Is my new lens defective? Rokinon 12mm manual. Pictures inside...

mikej411

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I just purchased the Rokinon 12mm lens to use with my Sony a6000. After testing this lens out and comparing it to the A6000 kit lens, I come away wondering if there is a defect in the Rokinon. The reasons will be stated below with picture examples. Sorry in advance if I just don't know what I am doing haha, as I am a beginner.

Ok the first thing I noticed when taking a picture in intelligent auto with the kit lens, it makes the colors so much bolder (better contrast?), than when taking a picture in intelligent auto with the Rokinon lens. When in Intelligent Auto, does the A6000 do some sort of processing of the image with the kit lens that it can not do with the Rokinon?

Here is the kit lens picture. See the camera settings in the comments on dropbox: Dropbox - DSC09634 Sony Auto 8F.JPG

Here is the Rokinon lens picture. See the camera settings in the comments on dropbox: Dropbox - DSC09638 Rok Auto 8F.JPG

Notice that the grass and also the tree on the left has so much more color and contrast in the kit lens picture. They were taken with the same aperture and almost the same ISO and Exposure time. Couldnt match them up exactly because it was intelligent auto, but thats close enough for there not to be that much of a difference as you see in the picture. Every time I take a picture with the kit lens in intelligent auto vs taking a picture with the kit lens in other modes, the colors come out so much bolder and better. And no matter what mode I take a picture with for the Rokinon (even intelligent auto), I dont get that bold color as with the kit lens using Intelligent auto.

For comparisons sake, here goes the kit lens picture in manual mode, with the same settings when it shot in Intelligent Auto. Notice the colors arent as bold. So what in the world is Intelligent Auto doing to the kit lens: Dropbox - DSC09635 Sony Manual 8F.JPG

Ok, on to issue # 2. When in Aperture priority, if I set both the kit lens and the Rokinon to the same exact settings at F8, the Rokinon picture always comes out darker. See pics...

Sony F8 Manual. See the other settings in the comments of the picture: Dropbox - DSC09635 Sony Manual 8F.JPG

Rokinon F8 Manual. See the other settings in the comments of the picture: Dropbox - DSC09639 Rok Manual 8F.JPG

See that the Rokinon picture just comes out darker with the same settings, taken one after another. I have taken multiple pictures with the same comparison result so this isnt an anomoly. The only way I can match the brightness of the kit lens picture at F8, is to set the camera to F5.6 with the Rokinon lens. Here is a picture of the Rokinon set at F5.6:

Dropbox - DSC09640 Rok Manual 5.6.JPG

Compare it to the Sony F8 Manual picture I posted above. Brightness is almost the same
 
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No, your new lens does not look defective to me. If anything I'd say what your seeing is the Rokinon has more contrast and looks sharper than the kit lens (which is why it looks darker, there's more contrast). The kit lens on intelligent auto looks brighter to me but the tones look more twards the grey and a bit more lacluster.


But intellegent auto messes about with your exposure to create what it thinks is the best shot intelligent auto mode so there may well be differences than when in manual mode.
 
It appears the Rokinon lens tends to underexpose, especially the shadows. The Kit lens has more data all across the histogram.

Kit%20v%20Rokinon.jpg


You might be able to duplicate the Rokinon shot to appear more like that taken with the kit lens by adjusting the Curves.
 
It appears the Rokinon lens tends to underexpose, especially the shadows. The Kit lens has more data all across the histogram.

Kit%20v%20Rokinon.jpg


You might be able to duplicate the Rokinon shot to appear more like that taken with the kit lens by adjusting the Curves.

Sorry for my inexperience, but can you tell me exactly how I would do this (Adjusting the curves) on the A6000? Also, what is that Histogram viewer, and where do I download it? Does more black in that graph mean better in terms of contrast?

Does the Rokinon "underexposing" mean it is a worse lens, or even defective?
 
You don't adjust it on the camera. You adjust it with editing software on your computer. Learning to understand, read and interpret histograms (both in-camera and in post) isn't exactly an easy thing to teach, or learn, for most people.

Histogram views (like what I used) are available free on the innerwebs. Just Google for one for your particular OS.

The lens is not defective. It just sees the world differently.
 
You don't adjust it on the camera. You adjust it with editing software on your computer. Learning to understand, read and interpret histograms (both in-camera and in post) isn't exactly an easy thing to teach, or learn, for most people.

