If you're a mirrorless camera user in search of a third party lens, you could be in luck. Today, Rokinon announced the release of their new high speed 21mm f/1.4 ED AS UMC Compact and the 50mm f/1.2 AS UMC Compact “made for mirrorless” lenses. The lenses are designed specifically for mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras and compact system cameras and will be available in mounts for Sony E, Micro 4/3, Fuji X, and Canon M. The lens will also be available in black or silver.
The fast and wide prime 21mm f/1.4 Compact is a wide angle manual focus lens for APS-C sensors and has the potential for capturing great landscape and interior shots. On the other hand, the high-speed portrait prime 50mm f/1.2 Compact could make for an affordable option as a portrait lens on APS-C mirrorless cameras.
The lenses boast some interesting features, including a removable lens hood, a non-rotating filter mount, Rokinon Ultra Multi-Coating, nine aperture blades for superb bokeh, a smooth and fully damped focusing ring, and a high-strength aluminum alloy chassis and mount.
The lenses are 21mm f/1.4 is available for pre-order here, while the 50mm f/1.2 is available for pre-order here. Rokinon also hinted that Cine versions of each lens will be available in the near future. While Rokinon has a good track record for making decent, affordable lenses for popular camera systems, only time will tell if these lenses will be able to capture sharp, clear images and save you money or if the savings won’t be worth the headache.
Silver?
Love my 56m 1.2r on my Fuji X-T1.
Yes crop sensor..Almost a 85mm Field of view..AF
Rokinon/ Samyang lenses are probably some of the most underrated glass currently on the market but in terms of quality for money they are absolutely brilliant. I had a set of their first prime series for a while, the build quality was not great, markings were a bit off and the aperture rings on two lenses were so loose you got aperture creep on too severe handheld shots, but that could have just been my set at the time.
Their new Xeen series which also comes in PL mount and in proper metal housings looks extremely attractive for the money.
Look wise they flare really nicely and have a bit of a magenta tinge but It didn't bother me at the time. I found the 85mm to be the sharpest and nicest lens, the 24mm was quite soft especially wide open. But once again, in terms of quality for money absolutely great and fast lenses and the newer versions are supposedly much better built. there's a video on youtube where they got tested against the Zeiss Cp series and did much better than most people expected at the time.
When I tested the Samyangs/Rokinons, the 24mm f/1.4 and 14mm f/2.8 were terribly disappointing compared to the other lenses in the lineup, at pretty much any aperture. The rest of the lenses were quite good once you closed them down one stop.
Its still quite usable stopped down from around 5.6-8 but out of all the Rokinons its definitely the softest. but again, compared to what you pay for, there isn't really anything comparable around in that price range.
I had the 35 for a while, was pretty stellar actually. I was still on crop frame at the time (used it as a "normal") and eventually sold it, but in retrospect I should have kept it. At wide open in suffered a bit from spherical chromatic aberration in bright sunlight but was otherwise fine. At f/2 things got much better quickly. By f/2.8 it was pretty rocking and f/4-5.6 were spectacular.