Samyang AF 35-150mm f/2-2.8 FE lens review

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They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery :-) how well does this Samyang lens imitate is much more expensive Tamron competitor?

All pictures taken by me on a Sony a7R III camera.

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As always, excellent review, Christopher. I’ve had two copies of this lens. One excellent copy that was sharp at all focal lengths and all apertures and another copy that was unusable beyond 110mm without stopping down to f4.0 and not totally sharp until f5.6. My first copy also had bad lens creep, while my more recent/better copy does not. So do not hesitate to send the lens back for exchange or refund if your copy is of unsatisfactory sharpness, because there are some excellent copies out there. I will note that this lens doesn’t seem to get all the way out to 35mm, probably more like 37-38mm. It is very slightly narrower than the Samyang 35mm f2.8. This truly is an all-in-one lens for event photography or out and about portraiture. My only complaint is that it is a heavy lens, particularly on the small A7iii body, but certainly lighter than the traditional 70-200 f2.8 lenses. I'm not sure I would use it for travel, but I get by just fine with my Sony 28mm f2 and the wide angle adapter.

I’d also like to find a tripod collar if anyone has any suggestions!

timothyjgates

My copy was a bit soft at 150mm f2.8 but I used the little dock to alter the back focus slightly and it’s now nearly perfect.

JAMESBOCCO

Looking pretty good for the price! A quick tip, but I picked the Tamron up for about the same price (USD $1300) in Tokyo from Yodobashi Camera due to the weak Yen and no tax. It came with an international warranty as well. I love the focal length as it's super versatile and it gives me a good workout 💪 Japan is the camera lover's heaven

thisistimmy

I've seen a few people have had their Samyang 35-150 lens break off at the mount. It's the same issue they had with the 24-70. It's like their mount isn't strong enough to support the weight of the lens. And they waited to send you a copy because they know you're one of the best and honest reviewers out there, and they needed to wait to update the AF firmware because before it was completely unusable in video mode. The firmware made it a lot better, but still not quite as good as the Tamron.

DexterGoneWild

I finally see this review that I've been waiting for a long time. I have this lens that I use for weddings on a sony a7iii and it very rarely has problems with focusing. The only problem that annoys me a little is leans flare when I shoot outdoors with the sun behind subject, but otherwise I find the lens to be extraordinarily good

cpr

I have this lens and it quickly became one of my favorites. What is also important in comparison to the Tamron, that the Samyang lens has linear focusing, which is a must for videography. For some unknown reason, many Tamron, Sigma and Sony lenses don't have a linear MF response, which is a shame.

radimpalus

7:00 - wow, that minidisc is a blast from the past!

the_wiki

i pre-ordered this lens and have had it for a few months now. The only drawback is the autofocus. it’s hit & miss at static objects and worse tracking objects moving toward the camera. i bought the dock adapter for it and hoping they update the lens to improve it’s autofocus performance. aside from that, i love the images i get from it. so much so, I sold my sigma 24-70 2.8 and use this instead.

airdailyx

Thanks for this review. Been waiting for a long time for you to get your hands on it.

Any chance you could make a side by side comparison using your old footage from testing the tamron? I know you dont have them both anymore. But I miss the style you used to do with e.g. the super zooms and quite recently the 150-600 lenses, where you go through side by side comparisons.

Anyway, amazing job as usual!

Wistbacka

What an amazing lens! Excited for it coming to the L-Mount now!

leonkullig

Had mine for about 6 months now and have used it on many event jobs. I had kind of forgotten how sharp it was until last night when I was editing a job and was impressed with the detail and contrast of a candid portrait made at 82mm and f2.8 at low ISO. "Wow, " I thought. "This thing is better than I realized". A lot of my work is at very high ISO, so I was used to seeing images with less detail.
The one weakness I've noted is veiling flare with large areas of strong backlight, such as a person indoors with a large window behind them. It's pretty bad. Folks have said the same of the Tamron. But, this doesn't seem an issue with venue lighting.
One other thing that struck me last night was the weight. Now, I don't feel that the lens is burdensome, even when I use it all day, but when I swapped it for a small prime, suddenly the camera felt featherweight, even with a battery grip on it. Made me think again about getting a third body and shooting more with three primes, which is how I worked for years before getting this zoom.

Cornell-LynchFamily

I bought the samyang 24-70, also advertised as par focal, which it wasn't. My "issue" with the Samnyang zoom lenses is the weight and the image quality that gets normal really between f/5.6 and f/8. Centre softness at max zoom seems to be the same as with 24-70mm . That said, pricing is very competitive, but I prefer their primes.

PaulTakesPhotos