Samyang AF 35 mm f/1.4 P FE review

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Samyang AF 35 mm f/1.4 P FE

13 March 2025

Maciej Latałło

7. Coma, astigmatism and bokeh

The Samyang AF 35 mm f/1.4 P FE doesn't correct coma in a proper way. Its trace is visible even in the corners of the APS-C/DX sensor where the point-like diode images turn into a slight comma. In the corner of full frame this comma increases its dimensions and, at the same, it gets distinct 'wings', a result of active off-axis aberrations of higher degree.

The fact that stopping down the aperture from f/1.4 to f/2.0 is not able to change coma situation practically at all is also a piece of bad news. It's obvious this aberration limits resolution on the edge of the frame. Still, you cannot call its level very high because you deal here with values on the borderline of medium and high values.

Center, f/1.4	Corner APS-C, f/1.4	Corner FF, f/1.4

Center, f/2.0	Corner APS-C, f/2.0	Corner FF, f/2.0

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In order to present a full spectrum of results in this category we decided to show also crops taken from photos of starry sky taken from the upper left-hand corner of full frame. This time we focused on shots taken by f/1.4, f/2.0, and f/2.8. They show clearly that only after stopping down the aperture to f/2.8 this aberration is limited in any distinct way; it concerns mainly decreasing dimensions of the 'wings' we mentioned earlier.

Corner FF, f/1.4	Corner FF, f/2.0	Corner FF, f/2.8

Astigmatism, understood as an average difference between horizontal and vertical MTF50 function values, amounted to 11.4%. It's a value that can be described as medium. It's worth adding that astigmatism makes itself felt by f/1.4 and f/2.0; by f/2.8 it disappears almost completely.

The appearance of out-of-focus images is very average. The interiors of the circles show a lot of inhomogeneities and onion-ring bokeh, created by aspherical elements used in the optics. Mechanical vignetting is also a huge problem – it remains visible even on stopping down the aperture by 2 EV.

Center, f/1.4	Corner APS-C, f/1.4	Corner FF, f/1.4

Center, f/2.0	Corner APS-C, f/2.0	Corner FF, f/2.0

Center, f/2.8	Corner APS-C, f/2.8	Corner FF, f/2.8