Histogram views (like what I used) are available free on the innerwebs. Just Google for one for your particular OS.

The lens is not defective. It just sees the world differently.

Hmm you did say it "underexposed" though.

Since intelligent auto chose the same aperture for both lenses, then wouldn't that mean the camera does not know the lens is seeing the world differently? It chose F8 and other similar settings for both lenses. One came out nice and bright with great colors (kit lens), other came out dark. Do you agree with that assessment? Do you think the Sony picture is better?

In terms of the rokinon under-exposing with same settings, does this mean I should always think about setting it to a lower number for aperture, or try to compensate for how it under exposes?
 
It's not underexposing......... overall. It's exposing the shadows darker and the highlights brighter. In short, it's got more contrast. This can be adjusted to match the kit lens in post by simply introducting a 'backwards S' into the curves tool of your editing software.

If you changed your forum settings to allow editing, I could show you what this means.

I rather suspect you're been 'trained' to accept the kit lens as the benchmark. Had you been shooting with the Rokinon for a while, then purchased the kit lens, you'd think it was defective because it's 'too bright'.
 
It's not underexposing......... overall. It's exposing the shadows darker and the highlights brighter. In short, it's got more contrast. This can be adjusted to match the kit lens in post by simply introducting a 'backwards S' into the curves tool of your editing software.

If you changed your forum settings to allow editing, I could show you what this means.

I rather suspect you're been 'trained' to accept the kit lens as the benchmark. Had you been shooting with the Rokinon for a while, then purchased the kit lens, you'd think it was defective because it's 'too bright'.

That would be great. Where in the forum do I go to change my setting to edit?
 
Is it possible that the Sony lens is communicating better with the camera and its processing routines for the SOOC JPEG files? Or that the Sony lens and its CPU's communication with the exposure system is leading to simply better overall exposures?
 
It sure would be boring if all my lenses gave the same results.
 
It's not underexposing......... overall. It's exposing the shadows darker and the highlights brighter. In short, it's got more contrast. This can be adjusted to match the kit lens in post by simply introducting a 'backwards S' into the curves tool of your editing software.

If you changed your forum settings to allow editing, I could show you what this means.

I rather suspect you're been 'trained' to accept the kit lens as the benchmark. Had you been shooting with the Rokinon for a while, then purchased the kit lens, you'd think it was defective because it's 'too bright'.

That would be great. Where in the forum do I go to change my setting to edit?

Click on your username in the top right corner. Scroll down to "Can others edit my Photos:" and select "Photos OK to edit".
 
Is it possible that the Sony lens is communicating better with the camera and its processing routines for the SOOC JPEG files? Or that the Sony lens and its CPU's communication with the exposure system is leading to simply better overall exposures?

I can't see how the aperture, shutter speed and ISO (given they're identical between the two images) would make a difference. The only physical difference between the two lenses would be the aperture.

IMHO, it's simply 'the glass'.
 
Is it possible that the Sony lens is communicating better with the camera and its processing routines for the SOOC JPEG files? Or that the Sony lens and its CPU's communication with the exposure system is leading to simply better overall exposures?

I can't see how the aperture, shutter speed and ISO (given they're identical between the two images) would make a difference. The only physical difference between the two lenses would be the aperture.

IMHO, it's simply 'the glass'.
This may explain the differences between the 2 lenses, but can you touch on the first subject I brought up? How intelligent auto makes the kit lens picture pop with color, whereas any other modes with the same kit lens the colors do not pop. Also the Rokinon in intelligent auto does not result in this 'color pop' I am referring to
 
It's not underexposing......... overall. It's exposing the shadows darker and the highlights brighter. In short, it's got more contrast. This can be adjusted to match the kit lens in post by simply introducting a 'backwards S' into the curves tool of your editing software.

If you changed your forum settings to allow editing, I could show you what this means.

I rather suspect you're been 'trained' to accept the kit lens as the benchmark. Had you been shooting with the Rokinon for a while, then purchased the kit lens, you'd think it was defective because it's 'too bright'.

That would be great. Where in the forum do I go to change my setting to edit?

Click on your username in the top right corner. Scroll down to "Can others edit my Photos:" and select "Photos OK to edit".
I have made the necessary changes. Lets see what ya got...
 
Backwards%20S.jpg


I would think 'intelligent auto' has to do with exposure.... not contrast, color saturation etc.

I think what you're seeing is the difference in the glass used by two different manufacturers.
 

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