Handling and Features
Performance
Verdict
Specification

Samyang are well established as a manufacturer of well made, reasonably priced lenses. The new 14mm f/2.4 and 85mm f/1.2 lenses are a new venture, forming the start of a Premium Lens range where the objective is to produce the highest quality optics. We now look at the 85mm f/1.2, putting it through its paces to see how it lives up to the intent and indeed to see if its quality matches that of the already reviewed and highly recommended 14mm f/2.4 lens.

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Samyang Premium MF 85mm f/1.2 Handling and Features

This full frame lens is a hefty and somewhat bulky beast, unsurprising with its massive f/1.2 aperture. Weight is a hefty 1050g, but it balances well on the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV used for this review. It is available in Canon EF mount only.

The 86mm filter thread is surrounded by a bayonet fit for the generously sized round lens hood. This fits easily and smoothly, with a firm click stop to hold it in position. The hood bayonet and filter thread are on a fixed outer tube, the entire optical unit moving in and out within it to achieve focus. This means that the front element recedes into the lens barrel as we focus towards infinity, making the effective hood even deeper at this point.

The focusing ring is wide and comfortable, being made of a rubberised material. The grip it affords is excellent, but this also means that dust and debris can easily attach themselves. This is not easy to remove. There are clear markings in feet and metres, but no depth of field scale. Focusing is down to 0.8m, a maximum magnification of 0.13x. Apart from a well machined and well fitting metal mount, nothing else adorns the lens.

Optical construction is 10 elements in 7 groups. There are 1 aspherical and two high refractive index elements. The diaphragm has 9 blades, the aim being to improve the bokeh, the smoothness of the out of focus areas in an image. With a short telephoto lens this effect is certain to be enhanced anyway, but a more circular aperture will help.

This a manual focus lens, so ultimately the quality achieved will depend very much on accuracy of focusing. The advantage of having such a bright f/1.2 aperture is that the viewfinder image is also bright, so this will aid our vision. The human eye is not particularly good at finding the point of focus with a lens, but at least at f/1.2 and with a telephoto the image does snap in and out more positively. It will depend on the individual, but for those who are happy with manual focus this lens will seem a pleasure to use. There is a counter argument that says the depth of field is so small at f/1.2 that focusing accurately is actually very difficult, and at that brightest setting that may well be true. Nailing the focus point at f/1.2 can be tricky, but when it's right it is highly effective. At smaller apertures, depth of field will cover small errors anyway and in normal circumstances the lens is very easy to focus.

Apart from focusing issues, if any, then there are no handling problems and the lens is indeed a pleasure to shoot with.

Samyang Premium MF 85mm f/1.2 Performance

Sharpness is of a very high order, as befits a Premium lens range. Centrally, sharpness is excellent from f/1.2 right through to f/11. Diffraction takes the edge off slightly at f/16 but the results are still very good.

At the edges, we have a very good result at f/1.2 and f/2 and then excellent sharpness from f/2.8 through to f/11. This is still very good at f/16.

Peak performance is at f/5.6, and there is a very impressive evenness across the frame. In fact at middle apertures the edges match the central sharpness very closely.

MTF Chart
 

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.

The scale on the left side is an indication of actual image resolution as LW/PH and is described in detail above. The taller the column, the better the lens performance.

For this review, the lens was tested on a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV using Imatest.

CA (Chromatic Aberration) is well under control centrally and very acceptable at the edges. Most images show no signs of colour fringing. If deemed necessary, further reduction of CA can always be made in software.

CA Chart
 

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 Canon EOS 5D Mark IV using Imatest.

There are no signs of flare under any circumstances, the coatings, design and excellent lens hood all playing their part.

As expected of a short telephoto, there is a small amount of pincushion distortion, measuring +0.571%. This is a commendably low amount and easily corrected further in software if required. It is unlikely that further correction will be necessary for most images.

Bokeh is the quality of the out of focus areas in an image. With a telephoto lens and its differential focusing the effect is enhanced anyway. The smoothness of the bokeh is excellent and the defocused backgrounds make the perfect backdrop to portraits in particular. Although the depth of field at f/1.2 is miniscule, and hence the focus point difficult to hit on the eyes, when it is achieved the results are beautiful.

Samyang Premium MF 85mm f/1.2 Sample Photos

Value For Money

The Samyang 85mm f/1.2 lens is priced at £899, and is available in Canon EF fit only. The only competition is from Canon themselves, with the EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM at £1649.

Given that there are no other 85mm f/1.2 optics the only other alternative is to look at 85mm f/1.4 lenses, of which there are plenty for most marques, but if that f/1.2 aperture is what we want then the Samyang offers a very keenly priced alternative to the Canon.

To put pricing in perspective, for Canon we have the Samyang 85mm f/1.4 IF MC (£259), Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art (£1199), Zeiss Milvus 85mm f/1.4 (£1379) and Zeiss Otus 85mm f/1.4 (£3299). These are also available for other marques.

To complete the picture, Nikon users have the choice of the above lenses, plus the Nikon AF-S 85mm f/1.4G at £1349. Sony users have the Sony 85mm f/1.4 ZA Planar T* (£1109) and, for the mirrorless cameras, the Sony FE 85mm f/1.4 G Master (£1649).

Even against the f/1.4 lenses the Samyang f/1.2 is looking very good value. For more options have a look at the Top 10 Best Samyang Lenses or the Top 27 Best Portrait Lenses.

Samyang Premium MF 85mm f/1.2 Verdict

Samyang have here a great lens. Superb performance, substantially less cost than the one alternative or most of the f/1.4 alternatives and, provided we are happy with manual focusing, a really viable option.

Of course, the question of whether or not the f/1.2 aperture offers much advantage over f/1.4 is another matter and then it depends on the type of shooting we do and what we want. However, in this case the quality is so good that the brighter aperture equally well offers no disadvantage and Samyang are offering us a very attractive lens at a very attractive price.

Samyang Premium MF 85mm f/1.2 Specifications

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