SAMYANG 35 mm T1 : Quality, value.

January 06, 2020

SAMYANG 35 mm T1 : Quality, value.

Great lens, we used it to make a feature documentary and it did the job very well.

I purchased the samyang 35mm y. 5 to function as one of my main lenses for video. The lens is pained with a nikon d610 and a tilta rig, follow focus and matt box. The lens is well built and feels extremely solid, particularly for the money. The toothed ring around the lens allows focus to be controlled using a third party device (in this case the tilta follow focus. The optics seem extremely good and generally i’m very happy with the quality of the product. It’s comparable to far more expensive lenses.

You must have this one in your bag. Exceptional for video shooters.

Fantastic lens, cheap and sharp.

What an incredible piece of glass. I had been debating for a while whether to invest in a new camera or lens and due to good glass lasting longer than camera technology i purchased the 35mm t1. I was not disappointed as straight away it breathed new life into my canon 600d, giving much sharper images when i tested against my old tamron 17-50mm f2. One of its big advantages is that it works very well on both aps-c sensor like my 600d and full frame cameras, meaning it was an investment for when i later bought a canon 5dmkiii. I had read many reviews and watched videos prior to making my decision, so i will just note some of my personal reasons for the purchase. Having a declicked aperture ring was a primary selling point as i am a film maker so mainly shoot video, and this feature allows me to adjust the amount of light during recording. I like the inclusion of gear teeth on both the aperture and focus rings as i use a follow focus system and this eliminates the need to carry / swap gear rings all the time as i was doing with my other lenses. The fastness of the lens was another huge factor as i shoot a lot in night clubs and other low light settings, plus the added depth of field is nice especially as i find the bokeh produced by the lens to be extremely clean for the price range. As far as i am aware the aperture is rated in t stops at 1. 5 which is a direct equivalent to the f1. 4 photography version of the lens. One problem i have found is the considerable presence of chromatic aberration when shooting bright contrasted subjects with aperture wide open, although at around t2. The build quality is fantastic, very sturdy and has a nice textured finish to the coating, also having the red ring if that’s the kind of thing you’re into. I almost waited until i had saved enough to buy the full set of cine lens range from samyang but couldn’t wait, and now having been impressed by the 35mm i will definitely be grabbing the rest.

Build quality is great, focus and aperture rings are smooth and drag free, mount is nice and tight, i bought it for my lumix gh4 via a good quality nikon adaptor so this way i can use it on 2 bodies a nikon d500 and the panasonic, my only complain is its a t1. 5 lens but its very soft until you stop it down to t4 plus, a bit disappointing really as i needed a bright lens for low light shooting but what’s the point if you have to stop it down so much bottom line is price wise / weight / quality its the best option @ £400 but you have to stop it down to t4 to get it sharp ( but at t4+ it is very sharp ).

Samyang 35 mm T1.5 VDSLR II Manual Focus Video Lens for Sony E-Mount Camera

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Fast T1.5 aperture makes this lens great for low light and shallow depth of field
Focus and aperture control rings feature industry standard gearing
Features the latest generation multi-layer anti-reflection ultra multi-coating (UMC) to minimise flare and ghosting
Designed for DSLR Video Shooting
10 elements in 12 groups, including one hybrid aspherical lens

Great quality lens for this price.

Still not as smooth as the 85 but still really good.