Samyang AF 14mm EF – Its First Autofocus Lens for Canon

News

by Tim FokJanuary 10^th, 2018

The new Samyang AF 14mm f/2.8 EF is the company’s first autofocus lens for Canon EF mount. The wide-angle lens will cover full frame and APS-C sensor sizes, using existing Samyang autofocus technology.

Samyang initially blurred the lines against larger lens manufacturers by announcing its venture into the autofocus market in Sony E mount. Once known for its cost-effective, fully-manual primes, its autofocus line for Sony mirrorless cameras has slowly started to take shape.

The Samyang AF 14mm f/2.8 EF is unique in that it is the company’s first lens to offer autofocus for the Canon EF mount, as Sony E mount lenses are not compatible due to their shorter flange distance.

It’s a full-frame lens, so will resolve 14mm on the Canon 5D and the like, and around 22mm on APS-C cameras. It is also apparently weather sealed.

The aesthetics are almost identical to current Samyang autofocus lenses: a sleek body with a broad focus ring and a single red band. The difference to Samyang AF E mount offerings is a manual switch on the side to engage autofocus.

True to other wide-angle Samyang lenses, the AF 14mm f/2.8 EF has a non-removable petal hood and bulbous front element, and therefore no front filter thread.

“15 lenses in 10 groups, 7 special optic lenses have been chosen in the production of this lens, to maximise the image quality. The use of 2 aspherical lenses, 4 high-refractive lenses, and 1 extra-low dispersion lens minimises distortion and various aberrations while producing crystal clear resolution.”

Users will be pleased to know that this construction is a slight re-configuration of the current Samyang manual focus 14mm. The former wide angle suffers from unique moustache distortion, something that will hopefully be rectified in this newer design.

Specs:

• Aperture Range: F2.8-22
• Mount: Canon EF
• Construction: 15 Elements/10 Groups
• Coating: UMC
• MFD: 0.20m (0.65ft)
• Magnification Ratio: x0.15
• Filter: None
• Diaphragm Blades: 7
• Sensor Size: Full Frame/APS-C
• Length: 95.6mm
• Weight: 485g

Availability is marked for February 2018, priced at around €699.

Looking for a wide-angle lens with autofocus capabilities for your Canon camera? Could this option from Samyang fit the bill? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!