 which I bought right after I tested it.
I really wish they would have employed the new engines used in the 35/85 lenses. I think they would have had a hit with this lens. As it stands, there is a mountain of complaints about the AF sluggishness and- more importantly- missed eye AF. It tends to grab the brow.
Gonna keep on waiting for a Sigma DG DN version 🤞
chromatic aberration and lens correction can be fixed in Lightroom.
Sharpness, autofocus and noise are the only thing that matter in the lens these days.
No. Some people shoot video.
Just a general comment: although these barren lenses look pretty sleek, am I the only one missing a distance and hyperfocus scale?
You can’t have it on a ‘fly by wire’ focus lens because the focus ring isn’t connected to the mechanism and isn’t always in the same place.
@@albedo0point39 You can if you do it with a screen like Zeiss and Nikon did.
@@albedo0point39 I wouldn't mind a LCD instead of something analogue :-)
"Smoke weed every day" 😆😂😂🤣🤣💀💀⚰
this is quit small vigneting, at 1.4 not bad at all!
It woks for my sony A7iii, fAst even in dark
This is the poorest test result from a several Samyang reviews I watched on this channel. And it's not that cheap too. During promotions, the Sony 55/1.8 is pretty much the same price.
Is it my ears or i heard tupac saying smoke week everyday at 1:24
Overall I would say this is rather a disappointment from Samyang. But again, thanks for the excellent review.
try it for yourself first, its a great lens!!
Thanks
HAHAHAHAHAH WTF never ever expected Christopher to be 420 friendly
lmao your edits are funny bro, inspiring me to personalize my faceless RUclips a little more
At wide apertures corner sharpness on a 50mm isn't important. There, I said it 😬
Lmfao I’m dead 💀💀💀💀💀 1:26 💨💨💨💨
i have matk 1 and it makes horrible sounds during focusing. Useless for video
That 420 joke had me.. had to rewind to male sure that's what i heard
1:28 the music says smoke weed everyday???? What the heck??? LOL
I have the 35 1.4 and the 85 1.4. I’m going to pass on this and get the 135 1.8 for $1K
I just bought the 50ii
Lol
Nice review.... I am from India
I did a full on spit take when the snoop dog sound bite came in
Poor image corners, centre contrast, longitudinal chomatic aberration, close-up image quality, focusing - this one's not going down in the history books as a great lens, that's for sure.
Useble for Eos r10?
yes for Sony mount ...can use the Canon EF fit sigma 50mm F1.4 with the EF to canon RF mount adaptor then it will fit the R10
Unfortunately Samyang have abandoned the RF mount. At least for now. Even going as far as to remove the old RF lenses from the site, except for the firmware downloads for them.
A real shame for Canon RF users.
@@AnthonyTeasdale can third parties even get the official RF mount specifications from Canon? I only know of 2 third-party lenses with AF for RF both are from Samyang
@@DrWurzeli I believe there are some now which do work. Most tend to use the older EF protocol but with the RF mount.
I know the Samyang lenses work like this. Just communicating as a EF lens on RF mount. But you do benefit from a mirrorless design lens. Both being the same lens elements as the Sony versions.
@@AnthonyTeasdale interesting approach. good to know, thanks for sharing! hopefully in the future more companies move to open-mount strategies.
Looks like a shocker for that price.
1:27 🤣🤣
Rather have the more expensive/heavy lens.
Chris got that like, comment, bell, subscribe, everything for that 420 bit hahaha
Thank you for the review, it's still the fact that samyang lenses don't have a quality level that's good for me...
smoke weed everyday 😂😂
LOL
If you know, you know 🌱🤣
"smoke week everyday"?
1:26 i thought this was a CHRISTIAN PROGRAM!! 😤
It's a meme. Calm down
Nice looking lens, but uninspiring price/performance. So it’s a no from me.
That's a no then.
Disappointing for the money.
Lol 420g
smoke weed every day?
Somehow disappointed by the performance. My expectations were higher.
smoke weed everyday
#420
420
Tan malo como la primera versión . Samyang no consigue corregir sus terribles aberraciones cromáticas en estos 50 mm lo cual los hace prácticamente inutilizables . Nadie se compra un 50 F 1,4 para solo poder usarlo a partir de F , 5 . Esperaremos al nuevo Sigma ya que el increible 50 mm F 1,2 GM es inalcanzable .
damn this lens is a mess.
Definitely not worth the money
Samsung is the best