Is rokinon 35 worth the money?

skatepreme

skatepreme

New member
I recently rented the rokinon 35 t1.5 and I love the build quality, but when shooting video or photos it's impossible to keep your subject in focus between 1.5-2. So basically it's a 2.8 35. That being said is it worth buying this lens knowing I'll have to stop down for almost every shot? I think I should've gone for the photo version because the cine is made to be used with a follow focus. I want to love this lens but no AF on a 1.5 is impossible to get a clear photo/video. If anyone has this lens or the photo version one tell me how you like it.
 
Hi there,

I have recently bought the Samyang (exactly the same lens) 16mm F2.0, the 35mm 1.4 and the 85mm 1.4. I only make films, but I bought the 'normal' photo versions of them. I almost never use a follow focus and because I have a Speed Booster, I have a declicked aperture when I need to. (which is never until now). No need to spend more on cine versions when they are not real cine lenses in the first place. They are all different in size, have different size filter threats, etc. If you want to put a follow focus on the focus ring it's very easy to do with a $10 click-on ring.

I recently shot a short film with these lenses, and the 35mm was the most used lens. I love working with these lenses. The build quality feels great, they are large and solid and I really like the smooth big focus rings. More importantly, they are all razor sharp, have nice out of focus rendering and simply have a very nice 'look' to them.

I bought my 35mm second hand for half of the 'new price' and I love it. Without thinking I bought the other 2 (new) as well. Killer combination with the Speed Booster.

If you're interested, then watch the short film here:

Cheers.
 
Well since I'm on a 5d2 so I don't have a crop factor so the 35 is kind of wide to me. I'm gonna rent the 85 and see how I like it. Might go with the canon 50 1.4/rokinon 85 1.4 combo
 
skatepreme said:
I think I should've gone for the photo version because the cine is made to be used with a follow focus. I want to love this lens but no AF on a 1.5 is impossible to get a clear photo/video. If anyone has this lens or the photo version one tell me how you like it.
Click to expand...
The photo version has no AF either. The cine lens gives you half a chance with video, but frankly if you are shooting at t/1.5 you're going to be missing focus more often than nailing it.

David W. Jones said:
A 50mm on a full frame camera is like a 35mm on a S-35 camera.
Click to expand...
No it's not. it's like a 50mm.
 
Liam Hall said:
The photo version has no AF either. The cine lens gives you half a chance with video, but frankly if you are shooting at t/1.5 you're going to be missing focus more often than nailing it.


No it's not. it's like a 50mm.
Click to expand...

Add "field of view" and David is right….
 
skatepreme said:
I recently rented the rokinon 35 t1.5 and I love the build quality, but when shooting video or photos it's impossible to keep your subject in focus between 1.5-2. So basically it's a 2.8 35.
Click to expand...

How often does your scene really call for that kind of DOF? I seem to shoot narrative stuff around F4 - 5.6. Grabbing focus wide open, you'll need a good monitor, FF, focus puller, marks, rehearsals, etc... it can be done and even major cinematographers are shooting 1.8 for night scenes on a tight budget.

A follow focus with stops is really handy, too. A monitor with 1:1 pixel button can be a godsend for your focus puller if your subject stays in the tighter 1:1 frame, and you have another monitor for framing.
 
I love the Rokinons, the size, the weight, the roll off, the warmth. I won't use PL's unless their s4's or s5's or anamorphics anymore. It's great glass for a lot of projects, when PL glass is not needed or may be more hassle then good. These are my go to glass for EF mount. Their dumb lenses regardless of cine or photo, so if your shooting mostly video then they are a great choice. If your shooting video and photos, then your gonna need to get use to pulling focus. There's no way around it, unless you get a AF lens. But then you would need to test them against each other to see what image you prefer and what works best for you. That's your deciding factor.
Here's something I shot for fun. Wides are the 35mm, close ups are the 85mm, the only canon glass I used was the 16-35 for the birds eye shot. (Need to get the Rokinon 16).

https://vimeo.com/82997556
 
I really like Samyang glass (also sold as rokinon, falcon, and a miriad other names), but I have to say: build quality is not as good as it looks from the outside.
Looking at them from the outside, I thought they were mostly metal, but then they came out really bad in the last lensrentals reliability charts (like, in a league of their own, really really really bad) and Roger explained that the internals have a lot of plastic and yes, they should be thought of as disposable items. Which is not a huge problem given the price, but hey, just so we're all on the same page...

Still: 14+35+85 make a killer set for APS-C cameras, it's not easy to find something as good for less than 3-5 times as much money.
(the 35 and 85 work great on FF too, but I'd rather have a 24-50-135 set for that, and Samyang is missing two of those, plus the 24 seems to be kind of a lottery: some good copies, some bad ones, you don't know what you'll get)
 
Right, I have a colleague that was on his 3rd lens, because the previous two had some really random game ending failures. If you are using these lenses professionally, double or triple their price, as you will want a back up lens for each one, and an assistant to carry everything.

So, if you are willing to risk a lens that may let one of it lens elements randomly pop out of place and clink around inside, then these lenses are nice.

To me, I would only use them in a hobby sort of way, or get a back up to each one. But still, two sets are cheaper than one Arri prime, heck, even cheaper than one Zeiss CP2.
 
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