Samyang vs Rokinon

[joshuatdlr]

I want to get the Samyang 135mm f/2 lens for portraiture, but the Rokinon looks exactly the same but is 25% cheaper. What is the difference?

 

[Derrel]

I could be incorrect, but I thought that, at least a few years ago, that the Bower, Samyang,and Rokinon lenses were actually ALL identical, and that the names were applied based on who the distributor or the offical importer was, for various markets around the world. At one point, Roger at Lensrentals.com conmbined the names to form the brand SamyBoweRoki or somesuch name.

I agree: I have seen some 85mm lenses that look, to me, identical, and called Samyang, Bower, Vivitar Series1, and Rokinon. that was a few years back. The Manual Focus Forum was where I encountered a number of galleries and discussions about the Bower and Samyang lenses.

The photo industry has worked similarly for decades: a lens intended for one market, say SE Asia, might be called one brand; the SAME lens, imported to Europe might be one brand, and in the North American market, the same thing could be called by another "brand" or "trade name"--depite all of them having been manufactured by the same maker.

 

[480sparky]

Samyang, ProOptic, Bower, Opteka, Bell & Howell, Rokinon, Falcon, Walimex and even Vivitar are usually the same lenses, just rebranded.

 

[Derrel]

There you go, Sparky knows the whole list! Yes...the above listing of the various names jogs my memory now. A few years ago, I was looking at the inexpensive 85mm 1.4 manual focus options...I looked at a lot of sample pics from around the world on pBase and Flickr...it seemed that yes, the same lens was a Walimex in one market, Bower in another, and Vivitar in yet another region of the world.

 

[nerwin]

So Samyang is the real company behind all these other rebranded lenses.

Never knew this before.

 

[astroNikon]

If you see major price differences you may also be looking at different generation of lenses, or even different features; such as some have a Focus Confirm chip, or an Auto Exposure chip and others do not.

 

[Derrel]

If you see major price differences you may also be looking at different generation of lenses, or even different features; such as some have a Focus Confirm chip, or an Auto Exposure chip and others do not.

Really a good point!!! One thing that ended my research, and this was several years ago now, was that the 85mm manual focus from SamyBowiRokiVivi, had a fully manual iris, meaning the user had to open, and close, and open, and close, the iris, by HAND, for every shot. Not even a 1950's stlye pre-set lens ring...I mean click-click-click-click-click-click....NO instant-return diaphragm...the absolute WORST type of f/stop regulation ever, for an SLR or D-SLR...manually "counting clicks"....

There would be three types of lens iris regulation: manual; pre-set; and auto-diaphragm. The AUTO-Nikkor line was established in 1959....a lens with a purely mechanical f/stop system would be a real PITA at say f/8 on a d-slr when viewing through the optical finder, but it would not be so bad on say, a SONY mirrorless with gain applied to the LCD screen's image.

So....keep AstroNikon's comment in mind: make sure the generations of lenses being compared are the same.

 

[JTPhotography]

As Astro said, it is likely the electronics causing the price difference.

I had a chance to play with that lens fir a few weeks, it is as sharp as any I've ever used. I currently have a 105 1.8 and I had a 135 f2. They are just as sharp but contrast and color saturation are superior. Probably cheaper too. They are worth considering.

 

[Drive-By-Shooter]

I have been very impressed with my rokinon/samyang 12mm manual focus with confirmation and auto aperture. this lens was on sale for about $250 and i doubt i could be happier at any price. sorry if someone feels it is off topic here because it is a different lens, but it is my only experience with this company and based on this, i predict they will continue to impress (and sell). _IOP5395

 

[GDHLEWIS]

As already noted probably the electrical chip, Iv got the Ronkinon / Samyang 16mm 2.0 and love it so much also looking at the 24mm 1.4 as well.

 

[dasmith232]

I once sold an 8mm fisheye from Samyang to then buy a 7mm fisheye from Vivitar because I was looking for a full circle (not clipped). Boy was I surprised when other than those 7 letters being different it was identical in every respect, INCLUDING the angle of view despite the marked focal lengths being different.

That's one of the more stupid and embarrassing things that I've done with photo gear.