Samyang 8mm

[mel]

Had anyone actually tried one and can offer an informed unbiased opinion?

I know it's a manual lens and a budget lens but at two hundred rubs it is a quarter of the price of the canon 10-22 that I was considering. The intention is to try some creative outdoor nightime landscape type stuff so i'm only really interested in the ultra wide end of the lens, and I do mena try, I might decide I'm st at it.


Podie, I've already heard your Roll Royce/Sinclair C5 Metaphor so you don't count

[markmullen]

I've not tried the Samyang but I have played with the Canon 8-15mm fisheye which to be honest the novelty soon wore off, at first it was great fun but soon I thought "when would I actually end up using this" and decided that it was really only regularly useable at the 15mm end (on full frame).

If I were you I would still consider the 10-20 or 10-22 as I think you would get more use out of them. I use a 17-40 on full frame and it is perfect, 10mm on a 1.6 crop would be similar.

[mel]

It'll be on a 1.6 crop hence why I'm considering it, sorry should have said.

[MikeGTi]

so 13mm ish.

I've got the 16-35 and I think that anything wider that 16mm would be pretty pointless - But that's just me.

Give it a go, see what you can make.

[markmullen]

mel said:

It'll be on a 1.6 crop hence why I'm considering it, sorry should have said.

My advice would still be the same, go for the UWA zoom, it will be a lot more versatile.

[LongQ]

Have you read the review at photozone.de?

I have a the Samyang 14mm which I typically use on an APS-C body and it's very good for the price. In fact I would say it's better than very good so long as you are prepared to use a manual lens. There wasn't an option when I started snapping so it's fine by me.

The Photozone review of the 14mm seems spot on to me, as do their reviews of a couple of the other lenses I own. So I am tempted to trust the site's accuracy, assessment and final conclusions for the lenses they have tested.

Not sure I really need an 8mm, even if it is an untypical fish-eye design, but it would be tempting to play with one.

I think a few people must have done just that and decided they don't want to keep it based on the number to be found on eBay. However since they seem to be selling used for almost what they cost new it's currently not an expensive experiment. In fact it's not even really expensive if you buy, keep and rarely use.

[Seany88]

I've tried one in an independent camera shop in Manchester, didn't get to play much mind but thought it was worth £200 If your not too far away pop in, its in Northern Quarter, and see what you think?

[kman]

I have the Samyang 8mm which I use on a crop sensor. Its a very good lens, very sharp so can produce fantastic images. Just be mindful of its use/composition and angles that you shoot at - theres certainly a skill with framing images with the views and distortion they inherently have.

[david_b]

Can't help in terms of the 8mm, but regarding Samyang I have the 85 f/1.4 and love it. It's manual (but I use a lot of old lenses so not a problem), but putting that aside it takes beautifully sharp pictures, with lovely smooth OOF areas. I've got no issues with the build quality - not quite up to some of the old all-metal AI/AIS Nikkors, but then very little is nowadays.

There are quite a few Samyang groups on flickr, probably worth having a look through these to see some example shots too.

[ian in lancs]

Seany88 said:

I've tried one in an independent camera shop in Manchester, didn't get to play much mind but thought it was worth £200 If your not too far away pop in, its in Northern Quarter, and see what you think?

Wheres that?

[1a35]

david_b said:

Can't help in terms of the 8mm, but regarding Samyang I have the 85 f/1.4 and love it. It's manual (but I use a lot of old lenses so not a problem), but putting that aside it takes beautifully sharp pictures, with lovely smooth OOF areas. I've got no issues with the build quality - not quite up to some of the old all-metal AI/AIS Nikkors, but then very little is nowadays.

There are quite a few Samyang groups on flickr, probably worth having a look through these to see some example shots too.

I'll second that. Excellent image quality.

[Seany88]

ian in lancs said:

Wheres that?

Just googled the area and I 'think' its on Lever Street. Its fairly obvious, in fact i just streetmapped it and its called The Real Camera Co. they even have a website www.realcamera.co.uk.

Think the owner was into his exotic model shoots, quite a few raunchy pics on the wall

[MikeGTi]

Seany88 said:

Just googled the area and I 'think' its on Lever Street. Its fairly obvious, in fact i just streetmapped it and its called The Real Camera Co. they even have a website www.realcamera.co.uk.

Think the owner was into his exotic model shoots, quite a few raunchy pics on the wall

Might have to have a look in there.

[andrewrob]

Seany88 said:

ian in lancs said:

Wheres that?

Just googled the area and I 'think' its on Lever Street. Its fairly obvious, in fact i just streetmapped it and its called The Real Camera Co. they even have a website www.realcamera.co.uk.

Think the owner was into his exotic model shoots, quite a few raunchy pics on the wall

To say they sell cameras they're not that great at taking pictures of each other for the website.

