The AF lens also focuses closer, down to just 20cm
(measured from the focal plane at the rear of the
camera) whereas it’s 28cm for the MF lens. The AF
lens therefore has a larger maximum magnification
ratio and, at its widest aperture, is more able to
isolate close foreground objects by blurring the
background. The build quality of the manual lens
feels a little more robust, but both thankfully
feature weather-seals.
Performance
Although the AF lens looks deceptively simple, it has
a high-tech optical path that includes two aspherical
elements, one ED (Extra-low Dispersion) element and
four HR (High Refractive index) elements. The reward
is impressive image quality. Sharpness is particularly
good in the central region of the frame, while barrel
distortion is pretty well controlled for such a wide-
angle lens. There’s also very little lateral chromatic
aberration, even in the extreme corners of the frame,
and vignetting is fairly minimal, even at f/2.8.
The manual lens includes both regular and hybrid
aspherical elements, two ED (Extra-low Dispersion)
elements and three HR (High Refractive index)
elements. Sharpness is even better than in the AF
lens, especially in the region between the centre of
the frame and the edges, which doesn’t show up on
our lab-test graphs. The lens can certainly take full
advantage of the Z 7’s awesome megapixel count.
Again, there’s only some fairly minor vignetting and
colour fringing to account for, although barrel
distortion is rather more noticeable. If the manual
lens has a clear minus point, this is it.
All things considered, this is a rare occasion when
we would actually opt for the manual focus lens
instead of the autofocus option. There’s a real joy in
the hands-on and retro nature of using the MF lens,
handling is excellent and, apart from giving slightly
worse distortion, image quality is better than its auto
competitor. The real clincher, at least for us, is that
the manual lens is barely more than half the price of
the autofocus lens and, on a Z-series camera, you
also don’t need to drop any extra money on an
additional adapter.
N-Photo verdict
This manual lens handles really nicely
and there’s a retro charm to adjusting the
aperture and focus by hand. Build quality
and image quality are impressive, making
it a real steal at the price.N-Photo verdict
This thoroughly modern lens has an
advanced autofocus system and delivers
great image quality. It’s good value at the
price and a fine choice for DSLRs, but also
works well on Z-series cameras.
Features Features
Build &
handlingBuild &
handling
Performance Performance
Value Value4
Overall
4OverallSharpness Sharpness
Samyang AF 14mm f/2.8 F Samyang MF 14mm f/2.8 Z
Fringing Fringing
Distortion -2.25 Distortion -2.5
The MF beats its AF sibling for sharpness,
especially towards the edges and corners.Sharpness in the central region is good at
f/2.8 and excellent between f/4 and f/11.Minimal fringing is on a par with that of the
AF lens, and even less at narrow apertures.Lateral chromatic aberration is controlled
even in the extreme corners of the frame.Barrel distortion is more noticeable
than in the AF lens, but still not bad.There’s less barrel distortion than from
the MF lens, and it’s easier to correct.The wide ‘fly by wire’ manual focus ring operates very smoothly but
gives relatively little feedback, and there’s no focus distance scale.
The mechanically-linked focus ring of the manual lens is more tactile
and adds the bonus of zone focusing and hyperfocal distance.REVIEW