# samyang 12mm / 16mm experiences. Ef-m generally.



## Tinky (Jan 3, 2015)

Hi folks,

I'm looking for feedback from anybody WHO HAS ACTUALLY OWNED AND USED SPECIFICALLY. the Samyang 12mm f2.0 mirrorless or 16mm f2.0 APS-C lenses.

I know theres a lot of samyang bashing generally because some folk can only use af, I'm not talking to those people.

I'm talking to the other people who have got over that. I already use their 85 and 35's. I'm happy with iq, happy with manual iris, happy with stop down metering, happy with mf..

I want to hear from folk who are on that page, but have specific feedback good or bad about the 12mm f2 or 16mm f2.


On a more general subject (the slack-jawed belly rumblers may chip in here with something they read or even came up with themselves - it's a more conceptual question, so ill informed hypothesis is as welcome as any other...) do you think it is a waste of time buying ef-m lenses for the long ball game?

Here's my dilemma..

I shoot mainly video.

I am very happy to shoot on aps-c and have no issue buying dc dx ef-s etc lenses from canon or anybody else, as I'm not going full frame.

I have a 7d / 60d combo and 2x Ms.

I want a third manual lens, wide angle this time, for video work, especially timelapse, where the manual iris is a gift.
I do a lot of timelapse.

If I get the ef-m mount 12 then I can only ever use it on an m. Fine just now. But what about in 2 years when I'm being asked for 4k video?

If I get the 16 then I can use it on the m or on a 7d x0d class or rebel or cx00 class... but it's maybe just not as wide as I would wish after the 1.6x crop..

I already have the tokina 11-16 which I love for video, but I hate for timelapse (as I hate all the electronic aperture lenses that I sometimes forget to stop down and decouple) but then how viable is the M for timelapse anyway, no remote port, no internal intervalometer... and the extra stop would make a significan't difference for astro, big jump between iso 1600 and 3200...

So I guess the proposition is, getting a more vanilla 16mm that works with everything today and most probably tomorrow (including the duffer x0d bodies I buy cheap for knackering with timelapse) or get the more exciting 12mm which might never be any use for any other camera than one of the m's (or a third I may dedicate to ml timelapse) m's are so cheap just now, but will that be the case in 3 years? will they even be around in 3 years?

So, informed opinion on the first bit please, musings from anybody on the second point, if you will...


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## martti (Jan 3, 2015)

You can google up sample photos. For a 12mm f/2.0 the price seems legit.
There is no autofocus and you have to shoot stopped down like you do with the 14mm f/2.8.
You can read the review here: 
http://www.ephotozine.com/article/samyang-12mm-f-2-0-ncs-cs-mft-lens-review-26616
and see that the lens is sharp and has less than expected barrel distortion.
Good value. (That's what people say)


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## lintoni (Jan 3, 2015)

I have no experience of the lenses your asking about, so slack-jawed ruminations follow...

Ml timelapse - Magic Lantern? So you have your internal intervalometer. The EF-M mount isn't going away, it may not be massively popular (yet) in the Western world, but it's apparently doing very well in the East. Whether or not it will support 4k in the foreseeable future is a moot point.


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## c.d.embrey (Jan 3, 2015)

Tinky said:


> On a more general subject (the I'm may chip in here with something they read or even came up with themselves - it's a more conceptual question, so ill informed hypothesis is as welcome as any other...) do you think it is a waste of time buying ef-m lenses for the long ball game?



I'm a *slack-jawed belly rumbler* who is also an IATSE retiree. I've worked on everything from Educational/Documentery to MOWs (TV Movies) to Feature Films.



> I am very happy to shoot on aps-c and have no issue buying dc dx ef-s etc lenses from canon or anybody else, as I'm not going full frame.



No need for Full Frame -- *Hollywood doesn't use Full Frame*, so why should you ???



> If I get the ef-m mount 12 then I can only ever use it on an m. Fine just now. But what about in 2 years when I'm being asked for 4k video?



Will you be asked to shoot 4K in two years (or ever) ???
From News Shooter (dot) com *"A big proportion of shooters now own 4K capable cameras but just how many of you are being requested to shoot in 4K for paid jobs? Most of my clients in the documentary and corporate world still ask for HD MPEG files. I would love to shoot in 4k but the reality is no one wants to deal with it. For broadcasters 4K is a long way off."* Here's the link http://www.newsshooter.com/2015/01/03/will-2015-finally-be-the-year-for-4k/ If you are interested in video, News Shooter is the best I've found on the net.

BTW this lens is inexpensive. You could throw-it-away in two years, and still have a good ROI (return on investment).



> So I guess the proposition is, getting a more vanilla 16mm that works with everything today and most probably tomorrow (including the duffer x0d bodies I buy cheap for knackering with timelapse) or get the more exciting 12mm which might never be any use for any other camera than one of the m's (or a third I may dedicate to ml timelapse) m's are so cheap just now, but will that be the case in 3 years? will they even be around in 3 years?



Just guessing, but I think the EF-M mount will be around for a long time.


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## Tinky (Jan 3, 2015)

thanks for the input, the aps-c point was never up for discussion, I find 5d's horrible to shoot with, the 5d2 was too wobbly, the 5d3 too soft, and if you want to shoot interviews the reduced dof is impossible to work with, I find, but thanks for the affirmation.

Warming to the m idea. I'll decide whether to buy another couple and dedicate them to ML just for timelapse...

The 4k thing. Yep. I had a z1 for 4 years before anybody asked me for HD (Thank god, as the z1 wasn't really HD) and had moved onto xdcamhd eng's by then... I'm holding fire on it for now, as I just don't understand where people are watching it (never fully bought the 1080 cropping argument especially for line skipping cameras)

Thanks for the SJBR's so far.


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