Rokinon 35mm F/1.4 AF (Samyang 35mm F/1.4) Real world images:
Rokinon 35mm f/1.4 AF lens review:
Rokinon has long made affordable good quality manual focus lenses. Notably, the same lenses are produced under multiple brand names, most commonly Rokinon and Samyang. (You’ll also see Bower, Vivitar and others). Recently, Samyang/Rokinon have been doing more autofocus lenses, particularly for the Sony system. I previously reviewed the Sony 35mm F/1.4, which I liked but didn’t love for the $1600 price tag. (On Amazon here). Under both the Rokinon and Samyang brands, there is a similar lens. This post will constitute a review of the Rokinon 35mm F/1.4 AF, but the Samyang lens is optically identical. (Both lenses fluctuate in price but currently on Amazon, the Samyang 35mm F/1.4 AF is $549 and the Rokinon 35mm F/1.4 is $645. Oddly, the Rokinon is much better rated than the Samyang but Amazon customers but the two lenses are identical).
In terms of first party lenses, Sony has given us the premium 35mm F/1.4 and a very compact and relatively slow 35mm F/2.8 overpriced at around $800. Eventually, Sony might do an affordable high quality 35mm F/1.8 but for now, Sony lacks a fast affordable 35mm lens. 35mm, wide-normal, is a classic focal length. It is standard gear for many enthusiast and professional photographers.
Let’s take a look and see if the Rokinon/Samyang 35mm F/1.4 AF can be the answer for Sony users looking for a fast 35mm lens at an affordable price.
Body and Handling:
Build quality is unremarkable. It’s a rather substantial lens weighing at it at 645 grams, 15 grams heavier than the Sony 35mm F/1.4. It doesn’t feel particularly heavy balanced on a Sony A7riii.
The lens seems composed of a plastic outer shell but with metal inside. The Rokinon 35mm F/1.4 is not weather sealed but it generally tightly constructed.
For manual focus there is a substantial ridged focus ring which turns smoothly. A fair sized hood is included. As shown above, the lens isn’t small, significantly bigger than the Sony 55mm F/1.8, for example. Still, the lens is light enough that I found it balances nicely on the Sony A7riii body. Another 100-200 grams might make start to be bothersome but as the lens stands, I can comfortably use it all day.
As shown in the photos, 9 blades give the aperture an octagon shape when stopped down.
Not much else to say about the body, there are no buttons or switches. MF/AF must be controlled by the camera body. There is no focus hold button. The Sony 35mm F/1.4 includes a clickless aperture ring, which is not present on this lens.
Optical stabilization is not included in the Rokinon 35mm F/1.4, but the lens benefits from IBIS on the Sony A7riii and similar bodies.
Autofocus is generally very good. I found it accurate and as fast as a native lens. Autofocus was not totally silent — there is a faint whine coming from the lens at times.
In terms of build quality, the Rokinon 35mm F/1.4 AF isn’t bad, but not as good as the Sony 35mm F/1.4. Video shooters will prefer the Sony 35mm F/1.4 for the clickless aperture ring and quieter autofocus.
Image Quality
While build quality can’t quite match the native Sony lens, the Rokinon 35mm F/1.4 can be a fantastic value is the image quality can compare favorably.
Vignetting
First positive surprise is the rather mild vignetting. Difficult to avoid in fast lenses and it is present, but it is not a major factor on the Rokinon 35mm F/1.4. Vignetting is rather minor at 1.4 and 1.8 and is mostly gone by the time you stop down to 2.8.
Flare – Chromatic Aberration/Purple Fringing – Sunstars
Though not pictured, you can get fantastic sunstars at F16. At all apertures, you can certainly get ugly flare with the Rokinon 35mm F/1.4. Flare was a bit unpredictable — in real world shooting, it rarely affected my shots. But as shown in the samples, with bright line at the edges of the frame or outside of the frame, you can get multi-colored blobs as well as light streaks. Notably, the Sony 35mm F/1.4 also suffered from some odd streaking of light.
As shown in this portrait with a bright sunset behind the subject, flare was well controlled though there is some slight loss of contrast
As shown below, you will get some purple fringing in high contrast at wide apertures but it is quite mild.
The purple fringing on the Rokinon 35mm F/1.4 is actually less severe than on the Sony 35mm F/1.4. It’s a rather minimal issue only at wide aperture.
Bokeh
While I’m not personally too concerned with bokeh on wider lenses, some may be interested in the bokeh given the 1.4 aperture of the Rokinon 35mm F/1.4 AF.
While not the most stunning bokeh ever produced, the results are generally positive. At wider apetures, you have smooth round out of focus highlights that only become cat’s eyes towards the further edges of the frame. There is some onion ring effect in the centers but it isn’t very pronounced. Outlines of the bokeh balls could be a bit softer. As you stop down, the out of focus highlights take on an angular octagon shape.
