Thanks.. or.. Clear Skies! In photoshop I love to zoom 200, 300 and even 400% to see the extreme details it is an absolutely amazing lens, great backround blur, great for low light weddings with available light. Exposure uniformity (vignetting) is also really excellent, reaching a maximum of 1/4 EV (on a camera with an APS-C size sensor) at f/2, and dropping to well under 1/10 EV at f/2.8 and above. Simple as that! Valerio, Electronically Assisted Astronomy (No Post-Processing), Community Forum Software by IP.BoardLicensed to: Cloudy Nights, DSLR, Mirrorless & General-Purpose Digital Camera DSO Imaging, This is not recommended for shared computers, Back to DSLR, Mirrorless & General-Purpose Digital Camera DSO Imaging, Buckeyestargazer 2022 in review and New Products. For posed portraiture, it's a very nice budget option.FWIW, I'm a corporate portrait and event pro. Bokeh == Visual character of the lens optics to render light and color mixing together. Sharp wide open, wonderful bokeh, fast AF in dark conditions. The 135mm Rokinon with the Canon Rebel seems like a pretty good setup. The Rokinon website lists this lens as being useful for portraiture photography, and most telephoto applications. When I was teaching photography in 70's at a junior college, I critiqued students photos, but I never did so harshly. I haven't seen compassion with the excellent Zeiss lens you quote (That BTW costs at least 3.5-4 times, yet a good comparison as similar to Zeiss, Samyang believes in providing the exceptional Image Quality, with Manual focus) but compare with Canon's L 135mm F2.0, that by many reviews, is considered as one the best Canon lenses ever made (Not . Every different lens design has different "bokeh" even when the lenses are by specs same, like Canon 135mm f/2 vs Samyang 135mm f/2 are both same, but both render differently, even when both have same DOF. The 135mm f/2.0 ED UMC Lens from Samyang is a manual focus telephoto prime lens useful for portraiture and most telephoto applications. When all that was available were APS-C crop cameras a 85mm lens provided a near equivalent view angle to the 135mm on a full frame camera. I have just acquired my astrophotography set up thanks to all your videos and doing some research. Well, for me. It's tiny compared to almost everything else in the 85-135 range, and used properly, it can produce results that hold up to my DC (all other factors being equal such as subject distance, f-stop, lighting, etc.). The criterion I used in evaluating lenses was optical perfection with no reservations. There are, of course, outlierssuch as the legendary unicorn lens Canon EF 200mm F2but that one isn't a great alternative unless you are cool with spending $5,700 and carrying around something about as wieldy as a fire hydrant. #light_bulb I would disagree. However, they can be perfectly corrected with narrow band H-alpha or OIII filters. I'm enjoying the Sigma Art 135mm - it's notably sharper than the Canon (which I owned at the same time), and it's f/1.8 instead of f/2. But I sold it and went back to using a 70-200 (alongside a 24-70). (purchased for $845), reviewed November 16th, 2005 This is so annoying that I intend to replace the Canon lens cap with a Tamron cap. Proper composition, light and retouching are much prefferable to crazy gooey bokeh. Yet the Jaegers becomes essentially color free when stopped down to 3in. 135 mm. My point is that we must never lose the joy of photography. Over the last ten to fifteen years excellent apochromatic telescopes have become available for visual use and photography. Interesting that ancient, low-tech (no ED glass, no special coatings) non-apo telephotos could produce decent results compared to something modern. I used this lens quite a bit years ago as my main working lens. reviewed August 2nd, 2017 This includes everything from the rich star fields of Sagittarius, to a complete look at the Andromeda Galaxy. Love the shot of the blue anemone, which also displays nice bokeh, and blur! Just plain black plastic (no interior felt as in newer lens hoods). Used on a crop body the results are still splendid but you gain on DOF, making it a great combination for wedding/event and ambient/available light. These lenses can be had on eBay in mint condition for around $70, and are probably the most price efficient optical instrument in the world. If the telescope mount is precisely aligned to the celestial north pole, unguided exposures of one to two minutes are possible. Don't know what the young man uses as his camera, and if he has tried to keep the noise under control, or even tried to focus on the eyes of the mallard, or the cat (their eyes are not truly in focus). Thats quite a jump from 135mm, so the camera body you use with this lens may change the types of targets you shoot. So, for Joe User or especially for Jane Client, one really has to look closely to see much of a difference. In fact, a light-weight 200/2.8 seems more interesting to own (e.g., the Minolta 200/2.8). I think youll find that this lens is behind some of the most amazing wide-field astrophotography images online! if you compare images taken with this lens to those from a 105mm f1.8 ais or a cosina 125mm and you'll see what i mean. Sharp but smooth at the same time. it is crisp, fast, and awsome. Bottom line, this is just an outstanding lens by any measure, one that makes clear why you'd want to pay the freight for expensive prime glass. The extremes are 2 and 22. Otherwise, on FF body this lens is wonderful. In the right hands this lens really does have "magic pixie dust", as a friend once described. If you're using or are looking to buy the Samyang or Rokinon 135mm F/2, please let me know what you're imaging with it or any questions you may have in the comment section below. This allows for less aggressive camera settings for night photography such as using a lower ISO setting and shorter exposure. You won't get the excessive background blurr -- which for the beginning photographer may actually be a good thing. But she might as well be in front of a green screen. Whats the best camera for around $2000? But in the rush to make hybrids why are aren't we giving video shooters the tools they need? The Image Sensor Frame tool lets you enter in the size of your