I had a lot of skepticism that Rokinon would be able to keep the performance acceptable when shooting at f/2.0. [Never use the Unsharp Mask filter to sharpen images, use ‘Smart Sharpen’ instead.]. Rokinon 14mm f/2.4 3. Can the new Rokinon 12mm f/2.0 NCS CS compete with the Zeiss Touit 12mm f/2.8? There is a fair degree of vignetting (darkening of the corner regions) which remains even when the lens is stopped down. Rokinon has been producing this lens for a very long time, and even though the cost is very low for what it does, it is pretty much the go-to lens for Milky Way astrophotography. At just 258g, this thing is pretty lightweight for a superwide f/2.0 lens, but it feels solid and has a metal mount, so it looks robust enough. I, along with most other photographers, am probably most interested in the performance of the lens when used wide open at f/2.0 because it’s the only 12mm for APS-C sensors to offer such a fast aperture. Here is the order in which they will appear below: 1. Comparing the Sigma 14mm f/1.8 lens with the Rokinon 14mm f/2.4 and f/2.8 lenses, photographer Matthew Saville says that each has its place the astrophotography world. All other standard return policy conditions apply.. Close I ordered one to take a look, nice and compact and it was certainly priced right. If by astrophotography, you mean starscapes, like a nice pic of delicate arch with the stars behind it, then yeah, it’s a pretty good deal. Fujifilm X-T1, Rokinon 12mm f2 lens, 30seconds, f2, ISO 2000 Michael Stillwell There is software, other than Photoshop and Lightroom, that are custom-made for astrophotography. It’s built out of high quality plastics with a metallic lens mount. At f/4, one could either crop away the corners so reducing the field of view or clean them up using a clone tool as described in the digest article ‘Wide-field Imaging: stretching the output from Deep Sky Stacker, repairing distorted stars and image enhancement’. The lens hood also snaps in place with a satisfying click and has no noticeable play once installed. As a result, hyperfocal shooting is a little more difficult and likely requires use of some sort of digital focus aid like focus peaking or magnified live-view. My other lenses weren’t up to the task, so I added it to my kit for just a few detail images per wedding.Fast forward a few years, and I discovered a love for as… There’s a tiny bit of purple fringed coma at the extreme corners, but overall it’s very mild by most standards. In general, the image was very pleasing but the image quality in the 4 corners was not even. Here are the results: If you have used the Rokinon 8mm f/2.8 Fisheye, this lens will feel remarkably similar and that’s a very good thing. You can read the full article on … As a very short focal length lens was being used the alignment does not have to be too precise and there is then the advantage that the image will move somewhat over the sensor during the taking of the sequence of frames which helps to remove what Tony Hallas calls ‘Colour Mottling’. Not to mention, the Rokinon 12mm f/2 is regarded as the absolute best wide angle prime for mirrorless astrophotography. The Samyang/Rokinon 12mm f/2.0 lens for astrophotography This is one of ~60 illustrated articles to be found in the author’s Astronomy Digest . A few months ago I showed readers how to pick a lens for milky way photography. The Rokinon 12mm f/2 feels like a sturdy, nearly indestructible little lens that is ready for a lot of abuse. Samyang/Rokinon 12mm F2.0 Sony E/Fuji-X/Canon EF-M/ Bottom Line. I cannot fault it. Samyang 14mm f/2.8 (same company as Rokinon, under a different name) 4. The all new Rokinon 12mm f/2.0 NCS CS is unique because it’s a lens design dedicated to mirrorless cameras. Its small size and small price tag make it that much more enjoyable. It’s very sharp at almost all f/numbers, even sharper than the much more expensive Zeiss Touit 12mm f/2.8. It’s almost the same size as Fujifilm’s XF 14mm f/2.8 R and actually smaller and lighter than Zeiss Touit 12mm f/2.8 despite being a full stop faster than both. Each of the 25 frames would contain dark current electrons in their pixel wells as well as those produced by photons captured from the sky. It’s manual focus only, which already makes for a completely different shooting experience that adds an extra level of difficulty to using the lens. It rotates with affirmative clicks