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

The Radojuva review highlights the Samyang 8mm 1:3.5 UMC Fish-Eye CS II as a capable, manually operated ultra-wide lens, specifically noting the updated removable hood for full-frame, circular fisheye, and an AE chip for Nikon (NI) models. Key pros include excellent build quality, smooth manual focus, and effective aperture control directly from the camera body. Conversely, the review identifies limitations, particularly an exceptionally long 30 cm minimum focusing distance that restricts close-up creativity. Other drawbacks include the lack of autofocus and missing depth-of-field scale, but it is ultimately regarded as an affordable, sharp, and specialized creative tool.

Conversely, the lens delivers solid pros, particularly regarding its optical sharpness and structural resilience. The studio analysis confirms that its center micro-contrast and sharpness step up substantially from a mediocre 30% at f/3.5 to an excellent 51% at f/5.6 and peak at 63% when stopped down to f/8. The review also praises the lens's surprisingly good resistance to indirect light; it suffers fewer ghosting reflections and loss of contrast than typically expected from a bulbous fish-eye design, with only vertical shots under a zenith sun posing a realistic flare risk. Lastly, the lens offers an exceptionally wide coverage angle; studio measurements revealed a massive field of view of 133.5° at a 50.5-centimeter distance on a 1.6x crop sensor, suggesting an ultra-wide native diagonal coverage near 213.6° if utilized on full-frame formats.

The Radojuva review of the Samyang 8mm f/3.5 UMC Fish-Eye CS II highlights this manual-focus lens as a well-built, cost-effective tool for APS-C crop sensor cameras. Pros include solid construction with a smooth, rubberized focus ring, UMC coating for flare reduction, and a detachable hood allowing for circular fisheye effects on full-frame cameras. The Nikon-mount version, featuring a CPU chip for automatic exposure control, is specifically noted for its optical performance. Cons identified by the reviewer include a large, restrictive 30 cm minimum focusing distance that limits creative, close-up, wide-angle shots. Additionally, the lens lacks a depth-of-field scale, hinders TTL flash operation due to a lack of distance data transmission, and exhibits slight front element movement despite being described as internally focused.

The Samyang 8mm fisheye lens is highly praised by forum users for its exceptional depth of field and robust build quality, making it an excellent budget-friendly choice for APS-C cameras like the Canon 1100D. A major advantage is that the camera's light meter (photometer) works perfectly in manual or Aperture Priority (Av) modes, with the camera automatically adjusting shutter speed. Furthermore, users highlight the convenience of the lens's hyperfocal distance; when set to f/5.6 and focused at 0.7 metres, everything from 0.3 metres to infinity remains sharp, essentially removing the need for active focusing. Optically, the various builds (including the CS, CSII, and video versions) perform identically, though the CSII stands out as superior due to its removable lens hood, which allows it to be used on Full Frame cameras to produce a full circular image. However, the lens has several notable drawbacks, primarily stemming from its completely manual design. It lacks autofocus capabilities, and there is no electronic communication with the camera body. This results in incorrect EXIF data, as the camera default registers the lens as a 50mm...