N-Photo - The Nikon Magazine - UK (2019-12)

KEY FEATURES

01 The hood is fixed in

place and protects the

front element.

02 The focus ring is

electronically coupled

to the linear stepping

motor and operates

with smooth precision.

03 There’s a single

switch on the barrel of

the lens for selecting

AF or manual focusing.

REVIEW

Samyang AF 14mm f/2.8

F vs MF 14mm f/2.8 Z

£629/$799

Heads or tails? Samyang’s 14mm f/2.8

primes for Nikon F- and Z-mount

cameras appear to be polar opposites...

verything’s automatic these

days, from washing

machines to lenses. You

wouldn’t buy a manual

lens any more than

you’d wash your clothes

in the bathtub. Or would

you? Samyang has been

turning everything on its

head recently and defying

expectations. Although a

specialist in manual-focus

lenses with built-in electronics that

communicate with Nikon DLSRs, the

company has now started making AF

lenses, like the AF 14mm f/2.8 F – the

85mm big brother of which is featured in

this month’s Big Test of portrait primes.

More surprisingly, Samyang has also

started making lenses for the high-tech

Z-mount mirrorless bodies that are utterly

and completely manual. Again, the first

out of the traps are the MF 14mm f/2.8 Z

ultra-wide that we’re looking at here, and

an 85mm f/1.4 short telephoto. Naturally,

you can use all four AF and MF lenses on a

Z-series body, although you’d need to add

an FTZ mount adapter for the F-mount

autofocus lenses.

Ordinarily, you’d probably take an

autofocus lens over a manual version

every single time. However, with wide-

angle lenses, a different set of rules can

apply. Some photographers prefer the

relatively long rotational travel of the focus

ring in a manual-focus lens. Coupled with

depth-of-field markers for shooting at

various apertures, the extended focus

distance scale enables easy ‘zone

focusing’. This enables you to set the

nearest and furthest distances in a scene

that will be rendered sharply, and then to

shoot from the hip, so to speak, without

having to worry about focusing at all.

Another option is to set the hyperfocal

Specifications

Lens mount: Nikon F

Focal length: 14mm

Maximum aperture: f/2.8

Minimum aperture: f/22

Field of view: 117 degrees

Minimum focus: 0.2m

Maximum magnification ratio: 0.15x

Number of diaphragm blades: 7

Lens construction:

15 elements in 10 groups

Weather seals: Ye s

Lens hood: Built-in

Filter size: N/A

Dimensions: 91x93mm

Weight: 474g

Price: £629/$799

E

Samyang’s F-mount

wide-angle lens boasts

autofocus amongst its

high-tech gadgetry.

3

1

2

Samyang AF 14mm f/2.8 F

Barrel distortion is reasonably minimal but

it’s not a ‘zero distortion’ lens.

Edge and corner-sharpness can be slightly

lacklustre at wide apertures.

Samyang AF 14mm f/2.8 F Samyang AF 14mm f/2.8 F