at each half-stop from f/2.0 to f/22. It feels rather dense for its size, presumably from the 12 element design. Rokinon lenses are generally a bit more prone to long-term build quality issues compared to the name brands. Build Quality There is some distortion which is easily correctable in post processing if required. I don’t recommend using either lens at f/22 if you’re concerned about the best sharpness. The Sigma versus Rokinon (Samyang is another brand name for the same Rokinon lenses in the USA) debate has been going for a few years now … The corner stars were then very good. The Samyang/Rokinon 12mm F2.0 is one of the first ultra-wide-angle lenses designed for APS-C systems with an aperture of F2.0. The obvious competitor to this lens is the Zeiss Touit 12mm f/2.8. You can follow him on his website, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, Vimeo and Flickr. Neither is a particularly big lens but it’s curious how much bigger the Zeiss is, even though it’s a full stop slower. I’ve experienced this a couple of times.In a past life as a wedding photographer, I owned a macro lens that I bought exclusively for photographing details such as rings. This means that users should probably ignore the distance marks if they’re worried about critical focus when shooting wide open and instead rely on their camera’s focusing aids like magnified live view or focus peaking. I tested these lenses side-by-side while visiting Anza Borrego Desert State Park in California. The focus distance scale markings on the lens are also inaccurate on my copy: a problem that I’ve found to be common with Rokinon lenses. Pros: - large aperture … great fast wide angle lens for low light and astrophotography. Using an intervalometer, I took a set of 30 second exposure frames at 800 ISO which were stacked in Deep Sky Stacker. Inadvertently, I took a set of images of the Cygnus and Lyra region with the lens stopped down to f/8 − so a rather long combined exposure was required! Both of these lenses are very good but the Rokinon 12mm f/2.0 NCS CS has three distinct differences: it’s manual focus only, it’s faster by one full stop (f/2.0 vs f/2.8) and it’s about half the price (unless you count the recently announced deal on the Zeiss Touit 12mm f/2.8 and 32mm f/1.8 kit). The lens has a rear focusing design so the front element and lens barrel do not move at all when focusing which makes the lens particularly nice for filter use. Usually, something’s gotta give when lens designs are pushed to such extremes. The front element is quit… You can also support him by purchasing his online Skillshare class on photographing the Milky Way. Reviews on YouTube suggest that this is an excellent lens for taking wide field astrophotography images so I bought one to couple with my Sony A5000 (see article in digest) to take to New Zealand to image the southern Milky Way. The Rokinon 12mm f/2.0 starts very sharp in the center wide-open, with good performance in the corners. The Sony E-Mount Rokinon 12mm f/2.0 NCS CS Lens is a prime super wide angle lens designed specifically for Sony mirrorless cameras with APS-C sized image sensors. The compact and lightweight Rokinon 12mm f/2.0 NCS CS prime wide-angle lens for Canon M series APS-C cameras provides a 35mm-equivalent focal length of 19.2mm with a broad 95.7° angle of view. The vignetting which would be removed by using flat frames can be largely corrected in Photoshop (at f/4 a value of +55 in the ‘Distort > Lens Correction’ filter). Whatever you photograph, there inevitably will come a time when you want a specialist lens for a specific subject. [This would not help reduce the effects of dust mites on the sensor that flat frames taken at the same time would remove so the sensor should be kept clean!]