[tim-b]

1a35 said:

david_b said:

Can't help in terms of the 8mm, but regarding Samyang I have the 85 f/1.4 and love it. It's manual (but I use a lot of old lenses so not a problem), but putting that aside it takes beautifully sharp pictures, with lovely smooth OOF areas. I've got no issues with the build quality - not quite up to some of the old all-metal AI/AIS Nikkors, but then very little is nowadays.

There are quite a few Samyang groups on flickr, probably worth having a look through these to see some example shots too.

I'll second that. Excellent image quality.

I am seriously tempted by that.....just one thing; how fast can you change focussing? I tried the 85mm f1.4 Zeiss in a shop, which is also manual, but damn the focus ring was stiff! Not in a sticking way, it was very precise and felt lovely, but required an unreasonable amount of twisting to get from 'lock to lock' (actually reminded me of my old Volvo that had no power-steering ). No good for reportage style or anything that involves quickly changing focussing...So what's the Samyang like for this?

[ian in lancs]

Seany88 said:

ian in lancs said:

Wheres that?

Just googled the area and I 'think' its on Lever Street. Its fairly obvious, in fact i just streetmapped it and its called The Real Camera Co. they even have a website www.realcamera.co.uk.

Think the owner was into his exotic model shoots, quite a few raunchy pics on the wall

Oh, right that's the second hand camera shop in the area by Picadilly staion and where they shot Life on Mars. That shop is quite a treasure trove of 35mm film cameras. Worth a browse if only to hear the owners offers to punters bringing in their kit hoping for a good price!

[david_b]

tim-b said:

1a35 said:

david_b said:

Can't help in terms of the 8mm, but regarding Samyang I have the 85 f/1.4 and love it. It's manual (but I use a lot of old lenses so not a problem), but putting that aside it takes beautifully sharp pictures, with lovely smooth OOF areas. I've got no issues with the build quality - not quite up to some of the old all-metal AI/AIS Nikkors, but then very little is nowadays.

There are quite a few Samyang groups on flickr, probably worth having a look through these to see some example shots too.

I'll second that. Excellent image quality.

I am seriously tempted by that.....just one thing; how fast can you change focussing? I tried the 85mm f1.4 Zeiss in a shop, which is also manual, but damn the focus ring was stiff! Not in a sticking way, it was very precise and felt lovely, but required an unreasonable amount of twisting to get from 'lock to lock' (actually reminded me of my old Volvo that had no power-steering ). No good for reportage style or anything that involves quickly changing focussing...So what's the Samyang like for this?

I've not tried the Zeiss to be able to give a direct comparison unfortunately, but I've just grabbed a couple of old Nikkors and the Samyang feels pretty similar to these (105 f/2.5 and 180 f/2.8). It's a bit less than 180deg lock-to-lock as well, if that helps.

I've not had much chance to use mine all that much yet, but I've got some nice baby portraits from it, plus some shots from Goodwood - having said that, trying to do any "street" style stuff at f/1.4 is always going to be a challenge (well it is for me anyway!), plus impossible when it's sunny without filters... One from the paddock that I liked (this is at f/4):


Goodwood Revival 2011 by david_b, on Flickr

[tim-b]

david_b said:

I've not tried the Zeiss to be able to give a direct comparison unfortunately, but I've just grabbed a couple of old Nikkors and the Samyang feels pretty similar to these (105 f/2.5 and 180 f/2.8). It's a bit less than 180deg lock-to-lock as well, if that helps.

Thanks, that sounds good, IIRC I had to change grip 3 or 4 times to go lock-to-lock with the Zeiss....great for getting perfect focussing in a studio or on a tripod, not so good for wandering around the paddock at Goodwood (and it certainly looks sharp from your pic)! So glad to hear it's a 'normal' setup for the Samyang. Will probably be getting that lens sometime soon!

[david_b]

tim-b said:

david_b said:

I've not tried the Zeiss to be able to give a direct comparison unfortunately, but I've just grabbed a couple of old Nikkors and the Samyang feels pretty similar to these (105 f/2.5 and 180 f/2.8). It's a bit less than 180deg lock-to-lock as well, if that helps.

Thanks, that sounds good, IIRC I had to change grip 3 or 4 times to go lock-to-lock with the Zeiss....great for getting perfect focussing in a studio or on a tripod, not so good for wandering around the paddock at Goodwood (and it certainly looks sharp from your pic)! So glad to hear it's a 'normal' setup for the Samyang. Will probably be getting that lens sometime soon!

I'd go for it, really like mine I think they do two versions now, a newer one with a chip ("UMC" version) and one without - mine is the slightly cheaper original one, but rather cunningly my D2H meters with it quite happily anyway. Can even manage the odd pan too (mainly because I forgot to change lenses...):


Goodwood Revival 2011 by david_b, on Flickr