i'd still take this with a pinch of salt as Samyang might have cherry picked this lens out of the bunch because of its " fantastic optical performance " I'm ordering mine at the end of the month and will be putting it up with a Sony A1 and A7R4A il see how it perfomes on larger megapixel sensors
@@ItsEzlan I love the optic ofthe lens, but with ofc time to time… make my camera a bit “loquita”, I must remove the batterie to bring-it back to life .
Only thing I didn’t like about this review is that I have a 135 GM in my kit bag and was hoping for some affirmation that it was worth it. We’ll done Samyang.
I have seen another review of this lens and they did test both the samyang and Sony GM versions on a moving subject and while they were both insanely sharp! The Sony GM did get 18 out of 20 photos in focus while the samyang got 16 out of 20 when shooting burst on moving subject... So yeah the GM is still better... But is it worth 2x what the samyang cost? From my point of view I would say yes, if photography is your profession. If you are like me... A hobbyist photographer that sometimes shoot weddings for friends and family then it is more worth getting the samyang.. However, when I did notice Samyang was going to release their 135mm AF lens I was already saving for that Sony 135 GM 😇
If you're using the A9 or A1 bodies the focusing system on the Samyang can't attain 20 & 30 FPS. On the slower bodies with 10 FPS there is no real advantage.
I have it for a week now and totally enjoy it. Razor sharp at 1.8, lightweight, fast auto focus, and incredible images: it's ability to isolate the subject even at long distance is quite remarkable. I also like bokeh, not clinically smooth, but somewhat warm vintage analog. And considering it cost twice as less as sony, it's a no brainer.
First Viltrox with the 13mm APSC-lens and now Samyang with this 135mm lens are showing what incredible performance they can achieve when they aren't restricting themselves by trying to keep the lens in the super-budget territory.
Still a very good price here though. I like the budget lenses from these brands, but it's become very interesting to see what they do in the 'Better priced than rivals' catagories.
I purchased this lens based on the stellar reviews... it was my primary lens on safari in Africa. Excellent performance. It worked even better in low light conditions... razor sharp in a smoky hut with the door half closed and no artificial light.
Samyang made incredible lenses since the 50 1.4 AF and XP series. They only had to invest on good autofocus. Honestly right now I can work with a full samyang setup on Sony, except for the 200-600
At $1000, samyang probably didn't need to pack science-fiction grade optics into this lens for it to sell like hotcakes, but they did it anyways. Great review as always!
Sorry to disappoint you but ''science-fiction grade optics'' are not really what Samyang/Sigma/Tamron/Laowa and others really specialize in... That you can leave to Voigtlander, Zeiss, Hasselblad, PhaseOne and Leica. The most you will get out of these cheaper lenses is either faster aperture or sharpness. Best case scenario you get both fast aperture and sharpness, which with this Samyang lens you do get both! As for image quality, you won't see Hasselblad, Zeiss or Voigtlander level of glass engineering in a $1,000 135mm lens, that's physically and financially impossible to achieve, even if Samyang was a non-profit org/company. Sony GM lenses are built based on Zeiss engineering standards which Sony adopted from Zeiss during their Sony-Zeiss partnership contract that lasted from 2009 to 2019, so for the E-mount, if you care about image quality, your best (and only) options are to save up money for either the 135mm GM or 135mm Batis.
This is an amazing lens. I also own the manual focus 135mm F2 lens. Also super sharp but a beast to use outside of studio conditions and very heavy. This new lens has become my favorite portrait lens.
I bought an EF mount manual Samyang 135mm lens a few years ago after a great review from Christopher. I have 25 lenses and out of all of them it is the only 100% perfect optical quality lens. Absolutely perfect image. Head and shoulders above all the others!
I bought my copy of this lens on release and I regret NOTHING! however I did notice one downside with the lens...when in firmware v1.0 it will drain battery power from the camera it is mounted on even when the camera is powered off! This was solved with firmware update to v2.0... It can also be solved by removing the battery from the camera when not in use or removing the lens from the camera body. To update your Samyang AF lenses firmware.. You will need a lens station from samyang, it's fairly low cost and I did get one sent to me at no extra cost when I preordered this lens. If you already have a lens station you will need to uninstall the lens manager software if you have an old version of the software and reinstall the newest version (can be found on samyangs homepage).... I also noticed one more thing that is really not a big deal for me... But did anyone else that has this lens notice it is difficult to fit it in the lens bag that comes with it? 😅 of course I have a lens bag so I'm not really bothered by this but still found it a bit funny to see samyang send a standard sized bad for a big lens like this one 😂 anyway... I would like to nominate this lens for lens of the year (when it comes to bang for buck among Prime lenses)... It's my Best Buy so far this year 👍👍👍👍
This review helped convince me to jump on an open-box version (all the new ones were sold out everywhere I looked) and I have to say it lives up to the hype. Absolutely love it. Thanks for the video
I'm a long time lurker on your channel, but thought I'd just say... Wow. Corner sharpness at 1.8 was just unexpected. I thought we might see some softness, but nope!!! Thanks for the review as always. Am tempted to get this myself.
