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Brand

Samyang

Two manual primes, 262 € and 283 €

Where it turns up

Prime and wide-angle lenses, at 262 € and 283 €.

What a wide-angle page has to publish

The focal length, the format it covers, the maximum aperture, whether a filter can be fitted at all, the type of distortion, the minimum focus and the weight. Filter provision is the one that surprises people: many extreme wide-angles have a bulbous front element and no thread whatever.

Distortion, and which kind

A rectilinear lens keeps straight lines straight and stretches the corners; a fisheye bends everything and keeps the corners even. Neither is a fault, and a page that does not say which it is has left out the specification that decides what the lens is for.

The spelling

The brand appears as “Samyang” in the frontmatter here, not in capitals. A listing that shouts is still a listing, and this site records the name as the maker writes it.

Every Samyang unit reviewed here

  • Wide-angle lenses

    Samyang AF 12mm F2.0 E, 213 g, 62mm thread

    Sony E mount · APS-C · 12mm · F2.0, closing to F22 · 99.1 degree angle of view · 62mm filter thread · minimum focus 19 cm · 12 elements in 10 groups · UMC coating · weather protection claimed · 213 g · 59mm long · detachable hood supplied

    The best-documented page of the five here: 213 g, 62mm of thread, 19 cm of close focus, 99.1 degrees, twelve elements in ten groups and a weather-protection claim, for 283 €.

    Best for: Astrophotography and interiors on a Sony APS-C body, for someone who wants an ultra wide that autofocuses and whose filters cost what filters normally cost.

    ≈ $430 / £256 / 283 €

    Check price on Amazon Read the review
  • Prime lenses

    Samyang AF 75mm F1.8 FE, 230 g, 9 blades

    Sony E mount · full frame, and APS-C · 75mm · F1.8, closing to F22 · 9 aperture blades · LSTM autofocus, under 0.2 seconds and 23 dB · minimum focus 69 cm · 58mm filter thread · 230 g · 69mm long · 10 elements in 9 groups, 3 ED and 2 HR · angles of view 32.9 degrees on full frame and 21.9 on APS-C · no sealing claimed

    Eight of the nine lines this shelf compares, answered with figures: 230 g, nine blades, 58mm of thread, 69 cm of close focus, and an autofocus timed at under 0.2 seconds and measured at 23 decibels.

    Best for: Portraits on a Sony full-frame body where the lens has to stay light, and video where 23 decibels of focusing noise is the specification that matters.

    ≈ $430 / £237 / 262 €

    Check price on Amazon Read the review

Each amount in a write-up is what the listing showed when that page was written. The figure next to the product is pulled in as you read, and it is the one that counts.