camera sensor, and focal length of your lens (or telescope) to display a frame over the star map. The lens is so crisp that the diaphragm blade pattern is visible on point light sources shot at large aperature. Its a trade-off, and one that seems to surface time and time again in this hobby. Released only weeks apart, the Sony 50mm F1.4 GM and Sigma F1.4 DG DN Art are clear competitors. It must not be confused with the much cheaper SMC Takumar, often deceptively advertised as SMC Pentax Takumar, which has the M42 camera thread, and is plagued with unextinguishable blue chromatic aberration. He's better than I am on BS, I got to give him that. With the high megapixel cameras, most people are going to ideally want to shoot at 1/200 or faster. I would never shell out hundreds of euros for a 135 prime let alone one with manual focus. One thing I am most stun is its AF performance. Thanks, Chris, hi Trevor my name is sagar i have same lens but i have one question why lot of stars are appearing in my image which is taken thru rokinon 135mm, Your email address will not be published. Helps me as a beginner a lot Great question Scott I think it depends on the image. fast, sharp wide open, excellent bokeh, value for money, very fast, sharp, gorgeous background blur, world class lens. Even if the background is very close to your subject, somehow the optical construction in the 135mm lens will still manage to separate the background beautifully. While they provide a very large flat field we noticed some CA. Include the Carl Zeiss in your research though, it might be an interesting lens for you, even if it is a bit pricey for what you get. In these situations, a portable, wide-field imaging rig wins. It can isolate subject while being tack sharp with beautiful creamy bokeh when used at f2. I'm thinking a modern (but expensive) Nikon 200mm f/2.0, 300mm f/4 or f/2.8 or a Borg telephoto/telescope would all be very good. That is kind of the point I am trying to make -- These pictures are really not in another league. Cost. Fast continuous shooting, reliable autofocus and great battery life are just three of the most important factors. Image quality, weight and value for money. The one and only 300mm lens I tested is the Zeiss Tele-Tessar 300mm F4. This article was originally published on Micael's blog, and is being republished in full with express permission. Chromatic aberration is almost eliminated in narrowband, so lenses with that problem may be fine performers. The moment I tried the Samyang 135mm F2 for the first time after purchasing it, I immediately felt that it was a very special lens. I want to see the bokeh and the sharpness at 100% mag, don't care about the photos. This is a fully manual lens, meaning that it does not have autofocus, and you must manually select the f-stop . Adam007,"a headshot is exactly where I want to see all those megapixels"No thanks. Crazy fast AF! I do know, however, that I can take an equally framed photo I've shot with my Canon kit lens, both zoomed to 100% I run circles around this guy. They create a beautiful, mesmerizing dreamscape in their photos, and their secret weapon, besides an impeccable sense for aesthetics, is the 135mm F2 lens. It actually makes my eyes water as I try to resolve how bad the blurriness is. Amazing for portraits, easily fast enough for indoor sports. Unfortunately I haven't more the Canon lens. never mind.. confirmed from others that F19 is indeed the one that is excluded on this lens! (purchased for $890), reviewed October 21st, 2005 You would be hard pressed to find any other lens on a full frame camera that produces creamier bokeh. The first telephoto lens of choice, especially recommended for beginners, is the 135mm F2.5 SMC Pentax. I've seen several listed but here are more to consider. And only the cat photo has something OK (but it is a cat shot You easily get them look good). I would like to make this work with the Nikkor 180mm ED (i.e., what I have versus what I cannot havelol). So, let's see where it falls short of perfection: Pentax seems to have put more emphasis than others on keeping the resolution uniform all over the field. Write your own user review for this lens. OM System's latest lens is a whopper of a macro, featuring optical stabilization, full weather sealing, up to 2x magnification and a whole lot more. With this lens you don't need to do much if any post processing. Super sharp from f2. Still, all things considered, I prize this lens very highly and can not imagine giving it up. SIx months on from buying it this has become my favourite lens ever, beating my previous favourite (Leica's 4th version of the 35mm Summicron for its M-series rangefinders). 2 Dielectric Diagonals. For my purposes, this is a spectacular lens. To achieve creamy bokeh, a lens should have a wide maximum aperture and a long focal length. Or just get a zoom that is 24-200mm and you are covered. But ppl should know there is much better advice in the forums. Great looking lens, if you ever saw it from the front. I'll walk you through all this inc. Trully sharp accross whole frame from f2 on 5d. I've owned a few L lenses and while their USM motors have always been quick to snap in focus, this 135mm is on a different level. While some people LOVE the bokeh circles (first photo), others hate them and consider them a distraction.The 50mm f/1.8 is hardly a lens to talk about. The flawless image quality is only half the story though. This is huge for me, as it allows me to be much more nimble with getting the right composition and angle. The flat lens hood design allows you to easily take flat frames with the Rokinon 135mm using the white t-shirt method or using a flat panel. Although your target audience is beginning DSLR imagers, much of your advice also applies to using lenses with CCD cameras. Not rude at all, a fair comment. After the first exposure in M mode, the camera throws an error saying Error please press the shutter button again. As a complete beginner in Astrophotography should I buy Rokinon 135mm lens or Canon EF 75-300mm lens with Canon EF 50mm lens? My goal for this article was to show some great example photos and share some ideas for projects this lens is a good fit for. For comparison, no other lens I know of would earn more than 8/10.