Samyang AF 14 mm f/2.8 EF review - Distortion

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Samyang AF 14 mm f/2.8 EF

2 October 2018

Arkadiusz Olech

6. Distortion

With an angle of view of about 114 degrees it is not easy to correct distortion and producers often introduce moustache variation of that aberration in order to improve the results. That distortion was a big problem in the case of the first version of the Samyang 2.8/14 and, unfortunately, it seems it wasn’t improved in the new model. Only the Premium device fares better but still it lags seriously behind the Canon 2.8/14 II or the Irix 2.4/15. It was a consolation that the Premium version didn’t feature any moustache deformations either.

How does the situation look in the case of the Samyang AF 14 mm f/2.8 EF? On the smaller sensor of the Canon 50D you get barrel distortion of −2.22%. It is a result practically the same as in the case of the Premium 2.4/14 model but noticeably lower than that of the Samyang 14 mm f/2.8 ED AS IF UMC. Still it lags significantly behind the good performance of the Canon 2.8/14 II and the Irix 2.4/15.

On full frame you can notice moustache distortion, plaguing two former versions of the Samyang 2.8/14 and tamed to some extend in the Premium model. Deformations averaged out across the frame reach −3.55% and that result doesn’t look bad at all. Still it is diminished by a bending of the line near the edge of the frame caused by moustache distortion exactly. If you limit your measurements to the 1:1 markings area the barrel distortion will increase to −4.46%. We have to say Samyang is going in the right direction because these results are lower than the results of the first versions of 2.8/14 instrument but still there is a long way before them. Such lenses as the Canon 2.8/14 II, the Sigma 1.8/14 or the Irix 2.4/15 show that you can correct distortion better even with such angles of view and you don’t need to introduce noticeable moustache deformations.

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