Rokinon12mm f/2.0 CS Lens for Sony E

Let's not lie, there are better ones. But not for this price. On a 16mega APS C sensor, I find it excellent. There are aspects that could be criticized, but these small flaws make the charm and personality of this lens. It brings a pleasant tint of its own. You have to learn to get the best out of it, each aperture has its particularities depending on the focusing distance. The big advantage is that you can hip shoot easily at almost all apertures and all distances once you understand how it reacts. It's not a 50mm or more...On the other hand, manual focusing is finer, because it's a wide angle, the details of the subjects past a certain distance are difficult to see. There's a learning curve, at first I had a lot of focus errors and was tempted to return it, then I learned to use it well and I am very satisfied. If I were to lose it I would buy the same one again. Maybe out of curiosity I would try the Samyang ?... Just to see if there is a difference or not since it would be exactly the same but more expensive (why?...).I mainly use it for portrait, street, nature, animals, landscape. Very film like pictures, especially in B&W. I think it's a love or hate situation depending on what you're expecting and are used to. People looking for great specs might be disappointed and should by a more expensive lens, I don't think it's for everyone.I can't wait the opportunity to try astrophotography, as a lot of people seems to appreciate it for this kind of photography. I'm certain I will have a good time.Last words : I love this lens...Ps: I've read that some aren't accurate when focusing on infinity. I might be lucky, but that's not the case for me.

Mounted on a Sony 6600 for about a year. Travels well, great for astrophotographers and traveling. Lightweight and small enough to carry on my vest pocket. Nice build quality and great images. Fast and sharp.

Nice very wide lens for my Sony APS camera. Sharp, easy to use.

Summary: This lens is an excellent budget option. An 18mm equiv is super versatile when you need wide angle, but not so wide that things get crazy. I carry it everywhere with my camera now, along with the 35/1.8 and 55-210.Good:Price: Obviously. For wide angle E-mount lens, under $300 is amazing; the Sony 10-18 would set you back $750, and it can't shoot at f/2. I haven't tried other Rokinon lenses yet, but it doesn't seem like this price can be beat.Build Quality: Is plasticky, but very durable. Mine has taken quite a few knocks with no visible dents or scratches. It feels solid. It's also surprisingly compact for a wide-angle. Physically it is about the same size as the 35/1.8 only the front bulges outward. The lens cap and hood fit very tightly.Image Quality: Is superb at the price point, with one drawback (chromatic aberration: see below). It is sharp and performs extremely well in low-light. I couldn't see any distortion in the images whatsoever. The ability to shoot at f/2 is obviously great, especially at night. I feel comfortable shooting at f/2, but the sharpness really peaks around f/4-5.6. The manual focusing doesn't get in the way, either. In most cases (if you're more than 3 feet away from your subject), you can set it to infinity and forget about it.Bad:Chromatic Aberrration: This is my major complaint about the lens. At night C.A. becomes quite noticeable even without pixel peeping. At f/2 it's at its worse, but it's still visible down to f/8 and beyond. It's probably correctable in Photoshop, but still an annoyance.Focusing Ring: Is uncomfortably stiff. I feel like I'm straining the mount whenever I rapidly change focus. The focus at infinity is also not all the way to the right, but very slightly left of that. This is easy to get used to, though.Manual: It's a completely manual lens, like all other Rokinons. That means you won't get any EXIF data on your photos. For example, I have to take my best guess from memory for aperture I used for the photos below (although it's usually f/2).Let's look at some photos. (Note: I am not a very good photographer)The first shows the worst of the C.A. Without even zooming I can see purple edges on the rafters. I could have made conditions better for myself by lowering the ISO or stopping it down but isn't the whole point to be able to shoot wide open? (ISO 2000, 1/80 sec, f/2)The second shows what a close up shot looks like. It is difficult to get bokeh from a wide-angle lens and this is about the best I could do. In this picture the lens is about 12 inches away from the drum! (ISO 1600, 1/80 sec, f/2)The third displays some flare coming in from an extremely bright sun. If I had used a filter, or just rotated left, it wouldn't be nearly as visible. (ISO 100, 1/500 sec, f/8)The last is just a photo I thought was nice, and confirmed that I had made a good choice in purchasing this lens. (ISO 1600, 1/200 sec, f/2)Conclusion: get it.

Build Quality: The lens is well constructed and relatively small. The lens mount is metal and the front of the barrel and the focus ring is plastic. It has a 67mm filter thread; my UV filter fits nicely and looks good. The aperture ring is a little small, but provides nice clicks with half stop adjustments. The aperture and focus rings are well-dampened, needing both fingers to turn. Close focus is a little less than .66m and it focuses a little past infinity, but there is a mark for infinity. The lens hood is a little cheap and also has a little play when mounted. Overall, the build quality is good and it would handle rough usage.Performance: The lens performed very well for my uses. I'm only going to shoot landscapes and nightscapes with this lens. The center is sharp at F/2.0, peaking at about F/5.6. The corners are a bit soft wide open, but sharpen up dramatically at F/4.0. When focused to infinity at the stars, the corners were surprisingly good wide open. The coma was well controlled too. It can do up to a 25 second exposure without getting star trails. There is little distortion, and there shouldn't be a problem fixing it in post. It has strong vignetting at F/2.0, but improves at F/2.8. Overall, it has excellent performance for a $400 lens.Other Thoughts: I set the C2 button on my A6000 to magnify so that it's easy to focus. It feels well balanced and is only a little heavier than the Sony E 50mm F/1.8. This lens is very aesthetic and looks even better on a black camera.Update March 2016:I use it primarily to photograph seascapes and for night timelapses. It's been splashed by ocean waves many times and it's still going strong. Compared to other wide angle lenses, this one is very small and light. It's perfect to take hiking if you want to bring the minimal amount of gear. I use a Tiffen 3-stop ND filter for shooting waterfalls and the ocean.