Overview
This lens is a manual lens and hence no auto focus is possible with any DSLR camera body. It is a Korean make and sold in US in many names such as Vivitar, Bower, Rokinon, Samyang etc. This is a great portrait lens which will yield a great shallow depth of field for both still photography and movies.
Portrait Conventions
50mm - 135 mm is ideal focal lengh for Portrait photography and this lens sits perfectly in between with a very minimum aperture as f1.4 and hence leave it as a fast prime lens. The major competitors for this lens are Canon EF 85mm f1.8, Canon 85mm f1.2 and also equivalently in other brands.
Exposure & Metering
Advantages
- Very high shallow depth of field can be achieved on f 1.4, f2, and f2.8 apertures.
- Sharp through out the area from center to corner from f2.8 aperture which is a great strength of this lens.
- Skin Tones/Color of the picture is so soothing and normal for portrait pictures.
- This has a manual aperture ring which lets the photographer change the aperture by using that ring at regular stops. This gives a good control to user.
- Users will have a good control over the exposure using this lens only in Manual mode.
- Smooth flow of the focus ring let the user to have a great control while recoding video.
- Great for both Full-format and APS-C sensors.
Disadvantages
- No built-in AF motor with the lens on any mount (canon, nikon, sony etc)
- No focus confirmation mechanism on manual focus. There are some focus confirmation chip available on eBay..
- No clear EXIF information of the correct aperture when the photo was shot (even if programmed correctly at regular stops on my canon t2i body).
- Lighting is majorly cut down from F-stops f16-f22 compared to normal lenses possibly by 2 f-stops.
Usage Tips
- Use this in Manual mode to get correct exposure if you are good in Manual mode.
- Try to use for events in which subject is more stationary than running here and there.
- Avoid popup flash unless required for extra lighting in indoors/outdoors.
References:
Check out the sample images and review from the following links.
