Rokinon 50mm f/1.4 AS IF UMC Lens for Sony E-Mount

This manual focus standard lens, offers a fast f/1.4 maximum aperture for a price of around £379, which is a little surprising, as Samyang lenses are traditionally pitched in at the budget end of the market.

Although the comparison between the number of pros and cons of the tested lens seems to be hardly favourable you still cannot call it a botched device, quite the opposite. Even though it costs only a bit more than brand name models with autofocus, in many categories it fared better than them.

• +

  very good image quality in the frame centre,, sensibly corrected chromatic aberration,, slight coma in the corners of the APS-C/DX,, low astigmatism.

• -

  image quality near the maximum relative aperture could have been better,, too high distortion,, unacceptable performance against bright light,, noticeable vignetting.

There is no doubting that this is a good lens, capable of producing images with outstanding sharpness. However, for a basic lens, that offers no electronic coupling with the camera, to be more expensive than the equivalents on offer from the manufacturer doesn't make a lot of sense.

• +

  Decent sharpness, especially when stopped down, Smooth manual focus action, Good build, Low CA

• -

  Performance from this lens is on a par with manufacturers own lenses, but nothing special, Pronounced falloff at f/1.4, Seems like poor value for money at current price, Lower contrast than other modern lenses

This lens is all around extremely good for the price. The build quality is quite good and the build feels very nice, not cheap like some of the lower end Sony lenses. Even though the lens is manual focus, it is extremely easy to use on the a7.

This is my first lens, bought for the Sony A7S ii, and I'm pleased with it. It's cheapo, has a shallow depth of field, can open the aperture up wide for low-light shots, and isn't too zoomed in or out, hence its usability in diverse settings.