Scared of the Sigma? Samyang kills the 50mm f/1.2

 

 

In January of last year, Samyang stated on a Facebook page that a 50mm f/1.2 lens was on the roadmap, maybe for 2014. Now, appropriately enough over Facebook again, Samyang has stated that "The 50mm f1.2 is not realising," killing off that self-same lens. But why would the popular manual focus lens maker nix piece of glass that people were obviously looking forward to?

One theory that we have is to do with the meteoric rise of Sigma's prime lenses, which combine astonishing image quality and low costs. The new Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art lens doesn't have a pricetag yet, but given the rest of the Art line, Sigma is aggresively targeting the affordable end of the spectrum, but with high-end results. In fact, a source close to Imaging Resource tells us that a major Pacific Northwest camera supply store is reportedly waiting for the release of the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 before deciding to carry the ultra high-end Zeiss Otus 55mm f/1.4.

Now, we have no way of knowing for sure if the Sigma prime had any bearing on Samyang's decision. Given that the Sigma was only just announced, and Samyang has allegedly had this thing in the works for a while, there might be another explanation. But we do know that if we were in the business of making affordable prime lenses, Sigma's recent run of affordable, superb glass would have us very, very worried.

(via 43Rumors)