Samyang SY16M-C 16mm f/2.0 Aspherical Wide Angle Lens for Canon EF Cameras

Phenomenal lens! Personally if you don't absolutely NEED autofocus you'd be a complete fool to buy an L-series lens over this one. This is one of the sharpest lenses I have ever encountered (even at wide open) and it's a small fraction of the cost of some of the Canon glass. It's built like a tank, has a super smooth focus wring...I mean there's just nothing to dislike about it.

This copy has an astigmatism on the left as well as sever coma.The right has minimal of either, leading me to believe that like many of the Rokinon/Samyang lenses that an element is off center.More than a few buyers have had to return these lenses, like I have done for this reason to get a good copy.However, besides this issue the lens clarity is phenomenal for the price, and its sensitivity to light for astrophotography is excellent. For close up daytime shooting one would never notice the lens flaws, but I did purchase this lens for astrophotography, and it just doesn't cut it because of these issues.I am however purchasing another of the same model in hopes of a better copy.The fact that this lens has metal construction, a removable lens hood, and filter threads is why I have decidedto give it another try.

For all its size and weight, the primary lens in relatively small though the filter ring is 77mm. It is manual focus only, but the aperture ring has a setting that allows for automatic control with Pentax bodies. The Image Quality is good and I didn't see much 'fish-eye' effect. It has roughly a 90-degree field of view. Because it lacks auto-focus, it might not be ideal for city night shots. It's a little pricey given the lack of that feature. It comes into its own for video applications and set predictable shots. In broad daylight, where the aperture is stopped down, it's quite useful for close shots where you want to take in a wide view BECAUSE, due to its 16mm traits, most objects over 3-6 feet distant will be acceptably in focus. I used this lens at a Civil War reenactment to good effect when I wanted to snap participants within their tents later. The 28-300mm Pentax zoom lens forced me to keep backing up on too many occasions, but was ideal for pulling the battlefield in close enough to make out the action. So, if you've got a long zoom, but are going to be getting close to your subjects with good/day light, this should be your companion lens. Nothing else comes close to its performance for the price in Pentax compatible mounts. Had the primary lens diameter been as large as the housing would suggest, it could have been an even faster lens.

I have to say it is an amazingly sharp lens. The first time I used with my Fujifilm X-T10 I was at the Bronx Botanical Gardens I had this lens and the Fujifilm XF 35mm f/1.4 with me. I brought the 35mm with me just in case I didn’t like the results from the Samyang 16mm. Needless to say the 35mm never was taken out of my camera bag and that’s saying something. I can’t believe how close this lens allows you to get to the subject. The two flowers shot at f/2.2 the cafe shot at f/4.0. Considering the price in a word excellent.

I came across a blog that recommended this for use as an astrophotography lens. This was the first lens i bought apart from my kit lens and it has really lived up to my expectations.I'll post a picture i took of the Milkyway galaxy while i was camping last summer. It is fairly big and heavy, but the quality is good and the price is even better.

For meteors and milky way shots it is top notch. For other uses I cannot say.

I just want to warn you that this lens has serious issues. I bought the lens for nighttime photography, and yes I know this is not a top of the line lens, but it's the only lens available that's f./2 16mm and fits most people's budget (the Rokinon is the same lens with a different name). Watch out. When I enlarged a test photo, the stars in the corners had significant coma and all stars had noticeable magenta/cyan chromatic aberration. And the sharpness was not consistent across the image; my lens was sharp on the right side and blurry on the left. I will be sending this lens back.

I wish it had a lock for the focus ring, other than that a very sharp and fast lens for the price and made very well