Samyang Premium MF 14mm f/2.4 Review
Introduction
The Samyang Premium MF 14mm f/2.4 is a new ultra-wide-angle prime lens for full-frame DSLR and mirrorless cameras. The Samyang Premium MF 14mm f/2.4 is comprised of 18 elements in 14 groups and has an iris diaphragm with nine rounded aperture blades. On a full-frame camera body, the Samyang AF 14/2.8 FE lens offers an angle of view of 114.2 degrees. The lens has a minimum focusing distance of 28cm and a maximum reproduction ratio of 0.08x. The Samyang Premium MF 14mm f/2.4 lens is available in Canon, Nikon and Sony mounts and retails for £899 in the UK (inc. VAT) and $999 in the US.
Ease of Use
Weighing in at 791 grams and measuring 11cm in length, the Samyang Premium MF 14mm f/2.4 is a very big and heavy lens given its focal length. As seen in the photos below, it's still a good match for the full-frame Canon EOS 5DS R camera.
The Samyang Premium MF 14mm f/2.4 lens mounted on a Canon EOS 5DS R
The Samyang Premium MF 14mm f/2.4 lens mounted on a Canon EOS 5DS R
The Samyang Premium MF 14mm f/2.4 lens mounted on a Canon EOS 5DS R
The Samyang Premium MF 14mm f/2.4 lens alongside a Canon EOS 5DS R
Build quality is outstanding. The lens has a metal housing and a metal mount too. The lens is constructed of 18 elements in 14 groups including two aspherical lenses, one hybrid aspherical lens, two extra-low dispersion lenses and one high refractive lens. The focusing ring is pleasingly wide and most of it is rubberised for easier grip, although this finish does pickup dirt and fingerprints very easily.
Side of the Samyang Premium MF 14mm f/2.4 lens
Side of the Samyang Premium MF 14mm f/2.4 lens
Front of the Samyang Premium MF 14mm f/2.4 lens
Rear of the Samyang Premium MF 14mm f/2.4 lens
The Samyang Premium MF 14mm f/2.4 ships with a soft drawstring bag and a large plastic petal-shaped lens hood. It doesn't accept filters due to the fixed lens hood.
Front of the Samyang Premium MF 14mm f/2.4 lens
Rear of the Samyang Premium MF 14mm f/2.4 lens
The Samyang Premium MF 14mm f/2.4 lens in-hand
Focal Range
At the 14mm focal length the angle of view is 114.2 degrees.
14mm
Focusing
The Samyang Premium MF 14mm f/2.4's manual focusing ring spans a significant width of the lens barrel and is exceptionally smooth to operate, complete with markings in meters and feet, although there's no depth of field scale. It also has a large rotation angle of 135 degrees which enables precise focusing and moves smoothly without any play, and there are hard stops at the ends of the range, making it easier to set focus at infinity.
Chromatic Aberrations
Chromatic aberrations, typically seen as purple or blue fringes along contrasty edges, were almost completely absent from our test shots, with the worst-case scenario shown in the examples below.
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Light Fall-off
With the lens set to its maximum aperture of f/2.4, there is significant light fall-off in the corners. Stopping-down to f/8 virtually eliminates this.
Light fall-off at 14mm
Macro
The Samyang Premium MF 14mm f/2.4 isn't claimed to be a macro lens, with a minimum focusing distance of 28cm and a magnification reproduction ratio of 0.08x. The following example demonstrates how close you can get to your subject.
Close-up performance
Bokeh
Bokeh is a word used for the out-of-focus areas of a photograph, and is usually described in qualitative terms, such as smooth / creamy / harsh etc. In the Samyang Premium MF 14mm f/2.4 lens, Samyang employed an iris diaphragm with 9 rounded blades, which has resulted in nice bokeh in our view. We do realise, however, that bokeh evaluation is subjective, so we've included several 100% crops for your perusal.
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Sharpness
In order to show you how sharp this lens is, we are providing 100% crops on the following page.