Samyang AF 50mm f/1.4 FE review by Opticallimits: “bit of a disappointment”

Opticallimits tested the Samyang AF 50mm f/1.4 FE  and concluded:

The Samyang AF 50mm f/1.4 FE is a bit of a disappointment. It’s not exactly a small lens and it’s obvious that Samyang spent some efforts designing it but the performance is just not good enough for a high-resolution sensor. The center quality is fine but the resolution falls apart towards the outer image field at large-aperture settings. Conversely, the results are great at medium apertures but that’s not the sole reason for buying such a lens. To be fair, however – in real life this may not be that much of an issue. How often do you require sharp corners at f/1.4 or f/2 after all? Lateral CAs are low – at the borders at least – whereas axial CAs are very pronounced. The native image distortion is very low. The vignetting is taken care of by image auto-correction. In RAW mode, the light falloff is high at f/1.4 though. The quality of the bokeh has two sides. Highlights are nicely rendered in the center zone, less so in the corners. The rendering of the general out-of-focus blur could be better in the background.

The build quality is impressive but stays just short of professional-grade expectations. Namely, weather-sealing is absent. That being said the all-metal construction is solid. The AF speed is quite fast and it’s near-silent. While the focus ring is very smooth to handle, the actual focusing is a bit on the coarse side in manual (by-wire) mode.

Overall we are not convinced that the Samyang AF 50mm f/1.4 FE is a good choice in this class. That’s, of course, easily said given the price tag of the Sony/Zeiss alternative. If you are on a budget and can stand the weight, maybe consider the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM ART or settle for something slower like the Zeiss Sonnar T* FE 55mm f/1.8 ZA.