GH3 Rokinon 85mm f1.4 native m4/3 mount now for sale at B&H

[Thomas Smet]

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=1018527&Q=&is=REG&A=details

Anybody try out this lens yet? From my understanding it is the same lens that has been available for a couple of years now in other more common mounts such as Canon and Nikon. B&H now has a native m4/3 mount version although it is full manual.

Reviews I have read on the other mount versions seem to be just ok for shooting stills. Maybe for video they would work well. At the current price point seems like a steal if you want an f1.4 with a bit of extra reach. Not sure how practical 85mm is on m4/3. I believe the Olympus 75mm is lightyears ahead of this lens in terms of quality but also 3x the cost. I know some people love the 75mm but don't get it use it very much since it becomes more of a special use lens at that FOV on m4/3.

 

[Jaime Valles]

Nice! I didn't know Rokinon would be making m4/3 versions of these lenses. I wonder if they'll do the same to their Cine lenses (with FF gears and stepless aperture).

I may have to get this one...

 

[Bruce Foreman]

Reviews I have read on the other mount versions seem to be just ok for shooting stills. Maybe for video they would work well. At the current price point seems like a steal if you want an f1.4 with a bit of extra reach. Not sure how practical 85mm is on m4/3. I believe the Olympus 75mm is lightyears ahead of this lens in terms of quality but also 3x the cost. I know some people love the 75mm but don't get it use it very much since it becomes more of a special use lens at that FOV on m4/3.

I had the cine version in Nikon F mount for about a month. It was OK on stills and pretty good at night, but had a tendency to flare some at the wider apertures if strong light hit it. I didn't dislike it but sold it to partially fund the Olympus 75mm. The Oly "runs circles" around the Rokinon in just about every way, image sharpness, just enough contrast, strong color tones, and very little flare.

The focal length of both lenses make them an excellent choice for portraiture, and for motion picture both are a good choice for tightly composed single individual or the "two shot" closeup views. I would strongly suspect that lens imaging quality of the Rokinon could vary from sample to sample as can be the case with some third party manufacturers. I seemed to have a "good" copy as some footage I've seen from others didn't look as good as my tests. Flare wasn't too bad on mine, I saw a lot worse on others (note: despite the popularity of some flare effects lately, that was something we tried to avoid unless it was really needed for a visual statement).

 

[GrahamH]

Nice! Although I like using my 85mm on a Speedbooster, which boosts the aperture to f1.2 and tames the focal length a little. So buying a Nikon mount version has the advantage of keeping that as an option.

 

[Thomas Smet]

Nice! Although I like using my 85mm on a Speedbooster, which boosts the aperture to f1.2 and tames the focal length a little. So buying a Nikon mount version has the advantage of keeping that as an option.

That is a really good point. Since the m43 mount is a dummy mount on the Rokinon it essentially isn't all that much different from an adapted Nikon version. The Nikon version at least gives the option of using the Speedbooster. Still for me however the main reason I would want this lens is the 85mm FOV so I wouldn't really want to use the Speedbooster all the time. Typically if a normal FOV lens like my 25mm f1.4 just will not cut it then that means I need to go as tight as possible. Something for me to really think about here.