New 50mm f/1.4 option for Sony users: Samyang’s first autofocus lens shipping in early August
posted Tuesday, July 26, 2016 at 2:15 PM EDT
In early May, Samyang announced its first-ever autofocus lenses: the Samyang 14mm f/2.8 ED AS IF UMC and 50mm f/1.4 AS IF UMC. These two lenses are both for the Sony FE mount and the Korean optics company has revealed that the 50mm f/1.4 lens will be shipping worldwide in early August.
The 50mm f/1.4 is designed for full frame Sony mirrorless cameras and includes three aspherical lenses and Ultra Multi Coating for optimal imaging performance. Does the optical design work? Well, let's head on over to France to find out. Les Numeriques got their hands on the new Samyang lens and tested it against the Sony 50mm f/1.4 Carl Zeiss Planar T* ZA lens. While this test involved only a single sample, the results bode very well for the Samyang. It bested the Zeiss across the board; click here for the full results.
That's not to say anything bad about the Zeiss optic, incidentally, because as LensRentals determined in their rigorous testing, it's a fantastic lens.
Did LensNumeriques get a bad sample of the Zeiss, Sony Alpha Rumors wonders, or is the Samyang really just that good? We'll find out soon when the lenses start hitting store shelves in the coming weeks. American pricing is not yet available for the Samyang lens, however it will cost €579 in the European market. That converts to just under US$640, ignoring taxes, duties and exchange rate fluctuations. It will also be very interesting to see how the Samyang's autofocus performs. This is the company's first attempt at an AF lens, after all, and autofocus is not easy to perfect.
(Seen via Photography Blog and Sony Alpha Rumors)