The 85mm f/1.4 lens is a classic focal length, long considered the ideal for portraiture, along with landscapes, close up sports and low light photography. Lenses slightly longer than the standard for a format have also traditionally been the pinnacle of optical quality within a range. Samyang have been building an enviable reputation for quality lenses, first in manual focus, more recently moving successfully into AF and now also encompassing the full frame mirrorless Sony cameras. Let's have a closer look, using the 24MP Sony Alpha A7 III body.
Samyang AF 85mm f/1.4 FE Handling and Features
Weighing in at a solid, but not over-heavy 568g this chunky Samyang lens has all the quality of construction that we have come to expect. It inspires confidence from the start that it will give good, long service. It is weather resistant and is claimed to be splashproof and dustproof, a feature that is rapidly becoming virtually essential in our variable climate.
Starting at the front of the lens, a generously sized round lens hood is provided. This bayonets securely into place. Within this fitting we find a standard 77mm filter thread. The only other adornment on the lens is the wide manual focus ring. This has no function in normal AF settings, but activates when either the MF option is selected in the camera menu or DMF (Direct Manual Focus) is chosen. DMF means that the manual focus ring is active whilst AF is being employed. AF is driven quickly and silently by DLSM – Dual Linear Sonic Motor. The lens focuses down to 0.9m, or 2.95 feet, a maximum magnification of 0.11x. This is about what we would expect from an 85mm lens. In terms of portraits we are close enough to the model to communicate properly and far enough away so that the perspective is attractive and flattering.
Optical construction is 11 elements in 8 groups, including 4 HR (High Refractive Index) and 1 ED (Extra Low Dispersion) elements. UMC coating is Samyang's own version of Ultra Multicoating. There are 9 blades in the diaphragm, to assist in producing smooth bokeh; the quality and gradation of the out of focus areas in an image.
It is such a simple lens in terms of controls, partly because all functions are dealt with by the camera body. This includes shake reduction, the lens itself needing none as the Sony cameras have SteadyShot built in. This outward simplicity has benefits, allowing us to concentrate purely on the photography. This does give a sense of freedom, combined with the pleasure of the beautifully narrow depth of field that is possible with an 85mm and the f/1.4 widest aperture. Subjects can be isolated with tremendous clarity against a diffused background. It is easy to see why 85mm lenses are considered to be portrait lenses, although they are fully capable in many other applications as well.
AF is fast and precise, MF very easy to use as the image snaps in and out of focus very crisply. There is really nothing else to do with this minimalistic lens other that shoot images and it makes it a pleasure to do so.
Samyang AF 85mm f/1.4 FE Performance
Sharpness is very impressive throughout the aperture range. It is also very even across the field, the actual figures being very close indeed. Centrally, sharpness is excellent from f/1.4 all the way through to f/11. Edges virtually match the centre and are also excellent all the way from f/1.4 through to f/11. Diffraction does reduce the sharpness slightly at f/16 but it is still of a very good standard.
Samyang AF 85mm f/1.4 FE MTF Charts
How to read our MTF chartsThe blue column represents readings from the centre of the picture frame at the various apertures and the green is from the edges.The scale on the left side is an indication of actual image resolution as LW/PH and is described in detail above. The taller the column, the better the lens performance. For this review, the lens was tested on a Sony Alpha A7 III using Imatest. |
CA (Chromatic Aberration) is minimal at the centre of the image field. At the edges, it is still very well controlled, but in severe testing conditions such as tree branches against bright sky, some fringing will be visible. How intrusive this is will depend upon the exact subject matter. For most subjects there is no problem, but if required CA can be further reduced in software.
Samyang AF 85mm f/1.4 FE Chromatic Aberration Charts
How to read our CA chartsChromatic aberration (CA) is the lens' inability to focus on the sensor or film all colours of visible light at the same point. Severe chromatic aberration gives a noticeable fringing or a halo effect around sharp edges within the picture. It can be cured in software.Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements (aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc) to minimize the problem, hence they usually cost more. For this review, the lens was tested on a Sony Alpha A7 III using Imatest. |
As expected in a short telephoto lens, there is some pincushion distortion, but this is an impressively low value of +0.09% so it is unlikely that further software correction will be needed.
Bokeh describes the rendition and gradation of out of focus areas in an image and, throughout, the lens is as smooth as silk. The bokeh is ultra-smooth and will complement particularly portraits extremely well.
Flare is not a problem at all, even the most severe flare situations being handled with ease. The worst that we can expect is a slight drop in contrast, but we will need to work hard to show flare in any form.
Fast, bright, lenses do tend to show some vignetting, and this lens is no exception. At f/1.4 corner darkening is -1.95 stops. This reduces to -1.1 stops at f/2 and thereafter to less than 0.7 stops throughout the range. Although vignetting is a defect, the subtle corner shading can actually be quite useful when trying to produce attractive images.
Overall, the lens produces excellent results and is very impressive.
Sharpness Using Sony Alpha A7R III
The opportunity arose to re-run the MTF and CA tests with a higher resolution body, the 42MP Sony Alpha A7R III. The lens really had the opportunity to shine even further, especially in terms of central sharpness.
Sharpness centrally is excellent at f/1.4, but rises still further to outstanding from f/2 through to f/4. It is excellent from f/5.6 to f/11 and although diffraction is steadily encroaching on performance, still very good at f/16.
The edges are excellent from f/1.4 through to f/5.6, very good at f/8 and f/11 and still good at f/16.
We do see a little more CA with the higher resolution sensor, but it is still less than one pixel at the centre and at most apertures at the edges. Some CA may well be visible in extreme situations, but we can of course turn to software solutions to correct this.
Overall, the impressive performance with a 24MP sensor becomes even more impressive at 42MP.
Samyang AF 85mm f/1.4 FE Aperture range
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Value For Money
The Samyang AF 85mm f/1.4 FE lens is priced at £599. For comparison, let's have a look at other 85mm lenses to get a feel for the pricing and the various available options for Sony FE mount full frame camera bodies.
- Sony FE 85mm f/1.4 G Master, £1649
- Sony FE 85mm f/1.8, £599
- Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art, £929
- Zeiss Batis 85mm f/1.8, £995
And also, in manual focus:
- Samyang 85mm f/1.4 AS IF UMC, £279
- Samyang 85mm T1.5 AS IF UMC, £299
- Lensbaby Velvet 85mm f/1.8, £479
For more options have a look at the Top 21 Best Samyang Lenses, or have a look at the Top 29 Best Sony E / FE Mount Lenses.
Samyang AF 85mm f/1.4 FE Verdict
The Samyang AF 85mm f/1.4 FE is a lovely lens to use, from the moment we look at the images on the screen or through the viewfinder. Selective depth of field makes manual focusing a breeze, subjects sing out against a beautifully diffused background. The Samyang is also gloriously smooth in operation, totally unobtrusive and a real photographer's lens, where the camera becomes an extension of the photographer and does not intrude on the subject. The price is also very attractive, so Samyang fully deserves the accolade of Editor's Choice.
| The Samyang AF 85mm f/1.4 FE is an excellent 85mm prime lens at a very fair price. |
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