Sony Showcase Samyang 24/1.8

Kind of impressed. This is a nice compact little lens and seems to be pretty sharp. I had need for a wide/fast and this fills the bill nicely. B&H has these on sale for $400.

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Losing 1/3 stop compared to the $1300 Sony seems to be about the only drawback. Weight was surprising, 445g (about 1lb) for the Sony compared to 230g (1/2lb) for the Samyang.

It's weather sealed, has a two-mode switch to choose between DMF and Aperture, a focus hold button that is assignable, and an LED that indicates infinity focus has been reached for astrophotography. That's quite a few features for the size and price.

I've heard so many times about copy variance and QA/QC problems with Samyang/Rokinon. This is my fourth one, 3 E-Mount and 1 M-4/3, and so far no problems. Either I'm lucky, or their getting better, or it's overblown.

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Well, I don't know how anyone could complain about this lens. They had a test-n-tune at the track last night, so I went out to do my own test-n-tune on some new settings on my A7RIII and check this lens out for its intended purpose, before a major event. I am very happy with the results.

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That particular shot was with the 7M4.

I've been trying to increase the hit rate with the RIII at the track so I tried some different things. The main difference was switching to Lock-On Medium. I also tried Lock-On Wide but it's too squirrely. Auto ISO, seems like I maxed it at 6400. Uncompressed RAW, burst set to Hi (8FPS) which is plenty fast for this type of shooting and has no blackout. I did some other things too but would have to go back and review them. Everything helped, but still not as fast or sure as the M4. I love the sensor in the RIII, I wish I could combine it and the RAW burst rate with the A7IV's other features and capabilities.
 
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