I’m actually very surprised that Samyang kept this lens very quiet. As Sonys 135 is one of there absolute best performing lens right next to the 400 2.8. I use to have the Sigma 135 but it was so heavy and a burden to carry on wedding days and long shoots. This lens will be a perfect replacement and I have really missed this focal length. I’m hoping that the low light auto focus is still decent in continuous auto focus as well but this should be a very exciting lens for all Sony users
This is "the" review I have been expecting for a long time. A lot of online reviews showed portraits, but they were not strict enough to draw a conclusion to its optical performance. By comparing to your previous review on 135GM, I have decided to purchase Samyang 135 when I see a discount (hopefully in June, end of financial year sales as I am in Australia).
@@OkwyUgonweze Bought now when I found a discount. Top optical quality with nothing I could criticize. The focusing speed isn't top speed like 135GM, but since I don't use it for birding, its focusing is just good enough for human portraits or landscape.
@@OkwyUgonweze It actually appeared better than Chris's tests in chromatic aberration, because I used night stars as an infinity target than a close up target for chromatic aberration. The total CA was about 2 pixels on A7Riv, i.e. about 6µm. It's also very sharp too with a couple pixels of coma maximum. Optically, it's among the top quality of all full frame lenses, definitely on par with 135GM.
I did not expect that I would be amassing a Samyang/Rokinon collection, but here we are. This lens is absolutely next on my list unless sigma releases a 70-200 before I get to buy this.
1st world problems aside, this is getting obnoxious for me as a canon user. The 800mm and the good enough read out time on the R6 is all that’s keeping me in the system
Canon is great of you wanna be on a budget and adapt old lenses on the RF body. But if you want legit modern good stuff, Sony and it's first and third party ecosystem is where it's at.
So far I am more then happy with the lens. One thing not mentioned in the review there is issue with power drain even when the camera is off. You need docking station to be able to install new firmware to fix it. Otherwise for the money it's really great lens.
Another excellent example of the E-Mount's biggest strength; Its vast 3rd party lens support. More quality glass at more price points for enthusiasts and great 1st party lenses to save up for/aspire to own.
I take mainly wider angle and landscape shots. May have missed releases, but am not aware of Samyang, Rokkinon, Sigma wide angle zooms. Are they simply too expensive to produce for what may be regarded as a relatively small market, or have I just missed the release publicity and reviews- which I doubt.
Can't wait for the Fuji version. The manual Samyang 135mm has been my main concert workhorse for years across Nikon and Fuji systems, and the AF version looks pretty much just as good but like with the AF version of the 12mm F2 they seem to have gotten rid of the magenta cast.
This is a full frame lens. It may get a Z mount version (very unlikely since Nikon doesn't seem willing to open its AF protocol), but won't be on Fuji X mount.
@@serena-yu Dude, the manual Samyang 135mm F2 is a full frame lens too. Samyang has already ported tons of full frame lenses to Fuji, the 85mm, 50mm, the 14mm, the 135 and the list goes on. Viltrox does it too with their 85.
That's a remarkably good performance for this lens! Christopher, next time you're talking to Samyang, please suggest to them that they make a version for the Canon RF mount. Cheers. Great video as usual, by the way. :-)
I had the EF version of this lens when it came out and it rendered some of the most dreamy portraits I've ever shot. It was hard to use with the 5D Mark 3 but it would be easy with my R5.
I wish they've made this lens back in 2018, and I would've rushed out to buy it. The Sony 135mm f/1.8 GM brand new is twice as expensive, but nowadays, you could get one for roughly US$1200~1300 used. The AF speed seems to be very different.
Thank you, Christopher, for your marvellous reviews which are always a pleasure to watch and - language-wise - to listen to! Your praising of this lens means that it must indeed be 100%plus! I wonder how you would rate it against the Zeiss Batis 135mm 2.8 which I own, but hardly use. Cheers Samuel
The pitch you made for people to go out and buy this lens was one of the most funny ones I've heard in a long time, cheers mate! I'm on a Canon EOS R, I'll likely be getting the Sigma as I have a set of Sigma lenses already.
If only I had the money for this lens. Or a Sony. Or a FF camera XD I'm gonna keep my fingers crossed we start to see some AF lenses for Fuji from Samyang soon. I would love their 35mm f1.2 and 85mm for mirrorless camera's in an AF body on Fuji :D
I just came across your video and you have persuaded me to purchase the lens. And boy oh boy, what an absolute BEAST! Thank you so much. I honestly was about to sell my kidney to buy the Sony version, but thankfully your video saved me from doing that lol.
I honestly wish I had a use for 135mm. I really do. I would _love_ this lens. But my portrait work is done at 85mm to make talking easier and I just can't justify having one of these since I don't do anything professionally. Now whenever Samyang feel it's necessary to update their 85mm f/1.4, then we're talking.
@@deanjamescarroll None except that I already have a Sony 85mm f/1.8 that I couldn't justify replacing because there's not a big enough difference. I'd imagine over time that there will be with the second one. (The Samyang lens didn't exist back when I was buying or I'd have probably bought it.)
