SamyangSYIO85AF-E 85mm F1.4 Auto Focus Weather Sealed Lens for Sony E-Mount

I'm more of a hobbyist rather than a professional but I've done a handful of weddings and this lens never failed me. I use the a7iii and riii . It's isnt the quickest to focus, but neither is the g-master. Sharpness is excellent at 1.4. I did not use it for video so I can't talk on that part.The photos straight out of the camera come with a warmer color and the bokeh that it creates has a uniqueness to it.I later found the g-master on a steal of a price used and bought it just because of the value but honestly the upgrade was incremental outside of bragging rights to say you have a gm lens. I had this lens for 3 years without any issues

Picked this up as “semi disposable” 85mm prime for my Sony A7iii. I was blown away with how the pictures come out! Zero chromatic abbreviation. Focus’s super quick and has a decent weight to it but not too heavy. Doesn’t have a lot of bells and whistles on the outside but the insides are high quality as I had no issues capturing portraits or sports when using the Samyang. Shot a flag football game and all the photos came out great, nothing out of focus due to the lens. Worth every penny & I will be buying more samyang lenses in the future!!

What a great lens! I use Canon and Sony, and have L lenses and the G lenses...Samyang/Rokinon, Viltrox, and about 5 other brands are KILLING it!! They are making lenses around $200 that meets or BEATS the oem brands on a couple of the lenses. But the price is not even close. A 1200 or 900 lens is had for $200-400. This 85 with AF is great. I also got the 24mm 1.8 and they are not going to be the most durable, but they are decent, and they get the quality photos done well. Its interesting how the OEM can take a higher quality plastic that costs maybe $3 more in making the lens, and reviewers claim the build quality is better on OEM. Well, Maybe Samyang and others should use better plastic? But that will likely justify them to not charge $10-20 more, but a couple hundred more. No thanks!

I've only had the lens for a few days. Firmware is on ver .03, 04 is available but that seems to be an update for the A9, I have a 7r3. So far images seem to be sharp and focus is dead on. What I did notice is that when I have the camera in Continuous Autofocus, the lens seems to whine, which does not happen on my Sigma 24-70 Art Lens. One other thing, the fit from the lens mount to the camera body doesn't seem as tight as my other lens when mounted on my A7r3. I mounted it on my NEX-6 and I could not believe how sloppy the connection was. I'm not going to use it for my NEX-6, it's the only other E-Mount body that I have, so that is a concern to me. Did anyone else notice this issue? I will continue to test this lens and post some pictures at a later date.

I will list the cons first, because everyone wants to know the trade-off they will make getting this lens vs the expensive Sony one.1) Flare. This is something every 85mm on the market struggles with, but this one's is unique and green, not pleasing. Just use the hood and avoid shooting into the sun and problem solved. If you notice the center of your photo has a green hue, you pointed too close to the sun.2 Minor CA in extreme contrast situations. Two clicks in post and it's gone, but it's worth noting.3 Slight front focus, but not annoyingly so. Could be corrected with the dock, but I don't have one yet. Not really a problem unless you are used to lenses that back focus a little.4 No fancy features of the super expensive one, but it's a quarter of the price.Pros are numerous, even shooting it on an a6000.Beautiful photos with little effort, can even photograph friendly wildlife. Focus is as fast as any Sony lens I have, but again it's on an a6000. It is a little heavy and bigger than the camera body, but that's the trade off for very fast glass on a cheap camera. No image stabilization, but with glass this fast and modern high ISO performance, not an issue at all.So far, I'm very pleased with the lens and would have gladly paid at least a hundred more bucks for this quality! I've recommended this lens to a couple of others already and they too have been pleased with the results. If my opinion on this beautiful piece of kit changes, I'll update this review then.

There is something special about the images this lens produces. Spent 5 months traveling around the world and 80% of my favorite shots were on this lens. It was also the cheapest lens I brought. Once you get used to the 85mm focal length, this thing is a beast.

Just started in the Sony system. This is my second "for Sony" lens that I use on the A9. It focuses very well. It arrived with firmware 4.0 on it already which helped.Can't say enough about how the background gets blurred using this lens. Just amazing. I've added a few photos to help show it.Someone on youtube said that this lens actually is more like a 1.6 lens instead of 1.4, and he made this claim by saying he compared it to two other lenses. Not a very scientific way to go about this so I can't accept his conclusions (he's considered a "Sony Artisan" so that might explain it). I'd love to hear from anyone who has more information on this. Regardless, it is amazing.Glad I purchased it.

This lens punches well above its weight. It was much sharper than I expected for this price point and the bokeh is smooth and beautiful. Autofocus is fast and accurate. Just a footnote that the lens hood provided a bit more resistance than I expected to snap it into place, but it fits snug and secure once in place.