Another New Inexpensive Lens
I'm always on the lookout for good quality lenses at low prices. I can and do find all sorts of manual focus lenses that meet this criteria but I rarely come across an autofocus lens that is both a "good quality" and available at a low price. Fortunately, Rokinon has started producing autofocus lenses for Sony E-mount cameras and these lenses seem to be of pretty good quality.
I already own a Rokinon manual focus lens that I find is great for portraits... the 85mm f1.4. As you can see in the portrait of Sheila at right, it really renders beautiful portraits. It is sharp, has nice contrast and the bokeh is smooth. For portrait work, a manual focus lens is no problem since my subject is always static and I really like this Rokinon 85mm lens for this purpose.
However, for family events and parties, an autofocus lens helps out considerably because my subjects are always in motion and rarely want to stand still while I take a few short seconds to focus manually. Additionally, when I'm at parties, I find I don't want the challenge of focusing manually so I always lean on autofocus lenses for this purpose. The fact that Rokinon is now starting to produce autofocus lenses for Sony E-mount cameras is great news and especially since they kicked off this new autofocus line with the wide angle 35mm.
So, keeping the purpose of shooting photos of family events and parties in mind, a standard wide angle lens would be best for these situations. I already own an old Konica 40mm f1.8 lens but it is manual focus. It is a great lens but I need some time to focus. Rokinon just came out with a new 35mm f2.8 lens. A huge plus is that it is a very compact, lightweight and quite inexpensive lens. My thoughts were that if it is sharp enough and focuses well enough, this lens would be great for parties and family events!
This new Rokinon 35mm lens is almost identical (physically) to the Sony Zeiss 35mm f2.8 lens... except that the Rokinon costs less than half the price of the Sony Zeiss. Considering my budget, this Rokinon lens falls in a nice price range for me.
This lens arrived a week or two ago but I really haven't had much time to test it for its intended purpose. We spend everyday at the hospital and I've been using a smaller lens with a slightly wider view for those photos. The hospital rooms are quite tight so a wider lens is necessary for those photos. Then, when we get back home, we're both exhausted and ready for dinner. Each day revolves around cancer treatment so little else has been happening in our lives since early August.
Although I haven't shot any portrait type photos with this new lens, I have played around with it for other photos. So far, this lens is looking pretty good. As you can see in the photo below, this lens is compact and keeps my camera small. The camera and lens being small will be great for walking around shooting photos at an event or party.
I did use this new lens to shoot a photo of some glassware a couple of days ago and I have to say that I like the results here. It appears as though this lens is sharp... colors are nice... and the background bokeh (the quality of the out of focus areas) is pretty good for a wider lens...
Even when I tried shooting some photos in a darkened room, the autofocus worked just fine so that is another plus. I should also mention that all the autofocus modes seemed to work as they should... including eye-autofocus. Focusing in a darkened room, however, can be virtually impossible for many lenses though but this Rokinon seemed to do just fine for me.
One thing I like and find amusing about this lens manufacturer is its name... Rokinon... spelled backwards it is "no Nikor". For those who don't know, Nikkor is really Nikon and I am not a fan of Nikon... not at all. Another thing I like about Rokinon is it is a South Korean manufacturer and, lately, I've been liking the quality of many of the electronics coming out of South Korea (ie, Samsung). Rokinon (also known as Samyang outside of the US market) is making some really nice lenses at great prices in recent years.
This photo, below, shows some nice background separation and some nice sharpness but it is a good example of the bokeh (the quality of the background out of focus areas) being a bit hard-edged rather than smooth as butter (like in that portrait of Sheila, above). This is a common trait of wider lenses such as this one but I can definitely live with what we see here.
Overall, I'm liking this lens and I think it will come in handy for many family situations and events. And, the price was quite reasonable.
I'm looking forward more autofocus lenses from Rokinon but I'm also looking forward to the day when Sigma and Tamron start cranking out high quality autofocus lenses for Sony E-mount also! They promise it will be soon... but, not soon enough as far as I'm concerned.
I already own a Rokinon manual focus lens that I find is great for portraits... the 85mm f1.4. As you can see in the portrait of Sheila at right, it really renders beautiful portraits. It is sharp, has nice contrast and the bokeh is smooth. For portrait work, a manual focus lens is no problem since my subject is always static and I really like this Rokinon 85mm lens for this purpose.
However, for family events and parties, an autofocus lens helps out considerably because my subjects are always in motion and rarely want to stand still while I take a few short seconds to focus manually. Additionally, when I'm at parties, I find I don't want the challenge of focusing manually so I always lean on autofocus lenses for this purpose. The fact that Rokinon is now starting to produce autofocus lenses for Sony E-mount cameras is great news and especially since they kicked off this new autofocus line with the wide angle 35mm.
So, keeping the purpose of shooting photos of family events and parties in mind, a standard wide angle lens would be best for these situations. I already own an old Konica 40mm f1.8 lens but it is manual focus. It is a great lens but I need some time to focus. Rokinon just came out with a new 35mm f2.8 lens. A huge plus is that it is a very compact, lightweight and quite inexpensive lens. My thoughts were that if it is sharp enough and focuses well enough, this lens would be great for parties and family events!
This new Rokinon 35mm lens is almost identical (physically) to the Sony Zeiss 35mm f2.8 lens... except that the Rokinon costs less than half the price of the Sony Zeiss. Considering my budget, this Rokinon lens falls in a nice price range for me.
This lens arrived a week or two ago but I really haven't had much time to test it for its intended purpose. We spend everyday at the hospital and I've been using a smaller lens with a slightly wider view for those photos. The hospital rooms are quite tight so a wider lens is necessary for those photos. Then, when we get back home, we're both exhausted and ready for dinner. Each day revolves around cancer treatment so little else has been happening in our lives since early August.
Although I haven't shot any portrait type photos with this new lens, I have played around with it for other photos. So far, this lens is looking pretty good. As you can see in the photo below, this lens is compact and keeps my camera small. The camera and lens being small will be great for walking around shooting photos at an event or party.
I did use this new lens to shoot a photo of some glassware a couple of days ago and I have to say that I like the results here. It appears as though this lens is sharp... colors are nice... and the background bokeh (the quality of the out of focus areas) is pretty good for a wider lens...
Even when I tried shooting some photos in a darkened room, the autofocus worked just fine so that is another plus. I should also mention that all the autofocus modes seemed to work as they should... including eye-autofocus. Focusing in a darkened room, however, can be virtually impossible for many lenses though but this Rokinon seemed to do just fine for me.
One thing I like and find amusing about this lens manufacturer is its name... Rokinon... spelled backwards it is "no Nikor". For those who don't know, Nikkor is really Nikon and I am not a fan of Nikon... not at all. Another thing I like about Rokinon is it is a South Korean manufacturer and, lately, I've been liking the quality of many of the electronics coming out of South Korea (ie, Samsung). Rokinon (also known as Samyang outside of the US market) is making some really nice lenses at great prices in recent years.
This photo, below, shows some nice background separation and some nice sharpness but it is a good example of the bokeh (the quality of the background out of focus areas) being a bit hard-edged rather than smooth as butter (like in that portrait of Sheila, above). This is a common trait of wider lenses such as this one but I can definitely live with what we see here.
Overall, I'm liking this lens and I think it will come in handy for many family situations and events. And, the price was quite reasonable.
I'm looking forward more autofocus lenses from Rokinon but I'm also looking forward to the day when Sigma and Tamron start cranking out high quality autofocus lenses for Sony E-mount also! They promise it will be soon... but, not soon enough as far as I'm concerned.
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