@@RealRaynedance If they make their XP lens lineup auto focus that will be a game changer. Their 85mm XP/SP 1.2 is beautiful. Just as sharp as the RF 85 1.2 it has the dreamy look with smooth bokeh and beautiful colors.
Excellent review of what appears to be a super 135mm lens thank you Christopher but for those of us who already own the outstanding non-AF, f2 version the fact that the only fly in the ointment appears to be slightly iffy AF then it's a not so attractive upgrade for the additional expense.
I guess it depends on what you are shooting. If your subject is stationary and not moving the MF lens might be fine for you. In my case… I shoot to many moving objects and at f2 the dof is pretty thin, which means I will miss out on too many images. And as most shoots I do are limited in time, I can’t be fiddling with the focus all day long, so definitely AF for me.
@@catchlite5196 In that case then the DOF will be even thinner at F1.8 and as the AF is apparently a weak point of this newer lens it might be disappointing.
@@oingyboingybob nope, it does an awesome job. For me at least. Maybe with fast moving subjects coming at you while shooting… I haven’t done any shooting like that yet and doesn’t happen often in my case.
Your enthusiasm for this particular lens among the many you've tested is quite remarkable. Can you recommend a full-frame wide-angle lens with similar acclaim?
I have the old manual focus Rokinon 135mm F2 and that lens has amazing colors and background obliterating bokeh. A lot of folks (myself included) use it for astro photography (where lack of AF isn't such a big deal). I wonder how this news lens compares (for example, does it use the same optical formula and coatings).
How do you mount it on a tripod ? Do you use a tripod collar ? I shoot with an A6400 and got the manual 135mm f2 recently. Love it for handheld stills.. Still looking for mounting options.
Wonderful review as usual One thing I'm always curious about, is why people care so much about corner sharpness at open apertures of portrait lenses (other than from a purely technical standpoint). Surely the corners will always be blurry anyway in the photos taken?
When doing portrait photography, yes. But your subject won't always be dead centre in the frame, and also, portrait photography is not all these lenses are used for
These Samyang lenses are seriously making me consider the jump from Fuji to Sony. The size, quality, and (importantly) cost really makes full frame mirrorless seem like a viable option to me vs my Fuji X-T4 with f/1.4 glass. My main concern would be ergonomics and the fact that I've not historically enjoyed using Sony cameras that much.
Christ please read all....I have purchased this lens135 f1.8 using it with my Nikon z 7.2 .....via the Viltrox adapter. When the lens hits foucs it a joy the pictures are of the quality I dreamed of in the 70s 80s all the way till now. I thought hard and long the z system seemed to be missing something .you have no z review of a 135 has we know it does not yet appear in the z ranage..... So I was forced to consider else where.Truth is for all the messing about with the foucs issues and then having to stop shooting turn off the camera quickly off and remount it the lens to get it to work on auto again .I mean move out of lock and back into lock position.... I love it I also have to state a worry about the adapter for the Viltrox z mount for Sony lense also came faulty.....so I can't yet work out if A up grade would help the Nikon focus .... Really this lens reminds me that old ideas about samyang and third partly being rubbish to day that statement is just old hat. if your still reading this rant... Christ I have the 70-200z now in the DSLr days it was worth 70-200 f mount was worth its weight in gold. Now Mr Chris I have noticed I never really use my 70-200 z because the prime lenses are just filled with natural sugar rushes with in their quality.... In today's market the lenses such as the 24-120 z 14-30 z are amazing so why use prime.... The answer is simple for me the zooms help me find the composition and the return helps me nail it with the prime..... Really having messed with old film loading and the cheap the tiny photos on card. happy are those who have the mirror less world with screens that display all the wonder .but one other thing is missing, one very important thing .... A desk top printer that can do the camera and lens justice with a print. justice requires a printer that we can show off or save our work for show..
Wow, just wow. A small part of me is considering selling my GM and buying the Samyang to recoup some of the cost. That is a crazy good performance for the money. Damn that lens is thicc... in a good way.
It crossed my mind as well, but used ones go for around €1400. It will save you €400, but you lose build quality, more accurate focus and more FPS when used on A1 or A9.
Impressive performance! Would love it, if Samyang get some of their AF lenses out for Nikon and Canon mirrorless. Would be interesting to see, how well the AF would perform on my Z9. Another brilliant review Chris, thank you very much
I have to admit that I am very impressed with this optic for its price tag. I just wish that Nikon will make a 135 F1.8 or open the Z mount for 3rd parties who have this lens. Shame...
samyang seems to be the only one doing RF lenses with AF at this time... i dont know whats different for them but i do hope sigma and tamron will also offer RF lenses soon. Every time i see new lenses for other ML systems i get a slight dose of envy ... :D
Thank you for review! A reminder though for potential buyers, if your Sony body is as old as my a7m2, the AF could work WORSE! I once had a lot AF issues with a Samyang 35mm f1.4 AF, which turned out to work great on another a7m3..
