Samyang AF 35mm f/2.8 FE Review

Samyang AF 35mm f/2.8 FE Performance

Sharpness is of a high order. At the centre, the lens is excellent from open aperture all the way through to f/16. It is still very good at f/22, which makes the inclusion of this small aperture useful. The edges start off fairly sharp at f/2.8, becoming very good at f/4 and then excellent from f/5.6 to f/16. F/22 is again very good. The sharpness is also very even across the frame from f/5.6 onwards.

CA (Chromatic Aberration) is well controlled, some being visible but nothing too excessive. If necessary, further correction can be made using software.

There is a small amount of barrel distortion, which measures at -0.45%. This probably needs no further correction for most subject matter, but again, if needed, software can be used to reduce it further.

Flare is very well suppressed and is not evident in images shot against the light, even in quite challenging conditions. That this is achieved with such a minimalistic lens hood is very impressive.

Bokeh is the quality of the out of focus areas in an image and the lens delivers a very smooth and pleasant result. The balance between sharpness and smoothness of bokeh has been very well judged.

Value For Money

The Samyang AF 35mm f/2.8 FE lens is priced at £279.99. Also on offer from Samyang is a full frame manual focus optic, the 35mm f/1.4 AS UMC costs £427.

The Zeiss Loxia 35mm f/2 (£979, MF), Sony FE 35mm f/2.8 Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* (£1244) and Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 Distagon T* (£1244) are also available.

For more options have a look at the Top 15 Best Samyang Lenses, and Top 15 Best Sony E / FE Mount Lenses. 

Add your message