Rokinon 8mm F 3 5 UMC Fisheye CS II Review | 54 Data compared

The Samyang 8mm f3.5 Fisheye CS II is a manual focus lens costing under €300 that offers a creative, ultra-wide field of view, making it ideal for large landscapes, crowded events, and GoPro-style point-of-view photography. A key highlight of this version II model is its detachable lens hood; when removed on a Full Frame camera, it delivers a nearly 180-degree view, while on an APS-C sensor, it provides a highly versatile 12mm equivalent focal length. The reviewer notes that its manual operation is effortless because the wide focal length ensures almost everything beyond 50cm remains automatically in sharp focus. Furthermore, it performs flawlessly on Nikon bodies because it communicates perfectly with Nikon's mechanical aperture system and saves full EXIF data through its internal chip. However, the lens comes with notable trade-offs, particularly regarding compatibility and optical performance at wider apertures. On non-Nikon systems like Canon, users cannot control the aperture from the camera body, which results in darker live previews before shooting. Optically, the lens suffers from very poor sharpness and a blurry appearance at its maximum f/3.5 setting, requiring...

This review highlights the Samyang 8mm f/3.5 UMC CS II Fisheye as a fun, budget-friendly lens that delivers vibrant colours and impressive central sharpness, though sharpness decreases towards the edges unless stopped down to f/5.6 or f/11. Built with a robust metal mount and a smooth, wide manual focus ring, its defining feature is a 180-degree field of view that creatively distorts straight lines into dramatic curves when tilting the camera. The Nikon-specific version ("NI") includes electronic contacts to provide focus confirmation indicators and exposure data within the viewfinder, making manual operation easier despite lacking autofocus or vibration reduction. The major advantage of this "CS II" iteration over its predecessor is the detachable lens hood, which allows the lens to be mounted on full-frame cameras to achieve a unique, fully circular image effect. However, the review notes notable drawbacks, including prominent ghosting and flare when shooting directly into the light, which is typical for fisheye designs. Additionally, the lens lacks weather sealing and completely relies on manual focus and manual exposure settings, prompting the reviewer to highly recommend using a...

The Samyang 8mm f/3.5 CS II Fisheye is a highly engaging, ultra-wide-angle lens designed for APS-C sensors, providing a 174-degree diagonal angle of view on Canon and a full 180 degrees on Nikon systems. Built predominantly out of robust metal, it features a fluid manual focus ring and a clicked aperture ring ranging from f/3.5 to f/22. Optically composed of 10 elements in 7 groups, it integrates a hybrid aspherical lens and an Ultra Multi-Coating (UMC) to combat reflections and ghosting. While designed for crop sensors, it can be used creatively as a "circular" fisheye on full-frame cameras when removing its detachable plastic hood. The review highlights distinct pros and cons regarding its daily use and performance: Pros: The lens offers an incredibly fun and unique perspective at a very affordable price point. Its build quality is exceptionally good. Sharpness is good at the center when wide open and achieves exceptional levels across the center from f/5.6 to f/11. Additionally, manual focusing is made simple via hyperfocal distance shooting—setting the focus to 1.5 meters at f/8 keeps the entire frame...