. You can find the same lenses under other brand names too: the original manufacturer is Samyang and their lenses are available under the names Rokinon, Bower, Walimex and a few others. It offers something unique for mirrorless shooters and delivers photos that don’t disappoint. Samyang is the original manufacturer and the lens is also rebranded and sold under several names, including Rokinon. The dark current noise will average out when a reasonable number of frames are taken and provide a smooth pedestal on which the stacked image is placed, so will not add significant noise into the image. The Rokinon 12mm f/2.0 with and without the included lens hood The lens is rather small for an ultra-wide-angle, especially so when considering the f/2.0 maximum aperture. The focusing ring is plastic and has a broad grip and it rotates very smoothly and silently but with enough damping that it will stay where you want it. Creditably, this lens does not but corner stars become linear streaks aligned away from the image centre and also show some chromatic aberration. Sharpness Test: Rokinon 12mm f/2.0 NCS CS versus Zeiss Touit 12mm f/2.8 It’s an easy situation to avoid as long as bright light sources are away from the edges for the frame. Optically, the Rokinon 12mm f/2.0 NCS CS is very good. It feels rather dense for its size, presumably from the 12 element design. A Full Frame, Prime Lens The Rokinon 135mm F2.0 is considered to be a full-frame lens because it can accommodate a full-frame image sensor with its 18.8-degree angle of view . It’s made specifically for compact system cameras with a short flange focal distance and no reflex mirror like the Fujifilm X-Series, Sony Apha/Nex Series and the Olympus OM-D line. The local contrast was enhanced using the ‘Unsharp Mask’ filter in Adobe Photoshop with a very wide radius and small amount. In a brief moment of self-promotion, he also suggests using Lonely Speck’s SharpStar2 focusing filter to bring the stars perfectly into focus. It is a purely manual lens and, though made using plastic, is very well constructed with a metal lens mount. Hi Roman, I believe Rokinon 12mm F2.0 NCS CS Ultra Wide Angle Lens would be the best for your Sony A6000 camera as this lens is tailored for APS-C crop sensor cameras (like the A6000). They are both stiffer than the typical Fuji lenses’ ones and that’s a good thing. ).I use this lens since 2018, and it's my must-have piece of astronomy equipment for my widefield astrophotography … The lens hood also snaps in place with a … This lens works great for astrophotography with that big aperture. No darks or flats were taken – it is very difficult obtaining an accurate set of dark frames when the camera’s sensor is changing temperature during the set of exposures. Unfortunately, the inaccurate distance marks on the focusing ring and no useful depth-of-field markings make manual focusing that much more difficult, particularly when using it wide open. Enjoy Extended Returns thru Feb 01, 2021! Introduced in 2014, the Rokinon 12mm f/2.0 lens is special because it is designed specifically for mirrorless cameras. But it must be said that at f/4 the great majority of image is excellent. Stopping down to f/5.6 or f/6 gives excellent corner sharpness too. Providing a 35mm-equivalent focal length of 18mm and a broad 98.9° angle of view, this lens is great for interior, landscape, and architectural images. Rokinon has upheld a reputation for offering some of the best bang for the buck lenses for any camera system and by now offering such a competitive mirrorless lens design, they’re helping fuel the push towards mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras. It requires just over 1/4 turn to focus from minimum distance all the way to infinity which is a very comfortable range for both fast and precise focusing. Overall, I really love this lens. Be sure to take good care of it, though, because heavily abused lenses can still be prone to optical degradation over time. He is deeply passionate about photography, and takes great joy in teaching others what he has learned over the years. Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 5. This implies some decentering of the elements within the lens. The focusing ring is separated from the aperture ring with a red anodized aluminum ring. I’m a wide angle junkie so most of the time I just left this lens on my camera the entire time. Rokinon RK12M-M 12mm F2.0 NCS CS Ultra Wide Angle Fixed Lens for Canon EF-M Mount Compact System Cameras (Black) by Rokinon. The aperture and focus rings are made of plastic, but the former has the right amount of resistance and well-defined half-stop clicks, whereas the latter is smooth but not too easy to accidentally move. All of the past Rokinon lenses that I’ve used have all shown excellent performance with coma and the Rokinon 12mm f/2.0 NCS CS is no exception. It clicks firmly against the lens mount with no noticeable side to side play and only a slight amount of rotation play, no more than any of my other lenses. Right Click > Save