After a parade of hype, followed by several months of agonising waiting, there is finally news on the release of Samyang’s XP 14mm F2. 4 and XP 85mm F1. 2 lenses. The South Korean lens maker has announced both the pricing and a general release date for them.
Specifically it looks like Samyang want to stuff your Christmas stocking, with the XP series becoming globally available from December. This won’t be any cheap gift purchase though, since each lens has a suggested retail price of €949 (US$1,000).
‘Excellence in Performance’ is the motto Samyang are going with on this launch and there is indeed a lot to like. We saw these two lovely looking lenses back in September at Photokina and were moderately impressed at the tech specs.
/Samyang
These XP’s tout image clarity matchable with 50 MP still-image resolution and 8K video capture. The 85mm f/1. 2 internal configuration is made up of 10 elements in 7 groups, with a filter diameter of 86mm, weighing a total 1,050g. The 14mm f/2. 4 on the other hand has even more packed inside with 18 elements in 14 groups, and weighs less at 791g. The bad news with the 14mm is that it can’t be used with filters. Worse news for those who lean heavy on autofocus is that neither of these XP’s have it, though they do both have electronic aperture control. The real annoyance for many will come at the fact that these lenses are Canon mount compatible only.
Another slightly baffling decision is why Samyang decided to rob these lenses of their potential spotlight by not including them in their Summer blockbuster extravaganza. Perhaps it was to give these releases their own separate fanfare but it just results in the launch coming with a wet thud. A bit of a pity since these are some top choice looking lenses we’d love to get our hands on.
. digitalrev.com2016-11-29 03:00