Samyang 35mm f/1.4 ED AS UMC Lens Review

Samyang 35mm f/1.4 ED AS UMC Performance

Don't let the budget price tag fool you, this lens is an excellent performer optically. At f/1.4 sharpness in the centre of the frame already approaches excellent levels and the clarity towards the edges of the frame is very good also. For a lens with an f/1.4 maximum aperture, this performance is outstanding at any price point. As the lens is stopped down, sharpness levels reach outstanding levels in the centre by f/2 and across the frame between f/5.6 and f/11.

Resolution at 35mm

How to read our charts The blue column represents readings from the centre of the picture frame at the various apertures and the green is from the edges. Averaging them out gives the red weighted column. The scale on the left side is an indication of actual image resolution. The taller the column, the better the lens performance. Simple. For this review, the lens was tested on a Nikon D700 using Imatest.

Chromatic aberrations are kept well under control, only exceeding 0.5 pixel widths in size towards the edges at f/11 and beyond. This low level of fringing should pose few issues, even in very large prints, or harsh crops from the edges of the frame.

Chromatic aberration at 35mm

How to read our charts Chromatic aberration is the lens' inability to focus on the sensor or film all colours of visible light at the same point. Severe chromatic aberration gives a noticeable fringing or a halo effect around sharp edges within the picture. It can be cured in software. Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements (aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc) to minimize the problem, hence they usually cost more. For this review, the lens was tested on a Nikon D700 using Imatest.

Falloff of illumination towards the corners is typical of wide angle, fast aperture lenses. At f/1.4 the corners are 2.63 stops darker than the image centre and visually uniform illumination is achieved with the lens stopped down to f/5.6 and beyond.

Imatest detected 1.53% barrel distortion, which is a very mild amount, even for a lens of this type. The distortion pattern is uniform across the frame, so should be relatively straightforward to correct in image editing software afterwards.

This lens can be quite prone to flare, and especially loss of contrast when shooting into the light. The petal shaped hood provided does a decent job of shielding the front element from extraneous light that may causes issues, and should be left on all the time, if possible.

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