Samyang 50mm f/1.4 AS UMC Lens Review

Samyang 50mm f/1.4 AS UMC Handling and Features

Build quality is very good. High quality plastics with a lightly textured finish have been used for much of the lens barrel, with a metallic red ring placed just after the aperture ring, denoting this is one of Samyang's premium lenses. The lens has a bit of weight to it, but isn't overly heavy at 575g, so it balances perfectly on the Canon EOS 5D MkII used for testing.

The manual focusing ring is a pleasure to use, with damping that is smooth and neither too stiff, or too light. Those who shoot video on a DSLR and tend to use manual focus anyway, may find this lens ideal due to its excellent manual focusing action and ability to isolate a subject through shallow depth of field. Closest focus is 45cm, which is fairly typical for a lens of this focal length and aperture. 77mm filters can be used with this lens and the filter thread does not rotate, which makes it ideal for use with graduated and polarising filters.

This lens has no electronic coupling with the camera, so stop down metering has to be used with the Canon camera used for testing. The camera reverts to centre-weighted metering and some automation is available in Aperture Priority mode. As this particular model of Canon camera does not give focus confirmation in the viewfinder when used with a lens with no electrical contacts, live view is the best way to ensure accurate focus. Other cameras, such as many of Nikon's high-end bodies have an electronic rangefinder, which makes focus confirmation easier through the viewfinder.

A useful and clear hyperfocal distance scale is included, but there is no hard stop included for infinity focus. A lightweight plastic hood is provided with the lens, which fits snugly on the bayonet fitting around the filter ring on the lens.

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