Chris, just wanted to let you know that you should update the firmware of your Samyang 135mm f1.8 FE to the latest version as it's fixed the AF stability issue you mentioned in your review. The first models out had FW V0.1 and this caused camera batteries to self drain as reported by many early adopters. FW V0.2 fixed the problem but here was still an AF stability/accuracy problem...Apparently, FW V0.3 (the latest FW version) has fixed this issue now and it's now focussing bang on every time, just like the Sony GM, but obviously sharper. It would be interesting to see you release an update review showing how the latest FW has addressed any misgivings you mentioned in your original review. BTW, I still don't agree with your subjective assessment of the level of glare and flare vs the Sony GM...The GM is clearly worse than the Samyang yet you still rate both as average so this would be a good opportunity to redress this.
I returned my copy because it performed considerably worse than the old manual 135 mm F2 from Samyang. It was softer at F1.8 and hardly improved on stopping down. Probably I was just unlucky with my copy but it's such a pity that Samyang seemingly still has no proper quality control. And even if you get a good copy, how long does it last...? I think I'll spend a few hundred more and buy a used Sony 135 GM..
Although the optical quality is perfect, I believe that the most important aspect of a lens like this is the bokeh. Unfortunately I found the background quite noisy in the sample photos you took with the Samyang, and I much prefer the look of the Sony lens. But maybe that's just me.
Christopher Frost is the only lens reviewer that encourage people to break out of jail.
my jaw actually dropped when you panned over to those image corners at f1.8 - incredible performance for a lens half the price of the GM!
Mine didn't! Samyang shows pretty steadily and solidly an amazing optical performance of their lenses.
i'd still take this with a pinch of salt as Samyang might have cherry picked this lens out of the bunch because of its " fantastic optical performance "
I'm ordering mine at the end of the month and will be putting it up with a Sony A1 and A7R4A il see how it perfomes on larger megapixel sensors
@@ItsEzlan Please try also with off camera flash, or at least with a flash. No model needed, just to..."nothing".
@@charruaporelmundo oh don't worry I shoot alot of portraits and headshots in a studio environment
@@ItsEzlan I love the optic ofthe lens, but with ofc time to time… make my camera a bit “loquita”, I must remove the batterie to bring-it back to life .
Love the conclusion, Chris (break out of jail!) Looking forward to getting my hands on one and doing a head to head with 135GM.
Hey Dustin and Chris it would be great if you also compare with the old 135f2 and see how much has changed
Dustin, I can't wait for you to do a comparison and a in depth review. You always cover every base.
Wow...both of my favorite reviewers at one place. Eagerly waiting for your review Dustin
Note that firmware V1 of this lens would drain the battery even when the camera is switched off. V2 fixes this.
And again Samyang proves itself! Thank you wholeheartedly for making world-class lenses that are affordable by most rising photographers!
Only thing I didn’t like about this review is that I have a 135 GM in my kit bag and was hoping for some affirmation that it was worth it. We’ll done Samyang.
I have seen another review of this lens and they did test both the samyang and Sony GM versions on a moving subject and while they were both insanely sharp! The Sony GM did get 18 out of 20 photos in focus while the samyang got 16 out of 20 when shooting burst on moving subject... So yeah the GM is still better... But is it worth 2x what the samyang cost? From my point of view I would say yes, if photography is your profession. If you are like me... A hobbyist photographer that sometimes shoot weddings for friends and family then it is more worth getting the samyang.. However, when I did notice Samyang was going to release their 135mm AF lens I was already saving for that Sony 135 GM 😇
If you're using the A9 or A1 bodies the focusing system on the Samyang can't attain 20 & 30 FPS. On the slower bodies with 10 FPS there is no real advantage.
The GM is the faster and more accurate focusing lens. Also, I do think that the GM can better resist bumping the lens into something by accident..
The fps limit is arbitrarily imposed by Sony and has nothing to do with 3rd party lens makers.
I have it for a week now and totally enjoy it. Razor sharp at 1.8, lightweight, fast auto focus, and incredible images: it's ability to isolate the subject even at long distance is quite remarkable. I also like bokeh, not clinically smooth, but somewhat warm vintage analog. And considering it cost twice as less as sony, it's a no brainer.
First Viltrox with the 13mm APSC-lens and now Samyang with this 135mm lens are showing what incredible performance they can achieve when they aren't restricting themselves by trying to keep the lens in the super-budget territory.
And you might argue this is budget territory still compared to the competition.
Still a very good price here though. I like the budget lenses from these brands, but it's become very interesting to see what they do in the 'Better priced than rivals' catagories.
@@deanjamescarroll I really enjoyed the samyang 24mm 1.8 until I sold it. It was razor sharp wide open, it was just the CA that was bothering me.
The low vignetting and fine corner performance is invaluable for night sky imaging.
Insane that I was able to pick this lens up for 650$ on Black Friday. INSANE optics on this one.
I just wanted you to thank you for your stellar reviews Chris! Highest quality paired with consistency and just a pleasure to watch every time. :)
I purchased this lens based on the stellar reviews... it was my primary lens on safari in Africa. Excellent performance. It worked even better in low light conditions... razor sharp in a smoky hut with the door half closed and no artificial light.
