Show me your... SAMYANG 85 1.4 shots

As a lover of shallow dof and 'candid street portraits', this lens has interested me ever since it was announced. The lens is very well reviewed and has been discussed elsewhere in rather glowing terms, but I would welcome any opinions on the lens and in particular - your sample images shot at or near max. aperture.

Because, as Shutterfinger says, "there's no law stating that simply because you own a super-fast lens you must shoot it at or near maximum aperture. But there should be".

I'm sure you read the review that said the Samyang at f1.4 was sharper than any other fast 85 out there, including L, Zeiss and Nikon ? Only losing out to them when stopped down past f4 ?

Sounds good! I missed that one although I've heard it's up with the best of them at wide apertures... I know a few users have one of these though, and would like to refresh my memory as to what f1.4/85mm looks like in terms of bokeh, OOF transtions in real shots. There are image samples out there but they tend to be of a boring 'test shot' type of nature.

Follow the link below to my web page, first picture is with the Samyang 85mm @ f1.4, most of the 'Fringe' ones are with the 85 too, and then on to my Flickr page, the exif data for the 85mm should be available on the Carnoustie, Fringe and Bo'ness pictures.

I love this lens

One of the lenses that will always be a part of my kit.

Some photos of Ruislip Lido:
http://gallery.opethian.com/Sets/2011-04-17%20-%20Ruislip%20Lido/

I have yet to have a proper feel of 85mm (128mm equiv) but when it connects, it sure is beautiful!

Not sure if this is 'Apple Mac' only, but I have been playing around with it for a few days, quite like it

May give you the 85mm f1.4 effect ?

Big-Aperture

Just checked, Mac and Windows

I'm very tempted by this lens as well. I have been considering the Sigma 85mm, not because I think the IQ will be better but because I'm not confident of my ability to manually focus accurately enough at 85mm 1.4. Have any of you found this to be a problem? Also, does this lens have an 'A' setting, as it is not shown on the retailers' images.

Pentax version has the 'A' setting

Since the Mac version is currently only 69p through the App Store it seems a no-brainer to give it a go if you're an Apple user.

Some fine shots there, thanks! How does the lens handle - does it feel good on the K7 or is it a bit heavy?

It's not light, but feels solid and well made. The focus action is 'firm' but smooth so it seems easier to manual focus than other lenses where the action is loose, and where you tend to over-shoot.

Check this out:

http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/technical-report/193495...

The Samyang is included in the list. Nice to see that. Oh and look at that Canon 85 1.2 har har

Hmm it makes the top of the list! It does say that full AE settings are only available for Nikon, which is either out of date or incorrect info I presume?

As far as I remember, the Pentax version always had focus-confirm and auto-aperture, I'm unsure why the writer of the article thought it was Nikon (probably assuming).

But it's nice to know that such a lens is being considered with such "heavyweights".

It is undoubtedly one of my favourites, the focus ring has a good solid feel with just the right amount of stiffness, it does have an 'a' setting. Only the hood fixing is a bit flimsy but having said that it has never fallen off.

Easy to focus because the finder image is so bright!

I'll post some pics shortly, I do tend to use it around f2.