Samyang’s AF-equipped 14mm, 50mm E-mount primes arrive with Rokinon branding

posted Friday, August 19, 2016 at 6:59 AM EDT

If you're a Sony E-mount shooter, the available selection of autofocus-equipped lenses for your full-frame or sub-frame camera just grew by two -- at least in a manner of speaking. Rokinon has introduced its 50mm F1.4 AF and 14mm F2.8 AF lenses for E-mount cameras, but both lenses will look very familiar indeed if you've been paying attention to our news page recently. The company has also recently debuted a new video-specific 135mm lens for its XEEN by Rokinon lineup of manual-focus video lenses.

Let's take a look at the Rokinon 50mm F1.4 AF and 14mm F2.8 AF lenses first of all. These look to be doppelgangers to the Samyang AF 50/1.4 FE and Samyang AF 14/2.8 FE which were first shown in development last May, and officially announced in the last few weeks. Externally, they look essentially identical, right down to the labeling. Only the brand name differs between the Rokinon and Samyang versions.

Where available, the specifications too are identical. Pricing is set at US$900 or thereabouts for the 14mm F2.8 AF, and has yet to be revealed for the 50mm F1.4 AF. You can find detailed specifications in our earlier coverage of the Samyang variants of both lenses.

Another recent addition to Rokinon's lens lineup which we haven't yet covered is the XEEN by Rokinon 135mm T2.2 Professional Cine Lens. This follows in the footsteps of the previously-launched XEEN 14mm, 24mm, 35mm, 50mm and 85mm optics, which were revealed last year and at this year's NAB show.

The Rokinon XEEN 135mm T2.2 lens has full-frame coverage, an all-metal design, and a non-rotating 114mm front diameter on which a matte box can be attached. The optical formula hasn't been disclosed, but Rokinon claims the lens to be 6K-ready, and notes that it has an 11-bladed aperture diaphragm for attractive bokeh, as well as a XEEN X-coating to fight glare and improve contrast.

Other video-friendly features include a generous 200-degree focus throw, 40-degree iris throw, generously-sized markings, calibrated right and left-side distance and T-stop scales, and smooth, fully-damped controls. Although the lens mount is interchangeable and can be shimmed, Rokinon notes that this should be accomplished "by a qualified technician", so it's not intended for the user to make these changes. Available mounts include PL, Canon, Nikon, Sony E and Micro Four Thirds.