Full frame, manual focus, wide angle prime lens
---- This review is a work in progress, and represents my first impressions with this unique lens ----
Samyang are relatively new on the SLR lens market, they have been making mirror lenses and ultra long, small aperture telephotos for a while, but these were really just novelty items. Recently, they seem to have made the decision to move into the growing market for alternative SLR lenses, dominated by Sigma, but also being moved in on by Zeiss and Voigtlander. Their new line up is quite impressive, it includes this lens, a 24mm f/1.4, a 35mm f/1.4, an 85mm f/1.4 and an 8mm diagonal fisheye. All lenses (by their specifications) aimed squarely at serious enthusiasts and professionals. This sudden change in industry "stance" has really made people sit up and take notice!
Like the other lenses in this line-up, the 14mm f/2.8 is very basic when it comes to features and automation, but cutting edge in terms of optics. The lens has no connection with the camera whatsoever, other than the physical bayonette mount. Look under the rear lens cap and you will notice no electrical connections. This means three things. The lens does not have autofocus, the camera will not confirm when focus is achieved (normally a red flash on AF points), and perhaps most strangely, the aperture cannot be controlled by the camera. This hearkens back to the days of film when the aperture was controlled by a ring near the mount. This lens has a similar control mechanism, however, it is even more rudimentary than those from old film cameras. With Canon's old FD mount, for example, the aperture was only closed down when the shutter mechanism flipped a lever in the lens, closing the diaphragm just before the exposure. Since all this is done electronically nowadays, Samyang have opted to do away with this automation completely. This means that the lens' aperture is controlled directly by hand. Turning the aperture ring closes it down in real time; it does not simply assign an aperture to close to once the shutter is pressed. This is an important feature, and one to bear in mind. The one advantage in this system is that the camera is constantly in a state of "depth of field preview", so what you see is what you get. The main disadvantage, of course, is that you either have to remember to change the aperture before each shot, or leave it closed down to the desired f-stop all the time, cutting off much of the light entering and making composition more of a chore.
So we've established it's awkward, but now for some positive points. The lens is very well made, for the price the workmanship is astounding. The focusing ring is heavily damped and rotates a good 270 degrees allowing for very high precision work, you do have to be careful, however, as the focus goes past infinity before stopping. The aforementioned aperture ring is solid and locks positively at 1/2-stop intervals. Both front and rear elements remain motionless during focussing. The lens hood is built-in to protect the concave front element and cannot be removed. It is made of very thick rigid plastic and does the job perfectly. A large cap fits over the whole hood for transport and locks much more securely than the standard design. It cannot be removed without depressing the release clips - most lens caps can be knocked off with ease. The diaphragm is only 6 blades, but they are curved and form a perfect circle when wide open (f/2.8). The bokeh is an uneasy hexagonal shape from there on in, but with a lens this wide, out of focus areas are rarely a subject of scrutiny.
Yes, 14mm is extremely wide. I believe the only wider rectilinear (not intentionally distorted) lens for full frame cameras is the Sigma 12-24mm, at the time of review. You will find it difficult not to get your tripod legs in some frames. Composition becomes more a case of finding an interesting area, then going and standing in the middle of it before you can start to work. With no automation, this lens really requires your undivided attention. Call me a newbie if you like, but I did get caught out trying to remember everything and letting the odd detail slip my mind. I will explain.... At 14mm almost every aperture looks the same through the viewfinder if you focus on anything further away than 1m. At 14mm, almost every focusing distance looks the same through the viewfinder! Hyperfocal distance (which you will learn to use with this lens) is difficult to check with the absence of f-stop markings on the barrel. Of course, any lens this wide is going to be strongly susceptible to flare. The 1/lens-length shutter speed rule is useless since 1/14sec is unlikely to stop any motion in your frame, so you need to check the whole scene for moving objects.... and add to that, appendages (both human and tripodian), and shadows sneaking into the frame corners and you really need to be fully aware all the time! That said, when everything falls into place, the results can be pretty impressive.
Optically is where this lens really impresses. Generally ultra-wide angle lenses are especially susceptible to edge and corner softness and chromatic aberration (CA). While I haven't yet fully tested the corner performance (stay tuned), the edges at medium to small apertures remain absolutely full of detail. What is more impressive is the almost total lack of CA. After my first shoot with this lens I found myself poring over every pixel, searching for CA (in order to correct it) like playing "Where's Wally". There is a microscopic amount visible in the corners on my 5D MkII, but other than that the CA control is astounding! This is how images should look, no horrible smeared 3D glasses effect here. As an ultra wide angle lens this is probably it's most commendable characteristic.
it's least commendable characteristic, however, is the high distortion. Now this is another area that ultra-wide angles are known for being susceptible to. it is not intentionally distorted like a fisheye lens, but it seems that little attention has been paid to keeping it in check. This doesn't pose a problem for nature photographers like myself, where distortion (from the viewer's perspective) can be attributed to the lay of the land (the single tree below, really was that curvy). For those photographing buildings and cityscapes however, the stretched outside areas of the scene are very distracting and pretty much rules out architectural photography. Look closely at the landscape scene below and you can see the trees on either side leaning away from the centre. Just something to bear in mind. The distortion is of course less noticeable towards the centre of the frame, so those using cropped frame cameras could get away with it.
Below is an example of some of the best corner sharpness I have ever witnessed on a wide angle lens. The left image was taken wide open at f/2.8 on a full frame 5D Mk II, the right was taken at f/8. There is almost no difference! The images are 100% crops and have had no sharpening, noise reduction or contrast added to them.
Image Quality (full frame) - 8/10
Image Quality (cropped frame) - 8/10
Build Quality - 10/10
Practicality - 4/10
Value for Money - 10/10
