Samyang 12mm f/2 - your experience?

[simato73]

Hi All,

I am considering buying a Samyang 12mm f/2 for Fuji  X mount. I am referring to the rectilinear lens, not the fisheye.
This is going to happen within a week if I take a final positive decision.

One of the main applications I want this lens for is night photography. Therefore, while I am not concerned about vignetting, rendering of point light sources is important to me (coma, astigmatism).
Lack of distorsion is also highly desirable for me.
If anyone has this lens and can comment on it, especially if they are using the Fuji version, that would be most gratefully appreciated.

[Akira]

Simone, probably you are aware of this review, but just in case...

http://www.lenstip.com/index.html?test=obiektywu&test_ob=404

[Olivier]

No direct experience from me but Akira's link summarizes well what I have read from many owners of this lens.
It looks like there is some variability from one sample to another, but globally the feedback is very positive, especially for astrophotography.
I am also considering it...

[simato73]

Thanks Akira and Olivier.
I read that review and others and they seem to be positive.
I am now looking for first hand experience to help me make a final decision.

[Olivier]

Simone, a quick search lead me to this:
http://www.fuji-x-forum.com/topic/169-samyang-12mm-f20-ncs-cs-x-mount/

I suppose you already have seen it, right?
Maybe not as thorough as you would like, but at least it is consists of first hand reports and some good pictures. Pretty positive I would say.

[simato73]

Simone, a quick search lead me to this:
http://www.fuji-x-forum.com/topic/169-samyang-12mm-f20-ncs-cs-x-mount/

I suppose you already have seen it, right?
Maybe not as thorough as you would like, but at least it is consists of first hand reports and some good pictures. Pretty positive I would say.

Thanks, I had not found that one.
Nice images, answering my questions (distorsion for example) including some clear examples of point light sources at the edges/corners.
I am sold :-)
Now I have to find a cheap one.
Here is another review, positive but not systematic:

http://www.nickbrickett.com/blog/2015/2/6/review-the-samyang-12mm-f20-ncs-cs-for-fujifilm-x-mount

[simato73]

I ended up buying one.
It was a mint second hand specimen and it arrived today.
Very little time to test because I was out cycling and then entertaining my daughter.
I did some brick wall tests and the result was ok, but I have to try again in a more controlled fashion. Ensuring perfect parallel orientation relative to the wall is particularly important.
Without being able to be more specific it seems that at f/2 the centre is reasonably sharp; the corners improve significantly stopping down to f/2.8 and f/4. Peak performance at f5/6-8.
But for what I see I would not hesitate to use f/2 if required.

[simato73]

I have had a little more play and have taken a few more shots with better controlled conditions.
My impressions are based on the inspections of the JPEGS straight from the camera. These don't have any lens corrections to distortion, vignetting or aberrations because the camera does not know what lens is on - there are no electronic contacts.

F/2: Good centre sharpness, considerable falloff and corner softness. Contrast also relatively low.
f/2.8 Big improvement in contrast, falloff and corner softness. Centre sharpness also increases, but less noticeably.
f/4: Again noticeable improvement at the corners, although a smaller step than before. Small increase centre sharpness, no further improvement in contrast.
f/5.6: Peak centre sharpness, corner sharpness further improving, falloff already reached minimum at f/4.
f/8: Centre sharpness starts decreasing (minimal), peak corner sharpness.
f/11: General, noticeable decline in sharpness; still usable.
f/16: Further, marked sharpness decline. It makes little sense using this aperture, given that DOF is huge anyway. Any DOF increase from f/11 is lost to diffraction.

I had not had the opportunity to test point light sources but from I have seen in the web the lens should be good at it, especially considered the very wide angle of view.

[Akira]

Apparently you have received a decent sample.  Hope you enjoy it and share some results here. 

[simato73]

I will, I have a short holiday coming up fairly soon.