Samyang 12mm F2.0 AF Ultra Wide Lens for Sony E – Weather-Sealed, UMC Coating, Fast F2 Aperture, Autofocus, Removable Hood, 62mm Filter, Compact APS-C, Night Sky & Architecture

Great 35mm for the price! Auto focus is decent

This lens is actually a lot of fun. It is plastic constructed but the build feels pretty solid. There's no manual focus switch as far as I can tell but autofocus mostly does fine. Bit of a challenge for night photography though (star stacking) but nothing major. The wide angle of this lens really looks crisp and nice in most shots. The auto focus works well, but it sounds a bit crunchy compared to maybe a better quality lens. Still, over all works well and photos look good for the price.

I got it for $199 and I have to say, this is one of the best lenses you can get for that price for APS-C, although that seemed to be an exception, I have to admit the image quality is outstanding and will do wonders for real estate work if you don’t have a FF camera.My only gripe is the AF, which I’m grateful to even have it, since it has a bit of hunting even in well lit conditions, so on low light you are better off with Manual FocusAlso the image has a natural softness and the lens has an appropriate weight to keep it during travels or a whole shoot without getting tired.

Just received this Lens so this is an initial review. Lens is very sharp at f2 and even sharper at f2.8. Close-up photos are sharp. The focus fast but not Sony OEM lens fast. Be sure to update the lens firmware to version 3 or you will get non-stop focus hunting in continuous focus mode. You will have to purchase the Samsung docking station to perform firmware updates. I purchased this lens used from Amazon and the condition was like new. The used price makes this an excellent value. Also, the lens hood cannot be reversed and stored on the lens due to the shape of the lens body. The lens is so small that leaving the small lens hood attached doesn't take up much additional space. The negatives so far are 1) the lens hood cannot be reversed (minor annoyance) and 2) you have to purchase a separate dock for lens updates. I'll update the review after I use the lens more if necessary. So far, highly recommend!

I recently purchased the Samyang 12mm F2.0 AF Ultra Wide Angle lens for my Sony camera and I am blown away by the results. The build quality of the lens is top-notch and it feels solid in my hands. The autofocus is lightning fast and accurate, and the images are sharp and crisp with vivid colors.I am particularly impressed with the ultra wide angle perspective this lens offers, allowing me to capture stunning landscapes and cityscapes with ease. The F2.0 aperture is also great for low light situations, giving me the flexibility to shoot in a wide range of lighting conditions.Considering the price of this lens, it's an absolute steal. It's difficult to find a lens of this quality and performance at such an affordable price point. Overall, I would highly recommend the Samyang 12mm F2.0 AF Ultra Wide Angle lens to any Sony camera user looking for a fantastic deal on a high-quality wide angle lens.

I really wanted to like this lens. However, it exhibits severe focus breathing on the a6700 Sony on auto focus settings. It is pretty much to the point where it is not usable in AF mode. I thought perhaps I got a bad lens, but after internet searches I found that a number of people have had this problem on the a6700 with this lens in AF mode. Apparently, it was not the case using it with the a6400. Some think that a software update will correct it in the future on the a6700. Until then it's going back.

I bought this lens (Fuji X mount) after seeing several more or less favorable recommendations by YouTube reviewers. I wanted a lightweight lens with this focal length. I was willing to live with the lack of aperture ring in trade for the savings in weight.OPTICAL QUALITYAs far as I can tell, the lens is acceptably sharp, including in the corners if you have stopped down to f/5.6 – f/8. It seems acceptably sharp at its closest focusing distance—again, given a good choice of aperture. It won't be great up close if you're shooting wide open.BOKEHWhile not world-class, bokeh is acceptable and semi-pleasing.FOCUSING RINGThough it must be a focus-by-wire system as with other AF lenses, this one's focusing ring turns with a nice smoothness and is not sloppy-feeling. It feels a bit better to me than some Fujifilm lenses' focusing rings.DRAWBACKSAnd now for the drawbacks—pretty big ones.According to Samyang, the lens always ships with its petal-style hood attached. That's how it arrived here, and the hood is fitted so tightly that It can't be detached. I'm not willing to use so much force that I risk damaging the lens. According to Samyang customer service, this should not have happened. But it did.The only way to get the thing off, it seems to me, will be to use a pair of heavy tin snips and gradually chip away at the plastic until the hood falls apart. I had to do this once with a Canon lens with a badly made hood. It's a pain the neck, with plastic shrapnel flying all over the place.Then the problem is finding a replacement hood. I've never seen a screw-in metal hood made for a lens this wide. So I don't know yet how to solve the hood problem.The next drawback seems far worse:The lens reports focusing distance with SERIOUS inaccuracy. For example, if I'm focused almost to infinity, the focusing distance displayed in the EVF is something like 3". It's completely inaccurate. Another owner of the lens has told me this was also the case for him months ago. So I have to assume that despite firmware updates, the problem hasn't been fixed. It's bizarre that they'd ship the lens with this severe a flaw.Speaking of firmware updates...Another major drawback: Unlike lenses made by Fujifilm and Viltrox, it appears this one can have its firmware updated only if you buy an accessory docking station (MSRP for the Fujifilm-compatible docking station is about $60—less for some other systems). I blame myself for not having done enough research before I bought the lens. If I'd known about the docking station requirement, I wouldn't have bought the lens.Compounding my problems, I didn't return the lens to Amazon within the generous amount of time they allow. That's entirely on me. So, I will either use the lens as-is for whatever good I can get out of it, or use it as a trade-in later at a local camera store. If so, I will of course take the usual huge bath on the price.If you can live with such drawbacks you'll have a lightweight, reasonably sharp AF lens giving you the field of view of an 18mm lens (full frame equivalent). But they're pretty big drawbacks. The bit with the lens hood is REALLY annoying!