Rokinon - Samyang - Bower

[hitek79]

Score! I found a Rokinon 35mm here locally for $375! Picking it up in the morning.

It looks like a couple of the 24mm's have found their way to Ebay with a BIN price of $834.

[systemoverblow'd]

Let us know how you like the 35. I am interested in it but at the pricetag it has to be stellar to compensate its downfalls. Man they really undervalued the 85.

[Altmanator]

Are the 85 1.4s really the same from all these manufacturers? Looking at a comparison on B&H it looks like the Vivitar has a MFD of 1' whereas the Bower and Rokinon are 3.3'. It also says the Vivtar weighs in at 2lbs where the others are 1.1 and 1.4.

Here's a link to the comparison: 3 Lens Comparison

Then there's a Bell & Howell version at Overstock: Bell & Howell

Any thoughts? I'm ready to the pull the trigger today. 1' MFD sure beats 3' but I find that hard to believe if they really are the same construction with just different brands.

[systemoverblow'd]

From what I gathered, It's all the components to build the lens are from the same manufacturer but the actual build is from different companies. I could be 100% wrong but I assume this from the strikingly different looks of the casings from the diff manufacturers. That could mean, based on build, different MFD's. I will say my 85 is probably longer than 3'3" but I never checked. It is looooonnnnnggggg.

I think the lumping them together is more about "hey, the people who these companies buy identical optics from are no joke". Again, I could be wrong. And the prices aren't identical either which one may assume that due to a certain build parameter, one needs to charge more than the other.

And in the general photography ether I have heard more positive about Rokinon than any of the other companies that share this distinction.

$.02

EDIT - Actually... when looking at them side by side they are all identical. The only noticeable difference I see is the rubber on the focus ring. The inconsistent weight and size dimensions could speak about my above musings but they just look too similar to be that off. I would bet that the Vivi does NOT have a MFD of 1'. But who knows until it is in your hand.

[SchralphMacchio]

silly americans not knowing how to express/interpret 1 meter correctly is my best guess

[kidwoo]

24mm 1.4?

Okay, now I'm paying attention

[Altmanator]

The differences between the Vivitar and others are BS. Checked the Vivitar site and it is a 1m MFD and it looks like B&H put it as 1'. Also its not 2lbs. Anyway, just pulled the trigger on a Rokinon 85 1.4, pretty pumped to check it out

[Max Archer]

I traded away my 85 1.8 (for a 50 1.4), so I'm in need of a short tele prime. I'm really tempted to give the Rok a shot. Maybe I should get the Vivitar for the comedy-factor of having a red ring on a Nikon.

[SchralphMacchio]

Got tired of not having a sweet normalish prime (on my 7D), so I ordered a Vivitar 35mm from B&H. Their webpage said "special order item normally ships in 7-10 days" and I got a backorder notification via email after I ordered ... hopefully that really means 7-10 days otherwise I'm going to cancel my order and wait for the next flash sale ...

[systemoverblow'd]

Got tired of not having a sweet normalish prime (on my 7D), so I ordered a Vivitar 35mm from B&H. Their webpage said "special order item normally ships in 7-10 days" and I got a backorder notification via email after I ordered ... hopefully that really means 7-10 days otherwise I'm going to cancel my order and wait for the next flash sale ...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...n=&s=&v=glance

[SchralphMacchio]

Vivitar arrived today.

How the hell do you meter with this thing on a 7D?

[systemoverblow'd]

Vivitar arrived today.

How the hell do you meter with this thing on a 7D?

What do you mean? What are you having a problem with?

[SchralphMacchio]

I don't have a gray card here so I can't say for sure but I metered off my hand at 0 and the result seemed way under exposed. I'll try again with a spot setting and +0.5.

Also, the LiveView exposure simulation and histogram are nowhere near the actual result that is recorded in a still.

Sharpness is pretty good with my quick tests, and so is minimum focusing distance.

[systemoverblow'd]

With my roki I always use spot and manual and seem to have not the problems you are describing. Also, I only have the 85 and 8 so that could be a factor as well.

[SchralphMacchio]

I switched to spot metering and turned off exposure simulation in LiveView ... everything is better now. I just need to get my ass a lot better with the Zone system ...

This 35 is pretty dang center-sharp, wide-open at f/1.4, when focusing out 500 yards! Or at least my quick test tells me so. This lens would be sweet for star shooting on a FF ...

So far my only complaints are the focus ring not having a way to lock it out at infinity and the lack of Canon chip so that I can focus off the little round light in the corner rather than off of LiveView or guessing.

Sweet bokeh so far ...

[systemoverblow'd]

A lot of people suggest buying the Nikon version with the chip and use an adapter to get focus confirmation. Or, you can chip it yourself. I read a tutorial for my 85 but haven't built up the balls to do it yet.

[SchralphMacchio]

wouldn't that effectively lengthen the lens to a 40 or 45mm lens?

[SchralphMacchio]

This 35 / 1.4 is interesting. It's a little soft @ 1.4, but which sub-$1000 lens isn't?

Metering is less of a problem for me now, but focus, and remembering what aperture you are in, is a whole new ballgame.

Viewfinder focus


Liveview focus

(I post-processed a little differently with respect to tone curves)

[systemoverblow'd]

Yeah, using an adapter will make it longer. Not sure of how much.

One thing I found is I have to absolutely 100% use live view and 10x zoom. With the 7d viewfinder you absolutely can't pull accurate focus. When I am shooting with my 85 I tend to use my lcdvf loupe so I can still shoot like normal.

[supermodel159]

This 35 / 1.4 is interesting. It's a little soft @ 1.4, but which sub-$1000 lens isn't?

Metering is less of a problem for me now, but focus, and remembering what aperture you are in, is a whole new ballgame.

Viewfinder focus


Liveview focus

(I post-processed a little differently with respect to tone curves)

Cigs are SOOOO 1998.

Live view will be your best friend with these lenses. Just shoot in RAW (I'm sure you are already), and just adjust white balance in post.

[SchralphMacchio]

Live view will be your best friend with these lenses.

My friend sent me this today when I told him about the Roki:



To be honest, if I were trying to make money on images I probably would have bought a Canon 35L and gotten tack sharp focus every time. But half of the fun is the learning experience in all the 95% of crap that doesn't end up as keepers!

[systemoverblow'd]

Totally. While it certainly produces less keepers than my other lenses my 85 is by far the most fun to use.

[Lonnie]

I wonder in Canon/Nikon are working on firmware updates that includes focus peaking for MF lenses like this??

[systemoverblow'd]

Wish they would! For Canon if you have the magic lantern hack you get focus peaking but alas, they have still not been able to get it to work on the 7D.

[SchralphMacchio]

^ dang, because that, on the LCD loupe, would be pretty slick for video or stills