GEAR MINI TESTS
SAMYANG AF 24-70MM F/2.8 FE £828/$799 samyanglens.com Korean company Samyang has made a name for itself by producing a huge range of good-quality, well-priced lenses – many of which are aimed squarely at video users. There are different options for filmmakers, like cine primes and the AF primes we test in this issue, plus AF primes aimed more at stills shooters; but never an autofocus zoom – until now. The Samyang AF 24-70mm f/2.8 FE isn’t a direct copy of Sony’s evergreen G Master version, but they’re cut from the same cloth. They look similar and have the same aperture range, nine rounded iris blades, an 82mm front filter thread, a similar close-focus distance, no image stabilisation and are within a few millimetres of each other in size. Both come with a petal lens hood and are weather sealed. Where the Samyang lacks in terms of spec is in its slightly less advanced optical design, with one fewer special lens element, and it weighs 141g/0.3lb more. That’s about 16% extra heft to carry around. But it costs much less at under half the price. The Sony has an MF-AF switch and dedicated hold button, whereas there’s a two-position mode switch on the Samyang – in M1, the focus ring acts as a conventional manual focus ring; in M2, the focus ring becomes an aperture adjustment ring. You can
change settings by plugging into the optional Samyang Lens Station. What matters most of all is performance, and in many ways the Samyang is identical to the Sony. We directly compared the two and it was very hard to tell them apart. That’s a big feather in the cap for the Samyang, especially at the price. AF was fast and precise on both, colours natural and flare control excellent. Like the Sony, the Samyang is sharp across the frame at all apertures, though there’s a touch of corner softening when wide open. It let itself down a bit with some colour fringing, but nothing too bad. Considering the G Master has been the ultimate fast standard zoom for Sony cameras for years, the Samyang is a superb lens at such a low price. There’s not much focus breathing and it’s as close to parfocal as you can get from a stills-style AF lens. However, Sony has recently released a G Master Mark II. It costs more at £2100/$2298, but improves on the original in every way. The new version is lighter, smaller and has better control of focus breathing and focus shift. The aperture ring can be de-clicked and it focuses quicker. It also supports focus breathing compensation and the AF motors are quieter and faster, while the manual focus feel is more linear and natural. It’s not night-and-day better than the original G Master, but is still an
SPECIFICATIONS Focal length: 24-70mm Mount: Sony FE Image coverage: Full-frame Aperture range: F/2.8-22 Aperture blades: Nine Construction: 17 elements in 14 groups Image stabilisation: None Minimum focusing: 35.1cm/13.8in
ALL IN ONE The Samyang boasts top stills performance, but is also optimised for shooting video
Filter size: 82mm Dimensions (dxl):
88x128.5mm/3.5x5.1in Weight: 1027g/2.26lb
upgrade – and at 695g/1.5lb it’s a lot lighter than the Samyang. So if you want the ultimate fast standard zoom for E-mount, the Sony G Master II is it. But if you can’t stretch to the steep Sony price, the Samyang is on sale for around a third of the cost – and performs very well indeed. PRO MOVIEMAKER RATING: 9/10 Affordable f/2.8 standard zoom for full-frame Sony cameras Pros: Image quality, fast autofocus, solid build Cons: No stabilisation, heavy, no focus hold button
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PRO MOVIEMAKER
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