Link As… for full resolution. With its maximum f/2.0 aperture, it is noted as the fasted 12mm lens for APS-C (crop) sensor cameras. The Rokinon 14mm F/2.8 can certainly create beautiful images at this f-stop, but I rarely use F/2.8 for my wide-angle astrophotography images. With a super wide field of view of almost 99° and a fast f/2.0 aperture, it becomes the highest scoring dedicated mirrorless lens on my astrophoto lens rating system to date with a score of 2176. Rokinon 12mm f/2.0 lens details. B&H gave me the opportunity to review this lens, and once I received it, I didn’t put it down for over a month, shooting with it in Germany, Italy, and California. It’s unique in that no other manufacturer offers a lens with as wide a field of view and as large an aperture for APS-C mirrorless cameras. NatureTTL's Matthew Saville compares three of the most popular ultra-wide astrophotography prime lenses out there: The Samyang/Rokinon 14mm F2.8, the Samyang/Rokinon 14mm F2.4, and the Sigma 14mm F1.8 Art. Many wide angle lenses give stars angel-like wings in the corners. It is a great value, makes great images, and has stood up to a decent amount of abuse. When using the lens with the smaller micro 4/3 sensor, it would be a near perfect lens. It’s sharper at f/2.0 than the Zeiss at f/2.8, a real accomplishment. While all my experiences with Rokinon lenses in the past (14mm f/2.8 and 24mm f/1.4) have shown spectacular performance wide open, the new 12mm f/2.0 is a rather extreme design. The corrected image was cropped to give the result below. The aperture ring feels very similar to other Rokinon lenses. However, inspecting individual frames I could not spot any either so the sensor was performing well. It comes with a lens hood. The fixed 12mm lens has a minimum focusing distance of 7.9 inches. It is rarely possible to remove light pollution from an image of the Milky Way so we really need to image the Milky Way from a dark site with little or no light pollution and I was able to visit the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve in South Island, New Zealand, which is one of four ‘gold tier’ dark sky reserves in the world, to take the image that is described below. At this time, the Rokinon 12mm f/2.0 comes in either black or silver from about $299-399.00. Given good tracking, I now believe that 60 second exposures would be about optimum provided 20 or more frames will be taken to reduce the dark current noise. Alright, this modern Korean lens is not vintage at all, but it is a manual focus lens, so it's somewhat in … But at short focal distances, it’s possible to throw the background nicely out of focus, and bokeh quality is very nice wide open. Finally a little sharpening applied with the ‘Smart Sharpen’ filter. Below, see how the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8, Zeiss Milvus 15mm f/2.8, Rokinon SP 14mm f/2.4, and Sigma Art 14mm f/1.8 compare in a field test shooting the Milky Way and night sky. The lens has a very narrow diameter for most of the lens barrel and then it tapers toward the front element to a rather large filter thread size of 67mm. It is well-suited for architectural, interior, and landscape images, plus its fast f/2.0 maximum aperture benefits working in low-light conditions. I’m going to include full images, center crops, and corner crops for all five lenses below. Unfortunately, the lens does not have depth of field marks which is disappointing for a fast wide angle prime. If you have used the Rokinon 8mm f/2.8 Fisheye, this lens will feel remarkably similar and that’s a very good thing. The Rokinon FE14M-S 14mm F2.8 Ultra Wide Fixed Lens is intended for fullframe cameras, although is compatible for APS-C sensor cameras and should work with it. Mirrorless cameras like the Olympus OM-D E-M1 and Fujifilm X-T1 are directly competing with their larger DSLR cousins but offer smaller, lighter overall systems. It’s large enough that the camera will rest on the edge of the lens barrel when you set it on a table. These are my thoughts. The same was true for my review of the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8. Rokinon 135mm f/2 ED UMC (also branded as Samyang outside the US - it's the same lens under a different name) is a manual focus telephoto lens, that was probably designed and manufactured for astrophotography purposely (the verdict spoilered in the first sentence of the review!