Samyang made incredible lenses since the 50 1.4 AF and XP series. They only had to invest on good autofocus. Honestly right now I can work with a full samyang setup on Sony, except for the 200-600
I've watched almost all your lens reviews and man this lens is good...even from its widest aparture, corner to corner, this lens is sharp af..
There is no one who makes quality review videos like you. You are unbeatable in this regard.
At $1000, samyang probably didn't need to pack science-fiction grade optics into this lens for it to sell like hotcakes, but they did it anyways. Great review as always!
Sorry to disappoint you but ''science-fiction grade optics'' are not really what Samyang/Sigma/Tamron/Laowa and others really specialize in... That you can leave to Voigtlander, Zeiss, Hasselblad, PhaseOne and Leica. The most you will get out of these cheaper lenses is either faster aperture or sharpness. Best case scenario you get both fast aperture and sharpness, which with this Samyang lens you do get both! As for image quality, you won't see Hasselblad, Zeiss or Voigtlander level of glass engineering in a $1,000 135mm lens, that's physically and financially impossible to achieve, even if Samyang was a non-profit org/company. Sony GM lenses are built based on Zeiss engineering standards which Sony adopted from Zeiss during their Sony-Zeiss partnership contract that lasted from 2009 to 2019, so for the E-mount, if you care about image quality, your best (and only) options are to save up money for either the 135mm GM or 135mm Batis.
@@nogerboher5266 bro just take photos 😭
@@travishartnett2307 Don't have to tell me twice 😁 I life off it🤪
@@nogerboher5266Did you even watch this video and listen to its conclusions?
This is an amazing lens. I also own the manual focus 135mm F2 lens. Also super sharp but a beast to use outside of studio conditions and very heavy. This new lens has become my favorite portrait lens.
Damn. What a stellar lens! Amazing work Chris (as always!)
I bought an EF mount manual Samyang 135mm lens a few years ago after a great review from Christopher. I have 25 lenses and out of all of them it is the only 100% perfect optical quality lens. Absolutely perfect image. Head and shoulders above all the others!
I bought my copy of this lens on release and I regret NOTHING! however I did notice one downside with the lens...when in firmware v1.0 it will drain battery power from the camera it is mounted on even when the camera is powered off! This was solved with firmware update to v2.0... It can also be solved by removing the battery from the camera when not in use or removing the lens from the camera body. To update your Samyang AF lenses firmware.. You will need a lens station from samyang, it's fairly low cost and I did get one sent to me at no extra cost when I preordered this lens. If you already have a lens station you will need to uninstall the lens manager software if you have an old version of the software and reinstall the newest version (can be found on samyangs homepage).... I also noticed one more thing that is really not a big deal for me... But did anyone else that has this lens notice it is difficult to fit it in the lens bag that comes with it? 😅 of course I have a lens bag so I'm not really bothered by this but still found it a bit funny to see samyang send a standard sized bad for a big lens like this one 😂 anyway... I would like to nominate this lens for lens of the year (when it comes to bang for buck among Prime lenses)... It's my Best Buy so far this year 👍👍👍👍
hi whats ur current feedback of this lens? hows it af? and sharpness of human portraits at 1.8. TIA
This review helped convince me to jump on an open-box version (all the new ones were sold out everywhere I looked) and I have to say it lives up to the hype. Absolutely love it. Thanks for the video
It’s so sharpe, the corner performance is fantastic, I’m impressed
I bought this lens instantly when i saw the test results! Incredible value for money, very pleased with my purchase, excellent video.
I'm a long time lurker on your channel, but thought I'd just say... Wow. Corner sharpness at 1.8 was just unexpected. I thought we might see some softness, but nope!!! Thanks for the review as always. Am tempted to get this myself.
I’m actually very surprised that Samyang kept this lens very quiet. As Sonys 135 is one of there absolute best performing lens right next to the 400 2.8. I use to have the Sigma 135 but it was so heavy and a burden to carry on wedding days and long shoots. This lens will be a perfect replacement and I have really missed this focal length. I’m hoping that the low light auto focus is still decent in continuous auto focus as well but this should be a very exciting lens for all Sony users
This is "the" review I have been expecting for a long time. A lot of online reviews showed portraits, but they were not strict enough to draw a conclusion to its optical performance. By comparing to your previous review on 135GM, I have decided to purchase Samyang 135 when I see a discount (hopefully in June, end of financial year sales as I am in Australia).
What's your experience?
Am looking to get a 135 for the e mount.
@@OkwyUgonweze Bought now when I found a discount. Top optical quality with nothing I could criticize. The focusing speed isn't top speed like 135GM, but since I don't use it for birding, its focusing is just good enough for human portraits or landscape.
@@serena-yu thanks .
@@OkwyUgonweze It actually appeared better than Chris's tests in chromatic aberration, because I used night stars as an infinity target than a close up target for chromatic aberration. The total CA was about 2 pixels on A7Riv, i.e. about 6µm. It's also very sharp too with a couple pixels of coma maximum. Optically, it's among the top quality of all full frame lenses, definitely on par with 135GM.
