Rokinon 14mm F 2 8 ED AS IF UMC Review | 54 Data compared

The Rokinon (Samyang) 14mm f/2.8 ED IF UMC lens offers high-value performance for landscape and astrophotography, characterized by impressive center sharpness at f/2.8 and minimal lateral chromatic aberration. The manual lens features robust construction with a built-in hood, a smooth focus ring, and relatively low vignetting. Conversely, the lens suffers from strong, complex mustache distortion and heavy corner vignetting, making architectural photography challenging. As a fully manual, non-electronic lens, it lacks EXIF data transmission and causes significant viewfinder darkening when stopping down from maximum aperture.

The Lonely Speck review identifies the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 IF ED UMC as an essential, affordable ultra-wide lens, highlighting exceptional sharpness at f/2.8 and low coma performance ideal for astrophotography. It is praised for its solid build quality and immense value compared to higher-priced alternatives. Conversely, the manual-only lens suffers from complex moustache distortion and susceptibility to lens flare. It features a slow, long-throw focus ring with an inaccurate distance scale that requires user compensation for precise, sharp focusing.

The Imaging Resource review identifies the Samyang/Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 IF ED UMC as a budget-friendly ultra-wide-angle lens delivering exceptional center sharpness and well-controlled chromatic aberration, comparable to more expensive lenses. Ideal for landscape and astrophotography, it features a robust build and a 115.7-degree field of view. Conversely, the lens is fully manual, lacks EXIF data communication, features a fixed hood preventing standard filter use, and exhibits severe "moustache" distortion alongside edge softness at f/2.8.

The Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 ED AS IF UMC is an ultra-wide angle manual lens that offers exceptional optical resolution and low coma, making it an excellent and highly affordable choice for landscape and nightscape photography. Its robust metal-and-plastic build quality features a permanently attached petal hood to protect its bulbous front element, which unfortunately prevents the use of conventional filters. Optically, the lens delivers incredible corner-to-corner sharpness that rivals lenses costing thousands of dollars, alongside excellent color rendition, high microcontrast, and a strong resistance to flare and chromatic aberrations. It can focus down to 0.9 feet, though its ultra-wide 114° field of view minimizes magnification, rendering it impractical for true close-up or macro work. However, the lens comes with several significant liabilities, most notably a total lack of electronic coupling to the camera body. This forces the photographer to use manual focus and manual aperture control while losing out on focal and aperture EXIF data. The lens also suffers from heavy, complex "mustache-shaped" barrel distortion and moderate vignetting, making it ill-suited for architectural, real estate, or video work without digital...

The Samyang/Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 ED AS IF UMC is an ultra-wide manual lens that provides an extremely broad 115.7-degree angle of view, offering budget-conscious photographers an affordable alternative to premium alternatives like the £1,850 Canon 14mm. Tested on a full-frame Canon EF mount, its optical performance stands out for exceptional control over chromatic aberration, which it handles better than the much costlier Canon lens. It is solidly built with a robust plastic body and a metal lens mount, and features a smooth, long focus throw that assists with manual adjustments. When stopped down to f/8, the lens produces excellent image contrast and sharp details across the frame, especially when utilizing infinity focus for street and landscape photography. However, the lens has several distinct drawbacks, most notably a complex, wavy "moustache" geometric distortion that makes uncorrected architectural shots highly problematic. It operates entirely manually with no electronic communication to the camera body on the Canon mount, meaning users will get no autofocus confirmation, missing EXIF lens data, and must manually set the aperture and exposure. Additionally, it suffers from pronounced vignetting...

The ePHOTOzine review of the Samyang 14mm f/2.8 ED AS IF UMC lens highlights it as a highly capable manual optic offering exceptional value, featuring a solid build, smooth focusing, and outstanding central sharpness even at f/2.8. It is noted for excellent resolution across the frame when stopped down, strong control over chromatic aberrations, and a built-in lens hood, making it a budget-friendly choice for landscapes and architecture. ePHOTOzine

The Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 lens is an ultra-wide-angle, budget-friendly manual lens highly recommended for specific landscape and Milky Way photography. Priced at roughly $300 at the time of review, it offers an affordable alternative to the Canon 14mm L-series lens, which costs nearly six times more, while matching or exceeding its performance in several categories. Its 14mm focal length provides an expansive field of view on full-frame cameras, though it narrows to roughly 22mm on APS-C sensors and 28mm on Micro Four Thirds cameras. A standout feature is its impressive control over chromatic aberration—showing minimal purple or green fringing in high-contrast areas even at its widest f/2.8 aperture—making it exceptionally sharp and reliable for capturing raw, uncorrected images. However, the lens comes with notable trade-offs, primarily that it is completely manual. Users must adjust the aperture via a physical ring on the lens, meaning the aperture values will not register in the camera’s digital screen or EXIF data, showing up instead as f/0. Manual focusing can also be incredibly challenging by eye through the viewfinder; achieving tack-sharp results requires using...