Distortion:
Slight barrel distortion with the Rokinon 35mm F/1.4:
Sharpness
Most of the above-issues are correctable but you really can’t fix sharpness issues. The Sony 35mm F/1.4 was a solid performer but not record setting. Let’s see how well the Rokinon 35mm F/1.4 holds up.
Center Sharpness
Starting with center crops (click for large):
As an added bonus, let’s compare a couple of the center crops to crops from the Sony 35mm F/1.4:
Before commenting, Center crops from closer focus distance:
In the thermometer pictures, you will note green and purple fringing at F 1.4 and F 1.8. Overall though, center performance is quite good. There is some softness wide open but results are usable. Some of this softness appears to be due to decentering of my copy of the Rokinon 35mm F/1.4 as I found the borders to be sharper than the center (see below). Even with this potential issue, the Rokinon 35mm F/1.4 becomes tack sharp in the center at F2.2.
Compared to the Sony 35mm F/1.4, the Rokinon 35mm F/1.4 holds up pretty well. The Sony may be a hair sharper in the center at F1.4, but they are dead even by the time you reach F2.8.
Border Sharpness
Some comparisons to the Sony 35mm F/1.4:
And borders from closer focus:
Things are getting even better for the Rokinon 35mm F/1.4. Just a tad soft in the borders at f1.4, sharpening up nicely by F1.8 and tack sharp by the time you reach F2.2. Appearance seems pretty even with the Sony 35mm F/1.4.
Corner Sharpness
And close focus:
One more comparison to the Sony 35mm F/1.4 at f2.8:
Maybe it’s my imagination, but it appears to my eye that the corners on the Rokinon 35mm F/1.4 are slightly better than the corners of the Sony 35mm F/1.4. Certainly, the corner performance is no worse. The Rokinon 35mm F/1.4 produces extreme corners that aren’t too ugly even at 1.4. For most uses, you can definitely get away with that level of corner sharpness wide open. By 2.8, you really have an image that is tack sharp from corner to corner.
It’s noteworthy that my tested Rokinon 35mm F/1.4 appears slightly decentered. Examining these two crops, the center performance looks a bit worse than the border performance wide open:
The decentering points to quality control issues but it is not much of a problem in real world shooting. If you look at the sample images posted up top, you will find that portraits are certainly sharp enough wide open. If you really need pixel peeping extreme sharpness, you get it across most of the frame at F2.2, across the entire frame by F2.8. This is an excellent level of sharpness for any lens, certainly for a 1.4 prime that costs $550 to $650.
Real World Sharpness
I used the Rokinon 35mm F/1.4 paired with the Sony A7riii at a recent #BeAlpha event with Sony providing the lighting and models. Here is a full body shot at F1.4 and then the face cropped 100%:
When the 100% crop is basically usable as a standalone image, you really have a very good level of sharpness and the Rokinon 35mm F/1.4 nearly achieves this feat wide open.
Overall:
The Rokinon 35mm F/1.4 isn’t perfect but I can forgive some flaws to keep the price around $550 to $650. Arguably, the Rokinon 35mm F/1.4 has fewer flaws than the Sony 35mm F/1.4. The Sony definitely has better build quality but also suffers from worse vignetting and purple fringing. Sharpness is very similar between the two lenses.
You can save $1,000 compared to the Sony 35mm F/1.4 without really giving up any image quality. (One can easily argue that the Rokinon 35mm F/1.4 actually has superior image quality). You give up a bit of build quality and weather sealing. Video shooters may prefer the Sony 35mm F/1.4 for the clickless aperture ring and quieter autofocus. But for most stills shooters, I can strongly recommend the Rokinon/Samyang 35mm F/1.4. It’s the best value in a 35mm lens you can currently buy for Sony. If and when Sony does a high quality 35mm F/1.8, it may supplant the Rokinon/Samyang, but for now, the Rokinon/Samyang 35mm F/1.4 is my most recommended 35mm lens for Sony shooters. On may also consider the Sigma ART 35mm F/1.4 but I have some concerns about the autofocus and it’s still significantly more expensive at $900.
A portrait shooter would do very well putting together an affordable kit ofthe Rokinon 35mm F/1.4 paired with the Sony 85mm F/1.8. (reviewed here). That’s how I intend to shoot most of my portrait sessions moving forward, those two lenses.
A 35mm F/1.4 lens for around $600 that can perform as well as a lens costing $1,000 more…..
Rating (1-10): Score: 8.5
(About my scoring: 9-10 is a superb lens which could have a place in the bag of almost every photographer. 6-8: recommended with caveats. 3-5: A compromised lens that may still be suitable for some shooters and situations. 1-2: Just stick to your phone camera)
If interested in purchasing the Rokinon/Samyang 35mm F/1.4 from Amazon, please consider using the links below. You won’t pay extra but will help to support this site so that we can continue to build the most comprehensive database of Sony lens reviews.
Samyang 35mm F/1.4,
Rokinon 35mm F/1.4
For extra savings, you can bundle the Samyang lenses:
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