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Samyang 21mm F1.4 ED AS UMC CS

The Samyang 21mm F1.4 ED AS UMC CS is a nice wide angle lens, with good image quality from edge to edge, even wide open. Being a bit wider than the 23mm lenses, which Fujifilm offers, either with a similar f/1.4 aperture or as a more compact f/2, the Samyang 21 still is an interesting and affordable alternative to the two Fujifilm lenses. The 21mm focal length is similar to an untraditional 31.5mm on a full frame camera, or 69.3 degrees angle of view. It is a bit wider than the classical 35mm, but still not too wide, even allowing you to be more flexible in tight spaces. As with all the CS lenses, this is a manual focus lens, and you might wonder why you should consider this over the two auto focus lenses of Fujifilm, which are both receiving good reviews. If you are not into manual focus, the answer should be a given, this is not a good alternative. But if you don't mind the manual focus, then this lens keeps up well against both lenses in its own rights. While it share the f/1.4 ...
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Samyang 8mm F2.8 UMC Fish-eye II

The Samyang 8mm F2.8 UMC Fish-eye II is a praised little gem of a lens, allowing you to see the world through the eyes of a fish - or at least how we apparently suppose it would look like, if we could see the world through the eyes of a fish. The 8mm on this lens gives you an equivilant of 12mm on a full frame camera, or 180 degrees angle of view.  This lens is not for everyone. First, it is a fish-eye lens, which means that everything will appear distorted, and the further it gets from the center of the lens, the more distorted it will be. Second, the width of the lens is very wide, which means that creating a composition which will emphasize the subject, will be a challenge. This is a creative lens, which needs to be used for creative purposes by creative shooters. You will need to think outside the box, whenever you put this lens in front of the camera. But when you do, and you learn to use it properly, you will have a lens which is fun to use, and which gives you results you ot...
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Samyang 12mm F2.0 NCS CS

To purchase the 12mm F2.0 NCS CS, follow link for below option/s: Amazon Specs: Focal Length 12mm (35mm Equivalent Focal Length: 18mm) Maximum Aperture f/2 Minimum Aperture f/22 Angle of View 98.9° Minimum Focus Distance 7.87" / 20 cm Maximum Magnification 0.07x Optical Design 12 Elements in 10 Groups Diaphragm Blades 6 Image Stabilization None Filter Size 62 mm (Front) Dimensions (ø x L) 2.85 x 2.34" / 72.5 x 59.4 mm Weight 9.17 oz / 260 g Please see Samyang's official page for the Samyang 12mm F2.0 NCS CS prime lens here: Samyang 12mm F2.0 NCS CS Flickr Gallery Online Review Articles: Fujilove Magazine review of the 12mm F2.0 NCS CS prime lens: The Samyang 12mm f2.0 NCS CS Lens Review EPhotoZine review of the 12mm F2.0 NCS CS prime lens: Samyang 12mm f/2.0 NCS CS MFT Lens Review LensTip.com review of the 12mm F2.0 NCS CS prime lens: Samyang 12 mm f/2.0 NCS CS DPreview review of the 12mm F2.0 NCS CS prime lens: Samyang 12mm F2.0 NCS CS / Rokinon 12mm F2.0 NCS CS Overview...
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Samyang Optics

Samyang Optics is a South Korean manufacturer of camera lenses, which was founded in 1972, with their headquarter in Masan. The company is known by several other names, such as Rokinon, Bower, Opteka, Vívitar, Phoenix, and Quantaray, but their lenses are most commonly recognized under the names Samyang and Rokinon (the latter being their brand name in then US). While they're mostly known for their manual focus lenses, they have published several lenses with auto focus in recent years, though these lenses are still not found for the X-mount system. They also have a Premium line of manual focus lenses, which - as with the auto focus lenses - unfortunately are not made for the X-mount.  Samyang has a rumor of making cheap lenses, which for some also means "bad". However, the reactions from reviewers proves that Samyang definitely is a brand to consider, with good quality for affordable prices. And even though their lenses generally use a great deal of plastic, they are still...
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Samyang 35mm F1.2 ED AS UMC CS

Samyang's 35mm F1.2 ED AS UMC CS is a lens which covers probably the most popular and flexible focal length, roughly being a 50mm on a full frame sensor (52.5mm), allowing both more wide shots, as well as the closer subject oriented shots.  The abbreviations stand for Extra-low Dispersion (ED) ASpherical (AS) Ultra Multi Coating (UMC) Crop Sensor (CS), meaning that this lens will offer better low light dispersion, improves sharpness and less chromatic aberration (the ED), with multiple layers of coating, which gives better protection of the glass and better quality. The AS element is the shape of a lens element, which in this case there are two of, and which " minimise aberration and unnecessary light dispersion, delivering high resolution from the centre to the corners of the image " (quoted from Samyang's official statements on the lens). The CS abbreviation is added to all of their prime lenses made specifically for APS-C and MFT cameras. With its wide aperture of...
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Focal Lengths and Their Impact on Your Image - A Beginner's Introduction to Focal Lengths

Disclaimer : This is not a scientific article, but rather an attempt to give a basic understanding of how the different focal lengths impact the image. Let's talk about focal lengths and why they matter. After all, the first thing we refer to, when talking about lenses, is the focal length. Do we need an 18mm, a 35mm, or a 85mm lens? And is one focal length enough, or should we rather get a zoom lens, covering a range of focal lengths? The 18-55mm, maybe? Does it even really matter? I mean, we can get a 50mm lens, and then move back, when we need more within the frame, and closer when we need to be more focused on the subject, right? Well, the obvious answer is that, no. it isn't always this simple. We might be in a tight space, and still be needing to include a lot within the image. In that case a lens with a long focal length, such as the XF 90mm f/2, might not be very helpful. Or even the XF 50mm f/2. If we can't move far enough back, to include everything within the fra...
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An Interesting Day in Fuji-Lens Land!

Two interesting things to happen today: A First Look at the Viltrox XF 33mm f1.4 Prime AF Lens The first online look at Viltrox' new 33mm f/1.4 prime lens, as well as verification of a new Fujinon lens to come. First things first, I know that a lot of Fuji-users have been VERY interested in the three new prime lenses, which Viltrox announced late 2019, and which were expected in the beginning of 2020. Recently they announced that the first of them, the Viltrox XF 33mm f1.4 APS-C Prime Autofocus Lens, now is ready for orders. Of course a lot of people were curious as to the performance and built quality of this lens, and what to expect. Viltrox' 85mm f/1.8 prime lens was highly recommended and received a lot of positive reviews, particularly after the last update fixed some initial autofocus issues in continuous focus node. Now we finally have our first look at the new 33mm prime, namely by Mathias Burling, who gives his first impressions of it on his YouTube channel...
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