SAMYANG 14 mm f / 2.8 IF ED UMC Wide-angle Lens - for Canon

Product Information

This enables you to have a variety of corrections to either JPEGs or Video footage that results in the optical defects of the lens being minimized. In years past only first party Canon lenses received this support, though in the last year or so Sigma lenses also started to have access to LAC. Having full support like this is a great sign that perhaps Canon is opening up the R platform a bit more than it did with DSLRs in the past. Samyang has had a number of 14mm varieties (both MF and AF versions), and, while doing a little research, I discovered that this new RF mount lens most closely resembles the Sony FE version, though with the upgrade in weather sealing. I’m actually happy about, this, however, as I’ve reviewed a number of Samyang AF lenses for Sony FE over the last couple of years and been very impressed by a number of them. Canon R shooters would be fortunate to get access to lenses like the 35mm F1.4, 45mm F1.8, 85mm F1.4, and even the little 18mm F2.8. The USPS love stamps shared above have an image area that measures 1.05 x 0.77" (26.67 x 19.558mm), and the overall individual stamp size is 1.19 x 0.91" (30.226 x 23.114mm). On this format, the 14mm focal length provides an angle of view similar to a 22.4mm lens on a full frame sensor format body.

Lateral CA shows as color fringing along lines of strong contrast running tangential (meridional, right angles to radii), with the mid and especially the periphery of the image circle showing the most significant amount as this is where the most significant difference in the magnification of wavelengths typically exists. Unfortunately, that design is usually deficient, with the cap frequently sliding off, especially when the lens is removed from a case.

Stopping down to f/4 reduces the vignetting by a stop to 2.5-stops, with little change realized at narrower apertures. Build quality is excellent. The lens has a metal housing and a metal mount too. The optical elements are made of high-grade glass and aspherical lenses have been included to minimise aberration and unnecessary light dispersion. The focus ring is pleasingly wide and ridged for easier grip. The above two images are from the new AF 14mm f2.8 lens, with no distortion correction, they show how in a real world shot the straight lines are quite straight. These images also show how much detail the lens is able to capture with sharp detail right up until the corners. This is really nice performance for such a wide lens. Astrophotography Samyang does not publish the MM (Maximum Magnification) spec for this lens, but we can know that it is a low number. Astigmatism, lines in opposing directions being focused at different focus distances, would explain this problem.

While Samyang provides a mount alignment mark under the rear cap, I would appreciate this mark being visible from the side of the lens or when the cap is on. This lens gives up a little focal length at MFD and has a minimum focusing distance roughly 10% longer than the Zeiss 15mm f/2.8 lens. With the lens set to its maximum aperture of f/2.8, there is significant light fall-off in the corners. Stopping-down to f/8 virtually eliminates this. We do realise, however, that bokeh evaluation is subjective, so we've included several examples below for your perusal. Sharpness Also, remember that a person closer to the camera can appear much larger than a person farther away.

Image Quality

One-stop of shading is often used as the visibility number, though subject details provide a widely varying amount of vignetting discernibility. Pin-point stars in the night sky are the subject that brings this aberration out most easily for me and, with this lens' focal length and aperture being great for night sky photography, I was anxious to focus it on the stars. You can change the shutter speed, but the aperture ring will also have to be manually turned to affect the final exposure.