Irix 15mm f/2.4

[simsurace]

Very strange and obnoxious blur in that milkyway+mountain image's lower right corner. OTOH, the other samples look mostly fine, I would say they superficially look almost as good as any other lens in that focal length. We don't know what caused the bad performance in that case (warped mount, decentered lens, field curvature). Certainly a try-before-buy lens. I'm waiting for some retailer in Switzerland to have the lens available to try it out.

There has to be an optical edge over the Samyang lens for this lens to sell at all.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

When three out of four corners are bad and  the last one just fine, plus all parts of the scene effectively at infinity, one cannot have field curvature ...

Actually the zone of sharpness in that bad image goes along the diagonal, from top left corner about 2/3 down to the right. This is decentering.

Why such a picture was posted in the first place still escapes my imagination. Unless they consider any PR is good and push forth a really poor image to make people discuss the product ?? Apparently the PR side of this has succeeded on NG, but it remains to be seen whether our members are tempted to line up as customers. Probably not.

[Jan Anne]

We'll have a closer look at Photokina 

Also very curious about their new 11mm lens compared to the Voigtlander 10mm and 12mm offerings.

[simsurace]

When three out of four corners are bad and  the last one just fine, plus all parts of the scene effectively at infinity, one cannot have field curvature ...

Actually the zone of sharpness in that bad image goes along the diagonal, from top left corner about 2/3 down to the right. This is decentering.

Why such a picture was posted in the first place still escapes my imagination. Unless they consider any PR is good and push forth a really poor image to make people discuss the product ?? Apparently the PR side of this has succeeded on NG, but it remains to be seen whether our members are tempted to line up as customers. Probably not.

I think your explanation is very plausible, but I cannot exclude that there is a different explanation that escapes my imagination.
I agree that the picture should have been caught as unsuitable for publication and triggered an internal quality control investigation since it presumably has been shot well before the first shipments.

[stenrasmussen]

Looks like a new contender will enter the scene:
http://photorumors.com/2016/09/12/samyang-announces-14mm-f2-4-and-samyang-85mm-f1-2-premium-manual-focus-lenses/

[Akira]

Looks like a new contender will enter the scene:
http://photorumors.com/2016/09/12/samyang-announces-14mm-f2-4-and-samyang-85mm-f1-2-premium-manual-focus-lenses/

They look like Zeiss Milvis. 

[Roland Vink]

The race for ever-wider, ever-faster lenses continues ...
Where are the high quality compact SLR lenses?

[Tristin]

The race for ever-wider, ever-faster lenses continues ...
Where are the high quality compact SLR lenses?

I think the idea is that photographers looking for compact are going for Fuji and Pentax, while the Nikon and Canon people are looking for capability without worrying about size.

[bjornthun]

The race for ever-wider, ever-faster lenses continues ...
Where are the high quality compact SLR lenses?

With the high ISO capabilities of modern cameras, compact lenses with f/2 or f/2.8 max aperture would be more usable than ever before, even in poor light.

[pluton]

The recent f/1.8 Nikon series...which by all accounts are optically very good... could be substantially smaller if they weren't AF. 

[Tristin]

The recent f/1.8 Nikon series...which by all accounts are optically very good... could be substantially smaller if they weren't AF.

True, but we all sadly know that Nikon will release a hot dog scratch n' sniff lens before new MF lenses happens.

Another round of samples for the thread's subject.  I am not at my computer, so have not really looked yet.
http://www.lenstip.com/2199-news-Irix_15_mm_f_2.4_-_sample_images.html

[bjornthun]

The recent f/1.8 Nikon series...which by all accounts are optically very good... could be substantially smaller if they weren't AF.

Tokina announced an all metal manual focus, manual aperture 20mm f/2 lens today for Sony full frame mirrorless with a 62mm filter thread weighing 490 grams. Compare that to around 350 grams and a 77mm front thread of the Nikon 20/1.8. So it could easily be a choice between weight or size. (The Tokina Firin 20/2 is for mirrorless only. It has got a CPU, so it's a Sony mirrorless equivalent to Nikon Ai-P, though with stopped down metering.)

Maybe a new f/2.8 line could be made as an old school MF lenses, but with a CPU. Btw. Nikon Ai lenses have nicer build than Nikon Ai-S, and may have a more generous focus throw. Zeiss does it, so maybe Nikon too?

Manual focus is by no means not out of fashion.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

...
Another round of samples for the thread's subject.  I am not at my computer, so have not really looked yet.
http://www.lenstip.com/2199-news-Irix_15_mm_f_2.4_-_sample_images.html

Here again the maker's photos confirm that the Irix is troubled with decentering and bad corners, in particular at the wider stops. Stopping down helps, like for any other lens. However, uneven left-right performance is seen (although much reduced in magnitude) even at f/8.

[Akira]

Tokina and Sigma announced fast cine lenses.  All Tokina lenses except for the 16-28 zoom are newly designed.  Sigma uses the optics from their ART line models.  I wonder if 85//T1.5 is newly designed (maybe yes).

[bjornthun]

Tokina and Sigma announced fast cine lenses.  All Tokina lenses except for the 16-28 zoom are newly designed.  Sigma uses the optics from their ART line models.  I wonder if 85//T1.5 is newly designed (maybe yes).

I seem to recall that the Sigma 85/1.5 Cine has a different, higher, number of lens elements than that the current DSLR version, so there might just be an Art 85mm on its' way.