I did not expect that I would be amassing a Samyang/Rokinon collection, but here we are. This lens is absolutely next on my list unless sigma releases a 70-200 before I get to buy this.
Every time Sony gets an awesome 3rd party lens, I die a little inside clutching my canon mirrorless gear :(
1st world problems aside, this is getting obnoxious for me as a canon user. The 800mm and the good enough read out time on the R6 is all that’s keeping me in the system
canon has awesome ef gear that is cheap. i personally shot canon DSLRs before but am now deep into sony fe.
Same here smh.
@@richrollin4867 Yeah it sucks...I have Samyangs RF 85 1.4
Canon is great of you wanna be on a budget and adapt old lenses on the RF body. But if you want legit modern good stuff, Sony and it's first and third party ecosystem is where it's at.
What's sharper - crazy sharp, ridiculously sharp, unbelievably sharp?
Razor sharp.
Great review Chris, this lens performs much better than expected. Thank you for posting this review in such a timely manor.
So far I am more then happy with the lens. One thing not mentioned in the review there is issue with power drain even when the camera is off. You need docking station to be able to install new firmware to fix it. Otherwise for the money it's really great lens.
Another excellent example of the E-Mount's biggest strength; Its vast 3rd party lens support. More quality glass at more price points for enthusiasts and great 1st party lenses to save up for/aspire to own.
I take mainly wider angle and landscape shots. May have missed releases, but am not aware of Samyang, Rokkinon, Sigma wide angle zooms.
Are they simply too expensive to produce for what may be regarded as a relatively small market, or have I just missed the release publicity and reviews- which I doubt.
@@robertcudlipp3426 Sigma has a 14-24 F2.8 zoom and Samyang has a 14mm F2.8 and 18mm F2.8 for FE
@@Rollergold4 Thanks, was aware of that, however Samyang, Viltrox, Rokkinon don't appear to have much interest in wide angle zooms. Any idea why?
@@robertcudlipp3426 No Idea, Samyang has only released their first Zoom (a 24-70 2.8) so maybe a wide angle zoom could be next.
Waiting for your review of Samyang 50 mm f1.4 II!
Can't wait for the Fuji version. The manual Samyang 135mm has been my main concert workhorse for years across Nikon and Fuji systems, and the AF version looks pretty much just as good but like with the AF version of the 12mm F2 they seem to have gotten rid of the magenta cast.
Also having dust/weather seals on the AF lenses does not hurt either 😇
This is a full frame lens. It may get a Z mount version (very unlikely since Nikon doesn't seem willing to open its AF protocol), but won't be on Fuji X mount.
@@serena-yu Dude, the manual Samyang 135mm F2 is a full frame lens too. Samyang has already ported tons of full frame lenses to Fuji, the 85mm, 50mm, the 14mm, the 135 and the list goes on. Viltrox does it too with their 85.
@@Vinterloft wow, I have never heard about that. It sounds nice though
That's a remarkably good performance for this lens! Christopher, next time you're talking to Samyang, please suggest to them that they make a version for the Canon RF mount. Cheers. Great video as usual, by the way. :-)
I had the EF version of this lens when it came out and it rendered some of the most dreamy portraits I've ever shot. It was hard to use with the 5D Mark 3 but it would be easy with my R5.
Amazing! Thank you for this review. I cannot wait to see it's Astrophotography performance.
What a time to be alive. So many great lenses coming out.
You made me fall in love with This lens 😍❤️
A pleasant surprise at the end of the video! Thoroughly enjoyed this review of Samyang AF 135mm!
Awesome! Wish they would make it for the rf mount
That focus breathing is just… wow!
Would love to see an RF version of that lens!
Yeah this would be amazing
Won't happen before you see the Canon L version is out for a while at least.
I wish they've made this lens back in 2018, and I would've rushed out to buy it. The Sony 135mm f/1.8 GM brand new is twice as expensive, but nowadays, you could get one for roughly US$1200~1300 used. The AF speed seems to be very different.
yeah, the af in my 135mm gm is amazing, better than my newer 35mm gm.
I'm in Canada and a used 135mm GM is still close to $2000, if you can even find used ones. This lens is $1300.
Thank you, Christopher, for your marvellous reviews which are always a pleasure to watch and - language-wise - to listen to! Your praising of this lens means that it must indeed be 100%plus! I wonder how you would rate it against the Zeiss Batis 135mm 2.8 which I own, but hardly use. Cheers
Samuel
I got the Samyang 135mm f1.8 recently and I am absolutely in love with it :)
Sony's E mount gets so many good lenses.
Canon's RF mount has much fewer lenses :-(
Whats better - Crazy sharp, ridiculously sharp or unbelievably sharp? :D Thanks Chris!
Your reviews are the best on the internet. Thanks, sincerely.
What an incredible lens. 135mm isn't my favorite focal length but holy crap this is good :o
The pitch you made for people to go out and buy this lens was one of the most funny ones I've heard in a long time, cheers mate! I'm on a Canon EOS R, I'll likely be getting the Sigma as I have a set of Sigma lenses already.
hope to see this compared to Samyang 135mm f/2.0 ED UMC
Stunning lens. Samyang bring it to RF please.
