I am using this lens for over a year now and I am still very exited about it. I used this lens throughout the year mostly for detail shots, portrait photography and as an awesome all-round lens. I would recommend this lens to anyone using a Sony mirrorless camera and who is in dire need of a sharp portrait lens with great bokeh. Read on!
So Samyang is mostly known for their cheap manual-focus-only lenses, perfect for those on a budget. Right? Well yes, but not anymore because nowadays they release full featured autofocus lenses as well alongside their lenses for those on a budget. Obviously, the pricetag of these autofocus lenses is a bit more than you would expect from Samyang, but still way below the average price what you would expect for a lens with big aperture values such as these. Does it impact the quality? Not necessarily. This line of products started out with the Samyang 14mm F2.8 AF and the 50mm F1.4FE and at the moment of writing they also released the 35mm F2.8 (pancake model) and the 35mm F1.4FE. All very good lenses with a lot of great reviews.
This lens can be bought for around 550 euros and is sharp from F2.8 onwards. The bokeh is creamy and really satisfying to the eyes. Here are some example shots I took using a Sony a7 mirrorless camera and the Samyang 50mm F1.4 FE:
Sony A7 // Samyang 50mm F1.4FE // ISO 100 // F4.5 // 1/250
Sony A7 // Samyang 50mm F1.4FE // ISO 100 // F1.4 // 1/200
Sony a7 // Samyang 50mm F1.4FE // ISO 250 // F3.2 // 1/100
As said before I would mainly use this lens for portrait shooting but it is also great for detail shot and just as an awesome allround lens. It is sharp, bokeh is nice and if you have a Sony mirrorless camera there is no reason to not get any of the new Samyang lenses in my opinion. The autofocus is also allright to be honest and I imagine this being even better on the newer Sony models. The drawback could be the size and weight. This lens is a bit on the heavy side especially for a fragile camera such as the Sony a7. The Samyang 35mm F2.8 on the other hand is a pancake model. Anyways, the weight should not be any factor of not getting this lens. Just get it.
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