Samyang AF 50 mm f/1.4 FE II review - Introduction

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Samyang AF 50 mm f/1.4 FE II

5 August 2023

Maciej Latałło

1. Introduction

In case of the Sony FE mount Samyang – like previously – started with manual devices. First autofocus models were presented in 2016 – the Samyang AF 50 mm f/1.4 FE as the first, then, three months later, the Samyang AF 14 mm f/1.4 FE.

That classic 50 mm lens we have already tested and, to put it mildly, we weren't impressed with the results. Its maximum relative aperture wasn't too sharp, it featured huge coma, had problems with longitudinal chromatic aberration, and spherical aberration as well. There was also a lot of room for improvement when it came to its performance against bright light. Fortunately the price was rather moderate.

Samyang AF 50 mm f/1.4 FE II - Introduction

In November 2021 the producers decided to present its successor, the Samyang AF 50 mm f/1.4 II. You deal here with a quite new optical construction with two more elements inside, a bigger filter diameter and a shorter minimum focusing distance. The lens is also a bit lighter and shorter. It seems all these changes go in the right direction.

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Taking it all into account we had to check how the new model fared and compare it to its predecessor and direct rivals. We would like to thank Focus Nordic for delivering one specimen of the tested lens to our office for testing purposes.

You are also invited to get acquainted with our test procedure, described in the article "How do we test lenses?" If you feel it’s still not enough, please go to our FAQ section where you can find some further explanation.