Rokinon / Samyang 35mm T1.5 Tests + R3Ds

[Juan Melara]

So I received the Rokinon / Samyang 35mm T1.5 the other week and did my standard lens tests. I've written a blog post about it, check it out here: http://juanmelara.com.au/?p=29

You can see some of the results below.

There are few more test scenes and R3D downloads of all the images at the link above.

2560 x 1072px version

2560 x 1072px version

2560 x 7072px version

2560 x 7072px version

Test Scene 1 - Morrison St

For the test below, the Epic was set to shoot 5k, 24fps, ISO 800 at 3:1 compression. No filters of any variety were used. The T-stop was set and and then the exposure was dialed in by varying the shutter. Exposure was set by using false colour. The images were derived from a full debayer. No sharpening has been added to any of the images. They have been lightly graded in Resolve. If you want to see them without my grading check out the R3Ds.

This is a relatively high contrast scene that pushed the lens. The buildings in the centre are exposed just below clipping. The shadows under the trees are close to the noise floor.

Focus is set on the centre blue building.

Below are centre 1:1 crops showing the focus area.

At the centre, the T1.5 crop seems to look softer than other shots I’ve taken at the the same T-stop. Mainly cause of the bright building in the background that seems to be causing the lens to bloom. Looking at lower contrast areas in the T1.5 1:1 image, the lens seems to fair better. But overall at T1.5 the lens is quite soft and smeary.

The softness starts to clear at around T2 and by T2.8 it’s starting to look pretty good. At 1080p/2k or less the lens is quite usable at T2.

By T4 the lens is quite sharp. I’m struggling to see any difference in sharpness beyond T4.

Here are 2.5k images and pixel for pixel centre crops:

T1.5 | 2560 x 1350px | 1:1 centre crop
T2 | 2560 x 1350px | 1:1 centre crop
T2.8 | 2560 x 1350px | 1:1 centre crop
T4 | 2560 x 1350px | 1:1 centre crop
T5.6 | 2560 x 1350px | 1:1 centre crop
T8 | 2560 x 1350px | 1:1 centre crop
T11 | 2560 x 1350px | 1:1 centre crop

Overall this is good lens and for the price - its a bit of a no brainer.

Read more...

 

[Arturo Sánchez]

Great! Thanks for sharing

 

[Jett He]

Nice post. Looking to pick up the 3 lens from them

 

[Karim D. Ghantous]

Thank you for your thorough and very useful review! Even at a glance it tells a lot. The problem is that this lens is really a T/4.0 (or maybe T/2.8). Don't tell me it's a T/1.5! And for the asking price, I guess that's all you can expect. If this lens had a maximum aperture of T/2.8, it would probably be just as good wide-open as it would be stopped down. But, it seems that numbers sell, and T/2.8 won't sell as much as T/1.5.

And this leads to the current fad of shooting with a shallow DOF. A lot of people are going to want to shoot at T/1.5, which is neither here nor there. But at this level of quality, you aren't even going to get a 2K image out of this lens wide-open.

The only remaining question is what affordable lenses out there actually perform adequately at this aperture?

 

[Patrick Grossien]

...Even at a glance it tells a lot. The problem is that this lens is really a T/4.0 (or maybe T/2.8). Don't tell me it's a T/1.5!
...
The only remaining question is what affordable lenses out there actually perform adequately at this aperture?

That would be great to know. I have the feeling that the Canon and affordable Zeiss lenses don't do a much better job at a similar aperture level.

 

[Juan Melara]

I think we'll struggle to find anything at this price point ($550) or even 2-3x that price that performs well wide open. Unless someone happens to be selling a banged-up Master Prime on its last legs, rehoused in soup tin. But then thats still probably worth more as spare parts...

But to be fair, the lens is as much a T1.5 as any Canon L series prime is an F1.4.

If you compare apples to apples: Samyang 35mm F1.4 (same lens) to the Canon 35mm F1.4 L both @ F1.4 at The Digital Picture, the Samyang appears to outperform the Canon wide open.

Even up against the Zeiss 35mm 1.4 ZE, it doesn't do too badly.

Also you need to take into account that I'm not adding any sharpening to any of these images.

Below are T1.5 - T4 crops from 2k files I’ve exported from Resolve. I’ve then applied a bit of sharpening as I previously hadn’t done. 2k exports are probably a more worthwhile comparison than the 2.5k files I’ve provided in the original post, since most projects are still finished at 2k or below.

I think most people would agree that T2 is more than usable and T1.5 is usable in a pinch.

 

[Michael AvMen]

I love these test..Cant Wait to Buy one, In the End the Person who is going to be watching the Film will never look so Closely like we do.

 

[Mats Morken]

Learning about lenses is so hard. Thanks for making it easier

These samyang cinevised lenses are going to be my start lenses so cheers for the review.

Dumb question: So a pricey lence would not bloom at T1.5 on the centre building?