Rokinon 85 1.4 First Impressions

I received the Rokinon yesterday from Amazon, via UPS(heh,heh...), and did some initial shooting with it. First impressions are pretty high, and I really like the lens so far. It is MUCH smaller than either the 85 1.2Lll, or my Zeiss 35 1.4(can you say boulder!!)...and is really easy to carry around attached to my 1D4. The focus ring is nicely damped and turns very smoothly. And like the Rokinon 35 1.4 I recently had, this lens rocks! And for the price, it rocks to the third degree!! No kidding! $271 from Amazon...an absolute steal. I don't have another 85mm to compare to at the moment, but I'm pretty sure I will be keeping it.


Very sharp wide open, and gets a little better stopped down. I think that stopped down, the comparable Zeiss, and Canon, and maybe even the Sigma might be a tad sharper, but I bought this lens to use at f1.4-f4, and in that respect, it really performs, IMHO. And the bokeh is very, very creamy, I might add...


Link to some first photos..some PP'd, others none at all...you can tell which are which..


https://picasaweb.google.com/112876940890442133557/Rokinon8514?authuser=0&feat=directlink


Please check it out...and I will be adding more, soon..


Gregg

Gregg I had a look and once again I'm impressed with RockGlass! Your thumbnails looked very blurry because the DoF is so fine. lol. But once the images are open, well, wow!


Crikey, you'd just about have the whole set by now wouldn't you? Did I see you post some pics from the 14mm or was that someone else?


Oh, nice picture of your dog running BTW, you did a great job of tracking him with a manual lens!

Gregg, can you try it with something very high-contrast, like sunlight reflections on water. I ask because this is where the Canon 85mm f/1.8 falls apart, and a cheap non-aberrating alternative would be amazing.

Hey William...I am pretty impressed with it so far, I have to say. It does have some pretty good CA wide open in high contrast(but so does my Zeiss ZE 35 1.4, too!!) I'm not used to the focal length, as most of the time, that would be covered by my 70-200 2.8ll...so having a bit of a telephoto is interesting!! It is small and light, and would make a good street lens, for those far away candid shots. The bokeh is really good....


David...I will be shooting some more with it, and will either post pics here or at the link above, and I will try to get the shot you want. But there is CA wide open, but it still remains pretty good throughout...Go to Photozone.de...there is a review with the Rokinon on FF and on 1.6x to...

WOW! These shots are very impressive!! Not only the lens but your skill using it! if I could master this as you have and didn

I was thinking about you when I got this lens Denise...and all the problems you had with it(you went through 2 copies, right??). I remember using the Sigma when I rented it from lensrentals.com last year, I but can't really compare them too much because I only had it for a brief time. I remember I liked it, and for the price was a no brainer against the Zeiss or Canon(the Zeiss wsn't great wide open, but stopped down it blew everything out of the water!), but this Rokinon is really good, and the price is phenomenal!! Except for the no AF, but I am getting pretty good at MF right now, too!! Thanks for the comments...


Gregg