Yup..this is gonna be the next purchase..135 is just.. Awesome
I so hope they make this for Nikon Z mount one day
If only I had the money for this lens. Or a Sony. Or a FF camera XD I'm gonna keep my fingers crossed we start to see some AF lenses for Fuji from Samyang soon. I would love their 35mm f1.2 and 85mm for mirrorless camera's in an AF body on Fuji :D
Wow. Better even than I expected and I expected a lot. Why would they be so quiet about it?
I just came across your video and you have persuaded me to purchase the lens. And boy oh boy, what an absolute BEAST! Thank you so much. I honestly was about to sell my kidney to buy the Sony version, but thankfully your video saved me from doing that lol.
Been waiting for this one!
I honestly wish I had a use for 135mm. I really do. I would _love_ this lens. But my portrait work is done at 85mm to make talking easier and I just can't justify having one of these since I don't do anything professionally.
Now whenever Samyang feel it's necessary to update their 85mm f/1.4, then we're talking.
Do you have many issues with the current 85mm that they make?
@@deanjamescarroll None except that I already have a Sony 85mm f/1.8 that I couldn't justify replacing because there's not a big enough difference. I'd imagine over time that there will be with the second one.
(The Samyang lens didn't exist back when I was buying or I'd have probably bought it.)
@@RealRaynedance If they make their XP lens lineup auto focus that will be a game changer. Their 85mm XP/SP 1.2 is beautiful. Just as sharp as the RF 85 1.2 it has the dreamy look with smooth bokeh and beautiful colors.
@@RealRaynedance they just announced the 85.
Excellent review of what appears to be a super 135mm lens thank you Christopher but for those of us who already own the outstanding non-AF, f2 version the fact that the only fly in the ointment appears to be slightly iffy AF then it's a not so attractive upgrade for the additional expense.
I guess it depends on what you are shooting. If your subject is stationary and not moving the MF lens might be fine for you. In my case… I shoot to many moving objects and at f2 the dof is pretty thin, which means I will miss out on too many images. And as most shoots I do are limited in time, I can’t be fiddling with the focus all day long, so definitely AF for me.
@@catchlite5196
In that case then the DOF will be even thinner at F1.8 and as the AF is apparently a weak point of this newer lens it might be disappointing.
@@oingyboingybob nope, it does an awesome job. For me at least. Maybe with fast moving subjects coming at you while shooting… I haven’t done any shooting like that yet and doesn’t happen often in my case.
Appreciate saying good bye in Korean at the end of the Korean made lens review video 😀
Excellent review! Eventhough i use fuji. Still great to see Value for Money.
Your enthusiasm for this particular lens among the many you've tested is quite remarkable. Can you recommend a full-frame wide-angle lens with similar acclaim?
I have the old manual focus Rokinon 135mm F2 and that lens has amazing colors and background obliterating bokeh. A lot of folks (myself included) use it for astro photography (where lack of AF isn't such a big deal). I wonder how this news lens compares (for example, does it use the same optical formula and coatings).
How do you mount it on a tripod ? Do you use a tripod collar ? I shoot with an A6400 and got the manual 135mm f2 recently. Love it for handheld stills.. Still looking for mounting options.
Thanks for another excellently useful review, Chris! If this ever comes out in Z mount, I'm getting a Z camera and one of these instantly!
Wonderful review as usual One thing I'm always curious about, is why people care so much about corner sharpness at open apertures of portrait lenses (other than from a purely technical standpoint). Surely the corners will always be blurry anyway in the photos taken?
When doing portrait photography, yes. But your subject won't always be dead centre in the frame, and also, portrait photography is not all these lenses are used for
daaaaamn those corners at 1.8. ridiculous sharp.
Wow, it is sharp wide open!
These Samyang lenses are seriously making me consider the jump from Fuji to Sony. The size, quality, and (importantly) cost really makes full frame mirrorless seem like a viable option to me vs my Fuji X-T4 with f/1.4 glass. My main concern would be ergonomics and the fact that I've not historically enjoyed using Sony cameras that much.
As a Korean, I was surprised by the last greeting. haha Thank you for the good review.
Really a great lens ! Let us see more portraits . Nice review , thank you .
