Samyang 12 mm f/2.0 NCS CS
11. Summary
- high quality casing and a proper work of all parts of the lens,
- excellent image quality in the frame centre,
- acceptable image quality on the edge of the frame,
- proper correction of spherical aberration,
- moderate distortion,
- negligible astigmatism,
- good quality and performance to price ratio.
Cons:
- weak performance against bright light,
- noticeable vignetting,
- a bit too high chromatic aberration,
- a significant difference between the performance in the frame centre and on the edge of the frame.
It is an interesting fact that lately independent producers have been launching very original optical instruments and facing huge challenges. Sigma has produced excellent A series ‘primes’, Tamron has introduced on the market such rare devices as the 150-600 or the 16-300 mm, something you cannot find any other line-up and the Korean Samyang shows the 2/12 model, with better parameters than those of renowned optics producers (like Zeiss or Fujifilm), fully able to compete with its more reputable rivals on equal terms.
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The Samyang 12 mm f/2.0 NCS CS of course can’t be called a flawless lens; still you can forgive a lot a trailblazer. If you take into account its very sensible price you would be hard pressed not to recommend it. In fact I personally found the Samyang so good that, instead of sending it back to the distributor, I asked for the invoice and bought it. The lens will stay in my arsenal and I am going to use it for landscape photography and wide-field astrophotography. I don’t doubt it will perform very well.
