Fuji Rokinon 12mm f2

KillRamsey

Hall of Famer
Location
Hood River, OR
Name
Kyle
Wellllll I finally pulled the trigger. A trigger, anyway. With my squirreled-away hard-earned money, I ordered:

Fuji XF23 f1.4
Rokinon 12mm f2
clear filters for both
Circ Polarizer for 23mm lens
2x Yongnuo 560 IV flashes
One Yongnuo controller for those flashes, so I can change all settings remotely
One portable diffuser
2 packs of Eneloop batteries and a charger
One nice set of gels for the flashes

-pant pant pant-

And it arrived. I ran outside and fired off a few shots with this-n-that. Here's a set of jpgs from the Rokinon 12 mil, unedited, SOOC. This is what $319 will get you.

21700246732_176bf767f0_b.jpg
KBRX4590
by gordopuggy, on Flickr

21089046914_192e18f31f_b.jpg
KBRX4596
by gordopuggy, on Flickr

21524922579_a57961cde9_b.jpg
KBRX4603
by gordopuggy, on Flickr

Quick impression whole chimping the files on a screen: They got rid of essentially all the normal lens flaws (coma, flaring, fringing), but it's not quite as sharp as the Fuji stuff. It'd better NOT be, given the price. But it's more than sharp enough, and it's light, and clicks nicely, and the focusing is damped, and nothing rattles. I really liked shooting with it. More to come, I'm sure. Anybody else have this thing?
 
Ohhhh, this lens. Good lord. It's very quickly becoming my walk-around lens, crazy as that sounds. I absolutely love shooting with it. In no particular order...

- The aperture ring is firm and steady, and easy to adjust without looking once you remember that it's half stops, not thirds. And f2 is fantastic.
- Focus is easy, once you figure out where infinity really is. Put 'er in f5.6, focus a little in from infinity, try to keep the body level, dictate the electronic shutter, and you're just blasting away right amongst people without anyone noticing or caring.
- The output is SO, so good. This is unedited, straight out of the X-T1, shot at f2:

21789658915_8cb6121649_b.jpg
KBRX4893
by gordopuggy, on Flickr

It vignettes a little at full aperture, which is frankly pretty much what I'd usually be doing to it in post anyway. I pulled these tree files up this morning, and my jaw hit the damned desk. I kept starting to edit, but then I'd stop, and say "...... why? This is what you wanted anyway."
 
Really cool. This lens is just a bit larger than I'd like, but then all of its competitors, also for different systems, are at least the same size. Super wide angle plus shallow dof is a combination that I'd really like to have at my disposal...
 
I never go out to anything "real" without this lens now. If I'm just going to a friend's house or the store or something, sure I'll still usually bring a camera (I have a problem) but I probably just bring the kit zoom or the 23. But when I know there's shots to be had, the 12 does a few tricks that nothing else can do. This, the 18-55, and the XC50-230 are the best bang-for-buck so far.

23348718661_e1b5713445_b.jpg
KBRX5867
by gordopuggy, on Flickr

22804103873_7e3537f3c5_b.jpg
KBRX5563
by gordopuggy, on Flickr
 
pickets&protons1-DSCF0835.jpg
I have the Samyang version, $408 here in Oz. I use it a lot for aurora, and for landscapes

Proton arc and picket fence formation, night of 7-8 November 2015, off South Arm, Hobart, Tasmania, taken from Goat Bluff X-T1, Samyang 12mm f2, 25 secs, ISO 2000
 
I'm not sure what I would use a 12mm lens for, but those shots and that price it really has me thinking. Ahhhh
I initially thought I'd use it less. I've found that if you're careful to keep key things like faces and horizon lines on the X and Y axes, the corner distortion is a fun tool to use. It allows you to shoot from the corner of a room and get ALL of the room into frame, since the viewing angle is something like 91 degrees?
 
Wellllll I finally pulled the trigger. A trigger, anyway. With my squirreled-away hard-earned money, I ordered:

Fuji XF23 f1.4
Rokinon 12mm f2
clear filters for both
Circ Polarizer for 23mm lens
2x Yongnuo 560 IV flashes
One Yongnuo controller for those flashes, so I can change all settings remotely
One portable diffuser
2 packs of Eneloop batteries and a charger
One nice set of gels for the flashes

-pant pant pant-

And it arrived. I ran outside and fired off a few shots with this-n-that. Here's a set of jpgs from the Rokinon 12 mil, unedited, SOOC. This is what $319 will get you.

21700246732_176bf767f0_b.jpg
KBRX4590
by gordopuggy, on Flickr

21089046914_192e18f31f_b.jpg
KBRX4596
by gordopuggy, on Flickr

21524922579_a57961cde9_b.jpg
KBRX4603
by gordopuggy, on Flickr

Quick impression whole chimping the files on a screen: They got rid of essentially all the normal lens flaws (coma, flaring, fringing), but it's not quite as sharp as the Fuji stuff. It'd better NOT be, given the price. But it's more than sharp enough, and it's light, and clicks nicely, and the focusing is damped, and nothing rattles. I really liked shooting with it. More to come, I'm sure. Anybody else have this thing?

Nice article and images, KillRamsey! I also like and agree with your comment regarding the sharpness of the Rokinon v. Fujinon lenses! I find them to be at LEAST as sharp as anything I've used in the DSLR world, and that's coming from Nikon and Pentax. In fact, I just got the Fujinon 35 f/2 WR lens (a bargain at $400), and it's tack sharp (especially in the center and very nearly to the frame edge) at all apertures from about f/2 to f/11. I'm finding for the very first time in my 15 year digital experience, that sharpening in post is now "optional"!! Thanks, and Happy Holidays to all us photographers!!
 
Back
Top