Christ please read all....I have purchased this lens135 f1.8 using it with my Nikon z 7.2 .....via the Viltrox adapter. When the lens hits foucs it a joy the pictures are of the quality I dreamed of in the 70s 80s all the way till now. I thought hard and long the z system seemed to be missing something .you have no z review of a 135 has we know it does not yet appear in the z ranage..... So I was forced to consider else where.Truth is for all the messing about with the foucs issues and then having to stop shooting turn off the camera quickly off and remount it the lens to get it to work on auto again .I mean move out of lock and back into lock position.... I love it I also have to state a worry about the adapter for the Viltrox z mount for Sony lense also came faulty.....so I can't yet work out if A up grade would help the Nikon focus .... Really this lens reminds me that old ideas about samyang and third partly being rubbish to day that statement is just old hat. if your still reading this rant... Christ I have the 70-200z now in the DSLr days it was worth 70-200 f mount was worth its weight in gold. Now Mr Chris I have noticed I never really use my 70-200 z because the prime lenses are just filled with natural sugar rushes with in their quality.... In today's market the lenses such as the 24-120 z 14-30 z are amazing so why use prime.... The answer is simple for me the zooms help me find the composition and the return helps me nail it with the prime..... Really having messed with old film loading and the cheap the tiny photos on card. happy are those who have the mirror less world with screens that display all the wonder .but one other thing is missing, one very important thing .... A desk top printer that can do the camera and lens justice with a print. justice requires a printer that we can show off or save our work for show..
The Sigma 135mm f.18 is one of the best lenses I ever had in my hand.
Wow just wow, an amazing performance, maybe best optic in terms of price to performance ratio ever.
Wow, just wow. A small part of me is considering selling my GM and buying the Samyang to recoup some of the cost. That is a crazy good performance for the money. Damn that lens is thicc... in a good way.
It crossed my mind as well, but used ones go for around €1400. It will save you €400, but you lose build quality, more accurate focus and more FPS when used on A1 or A9.
Makes you wonder about the profit margin on GM lens, of all focal lengths?
@@robertcudlipp3426 For sure, but I think there is also better QC on the GM lenses which cost more money.
Chris, please do more vintage L lenses; i would love to see a review on the 28-70 f2.8L and the 28-80 f2.8-4L!
Wow I was waiting for you to test this lens for a long time
Will you be testing Samyang's new 50mm f1.4? that looks like a very promising lens but I heard some bad comments about it's autofocus accuracy.
I really hope they release it for Nikon Z.
Samyang really have arrived as a quality lens maker.
I own a Zeiss 135mm f/1.8 (a mount) and wishing someone can do a comparison with these newer lenses on a la-ea5 equipped sony mirrorless!!
wow i was not expecting this review hope it delivers as the original did
my first samyang was preordered af 85 1.4, ever since I wont hear for any other lens maker. 135 is next
Impressive performance! Would love it, if Samyang get some of their AF lenses out for Nikon and Canon mirrorless. Would be interesting to see, how well the AF would perform on my Z9. Another brilliant review Chris, thank you very much
Wow, what a great portrait lens!
This lens is ridiculously sharp. If only the focus is better, it would be a dream lens for anyone!
What version of the firmware did you have on it during the review.?
In the event I were to be imprisoned, I will break out of jail solely for this lens. Duly noted!
This one is simply incredible.
I have to admit that I am very impressed with this optic for its price tag. I just wish that Nikon will make a 135 F1.8 or open the Z mount for 3rd parties who have this lens. Shame...
samyang seems to be the only one doing RF lenses with AF at this time... i dont know whats different for them but i do hope sigma and tamron will also offer RF lenses soon. Every time i see new lenses for other ML systems i get a slight dose of envy ... :D
I bought Sam Yang 24 F1.8 it’s so good definitely buying this 135
Thank you for review!
A reminder though for potential buyers, if your Sony body is as old as my a7m2, the AF could work WORSE!
I once had a lot AF issues with a Samyang 35mm f1.4 AF, which turned out to work great on another a7m3..
Chris, just wanted to let you know that you should update the firmware of your Samyang 135mm f1.8 FE to the latest version as it's fixed the AF stability issue you mentioned in your review. The first models out had FW V0.1 and this caused camera batteries to self drain as reported by many early adopters. FW V0.2 fixed the problem but here was still an AF stability/accuracy problem...Apparently, FW V0.3 (the latest FW version) has fixed this issue now and it's now focussing bang on every time, just like the Sony GM, but obviously sharper. It would be interesting to see you release an update review showing how the latest FW has addressed any misgivings you mentioned in your original review. BTW, I still don't agree with your subjective assessment of the level of glare and flare vs the Sony GM...The GM is clearly worse than the Samyang yet you still rate both as average so this would be a good opportunity to redress this.
Samyang is making amazing stuff these days! Wow!
I returned my copy because it performed considerably worse than the old manual 135 mm F2 from Samyang. It was softer at F1.8 and hardly improved on stopping down. Probably I was just unlucky with my copy but it's such a pity that Samyang seemingly still has no proper quality control. And even if you get a good copy, how long does it last...? I think I'll spend a few hundred more and buy a used Sony 135 GM..
That's why lenses made in Japan has way less complains than others. The quality control is always the best.
Yes, always order 3 copies of Samyang and return 2.
Yup, I bought mine for 1300$ which can probably be found even cheaper...
Unfortunately it’s still not available for Fuji
Although the optical quality is perfect, I believe that the most important aspect of a lens like this is the bokeh. Unfortunately I found the background quite noisy in the sample photos you took with the Samyang, and I much prefer the look of the Sony lens. But maybe that's just me.
Wow. Samyang knocked it out of the park with this one. Great review!
No noticeable CA at f/1.8 on the test card, this could be a very good astro lens.